The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-12-21 00:00:00

tHE DOCK BOARD.

The weekly meeting of this board was held yesterday
at the Dock Offices. Mr, Charles Turner presided ; and
the other members present were Messrs. Segar, Fara-
Worthjtankin, Arnold, Hubback, Bold; Evans, Brockle-
i:tank Morttiel; Tohinvtiodiett, Bonit, Darby-
ehite; UM/
1, Mirintefwere read ohe various meetings bieli hdd
'Adi held. (et,. the Oistttsinin of the now 1/00111; Which
showed that in reference tq tout;
,pf itr proyisfod there
110 been considerablc ,diversity of, opinion, Ail
.rtiairy
amendments had been proposed.. At. the.final §iAing on
Vi'editeidaY twit, the board in committee having gone
throughdatkee of the bill it bad been moved by
Mr. inniari and seconded by Ali. Eankini that clauses
11 0,34 be omitted from the bill—for, 8; against, 10 ;
so the motion was lost. The chairman had then put
the question "that the . bill. as amended be approved,"
ithiCh was carried by a majority of 13 to 4.

;tItE ViORkS domi;tlttEt:--=IRE CORN TRADE. AND
. .

The tender of Messrs. Hoylan Brother's, for a supply
of bialThei for iWelye nionthi; was reeemniended for
addeptarree.---7A later had been..recei4ed, 111;, Feri
day Smith, accepting, on behalf of the Etithc df Itridge-
water!s trustees, the revised terms of the tenure for
Bridgewater; Basin, and the berth and cranes in Egerton
Doek,,: at 13'iaenhead,—:Tbe application of, Mr. Myers,
to rent rand on the.rdargfri of the UreatFlo.at, for the
erection of creosote worts, had Veen' referred' to the.
engineer.—The minutes also mentioned the reception .of
a depntaiioll from, the corn trade on Saturday.
BROCKLEBANk moved the confirmation of the'
prc*edings., r., .; .
Mr. nusiinit Wended, the motion:
Mr. BOULT asked whethef an- thing really„distinet or,
definite had come out as to the subject he referred to at
the last meeting of the board, namely, the possibility of
any part of the corn trade removing their business to
Birkenhead, and whether the accommodation which they
could provide them there would suit the wants of the
trade, He submitted it was of importance they should
bare a 'distinct answer from the trade to that question.
gr. BacortLEitArill replied that no distinct proposition
liad hden nude: lie thotight the feeling gdnefaily was,
fos the present at east, that, it !would not shit their
pUrpose to take-r
their trade to rliediread: One genttle;:
man declared tha't he had tried Birlkenhead;,
and, found the inconveniende go, great that he river.
would send any grain there again. „Another, fig,' ,riery
large importer, look, different view of the subject, and'
thought if there was, accommodation. it was possible he
might send some of his grain to. Birkenhead. The
general ftelifißg of the,ttade So far as he could under-
stand ,was, if they conla net aticoremodation here they,
would not go to Birkenhead. • ,
Mr. RANKIN said the trade of the Mersey l;{a.S. ifi= .
creasing so rapidly—it was 16 per cent greater within
the last 12' months than it had ever been—he had no
dottht it *Old he of great advantage if part of the grain
trade could lie allied- to ilitlicifitead,
Mr. liitOßLEWilsiii.. said the attention of the gentle-
-4A:4 6alled to tVe.faejlities Which they would hit
at Itrkenh---- eadthat Wel Op tate the e did away
either, by fiats or rai,l*a.yff fliei.4erte 474, kfdrrned
that there was. .a considerable space uneeCitOed the
Trpchcarses!whichirnight be; available for their parvises,
and that
..tkey were. very ,large shed,upon
Tictoria Wharf; *Vero 6hca ,itclatge L. AO
without interfering with the digeharge of tb* Rarifoes...
Mr. TOBIN thought Mr. Brocklebank's remaitd writ
further than the views of the corn trade. The gentle-:
men, front their remarks, seemed to hold that so far as
Dirkeulted Was dchiedriletil it heifer would supersede the
Litqrodl market; and Whateier WO done at Birken-
hea'd they ,must hafe dctom'nid.4 talon on this side, It
Was tyue .that a gOilgeniari th i he had been. sO.incou-
vnienced„there that he, Wolf d go! /din btft it
was shown to,.hitu ,that :at ,that tlma thefe
.+l4l.
such organisation or sysetn,iu .existence as theie be
'now. ' One of die Idrrpti'st IT/Jokers' said he:Wonld rent
warehOuse at Birkenhead, firo•Hded facilitis,•svere,
