The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-12 00:00:00

SPECIAL COMMITTEES.

Th 3 proceelings of th.-1 Sp.;cial Committee on the
memorial to iktr. William Brown, and that of the special
Committee on laying the foun cation stone of the new
library were confirmed, without any enevasation.

COI3.ONERN ACC'E'NT.
The coroner'a account, aulogniu',; to £4O • 63, was
passed.

THE MAYOR,'S C)3IMUNICATION3.
A-memorial was read from the 'foxteth-park &trial
Board, requestim:,, that water might be sw)pliefl gra-
tuitously for one of the granite fountains which Mr.
CharL:B Melly had kiwi!), offered to place at the gate of
the cemetery, fort he beaeiit of the public.
The tuemtlial was referred to the Water Committee.
An application from Mr. James P. Wilson, of the
borough engineer's office, was te`erred to the Health
Ccmreittee.
A letter- from Dr. Collins, with reference to the water
question, wa3 postponed to the special weed •g a the
Council upon that subject.
A letter from Mr. Hughes, thankirg the Cotacil for
their con3i,leralon during his recent illne3s ; and at ..he
same time applying for an increase of ranianeraien, in
con3equenee of greatly increasing duties, was referred to
the Finance Committee.

TUE COUNCIL ROOM.
Mr. Bennett then propoed the following motion, accord-
ing to notice, to rescind the following resolution of the
Council, pasted on the Ist ultimo, viz :—" That the Council
Chamber be enlarged by adding the present anteroom and
lobby thereto, according to the original design, a plan of
which is now in the possession of the surveyor; that the
lobby adjoining the keeper's apartment, east end, be con-
vort-d into an anteroom; that a new nasssge,
to complete
the approach to the Courted Chamber, rendered necessary
by this appropriation f the lobby (now used as a passag'),
be opened by the removal of the safe, &c., attached to Mr.
Hughes' office, and to move that the surveyor be directed
to take immediate measure, to improve the ventilation of
the Council Chamber. Mr. Bennett, at considerable

Itngt, uege that the -tn,,tion ty.Tv7.ou.,
tunsitittblo,,And thAr:• z,tikii-A
r all the purr Le.:.
Mr. Pa,ker seeottC.ied

Mr. `Yo-:drutf'exp•essed reg2et Tchat his motion had not
beta carried to hold the meetings of. the Council in Sr.
George'o and, to admit the public. He also ex-
pressed some surprise that Mr. Gladstone's resolution,
having been adopted by the Council, had not been already
carried out by the surveyor.
Mr. Jimes Holm opposed Mr. Bennett's motion.
Mr. Shell also opposed the motion, acid complained that
it shdnll have been- brOught forward when there was so
thin an attendance Of the Council.

Mr. J.lti Stewart sugges-ed that before any motion' on
the subject was carriel out, the strvevor be directed , fully
to investigate the nature of the buil the HlD:mg' h
the floors, and the character of the support derived from
-the present partitions.
Mr. GI dstone exprosed . a desire that Mr. Stewart's
suggestion should he adopted, atd that Mr. Stewart and
Mr. Jame.; Holme be re quested to join with the surveyor
in the exam;na•ion.

Me. Picton did not think the present room could be
made suitable He urged that a proper place should be
had, and that the public should be admitted, according to
the practice followed by the corporations of London,
Edinburgh, Dublin, an] every borough under the
municipal act, except Liverpool alone. He sug-
gested that the Conned had land in Exchan.ge-stree,
West, which might be made available fir the purpose, and
gave notice that he sh,mlcl on an early day draw the atten-
tion of tne Council more fully to the subject.
Mr. Clint condemned the present room, and strongly
supported the views expressed by Mr. Picton.
Me. Bannett declared his readicet,s to adopt the sugges-
tion of Mr. B.ewart, and a relolution was accordingly
passed, pNtponing any altera ions until the surveyor,
aided by Messrs. Stewart, Holme, and Piston, had
reported upon the whole-subject, including the question of
ventilation. ' -

PUBLIC HOLIDAY
Mr. Alderman Diver brought • forward, according to
notice, the following motion : —That, in the opinion of the
antacil, it is desirable that the day appointed for the
celebration of her Majesty's Vrih-day be observed as a
public holiday, and that the Mayor be requested to give
public notice, recomraevding the same to the inhabitants.
That a committee be appointed to co-operate with a corn-
mittaa appo•nted by the inhabitants, and that the sum of
£5OO be placed, at their disposal, under the direction of
the.Mayar,,to be expended in such manner as they may
think beim calculated to afford amnSement to the inhAbi-
tant% - •

Mr. Dover, in advocating hTs motion, reminded the
Council of the satisfactory manner, in which the, pub
lie holiday had passed off, and the testimony borne by the
magistrates that there were comparatively fewer cases of
intoxication that day than the average. The Queen's
birthday he considered appropriate, partly because most cf
the public offices ware closed on that day, and partly
because making it, a public holiday would tend to promote
the feeling of practical loyalty. Liverpool, he showed, had
fewer public days than most of t'-.e large towns, and
population generally were overworked. lie stated, how-
ever, that he was Fomewhat disappointed at not having
been more strongly barked up by the public outside, and
added that he did not mean- to force on the motion if it did
not meet the full approval of the Council.

Mr. Woodruff seconded the motion, remarking, however,
that he saw many difficulties in the way at present, although
he should be glad to give the public a holiday, if it were
generally approved of.
Mr. Clint, while generally desiring to see more public
holidays, felt so strongly the bss of wages which a holiday
would entail, under pre:eut circumstances, on many
working men, that he was reluctantly compelled to oppose
the motion

Finally, M. Dover withdrew the motion.
This concluded the business of the Council.


