The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-03-28 00:00:00

THE TATORTHERN TITTES.-LIVERPOOL, • SATURDAY.

" BALES -AND TRUSSES."

Ewart's Committee Rooms, Dale street,
27th ?laroh, 1857 ; 5, r m.
Robertson Gladstone, Esq.,
- Dear Sir,—A general denial has been given
by Mr. Turner on the hustings to-day, to the
statements in the Mercury of the 23rd instant, as
to the evasion of Town Dues by his house.
As you were Mayor and a member of the com-
mittee at the time, will you be good enough to say
whether that statement is true.—l am, dear sir,
yours truly, THOMAS BILOCKLEBANY,
Chairman of Mr. Ewart's Committee

Union Court, Liverpool,
27th March, 1857,

Thomas Brockle'hank, Esq.,
Chairman of Mr. Ewart's Committee

Dear Sir,-:-I have no hesitation in saying that
the statement in the Mer(ury as to the charges
made against Messrs. Sands, Turner, and Co. is,
to the best of my recollection and belief, substan-
tially correct.—l am, dear, sir, yours-truly,
RORERTSON GLADSTONE.

MR. AIKIN AND MR. TURNER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMM.

Sir,—From what was said on the hustings to-
day respecting the question affecting Mr. Turner,
as a partner of Messrs. Sands, Turner, and Co., for
not paying the proper amount of Town Dues on
the exportation of merchandise, it is evident that it
cannot be allowed to rest as it is. Mr. Turner
has denied the charge, and demands another
investigation. This is as it should be, and as
it must •be, after such a discussion in the pre-
sence of the assembled constituency of Liverpool.
Mr. Turner read the names of several gentlemen
who did inquire at the time, and, as he says, did
acquit him I shall be. quite content that the
same gentlemer, or any part of them, or any set of
gentlemen in the town, who will undertake the task,
shall have the whole facts submitted to them, as
giVen in evidence before the committee of the
Town Council. It will occupy very little time
to show by the records of the committee, in
the Town hall, that 'the statements Made by
Mr. Corrie, the Town Dues collector, were proved
in every particular, and that the habits of Messrs
Sands, Turner, and Co., in the non-payment of the
proper dues were worse than the collector had
stated A verdict of acquittal was proposed in that
committee and overruled, and eventually it was
agreed that the then town clerk should draw up a
report embracing and condensing the facts as they
appeared in evidence—und an' excellent and
accurate report he drew up, but which was
so cut and carved by the friends of Messrs.
Sands and Turner, as to assume a very different
_shape to , the original one, which- 1.. trust
is still extant in the records of the committee ;
it concluded by stating that, "your committee are
of opinfdn that, although those gentlemen
proceeded erroneously, yet they did so without any
dishonest" intention." If Mr Turner had been
content to have confined himself to the declaration
of those errors having been committed by his
clerks, without his knowledge, I might have believed
him ; but when, immediately afterwards, he made
a written statement that the system of calling 'allies
and cases,' trusses and bexes,', for tnwn dues, had
been acted-upon by his firm foe many years, and
justified it- I believed. this written justification
sadly. at variance, with the declaration of igno
ranco of such a system haVing been adopte d
On the hustings, when Mr. Turner gave the date
of the acquittal by the merchants as the 10th
November, and I stated that that was a fortnight
before the date of the investigation in the council,
be told me', so far as I could hear in the midst of
the noise and confusion that it was false. A
reference to dates will-at -once show to whom the
terms false and falsehood, so freely use.? by
Mr. Turner, properly apply; and the inves-
tigation demanded by Mr. Turner will show
whether he has been justly or unjustly accused.
I take this opportunity of stating that I had
nothing to do with the revival of this subject. I
knew nothing of the article in the Mercury until I
read it ; and I would not have said a word respect-
ing it, Kit had not been for Mr. Turner's denying
the facts stated, and calling slanderous what I
knew to be true:: And I repeat,- that with the
discussion to be expected in the ensuing Parlia-
ment affecting our Town Dues,, and the local
management of our trusts, a more unfortunate
selection of a candidate than. Mr. Turner, under
the circumstances, could not have been made.-
1 am, sir, your obedient servant, JAMES Aixtrt.
Drury lane, March' 27, 1867.