The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-10-30 00:00:00

MAY'OR'S COMMUNICATIONS,

A letter was read from Mr. John Wybergh, requesting
to be allowed to resign his situation as treasurer of the

borough

The acceptance of Mr. Wybergh's resignation was post-
poned until the next council, as the Act of Parliament
requires such a vacancy to be filled up within 21 days,
and, if the resignation were accepted at once, too short
a time to fill up the vacancy would be left to the new
council, which will not assemble-until Monday, the -10th
of November.

Applications from Mr. Capes Ashlin, Mr. Archibald
Tweedie, and other gentlemen, for the situation about to
be vacated, were postponed until the same period.
A letter was read from Mr. W. L. Beaufort, Surveyor
General of the Post Office, stating that the Postmaster
General had received, from the Liverpool Chamber of
Commerce, a letter, suggesting that the Post Office should
be placed on the site of the new Public Offices
street, and requesting to know whether the Chapala,

Commerce reiresentl the town of Liverpool generally,
and whether the Mayor and council concurred in the
vioys - _ -

Hodson moved that the letter be referred to the
health committee, which was seconded and carried.

WIDENING OF THE STREETS ALONG THE DOCKS,-THE

APPROACHES TO THE LANDING STAGE.

The letter of the Chairman of the Dock Committee to
the Mayor, was read, on the subject of widening the

streets on the east margin of the docks mentioned

previous letter of the 15th Sept. 1854.
Mr. Charles Turner said he had written that letter in
obedience to an unanimous resolution of the dock com-
mittee. That committee entertained the same strong
opinion which, he believed, was entertained by everybody
merchant, tradesman, or whoever else, that this improve-
ment was one of the most urgently required of all public
improvements. The council were aware that a bill was
sought for, in 1854, to effect the principal improvements
to which'his letter referred, which was withdrawn only
in consequence of the council having obtained possession
of the Birkenhead docks. The cost, as it was estimated
by the Mayor, would be about £222,000. He therefore
moved that the town clerk be instructed to take the
necessary steps to obtain parliamentary powers for the
purpose of carrying out these improvements.
Mr. Alderman Bola seconded the motion.
Mr. Alderman Parker thought while the council had
the Birkenhead clog around their necks they ought to
pause before they too hastily adopted such a motion.
They had also to meet the wants of the Cheshire people,
and if ;,they loaded themselves with all these responsibili.;
ties, they would be driven to a borough rate at last.

