The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-14 00:00:00

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1857.

THE DAY'S NEWS.

Notwithstanding the positive opinions pro.
nonnced by Aldermen Cooper, Holme, Parker, and
Co., in the Town Council on Monday, there is no
initiation of the alarm and anxiety which the
people feel respecting the purity, or non-purity,
of the Rivington Pike water. Go where you will,
enter into what society you may, the all-absorbing
question is, " What do you think, is it poisonous
or not ?" For our own parts, -re have tried it, and
found it wanting ; and, iu consecrience of our con-
firmed opinion, derived, not from the laboured
analysis of " Dr. this or Dr. that," we than not be
deterred from warning the inhabitant of the
borough to oppose the Pike Scheme, " migitt and
main," until the matter is placed before them :n a
proper and tangible light. We say to theta,
agitate ! agitate !! agitate !! ! Cease not, until his
Worship the Mayor shall call a town's meeting in
St. George's Hall, where the ratepayers will have
an opportunity of recording their yea or nay as to
the quality of the crystalised fluids from Riving-
ton, which Mr. Alderman Parker loudly extols,
and Mr. Councillor Holme, by way of bravado, so
eagerly quaffed off in the Council-chamber on
Monday fast. There must be a town's meeting,
where the humble but industrious and respectable
mechanic and labourer will be permitted to
give their vote on this--a question of life and
death. The poorer classes should be heard first,
Their scanty means will not enable them to ob-
tain and use those purifying commodities called
t' patent filters" for " chrystalising" the surface
waters of the Rivington Hills, contaminated and
poisoned as they pass along to supply the wants
of no less than half a million of people. Nay,
more, when disease sets in—when the first effects
of this most dileterious compound of vegetable
matter and poisonous minerals show themselves,
such is their pecuniary condition that they can-
not despatch a liveried lacquey for "my medical
attendant"' but must suffer on, until at last the
worst symptoms are manifested, and the public
hospital is the resort, where death, as often as
recovery, is the final result. We say again, it
will not do for Alderman This or an Alderman That
to bluster about the opinions of a certain London
professor. The history of the Palmer poisoning
case, and his connection therewith, should teach
them to place less reliance upon his opinions.
We should like to hear what the immortal Prince
of Chemists, Leibeg, would say of the contents of
these congregated liquid ponds, gathered from
every surface source from Rivington to Liverpool
—his apt scholar and disciple, Dr. Musprat, has
told us his, and despite the empirical statements
of amateur chemists, and opinions which bear
upon them the impress of contradiction, aye,
and ignorance, we will not he satisfied until some-
thing like Mr. Piston's suggestion is carried out
Neither the Water Committee nor the Town Coun-
,cil will be permitted to falter on this momentous
subject. To them we say, demonstrate satizt'ae-
torily if you can, that the Rivington water is fit for
every household purpose, and we shall be satisfied,
but do not steal it into town, and afterwards
surreptitiously wadi the streets with the contents of
your Pike reservoirs on pretences, flimsy and futile,
that you were only ‘' cleansing rusty pipes."
Dissatisfaction with the overbearing conduct of
the Poor Law Commissioners continues to increase.
'We perceive that a meeting has just been held in
Marylebone, for the purpose of resisting the
encroachments of the Government upon the Poor
Law Unions of the country. This is a topic to
which we roust devote further consideration, and
expose the nefarious effects of the centralising
system as practically evinced by the doings of
the Poor Law Board.

