The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-23 00:00:00

ft. (Cheers.) They ha've prepared a petition on the sub-
ject to both houses.. of parliament, and I think I shall be
only doing justice to the shipowners of this "port, if I read
-an extract from that petition, which will show you the
Motives and the feelings by 'which they are actuated.
'(Hear, hear.) " That your petitioners feel especially
called upon to assure your honourable house that the
shipowners of Liverpool, being impressed with the useful
and beneficial application of the town and anchorage
'dues by the corporation, hare never complained of the
dues so levied by that body, that they have never -con-
sidered them as a tax pressing upon British shipping;
that they have never made any application to parliathent,
or to her Majesty's government, to be relieved therefeom ;
and that if any representations to that effect have been
Made to your honourable house, they have been made in
error and Without proper inquiry." (Applause.) This
forcible repudiation, emanating "from the interest which
this bill is intended to- relieve, cannot fail 'to arrest the
attention of the' members of the houses of parliament,
when they are called on to pass a bill which appears Ito
the to be for the, first time in their, annals, an open,
avowed, undisguised, and unjustified attempt, at the cen-
t scation of acknowledged rights. (Hear, hear.) _ I will
Proceed to give-you my reasons- for considering "
as no relief of the burthens on British shipping.
'speakers lave forcibly put before You the works
have been undertaken and on by the cor
nevi of this pnrt; in cmnection. with se
which I consider absolutely essential to its ..
n'aY saY, ever increasieg commerce; works which as has
been justly stated, have become More of a national, than a
local character, but which it will be impossible to
out, if the revenues of thedorporation are eth°-
Unless by increased taxation ; and it is bee;
that that will not be done, and that I frel cc
the very first measure which would follow the tAa..—
their
°rthiS bill, would be the increase of the dock' rates 'to
maximum airmunt (hear, hear), that I hold the bi'
will be a. leurthert on laritish shipping, and a positive r
ei.irect injure. to the trade of this port, and. the trait
etrriethseurrourAing towns. ) The vice-pi eta
tioe ,Pleird of trade has( conjured up iu his own image,
le -: the ghost of restricted trade, hut, if this bill becomr
-eves eve may see, and he may see, that ghost of res"
and diverted trade, changing its habitation
Mersey to the Dee, where he thinks it will utti.
elisr. (Laughter.) ' Great stress has been laid on
eeserential dues which have been levied Within this pn,
Arid the vice-president of the board of trade has hrough,
Prominently forward a case of great hardship. I will not
4, enY that these differential dues; caused by antagonistic
Crests,nter have proved great obstructions too the dommerce of pit would have ly- raised
tradeellutation 'of' the vice-president of the board of
, in my mind, for candour, if at the same time hie had
atated to the house that there was then before the house
eirbfil--I mean the antalgarnation bill—which, in the course
.71 'cry short time would abolish the double dues exist-
;Mt within the Mersey, and which, on that bill becoming
law, would terminate the grievance :for which he sotteht
to en
bill
gage the sympathy of the house. (Cheers.) I f this
~ I be studied. I knew, in fact., that there are points in
't which would
ebe a boon to the shipping interest of this
;tlrttr y; bet I
think I am only. speaaing the sentiments
.°Ol- brother
x
cleit be teropt thipowners when I declare that we shall
nd to receive benefits of such a nature at the
ee11e72;60 and eacrifice of that great . principle which has
"er ePheld the commercial classes of this country--the
Protection of great and existing rights. (Applause.)
ileldr- Robert Rankin seconded the resolution. Ile said
'himl 114 agreed with the gentleman who had preceded
which
was the spoliation ofjust rights,l and not thej relief
he that interest which it. was intended to proteCt. (Hear,
ear.) lie himself had only resided in the town about-
