The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-08 00:00:00

brill the Sinbad;:apd Sinbtd hRe Leon known to

- - - :
shake (and may again-spiogenetf?, therefore.let us
.juggle; we hare among our Si R Duncan,
a- creature great at figures sn,i vast in the art of
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contain
Nigv shadowel ii dsoenaftYda
dine Ofpounds furcosi •o`,' pipes that even so the
peoPle , ,they.",; ;Ball 'serape together
`straight to save their lives" And, i'he'raas Duncan,
you have doneit; and, according to nrisfiali We
wi I have a word or two on the
You began . by showing the .estimaieS-4nes
1,009 ;Ille,Qther,£,l(ls,oQ9, skllctlil:c. a true servant
or the corporation, proceed to recommend the high
priced Job. But, unfortunately, for you, it so hap-
,pens, that the £41,000 provided exactly what the
i-.people require, that is, conveys the Ilivington
• water to • the Manuf, et-pries, and so forth, where
there -is'no objection.: to its ; and the £165,000
?s'eheriaehrings WO the dwelling houses, where, not
only it is Dot-wanted, but where we Won't hate it.
But a word: on this. high priced scheme. You
commenced 1431 stating; cost of main service pipes,
.valves and hydrants, £lO4 898 12s 4d ; a very close
calculation; -truly, but as far as argument goes, I
might as well say -that'l am going to New 'York
to-morrow; and Shall sail over 1{)4,898 flukes, twelve
whales, and a 1,1 lobster, "for in either case, so far as •
proof goes, it is purely suppositions, fOr you gave
no measurements or data by whichyoUr cal,snlation
can
be checked; well then atter makininp thig' vas
sum even to an odd fourpenee, you put down
£l4 122 7S- 2:FripeTnitingericiee:- Now what ou
earth is the meaning of cantingencies, does it mean
that in estimating for lnyiug a few miles of water
pipe, it is impossible -to say-within 10s-what the
-cost will be. If such be the case, thong it is per-
fec4 fair to assume that the estithaie May be in
excess, and the lOs have to be deducted, which
would make an important difference' of about
£28,000 in your estimate of total costs. Passing this
trifling difference we next come to an item-7lead
pipes, £22,000, meaning the lead supply pipes, lead-
inc, from the mains to the dwelling houses. Now,
Thomas Dnnean, you well know that this is a most
cunning and sophistical item ; yon knew perfectly
well that the act of .parliathent eonapelS. 'yein to lay
a supply pipe down to each dwelling house, but
not two pipes;- the 'second .one' would have to be
laid, at the expense of the hOuSe-Owner.
But, again.: lii carrying out Mr. Bennett's plan,
this item of .22,000 would be altogether saved.
The supply of pipes for Rivington water to manu-
factories would be large, and few in number, and
your present act enables you to charge the manu-
factories with the cost. But, independent of this,
the supply pipes already existing might be charged,
and there would be no cost to either patsy.
We now come to the last eight items in your _
V_Firrtsa 9;5,s iNli ePRFACT VArt'illOtnriVefal'ciP I3Y.P
heavy items for cost of pumping, and weal'
and tear of machinery, which is simply as-
suming first, that it is possible to use
the Rivington water alone, and, seeondiy,
that we shall have enough of it, Now both of
these assumptions I deny. 1-;ivington water, un-
mixed, for drinking purposes the people never will
use ; and even though they might like eels get used
to skinnimig, or in other words, learn to bear it,
you well know that Rivington will not produce the
quanti:y required. The wells must be worked, and
your attempt to show that keeping the two waters
separate would entail an annual expense of some-
where about £O.OOO per annum, is just so much
balderdash.
What your report does shew, and that most
clearly, is, that a second set of pipes can be laid
down complete, and the Rivington water supplied
to all parts of the town where it is really required,
at a gross total cost to the town of £41,000, the
interest on which would amount to the prodigious
sum of £1,815 ; and as our Town Clerk receives
£2,500 per annum, it positively follows that com-
pliance with the prayer of the memorial will cost
the town £655 less than the annual amount of that
gentleman's salary ; that is to say, we can have
our princely paid officials, but cannot afford clean
water to drink. We can muddle away tens of
thousands in illuminating the town and welcoming:-
a duke, in erecting hideous follies round St.
George's Hall, in fact we can waste our money
in all the senseless extravagancies for which the
Liverpool Corporation is so deservedly farrious,
but pure clean refreshing water is a luxury, is a
boon, that cannot be granted even to a patient
people. Verily all is knavery, PIOGENES.