The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-31 00:00:00

THE EAST.

MARSEILLES', WEDNESDAY.
w
T h
The
placeEorshe thenes has arrived from Constantinople,
h giaic f the left on • the 21st. The acceptance by
]'no Austri
an an
1 ~!1. It produced proposition was known on the
. itnrnense sensation. A
courier
W,l, immediately despatched to the Crimea where it is
understood hostilities are suspended.
he son of Stirbey is expected at the third
on CI.: Principalities. conference

TOWN COUNCIL-YESTERDAY

IA special meeting of the tow n council was held at. eliven

o'clock, for the purpose of considering the provisions of the
proposed Birkenhead dock bill. The mayor, john Steivaft,

Esq., occupied the'chair

The Mayor said, this being t. syleci council, for the purpose
of considering the Etirirenhead docks bill, it would be necessary
that the cotincit thould form themselves into a committee.
Mn nernby 'moved that the council resolve into a core.

Mr. Lloyd seconded the motion, which

The Tos6 Clerk 1

took eteeptiOn to the council adopting plans
which would lead to the expenditure of £850,000 ; but, upon
the suggestion of the mayor, postponed his remarks until the
Cla'Uses embodying the plans came before the council.
The preamble was then passed. The short title
the " Liverpool and Birkenhead Docks Act, 856."
Clauses up to 12, which were merely format, vvete

thelrearnbre of tho

Mr. Hodsu

the town clerk, and pateed without disctssi

ause was as fol Tows

of the act is,

posited w

cl sections have been de-

'III.—And where
ith tlie'clerk of the peace for the county of Chester,
ettsin nuts, and altered works in connection with the
eke, which it is proposed and intended to substi-
stead of certain' parts of th'e docks and works

hPretefore authorised '•o be constructed, and which, by t The
Birke•thead Docks Act, 1855,' the corporation were required
to construct and complete in accordance with the then snii-
gist* plans, and also showing the line, situation, mad levels or

therefore-, subject

3f this a,

the corporation niav a'

sl•all construct

id maintain the said new and, altered works,
the said deposited plans and sections, and may and
the construction and completion of all such parts
and works heretofore authorised as shall he ren-

. „ „..
❑nneces,ary by or incompatible with the execution of
d new and altered worksi and all such new and altered
Rimll be constructed either upon the lands now belong-

?oration, or upon lands which they may acquire

This clause had reference to the plans prepared by Mr.
Hartley, and approved of by the dock committee, and, subse-
quently, at the council. Tim estimated cost was £850,000.
Mr. Hodson said the subject was one which very naturally
people wou'd say belonged rather to a commercial man than it
possibly could to him. But the subject had been so much dis-
cussed in Liverpool since the question of an amalgamation
between Liverpool and Birkenhead commenced, and the sub-
ject involved such a very large amount of money, that he had
had several communications made to him by mercantile men,
that he had a seat in the council, requested that

who, knov
he would

saKe part in the discussion that day. He could
assure the council that he approached the subject with very
great diffidence, because he was quite aware there were gentle-
men in the room long connected with commercial matters, and
who had devoted long and laborious time to the interests of
Liverpool, connected with the dock estate. He, therefore,
hoped Ley would consider that the remarks he felt called upon
to make that day were made in a spirit for the best of the.
town of which they were all governors; and believing, as he
conscientiously did, that the subject now before the council
was one of vast importance to Liverpool, he hoped he should
be patiently listened to in the remarks he had to make.
Ire fully agreed, and had always agreed, that it was wise
of Liverpool to become connected and amalgamated with
Birkenhead. In fact, be was very young when the subject first
entered into the minds of the people of Liverpool, and even
then he thought it an unwise policy to have sold Birkenhead.
He regretted when Mr. Bramley-Moore was chairman of the
dock committee that he did not at that time get Birkenhead.
But time rolled on, and it was at last, thought fit, in the
wisdom of the council, with which he fully agreed, that they
should get Birkenhead. They obtained Birkenhead, and, he
believed, at a cost of nearly £1,200,000. This was, he
admitted, one step in the right road, providing that caution
and prudence were used with the estate. But they were now
tilled upon to carry out the act of parliament, which, if car-
ried out in its entirety, would involve an amount of expendi-
ture to the town which it was dreadful to contemplate, and
upon which no remunerative interest could be brought to bear,
and he therefore did think they were called upon to consider
carefully the question before them, and .to ask upon what
ground they were required to expei.d an amount which he
held to be totally unnecessary, at the present time, and why
they could not make those dock• ,vailable for the present
for the purposes of commerce, with some smaller outlay
than that proposed by this bill, and go on con-
structing the work as time might require and
as businesss might improve ? Now he was no+
speaking merely his own views. He was speaking
upon the views of an engineer of great celebrity. lie had gone
across the water several times, for the purpose of going over
the entirety of the estate with men whom he considered well
qualified to judge of the question, and who might fairly give
an honest opinion. The only way in which they Could judge
of a question of such importance was by what was before them ;
and therefore they had facts now which he should point to. He
had watched the rise and progress of Liverpool ; and every
man who took an interest in his native town, must be proud
of the progress Liverpool bad made. She had gone on more
rapidly than almost any commercial town in the world ; and
he might say, without fear of contradiction, that no commercial
town in the world had risen more rapidly. Ile was not exactly
certain as to the amount, but ho thought they might take the
money tail out already as about £1,200,000. In addition to
that, £850,000 was now proposed to he laid out within two
years. In this case, as in others, he looked with su,picion at
the estimated co.t of works, and thought it more than probable
bat a consideranly larger sum would be required than the
So far as he could judge
the expenditure would

