The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-03-21 00:00:00

PETITION.

That, in December of the last mentioned year (1840), the
attention of the then Commissioners was directed by their
law clerk to certain notices which had appeared in the public
newspapers, of the intention of a certain joint stock company,
denominated " The Birkenhead and Claughton Gas and Water
Company," to apply to parliament, and in the session of 1841
for power to supply Birkenhead and other townships in the
hundred of Wirral with gas, and Birkenhead with water; and
that the clerk was directed to obtain prints of the proposed bill,
for the guidance of the board in the matter. The
law clerk to the board being also solicitor for the
proposed bill, it was fairly concluded that no delay could
arise in procuring prints of the bill, but no such prints
were submitted to the board until the 19th day of March,
1841, at which date the bill had been read a second time in
your honourable house. That the bill in question, on
examination, was found to contain clauses of a very objection.
able character; and the Commissioners directed their clerk to
require the promoters to amend and alter the same, otherwise
to take ouch steps as might be necessary to oppose the„fur ther
progress of the bill before your honourable house. That, in
the month of May, 1841, the Commissioners found that the
bill in question had passed through your honourable house,
without any material change or modification, and a motion was
carried at a duly convened meeting of the Commissioners to
oppose the bill in the House of Lords ; upon which the law clerk ,
(who was, as before stated, solicitor for the bill)resigned Lis
office, and several members of the board having declined tc act
on a committee to watch and oppose the bill, the board, under
the accumulated difficulties of their position, felt compelled to
give up all opposition to the measure, and in June of that
year the bill in question received the royal assent, and became
an act, that is to say, the Act 4 and 6 Vic., cap 62, intituled,
" An Act for supplying Birkenhead and other townships in
the hundred of Wirral, in the county of Chester, with gas,
and for supplying Birkenhead aforesaid with water." That
your petitioners have grave reasons for believing that the law
clerk to the board was interested in the capital and prospective
profits of the company incorporated by the act so obtained. That
your petitioners feel that the said act is a violation of the terms
of the said contract, entered into between the commissioners
and the said William Jackson, under date the 25th day of
September, 1840, and that the bill now before your honourable
house to enlarge and extend the powers of that company, under
another name, is fraught with danger to the interest of your
petitioners and the public, and, if passed into a law, will
greatly prejudice the property, rights, and interests by
law committed to the charge of your petitioners. That
the said company have systematically violated the clearest
requirements of the act, to the prejudice of your petitioners
and the public. That by the second section of the said act the
company were empowered to light with gas Birkenhead and
sixteenlother townships, and supply Birkenhead with water
but that up to this time twelve of such townships have not
been lighted at all. That by the fourth section of the said
act the capital of the company was fixed at £100,000; and
that by the thirty eighth sectionthe company was empowered
to'borrow £33,000, on the security of ,their works after one
half of the said capital had been paid up, and the monies
were alleged to be amply sufficient for all the necessities of
the company; whereas it is alleged, in the bill now before
your honoured house, that the company has expended the
whole of the said sums of £133,000, hut they have not
executed a full third of the works contemplated by the act.