e for years, but his ships had. been trading to the
ilrt upvvards of 40 years, and though he had paid, and
ia: still paying, largedues to the town, he was not one of these who desired to deprive the corporation of what he
residered to be its legal rights and property. (Hear,
tolle) He did not feel that the bill if passed would be a
si7 fto the shipping interest. His experience of govern-
teeaures would rather lead him to expect the oppo-
s result. Let them take as an illustration the Merchant
er'eno's Fund. They had there accumulated something
ine-„"°-101s, the interest of which, added to their yearly
oree'• enabled thorn to give very handsome sums to
eril°o-out seamen, and to their widows and children.
Ain sum Was taken from them and appropriated to make
A), .11e deficiency at the outports, and so they speedily lost
4 interest in 't The same was the case in the instance
see th ~,,, i .
'440 ,e. Marine Board ; and he had little doubt that it would
tanal?Pen to the town dues, if the present bill were
_Ved into a law. (Hear, hear.) Instead of decreasing
their rates it would raise them to the maximem; and,the
r „sequence would be that, instead of Shipping being
.i.iietviDired, heavier burthens than ever would be placed on
the ~,11,,!ar, hear.) He; trusted then that. one and all in
tvenieutrlorlito—shipowners, merchants, and tradesmen,
auto co-operate and lend their best support to- defeat
O;4Mr Measure of spoliation. (Hear, hear.)
1* .1- Aiken on coming for Ward was received with
suoae.,‘ applause. He said he rose for the purpose of
hararting the resolution, and he did so because allusion
.tak„„s've,kinade in that resolution to a trial which had
tiro—, 'Nate relative to the legality of those dues. At the
wa: 'Jett trial had taken place, it so happened that he
and ilne or the parties'who took-a part in thep
proceedings,
that the then, then, he would say, clear prOof had been oiv en
(Apph„e clues belonged in right to the cortioratioto
estatdasc) The right-of the corporation was clearly
Obt tril on that occasion. (Hear, hear.) lie had no
to Bear a.t Cheti 'would be very interesting to many present
ri
theoryh of how those dues came into the pos.-
4, en of
pration of Liverpool, how they
P;I:elldecl from different persons until they got them.
reoZewere formerly transferred' to the Corporation of
ety L:, and from that boar to the late Lord Molynetix.
trd Molyneux
sYears they were leased for a thousand
the corporation and the late Lord sold the fee
:ha (--1-
eas never'"the Property. 'Now, the title to that property
era been before "questioned, until 1930, a quarter
eouitzury 8.
nee, B.nee, when a doubt was raised whether they
before nay
:gaily collected or not;
most
-trial took lace
"the da l'ersl cbiefJustice ; the most eminent counsel
stated,
,y rve.ve engaged. . The result, was as, he har
The the re wf
satisfied! arties
ge- or the corporation was
opposing were
Was br etr they.. ,took a bill 'of excentiOns. e....
clear°PPoile„neno. to an inquiry, and it was found that their
ti e.,:a'spro6ad hot- a kg "lo' statist' 'upon. (Heer.). Thc
t, NOn to be, clear and complete. As it 'ye
but that the corPeheporation had a good title to those The
requae PS there might b some articles- that ^..
and the nodification, the core
poration could modify. them,
th 3. bad b
lie tree een modified to !the ehtire satisfaction of
ut i and
cornmerce of Liverpool. ' (Hear, hear.)
Pri' 4P
based 111 ••h
If h,-
a opposition to the bill on a mutt ig
e'eap4enriPle: Allusion had been made to the amount iae
(bet i4tl" had expended. He would say, all on
e„sen atform knew the fact, that the town of Liverpool
..re"i eased those dues and had' a
right to them without
_, i g called u
'oeeti ee , Pon to expend -such amounts, but they had
ef he ['coded for the benefit of the trade and commerce
if tit, Port, What would the Board of Trade have done
anciat(l,c,,e_t_ of con
b Y had had the management ? He held that it would
confiscation if the dues were taken from them,
t 4 no;lrgiwritly he did not believe that if ever it reached
Meet .a;e".e, of Lords it would pass, but that the govern-
Placed l'ul,l, when it 'met the eyes of the members, be
