The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-15 00:00:00

TO VIE CHO amAN AND ISIEMBEI3 OF TH?. DOCK COMMITTEE

Gentlecneu,—l feel assured of year intentions to •aecommodate all
parties as as far as practicable, and to do the best you can for the
interests or the port; but it Was not until I read the -newspapers of
last weak, that I was aware it was tap,oosed Messrs. APlvar were even
as well off ai others for dock accommodation. Bat tintsuppasitlonjs
not correct, for we• are very limited as to space, taking the relative
amount of wbrk into consideration; a -al I beg t, lay before yon the
following fl2,mre4 and facts, showing the work done by ns. Taking
this year as far as it has gone (and the previous years ara about the
same, as reference to your own books will show). they chow that in the
four month of:this year we had the follow:ng tonnage :—Oatwards—
Jannarfto April, 1857, 44,514 ; for the year, 133,542. Inwards—Jan-
naryto April, 1857. 43,714; for the year, 131,212, which does not
include our inward co al tonnage from nonth Wales, say about (per
annum) 100,0)0.
Now, I think every mfsinber of the committee will be inclined to
admit-that the above is a large amount of work to be carried on in
the small space which we have had at oar d sposel in Sinskis on
Dock ; and the secret Of the possibility of 39 much work being done
in so snail a compass is, that the ace ,carnadation given to one vessel
has beea generally at the expose of some other of- our own ships,
o ,liged to remove oat of their berth, in order to let that particular
vessel in.' And to this the Taurus, which it appears has been
referred to in the disc )sslon in co nuaittee, was no exce?tion. The
committee must not fancy that this extent of work, as respects Our
foreign trade, has been curled on with simply the aecodunodati on
afforde i at flaskissoa Dock; for, althowth we hays been making no
complaint, we have been doieg a vast deal of a, taal work, but it has
beer' by the hdp of other facilities of our awn, in addition to those
aTor led by you at Tinskisson Dock. We have, at this moment a very
lar4nstook o! Cardff end Newpo t end for the use of oar vessels—
none of it•for sale; an i our stock at any time is never under 1,1,900 •
tons; bat it m y be a (tuition whether the Dock Committee have
ever looked tulho nee wales of our pirticalar case, in providing
accoramOle.tlon Buffs—lent for coal wants, as they do for others,
whose renuirem ,nts ara less. We h lie, however, been left to -
flail it as we best eonldi • so-.that for many years
have h 1I oi leas e'a large portion of the Trafford Doak, and where
at this momenta large portion of our coil is stored, some dee or six
miles away from wh,ra the &altos le. This is both costly and incon-
veoient, but we have had for many fears t make the hest of it,with—
t•onbing you, booing the day would come When you could con
va:iiently accommod ate our want s m ire inliy thin It is in your
power at present to do. The Trafford Dock, however, has an adv.,n-
tage to us apart from its being a receptacle for coals as at present,
and I have before eXp!aiaol to the Dock Committee that one of my
reasons for Teething it W 33 the pc:,s,e,sion of about 1,005 feat of quay
frontage available for our wants at any time, whatever these might
he, and therefore thought it very string that the consignees of cargo
per Danu')e .-hoold suppose that if the Taurus had .oitsot, a berth by
displacement of one of our own ships she would therefore have
had tlwalt for a berth. The Tyaras would have done no su eh
thing. What we would have recrsired in such case, even if the

Tanrns could nit have got into .iock,at all, was to get the custom;'
permission to discharge the oranges, nat into warehattse, bat into our
own river craft, and I ani theta tomowhare or oth4e—say at Trafford
Dock, if riece,sary I oil' mention the f to show that it i 3
very difEnit ti contrast the case of any other parties in Liverpool
with any p uticu'ar case of a steamer under my charp,,f tr quite irc3.
speeise of dock ace ,m Iola:ion at all w 3 p assess ai Is as 1 appliances
for carrying on the wart ia th 3 river which no other p arty Wave at
their disposal, and bean it will not do to make it appear that 132canie,

Messrs. Maclver can by thaie alvant ges d this or that, that .a'.l other.

