Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-02 00:00:00

THE TOWN COUNCIL.

The second quarterly meeting of the Liverpool Town
'Council, which was also announced as a monthly and
special meeting, was held in the Council Chamber, at
the Town Hall, yesterday, the Mayor, T. D. Anderson;
Esq., presiding. , ,

READING PEOCEEDING3 OF COMMITTEtS.
.tt.34...13EL0n. said he would venture to make a motion
on the subject of reading the proceedings of the com 2
niittees of the Council meeting, with a view to raise a
debate at an early period as. to the best method to be
adopted to shorten the tediousness and prolixity of the
proceedings. • He was sure .every gentleman in that
room would feel that they were detained there unneces-,
sarily by the reading' of certain proceedings, which
occupied a very considerable' space of time, and to which-
it was well known that little or no attention was paid.
He would venture to move that the proceedings .61 the
Finance. Committee. be taken as read. The proceedings
of each committee Were open: to every member of the
Council for perusal,: three • days before the meeting of
the Council, and members relied upon the honesty of
the chairmen of committees to explain to the Conned
very important:point in his own department :previous
to, asking. the confirmation of the, Council to the pro:
.eeedings. He would like to have the opinion of Mr.
Alderman Stewart. ProbablY, the best way to deal with
the question woul&be to 'refer& to a special 'committee.
At3PINALL seconded the :Motion.. •
fir.. JEFFERY said the question raised by Mr. Beloe
'was one of:considerable importance; and he apprehended
that that .gentlemait desired• to discuss the'. 'general
tqaestion how far it wag 'desirable 'that the' essence; "at all
events, of the proceedings of each.committee be' either
printed or lithographed, and' sent with'thenetiee paper;r
.so that menibers might have the oppokonity of Carefully'
-perusing at home the. proceNlinr ="of the various contmittees of the Council. He was in favour of 'the
adoption of such a course.- ' "
'The MAYOR. said that at the last meeting the Town-
clerk said it would not be legal to take more extracts 'of
the proceedings and then consider the ' proceedings of
-.tote committees ag read. . .

Mr. JEFFERY asked Mr. Beloe if he had any objection
to mole that a condensation,of the minutes of commit-
tees be sent to each member of the Council.

Mr. BELOE would prefer the Appointment of a 'special
committee, of which Mr.- Jplin. Stewart should be the
head, to devise some method,,by which, members might
be relieved. from the necessity of hearing the lenglity
proCeedingsuf einninitfeeS, read.,
Mr. 4kILLE said, the. fact was they were often detained
there With
.long "'Speech* and, if gentlemen, would give
spore attention to 'make them as short as possible, instead
of reflecting lioW their speeches would appei.r. in the
newspapers, and . before their constituencies, that would
relieve fhe Couneil and give Satisfactibri to people out of
doors who thought there was a great deal of rubbish
talked *there.- "
Alderman STEW.I.IIT said, he. had no Very. strong
opinion on the subjeCt ; but, after considering the
motion given by Mr. Beloe at the last meeting, he con-
feSsed he could not see any consid'erable advantages in
adopting the. plan proposed. With regard to the pro 7
ceedings of the Fitrlnce-Committee,. he had understood
froth the Town Clerk that any digest.Wiiiild not be satis-
factory to every one, and. objections would certainly be
tap. The proceeeings embraced a . considerable
amount of routine; but he was sl-,re that every member
of the Finance Committee was prepared to extend as
far as practicable the special notices usually attached to
the. Finance Coatinittee's proceedings oil the circular.
Mr. PicTos suggested. a middle course, that each
ommittee.,sheull prepare a 'synopsis of , its business
-during the .month, and that if any member wished to
refer to what was not included in the synopsis, he might
then refer to the books.
The Meyou said, it was, stated by the Town Clerk at
the last meeting of the 'Council that they could not
take, the proceedings as read upon a synopsis ; that it
would not be legal to do so.
Mr. BELOE wished to press the matter to a division.
lie was free to admit that he might not have suggepted
the most adviiable course, bid he thought a small coin-.
raittee.would carve out for the Council some plan which
would'inaterially relieve them. die would move therer;
fore that -a, select committee, be appointed consider
the mode of reading the ,proccedkls to the. Council:
The motion was put, and the division resulted in a,
,tie. The Mayor gave his casting vote in favour 'of the
motion, and it was declared carried. The following,
gentlemen. were appointed on the committee
Alderman Stewart, Nicksori, Aspinall, Avison, and Beloe.

