The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-08 00:00:00

ratepayers. But
subterfuge, and a

the municipal chang

have no sympathy
and other Corporate

„„~LAecontras,
measure they propose is one which will add from 2s
to 3s. in the pound to our present high Borough
rates. And this treachery in dealing with the
Corporate Reformers of the country, they hope to
consummate by pandering to petty local jealot
and holding out to the shipowner and merch,.
what they contend will be a positive boon. Bu
trifling with the great maritime and mercantile
interests of the realm is most reprehensible.
The authors of this Local Taxation Reform
Bill are well aware that neither the shipowners nor
merchants of the North would gain one sixpence,
if our Town Dues, Passing Tolls, and other sources
of revenue, which are about to be abolished, were
removed to-morrow. The Town Council and the
Dock Committee would assuredly devise some
means of making ships contribute to the support
of the harbour, docks, and other facilities which
the vast expenditure of the Burgesses has secured
to the commercial fleets of every

country

shilling per ton, on the tonnage of this port, in
1952, leaving out of si'ht the increase which has
since taken place, would yield a revenue of 190,3781;
and that merchants and shipowners will be made
to pay this shilling a ton, unless the Government
intend by stealth to take from our Corporation the

right of taxation it now possesses, is certain. The
Town Council will not attempt to impose a
large additional rate on the Borough, to make
good the income derived from the Town Dues.
Mr. LOWE says, " the true principle of taxation
"Ifollowed in framing his bill is, that it is only
4:,athilowable for a portion of a class, or a division of
e country to tax itself for its own benefit, " but that it has no right to tax its neighbours, or
" the community at large."
Now, we would
simply reverse this
proposition, and ask Mr.
ationcommofodnavigable
LOWE if the preservation
rivers, and the construction of
are not as great national advantages aios ursildocks
'
and canals, and whether the communi aty at loaa s
re
should seek to tax any particular locality for that
which is a benefit, not only to the trade of the
whole kingdom, but to the world's commerce ?
The discreditable haste with (which Mr. Lowe
would force his bill upon the country, is a con-
vincing proof that it will not bear discussion; and
it is to be bitterly regretted that we had not a
man in the House of Commons, representing this
Borough, who could have grappled on the moment
with his glaring inconsistencies_ Mr. lIMISFALL
could only laud the sanitary condition of Liver.
pool, and point nut the rem arkable fact that
passing tolls on shipping had nothing to say to
such matters ! When the property of his consti-
tuents was about to be swept vLway, he was com-
and he Ereminc'led the House that
pelled to speak,
the Government had. 0744nt outs one of the officers

aits, entitl

ood v

reward

immediately ben(

lie am

,alculation

the

he sum would probably
reach 50,0001." This then, is the Vice-President
Df the Board of Trade's' proposal for the relief of
British shipping, by which Liverpool is to lose an
income which the author of this precious hoax
estimates at 125,0001. a-year ! For this we are to
receive in return a consolidation of all the debts
chargeable on Town and Shipping Dues, which
are estimated at 2,578,3781. of which some 784,2721
are to be borne by shipping, and 1,800,0001. by
Town Dues ! But of the revenue derived from
Town Dues on shipping, set down at 182,0581.,
only 14,0001. per annum_ will be applied to
shipping purposes, the remainder, 168,0581., being
left " at the disposal of the bill," which transfers the
entire management of these funds to the Board of
Trade—who have first the power of abolishing them
altogether; then levying them anew, and to any
extent they please. Was there ever such a pre-
and, we may add, low scheme of legis-
The shipping interest, Manchester,
and the Corporate Reformers throughout England.

se Mr. Low

efit the shipping

.1., as the figures
was made, but

in the current yea

lation as this

who seek to be relieved of the excessive pressure
)f local taxation, are to be benefitted to the extent
)f 50,0001. a year by Mr. LOWE'S early efforts at law

making

Mr. HERON, the Town Clerk of Manchester,
has stated, with peculiar plausibility, that
when they look at what is going on, they are at.
tending to what concerns themselves ; but we
should like him to tell us the exact amount of
benefit his city will gain by the proposed change?
That enlightened official has also stated that our
" large Corporate expenditure has increased the

" value of property in Liverpool enormously, for
" the inhabitants of the town were not taxed one
" shilling to repay principal or interest." Mr.
HERON should change his air, and come to Liver-
pool for a few years, to undeceive himself on this
subject; and in the meantime, when he speaks in

public, we would recommend him not to copy Mr.
LOWE too closely,and not to give utterance to palpable
nonsense. We can have no wish to tax Lancashire,

Cheshire, or any other county. - We havepurchased
a simple prescriptive right to raise an income from
a source which cannot be abolished without com-
pensation, and if Manchester wishes to buy it at a
fair valuation, she can have it. But Mr. Lo WE, and
those who act with him, will never succeed in
inducing the Parliament of Great Britain to
trample on the legal rights of the citizen, particu-
cularly where their proceeds has been employed to
create a larger trade than that of all the other ports
of the United Kingdom put together !

