The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-15 00:00:00

chance have we in Liverpool, where we have only
the 35,000 th part of this valuable ingredient in
the water in our cisterns ?

The Corporation have evidently based their
astounding effrontery on Dr. TAYLOR'S report,
and if it had not been for this fact we should not
have devoted so much time and space to this
portion of the subject ; and we feel convinced,
now that the public must see that all the Pikeists
have shown in their defence is worse than worth-
less, they will no longer continue a war of words,
but take measures to keep the Rivington water
out of the town until time has been all)wed for
a full, fair, and open investigation into its com-
position. If it is really good water, the inhabi-
tants will be glad to receive it without further
contention,. and if it is not fit for human use,
as we think it, it ought not to be admitted into
the town on any terms, except for sanitary and
manufacturing purposes. A proper enquiry into
the whole subject could not occupy more than
three weeks or a month, and why run any risk
for so short a time ? Should the Corporation
refuse to submit the matter to competent chem-
ists to report upon it, then it must be quite clear
that the Ratepayers have nothing left but to
apply for an injunction forthwith, as the health
of the Borough must not be sacrificed, in order
to prevent the jobbing side of the Council
appearing to be in the wrong. Men of genuine
public spirit are always ready to confess an error,
and are the first to endeavour to remedy any
mischief they cause ; and it is not too late for
the Water Committee and their supporters to
show that they are not above confessing their
faults and repairing the injuries which they
have done to their fellow townsmen.

THE WATER JUGGLE.-With a view of ascer-
taining the facts as to the quantity and quality
of the water said by the Water Committee to be
at present supplied to the inhabitants of Liver-
pool, we yesterday despatched to Prescot a
messenger in whom we can place the most
implicit confidence, in order that he might pro-
cure, direct from the Ecclestone Reservoir, a
genuine sample of the Pike water, at the spot
where it might have been reasonably supposed
that it was uncontaminated with any admixture
of the sandstone water. We, in common with
our messenger, were weak enough to believe the
statements made in the Council, by influential
members of the Water Committee, that a large
quantity of Rivington water was now stored in the
Prescot or Ecclestone reservoir. Our readers may
judge of the astonishment of our messenger when,
with much difficulty, he succeeded in obtaining a
view of the reservoir, to find that it was entirely
empty, and had been so for some length of time.
Next to Kensington, the Prescot or Ecclestone
may be said to be t'ie reservoir for the home
supply of Liverpool with the Pike water. Now
we would ask the Water Committee why, if their
works are so far completed as to enable them to
introduce the Pike water for the general
use of the inhabitants of Liverpool, how
it happens that not a drop of the Pike liquid
was to be found in that reservoir yesterday.
We are informed, but will not vouch for
the accuracy of the report, that the Green
Lane water has been injected into the
Pike Mains through the agency of the pumping
engines as far as Prescot, and that this extra
duty imposed on these engines was the sole
cause of the recent " breaks down." This may
or may not be true, but after what has occurred
we are quite disposed to credit the accuracy of
the report. And, at all events, as the belief is
general, the Water Committee are bound to give
the public the fullest explanation. That the
Pike water, however, has been supplied in very
small quantities, diluted with a much larger
quantity of well water, to a portion of the inhabi-
tants of Liverpool, there is no doubt, and the
means by which this has been accomplished we
shall fully explain on a future occasion.

A SERIOUS MISTAKE.—" HEAT" OR " PEAT."
—The Liverpool Mercury accuses us of having
committed a great blunder, in mistaking the
word " heat" for " peat" in our recent comments
on Dr. TAYLOR'S analysis of the Rivington
water. We did, certainly, fall into the error
complained of, by quoting from an unrevised
proof of the document in question. This mis-
take is, however, a very serious affair for the
Pikeists, inasmuch as we were at a loss to
know what the thick, black, fatty filth,
which floats on the surface of our sample
of the Pike water really was. But it is
now explained. It is parafine, which the
water collects from " peat," and how this abomi-
nable mucilage, which flows from large masses of
decomposed vegetable matter, is to be separated
from the water we are to drink remains for the
Mercury, with Dr. TAYLOR, to tell us. The
filtering beds will not remove it from the surface,
where we have already said "it sits in majestic
triumph." What it will be when boiled we may
safely leave to our cotemporary to explain to the
public. We have seen very fine candles made
from it; but it does not follow that those who
drink the Pike water will see any better after
drinking the beverage which the Mercury
seems to recommend so strongly. " Heat
" and peat" are " very dissimilar things
" indeed," and of the two we would cer-
tainly rather have the former to contend with in
a cup of tea or coffee, than the latter. A little
patience would overcome the objection to one,
but the other must be partially distilled and
thoroughly clarified before it can be made
to assume the taste and smell of rancid tallow;
and we think we may here venture to ask, now
that we have corrected our error, " what the pale
" yellowish brown tint—similar to that imparted
" to water by a very slight impregnation of heat—
" will be about midsummer next, when the sun
" begins to impregnate it with its full blaze,"
with the addition of that thick, black, slimy
refuse of " peat ?" Should this black matter get
into our public baths, we promise the bather that
it will assert its long boasted contempt for soap.