Our latest election intelligence informs us that
the vacancy caused in the representation of West
Kent will bring Sir Walter Riddell into the field
as a Conservative caudidate. The Tories of Wust
Kent say they have the greatest confidence in his
zuccess. But the Liberal party have shown great
activity in the registration courts since Nu.
Nothing will, of course, be done till after the
funeral of Slr E. Filmer, the deceased member.

but in the meantime both parties are preparing
for an 'earnest and vigorous contest. The Liberal
will feel the loss of the prestige of Mr. Hodge's
name. Mr. Hodge was defeated in 1852 by a decisive
majority. The Liberal candidate now in the field is
Mr. C. Martin, of Leeds Castle. He is understood to
adopt the Liberal programme in every respect,
except the vote by ballot. Mr. Kinglake, in his
last speech to the Newport electors, talked of the
three great principles of the model member of
Parliament—that is to say, Vote by Ballot, Church
Rate Repeal, and Extension of the Suffrage. He
declares himself in favour of them all ; and, there-
there, all the electors have to do, if they think him
the best man, is to get from him some clear and
distinct assurance that he will put forth some
exertions in defence of these principles, so that he
may hold them in reality and not in name only.
As will be perceived in another column, Lord
Panmure has spoken out on the question of a new
translation of the Scriptures. At the meeting of
the Edinburgh Bible Society, his lordship exhibited
all the fears which the most timid Protestant could
entertain of the Church of Rome ; and he seemed
to assume that any new translation would certainly
give that Church an advantage. The agitation of
this question, as we have previously remarked, is
calculated to do much more harm than good.
One of those tedious cases of dishonesty which
has been before the public for some time past—the
great gold robbery—was brought before the
Central Criminal Court, at the 01. l Bailey, London,
yesterday, Mr. Justice Wines and Mr. Baron
Martin being the presiding judges Mr. Sergeant
Shee was the leading prosecuting counsel, and the
prisoners were defended by several learned ser-
geants and barristers, The first witness examined

was the convict Agar, who repeated his former
testimony, The case will again occupy the court
to day.
Mr. Gregson, M.P., who is chairman of the East
India and China Association, has written a letter
to Lord Clarendon, in the name of the association.
The writer says they are deeply interested in the
trade and maintenance of peace with China, and
that they hope free ingress and egress into and out
of Canton will now be secured for English traders.
He suggests a new treaty and a great many con.:
cessions from the Chinese for the purpose of giving
us a firm commercial and political footing in the
Celestial Empire ; and, if all these be attained,
Mr. GreAson is good enough to say, for self
and fellows, they are willing to allow to other
powers the advantages they got for themselves.
The letter, however, is more remarkable for what
it does not contain than for what it does; the East
India and China Association have not a word, not
even a hint of disapprobation of the proceedings of
Admiral Seymour, and his civil coadjutors before
Canton. No doubt they think the bombardment
of that city, a very proper course to induce the
Chinese to grant freer intercourse to the British
authorities.
The continental news is not of any significance
this morning, and will be found at length in
another part of this day's paper. Brofferio, the
leader of the Radicals in the Sardinian Chambers,
lri announced his intention to question the
minriters on the state of Italy, but not in a way to
indicate a want of confidence. Great preparations
are making by the secret police for the Emperor
of Austria's trlit to Milan ; and it is understood
that the Emperor is contemplating decisive steps
to effect a reconciliation with his Italian subjects.
Letters from Naples represent the public mind, the
King's included, as bent on great changes, not
likely to be revolutionary in character, but rather
in the way of reform and reconciliation. The
war between the Russians and the Circassians
continues to rage much the same way in which
it has raged for many years; and we have
something said about another battle, in which the
Russians were defeated, having been fought at
Bayuk. The late speech of Sir Robert Peel has
created, as might have been expected, a most un-
favourable impression on the Continent, where
official individuals and diplomatists are mach more
reserved and cautious than those of the same class
in our own country. It seems to be believed that
the youthful baronet had some grand object in
view by speaking in such disrespectful terms of
distinguished men ; but it ought to be explained
to our Continental friends that the Birmingham
speech was only the natural outpourings of the
mind which delivered it-