£850,000 now ;pokn of

. ...,.....
he something like £lOO,OOO a year. There they
had two millions and more of money laid out, and

he had been trying to find out wl:at had been the return from
the Birkenhead estate. It would he a farce indeed to mention
what the r'turn had been for the last 12 or 18 months. But
supposing that Birkenhead went on as rapidly as Liverpool had
done, even then it would take more than thirty years to pay
the outlay for the interest of the money tl.ey were now about
to layout upon these works! It would take 30 yearsabsolutely
to pay the interest of the money without one penny for work-
ing expenses, or anything of that sort. Now he would ask
the council whethbr it was wise for them to co and lay out
that large sum of money upon a scheme of that sort, which
was in a great measure visionary, because they must bear in
mind that the Birkenhead dock committee themselves had
been working their estate to the best advantage for the last
several years. They could all see how it had gone on. He
could not understand how the dock committee of Liverpool,
and the corporation of Liverpool, with the most ample dock
space which they were now procuring at the north end of
Liverpool, with the vast sums of money they were also laying
out at the south end of Liverpool, with the great improvements
they were making in the docks, how on earth they could ever
expect to make them profitable works while constructing such
large and tremendous works as they now proposed to construct at
Birkenhead. An engineer told him—of course it was a subject
for discussion, and he would be replied to if he was wrong—
that a scheme could he laid out, by which Birkenhead, for
about £140,000, could be placed in a position to supply all
requirements for a long period, for ten or twelva years.
Would it not be a prudent course for them to have laid nut
such a scheme, and gone on, year by year, expending little
and little, just as the requirements of the port would warrant ?
Would that not have been the prudent course, which any man
would follow in the management of his own estate ? At the
last meeting but one, one of the council, Mr. Hornby, told
them very justly, the position of the corporation, and drew a
very melancholy picture of the corporate estate of Liverpool.
No wonder it was a melancholy picture. He (Mr. Ho ?son)
thought it would be a melancholy picture indeed—nothing
short of a rate to be levied, under the name of a Birkenhead
rate, upon the community, to pay the deficit. He had himself
asked the chairman of the dock committee, whether that body
would buy the docks? Not they ! until they were a paying
concern. He did not blame them, for no man would do so.
There was a separate cet"of &Inks, which he did not at all like,
kept by the dock committee for the Birkenhead docks, and a
separate account for the docks of Liverpool. What did that
mean? Why, that every particle of the deficiency which
occurred in the working of the Birkenhead dock estate the
Liverpool corporation would have to pay. If that were the
case, be contended it would involve £50,000 a year for many
years to come, before they would ever be able to make these
docks a paying concern. Gentlemen might gloss it over with
beautiful colours about time rolling on, trade increasing, com-
merce swelling, and all that, but let them take things as they
had existed, and what had Birkenli :ad done for the last eight
years? Well did he recollect' wLen if". Jackson in' some o
hie glowing s:toeeltes d r'ae • ' would rt''
Liverpo.l. IT.-

n Cie t