The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-29 00:00:00

and if they are satisfied the water is all they say.
why do they not let us have an unadulterated
supply, direct from the Pike, at once ? If the
water is fit for household use, there must be an
end of all further agitation. The ratepayers will
gladly accept anything that is at all safe in
return for their money; but the Water Committee
know fUll well that they dare not risk the public
health by giving us pure Pike water. They know
that the water of a populous town cannot be trifled
with, and we tell them now, that in their surface
drainage
" Organic forms with chemic oranges strive,
Live but to die, and die but to revive,
Immortal matter braves the transient storm,
MOunts from the wreck unchanging but in form."

These organic forms are in the Pike water,
and no artificial filtering can remove them. The
Rivington spring water is given away to compen-
sate those localities which have been deprived of
their supply by our corporate works, and we get
nothing beyond drainage water for ourselves.
Yet, as the public have paid so large a sum of
money for the Pike job, they are willing to re-
ceive what they get, provided it be kept for the
purposes fer which it is suited, as will be seen by
the memorial which is now being most nume-
rously signed by the Ratepayers. For steam and
manufacturing purposes it will answer admirably,
and will no doubt yield a very large revenue in
afew years; but to think of using it in any other
way is wholly out of the question. The side of
the Rivington hills from which we obtain our
supply is intersected by large tracts of peat or
bog earth, and the water obtained from such a
source is only fit for tanning and those other
purposes we have named; and the animal and
other matters it collects in its course to Liver-
pool must add very materially to its deleterious
qualities.
Still, we repeat, give it to us with our good
household water. If your engineers can really
bring it into the town, there are plenty of cus-
tomers ready to take it, and if the Corporation
had not been wicked enough to take up the
second supply of mains, which the Borough once
had, they might have had the Pike water without
incurring the cost of laying new pipes. The
Corporation were told that the second mains
would be required some day, but they would
have them up. The expense of restoring them
will not, however, amount to more than 50,0001.
They will not be required at Mosley Hill, Wal-
ton, or other suburban districts. They may be
confined to the business parts of the town, and
the line of the docks. It is in these localities
that the supply is wanted, for manufacturing and
sanitary use ; and, since the interest of the
Rivington job is paid out of the surplus income
of the old works, the Ratepayers cannot be losers
by following the course the memorial suggests.
We shall want all the water the wells can supply
in a very few years, for culinary use; and, if
some provision be not made for increasing
manufactures, the town must suffer very mate-
rially.
Whether we ought to have spent upwards of
700,000/. in going to the Pike for water, which

is only fit for one purpose, is another question.
Rut it does not follow, because we have been
forced into extravagance and folly, that we are
now to wait until sickness and death decides
who is right or wrong. No little tricking with
the delivery will change the organic impuritieg
of the Rivington surface drainage. The despe-
radoes who do not believe in chemical analyses
may possibly show some respect for the Psalmist,
from whose writings on the great mysteries of
Nature we have quoted the above lines, We
need not refer to Plato and his most pious fol-
lowers, nor to the writings of the school men of
the middle ages, on indestructibility, or " im-
" mortality" of organic matter, to convince the
most enthusiastic Pikeist that an organic poison,
when once mechanically diffused in water, can-
not be removed by any system of filtration now
known. Once taken into the stream there it re-
mains, and we,
" - with curious eye observe
In what variety the tribe of salts,
Gams, ores, and liquors, in eye-delighting hues,"
hang either about the surface, or lie shining at
the bottom of our jugs. We hope to find that
the very temperate and laudable memorial, which
is about to be presented to the Town Council,
will be signed by every householder in the
Borough, and that the Corporation will act up to
its prayer, and put an end to a spirit of obstinacy
which is replete with danger to the health of the
town and to the public peace,

MORE FACTS ABOUT THE PIKE SCHEME.

WE are. glad to learn that certain members of
the Town Council are beginning to feel dissatis-
fied with thV quality of the Pike water, and they
think that it is their duty to take some steps to
secure to the inhabitants of the borough a copious
supply of the red sand stone water for domestic
purposes. We appreciate this movement, as it
is an acknowledgment that the terms of the
memorial now in course of signature are such as
to command the respectful attention, and even
support, of some of the leading advocates of the
Itivington scheme. Mr. Alderman PARKER has
been the first to place a motion on the books of
the Corporation to retain the Liverpool wells in
their present efficient state. Mr. GODFREY has
also given notice of a more modified form of
settling the agitation now prevalent. Both will,
no doubt, cause considerable discussion, and we
confidently hope they will result in the adoption
of some plans whereby the inhabitants may con-
tinue to enjoy the unadulterated water from our
local wells, and at the same time the advantages
of the Pike water be secured for manufacturing
and sanitary purposes.
The following are the terms of Mr. Alderman
PARKER'S motion :

I hereby give notice that, at the next monthly meeting
of the Council, I shall move that it be an instruction to
the Water Committee that all the pumping stations be
kept at work, so that the present home supply of
45,000,000 of gallons per week be still continued to the