Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-07-29 00:00:00

I=of the board to him for his vatu
I A letter

as read from Mr. Thomas B. Brown, ledger
•

clerk, applying
referred to the Warehouse Committee.
A letter was read fiom Messrs. James Moss and Co., apply-
ing for a permanent berth, of about 300 feet square, at the
north side of the Wellington Dock, for their ships sailing
to Egypt and France. The letter was referred to the Docks
and Quays Committee..
A communication was

Increa

The letter 'was

for a hut

'ead from Major Greig,. applying
"he constables at the south-east
The letter was referred

corner of the Sandon graving-,toc
to the Docks and Quays Committ

THE DEFENCELESS STATE OP THE MERSEY
Mr. HITEEACK was called upon to move the rem „.„-t,:_,, ~.._ , , •

wilieu ne nail given notice on the previous week, in refer-
ence to the defenceless state of the Mersey, in case
of an invasion. He said, while calling the attention
of the board to this subject, it must not be supposed he was
an alarmist. Although it was possible, he did not think it
at all probable, that Liverpool would ever be attacked by a
hostile fleet. He hoped that the. English Channel fleet

would never come into Th;
was an individual opinion.
wurope, it was admitted by

At the swine time, this
ng at the position of

alarming,parties to• he considerably
It was a
.question whieh forced itself upon the
minds • of their

event
_of war, how

far was

actge of these
la/Aain Mends, ill
mind, in the British

was not at all able to
had the authority of

tter jute could not

ry, that the ports at the
.lueless as far as being a

protecti

iy idea as to the value of the property in V their
-,nd in their docks and dock quays. He had taken
an estimate of the value, as shown
returns of tne
_iird June. The total amount of pro--
om the )(general brokers, the tonnage of steam vessel 4
`-ip; in the docks and river also, showed: a- total
500,000. Havincr

warehot

some pains in preparing

and shipping
value of £23.

to suppose that such a state of iags rather invited

an otherwise. The next question arose, ..
was it to protect such property ? He thought it
duty of .the Government. The property in their
and warehouses did not belong to Liverpool only,
o persons all over the country. At .the same
he thought it was the duty of the people of Liverpool
all the attention of the Government to the subjnt.
lhairman had stated that he had had an interview with
avor On this subject, who thought it his duty not to
his matter until the public and commercial bodies
That board contained members of various asso-
ciates commercial bodies, and were perfectly qualified to
express an opinion as to whether that board should till--
lie initiative in this matter or not. Quite irrespective
-7,-as another interest to be considered, and
as the interest of-the bondholders. What would becoL
the interest which was to be paid.to the bondholders i
he trade of thilt port was to be seriously injured and their
locks seriously destroyed ? The amount he had mentioned
as the value of property was quite irrespective of the valuf
of their warehouses and all the buildings, and of all "tli
goods which _mjght be in the hands of private individual
Looking ...thlaNfore, at the present position of matters, a
believing that the present state of Europe required the,
1 wilt _

this, then

of the port and believing it
insufficient 'as at present c onstructed, he, begged tov mve
that committee be appointed to consider the -defensiove
state of the port, and confer with the Government, the
Corporation, and other parties.on the subject. -
Mr. LAIRD seconded the motion, and, in doing so, he ex•L
_pressed his surprise at the opinion which was- exTressed- at
the last meeting, that it would be the wish of the Government
-that no public discussion should fake place on„the subject.
He believed 'it was the-duty of great public bodies. like this-
board to take the initiative in matters of thiS-kind ; and
more especially when the Government, so -far from interfer—
ing, as suggested by one or two

_ , atten.
tion of the-Lord-Lieutenants of the Ebycounties a circular
which had been issued,, inviting this matter to be taken up
He thought they had quite a right to-look at the amount a
property at stake and the customs paid at the port, and de-
manded
that the port should be put in a defensive position,
The circular `which he alluded to invited suggestions and re-
commendations from various TlM•fg if tbn TT •

„ ~.. ruta I.:u un y. naving
paid some attention to the subject, heUILU
tr
believed that the de-
fence.of the port could be made perfectly efficient for a very
small sum of money. He was prepared to say that, if this
committee were formed, for an outlay of £15,000 they could, so
far as gunboats were concerned, make the defence perfectly effi-
i-Themore these neWkind of ordnances were considered,
nautical men. Small
,
a consideration was this question of compromise which the more efficient were thernsidered by-
.
tiad been entered into, as detailed by the chairman of the vessels such as the ferry oats would be found. Yery sef
Works Committee; 'A- great many, perhaps the whole, of He believed that by p a
lacing Armstrong guns 'on those Üboatsul..
the Works Committee might think that, in strict justice, they would be able to destroy, in short time, a ship of
the timbertrade ought to have so much acceded to them; but much larger size, as the- small ones would present such .a
the timber trade had their opinion on this point, and thought small surface to aim at. - This. was the opinion of those who,
perhaps different. But when he (the. chairman) bad, a mat- bad insmPetnil fhpcp O.IITIC Anil
this Was flin ~,,.., -r____,_

••
had a ;;reat many discussions with the time'
agreeable and some disagreeable; but matters had, gone on
smoothly for some time; and they had made an arrmlgeni n';
by which the timber trade was to remove to the north end
Df the town; and the only real matter before the hnard

They ha(
;rade, som(

ma 4uuzu win, AMU
ter of business to transact, and was in difficulty with respect best adapted for the defence, of the various ports
of this co,
.
to-it—and that was a gentleman whom he believed to be per- try, and means most at their disposal. Another subject'he h
fectly honest as himself--he would not seek the extreme made some inquiry about was the mannin of these vesse,
legal right. This matter had been under the consideration Men would be found to volunteer for this service. If a for(
of the Works Committee several times,. and they did not of fifty vessels was organised for -this -port, men would' 1
think. it expedient to take this land from the timber trade found to volunteer, and among whom -would ho fm-rmi
without any cOnsideration. He- thought the course sup.- feet -.lints to tot:. _

than reConcilo i

_ .ete. state of defence.
suttla this matter at once the best way they could. .it was `resent fors were generally considered by engine._
the hest policy or the :board to-be on amicable terms with and nautical men useless. Mr. Hubback had mentioned
all the commercial bodies of the town, and of these the Captain Mends. He had been in communication with this
timber trade was not the least. gentleman on the subject. and •

rtu .tite . meetin l
§atkrday; but he did agree with Mr. Bushell's proposal,as it
order that every member of the board should know exactl)
littd been done with reference to the timber trade. Tc
-e the information Mr. Bushell asked for wastitc
it.wnieh would enable theiboard to Como to a pro-
the question..

, -- ‘.....e captain expressed tha
t opinion to him over and over again. He had also been. it
2 communication with the War-office, and they were most
anxious that flotillas of this kind should be established
) They said they had got guns but no men to work them, la,
) they might get men to take charge and instruct the In(
r,
. He thought they -were bound to provide such protecti-
the property. He thought it might be a long t.z
, this or any other port in England would be
) the best way -to prevent au
[ wereiu- perfectly prepared for w
.. D--

[ITII hoped Mr. Bushell would also procure the
masto what the timber trade were really entitled

attack. v

s to show that t

;ever iv