By the Canada we have advices from New York
to the 31st ult. inclusive. The slave excitement
had not ceased in Mississippi. Congress had
adjourned, but was to meet on the 2nd inst., when
several important discussions were expected to
take place. By the steam ship Illinois we have
Californian dates to December 5, and on freight
1,671,569 dollars received, making a total ship-
ment for the year of upwards of 40,000,000 dollars.
The mining accounts are very favourable, and the
prospect of the miners improved by the late fall of
rain ; and the agriculture, from the same cause,
greatly benefitted. Nothing important from Ore
gon. The Costa Rican advices report that there
had been very severe fighting. The Nicaragua,
British mail steamer, was reported at Grey-
town, in December, awaiting Costa Rican
hails, which, it was rumoured, had been inter
cepted by Walker's troops. From Havannah
we learn that the Island of Cuba was healthy, and
that General Concha was about to be superseded
in his office. Advices from Mexico state that,
according to the official returns, the sale of Church
property amounted. to 17,000,000 dollars. From
Costa Rica and Nicaragua, Walker's critical posi-
tion is confirmed. IL is said that the leaders of
the allies have set theft' minds on seizing, if pos
sible, the transit route. Eight hundred Guatemala
troops were at Nicaragua on the 17th of December.
In Peru, General. Castilla,' was in a very critical
position. Revolution prevailed throughout the
South. Two national vessels declared for the
insurgents.

WE first directed attention to the poisonou
' character of the
.Rivington water on Thursday
last, as the public are aware, On Friday, it
appears, the Corporation despatched samples to
their London chemists. By some accident these
precious trophies of jobbery did not reach their
destination before Saturday, and, consequently,
no answer could have reached Liverpool for
Monday's performance except by an express
railway parcel. This shows the strange precipi-
tency with which a matter of such singular
importance was undertaken, and the unwarrant-
able haste which marked the conduct of the
majority who voted for a supply of their car-
bonated, oxidised, and salinousifilth being forced
on the Ratepayers. They had nothing to show
to rebut the chemical testimony which the
inhabitants of Liverpool had in their hands
some days before the samples were sent to
London, Their fierce lashing of the winds and
waves, to get up counter-evidence in their favour,
produced nothing but an abortion—an analysis of
a most unsatisfactory and unmeaning character,
and which does not furnish the shadow of a pre-
text for the very determined and presumptuous
course they have pursued in the Council-chamber.
They did not meet, it is quite evident, to enquire
into the charges brought against the Pike water
and its advocates, but to record their utter con-
tempt for those who have sent them into the
Council.

This was not at all necessary, and a far less
vital question might have been selected for the
display of their independence, of that public con-
trol which at all times they treat so discourteously.
Dr. Taylor's analyses are not enough to satisfy
the inhabitants of the town that the Pike water
is fit for household purposes. He admits that
he found a little of everything in the Rivington

samples which ought not to be found in pure
water. The liquid in question is of a highly
saline character as Dr. Taylor avows, and if the
salts he found in his analysis are as neutral as
he would make them appear, still the water must
produce a marked and generally purgative opera-
tion. At one season, say at this cold period of
the year, its action on the system may be per-
fectly harmless—as we find the water of tropical
countries when the sun has lost his scorching
power; but in the months of July and August,
when the decomposition of vegetable and animal
matter has reached its climax, that same water
may become deadly poison. All waters of the
saline class, in fact, have strong purgative powers,
commencing with those of Plombieres, and ending
with the celebrated springs of Saratoga in North
America. Assuming, then, for argument's sake,
that the Pike water is as pure as Dr. Taylor says
it is, its natural construction —its saline basis—
renders it the least desirable of all waters in
winter, and most dangerous, if not positively
undrinkable in the summer and autumn months.

