The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-12 00:00:00

THE PIKE WATER (7)

TO JOSEPH COOPER, ESQ , CHAIRMAN OF THE WATER
COMMIITEE.

Sir,—You cannot say that I take you by suprise
in giving you, even at the eleventh hour, a brief
narrative of my last, perhaps my final visit to the
Pike; for I told you on Saturday that such was my
intention. I ant not, to plead my lowly birth
and breeding as an apology for thus trespassing on
.Your valuable time ;-Iyott have accepted the office
of chairman of the water committee, an office
which, at the present time, involves responsibilities
of no ordinary character. A short time ago you
informed the council tint the limped. -(?). water
from tile Pike would be flowing through our mains
on the first of January. Now, - it 'May- be
that you have kept the promise' to the ear,
but broken it to the understanding. You
are in private life incapable of perpetrating a
fraud or anything approaching to it; even in busi-
ness matters, those who know you best will pro-
nouritie you incapable of deception. . But the
moral code in public affairs appears, so. low and
loose of late—at least on the -water. question in
Liverpool—that anything, however. fotil or gross
so that it has the effect of misleading the people,'
is . considered legitimate. " True it is, and of
verity," you have indeed succeeded iu introducing
a portion of the Pike water in the town ; but under
what circumstances? Well may I exclaim,, good
heavens! and has it indeed come to this ?"—for,
. ,
assuredly, deceptioncan no further go.
It-has been my destiny to expose the monstrous
attempts .which were made some ten years
ago, to deprive the inabitants of Liverpool
of one of Gel's choicest blessings—an abundant
supply of pure water. That you were a party to
this atrocity I cannot for a moment believe. To a
certain extent I succeeded in defeating this
nefarious proceeding, and since then, notwithstand-
ing the'•ledgerdemain which has-been practised In.
respect to the distribution, of the water fro the

