Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-23 00:00:00

WATER! WATER!!

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES,'
Sir,—lf the Water Committee will persist in
forcing the Pike water down our throats, it surely
is not too much to ask for the best of its badness—
an abundant supply of it in its purity (?). Surely
it is not so precious that it 'can only be afforded to
be turned on for a couple of hours every morning ;
and even then too late to be had fresh for break-
fast. On Sunday, they are such rigid Sabbatarians,
they never turn it on at all, and what is drawn
before eleven o'clock on Saturday morning must
serve till eight on Monday morning.
Now, it is very inconvenient to keep vessels and
to catch, every day, a-supply to last a family for so
long a time; but, added to this, when kept for only
a few hours, in such weather as this, it gets warm
and unfit for drinking. Would you believe it,
sir, I could not get a glass of drinkable
water to digest my dinner to-day ?—and
water, it is well known, is an excellent improver of
digestion. Truly, it is enough to drive a teetotaller
to drinking. Oh, how I sympathise, with some-
what of a fellow feeling, with the poor traveller
beneath the bright and cloudless rays of a tropical
sun, deluded and tantalised by the mirage--the
phantom of a moving watery surface :
Water, water everywhere,
Yet npt a drop to drink.

What can be the object of the Water Committee
in so limiting the supply ? If it is economy, they
are going the wrong way to work, for more is caught
every morning than is ever used, and when it stands
over for a day it is unfit for dietary purposes, and
is sent down the sink as soon as a fresh supply
can be caught.. Probably as much as half the
quantity drawn is disposed of in this manner, so
that there would be a positive saving in having
it always turned on. But it can scarcely be
economy, for I have always understood that there
is no end to the Pike, and so I half suspect that
the Water Committee, knowing its deadly nature,
are afraid to give it to us in quantity.
You, sir, have well, if not successfully hitherto,
contended for us for pure water ; as the next best
thing you can do, pray use your influence to com-
pel man's obstinacy to give us what the beneficent
Creator sends the earth in unlimited supply7—a
constant stream of cold water, a necessity at all
times, but a luxury refreshing to the languid frame
in such oppressively hot weather as the present.—
I am, sir, yours respectfully, EVE RTONIAN.
Gregson-street, 21st June, 1857.

MR. JAMES M'DONALD & THE CORPORATION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.

aim a reader of your paper, and I am one
of those who feel a little interested in local
matters. I need not tell you that the water supply
to Liverpool has occupied my attention for years.
I have read recently a good deal on the subject,
and although I cannot subscribe to all that the
great advocate of the well supply, Mr. McDonald,
contends for, yet I think he has been very harshly
treated by the Corporation A friend•of mine has
informed me that a movement is about being made
in order to place Mr. M`Donald in a more comfort-
able position than that which he is now in.
I am no enemy of Mr. M`Donald, but I do think
before he presumes to claim the sympathy of the
people of Liverpool, he ought to give some expla-
nation of his conduct. He admits that he entered
the service of the Corporation as a common
policeman—they made him an inspector—then a
superintendent—and, I believe, latterly a chief
superintendant. It appears he then got an appoint-
ment as manager of the Corporation Water Works.
There can be no doubt that, in that capacity, he ren-
dered service to the town. However, he quarrelled
with his bread and cheese ; he would not have the
Pike water at all, and hence the mess he has got
himself into.

It is a very serious matter for any one, to say
nothing of a discarded servant, to impugn the
character or motives of public men—men whose
reputation is dearer to them than life itself. And
why is a person, a mean beggar like M'Donald, to
he privileged to scandalise, in the way he has
done, such a man as Mr. Samuel Holmo.
The Town Council of Liverpool have, iu my
humble opinion, shewn this person far too.much
indulgence. He has held some score of sittnitions,
and lost them all, and at last, in mercy to him,
he was made a Smoke Inspector with the hand-
some salary of £l5O per annum—but even that
liberal stipend would not suit him, and he either
resigned, was dismissed, or suspended from that
merely sinieure appointment. Now, sir, I think
it is too bad that the columns of the Liverpool
press should still be open to the grumbling and
growling of this discontented servant of the
Corporation.
When Mr. M`Donald has explained the why
and the wherefore "he lost his office as Smoke
Inspector," perhaps I may feel disposed to uu-
button my pocket on his behalf ; but, first of all, I
must have an explanation.—Yours, &c.
Liverpool, June 22nd, 1857 TOWN COUNCILLOR.
.