keesuret a large minority. He did not believe that such a
Or Trade could be passed. The Vice-president of the Board
that „Ole based the whole of his arguments on the ground
° al'th`e'earii?p i those dues would be an act. ofjus_ti.ce
Zhlhount e Plug interest& It was no-stich thing. The
e di, 11 some things were Is ed which raised 8931.
OVA), -se were levierl in roods and there was no doubt
if ti, At the co ' - '. '
1,
..._ . nsurners of thoesogoods pay the dues, and
It:hi it would be for the benefit of all the community.
tAty wuee,n said that they were radicals, and he dare say
taotealere' liufficiently radicals in some cases, bet not
Iheatel Zion gb to destroy their own property. (Hear,
t orecOosrle argued that the dues were the property of the
'taae`WO‘Olon, and that their right to it ought not to be
Sr. eOrotta them. But the government was about to do
ti The :su- des were as much the property of this' corpora-
(Hear tide
i, Y were formerly the property of Earl Sefton.
the ' "car.) It could make no difference as to whether
it v,!'iroPerty belonged to several individuals, or whether
%toe, c_Mged to one. But the bill now, before the House
pot to demolish the property, merely becarseit did
Aiken
to one, but to many. . (Hear, hear.) Mr.
,:.%. _ concluded by giving the resolution his most
---' rat support.
, A r .
aeao • pouth next came forward, , also to support the
Teuttion, and after making some introductory observe-
.tOu_o•
reex.pressing his concurrence in the observations of
e'(_el vious speakers said, the bill which had been .pro-
the dtand which was the subject of the meeting adopted
see principle that the prope.rty of a corporation ''stood on
different ground from property belonging to private
melee:teats. '' Ile deniedhat that principle was correct ;
besides, it' did not allow of any compensation. Eineh
,besides,
not be the case with
and herecgoan7erutloe the property of a
%private individual,
eodrprrnoinf
wtheeredual
'were taken away from them, the 411,4 th entitled to compensation as a private individual.
41, l? had most carefully look.ed over the bill, but he cer-
tainly could not, see the drift of it. (Hoar, hear ) It
the
to have one of these things in- eiew.e2that
'le tow dues should be entirely abolished ; or,' that they
should be collected by the customs, and then handed over
tdl4l'the Board of Trade. These points he, argued at con
17:erable length, for the purpose of showing their injus-
, and then said he would point out, not only what had
\veil done, but what would. be required:, 1 First, he
Mould ask—Are we prepared to have the dues abolished ?
1p they were not ; for, if he abolished, the
e ,;111;1?Ing
wner interest—he would speak his own sentiments, as
oth 'Po, and, he believed,- the sentiments of many
the.ZB--must look forward to be.very heavily taxed. I. f
, dues were taken away, how were their
sa,ese.,
be e"vo docks, now reaching pearly, five miles,. to
laea`ent up? How was the accommodation for , the'
whiesksarily large and increasing traffic to be kept up,
sibie", even now was not sufficient. It was almose impose
the „1-0 find carriage room. He was happy to say that
iteeea`,.rade was' increasing, and, ere long, it would be;
length
of
to have a larger line of road along the whole
'l`o',.'
_of the docks-if they intended to Corry on the trade,
4"w"itlhat, the money must come: out of the dock estate,
bpd rais en that could , 'done, the money' Could only
svonid 2,21 by increasingtithe rated. He contended that it tale: teue an act` of spoliation for the Board of 'Trade to
atie Ce dues arising from the commerce of 'Liverpool,
Of 1,,P.Pl them for the purpose of ipiprovirig.the harbour'
eol,7',lYhead. He concluded by expreSsing his cordial
,reoba„tion of the resolution.
seee",,e, Chairman then, if any gsntlemart had an
few"a"-It.Tept to move to the resolution.— No person coming
N.. e ior that
~etir,„
___ , Purpose, the resolution was put 'to the
sse eileeeellu unanimously carried, amidst the applause of
kr.T°"Y•
,
said „ robrose Lane proposed the third resolution. He
wh preceding speakers had stated the manner in
chi.tne corporation of Liverpool had, from time to

The la

reasetl, I

that

&ffirmed,