BIRKENHEAD AND CTAUGHTON GAS

AND WATER COMPANY.

The general half-yearly meeting of the proprietors of
this company, which WAS adj mrued from the 25th ult.,
was helu at twelve o'clock, yesterday, in the company's
offices, Chester-street, Birkenhead, Me. William Jackson,
M.P., chairman of the company, presided ; and the share-
holders present were Me :srs. T. P. Bennet, R. Br3Ans, C.
C )ok, H. Gough, W. Jackgon,
.jun., J. Laird, J. Mallaby,
W. W. Perrey, S. Stitt, and J. J. Whittingham.
The report, which has already been publishA, Lav:ng
been taken as read,
The Chairmen said that he had several resolutions to
submit, and that he would first propose the following,
which, though two resolutions, he would for the tune
embody :

That the rep ,rt now read b:s seeeised, and CO recomm3 cations it
cutains adopted and carried into effect, exc.,l,t suit as relate to the
proposal made. by Mr. William Jacitson to the Co sari of /Sir_
kmltead, for the sal s to them of the company's property, and to the
counter proposal of the Comraissiontrs.
That a committee be appointed, to consist of the chairman (William
‘Vagstatr, Esq.), Mr. Bennett, Robert Malaby, Esq., and Mr. Stitt—
three to be a quorum—to take into cons.dwation the proposal of Mr.
Jackson to the Commissioners of Birkenhead, —the counter proposal
of the commissioners, and any other proposal that may to m ide with
nsference to the disposal of the. company's property. That such com-
mittee be empowe'ed to negocia'e with the co.nmissioners or any
other parties, and to submit the result of such negoeations, when
and as they she 1 deem it advisable, to a spa.ial meeting of the pro-
plietors to be called for the purpose.

In his letter, addressed to the Chairman of the Commis-
sioners of Birkenhead, he (Mr Jackson) stated very frankly
his position in this matter. He stated that he was more
deeply interested in property in Birkenhead than he was
in the company, an he, therefore, felt great delicacy in
conducting, as chairm.in of the c impany, any negociation
having reference to the dispose!. of its interests. That
letter had called forth a reply from the commissioners of
Birkenhead, and under these circumstances he considered
it much better, looking at the pecalio,r position in which
he stood, that the whole matter should be referred to a
committee, with power to entertain not only his letter
and the letter of the commissioners, but also any other
proposal which might be made in the meaotime to the
company. He did se because he found that, in addition
to the commissioners proposal to purchase the works, he
had received intimation from other parties that if the
company withdrew the p-esent bill, and went next year
for a consumers' bill, those parties would be prepared to
find capital sufficient to carry on and extend the concern,
gtvieg ar preference to the stock already in the company
equal to 5 per cent. on £266,000. That proposition he
expec'ed would come in a formal manner before the
committee when it was appointed. The proposition of the
commissioners would also- have to be considered, and also
the petition of the rate-payers against the bill passed at a
meeting held in the town-hall a short time ago, in which they
stated that they did not wish the commissioners to be the
parties to have the arrangement of the concern, but a body of
trustees indepsndent of them. That rendered the ne-
gociation will more difficult, because the company could
not well proceed in it, until they knew to whom they were
to transfer their property. He suggested that this com-
mittee should be appointed, and he would give them the
reasons why it should be so constituted. Mr. Mallaby
and himself possessed the largest stake in the company,
and they also were largely interested in the district. The
other three gentlemen were not as largely interested in the
district, and as they would be three to two, the share-
holders need not fear hut their interests would be looked
after by the committee. They were aware that a petition
had emsnated against their bi 1 from the commissioners
of Birkenhead, conteining what he considered rather
scurrilous allegations, but he did not wish ti enter into
that question nosy. would no doubt be fairly heard and
con idersd in the event of their proceeding with
the bill before an unprejudiced tribunal, a committee of
the House of Commons, and there they would be prepared
to show that so far from having misused the rights Parlia-
ment conferred on them, they had used them
more for the
benefit of the public than their own. They would be
prepared to justify every shilling of capital expended; they
would be prepared to Justify ovcry act they had taken;
and he would be rejoiced it they went befoes Parliament,
in order that
impressions sought to be created against the company, and
the public mind might be disabused of the
especially against those eh.) had the direction of its affaire
and that the world might see that their conduct had been
based on what was right between man and man, and
between the company end the public. There were two
circumstances in hie life which he should ever regret—the
givicg up, at the request of the commissioners,
which ho need not tell them was one of
orhnee wfearsryth,e
the best properties in' the kiegdom, and the other was
up of the right which he held under lease of
thesupplying township of Birkenhead with gas for a
pedsd of 45 years. These acts he regretted, and would
ever regret; for while, from the supply of pee he was
getting a large profit on his Capital while it eas in his own
heAde, tho expenses of private management being much
less than those of a company, the moment passed from
his hands, he found his proportion of profit reduced; and
the public would probably oe surprised to hear, that fro a
1842 to 1856, the average dividend of the company was
only ls. Bd. per cent. He would ask any reasonable
man whether that was an amount of money which they
ought not to have, considering the risk they had ran, and
the absence of dividend the proprietors had to endure for
so many years? They should-also bear in mind, that in
1847, the Commissioners of Woods and Forests sent
down one the
most practical men in the kingdom,
Mr. Lowe, to investigate this matter, and that the