Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-09-02 00:00:00

TUB GAS AND. WATS& BILL.

Next, with regard to the gas bill. By the present bill,
the company had a nominal capital of £1,,0,000, and loans
£33,000, making in ail the sum of £133,000. The actual
pail up capital was about £BOOOO, and on loans £33,000,
in all say about £93,000. This was without allowing
anything for expenditure on the Birkenhead elections, or
any other illegal matters. This would leave to be called
up £40,000; unexpended capital as per last report. of gas
company 17,500, and surplus land valued at £7.500, leav-
ing a balance of £55,000 to be expended on the gas and
water works, by additions and extensions. He would
ask, was it not right that they should take .proper
steps and compel the gas and water company to give
give them a proper supply. Now, the effect of this com-
pany creating a fictions capital of £40,000 in 1841 was
ctaivalent to charging the gas and water consumers of
Birkenhead 14,000 per annum more than they should pay
from that time to the present on the actual capital ex-
pended, or in other words, during the last sixteen years,
that was since 1841, the consumers had to pay £64000.
Ile had told them that the capital actuaPy paid up was
about. £60,000. Ten ner cept dividend on that would be
£6,000: the loans, 133,000 ; the 5 per cent. dividend on
the 10-ans would be lei 650, and the capital and loans
paid up was £93,009, and the dividends paid was .€7,650.
He next went on to say, that from the company's pub
lished reports the profits for the six months, ending 31st
March, 1857, was £7,000 ; for the twelve months it
would be .14,000. The accounts would stand thus,
actual amount of dividend payable to the company,
£7,650, profits 114,000, thus making an overcharge of
£6,350 to the gas and water consumers of the township.
This he said, fully showed the necessity of adapting the
adviee given by the Attorney-General, of having all the
accounts of the company fully investigated. He then
pointed out the advantages gained by the opposition, by
the commissioners opposing the bill, from the fact that
the capital a,nd loan proved to be actually expended,
was about .193,000, and the capital proposed by the bill to
replenish that amount, was 1319,000, making a difference
to the consumers of £226,000. Having referred to the
reluctance that had been made by some persons in
signing the petition against the bill, and went on to show
that, notwithstanding that opposition, the steps they had
t iken was fully justified, from the fact that the allegations
that had been made, had been proved by the promoters of
the bill themselves, before the committee of the House of
Commons. He concluded by saying that he thought, from
the attention he had devoted to the measures entrusted to

him, and for their results, that he was entitled to lay
claim to some little standing in the town, and urged upon
the parishioners to prosecute the subject until they
obtained an ample supply of water, and by moving a
resolution to the effect that the report be received and
adopted.
Mr. Bell seconded the resolution.
pan obieetion to the 'report, because
it did not state a constant supply, upon wmen some
observations were made as to the necessity that existed
fur it, an wan shown at tho late fire. when the inhabitants
had to carry it in buckets.
The resolution, as moved by.the chairman, was all bui
unanimously carried.
TUE CEMETERY COMMITTEE.

The Clerk then read the following report from this
committee :

Cemetery Committee, 22nd August, 1857.
Present—Mr. Rae, Chairman; Me srs. Keightley, Laird, M'Whir-
ter. Verelst, and Bra 'ley.
The Chairman having called attention to the Burial A -t Amendment
'Act, which, when pas-ed, wi,l authorise the Privy Council to constt.
tate commissioners. for the improvement of any town, parish, or
borough, a burial board for the distr et of such commissioners
it was resolved to submit the following report for the approval of the

board :
In their. former report your committee recommended that a
portion of the cemete•y estate belonging to the township shonid be
adapt-d for the pnrpcoes of a cemetery, and that the wort should be
carried out by a burial board, to be app:inted under:the recent burial

acts.
In parsnance of this recomMendation, your committee have now
to direct the immediate attention of the commissioners to a bill to
amend the existing burial acts, which, within the last `ew weeks, has
been passed rapidly through its various stages in th Lords, and now
only awaits the royal assent to become law. By this act it will be
competent to the Privy Council, on petition, to constitute the com-
missioners themselves as a burial board, under the existing burial
ants. A, your committee hive bean uniformly of ,opinion that it
was desirable that fte construction and mane:Tram,: of the cemetery
should be is tae hands of the commissioners. if practicable, they can
have no hesitation, now that the new act will render it practicable,
respectfully to recommeed that the board d 3 petition the Privy Cann-
el!, in favour of the new act that th •y be constituted a barial hoard
" '

for Birkenhead and Clau?hton accordingl.
They folly recommend that it be referred to the law-clerk to report
fully as to the powers of rating old borrowing money, which the new
act wal confer on the commlss,onen as a burial board.
Your committee have to aid, in conclusion, that the improvements
in the burial a:•:ts i,troducei by the new bill will, in the judgment of
your committee, sacure to the commissioners alvantau .s more than
equivalent to atom!, which are conferred by their own new Cemetery.
Act of 11356. GEO. RA I, Chairman...

Mr. Rae,. as Chairman of this committee, then went
on to explain what had bees done by this committee and
the suggestions that he had formerly brought forward—
namely, that the township's land should be appro-
priated for the cemetery, and that it should be under the
management of the Commissioners, but to that some diffi-
culties had arisen, but during the past sessions he ex-
plained that an act had been passed by which they had
the power of doing all that was required, namely, by
'brining a Burial Board, and by which they could, if not
directly, indirectly raise the money from the overseers.
Mr. Bradley said Mr. Bell opposed the resolution until
the feeling of the public had been ascertained at a public
meeting.
Mr. Rae explained that he had consulted. the parties on
the subject, and that such a procedure wauld be unneces-
sary.
After some conversntion, the report was adopted.
The Lighting and .Patching, the Market, and the Road
and Improvement Committees proeeedings were. then
read, and eonarmed without any comment ; the proceed-
ings not being of the slightest importance.
THE FINANCE COMMITTEE.
The proceedings of this Committee stated that the law
Clerk and the Treasurer had applied for an increase in
their respective salaries, but the consideration of the re-
quest had been deferred. The treasurer had been in-
structed to furnish a return of all the guarantees given by
the officers. The Chairman had submitted the estimates
of expenditure of the several Committees for the current
year, but the matter had been deferred until the Read and
Improvement Committee and the Lighting and Watching
Committee, had reconsidered their estimates.
Before the proceedings of this committee were con-
firmed, Mr. Willoughby directed the attention of the
board to the necessity of hiving a' more sui, able place to
hold their meetings, as on that evening only 13 members
of the board had been present, and eight gentlemen of the
press. Had all the members of the board been present, ho
could not see how they could have been accommodated.
I He suggested that a committee should be formed to report
on the subject.
Mr. Harrison hoptd that some great effort would be
made to obtain a public building, and which would be an
ornament to the town. Ile had never heard of any great
effort being made ; but if such should be the case, he
would give his mite and all his assistance to advance
such an object.
Mr. Rae said the fact was in a nut-shell. It ammr.ted
to this--Would the commissioners have the present 'ouild-
ing so altered as to.be let at a rental of £2OO per annum,
or weuld they have some tine building at a rent2:s. of Law