The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-06-17 00:00:00

THE TOWN DUES.

LOCAL CHARGES ON SHIPPING

(FRoM OUR OWN REPORTER.) s
HOUSE OF COMMONS, MONDAY:„._
The select committee re-assembled at noon to-day, Jur'
Lowe in the chair. The other members of the cot:n
mittee present, were Lord Hotham. Mr. Doman, An.'
Haidy, Mr. Headlam, 11,1 r. Vance, Mr. Milner Gibson,
Mr. Beamish, Sir John Duckworth, Mr. Cardwell, Mr.
Bouverie, and Mr. Moffatt
The Town Clerk of Liverpool was re-called, and big
examination continued : He stated that a lease was
granted to the Molyneux family, and a sub-lease DY_
them to the Corporation of Liverpool in the 2Stil
Henry VIII., dated the 20th of February, 153.2.• tshc'e:
another similar case, in the 38th of Henry VIII.
year 1555, Queen Mary granted a lease to Sir Richard
Molyneux and Sir William Molyneux, of the town an:,
borough of Liverpool, for 41 years, at the rent
£l4 6s Bd. It was dated the 22nd of March, 1555. Sir
Richard Molyneux and Sir William Molyneux havi"
that lease, granted a sub-lease to the mayor and e 0 and
ration of Liverpool, in the year 1557, for one year, an
so on from year to year, at the will of both parties.
ct
,
Mr. Shuttleworth here remarked that Mr. Stanistre
was ready to produce those leases, and it might, here.
fo re, be canistronvenient now to call him. ceS
Mr. Sted, on being examined, produced the le
in question, and explained them in detail. In the cour'oc
of his explanations, he said that in 1572, Sir. Williajd
Molyneux and Lord Molyneux granted to the May
erp or an ,
yooi
Corporation of Liverpool, a lease of the town of Li
for the space of 1,000 years. lylr.
At the close of Air. Stanistred's examination,
Shuttleworth resumed, and after citing further lea.a(eT;
from the Molyneux family to the mayor and corporlivv..
)
of Liverpool, he submitted a number of accounts, -ITbv
ing the rents which from time to time had been Paiu
the corporation to the Molyneux in considers
tio
of the leases.
Lord Hotham : Have you any thing to lay before the