FINANCE COMMITTEE.

The proceedings, resolutions, and reports of the Finance
Committee were read, comprising—Recommendation to
increase the salary of Mr. Henry Walter, clerk in .the
Town-Clerk's establishment,-from £3OO to £5OO, per
annum, the consideration of which was postponed •at
the last monthly Council, pursuant to the standing
orders ; and a report that a sum not exceeding £l5O can
be paid out of the surplus income of the financial year,
fur the erection of a pavilion in Wavertree Park,. if
the Council think fit so to appropriate the same.
The MAYOR said, it was his duty to inform the Council
...thatler Majesty had been graciously pleased. to confirm
the recommendation of, the Council, and to appoint
Thomas Stamford Raffles; Esq., .tho '.so,liried police
magistrate-of the borough. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. GLADSTONE said, in connection with that ap-
pointment, he,, had- been informed- of a circumstance
which, he thought mould surprise. some gentlemen „pre-
Sent, that the fees imposed upon the new magistrate
amounted to no less than £76. .
The MAyou.;—Tou are aware that it is a stamp-duty ?
•The. TOWN-CLERK.—The stamp:duy is £75 itself.
Mr. GLADSTONE.—WeII ; it is a most enormous
charge. (Hear, hear.) Surely -we should be .relieved
from all sort of clogs of that description. • :
The TowN-CLERK.--When Mr. Rushton's salary was
increased to £1,600 per annum, he had to pay £lOO.
The subject-was then dropped.
Alderthan STEWART moved the adoption of the first
recommendation.' Mr. Walter acted 'as
.prosecuting
soliettor 'in the town, and the universal Opinion of all
parties, corroborated !by the Town-Clerk himself, was
that those duties .had been most efficiently, ably, and
properly.performed. '
Alderman COOPER seconded the motion.
Mr. BECKWITH ObjeCted. 10 _such a large advance of
salary as a rule, but, as he had heard throughout the
town of the .veluable services of Mr; Walter,- he would
not oppose the present motion.
The recommendation was, adopted.
The next recommendation, to the effect that £l5O be
advanced towards the erection of a pavilion in Waver-
tree park, was agreed to without any opposition.
Alderman STEwarcr then moved the confirmation of
the general proceedings. The first thing he thought it
necessary to allude to was a complaint made by Mr.
Kenny Tyrer; and,he must confess that it did appear
that Mr. Tyrer's complaint was well founded. (Hear,
hear.): An error had arisen.in the line of a street, about
the 'ear 1851. A sub-committee of the Financial
Committee had investigated the matter, and they were
satisfied that an emir hbeen. committed ; and that. it
would-be well for the Council ,to allow £l2O in order
that the line of the street in question might be made in
a form which would be satisfactory, to Mr. Kenny Tyrer.
The Finance Committee,hael also confirmed a little im-
prnvement in, the lecality.called Silkhouse-lane. The
lane in question was the mode of access to what the
members would know as the " Pig and Whistle."
(Laughter.)
Mr. BECKWITH asked whose fault it was that the line
of street was not followed, out, and who was to pay. the
4120 ? It was an egregious mistake, and the party
who made it should be compelled-to pay for it.
Alderman -Woo-purr-Fr called attention to some old
property in Cleveland-square market, on the north side,
which was in such a dangerous state that it had to be
shored up.. If. it was the property of the Council, he
Wished to know why it was not taken down ?, If it
were not, why not compel the owner to take it down to
prevent danger.
34 r. JEFFERY was somewhat disappointed in listening
to the proceedings not to hear read a report which he
-understood was promised to this council upon the pro-
posed bill applied for to Parliament by the Mersey
Board. (Hear, hear.) At the last meeting he was
informed:that the bill had only been put into the hands
of the Town-clerk on the previous Saturday, but that at
the first meeting of the Finance Committee it would be
taken into consideration; that they would communicate
with the Mersey Board; and that they would submit a
report to the council. He regretted there was no mention
of that bill on the proceedings. ,
The MAYOR.—There is mention of it in the pro-

ceedings.
Mr. BILAMLEY-MOORE said he was glad that Mr.
Jeffery had called attention to this subject, as he was
just about to do so himself. There were two bills; he
obtained copies of them yesterday. The bill, in addition
to the one named by Mr. Jeffery, contained, he