parties without them ought of nceesiiiy to be able to do the same
thing. As for appropriate baths tiers are trades which cannot be
'carried on suit :oat. i instate our mill s,rvice for oae ; and every
practical member well knows, to t ike away these M 3313, is banishing
the pone service from the port.
Granting that we have aopropiieed berths for the public service,
these wonldnot be berths totint other peoole co .Id take advantage of ; but
we can do so ourselYee, aid every sh p we cal accommadate in this
way, i= jest a ship the less that yen weld have to provide for else-
where, if we did n by saincoavenielein,g oarselves, make way for
her. Some of the present members of the committee ware members at
the time we were sent from the Cobn•g to the Husk's con Dock, h w-
ine to remove our machMery. workshops, and everything e'se at
great expense and inconvenience ; a .d I appeal to them to st:te the
ci-cnmstances, and you will dad that an going the furthest away (rim
the centre of &mile s we fare I not bestir, but much worse, than
any,otter parries in Vverdoel, and erea nc.v, with the increase
of oar ships and tonnage, we have no more working bertha there thin
we had in the Coburg Dock years ago. (Inc feiend-i, Mr ssrs.Bibby, are
not by ar:y means unfriendly to ns, nor is it at an a question that
"two of a trade c annul; agree," and tit it in as ;log More for them-
selves they meant or 'mated that we should or could do with less
accommodation than we have; but it is not the less necesoary to
write this letter, that any new memberolcontrai;tee may be apprised
of what oar accommodation really is, and extent of requirements as
compared with others. - • •

I am not patting this forward as indicating extent of bu,iness, except
in so far as it bears upon the foreign trade and flulkisson Dick ; bat
if favours are to go by extent of tonnaga, or who can justly as :ke the
most noise, I have still our existing trade to bring form:: d as another
item in the =aunt. But, you will understand, I am not complaining,
ha -zing no wish or intention beyond disabusing you of the impression
that the ,teamers in my charge have any privileces which the vessels
of others have not.

Share and share alike, if it were practicable or deferable, wou'd, in
the abstract. justly entlle us to mare than we enjoy. or ever hove
erj ayed ; for, as a matter of course, we would prefer, like others, be'ng
bertha] in doclas more towards the centre of the tolvn ; but as regards
Huskisson Doek, there is ❑o alteration or different plan on which the
same Dumber of berths could be worked there, by which you could
as well provide for the public wants, or obtain' as good a revanne for
the Dock Estate.
If there be any parties who have quay and storage faclitl s equal
to or more than ther everyday wants, I cm assure you the firms I
reoresant form an exception. -Voir obedient servant,

CHARLES MACIVER.
British and North American Royal M •it Steam-packet Company,
OMC.3, 16, Water-street, Li7erpool, M Ly 12h, 1837.
Mr. Bold reminded the committee that Messrs. Mglver
went to the Hnskisson dock when no one else would go
there ; and in fact made that dock what it now was.
The Chairman said he was quite satisfied that if the
...committee had not given them that side of the deck, much
more time and space would be occupied in other places.
- Mr. Clint: That letter does not seem to have any
particular meaning. •
The Chairman : It is to state their case, in conse-
quence of some remarks made at the last meeting of this
committee, which might seem to convey the impression
that Messrs. Maclver were receiving more accommodation
than they were entitled to.
Mr. Gladstone said the manner in which the Messrs.
Maclver conducted their business ought to be a source of
national pride, and any conveniences they required
they ought to be quite welcome to. He considered that
the letter was one of explanation, not a letter of complaint.
The Chairman : There were observations made when
we last dismissed the matter, which certainly implied that
these gentlemen had advantages which others did not
possess, and to which they were scarcely entitled. .it was
in consequence .of these remarks, I presume, that this letter
was written.
_ Mr. Brocklebank said such an impression had certainly
got abroad out of doors, and he was therefore very glad
that Mr. Maclver had written the letter to explain how the
matter really stood.
This closed the general business.

SIIOCKING TRAGF.DY AT KIRKTIAII.—A Preston corres-
pondent writes:—" A mos,. fca;fol tragedy eceurred
yPster&ty (Tuesday), at Kirkham, near Preston, which
endel in the death of a young girl. The girl, aged
fourteen, named Titheringfon, w,s carrying a Can of water
on her heed, a%t4-• lalssivg a boy, and fourteen. named
Elliot. They commenced quarrelling. He Struck her, she
returned the blow then he rished upon her with a knife
which he held in his band, and plunged it up to the hilt
in her throat. She dropped down dead on the spot. Toe
boy has not since been seen, but the police are actively
engaged searching for him."