Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-09-04 00:00:00

' emphatic. Mr. HoLkts knows very well that
the whole of the respectable portion of the Liver-
pool press are now, and ever have been, opposed
to the swindle. He is perfectly welcome to the
fulsome laudations of hirelings, or of those who
are necessitated to barter their independence for

a mess of pottage.
We quite agree with Mr. BENNarr that Mr.
DUNCAN'S report does him great credit, more
especially as he was about the last man from
whom such a candid confession could have been
expected. He puts the Water Committee in
possession of the true cause of the pollution—
namely, the peaty nature of the gathering ground,
at and around Rivington. This was pointed out
a thousand times before the works were under-
taken, but, like every other objection, it was
pooh-poohed. Now, however, the result is
before the world, in the official condemnation
of the very source of the supply by Mr. D UNCAN.
The Water Committee of 1857 will hardly dare
to deal with Mr. DuNeAk as that of 1848 did
with poor Mr. APDONALD ; but on that most
discreditable transaction we shall have something
more to say by-and-bye.
It was quite obvious that the Water Com-
mittee were in a complete dilemma on 'Wednes-
day : they were totally unprepared with any
resolution whatever for the adoption of the
Council. All the Chairman could say Was—
" Give us more time, we have not yet thought
on the subject." In fact, the Committee were
annihilated, and they evidently felt it, and the
Council pitied their fallen condition and granted
them a few days' respite. It was all that could
be done under the circumstances by their friends,
and their opponents had no desire to add further
to their humiliation, which was complete enough
in all conscience. But the Committee must
now feel that they are, as at present constituted,
utterly impotent—that they have virtually lost
the confidence, not only of the Council, but of

the public at large, and that the only manly and
dignified course for them now to pursue is forth-
with to tender their resignations, as suggested by
Mr. JEFFERY, and thus allow of the re-construc-
tion of the Committee out of more popular
elements. This course would be only graceful
on the part of the Committee now, seeing that
after the 1 lth of November it will no longer be
a matter of choice With them. But while con-
ceding the reasonableness of the amendment
granting time to the Committee to consider the
report of their own engineer and prepare their
own, we must protest against that time being
extended beyond a very limited period'. Weeks.
perhaps months, are not again to be wasted

in idle or frivolous discussions, resulting in
nothing.

The whole question lies in the compass of a
nutshell. In the first place, the Pike water is
declared to be at present unfit for human use:
and there are physical obstacles in the way,
which must ever render it so. Therefore, for
dietetic—i. e., domestic purposes, it must be at
once abandoned. Oa this point, there is no
alternative. Further experiments are only irnposi-

tions, and must be discountenanced as such. The
unanimous wish of the inhabitants to have the well
water restored to them in its integrity must be
complied with. The present supply from the
wells is more than adequate to the demand, more
especially during the winter months, wh .n too
much water becomes a positive nuisance. Ample
time will be afforded betwixt now and next
spring to make all the necessary arrangements,
not only for an increased supply of well water,
but for the distribution of the Pike supply for
all purposes to which it may be applicable.
We quite agree with Mr. S. I.IoLmE, that it
would be a matter of deep regret for the Council
to rush headlong into the expenditure of Half-a-
Million or a Qiarter-of-a-Million of Money for a
project which we honestly believe to be totally
unnecessary, besides tearing up. our beautiful
pavement, and causing endless confusion, outlay,
and complexity; and we should rejoice to see
all parties united, heart, and hand in one grand
effort to lessen as far as can be the ills inflicted
on the community by the promoters of the
monstrous Rivington job.

Mr. HoLms has now an admirable opportunity
of proving his sincerity and singleness of pur-
pose. Let him be the first to put in practice the
precepts he teaches. Let him show that he is
actuated by a spirit of justice, moderation, and
fairness; that if during the heat of controversy,
or when matters were not matured as they now
are, he has been led to say and do things con-
trary to all these, he now regrets the course he
then took, and is willing to da all in his power to
neutralise any mischief, whether public or private,
which may have accrued from the mistaken
views he had thus imbibed. We say, let him be
the first to act thus, and we shall have faith in
his teaching ; but not till then.

NANA SAIIIB.—It may not be uninteresting to some of
our readers to 1-.,now that Nanajee Sahib, the Rajah of
Bithoor, has; beside some money in the Bank of Bengal,
a good
LmarAy lakhs of rupees invested in the company's
paper. Tnis atrocious traitor is the adopted son of the
late Pe'Ashwa, Baja) Rao, who, from the time of his
dePo`jition, until his death, lived at Bithoor, in .the
n'Aghbourhood of Cawnpore, upon the pension allowed
him by the British government. On the death of the ex-
Peishwa, Nanajee strove hard, but without success, to
obtain from the.lndian government a continuance to him.
self of the pension allowed to Bajeo Rao. Failing ire this,
he despatched an agent to agitato his claims in England,
and transmitted, it is said, to Calcutta, to meet the
expenses of such a mission, a single piece of company's
paper of the value'of five lakhs of :rupees. The mission
to England, we need hardly reminl our readers, was as
unsuccessful as the attempt made to influence the local
government. The Indian government_ may in some
measure thank itself for having allowed this man to
acquire the local influence he possesses. It is well known
that for years back, einoe the death of the Bajee Rao,