wells, the inhabitants have enjoyed a tolerable
supply of wholesome water, but the Pike was to be
forced down the throats of the people at any price.
It was not enough that the seheine should be
" rivetted about their necks," but they mush
swallow the nauseous dose at any risk.
A short time since it was announced that the
long looked for slime was at last flowing into the
reservoir at Kensington, and great was the curi-
osity on the part of those who have taken an
interest in the matter (and who has not?) to pro
cure samples of the water, and most people were
rather surprised to find it so much purer than had .
been_entictipated. Little did they dream of the
" thimblerig'' which was being practised upon them,
with your sanction, of course.. Having had my
suspicions aroused, I proceeded to make. the neeese
sary inquiries, and soon leaxned (for notwithstand-
ing the reign of terror which has been so long in
force amongst the officials of the water works,
information CA n not:be withheld from me) that a mere
driblet of Pike water had been introduced
into the mains by way of experiment, and, although,
this was mixed with some ten times its hulk of
pure water, yet even in this proportion, its nause-
' ous character was at once detected. I have, on
this important subject, made it an invariable rule
to accept nothing on hearsay—hence my determi-
nation to re-visit the Pike to see and judge for my-
self. . Friday- morning last found me on the bank,
or rather in the puddle, at the Aspull Moor Reser-
voir (that is to be) ; here, as you are well aware, we
get the first specimen of the Rivington decoction
as it issues from the main. Since my last
visit the orifice has been carefully covered
over, doubtless with a view of preventing
prying eyes, like my own, from making unpleasant
observations. I found one of the superintendents
or " gaffers," at the place with his horse and trap, for
here all the officials have their horses and carriages,
for which the Corporation pay soundly—some
having relays, even—like myself, he was wading
knee deep in clay and mud. There ia nothing like
impudence ; at least it served me on this occasion
—so I boldly asked him the reason why-there was
so little water sent to Liverpool ? This question
seemed to throw him off his guard, and with
a view of showing me that there was some
water going down, he caused a couple of navvies
to raise a plank or two, the very thing _I
wanted. " There," said he, "you see- there is a
good soupe o' waeter there; and when it
its gaeten mixed wee pump waeter at Ond Swan,
its gradely waeter and plenty un it " I took my
rule and measured the depth of the semi-fluid, and
found it at the deepest point a little over 7 inches in
the 44 in. main. The quantity flowing was certainly
not more than one of our small engines, say Toxteth
park or Soho street, would deliver. And the quality !
What can I compare it to ? It is not so dark as
porter nor is it so bright as sherry ;in fact, I know
of no fluid like it, except it be- the wash flowing
into a manure pit from a well regulated cow-house,
like Mr. Littledale's, at. Liseard, for instance.
My burley friend,- the " gaffer," apparently did
not .much relish my company, and was soon
off, as he said, for Moutray House, distant only
three or four miles . from Aspull. Addressing a
man- who appeared to be a foreman of the works,
I enquired, out- of curiosity, whether that was
really the water they were sending down'to Liver
pool? For a moment he hesitated in replying, at
last he said. " He believed it was." I then said,
" Do you think it fit for any human being to use ?"
another pause, when he replied, " Indeed, sir, I
would be very sorry to have to drink it, neither
would I give it to my pigs., "I thought as much,"
said I, and thanking. him for hiS courtesy and
honesty, wished him good morning This was the
first time I had got such a. frank opinion from
any one about the works: - Now, sir, this is the
character given 'of your Pike water, not by me,
but by one of . your own servants, on the
very spot where it ought to appear to
the greatest advantage. Aspull,. as you are
well aware, is distant from the equalising
tanks at Horwich about four miles, for nearly two
of which it passes. through, a stone tunnel
calculated to improve its appearance, if that were
nossible, but it is not, nor will it ever be. Yet
this is the stuff which you have permitted to be
surreptitiously introduced into Liverpool, and by
diluting it, as before described, palming the
compound.off on the credulous as veritable Pike
water, . The bait has taken in some quarters where
I had least expected it. A-Saturday s " chronicler
of local gossip," formerly a staunch opponent
_of
of the Pike, is now indignant forsooth, because
certain parties venture to question the fact that
the Rivington water is pure and wholesome ;
and in the height of, his new born zeal, he proves
the truth of the obi adage, " that the wisdom is
not in the head, but in the wig." In the present
instance it is probably centered in the- beard !
Talk of the road froin " Balaklava to the Camp."
Assuredly- it could bear no comparison to that from
Aspull Moor to Horwich ; and had the Times.
correspondent accompanied me on my perigrina-
tions on Friday last, the hardships he bus endured
on his voyage of discovery to Tula would have
appeared comfort's self ; and I have no doubt he
would- have inflicted .two or three mortal columns
on the public detailing ficiw, at every step, he
sunk knee deep in the mud and mire ; how that,.
when emerging on terra firma, he fciund an
accumulation of, some fourteen pounds weight. of
clay adhering with pertinacious obstinacy to each
hoof; .how it was absolutely necessary to use the
keife'ere we could shake a loose leg, and a variety.
minor grievances, all of which I shall pass over as
matter of course'. Arrived at the Crown Inn, Hot:-
wich, where you have • beerr many times, I am at
home, and think no more about my hardships -
secured my bed, and a. warm welcome,
start for the lakes. To my surprise; I sturnble on-
e. Liverpool water official, at the filter beds, I
believe. The surprise was mutual. It was just
drawing towards dark, so I had no- time to
give or receive explanations, and I hurried
on to Grimeford lane with a view of ascer-
taining what progress, if any, had been
made in stopping the leakage. Unfortunately it'
was very dark ere I reached Betty Dickenson's,
and I could not see the flow of water, but was in-
fer-Med by Betty's daughter that there_ was no
change thee my last visit: . -
Having got back to the Crown, and having donned
a suit of clothes belonging to the worthy landlord,
I consigned, my own to the care of the " maid of
the. inn." I am more fortunate than " our own
correspondent," for it has always been my luck
to meet with the utmost kindness and hospitality
whenever I went a-journeying, and assuredly I
never experienced more than I did on the present
occasion. I was a thorough specimen of a " mud
lark," being bedaubed from head to heel with
clay, &c. Nevertheless, my trousers were washed,
so were my stockings, how ;ray shoes were cleaned
is a puzzle to- me, yet elettned they were, and all
dried and comfortable for me by daylight. Next
morning, having partaken of a hearty breakfast—
and, tell it not, a " wee drap dram" in my last cup
of coffee, I enquired for my little bill. What was
the amount? Shade of Peel, with your sou's
Russian dinners at 60/. each, listen to this, two
shillings was the demand, and, quoth the worthy
and warmhearted hostess, " weel have nowt more,"
In the course of conversation, the water question
was naturally the principle topic, and I learned one or
two important and startling facts -Goitre, a-disease
altogether unknown in Liverpool, is very common
in this neighbourhood, owing, doubtless, to the
use of snow water. But there is another fright- I
ful malady prevalent,here, also, namely, the gravel.
My landlord, otherwise as fine a specimen. of
humanity as you.could wish to look on, is a martyr
to this awful disease, which he attributes solely
to the water; in fact, some of his wife's relations
Were obliged to remove from Rivington 'owing to the
same cause, namely, the deleterious quality of the
water
Now, Mr: Cooper, these are facts—which
you 6an -ascertain for yourself if yeu doubt my
statement, and 'a great deal more besides—
and is it with a view of hale-clueing this
disease-generating fluid amongst 400,000 people,
that you have tolerated such a gross piece of
imposition as has been recently practised on the
inhabitants' of Liverpool? 'Poison ie poison, sir,
disguise it as you may, and although- you may
clilufe the Pike water with 10 or even 20 times
its bulk of- i
pure spring water, it is, nevertheless,

Pike water, and as such. it is •poison. Thit dal
yon have to answer for your conduct,. nOt t°:
me but to - the whole town. Let us- see,
that you make a clean' breast of it, in so fat
as you yourself are concerned, at all events.
But I think I hear yotfand Others cry, ." What are
you going to do with the Pike water? Look at the
money it has cost. Are we to lose all that ?" Yes!
sir ; and if there is a man in the Connell thanthei,
this day who has.the moral courage to " bell the
cat," he will boldly propose'that the whole schemei
be abandoned, even at the `sacrifice of a million of
money. The money maybe recovered ; the injul
to the public health, by the introduction of the
Pike water for general use, never could--;
and you knnw it full well. In fee',
dare you to introduce the Pike water in i 0
integrity. Try it for a single . week, as. I have
elsewhere recommended, and see what the effect
will be; for you will bring a hurricane about yod
errs that will sweep away the abomination for evO'
You are too much of a gentleman-and man or till°,
world to accept anything I have written as personal
to yourself. I know you only as- chairman of the
Water Committee, and it is in that capacity ales°
I now address you. If for: ten mortal years I havii
fought this Pike battle, my object has neither bee°
revenge -or personal aggrandisement. I hal°
simply done my duty, and let me hope that this
day you will do yours.—l am, sir, your obedOt
servant, . JAMES INI'DoNALD.
'l2th Jan., 1857.