The Island ceded to England by the New Grenadian
Government is probably that which is known as Isla Del
Rey, and it is an acquisition of vast importance as a naval
depot or commercial haven. It affords means for the
protection of the vast British trade passing from Australia
to Panama, and will enable Great Britain to command the
whole Isthmus region on the Pacific side as completely
es she now does those on the Atlantic side.—New York
Tribune.
THE NATIONAL GALLERY..—We believe the reported
decision of the royal commissioners in favour of retaining
the National Picture Gallery in Trafalgar-square, will
give almost universal gratification. It is impossible to
think of a position in which the national collection could
be more aptly placed, so as to yield the greatest possible
amount of pleasure and instruction to the greatest umber
of the population. The site, if not quite what it was said
to be by an eminent statesman--if it is not the finest in
Europe, is certainly the finest in our metropolis ; and if a
building worthy of the site had occupied it, there would
never have been a question about removing the pictures,—
Observer.
EMIGRATION TO CANADA.—The endeavours of the Cana-
dian ministry, and especially those of the Honourable
Philip Vankoughnet, Minister of Agriculture, to
attract English artisans to Canada., are regarded with
extreme disfavour by a portion of the working classes of
I tha. By the Toronto Weekly Message, of Mny 29,
we perceive that a meeting of carpenters and joiners had
been held in that town, to eeaunteract the Minister's efforts.
"Jr. T. S. Brown, who took the chair, armed that it was
emigrants with money to spend, and not workmen, who
were wanted. He denounced Mr. Vankoughnet's state-
ments as wicked swares. Mr. Y. B, FurleY, who moved
the first resolution, also stir
nigied the same allegations
us untrue—rents were high
provisions dear, and work
difficult to obtain.
A Mr. Billing he said had resided in
Toronto nine
Years) 'and he thought that for emigrants to
come out in latgp
'oodles at the present time would prove
a most unwise
'proceeding, as he himself had been out of
work for Y'
.ome time, and knew many others who were
94"
in;,,the same condition. A carpenter, named Eldridge,
ar:de arrived in Toronto on the 9th November last,
a was unable to obtain any employment whatever
until the 18th of that month. He was six months un-
employed, and had then obtained work at six shillings
per day. At the present enormous price of provisions,
six shillings would barely enough support himself and his
family, without clothes. Before the close of the meet.,
ing an address to the cirpente‘s and joiners of Great
Britain was adopted, advising them to refrain from emi-
grating to Canada, at least for a year, and setting forth
that " There is not slffieient employment for the present
mechanics; numbers can be fund who have been idle
for some time; s me have lately obtained work who were
out of work for three or four months during the winter;
that the wages are but a trifle in advance of what are paid
in London ; that provisions are fearfully dear—flour,
dollar, per bevel; 4 lb /oat, 811 ; meat, 8d a pound ;
potatoes, 8s per bushel ; sugar, from 7d to 10d per pound ;
and all other necessaries eqaally dear. Rent a hundred
per Cont more than in the old country. Wages, in a few
good shops, are 7s. Tkat is the very highest paid, and
we challenge a denial; but the general rates of wages are
5s and 6s a day.
CASH AND DEED BOXES.—The next important thing to the posses-
sion of cash is, how (when yon have got it) to keep it safely, either in
the counting-house or at home. The same remarks apply to deeds
and other valuable documents. We have seen a large and varied
stock of both these desirable articles, manufactured expressly for Mr.
E. T. Hall, of South John-street, that challenge attention. These
boxes are made on new and admired principles, and possess patent
loos, which-defy the ingenuity of any "pick-lock" in the world to
open, except with the legitimate key. To merchants, solleitors, and
others, these new safes, on a small scale, must prove velnabie indeed,
—Northern Daily Tinto, 21St May, 1857,