Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-13 00:00:00

MERSEY DOCK BOARD,

The weekly meeting of this Board was held att one
o'clock yesterday ; Charles Turner, Esq., in the chair. The.
other members present were—Messrs. Brocklebank,
Graves, Rankin, Inman, Mondell, Forwood, Segar, Hub,,
back, Arnold, Bold, Tobin, Anderson, M'lver, Langton,
Farnworth, Boult, Evans, Smith, and Locket.
WORKS COMMITTER.
The committee recommended that the following tenders
be accepted :—Messrs. Price and Carter, for ladder poles
and boat-hook shafts; Messrs. Gilbert Harrison and Bro-
thers boat-book shafts and Baltic poles; the tender of the
London and North-Western Railway Company of a locomo- '
Live engine for £4OO, and of the Lancashire and Yorkshire
Company for two engines, for £650 and £550 respectively ;
and of Messrs. W. G. Armstrong and Co. of hydraulic
machiney and steam engines, in connection with the great
float at Birkenhead, for about £20,000. The committee
had considered the resolution submitted by the Steam-ship
Owners' Association in reference to the width of the pro-
posed steam dock in connection with the Huskisson Duck,
and had invited Mr. M'lver, the chairman of the
Association, to an interview. A letter having been
:read from the Birkenhead Railway Company with reference
to arrangements for carrying their goods traffic during
the time the great float should be run dry ; the committee
recommended that the necessary conveniences, as shown
upon plans submitted, be constructed as required during the
period the great float should be dry, at a cost of about
£5,000.

Mr. Brocklebank moved that the proceedings be con-
firmed.

Mr. Smith seconded the motion.
Mr. Boult asked whether they were legally bound to
snake this accommodation for the carriers on the other side
of the water. He did not think those carriers had given
.• .

• . a
The Chairman said, they must compensate the company
for any inconvenience, if they did not pay them in some
shape or other. There was considerable doubt upon the
question, and that was thought the best means of dealing
with it,

Mr. Brocklebank said, the cost would probablybe actually
only about £3,000, as some of the works would become
available to the board afterwards. •

The pro°

edings were then confirmed.
WAREHOUSE' COMMITTEE

The proceedings of this committee did not touch upon
any subject of public importance.
Mr. Hubback moved that they be confirmed, which was
agreed to without discussion.

MARINE COMMITTEE.

Mr. Mondell moved that the proceedings of this com-
mittee be confirmed.

Mr. Tobin said, it was some time ago promised that the
question should be brought before the board for considera-
tion, whether the working of the electric telegraph wires
should be retained in the hands of the board, or placed in the
hands of a company. It was also a subject of consideration
whether the telegraph could not be made very serviceable,
not only to the board, but to the public generally. He
entertained a strong opinion himself, that it would be a very
great service to the public if the telegraph were in the hands
of some public body, which would work it not merely for
the benefit of the dock estate, but for that of the town
generally. He understood that a company would be quite
willing to communicate all matters of interest to the dock
estate, free of all cost, and that they would then work it,
of course with the hope of profit to themselves, for the
public generally ; and that payment would be made to the
board in consideration of the expence of laying the wires.
But whatever the board might determine he thought the
question ought to be considered at a very early period. He
thought the time had clearly arrived when the marine
committee ought to take the opinion of the board as to how
the telegraph should be worked. lie did not mean now to
ask the board to express any opinion upon the subject, but
he thought the question ought to be brought before
them. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Mondell said, when the proper time came the board
would be asked to consider the subject.
Mr. Tobin : When will that time be ?
Mr. Mondell : When the works are complete
not yet got all the wires

We have

Tobin : What earthly difference can it make whether
the wires are actually completed or not, to the consideration
of, how, when completed, we shall work them ?
Mr. said, he intended sending in a requisition to
the marine committee, asking the board to allow him one
of the wires. (Hear, hear.) Some four or five years ago,
before he left for Malta, he had had a plan before him, and
if he had remained in this country he would have bad a
line in operation to the Hnskisson dock, under-ground. He
could state the amount which the construction would have
cost him ; and the expense of working it wonld have been
£l5O a-year. The only difficulty was that he could not
carry it across the gates of the Huskisson dock. Now, if
the wires were to be let out, he should very much like
one to himself. (Hear, hear.)

