The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-02 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOLI TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1857

between light and dark—that the interests
of both are identical, and that when one is
prosperous and happy so must the other be. In
fact, we have ever taken as much interest in
the affairs of the Township, as we have in that
of Liverpool, for both are alike immediately
interested in good government, whether local or
imperial. Hence, we feel as sensitive to the
results of the pending election to-morrow in
Birkenhead as we would if one of our wards in
Liverpool should be at the same time contested
by a Pikeist and—suppose such a thing possible
—an Antipikest. In either case, the individuals
might be equally unexceptionable, as regarded
character, position, and so-forth, but on one
vital point, the opinions held by the one would
meet our most determined hostility, all other
qualifications notwithstanding.
This is precisely the position of the people of
Birkenhead. The gentlemen seeking the
suffrages of the Ratepayers are equally respec-
table and respected. But the Ratepayers say,
we desire to be relieved from the self-elective
system hitherto pursued by the Commissioners.
We have reason to believe that a mere clique
have hitherto wielded irresponsible power in the
Township. That the true interests of the tax-
"payers have been sacrificed either to the cupidity
or incapacity of our rulers. That they have
been only barnacles on the progress of our ship.
Although favoured with fair winds and smooth
seas, we are still floundering amongst dangers
and quicksands, and' will never make headway
against the storms which threaten us unless we
have a change of pilots. Such is the feeling in
Birkenhead, and a very wholesome one it is.
The Ratepayers are not antagonistic to their old
and, in some cases, worn-out Commissioners,
from any feeling of personal hostility, nor are
there even imputations of improper motives
urged against them—their great sin appears not
so much to have been one of commission as one
of omission. In short, the Ratepayers are
resolved to know, or at least to make an effort to
have an infusion of new blood into the veins of
their local rulers-; and we may here observe that
we wish them every success in their praise-
worthy efforts to emancipate themselves from
the domination of a faction, however respectable
or well-intentioned that may be.
It is invariably the case that when a body
like the Birkenhead Commissioners have been
permitted to administer without check or
control the affairs of the public, that abuses will
creep in, and although many members may be
altogether innocent or ignorant of these, yet
there are others who are not so, but amongst the
body a sort of esprit de corps insinuates-itself,
which actually has the effect of induthng the
independent and honourable member not only to
screen but to justify the delinquencies of the less
scrupulous. Hence the dread of exposure
induces a combined action to resist the intro-
duction of any element calculated to disturb the
harmony of the happy family. Such, in fact, is
the present position of the Birkennead Commis-
sioners ; they dread:the influence of daylight
and although they pretend to be opposed to the
whole of the proposed "Blue " or Rateyayers'
candidate, yet it is a notorious fact- that their
concentrated antagonism is directed against one
individual only. It is hardly necessary that we
should inform our Birkenhead friends that the
great bugaboo of the Commissioners is Mr.
EDWARD BRETRERTON. If half a dozen Sary
Gamp's had been recommended by the Rate-
payees, it would not have excited a tithe of the
hostility which will be offered to Mr.
BRETHERTON to-day.

Mr. BRETHERTON is an attorney—a class
for which, by-the-bye, some have no particular
predilection ; but for the office to, which he
aspires, class ought to be no objection. On the
contrary, his legal knowledge may prove of
great value to the township. He is, besides,
at the head of his class in. Birkenhead—a
position which he has attained by perseverance
and talent alone. He has made himself thoroughly
acquainted with the various public questions
which will occupy the attention of the Commis-
sioners for some time to come, including those
most important ones of gas and water, on all
which he can bring to bear sound views, a clear
head, and—what is equally important—sterling
eloquence ; for we hold that, however sound the
views of any public man may be, unless he
can make them intelligible in language, their
principal merit is virtually lost, they appear
addled to the people at large, and hence are
looked upon as worthless.