given for bringing the grain across. That deritleinan
had been in the habit of sending his grain to Run Corn
and Ellesmere Port, but now with the facilities referred
to he would no doubt rather send it to Birkenhead.
The deputation showed that a large trade had been and
niigilt be carried on in French flour, which was now
lest EtirttoA eutirely to this port; and a numbor of
fcaseid Calling for orders Went :to 'Goole and Fleetwood,
becadse the fekrid the deeortiniodation se insufficient
here and the Chargei greater, than they, *ere vdillln td
bear. There being no watehoulei ori the que#, there
was the cost of cartage. Those gentlemen thought that,
all such cases might be provided-for at.Birkenhead. It
would be a valuable adjunct.
Mr.. BUSHELL begged to add a single word. The corn
trade had come there smarting under present difficulties,
and loOking only at therri; sand they came to the board
to know what could be done to obviate those difficulties
at once ; but it was thrown out by the chairman, and
attentively listened to by the deputation, that although
eYerything Would be done to meet the present wants of
the corn trade; it *as desirtals the trade should take the
larger view, and looking into the ftittire, Seeing that it
Was a trade which would extend alioVe any otha trade
.(for he believed that LiierPool, would yet be one of the
greatest grain ports in the world), it was suggested that
they should Consider hOW far they. abonld make Birken-
head available as the means of carrying do a great grain
trade in Liverpool. One of the things insisted Upon by
the grain trade was classification—that they should have
docks and warehouses to themselves. Well, they knew
almost as well as that board did, that under the present
state of things in Liverpool it was impossible that such
a classification could be made. That classification could
only take place where they had 300 acres of water apace,
and two •or three Miles of quay space ; and he
understood that since the interVieW, the corn trade with
that tisdornifOr which they were proverbial—lot there
were, perhaps, not note intelligent men in the World,
by dealing in an article subject to all contingencies of
climate and weather, they were coritindally on the-look-
out, wed prepared, rte f..‘• as man:S ingenuity went, to
meet them,—he had heard that it was intended to hold
a meeting of the corn trade to consider the position, not
only of the present gigantic corn trade of Liverpool, but
that much more gigantic trade which it would become.
Mr. DARBYSHIRE was satisfied if the corn trade would
go to Birkenhead, it would be good for them. He pre-
ferred such a class of produce being placed there to
being put in Liverpool.
Mr. SEGAR said Birkenhead could only be one part
of the question after all, and that board had, of course,
the greatest interest .in pushing forward the prosperity
6f Birkenhead. He had no doubt if the board would
build warehouses at Birkenhead, with mechanical faci-
lities, which would give them a preference over Liver-
pool, they would get the trade fast enough. He and his
firm would be delighted to take warehouses there. He
understood from Mr. Chapman that in America you
could get wheat discharged for one-fourth the cost they
could in Liverpool ; and he hoped, in pushing on accom-
modation at Birkenhead they would not forget Liver-
pool, but that they should give the trade a dock at the
North-end, and build warehouses there as well. (Hear,
hear.) The loss upon the dock quays was very great at
present.
Mr. BROCKLEBANK said Mr.. Boult had asked if any
definite proposition was made by the corn trade as
to Birkenhead. He answered there was none ; but he
was glad to hear from Mr. Bushell that the corn trade
were again taking the subject into consideration. Mr.
Segar said if they built warehouses at Birkenhead, the corn
trade would probably go there ; but they must have
some definite request from them before they went to
such an expense. (Hear, hear.) The only definite
proposition made was that where corn is usually landed,-
at the. -Wellington Dock, a certain portion of space
which is uncovered might be covered, for the purpose of
storing corn for a week or so, till it could be taken
away.. ,

The proceedings were then confirmed.
THE WAREHOUSE COMMITnE.

