Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-01-03 00:00:00

MERSEY DOCKS AND HARBOUR BOARD.

ELECTION .OF MEMBERS.

Yesterday, the annual election of six niembeirs7fo'sit
at the Mersey Docks-and Harbour Board, took place at
the Dock office. Mr. -Charles Turner, chairman of the
board, presided. ,The retiring members were Messrs.
Brocklebank, Farnwerth, Graves, Smith, Tobin, and
Maclver, and, with -sie eiception of the' last named,
these gentlemen offered themselves for re-election.
The -Cnaiii_eiAN said—ln 'accordance with the pro--
visions of the act -of Parliament, which requires one-
fourth of the elective members of. the Dock Board to
retire every year, ewe are met. together this morning' for
the pnr_pose of nominating six gentlemento be members
D .of the o& Board, 'in lieu of those who retire by lot.
Mr. R. Tatizeremi-said—l have been requested by the
Dock aatepayeis' Committee, of which I hare the honour
to be the chairman, to nominate six gentlemen as candi-
dates for election, to seats at the Mersey Dock Board.
Five of these .gentlemen have already sat at the board,
hut %eve retired by hillot, and I have their authority. for
again putting them in nomination, and to• state that if
elected they will perfcam the duties of the office. It-is
needless for me to reiterate what is so well known to.all
the ratepayers--tithe perailiar'qualification of these gen-
tlemen; and only regret that Mr. Madver has -eo
decidedly stated !that he would not serve again, -his
time teing so fatly occupied by hie own affairs.
In lien of Mr. Macfver, however, I have obtained the
sanction of as good. a man as there is in the port of
Liverpool, to put him in nomination to fill the-vacancy.
The gentleman to whom I refer is one well known for
his basiness habits, and likewise for his intelligenee, an
a firm determination to do his duty if elected a member
of the Dock Board. .I .therefore nominate the following
gentlemen :--Mr. Ralph Brocklebank, Annesly, Aigharth,
shipowner; Mr. Benjamin Derbyshire, Kenyon "Mount,
Claughten, Cheshire, merchant; Mr. John Farnworth,
Much Woolton, merchant; Mr: Samuel Robert Graves,
The Grange, Wavertree; shipowner; Mr. James Smith,
Barkely House, Seaforth, merchant ; Mr. Jas. Aspinall
Tobin, Eastham House, Eastham' Cheshire, merchant.
Mr. EFAZJAY said :—I have very great plea-
sure in seeoseling the nomination of the gentlemen whose
names have just been.read over to us. As Mr. Taunton
has so truly stated, these gentlemen are all so well
known to you, from their past services to the town and
to the port, and not only-se, but for their very high
position and standing as merchants, that anything. I
could say in their favour would be quite superfluous.
There is just one thing to which I would allude. It
has often struck me. and deserves some attention. On
a board on the stairs is displayed a bill, asking, the dock
voters to "favour" these gentlemen with their votes. 'lt
is a great pity that the public mind cannot be disabused of
avery erroneous impression. These gentlemen give very
much of their time to the negleet.of their own business,
and to the interests of the dock estate. They favour us,
the ratepayers, in consenting to become members of that
board—(hear, hear)—and it is not a favour for us to
vote them into that position. In London we see each
:dock manap;ed under a separate secretary, With'i very
good salary—(hear, hear)7eand a chairman and board
of directors, each, receiving, perhaps, a guinea a sitting
for their services. Those directors are well paid and
they work the docks for the benefit of the proprietors—
they work them to obtain as handsome ' a dividend
as they can for the shareholders. (Hear, hear.)
Now, in Liverpool our docks are worked without any,
beneficial interest whatever; and we should feel proud
of our docks, and of the system of the management of
our estate; and we should feel Feud that we have gen-
tlemen of so high a standing willing to come forward
and to serve as members of the Mersey Dock Board.
(Applause.) I have very great pleasure in seconding
the nomination of these gentlemen.
The CUAIRMAN—Has any gentleman any other names
to nominate ? If no other names are nominated, the
act of Parliament requires that these gentlemen should
be declared duly elected. (Applatise.)
No other names were proposed, and the chairman
accordingly declared the above-named gentlemen duly
elected. b 1
he announcement was received with applause.
Having been complimented by a vote of thanks for
presiding oa the occasion,
The Cirarnliaw, in responding, said he was glad to
find that the town *as unanimous -in the appointment
of those gentlemen who had already served on the board.
They were all returned, ' with the exception of Mr.
Macfver, who had declined to serve; but-he (the.chair-
man) thought the electors had made an excellent selection
in appointing Mr. Darbyshire in the place of that gen-
tleman. (Hear, hear.)
This concluded the proceedings.