The curse of routine is upon the Birkenhead
Commissioners, as it is upon all such antiquated
and self-elected bodies. The columns of this
journal have from time to time made the most
startling disclosures regarding the doings of the
most important body under the control of the
Commissioners, namely, the police. If a tithe
of what we have heard concerning this sink
of iniquity is true, the sooner the whole concern
is scattered to the winds the better will it be
for the township and the country at large. In
imitation of their masters, this has become
an organisation of the most formidable and
dangerous character. In fact, they do more
than administer justice—in such a manner as

may suit passions, prejudices, or interests.
We are convinced that if the ratepayers are
true to themselves, and resist the blandishments
of interested parties, they will vindicate their
own independence and right to self-government,
by returning Mr. BRETHERTON, not by a bare,
but an overwhelming majority, otherwise they
will merit to be treated As they hitherto have

been, as " hereditary bondsmen." Let the rate-
payers of Birkenhead never forget that " Party
is the madness of many for the gain of a few."

CooLl—The town-council of Liverpool met on Wednes-
day, and considered the state of the water supplied to
that somewhat important city. It appeared that the sup.
ply was abundant, but "not of that quality which would
render it generally acceptable for dietetic purposes ;''
owing to two facts, ♦iz., that the water, when impounded,
rests upon peaty ground; and that the system of filtra-
tion is not sufficient to prevent all vegetable impurities
from passing into the service pipes, Whereupon the town
council passed a resolution to the effect that " the water
in its present state is not fit for dietetic purposes," and
that filtration by gravel beds be taken into the earnest
consideration of the committee, to be. reported upon, to
the said energetic council, "at the August meeting !"
Why not August, 1858 ? The consumption of impure
water by hundreds of thousands of persons daily is not an
important affair, after all.—London weekly paper of Satan.
day.

THE GREAT EASTERN STEAK SHIP AND GRAND TRUNK
RAlLWAY.—Captain Harrison, commander of the Great
Eastern, with Mr, Yates, secretary to the company, and
Sir Cusack Roney, on behalf of the Canadian Grand
Trunk Railway, visited Holyhead on Saturday last, with
the view of judging, on the spot, as to the eligibility of the
new harbour for the departure of this leviathan ship
on her first voyage across the Atlantic. Captain
Harrison was aided in his minute examination of
the harbour, and its approaches (for which latter
purpose he proceeded some distance to sea in the
small steam yacht Marie) by Captain Skinner, R.N.,
the Admiralty agent at Holyhead ; by Captain Hirste, the
naval superintendent of the Chester and Holyhead Rail-
way ; and by Messrs. Rigby, the contractors for the harbour
and other stupendous works now in progress at Holyhead.
It is understood that Captain Harrison expressed unquali
fled satisfaction at the facilities which Holyhead affords
for the reception of the Great Eastern on her first voyage
toPortland in connexion with the through booking system
of Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, provided some sages-
firms he offered relative to the new packet pier
now constructing for the steamers which, under the
improved postal and passenger communication
are to run between Holyhead and Kingstown
can be• adopted. The officers above mentioned and Messrs.
Rigby are of opinion that the suggestion of Captain Har-
rison, whilst they can be readily adopted, and with scarcely
any increase of cost beyond what it is now intended to
incur, will add greatly to the facilities and convenience of
the pier as a packet pier, and will render it equally ser-
viceable for line-of-battle ships of the draught and tonnage
of the Duke. of Wellington to lay alongside with perfect
safety and comfort at dead low water, during the equinoc-
tial and spring tides.

