The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-29 00:00:00

MEETING OF THE P. ATEPAYER,S OF
B IRKENB E D.

THE BIRKENHEAD GAS AND WIITE BILL.

A meeting of:the ratepayers of Birkenhead, claughton,
and the surrounding district, was held last "night, in the
Town Hall, Birkenhead, for the purpose of considering
and taking action upon the Birkenhead District Gas and
Water Bill now before .Parlianient. There was a very
numerous attendance, the room. being completely filled.
Among the gentlemen present were Messrs. John Laird,
(chairman of the town commissioners,) Bradley, Cook,
Parkinson, Gelborne. Verelst, Hind, M'Whirter, Rae,
13 tylis, Iteightley, Willoughby, Macdonald; Cunningham,
Wain, (clerk to the Commissioners,) Bretherton, Horn-
blower, L-rtigh, Leete, Williams, J.ni,n, Banning, Dutton,
Lightbody; Henderson, Gilbertson, Hobue, Dave, baby,
shire, Hatighon, Hardtnan; Nuttah, M G 11, Craven, San-
derson, &c ,
On the motion of Mr. Derbyehite, so ended by Mr.
Cunningham, the chair was taken by Mr. Jthn Laird.
The requisition addreosed to the coninfssioners, in
accordance with which the meeting was held, was read by
Waln.

The Chairman briefly opened the proveling4, stating
that the commissioners ware desirous that the public
should take the matter into their own hands, and
arrange it thems2lve?. The c)mmiesionrrs desired the
fullest enquiry, and he thereftre milled upon he meeting
to allowt he freest and most impartial discussion.
Mr. Leete, in a few words, proposed the first resolution,
whith was as f :—" That this meeting is of opinion
thit the supply of water furnished to the inhabitants of
Birkenhead and its locality, by the Gas and Water Com.
pang, has for a Meg time past been totally insufficient,
either for the domestic Wants Of the inhabitants, or as an
element for protection in mice of fire.'!
M. Hardman rtdan4.4 eh. ,xma
ca,ried by acclamation.