thought; a great deal of objectionable matter. It was
a ~bill Which *affected deeply the interests . of the
inhabitants of Liverpool; and he •really .thought that
some explanation should be .given to.' make the
town aware of what was sought• 'for - those bills,
for they were both • very objectionable to his
mind, , (Hear, hear.) He particularly alluded to the.
Upper, Mersey Bill, and he would be glad if the Town
clerk wetrld:givn a slight synopsis of the bearing of the
bill upon the commerce of the port, and how it would
affect the inhabitants. The bill was brought. in. by.
certain. parties at Runcorn, and, they had named in
that,bill-au Upper Mersey Board, who• ivere to exercise
all the powers at present exercised by the lower board
in Liverpool. fact,.they were in :danger of having
the commerce of the port taxed twice over. (Hear,
hear.). .If. be read-the bill rightly, they should have an,
iudependeutboard acting at Runcorn, and the. Mersey
Board acting ,in Liverpool; that the goods coming
down.theriver• would be subjected to certain dues and:
and,that they would be subjected to other claims
and.dues when they came down toiLiverpool.
Mr. 'STEW ART replied. In answer to Mr. Beckwith,
he .contended that no blame could be throWn upon the
Finance ,Committee..in reference ''to the complaint or
Mr. Tyrer. •As to' the' matter alluded to by- Mr. Wood-.
ruff, he would not undertaketo give any clear explana-
tion of the matter.

The :TOws-Craink explained that 'AlderMan Bold
was the trustee ;of the ,property alluded to,' but not 'the
owner.- He had made a proposal to the 'Finance- COm-
mittee to surrender the remainder of the lease; that
was as to, and approved of by the council, but
the formal surrender was not completed till Thursday'
last; when the deeds were given un. - (Hear, hear.)
; Alderman WOonnure said he was satisfied with the
explanation:
Alderman S'rnwAter said that all he could state With
regard to theAuestion raised by Mr. Jeffory was, t?rat
the Finance Committee had placed the matter in the
hands:of the Townelerk: but he had not heard anything
of the. Upper Mersey'Bill. That 'Was an attack upon
the' revenues of 'the Mersey Board, and if that were So;
no doubt- the' ekneil would render their aid to the.
Dock Board, if 9 itch. service. would be-of 'any avail.
• Mr. JEFFERY Was not BAtisfied with the explanation'
as to Mr. Tyrer's complaint;' and as he was of opinion.
that some one should' be held responsible for • the mis-
take; he moved that that part of-the pteetedifigs be.
referred back.:.
r Mr. •BECKIVIMI seconded the amendment.

Alderman STiwArrr detailed the circumstances of the•
case, and stated that he believed the error was committed
by the/Surveyor's clerk; bus that he did not think there
was any 'occasion to visit that error with any severe
punishment.
'Mr. GLADSTONE thought there were two things to
complain of in this matter—first of all, that such an
error should have been committed; but secondly; that
in the important' matter of setting. out new lines to the
front of large thoroughfares,' the 'surveyor should. not
depute any one to do the work, but that he should do it
himself. The sub-committee of the Finance ComMittee
had. not yet decided who was to pay the £120,.5p that
the matter was not yet concluded:
Mr. Eutog:tliought it was hardly to be expected that
the surveyor 'should' no down to 'take those lines on every
occasion. (Hear, hear.) •
Alderman Bgmstrr hoped the: surveyor was always
better employed than to be simply handling'fhe tape and
taking the line.. • The 'wonder was there were so' few
mistakes. .•

Mr. Susrt, thought the deviation in-queaion was a
very considerable one.

Alderntan Pita:lo3a thought some of the members of
the Council were straining at a gnat and swallowing it:
camel; If it had been any other officer than the sur--•
veyor nothing would have been said.. (Order, order.).
In his opinion it was a personal attack upon the sur—
veyor. (Order, order.)
Mr. JErreny consented to withdraw his amendment,
and the proceedings were confirmed.
On the motion of Mr. Jeffery; a resolution was,
passed that in 'future it shall be an instruction to the
Finance Committee to.'put upon the notice paper any
applications to Parliament made by the Dock hoard;, so.
that the Council might have their attention called to the
fact as early as•possible.;