Mr. Earle hoped the motion would not be rejected
without the council giving it more consideration than Mr.
Parker had done. Nobody could doubt the vast impor-
tance of the improvement. He would, however, remind
Mr. Turner that there were other improvements as
important. This improvement proposed was all for the
shipping interest alone. Now, he hoped that if the cor-
poration were disposed to do anything to please the dock
committee, the dock committee would not set their faces
against the corporation carrying out another improve-
ment. He looked upon the approaches to the pierhead as
being quite as important. The dock committee had
set their faces against it, although they had usurped the
whole shore for five or six miles. There was no possibility
of getting to the Cheshire side now, except by the outlet
left to them. Every female and every child who went
there, incurred the risk of their lives every time they
went. The pier-heads were perfectly useless. The idea
was, that the George's Dock could not be filled, and the
evidence was asked of a parcel of people who, of course,
followed the views of their employers. Mr. Turner placed
great reliance upon dock-gatemen, upon pilots, upon a
parcel of ignorant people who knew nothing at all—people
who always ran in one groove, and never thought of ad-
vancement. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Evans, also, was opposed
to his (Mr. Earle's) views, but they all recollected the
Gill-street market, and remembered that Mr. Evans was
not all-wise. Ile hoped the Cheshire people and the
town's people would'continue to keep the subject before
the public, and if he had the honour of a seat in the
council next year, he should certainly move for some com-
mittee to take it into consideration. He looked upon it as
the greatest improvement they could have in Liverpool ;
and he denied that the millions of people who crossed
there were to be subjected to continual inconvenience and
danger, for the convenence of the comparatively few ships
which used the George's Dock basin. (Hear, hear.)
It was suggested, that Mr. Laird's letter to the council
upon this subject should be then read, which was done
accordingly. It was:accompanied by a memorial from the
Cheshire side, upon the same subject. The memorial,
however, was not read, it not having arrived in time to be
presented according to the standing orders.
Mr. Alderman Holme said, he very much regretted the
position of responsibility he found himself placed in, by
the absence of the able chairman of the committee, and
which obliged him to oppose the motion of Mr. Turner,
and the more particularly so, because he was of opinion
that every imnrovement proposed, which would very much
conduce to the benefit of the commerce of the port, would
conduce to the benefit of the inhabitants of the town
generally, and he had long been convinced, that the avenue
which led to the former, was already sadly too narrow
for the trade of the port, and that it was a most desirable
improvement, if they were prepared at present to go to
parliament. (Hear, hear.) But he should have to call
the attention of the council, first, to the amount they were
asked to spend, and next, to the late period 'at which the
application was made. It would become his duty to state
to them a few of the responsibilities upon which they
had already entered, and, when he had done, he was sure
the council would agree with him, that to proceed to the
discussion and decision of a question of such importance,
at that late hour of the night, when their plans must be
deposited almost immediately before a Parliamentary
committee, would be most imprudent at the present time,
however desirable it might be at some other period to
entertain the proposition. They had, in the first instance,
been saddled with the Birkenhead docks ; and if, indeed,
the chairman of the dock committee came to ask them to
go to parliament conjointly with that committee, and
stated that the latter would go to parliament to apply
for a bill to take the Bi, kenhead dock estate entirely off
the hands of the council, and relieve them wholly of that
heavy responsibility ;
then, indeed, he should be very
to have the proposition entertained. (Hear, hear.)
to go on with those enormous works connected

C. Turner:

?erty, wor:cs, art
benomn n sr." r

not (bout,
as the duty

IllVto ..
and not to rusb into an expenditure of over £200,000.
(Hear, hear.) They had an ac.-mrau.laeng f:nd to pro-
vide for, of 6 per cent, on an average fol. the amounta
they had borrowed, for the purpose of erecting their new
assize courts, and their borough gaol, all of which must

Mr. C. Turner : That is not primarily the object. The
real object is, to facilitate the traffic north and south,
s in the carrying out of those improvements certain
vill be placed at our disposal, it will be our business
if out to the best advantage, probably, by erecting
, Dale- I warehouses on it. _

Mr. Picton continued to say, that such an improvement
would be chiefly for the convenience of the shipping and
commerce of the port, and that being the case, he con•

sidereil the matter would be taken up „with much greater
propriety by the dock committee than by the council.
(Hear, hear.) It was for the dock committee to co-operate
with the council in the matter ; but, under the circum-
stances, he thought it would be prudent to give the notice,
and so place themselves in a position to act as occasion
might require.
Mr. Tobin said that he felt great difficulty in dealing
with the question, and for this reason—that he could not
separate this improvement from the improvement of the
iarep rtotiaoelhi
gehs
tt
tohtaht e
sroi vmeer ,
vt ,oe wl hd
ei crihn
ell4l r.mEeaars luer
eh asdh ao
ul
ludd e
bd.
0
brought forward including both improvements, and that
they should not now go to parliament, and subsequently
the dock committee, for another. (Hear, hear.) He was
very much afraid of any hasty measures which might be
brought forward on this subject. He felt that it was an
exceedingly difficult one, and it was therefore desirable
that it should be brought prominently before the public,
in order that they might carry out some well-defined
scheme worthy of the town, and commensurate with the
commerce of the port. (Hear, hear.) It had been urged
that this question involved, principally, Cheshire interests.
He denied that entirely. The question involved the
interests of Liverpool as well as of Cheshire. What
should he say of the thousands of passengers from
America and elsewhere who landed here ? of the tens of
thousands of excursionists and visitors who came here
from the manufacturing districts ? What was it that
they were proud of ? It was their river—(hear, hear),—
and yet, from want• of proper approaches, they virtually
debarred the inhabitants of the town from it. (Hear,
hear.) He was aware of the difficulties of their financial
position, and that was one of the reasons why he was
anxious that no hasty decision should be come to on the
subject. At the same time, the present inadequacy of the
approaches to the river was a crying evil. (Hear, hear.)
It was a question which would be forced on public atten-
tion ; and he did not hesitate to say that, at no distant
time, it would be the great question of the people of
Liverpool. He could not consent to go to parliament for
a partial improvement, and he should therefore support
the amendment.