The proceedings of this committee comprised several
reports in reference to the bursting out of fire in a bale
of cotton, ex Ticonderago, discharging into the north
stack of the Stanley warehouses, whilst it was in course
of removal from tho landing scale. It appeared from
the statement of the labourer in charge, that in emptying
it from the truck he had heard an explosion, like a
lucifer match igniting, and immediately afterwards saw
that the bale was on fire. The fire also caught another
bale before it could be extinguished. It had been
resolved that a copy of the reports should he sent to Mr.
Court, the secretary of the underwriters, and also to
Messrs. Brown, Shipley, and Co., the consignees of the
cotton.

vV
Mr. HUBBACK, in moving the confirmation of the
proceedings, referred to the fact stated, which he sail it
was the desire of the committee to be brought before'the
public in the strongest manner. This was the second
time, within a few months, that hales of cotton landed
from ships at the Stanley warehouses had taken fire—
serving to strengthen the surmise that it arose from
some combustible ,matter being carried into,the Ware-
houses with the cotton stored there. That was confirmed
by the fact that during the last two months not less
than three vessels had been burnt- at sea, laden With
cotton.

Mr. BOULT said only that morning the captain of an
American ship reported that his vessel took fire on the
voyage. He got it extinguished, and found matches in
the bales. He should like to ask why they were paying
township rates upon their property on the other side of
the water. '
The CILIIRMAN—You had better wait till the soli-
citor comes.
Mr. ARNOLD said the township rates were paid by the
advice of the ;solicitor. He thought the warehouse
keeper was wrong in suggesting that a lucifer match
was the cause of fire in cotton : it was more likely to be
detonating matter. It convinced him that cotton was
by no means the least dangerous material to put into a
warehouse. _

The proceedings were confirmed.
The proceedings of the Marine Department included
a report from Mr. Gisborne to the effect that the cause
of the interruption of the telegraphic communication
between Birkenhead and Voel Nant had been discovered.
The proceedings were confirmed, as were also those of
the Pilotage Committee.
THE DOCKS AND QUAYS COMMITTEE.

Afessrs. Tobin and Co., having applied, as we under-
stood, that the strict rule as to the removal of goods
from the dock quays within forty-eight hours, should
not be strictly enforced, in reference to casks of palm oil
being landed from one of their vessels. The request
had been complied with.
Mr. Locxarr, in moving the confirmation of the pro-
ceedings, said Messrs. Tobin and Co. were landing a
cargo of palm oil. They were landing so much per day.
The great bulk went away, but certain casks requiring
to be inspected by brokers or competent persons, could
not be passed immediately, probably from the brokers
not coming down ; and the Committee thought, when
there was no obstruction caused,• that it should be
granted. He was sorry it was one of the board who
required the privilege ; and if they compelled parties to
remove palm oil and other articles sold, but not
inspected, it would be a great detriment to the working
of the port. There were sck many articles which would
come under the same category, it was ridiculous to make
regulations and rules.
The CHAIM/AN hoped they would not discuss the bill
over again.
Mr. EVANS considered there was a very bad excuse
alleged, that they could not get the brokers or overlookers
to come down. It was holding out an encouragement
to laziness and idleness.
Mr. Tosm said—You land a large part of the cargo,
you take away as fast as ever it is landed, but it may so
happen you don't take the identical casks. That is the
thing. You are entitled to the whole of Cie quay, but
if you have not taken the identical _casks in the very
order in which they were landed, you are summoned to
the Police Court. If you can show the magistrate that
you have carried away as you can, you are not fined ;