On comparing the result of Dr. Muspratt's
investigations with Dr. Taylor's analysis, it cer-
tainly does appear as though the same water had
not been tested by the two chemists. We are
bound, indeed, in charity to believe that Dr.
Taylor's samples were wholly different to
those supplied to Dr. Muspratt ; for no
two men enjoying a particle of reputa-
tion in the same profession could, by any
possibility, have differed so widely over one and
the same thing. Water was pumped up from
the Liverpool wells into some of the Rivington
reservoirs to be mixed with the Pike filth before
it was allowed to enter the mains, and the water
forwarded to Dr. TAYLOR may have been some
of our good spring water only slightly adulte-
rated. The colouring matter, whether mineral,
vegetable, or animal, which Dr. TALYOR dis-
covered may have been given to our town water by
a very small quantity of the Pike drainage being
mixed with it. Had the learned Professor been
brought down to Rivington, and made acquainted
with all the recent adulterations of the Corpora-
tion, he might probably have given a very
different and unqualified opinion. The actual
condition of the reservoirs and goits as described
by the members of the Council who last visited
the works, would have been taken into account
by the analytical enquirer, and that which could
not be unravelled in the laboratory might have
been made visible to the senses on a personal

inspection.

Dr. GEE addressed a letter to Mr. Alderman
BENNETT, calling his attention to the fact that
the softness of the water may have a pernicious
effect on the community by its action on our
leaden cisterns and pipes ; and that the aid of
chemists should be sought to test it in this par-
ticular. This is certainly the most important
question for us to deal with at present, and the
suggestion of Mr. PICTON, seconded by Mr.
ROBERTSON GLADSTONE, that two or three of the
most eminent chemists in the country should be
employed to analyse and report upon its quality
ought to have been assented to by the Water Com,
mittee. They relied on Dr. TAYLOR'S report ; but
that report did not advert to the point under con-
sideration. His own analysis, however, of the
Rivington water (adulterated even with our
present bright and hard water), as compared
with his statements in his work on poisons and
the effect of soft water on lead, show us
that there is imminent danger. Dr. TAYLOR has
proved that there is a deficiency of inorganic or
saline ingredients in the water now used ; but in
his work he states, that water containing less than
one in fifteen thousand of solid contents is unsafe
whereas, according to his own report, the adul-
terated Rivington contains only one in about
thirty-five thousand. Let him and Dr. Christian
have samples of pure Rivington, and let them
test it with regard to its action upon lead. Dr.
MUSPRATT and Mr. MERCER have done so, and
state that it has a Very rapid action.
But we have enough in Dr. TAYLOR'S state-
ments to prove that the Pike water is not
transparent, colourless, sparkling, destitute of
smell, and free from all disagreeable taste as our
well water is ; and until it can be clearly
demonstrated that the Pike is pure water, and
nothing more, the Council have no right to force
it on the town. No Act of Parliament was ever
framed to compel the publie to drink bad and
dangerous water when they have an abundant
supply from the first springs in the world to rely
upon. The majority in the Town Council are
not presuming, therefore, on the powers of In
Act of the Legislature, but on their position in
the Corporation ; and in this course they can be
stopped by an injunction. That we have plenty
of water for all domestic uses is proved
by the statement made by Mr. J. R. JEFFERY
in the debate of Monday. For 100,0001.
that gentleman says he will undertake
to double the weekly supply drawn from our
wells at present, and there is no doubt whatever
that it could be done. Mr. JEFFERY'S total of
90,000,000 of gallons weekly, would give us
water for household purposes for treble the popu-
lation Liverpool contains at the present moment ;
and with the Rivington brownish, yellow-tinted
wash for steam and manufacturing uses, this
Borough would be most plentifully stocked with
water for the next half century. But the Coun-
cil will not, we fear, listen to reason. They care
nothing for public opinion ; and unless they are
made, by law, to yield to the voice of common
sense, we shall be deluged with the Rivington
filth until some scourge overtakes the town,
which will be too peculiarly local to leave any
doubt as to its real cause. We hope, then, to
hear that the Ratepayers will endeavour to
obviate the occurrence of such a calamity, and
that the law will be resorted to to restrain the
Council majority without delay.

THE STATE OF PIEDMONT.—A London con •
temporary concludes an article on Italy in the fol-
lowing words :—" Whatever may be the deficiencies
of the Piedmontese government, judged by highly
cultivated politicians, the voice of a constitutional