Mr. Ald. Bold suggested that both improvements should
be included in the notice. As to the high—level road to the
stage, it was the opinion of a gentleman well
to forma lodgment on it, that, by erecting
blqauunaidlldiifiningegds on each side of the new street—which would be
the finest they had in Liverpool—they would defray nearly
the whole cost of the improvement. According to Mr.
Hartley'sei plan, the street would be 60 feet wide, and the
u e would be just the same as Bold-street—that was
incline
St. James's-street was 1 in 19, Water-street I in
24, and Chapel-street 1 in 20, so that they would see how
easy, by this improvement, the approach to the landing
stage would he made. (Hear, hear.) As to the shortness
of the time for giving the notice—in 1854 they had fully
discussed the subject on the 4th of October, and it was
only on the 10th of the November following that the
notices w, re first submitted to the council. He did not
see that they were now so much behind hand ; and even if
they were so, the council being nearly the same as in 1854,
all Of them were well acquainted with the merits of the
subject.

gr. Bramley Moore, M.P.
matted them to anything ?

asked if the notice com-

Mr. Alderman .C9oper : It merely gets the wedge in,
that is all. It will get you into Parliament.
Mr. Bramley•Moore replied, that if the notice left it
open to them to discuss the question at any time, the
council might think fit, after the 9th of November, he
would vote for it ; if not, he would oppose it,
The Town Clerk replied that the resolution left them
no such power—it was express in its terms.
Mr. Bramley-Moore : Then, in that case, I must vote
against it.

It was here agreed that the resolution should include
notice for the improvement of the approaches to the
river as well as the widening of the streets, but on a poll
it was negatived, Mr. Alderman Holme's amendment being
carried by a majority of 29 to 15.
The voting was as follows :
For the amendment—Councillors : D. Crosthwaite, Wm.
Nicholson, R. Haydock, Godfrey, Banner, Fernihough, Jef-
freys, J. Gladstone, jug., Wagstaff, Lawrence, Tobin,
Brancker,
Earle, Tinne, Lloyd, Johnson, Kitchen, Clint,
Beckwith. and Hothead ; Aldermen : Preston, Dover,
Parker, Cooper, Gardner, Bramley-Moore, Toulmin, S
Ilolme, and the Mayor.-29.
Against it—Councillors •

Anderson, A. C. Stewart, Shell,

,lain,RobLoirtttaloenci,alea'ndLivGinrgegstsoonn ;RA:lGladstone,
Aldermen Penienteotnt:

UR. GLADSTONE AND THE CORPORATE OFFICIAL 9.
The following letter was read from the Corporation
Surveyor

Town.ball, Oct. 28, 1856

take the liberty to ask your attention, and through
you that of the Council, tow statement made by Mr. Robert-
son Gladstone, in an addess to the electors of Lime-street
Ward• on Thursday evening last, as repotted in the Mercury
on Friday, of with the following is a copy :—" If they asked
any of the officials which was leasehold property and which was
,Aso had to run, he pledged himself
who could answer the question." To

10, or bow fp. the

he most unqualified contradiction;

i•, diadstc

h•Ms ever taken occasion to ask

e officers whose duty it is to givo

la ho made at the mee ing was inc

toot ; and if he never had occasion to ask those questions, or
either ,r,f thew, then ho mast have been equally aware that ho
was making an assertion totally without foundation, and,
therefore, for whatever purpose made, unjustfiable, I may