The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-28 00:00:00

1857.

was,oecasionally a little discoloured, he never yet heard of
any one being poisoned by it. (Hear, hear.) In applying
himself to the question immediately before the
Council, Mr. Holme said, he should at once acknowledge
that, on going over the district the other day, he was
disappointed with the water in the Anglezark reservoir.
The cause, however, was manifest. There was a bed of
peat in the immediate vicinity, and he had no doubt that
there was peat in the bottom of the reservoir. lie agreed
with what had been said, that if the peat was deep it ought
not to have been used, and if it was shallow it might have
been taken out and puddled. He declared, however, that
the water in the Bala Lake, of which so much had been
said, was exceedingly-dark-coloured, and that in its vicinity
there was cultivated ground and peat. He protested
against theirjumping to the conclusion that the defect in
the Anglezark reservoir could not be remedied, and declared
that he would no more allow himself to be prejudiced by it
than he would be prejudiced against a good house because
a slate or two blew off. In confirmation of his views, he
read the following letter from the manager of the water
works at Leicester :

Leicester, May 25, 1857.
Sir,—ln answer to your letter of the 22nd instant, in reference to
the Leicester water, I beg to inform you that we catch the water in
the neighbourhood of the hills at Charnwood forest,ryhere we have a
large storage reservoir, and it is brought from thence in large main
pipes. The water is very soft and good for some purposes, but for the
two first }ears after the supply commenced it was discoloured by the
rust from the pipes, ttrticularly in Lot weather, and required fro_
quently to be let off through the hydrasts. Previous to last summer
(which was the third of the supply), in very hot weather there was
occasionally a disagreeable odour arising from the vegetable matter
in the storage reservoir; this has now entirely ceased, and the supply
is now considered satisfactory. From a defect in the walls of the
filters, the water might be better filtered. We are now remedying
the defect, and when done we hope to have as good water as it is
possible to supply from any source. The discolour of the water con-
tinued about two years, and from the absence of lime we were afraid
it would have taken a longer time to give the pipes a proper coating.
We threw into the reservoir about 100 tons of lime, which possibly
had some effect in forming to the pipes, but this is of course uncertain.
—I am, sir, your obedient servant, JOHN LOSES V, Secretary.

