The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-12-31 00:00:00

THE PUBLIC MISUNDERSThNDING,

THE people of Liverpool have been sulfering
for some eight or ten days past from the mis-
understandinj of the public, not so much mentally,
but physically. The understanding of the people
here has for that period been so treacherously
slippery, by reason of the frost and trodden snow
lying thickly on our streets and pavements, that
it has in many hundreds of instances entirely
given way, to the grievous injury of the limbs
and lives of the lieges. Even if we had had no
personally practical experience of the pains
and penalties of this awkward state of matters)
we have seen much and read more of the
terrible consequences which have resulted to
" both man and beast" by reason of the exist-
ing mate of the paths and roads within the
Borough. If the amount of the direct and indi-
reet mischief thus caused could be reckoned up in
s. 41., it would amount, we believe, to a figure
which at first sight would seem incredible. We
have no idea of troubling our readers by an
arithmetical calculation as to the pecuniary loss
inflicted by the breaking of human bones by fall,
ing on the ice, but we think all will agree with
us that ever• such accident, involving in many
instances the lengthened if not permanent disabi-
lity of artisans, mechanics, labourers, 14:c., to pro-
vide for their families, is a calamity more or less
affecting the general body •of the ratepayers.
This evil falls under the same category as furious
driving, and some others, of which it has been
tritely remaked that their doom is rarely sealed
until a Minister of State, a Mayor, an Alderman,
or a Magistrate .shall have fallen a victim to it.
Everyone knows of andsuffers from its existence;
and everybody knows that .its removal is ent of
the simplest processes in the world; but it too
often happens that it is allowed to continue
unchecked until some more than ordinarily
deplorable event arouses public apathy to a sense
of duty, and then there is probably a speedy end
to the nuisance. Let us hope, however) that
a timely appeal to the mental understanding
of the people of Liverpool awl their rulers may
have the effect of leading them to take decided
and active steps for the removal of this defect
in their physical understandings, when, at such a
season as this, we are subjected to protracted
snow storms and severe frost. We subscribe lots
of money to Humane Societies to provide men,
boats, floats, hooks, and ropes, to save the lives
of pastime-seeking skaters ,and sliders. Why
should we not take proper care of the lives and
physical integrity of the tens of thousands
whose daily avocations oblige them to ven-
ture upon our ice-bound streets and pave-
ments ? Is the extent of danger in the former
case, for one moment, to be compared to that of
the latter ? Certainly not.
The public must, at least within the boundaries
of the borough, be placed upon a proper footing
in this matter. It is easily done, and the doing
of it will 'confer a double blessing—a blessing
upon those who may thereby be saved from
smashing their bones, and upon those employed
to save them. It is only a question of pickaxe and
scraper, or shovel and brush,—and so many old
men and boys to ply them. How many such at
this inclement season would be rejoiced to
execute the task for a shilling or so a-head ? And
we venture to say that in our workhouses and in
our poorer lanes and valleys a sufficient number
of willing hands would be found to make all
straight and clear in every street in the town
within an hour or two any morning. There are
two ways of going about it, so far as the pave
ment goes. Let the work be undertaken by the
proper officers of the Corporation ; or, let there be
a bye-law passed, and strictly enforced, whereby
each householder and shopkeeper shall be bound
under a penalty wholly to clear away the snow
and ice from the pavement immediately in front
of their several tenements before a certain hour.
This latter is the system most commonly adopted
in other large towns, and may probably be the most
easy and economical. There is no practical diffi-
culty in carrying it into practice. It is found to
work well. Why is there no such provision made
for the public comfort and safety in this town ? If
our authorities have not legally the power to
enforce such a rule, they ought to take powers at
the earliest possible opportunity. If it is already
within the scope of their legitimate functions to
see such a measure of street reform effected, we
cannot but look upon their neglect of duty as one
involving a heavy responsibility. We cannot
regard the condition of our thoroughfares during
the late storm as anything less than a disgrace to
the town. The thing would not be, and is not,
tolerated elsewhere. If the thaw which set in here
yesterday continues, it is probable that nature will

to-day have done her work in cleansing our streets
and in removing the immediate cause of danger ;

_ .
but we hope this, after so recently bitter experience,
will not render the public one whit less alive to

the propriety and absolute necessity of something
being done to Irevent the recurrence of such a

great evil. We boast ourselves of our police

. -
force, and of our sanitary expenditure, and of our

public improvements,—present and prospective,—
but why should it have happened that, with all
these means and appliances, the whole of our

public thoroughfares for above a week have been

all but impassable, save at the most imminen

peril of the passengers ? Whoever among our

public men will take energetic steps to serve the

public in this matter will deserve their best thanks

as a real benefactor.

THE RUSSIANS AT PEKIN.—Lord Elgin expresses
his thanks to General Ignalieff for his kindness in allow-
ing our countrymen to be burried in the Russian ceme-
tery, and for all the assistance given by the General in
the conclusion of the Treaty :—" Your secretary gave,
I doubt not, a just expression to the sentiment which
dictated this most considerate act, on your excellency's
part, when he said to me, after the funeral, 'To-day
we look on this cemetery, not as Russian or Greek, but
Christian.' "

THE SYLPIIIDE ScAwDAL.---Mr. W. J. Grandy, second
master of her - Majesty's ship Himalaya, and son of
Captain J. S. W. Grandy, E.N., commanding the Mar-
quis of Downshire's ship Sylphide, recently waited
upon our Portsmouth correspondent and handed to him,
for his inspection, letters received from Captain Grandy,
dated on board the Sylphide, in the Bay of Naples, on
the 18th and 19th instant. These letters contained
nothing beyond what a gentleman might be expected to
write to his family in England while absent in foreign
parts. The dates of the letters themselves are the best
proofs which can be given of the falsehood of the
scandal which has obtained such circulation.—Times.