BIRKENHEAD has discovered that there are such
things as bad and good, dear and cheap, gas ; that
meters are veritable conjuring boxes ; and that

Ight, which ought to rank next in cheapness to
,eater among the necessaries of life, is rendered
almost unattainable by irregular measures, high

pressure, excessive price, and profits, which mono.
polists demand on their capital. The inhabitants
on the Cheshire side of the river have suffered
long and bitterly in this respect'; and they, like a
few mistaken mortals in this town, seek relief by
endeavouring
guardians
supply
of light. the
11l they witness
in the Corporate management of gas in Manches-
ter, and other large towns, is not enough to con-
vince them of what they,
make
would loose by such a
o
change. It is possible to
a Company com-
posed of a few monopolists nt
uho , and to make
them supply a good article throughes
a j
and at a reasonable price. But who
could
do this
with a Corporation, or local board of commis-
sioners ? In Manchester it charges the poor man
ss. a thousand for his gas, the rich man only 4s.
and this rule is universal wherever public bodies
are intrusted with the management of light. It is
true they make large profits, and carry the surplus
of income to the public credit. But, this is only
robbing PETER to satisfy the cravings of PAUL.
And if anything is required to strengthen the
popular suspicion that unbridled jobbery and
aggravated abuse would follow such changes as
the good people of Birkenhead contemplate, it
is the marvellous avidity with which Town
Councillors and Commissioners seek to take
the management of gas into their own hands.
We maintain that all the public require to enable
enable them to keep gas companies under proper
control, is a little knowledge as to the quality of gas,
the means by which it is distributed, and
the construction of the meter. Let every con-
sumer acquire a little information on these sub-
jects, and gas companies will not be able to con-
tinue in their
present career. Seeing this, our
light monopolists are ready to sell out lock, stock,
and
and Cotoroissionera
tobuy, all will be well for
the
business in which the r
pletely at the mercy
barrel ; and.r they can get Corporate bodies
makers of committee, them—but not so for
consumer. There is no
of
a rate would be so corn-
the engineer, and
Company has recently measure
issued he
in
Gas
consumers, telling them what to dmstructions to
o kith the
now in use; but it does not ea , meter
whether the meter is honestly 3coa word as to
whether it has lost its accuracy, whilnestracted, or
" repair." It tells the public how touuderg°lng count the
figures on the dials of the indicator; but it
not inform the consumer how he is to protect him.

NORTHERN TIMES.-LIVERPOOL, PRIDAY, IttißtjAiit A, 1

self against the increased quantity forced throttgli
the meter, by high pressure. -Its instructions are,
therefore, nothing more than waste paper. When
the gas is of good quality, one burner would be
equal to three, supplied with inferior light. Hence
the quality of- gas is one of the most important
points for the consumer to attend to ; and the
people of Birkenhead may well declaim loudly
against paying 5s ]Od per thousand feet, for gas
made from common coal.

But, when the Committee who drew up the
report, which was presented to the Commissioners
on Tuesday, endorses the complaints of consumers,
" that the pressure is taken off the gas-Mains too
" early," we can scarcely give it credit for pos-
sessing that knowledge which is essential to the
economic working of the business it would
take upon itself. That one statement shows
us that the Committee knows about as much of
gas as our Town Council, and that the consumers
would just be as much at the mercy of gas
engineers and managers, as they are now ; while,
by transferring the monopoly from a company
to any public body, it would, as Mr.
A. C. STEWART suggests, shut out competition,
and that in a particular branch of business, where
it is most necessary. We would, therefore, have
the ratepayers of Birkenhead reflect very seriously

before they sanction the creation of a monopoly
which they would find impossible to remove or

counteract

We have heard the formation of a
company for lighting Seacombe mooted recently,

and it

is just possible that Birkenhead may benefit
by that undertaking. All the Committee's Report
promises the ratepayers is, as far as we can see,
that it will use cannel coal, and leave the consumer