Samuel Holme, Esq., Liverpool.
Mr. Holme strongly objected to the Council proceeding
to legislate at once, until the Roddlesworth works were
completed. He replied to a statement of Mr. Bennett,
who stated that they found in one place filth quite black.
What was the real fact ? Being determined to trace it
out, he went with Mr. Jeffery, and they found a small
pond in a gentleman's garden, which was being emptied,
and the stream which came down from the hills as clear as
crystal, infringed upon the mud taken from the pond, and
then ran into the lake. This was the whole affair, which
was so much magnified in some of the papers, and which
would cease the moment the pond was emptied. He asked
Mr. Bennett where was all the black filth they had heard
about on the surface of the water, and Mr. Bennett frankly
stated that it existed only in the imagination of the writer.
The water taken by Mr. Woodruff, he believed, from Rod-
d!esworth, he thought as good as ever he had tasted in his
life. With regard to the cost, Mr. Jeffery had stated that
it amounted to three times the original estimate. Now, on
applying at the treasurer's office, he found that the whole
cost had been £723,560_
Mr. Godfrey asked if that included interest?
Mr. Holme replied that it would not be fair to include
the interest. Out of that amount, however, they paid for
the Chorley water works, for which they were receiving
rent, £35,278. They paid £6,788 for investigation before
Mr. Stephenson, Mr Simpson, and others, agreed to by Mr
Jeffery and other gentlemen, and whose decision ought to
have been final. It had not been final, however, and in
consequence of the opposition of millowners and parties in
Liverpool they had to pay £20,000 for parliamenparliamentaryexpenses. It was calculated that owing to the opposition
they had to expend in the contests with millowners and
landowners, in their second struggle before parliament,
£70,000. If these amounts were put together, they
would bring down the cost to a comparatively small
amount above the original estimate. Engineering
difficulties had arisen which could not have been fore-
seen, and the works were contracted for when undertaken
at a less sum than Mr. Hawksiey had estimated. He
denied a'together that the supply from Rivin,„;tort.would
be
found deficient, and remarked that Mr. Whltty,
notwithstanding his opposition, had always treated the
matter fairly in his paper, and in a very different spirit
from that exhibited by another print in the town, addmitted
the other day that the quantity was plentiful. Having
a large number of tenants, lie (Mr. Holme) stated that he
heard no complaints of the water, and wnen he made
inquiry, generally heard that they were much gratified by
the increased quantity they got. He read a letter signed
" Richard Robinson, Lower Harringion-street," the writer
of which positively attributed his restoration to good
health to the marvellous qualities of the Pike water, to
which be even ascribed the freshening colour in his cheeks.
Mr. Holme then said, the public had been lashed into ex-
citement by a few gentlemen, and particularly by one section
of the public press. He was notvery nice about criticism. He
told the papers now, as he had done before, that they
might write what they liked about him. A man was not
fit to take a part in public affairs if he could not live down
whatever was thus obnoxious. He was not at all disposed
to fetter the press. He liked full liberty —let the press
have full liberty, and they would get truth by it. But
there ware two ways of arguing a question, and his desire
for the freedom of the press should not prevent him from
saying that there were many sentiments which he could
only characterise by the word " atrocious" in oue paper ;
and statements had been put forth in that paper, calculated
to create unnecessary alarm, and cause dismay to families.
That paper had written so many articles, ho scarcely
deemed it worth naming there, which would do discredit
to some of the papers in the back settlements of America.
(Hear, hear.) Its chief editor seemed to be a man
who was a discarded servant of the Corporation ;
at least, he was told that the articles were written by a
discarded servant of the corporation who passed his last
Sunday in bridewell. If the water was made poisonous by
its action upon lead, he asked, how it was that the inhabit-
ants of Glasgow, Manchester, and Bolton, were not
poisoned ? He should now approach Mr. Bennett's calcu-
lations. Mr. Bennett proposed to lay pipes down 27
miles in extent, which would not supply one-sixth of the
inhabitants. It would require 170 miles of piping to do
equal justice to all. Would all parties agree to take the
water, and pay the price of it, if the Council laid down the
pipes ? If there was such a great outcry for the well
water, would the parties who had signed the memorial all
write to the Water Committee, and undertake to pay the
additional expense if the committee as to tear up the
magnificent streets which were such a credit to the town
of Liverpool ? He said distinctly, as one landlord, that he
would not be at the expense of putting the pipes into
his houses; and although he might give great offence
out of doors by what he was about to say, he
must add, that he thought numbers of cottage o wners
would not spend one single farthing for the purpose, but
would tell their tenants that the present water was very
good, and if they did not like it they must ba without it.
(Hoar, hear.) It would involve charging an additional
rate for the water, and then they must go to parliament for
a new act. The very name of parliament frightened
him—
the name of a committee room frightened him, when he
thought of the charges which were incurred there. (Hear,
hear.) He should like to know, when the expense had been
gone to, who would take the water? He would take it
that in round numbers the Water Committee had 70,000
tenants—say about 60,000 houses and 10,000 manufac-
tories. The cost • would be £165,000, according to Mr.
Duncan's estimate ; and if they put down 60,000 houses,
charging only 20s for each house, it would make au entire
cosy of £225,000, equal to about 2.!,d in the pound
on the whole of the rateable property. (Hear, hear.)
He called on the Council to pause. Let them condemn
Rivin),ton if they liked, but pause and give the Water
Committee a fair chance, by leaving them to complete their
works before they precipitately rushed into an expendi-
ture, which, however small at first, would ultimately grow
into a quarter of a million of money; and cause, ho ven-
tured to say, much greater inconvenience to the itlabi-
tants, by the tearing up of the streets of the town, than the
inconvenience occasioned which they were at present suf-
fering even from the water, of which there was so much
complaint. They had to take large measures and exten-
sive views for the purpose of providing for commerce. If
they took such measures for the purpose of doing good to
the social condition of men, they must expect pubtie odium
for the time being (Hear, hear.) He, for one, h.avine
acted from the first with a desire simply for the good of
the town, by providing it with a large supply of water ;
and having, after very great investigation, conceived that
he was doing right, by adopting the plan which had not
only received the sanction of the Corporation and the
town, but which was tried, scrutinized, criticised, and
passed by 'a parliamentary committee, still believed
it to be the best plan, and he believed that if they only
had patience they would get a yet larger quantity of purer
water from the upper reservoirs ; and after the reservoirs
had been emptied three or four times, the discolouration,
as in Leicester, would diminish. (Haas, hear.) He for
one, therefore, notwithstanding the odium which was now
attached to the undertaking by someparties, should always
consider it a great honour to have been instrumental, in
however humble a degree, in pie curing for the town an
abundant supply of the great nesessary of life. (Cries of
" hear, hear.")
tdr. Aiken, after a few introductory observations, said it
was not then for the Council to be discussing whether it
was right or wrong for them to go to Bavington for a supply
of water. That was not the subject; but the real question
was—had they a right to rob them of the good and pure
water they possessed, and supply them with an inferior
article, or his
part he thought that the town was so
'f