Mr. Bi 0 hereon i who was loudly applauded on coming
forward. proposed the teicond eesolutior; which was—
"that by the 4th and sth of Victoria, chap. 62, the Gas
and Water Company of Birkenhead have reserved to them
certain rights and privileges, in consideration of which
that company undertook to provide for the public a certain
supply of water, and to fulfil other conditions and regula-
tions stipulated in the said act; that they neither
provided such supply of water, nor , fulfilled the other
conditions either in letter or substance, and have thereby
forfeited all claim to the privilegea secs. ed to Them, by the
said stet." In proposing the resolution, Mr. Bretherton
denied that the present meeting was the result, of any
scheme got up or concocted for the purpose. of 'depriving
those who had vested rights of any right or title
which they possessed. The meeting was merely about
to deal with the question as a c-etract between man and
man. A contract had been made for a certain time, of
which a renewal was neve sought ; and he contended that
if the stipulations of the contract had not been fully carried
out, the public had a perfect right to withhold their
sanction to its renewal. For the parnoSe of considering
that question, let them jast take a short review of the actof
ornament under which.the contract was tnade. They all
knew that acts of
aparlitement were frequently very easily
evaded -bet perhaps there haver. was one more easily
evaded than the 4th and sth of Victoria, chap. 62 —the Gas
and Water Act of Birkenhead. (Hear, hear, and heighten)
The preamble of the bid told them that Birkenhead,
Clanghton, Ncston, Moreton, and a number of other place=,
which had, many of them for a long 'time, been
marked on the map by a dot, were very lunch
in want .of gas afe conceived they would have
found very great difficulty . in perstading any
of the old. farmers of Moreton that that place wanted' gas.
if he had to taibinieelf for it. (Hear, hear, and laughter.)
The act in its preamble declared that Birkenhead wanted
water, which was perfeetly true, but he contended that the
want of water was _ greater now then when the act was
passedeof which they had had evide ee in a re Bent occur-
rence where human lire mieht have been destroyed, and
mach property ietnally was sacrificed. (Hear, bear.)
The want of water, after seventeen eaers' noeration of the
company, was positively reefer than at the this when
the company was formed. (Hear, hear,) The act did not
make it compulsory on the company to give gas except in
the town of Birkenhead, They could indeed be ceinrelled
if a number of ratevayers came forward and called on
them to give , gas. But those who knew. Moreton farmers
and Stour'op farmers would hardly einect them td vote in
large numbers for gnu, at a coat of: perhaps, .15s per
1,000 cubic. feet.
.(ll=.a,r, hear.) ._Surely, when
they
rec ived the priv lege of supplying Birkenhealwith gas, a
maximum price should have been flied. There were others
who could provide gas as well as the company, and, there-
fore, if they. were to have the exciu4iva p-irileze there
ought to he some maximum price fixed. Bat the sage
passers of the bdt—and they were "cunning men in their
day," man canahle of, blinding men's eyes; throwing duet
therein, and deluding the ratepeyere--(hear, hear, and
laughter)—they said there should be no limit to the charge
put upon the, people's gas. The company might chaege 10e
or 15s per 1,000 cable feet, for anything the public could
do to prevent them. Whether it was equitable or not, that
the public should be thus left at the mercy of those who
were to supply them, the mewing could beet judge." He
felt convinced that there was 'common sense and sound
jadement enough left among them to prevent that
meeting from consenting to a renewal of the same
powers to those who thus held every right and
privilege and conceded none. (Hear, hear.) Perhaps
the most amusing clause of the act—if anything which
dealt with liability and law could be amusine—was that
referring to the water supple. The company was not
competent to supply water to any owner or occupier, or to
be liable to any penalty for not supplying the same, if such
supply could not be made by the company without lessening
the quantity of water required-by other owners or oceu-
piers of houses* or parts of houses supplied by the company
previously' (Laughter.) By the consolidated clauses bill
for gas and water, it was now compulsory for every water
company to keep every main at high pressure, and to be
prepared to. hrow the water into the highest parts of the
heeetes of the district. They could not evade this in the
new bill, and therefore it was introduced there ; but he
bed noenow to do with the new;b4; he had to tell them
of a contract made by those who had gone before
them, and to ask them whether the parties who now came
to' ltslit for an extension of . their .powers had a. right
to ask at at their hands. There was not a single clatue in
-the formai act compelling theni to charge one siligle main:
Now, themext point was a most material one—it touched
on the provision., for „fires. It might have been thought
that if these parties had been so very philanthropic in their
intentions, arid wi..hed fully to carry out what was fair
between men madmen, they would of all things have made
proper provision for fires. It was, howevee, enacted' that
it should be lawful at all times to take and use the water
of the company in extinguishing fires ,withoet making
compensation for such water. That meant that the people
Were to take' the water from their own cisterns, and, extin-
gnieht fires with it. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) The
liberality of that clause very strongly reminded him of the
generosity of the member of Parliament who
Of his great bounty .
Built the church at the cost Of the county."
(oheersi and 'loud laughter.) There was not a
single' compulsion upon the company, under the
old act, to provide water to extinguish fires, but the people
were entitled' to use their own water out of their own
cisterns without paying a steepled time, for ,the privilege.
(Cheers.) He did not complain of the quality of the water,
for he believed it was the best in the county, and that
there was no better water furnished in Boglend. Lot the
meeting not forget the credit to which the company were
entitled. They were certainly entided to the' credit of
supplying one of the finest kinds of water supplied in the
county. (Hear, hear) The price, , although exceeding
that of LiVerpool and many. otherplaces, might be. easily
borne ifthe supply was equal to the demand, but itwas not.
(Hear) The next question to which he should draw their
attention was a very curious one—it was that of the capitsil.
By the act the company !were entitled to raisd £lOO,OOO
as capital. In another section they were entitled
to borrow £33,00), or the third of that capital,
on mortgage of the plant e and the different
things connected with the water distribution. The words
of the act carried them no farther than that they should
have a capital of £lOO.OOO, of which they shouldbe entitled
to berrow £33,000. They were,entitled to receive 10 per
cent. upon theic money, and it therefore became a very
grave question to the rats payers, whether they should
have to pay the interest upon £133,000 or £lOO,OOO. Bat
the company had taken it into their head to interpret the
act of parliament, which certainly was wide enough for a
coach and twenty horses to . pass throrgh—(Laughter)—
as entitling them to a capital of £133,000, thereby
charging the public with £3,300 more before they could
obtain any reduction whatever. (Cheers.) Was that
such an honest course as would induce the public to repeat
the privileges to men who, if what he said was correct,
had at all events forfeited the consideration of the
public upon that point. Let them now -turn to
the company's accounts. He found there had
been a statement put forth, a few days since,
of the doings of the company. It was very cleverly
written, and if it were true there might be something said
upon other questions which were not matter relevant
there to-night. He had before him a statement of the
capital, receipts, expenditure, and profits of the Birken-
head and Claughton Gas and Water Company for the
years from September, 1842, inclusive, up to 1856. In
1843 the share capital was £53,09343s 4d. The company
borrowed that year £11,400. What did they borrow it
for ? They expended that year £1,563 16s 3d. What
became of the other £10,0U0? (Hear, hear.) In the