Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-09-08 00:00:00

There was an impression .out of doors that there had
been a previous arrangement with the surveyor
or some one else, and the Water Committee,
the result of which. was .the withdrawal at the sale
of parties who were otherw4e disposed to be real bidders.
He concluded by movingT:as an amendment that this
part of the proceedings be mot confirmed, and that the
property be put up again.
No one rising to second the amendment, Mr. Alder-
,,,an • HOLM E said he ivoulthaecond it for the pur f
po,e

bringing oa discussion, se bac
brought before the public.
Mr. HODSON said that between the gentlemen who nur-
. c

ehasei.
and the surveyor or other parties, there hat
lusion at all. He would explain the whole circumstances
respecting the purchase,. The Water Conunittee 're-
quired an office for the purpose of supplying the shipping
with water. When the sale Of. this' property was .made
:known, it was suggested that: the Water Committee
should purchase it ; and the ',consequence of this sug-
gestion was, that the committee instructed 'Mr. Wagstaff
and Mr.
,Crellin to. attend the sale of the property. The
bidding fell far short of the reserve price ; but after-
wards the Water Committee considered that the price at
which they found it'could beObtained was low, and Mr.,
Wagstaff and Mr. Crellin offered £2O beyond the reserve
bid. As far as Mr. Wagstaff and Mr. Crellin were con-
cerned, they knew nothing whatever about any previous
arrangement with the Finance Committee authorities.
Mr. STITT considered that, in the case under dis-
cussion, the very .first condition of the sale had
not been complied with, because it stated that the
highest bidder at the sale should be the purchaser ; and
if;he understood the .question rightly, the parties who
bought the property did not bid at all at the sale. He
agreed with Mr. Jeffery that the, usual cow se, had not
been adopted.
Mr. Alderman HOLME said he would endeavour to
disabuse the minds of the council on this question. Mr.
Stewart happened to be away:at the time of the sale of
this property, and he (Mr. Holme) arranged it with the
surveyor. In doing so, he took upon himself the-respon-
sibility of instructing the surveyor to put a high price
on this property as the .reserve, from his opinion as to
its value. - The general rule was that, where in the case
of biddings at these sales the reserve bid was not
reached, the property was withdrawn ; but if, after
the sale, the party making a last bid offered a higher
price than the reserve bid, then the property became
his. But in the present case he understood matters
stood thus. - The bidding went on slowly, and
£1,400 was offered, being little more than one half the
reserve bid. Mr. Picton was present, and Mr. Kenny
Tyrer was also presen+, and Mr. Picton, who had a de-
sire to purchase the property, never made a bid at all.
The consequence was that the biddings stood at between
£1,400 and £1,500 • and .the reserve bid of £2,800,
having been declared the usual way, and no advance
made upon it, the hammer fell, and the lot, as a matter
of course, was withdrawn. As he was informed, instead
of the parties who now felt aggrieved going to the
Finance - Committee and stating ~that they were.
the highest bidders at the sale, and were, now
desirous of becoming the purchasers of the pro-
. Perty instead of doing .this, and going, to the
surveyor ' while the ' thing remained open; and
making an advance upon the reserve bid—they did not
do so. No one went to make any advance oh the
' reserve bid, when two gentlemea, members of the Water
CoMmittee, -finding t.liat'no offer had been made, went
to the Finance Committee and stated that they were
prepared to make an advance of £2O over the reserve
, bid ; and they were then declared—as he thought they
. ought to have been declared—the purchasers of the
property. He was therefore of opinion that the
most straightforward course had been pursued in
carrying out this purchase. If gentlemen who
wished to purchase the property had gone to
the 'Finance Committee and saici, "We will make
you en advance of £2O over the reserve bid," then
they would have secured the property ; but they did not
do so ; and, consequently, in the most open, the fairest,
and in the most impartial manner, the Water Committee
-became the purchasers of the property. He was sure
that the Finance Committee did that which was right ;
and he believed that every one in that council, Mr.
Jeffery included, would admit that the course they pur-
sued was the proper one.' He hoped; therefore, that
Mr. Jeffery would withdraw his amendment.
, Mr. JEFI7RY staid that, after Mr. Holme's explana-
tion, he should withdraw the amendment.

Mr.. BOWAING called attention to what he considered
small matter. in amount, but large in point of pria-
iple. It was reported outside that the ground-rent of
.property in Blundell-straet had been allowed' to
ccummulate, and had not been called for by the officials
f.the. corporation fOr. period.of twenty-nine years, and
a hat comproMise had been entered into with the tenant
n possession of the property, by which, if he paid twenty-
Ine years' rent, it would be considered sufficient. The
Lmount was small, but the principle was important. If
uch a matter as this could have got into arrears in such.
Ln extraordinary way, the manner of keeping the
woks must be very deficient and very improper.
Mr. STITT said, in reference to the new Municipal
ict, that they had no. poiver to interfere with
t, but it was their duty to carry it out. It was
)erfectly competent, however, he took it, for any coun-
cillor to express his opinion on the deficiency of that
let, in order that the Town-clerk might, from the sug-
;estions of the members, get, such clauses introduced
.nto some future bill, for the Impose of remedying' any
.nconvenienee that might be felt. He was sorry to find
`,liat there was no provision made in the new bill for
the increase of the number of polling-booths In the
tpwn. Some of the wards had become so large, and the
number of voters so great, that at the preselit moment
there was a ward where it would be physically impos-
sible to poll at one booth the whole of the voters, in the
time allowed for the election. There was no power, he
understood, to• multiply these polling-booths, and the
result was, that in the largo ward which he referred to

here w

great inconvenience

He hoped, th

• le the .wards, inserted in any new -municipal act

Mr. -WOODRUFF said he had hoped that some provision

the 'inuni