rapidly increasing that they wonld.require both the sand-
stone water and the Rivington, and that it would be found
that both would be required. The inference he drew from
some of the Council not having heard of any complaints
was that the people relied on the good sense of the
Council, and waited until they had come to a decision
on that day, when should it be adverse to the
memorialists, he did not doubt but that there
would be plenty of complaints heard ; for they must
expect complaints even in their own houses. But what
he complained of was that their present supply should be
one-halfßivington water, and one-half of the old standatone
water. If they so liked the Rivington water, why did
they not try it for one day in its entirety, and then he
believed that all doubts as to its quality would be speedily
remedied. But there was one point that had been clearly
settled, and tint was that the impurities' of the water
did not arise from the pipes, nor did the colouring of the
water. Of that they were all satisfied, because it had been
traced to the source from whence the supply was
derived. He then went on to say that as there was an
adequate supply of pure water for the domestic purposes
of the inhabitants, it was almost an act of
wickedness to mix with it the spoilt water from Rivington,
and then render it almost unfit to drink. Having quoted
from the report, he contended that the report itself
admitted that the water was not satisfactory, for if so,
why say " more satisfactory proof'—thus admitting that
they had had satisfactory proof that it had not pleased
the community.
Mr. Greaves, having stated that he but recently resumed
his seat on the Water Committee, said he had done so
with the determination not to be biassed either one way or
the other, and he had cast aside all feeling in the matter,
and had been to the place, and had seen for
himself. He had found, as he before stated, the
water free from the impurities—apparent impuri-
Ves—that had been mentioned. He found that the
water certainly did not taste disagreeable, because it was
almost tasteless, but certainly there was a discolouration in
it. He next alluded to the proposition for laying down
new pipes, which when he thought of it he saw taxation
to the amount of £13,000 per year staring him in the face.
With regard to the quality of the water, he said he only
need refer to the medical officer of health returns, and
they would find that the town was freer from disease
during the present year, since the first of January, than
it had been for years before, therefore it was clear that the
water could not have been injurious to the health of the
people. He concluded by expressing his full confidence in
the proceedings of the Water Committee.
Mr. Sheil said, the object of his rising on that occasion,
was to express his surprise at the course that had been
pursued in the course of that discussion, and he was quite
sure that if any man had come into that room a stranger,
they would not have discovered what they had been
doing, or what they wore going to do. Every man who
had opened his lips had launched into the quality of the
water, as if that had anything to do with the present
business. What had they to do with the colour of the
water,
but as they had got it into the town they must
deal with it in the best way they could. They had to
consider how they could best improve its distribution.
For his part he did feel surprised that Mr. Alderman
' Holme should introduce the subject by referring
to coach horses, for what in the name of common
sense had that to do with the subject. Having referred
to one or two of the arguments adduced, he
proceeded to deal with that which had been
raised, by saying that the peopie outside were satisfied,
because they had not made any complaints ; but in answer
to that he would ask was such water fit to give any poor
man to drink. It was clear that it was not fit to drink,
and ought not to be given to any man. Then they were
asked to renew their confidence in the Wetter Committee.
Now, he did not see any particular reason to comply with
that request, as it was quite clear that they had already
been deceiving the community. He would ask was that
any reason why they should repose further confidence in
them. He then went on to observe that the Water Com-
mittee had pledged themselves to carrying out
this particular scheme, and therefore they ought to
come forward and say that they were so wedded
t ) the scheme, we will not incur further responsibilities,
and concluded by suggesting that another and an impartial
committee should bo appointed to take the charge of any
future investigation into the subject. He also contended
that the subject of expellee had no right to bo alluded to,
as the paramount object they had to consider was the
heilth of the town.
Mr. Kitchen felt bound in conscience to say that he
thought the Water Committee should have a little more
time to judge of the water. The Roddlesworth and Rake-
brook reservoirs were not yet completed, and from them
the best water would come. He, therefore, gave notice that .
if the amendment were carried, ha should move another
amendment to the effect that the committee be allowed
until January to judge of the water.
Mr. Robertson Gladstone said, the question for them to
consider was as to the fitness or unfitness for human use
of the water as they now received it. They had
incurred a very large expense—they had got a
supply of water, and the great business of the Council
should be to endeavour to make that water applicable to
the uses of the inhabitants. Now, the question was, was
the water fn for human use ? He found no response in his
mind. He thought that in its present condition it was not
fit for drinking purposes. His attention had been directed
the other day by the invitation of Mr. Radley to the sup-
ply of water to the Adelphi Hotel. At Mr. Radley's
request, he called and examined the various taps from
which the water for the hotel was drawn, and he was much
astonished at its clear colour as compared withthat supplied
in other parts of the town. It was clear, but not so clear
as red sandstone water. It was agreeable to the taste, but
not so much so as the sandstone water ; but he should say
looking at the great importance of a large supply of water
to a town like Liverpool, it was on the whole unobjection-
able. He questioned Mr. Radley as to how the improve-
ment was effected, and was informed by Mr. Radley that
it arose from a filter-bed on the roof of the house, with a
considerable depth of gravel through which the water
percolated. Now, if that principle held good at the
Adelphi Hotel, he could not see why it should not be
tested on a large scale on the water before immediately
supplying it to the houses. (Hear, hear.) The outlay of
a second set of pipes would be extremely onerous on the
community. Tee owners of houses would not be disposed
to introduce a second set of pipes, but, at the same time
he areed with Mr. Jeffery that the day might come when
the inhabitants would themselves require that a separate
set of pipes should be laid for a separate supply of the red
sandstone water. In conclusion, Mr. Gladstone gave notice
that ha would move an amendment as follows—" That the
Rivington water, in its present condition, is not
satisfactory to the inhabitants for dietetic purposes, but
previoue to undertaking the consideration of a separate
supply of the red sandstone water, by means of a second
set of pities it is desirable to ascertain whether a more
effectual mode of filtration can bo devised before the de-
livery takes place through the service to the inhabitants ;
and that this suggestion be referred to the Water Com-
mittee, as demanding, and well deserving their attention,
and for their report at the meeting of the council in
August.