committee on this part of the question ?
The Town Clerk : Not in the form of doconients'
now propose to refer to the evidence which has already
been given, in reference to the Liverpool dock estate.
After some conversation, the Town Clerk commenced-
by referring to the dock acts, stating that the first ding
was was passed in the reign of Queen Ann. After readi
extracts from the various dock acts, and showing from
troy.them the separate and distinct interests of the dock
tees and the corporation, he said, that when the corpora.:
tion got possession of the lease from the Moir"
family, they t
the value of the property. ln the first in the
a once commenced operations to develop
°
corporation gave a grant of four acres for the purpose
the
making a dock, and that grant was the origin et.
lie
great dock estate, which they now had at Liverpool.
had
next showed that in the sales of property which she
been made from the corporation to the dock trustees,
corporation had always studied the interests of the Per;
the trade of which had gradually increased under th
management which he had explained. In 1800 the num:
ber of vessels which entered the port of Liverpool
4,746, and the tonnage, 470,060 tons ; in 180, the ntl,rgi
ber of vessels was, 6,729, and the tonnage, 734.- e
tons ; in 1820, number of vessels, 7,276, tonne;
805,033 tons ; in 1830, number of vessel, 11,214, toluieg,„:
1,411,964 tons; in 1840, number of vessels,
2,445,708 tons ; in 1860, number of vessels, 20,457/ t°11134„0:',
3,536,337 tons; in 1865, number of vessels, 20,024, to
lane'
4,096,167 tons. After dwelling at great length in
exp
tion of the various dock acts, as they affected relatively tut;
corporate and dock estate, he remarked that be had „111„° -
particularly refered to this part of the question, in e"---sen,
15,998, tonnsts-P
quence of it having been stated that the Corporatioily
having. to deal with their own land, had done so Preludilti
to the interests of the dock estate, which was not O.
John Stewart, who was now the Mayor of Liverpool, and
who, from his professional experience, was fully ogie•all'-
ot the affairs of the dock estate for thell
years, would be prepared to give the committee
the particulars referring to the sales of land from tbe e9'd
poration to the dock committee. It had also been aliegtd.
that the corporation, by the power of vetoing the procellati
ings of the dock committee which it possessed, ,1&,
prejudicially interfered with the management of the a''
of
estate. He would lay before the committee the nun' cop
occasions, and the circumstances under which the ee.,
poration had exercised its power of vetoing the proceedn,:;s
of the dock committee from 1825 to the present time- 4biti
power the corporation had exercised twelve times 111,. the
that period, but he did not consider that the exercise of 0
veto had on any occasion been prejudicial to the Were
last thir
of the dock estate. The Town Clerk here laid before hte
committee the various occasions on which the corPeretib°l
er
had vetoed the proceedings of the dock committee, tog
~s
with their reasons for doing so. Some amusement
theo
caused on the Town Clerk stating that on one occasion
i
corporation vetoed a resolution of the dock committee that
reporters be admitted to their meetin gs. to
Mr. Lowe : What year was it that the proceedingg,
admitting the reporters, were vetoed ? tho
The Town Clerk : That was in the year 1828. '-
year 1810, the question of admitting' reporters to the
meeting of the dock committee again came on, and the d° cri‘
committee then wished to exclude them, whilst thineertfat
ration were desirous of their being admitted. ~1,„
occasion, therefore, the two bodies had change° -
(Laughter.) Reference had been made, before the the
mittee, to the purchases of laud in Wallashe
corporation, and it had been alleged that t
there. The Town Clerk here referred to the min
were made in order to prevent docks from being filth;
yo.speopolurbia:(loB
proceedings of the corporation in the year 1.817,:wiki,-,.
negotiations took place between the corporation and
It
F. R. Price for the purchase of land on Wallasey-P° tion
appeared from the proceedings that when the corp .wr'rjett
agreed to purchase the land from Mr. Price, they f0r,,3
dis-
a communication to him, which stated that it was t° 7i for
tinctly understood that the land was to be appropriated
the
the benefit of trade, in connection with the interests
e or' tion
port of Liverpool. That clearly showed that the allig'ja
to which he had refered was altogether unfound,e,ee's the
continuation, the Town Clerk laid before the coinnut' a at
entire history of the purchase and re-sale of the lard
of
Wallasey-pool, together with the ultimate p .pre nest
Vella°
the Birkenhead docks by the corporation last year. the
referred to the Birkenhead dock bill, promoted °Y,ese
corporation this year. The corporation, he said' piing
desirous of completing the docks at Birkenhead, aece.
rbtio°:r anon, to
inal
to a plan by their own engineer, in preference to the of the
plan sanctioned by parliament. The reason was, tha_oula
expense would have been less; and another, that it ;wee
of
fa have
abrelieanmme
hotr e effectualhavihg
rejectedf ord oc dock
hpeu rpploasne,s . The cern ion,
under the circumstances, now felt that weretheythe c o
regent
execute the works at Birkenhead 'according to the .r,- the
plans, as authorised by parliament. After sh°%°lld7e'd to
amount of the corporation debt, the witness prooee
ration
enumerate the several sums of money which the build-
incorPAehad from time to-time expended in improvements enuLe not.
gs in Liverpool, which were solely for the benefit of tutor for
Included in this expenditure were several large
opening and widening streets rendered specially thee coin-
for dock purposes. Some gentlemen stated before 000 in
mittee that the corporation had expended X 15,?; b was
widening and otherwise improving Bold-street, vralexperise
full of shops. That was quite a mistake. No such e rpora'
had been incurred in improving Bold-street. The eeirt tba
tion had also spent a considerable sum of ninneYat of the
erection of buildings which were solely for the bene,te were
port and the commerce of the country. ,AMOllgSt thel, the
the Revenue-buildings at Liverpool, upon sale:wive
corporation spent upwards of £150,000, Thia
of the sum contributed by the governualt:s Wu"
building, with the exception of portions of I , for
pied by the dock committee, was used solely loot
government and national purposes, there being for their
advantages, and the corporation receiving nothing f°'
outlay. The corporation had also constructed a ler2o n-
stage, at a cost of £35,15 7, and which absorbed Doing
larger in maintaining, and they were now constructing ..o.oig
larger landing-stage, for the accommodation of
would be
steamers and other vessels. This lauding-stage _iisbla
1,000 feet long, and 80 feet wide, and would be n would be
at all times of tide. It would cost £130,000, and o
The linos
ual
completed in the course of the present year.
cost of maintaining it would be about £2,000, Midi!: use
not intended to make any charge at all for tuefit of
of it. This landing-stage would be for the hen.„,,,01
dtbeerivgeennoersapleepiaulblhieen,
eafintdfrothiheittownThoefautivoefrpxos,lu„sigl,
also been spent in a chain-testing machine, which wa resen-
liarly a port advantage. Some years ago,
tation of shipowners and others, the corporation ere
,54
lighthouse at the Rock, upon which they spent X3O 000 fo,
the corp`
the benefit of the port. In consequence of the z
South Lancashire being now held at Liverpool, the
ration bad erected assize courts there, which theY su.
themselves, and also were at the expense ocheroviding At
judges' lodgings, and their expenses during assize:* tho
Lancaster these expenses are defrayed by a rate the
county, but in Liverpool they are paid by the corpr_ijoe,
on the rep_i_ci
at their own cost.—The witness was still under eicaralm"
when the committee adjourned to Thursday next.

ivP° ... rteu

organisef en association to provide appropriate
SUNDAY MUSIC IN MANCHESTER.—The attempts inaa,e:;..
ormances in places of public resort at Manchester, on ii:ls
days, have been crowned with success, and a conunitte! 0
been appointed, which includes some of the mot ernitilie,p,
names in the commission of the peace, in the corpora Ito
and among the merchants of Manchester. Anwngst G. 5
0
best known are Aldermen W. B. Watkins, J. Sbawit_l€3,..
Willett, and Messrs. J. A. Turner (president of the „/.013.
Menial Association), B. N. Philips, Edmund POtti
c, i G.
Potter, T. Schunek, Martin Schunek, C. J. Sehottuel, .
and T. Cooke, James and John llogdale, Jos. Ewart, J. 0.
Taylor, and Jer. Garnett (proprietors) • and 11. • ,Ac„,° s
(one of the editors of the Aranchester'Guardian), T('ciftc,
musical
_Llo.
Fairbairn, C.E.,,T. Leisler, H. J. Leppoc Edmund Grun ,
Albany Fonblanque, Thomas Ashton, 'John B' adooks,
Ellis Cunliffe, and J. M. Brooks. Messrs. Cunliffe, Br .__.
and Co., bankers, have undertaken to receive subseriptwo

1 towards expenses,