The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-05 00:00:00

pastured in that district. "Oh.' he said, " I dare
sty not many more than 6,000 or 7,000. How many
oxen, how many horses, how many cows, how many
pigs ? " Indeed I cannot tell." How many acres
under the plough? " Oh, a mere fraction, peihaps
500." How much under pasturage ? " Almost all the
remainder." Yet, the water committee have the asJurance
to ask. the people of Liverpool to drink that contaminated
supply ! Let the council but imagine the amount of offal
from these thousands of animals feeding upon those very
hills, the debris of which is poured into the reservoirs.
_.nagine cart loads of manure being drained into our springs
and pumped up mixed with our spring water. A very
shocking idea. but is there any difference ? None. Dr.
Taylor says, that in surface districts, the amount of organic
matter differs at different seasons of the year. We cannot
control the tens of thousands of tons of manure put upon
that district. I ask the town clerk, have we any contract
as to the quality ?
The Town Clerk : None.

Mr. Bennett : It may be bone dust this year, guano the
next. and offal from slaughter houses the next year. The
question is very simple. There is the district s pread out.
The rain falls upon the fields—is collected in ruts between
each but. The water runs in little streams into the brooks,
the brooks run into the rivers, and the rivers run int) the
reservoirs. Let any one dare to deny, if he can, that that
is a ditch water supply. Thousands of acres of land under
the plough, and under grass, independent of which,
there are miles and miles of highroads, over which there is
great traffic. The filth of these roads is washed down into
the reservcirs also; and by such contamination in the
aggregate— •
Air. Alderman Holm : I am very sorry to rise to order
but Ido so really to spare the time of the c)uncil. Mr.
Bennett is going into the question whether we should go
to Riviugton for water at all. (Hear, hear.) Surely this
is quite a waste of time. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Bennett : I am sorry that Mr. Holme, who is
generally a sharp sighted man, should, upon this occasion,
be so very obtuse as not to see that I am using arguments
against having the water to drink. It is a very distasteful
subject I know—to him and other gentlemen.
Mr. Holme : Not at all.
Mr. Bennett : They must feel now, with the deepest
sorrow, that the old scheme is a failure, (" No. No !" and
" Haer, hear.") There is a growing feeling in the town
against it.
Mr. Earle : Quite the reverse.
Mr. Bennett : The water in the houses is not drunk. I do
not at all undervalue. . .

Mr. Fernihough : This is really not the question before
the council. (Hear.) It is idle to debate now whether we
are to go to Rivington or not. Mr. Bennett should have
more consideration. (Hear.)
Mr. Jeffery : If Mr. Bennett's statements are correct,
the wa er is impregnated.
Mr. Hodson It is not so. (Order, order.)

The Mayor : Mr. Bennett is ;cagy travelling as far as he
can from the proceedings. (Hear, hear.) But it is a
quarterly meeting, and I do not like to interiupt him.
Mr. Bennett : My view is to show, my intention is to
show, that the water now brought from Rivington, instead
of being that pure and limpid water about uhich Mr.
Holme and others unintentionally deceived the council, ---
Mr. Helene : I beg your pardon, you have no right to
make any such remark. (Hear, hear.) I shall be prepared
to answer Mr. Bennett on these points, and I call upon him
to withdraw that remark. _ _ .

Mr. Earle : Mr. Bennett is deceiving the public. (Hear.)
Mr. Holme : I claim the protection of the Mayor, and 1
call upon. Mr. Bennett to withdraw the remark.
Mr. Coopn : I tell him that we are as straightforward
as he---- _ _