Sir. Bennett's amendment was then put, and lost by 29
to 15. The voting was as follows :
For : Aldermen Bennett and Gardner ; Councillors
Crosthwaite, A. C. Stewart, Shell, Illydock, Nicholson,
Godfrey, Holden, W. P. Jeffrey-F.!, Gladstone, J. R. Jeffery,
Beckwith, Aikin, and Farnworth-15.
Against : The Mayor. ; Aldermen Chilton, Dover, Parker,
Cooper, J. H. Turner, Houghton, Toulmiu, and S. Holme;
Councillors Anderson, Woodruff, Bradley, Steains, Ferni-
hough, J. Holme, Graves, Wagstaff, Shand, Braucker ,
Tobin, Tinne, Kitchen, Hodson, Mellor, Clint, J. Stewart,
Robertson, Halhoad, and Anthony— 29.
Mr. Kitchen did not push .his amendment ; and lir.
Gladstoue's amendment being seconded, it was carried
unanimously.
After communications were then disposed of, and th
council separated.

fa"v6' CLOTHING MADE WITH: GiZEAT TASTE
At LEW ES & COMPANY'S. Ratielazh street.

of Prussia
In the early part of next month, t'oe King
will repair again to MarienbA, the waters of which he
loa
dso beneficial to him last year • At the same tune
he Qieen will repeat her visit to the springs at Tonlitz, is
:taxonv. Their i'dajosties wilt, however, both of them re-
turn
tiiaT month
(i°t''
tae Ercp
lani in theerZ pail of July, as in the middle
of lot'll or of Itusela is expected
there on a visit.
A. Itusqvg CHARD.---A St Petersburg letter, in the
Was of Cracow, gives the followitig• extraordinary story.
which, we conceiv.e, mit come under tile category of
canard;—" A tragical drama has just taken place here.
the agent of Count Sett —, who had been to the hank to
receive a sum of 15,000 silver rouble:3, lost the packet of
notes on his way home. The money was picked up by a
clerk, who, instead of ziving the property at once to the
owner, followed him to his house end inquired the name
of the person who lived there. The finder of the money
then returned home, hesitating in his own mind hew he
should act. When he arrived there, a violent quarrel
took place between him and his wife, the letter wishing
to keep the money. The cicrk, however, on the following
morning, went to the house of the count to deliver the sow,
but the latter would not receive it, saying that his agent
had committed suicide in the night in consequence of the
loss. Overcome with remorse, the clerk returned home,
where he found that during his absence his wife had
hanged herself from vexation at not having kept the
money. He immediately cut down the body, and hanged,
himself with the same rope !"