The Chairman :. So would every one else, probably.
(Hear, hear, and laughter.)
Mr. M'lver said, the wires might be made a source of
considerable revenue to the board.

The Chairman quite agreed with Mr. Tobin, that the
qhestion ought to be brought before the board, and decided
at an early period ; but he thought they had better not
discuss it just then. He had himself a very decided
opinion upon the point, as probably most other gentlemen
had.

Mr. Mandell said, the committee proposed to have six
wires. He believed the customs would require one ; the
Duke of Bridgewater's trustees applied for another; Mr.
M'lver would require one ' • the public would want one ;
and the board another—that disposed of lave out of
the six.

Mr. Bold could not see why one wire would not work the
whole of the messages—for the Duke of Bridgewater's
trustees, for Mr. M'lver, and for every body else.
Mr. M'lver said, if he got one of the wires, he must
have it to his own office.

It was finally agreed that the marine committee would,
at an early period, bring the subject before the board, for a
formal consideration.

The proceedings were confirmed.
The proceedings of the pilots', docks and quays, and
committee were confirmed without any

master-portere

discussi or

A letter was read from lir. Price Edwards, collector of
customs, suggesting to the board the propriety of their

appointing sworn measurers of corn for tile port.
Mr. Hubback did not think it was the duty of the board
to make such an appointment.

The Chairman thought it came neither within the duty
nor the power of the board.
Mr. Graves thought such a class of men very much
wanted; as between the shipowner and and the merchant,
and suggested that they might be licensed by the board.
The Chairman said, they might appoint men, but it would
be at the option of parties to employ those men or not.
The board would have no power to swear them, and, in the

opinion of the solicitor, would not even have the power to

license them

After a brief conversation, the subject dropped without

any motion being proposed.

NOTICES OF MOTION

returns of any kind, required from t

owners, chart

signees, brokers, agents
and clearing ofexportin

r persons acting in th e loading

ships, and also asrespects the cargo
of any importing ships, shall be such as are necessary for
protection to the dock estate, in the collection of its dues
upon goods ; and that the officials of the dock trust be re-
strained from requiring information or returns productive of
trouble and inconvenience to the public, but which are not
strictly necessary for the protection of the interests of the
dock estate."
The latter clauses in the notice elicited some laughter.

Mr. Bold (Pave notice of the following motion for next
meeting; ---"'That the plan of applying electricity to the
clock in the Victoria Tower, in connection with the time-
ball, as recommended .by Mr. ilartnup, be at once adopted."
Mr. Graves gave notice of the following, also, for the
next day :—" That it be an instruction to the works com-
mittee to keep in permanent repair the marks painted upon
the dock walls."
This concluded the general business.

CUItIOUSLY LOST AND Ot:

. ti°l33LY POUND About five
'ears ago a gentleman resoling in the ~ •
n his pig
of
lost a valuable signet ring i
Is i.g stye. The
for its
and the
_ loom, was highly
recovery.
strictest search was made, but in N,ain
were
etimsoull-1
In the course of time the contents of the p10...,'t.8
T'lTYtfiesid. hat
as manure to a farmer, and supplied the lice.telse
lants to the production of a crop of potatoes.
undergone a regular routine of cropping since thca
A few days since it was again ploughed up for cr'oenaps?nn,*
purposes, and a number of girls were employed upoti It' .-
gathering the "quickens." One of these, in taking oUtinl
handful of these weeds, crime, up the identical ring lost
five years before, and which during that long period had
been rosposin peacefully in the earth. The mother of the
girl took it on sale to Messrs. Lister and Sons, jewellers,
here, who recognised the crest, and as a matter of course
retained the ring. It owner was communicated with, and
had the satisfaction of recovering the ring so long lost, and
of the regaining of which all hope had long since been
given up.—Carlisle Examiner.

Neweasil€
ring, being an. hei