Mr. Earle : A great deal more so.
Mr. Bennett : I say, that gentlemen who led the council
to suppose that the water would be pure, have deceived the
council unintentionally
Mr. Holme He said I deceived the council. I insist
upon the withdrawal of that word. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Bennett : Unintentionally, I said.
Mr. Holme : I ask you, Mr. Mayor, to insist upon its
withdrawal.
The Mayor : Mr. Bennett said, " Unintentionally de-
ceived the council," as I understood him.
Mr. Bennett : I said I regretted that Mr. Holme and
many other gentlemen, Mr. Cooper among the number,
who told us to expect from Rivington a ptue and limpid
supply, have unintentional' deceived the council
Mr. Cooper : The water, sir, is pure—
The Mayor : We are going quite out of the business of
the council. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Holme again urged Mr. Bennett to withdraw the
phrase.
Mr. Bennett : I put it to the Mayor: If ho thinks I ought
to withdraw the remark, I will do so. I will not withdraw
it if the Mayor does no, say so.
The Mayer : It is a strong word to make use of in
reference to any gentleman, even " unintentionally deceiv-
ing." It goes beyond what is right, and I think you
ought to withdraw it. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Bennett : I do withdraw it.
Mr. Holme : I am satisfied.
The Mayor : I must beg you now to keep to the pro-
ceedings immediately before us.
Mr. Bennett I wish to keep most closely to them, and
to' show to the council, and through the council the town,
that: the water which we are receiving from Rivington, and
which is now forced down our throats—(Cries of "
oh," and interruption.) Really. sir, I must claim your
protection against remarks made by certain flippant
members of the council in this way.
The Mayor: I must beg you will not interrupt Mr.
Bennett. He has a right to show that the analysis, 5,
far as is exhibited in the proceedings, is right or wrong :
but he has not a right to go into the general question as
he has been doing.
Mr. Bennett : My object is to show that the people of
Liverpool, who are rising almost to a man against the
supply of this water, are right in their opposition ; that
the water is coloured at its very source ; that that source
is highly injurious to the qualities of the water which
flow in it ; that the water committee are endeavouring
to obtain a footing for it by diluting the spring water
step by step with it, and that they are endeavouring to
force it on the people of Liverpool against their will. I
will reserve this argument, but I must say that I am
strengthened in the eourse I am taking, by the fact, that
I know there are attached to the memorial, the names
of men who would deceive the public. I cannot go into
that now, but the reports which are now made, and
which qualify the previous ones, make the matter of
more grave importance than ever it was before.
(Hear, hear.) Even Dr. Taylor himself says, that
he has made no experiments in lead, and •he
says, the solid contents of the water will vary with
the seasons," so that there will be a quantity of organic
matter in the water two months hence, which will make
Mr. Csoper himself tremble at the course he has taken.
(Laughter.) He tells us that light and fi:tration will not
remove the objectionable colour, but that if we pass it
through charcoal, most of the colour will disappear. A
member of the water committee, Mr. Wagstaff, says that it
must be passed through animal charcoal and purified like
sugar. But why go to that enormous expense, when Mr.
Samuel Holme himself admits, that for £200,000 more the
present supply may be doubled? Why should the people
have this noxious and objectionable water forced on them,
when there is a supply of spring water at their feet ? I
hold in my hand a small bottle containing, I can assure
you, only the solid contents of one jugful, which held about
two gallons of water, and which was allowed to settle, and
when it was drained off, .the residuum was placed in this
bottle. The water was drawn from a clean cistern, and yet
this is the character and quantity of the solid mat,er con-
tained in it. How also is it possible that 60,000,000
gallons a week could be used, instead of 45,000,000
palms as formerly ? Thus here, too, we are committing
another very grave mistake; we are letting to waste, down
the sewers every week, 10,000,000 gallons of water, one-
half of which is spring water, or, in other words, we are
throwing away a quantity of spring water equal almost to
the whole produce of the Windsor station, to get rid of a
similar quantity of this noxious water from Rivington.
Even Dr. Taylor tells us that it is not in its drinking
qualities to be compared to the water we have in abun-
dance under .our feet, and I therefore trust that the water
committee who appear determined that this noxious supply
shall be continued, will have the power taken out of their
hands, and placed in the hands cf those who can conform
more generally to the wishes of the town. The number of
parties who are objecting to this water now, and who do
not drink it, amount to many thousands in the town of
Liverpool. (Hear, hear.) We are told tha, in a short
time this water will be better. If 1 thought so,
I would go along with those who take that view of it with
all my heart, but when I know that the Anglezark reser-
voir has been full for now twelve months, and that every
means was taken to procure the best water from the district
that the engineers could suggest—when I know that the six
filter beds, which were supposed capable of filtering
16,000,000 gallons a day, are used so that the pereeisition
may be slow and steady through then—when I know, also,
that at this particular time of year the water in these
catchment reservoirs is better and purer than it will be at
any other time, and that the discolouration does not arise
from the pipes, but that it is discoloured at its very source
—when I know all those things, I look with deep regret and
alarm as to what may happen in the town during the
summer months. Sir. Hawksley tells us that we must not
turn the water too rapidly into those pipes, because the
incrustation on them from the hard water would be dis-
solved when brought into too violent contact with the soft
water ; but the engineer told Mr. Farnworth yesterday in
committee that they were not in a position to supply the
town from Rivington, as the reservoirs were not
yet fully completed to contain the water. Now
here is one engineer opposed to another. I could give