That by the sixty-first section of the said act it is provided
that the money raised as aforesaid should be applied in
plying the expenses incurred in obtaining the said act,
and in carrying the same into execution ; but your peti-
tioness are informed, and believe that large portions of
the monies raised under the powers of the said act have
been used from time to time by the directors of the
company for other purposes, in violation of the express
stipulations of the law, and to the injury of your peti-
tioners and of the public. That by the said act the
affairs of the said company were entrusted to the manage-
ment of the directors, who were required to record their
proceedings from time to time in a book, which should at
all reasonable times be open to the inspection of the share-
holders ; and the said company were required to keep full
and true accounts, and at their first ordinary general
meeting, to elect an auditor of such accounts; and from
time to time, as necessity might arise, elect a new auditor
in the place of the one going out of office, so that such
accounts should be audited with regularity, and verified
in the manner pointed out by the act. That your peti-
tioners have reason to believe that the accounts of the
company have been kept with great irregularity ; and
that owing to the violation of the requirements of the
said act in this respect, the company's funds have been
misapplied, to the injury of your petitioners and the
public. That the company were required, by the 102nd
section c 4 the said act, to elect two principal officers at
their first ordinary general meeting of shareholders ; and
by the 105th section the directors were required to take
security from such officers for the faithful discharge of their
duties ; but your petitioners are led to believe that these
ecctions have been violated and disregarded ; and that defal--
pations of which one of the officers of the company is said to
have been guilty to a very large amount, have been made good
out of the capital stock of the company, by which your peti-
tioners and the public have been injured. That, by the 114th
section of the said act, it is provided that an annual abstract
of the company's accounts, showing the total receipts and
expenditure of the company for the past year, shall be made
out, verified, and lodged with the clerk of the peace for the
county of Chester, and that such accounts shall be open to
public inspection ; and by the next section the profits of the
company are limited to ten per cent. per annum on the amount
paid up on the capital stock of the company ;- and the 117th
provides that, when such profits amount to the said
suni or mj"o. the pica of gas shall, from time to time, be
reduced to the Your petitioners humbly submit that
the various sections Le;!l3, mentioned are introduced into the
said recited act by your Itonourable house solely for the
protection of the public. That sueh requirements have
not been complied with, and no such accounts have been
lodged for various years, involving an alleged expenditure of
very large sums of money, without which it is impossible
to ascertain with anything approaching to accuracy what
the expenditure or the earnings of the company really
are. That by the said bill now before your honourable
house it is sought to close all past accounts of the com-
pany, and your petitioners humbly pray your honourable
house not to permit such accounts to be closed without a
riged examination of the same. That your petitioners
have reason to believe that if the accounts of the company
were properly examined it would appear that a very large
amount of the capital sum of £133,000, granted to the
company under the powers of the before mentioned act,
for the purposes therein set forth, remains unexpended,
and that there exists no real necessity for applying at
this time to your honourable house for powers to raise
further capital. That your petitioners object to the
powers sought by the company in the bill now before
your honourable house, to capitalise the sum of £53,200
of profits, which it is alleged they are entiled to, though
not earned, as opposed alike to every principle of law
and equity. and in direct violation of the spirit, if not the
letter, of ' the very act of parliament under which they
exist. That your petitioners also object to the powers
sought by the company in the said bill, whereby the
alleged paid up capital of £133,000 is to be doubted
without the expenditure of another shilling, under
the plea of reducing their maximum dividend of
£lO per cent. per annum to a maximum dividend
of £5 per cent. per annum, thus in fact charging
the public who have interests reserved in the said
ac, 4 and 6 Vic., cap. 62, with a fictitious and enormous
capital, upon which dividends will be receivable before any
reduction can take place in the price of gas or water to the
consumer. That the company have charged exorbitant rates
both for gas and water; that the supply of the former article
has not been satisfactory, and of the latter most defective, and
that they have, in the face of constant complaints of this nature,
extended their water mains and pipes into and through portions
of the township of Claughton, where some of the directors
have private property, without the authority of parliament,
and to the serious inconvenience of your petitioners,
and the ratepayers of Birkenhead. That the said bill now
before your honourable house does not contain any sufficient
provisions for insuring a proper supply of either gas or water to
all persons-requiring the same, nor any limit to the charges
which may be made for gas. That the prices proposed by
the said 'bill to be charged for water are excessive, and
your petitioners humbly pray that clauses may be introduced
into the said bill, by which the company shall be bound
to supply the district committed by law to the charge of
your petitioners with a sufficient and proper supply both of
gas and water at fair and reasonable prices, before they
are permitted to spend any further monies upon the ex-
tensions of their works for the supply of either gas or water
to any of the other out townships. That, by the hill, it is
proposed to empower the said company to extend their gas
and w iter mains across Wallasey pool to the out townships
of Poulton cum Seacombe, Liscard, and Wallasey, and to
take a certain portion of land in the bed of, or by or near,
the said pool for the purposes of such extension. That
your petitioners object to such an extension of the works, as
opposed to the interests of your petitioners and of the
district committed to their charge. That your petitioners
objeet to the company being empowered by the said bill to
lay pipes and erect fountains upon any pier quay or wharf the
property, or under the management of yourpetitioners, with-