THE ATLANTX TELEGRAPH.—Under date of Sheerness,
May 31, we learn that the Agamemnon, Master Commander
Cornelius T. A. Noddall, reported as having left for
Birkenhead, was recalled when between the Great Nore
and the Mouse, in consequence of a telegraph despatch
from the Admiralty, ordering her to remain at the Nore
until further orders. She is to take the portion of
the Atlantic telegraph cable intended to have been
taken by the Niagara, and the St. Jean d'Acre is to
proceed (when ready) to Birkenhead. The Agamemnon
remains at anchor at the Great Nore. The Cyclops,
paddle-wheel steam frigate, Lieutenant Commander
Joseph Dayman, left Sheerness on Saturday, at 4, p.m.,
for the purpose of taking soundings across- the ocean, where
the-telegraph cable-is to be laid down. She is provided
with various scientific instruments, amongst which are
Messrs. Negretti and Zambra's, of London, self-
registering maximum and minimum thermometers for
deep sea soundings, and the self-indicating sound-
ing machine of E. Lorieux, of Paris; the former
instrument is constructed that the- thermometers
areesch placed within a long metal tube, with valves at
the Upper ann luwer euum, au mar wuus aecentring
the, water passes freely through, but when at the
bottom or when set on purpose to try the temperature
at given depths, the valves are mechanically closed.
E. Lorieux's sounding machine is so constructed.
that it can be weighted to any amount necessary to insure
its sinking in the greatest depths. Both these
maehines are to -be worked with the French silk sounding
lines, manufactured in Paris. A. 12-horse power high
pressure engine, manufactured entirely from the drawings
supplied by the Admiralty, has been completed at the
dockyard factory here, under the direction of Mr. George
Blaxland, which engine is not only adapted for gathering
in the deep sea lead and sounding lines, but, as a perfect
windlass and winch, will beavailable for very many useful
purposes. With 81bs pressure the engine made 140 strokes
per minute, 18 inches length of stroke, diameter of cylinder
2 feet.

FATkk ACCIDENT ON THE LONDON AND
SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY.

A very unfortunate accident, by which a guard, named-
Page, in the employment of the London and South
Western. Railway, was instantaneously killed, happened
on the loop line of the above railway, near the Brentford
station, on Sunday last. The circumstances connected
with the melancholy occurrence are of rather a remarkable
character, from the fact of no one witnessing the accident
either in the train or on the line, although the wife of the
unfortunate man was in one of the carriages. It would
appear that the deceased left the station in charge of the
train filled with excursionists, in his usual state of health
and perfectly sober. About two or three minutes after
the engine and carriages had passed along the line.
the unfortunate man was. discovered on the permanent
way quite nzotionlsss. Some of the company's employes
immediately went to his assistance, and upon lifting him
up found that he was quite dead, and a slight bruise only
could be perceived externally, which was immediately over
the left eye, but there is little doubt entertained that the
whole of the carriage wheels behind his break van must
have passed over his abdomen. Whether the deceased
slipped off his break, or whether his body came in contact
with anything connected with the rail as the train was
moving away cannot possibly be learned until the coroner's
inquest is held. His unfortunate widow, upon arriving at
her destination, knew nothing of what had happened, but
was greatly surprised at not finding her husband arrive
with the same train.

There is no likelihood of Mr. Keating, the new solici-
tor-general, being opposed at Reading.
At Malta it is believed that the brave General Williams,
of Kars, is to be appointed governor of Malta, as Sir W.
Reid is fully expected to quit that post in October next,
having then completed six years' rule.
• Mr. Cornelius O'Brien, late M.P. for 'Clare, who had
attained the venerable age of 74, and who, for a quarter
of a century, bad represented his native county, expired at
his country seat in Clare, on Friday last.
Doctor Sather has been elected Bishop of Abardeen,
i❑ connection with the Scotch Episcopal Church, in the
room of Bishop Skinner, recently deceased. The voting
was as follows Sutber, 13 ; Mr. Cheyne, 9.
A petition is to be presented to the Houskof Commons,
after the Whitsuntide recess, praying for an inquiry into
the alleged interference of Lords Leicester, Hastings,
Sondes, and Walsingham in the late election for West
Norfolk.

PARTNERSHIPS D/SSOLVEL.—D. Halstead and E. Jones,
Manchester, worsted dyers ; J. Pemberton and P. Pem-
berton, Liverpool, upholsterers ; R. Hoyle and J. Duck-
worth, Wordmill, Lancaster, cotton spinners ; J. Rushton
and Co., Lancaster, cotton manufacturers.
Ma. GEORGE HUDSON, M.P.—A requisition, signed by
upwards of one hundred tradesmen and others, at Whitby,
Yorkshire, was last week forwarded to Mr. George
Hudson, M.P, inviting him to a dinnrr at the Royal Hotel,
at teat town, " in consideration of the great services he
tad rendered to the town and trade of "Thitby: Mr.
Hudson was compelled to decline the intit4tioni 'Which he
does with mauy thanks.