Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-11 00:00:00

DOCK COMMITTEE.

q'be weekly meeting of the Dock Committee was held, at ens
o'clo yesteressy ; Mr. Charles Turner presided, and the other
gentle:Den present were—Messrs. Rankin, Robinson, Bro kletank,
Evans, ,Sledstone, Anderson, Mondell, Hubback, Bold, Rounthwatte,
Littledale,
Lecke: t, and Banned.
The Commeittee of Works recommended that a final don ition of
,e 5 should be given to William Heaths, formerly milllwright
ployed under th'etrast. The recommendation wsS confirmed.
'rho tender of Messrs. JaCkton and Ronalds was accepted for
bleach canvass, and that of Messrs. Robert An :erstra & Co. for lead
pipes.
• Mr. Bold referred ,ct the correspendenee which had takeh place
between Mr. H. Little:l'Blcent the town clerk, relative is Mr. Little,
dale's wool cargoes and The Liverpool docks. and suggested that the
waiehanse snperieterdeuteeilionld be metered to make returns show.
ing how the delay in landingethe cargoes had arisen.
The subject was referred to she Wareli. use-Committee.
An offer from Messrs. Nayleel & Co., to erssent thll eons.
mittee with one of their cast-sient bells to be placed upon the new
landing stage, was acct pted w th thanks.
The Flarbear Master's Cerninarees reported In reference to an
application made last Thursday, thee they decliined to recommend.
any increase of wages to the keeper's of tr•.e timber qua a, bet
reeommenered that their hours of attemlance shonlce"be nom eight
o'clock a.nti. to five p.m., the polled- to :discharge the duties up to' •
efeht p.m The recenimendation was comirmed.
A letter froth Mr. E. Gammidge, eMployed as regletral of cbek
voters, at a salary of £129 a ye r regnestl ag an incre zr.o of salary
in consequelee of long servitude and' r.uugmented ditties, wail
referred': o the Vinenee Committee.
A Mom rial from• the cart-el:mars I ocempying the stem] en the
west side of Victoria cock, camplataing ceinconvenience cartecci by
the bridge betweeet the Victoria and the. Trafalgar dockd 'being
frequently opened irrespective of tide time, and complainieg as welt
'of the distance of the etaed from Waterlectereace, was referred to the
Harbour Nester's Committee.
THE NEW Ta.UsIa—QuALIFICATIO7-10R EtrcrioN.
'Mr. Glae stone teeter/el that some enxietyitonsted out of doors with
reference to the mode of eedion to the new ',Lofted. Ile did net
know whet:err Mr. North had anything to stetelipon the subject, in
what manner the votes were. to be taken, ancewhat was to be donee'
in fact, what Would be theeeffettein that reepece, of the Mersey Con-
wervaney B It.
Mr. North, the Solicitor, state that that suleeet wail altogether
ander the to ',trot of the erst election of the tenservegicy Board.
lln had been in correspondentewith Admiral Erna?, wile a view to
having the arriteeements peteteted. They were in prOgleeete, he was
sure, bit nothing had been yet subs gritted tohim.
Mr. Gladstone -Rot th election takes place upon the Ist of Jan.,
arleth' is very fast aeproaching.
The Solicitor: I wrote 'only ontMonday on the subeette
Mr. Evans: f Deistic this is the- fitting Um, to make semen:marks
with regard to that election, andletine the discession ough I to• go ca
now before the ropor%we leave the room.
The. So icitor read the litter, dated, D'ete 7, which ho hs d adtiressed
to Admiral Evans, nreing t -at as the.time was fast approaching, tae
arranzements for the etectioa shaeld' be concluded.
reMr. Evans: I suppcse we have not lest all right of lnterferirser hr
tte arrareeements'whieli meet' be nettitaately decided upon e• .
The Soliele,r : 1 think we have no-peer at all, except rush at they
delegate tome.
Mr. Evaue But we ratty mare representation. Thb cheer-
rations I want to make, will not, I hope, bs et:Maiden:l
invidious, ftr they are not at ail intended as seals—he
fact quite otherwesee I world rather regret that they should lead to
any Inconvenlesre whatever ; but I ere conseder that the elfseecter
of the town, Led the hereafter good government of the trust.; will,
depend in a great'degrze neon the parity of the election. New; sir
I hear it openly: stated that fictitious qualifications are bring 'get up'
for those who have not legal qualifications. The obje, tof the leg's-
' ?tisane is to confine the trust to those who can show evidence of their'
hiving an intereet in the wersbeing of the trust; and to co ammeence
with an elections upon openly corrupt principles, I should think,
woo d he utterly ruinous be eaftee for it no doubt would not leisen,
bit would go on aegmenting. Fe.we- are tee carry on the elation'
wi,h fictitious qtraliticatiocs, I believe, in legal language. that's no
other than wh .t is called a fraud 'upon, Parliament. Now, what I
would wish if it wore pos4ible—and nobody would more regret thorn
shoal i the loss of one or two memeers of this committee, and par—
Ocularly if it were to affect the chairmen. of where capability for
Oleo I have the highest opinion—is- this r I wculd‘say that _t d!.
not unusual, wherever there have I cm large reforms in any public
body, that those who had been in'effire ware then c'ntitmea or
compensated. What I would p7cpose- wonld be, if it email be got
int, the bi I, that the me nbes of the' present committee should be
.eligible for re.elec ion upon the geeenes ot• their le=t qaeificatfon,
bet that candidates hereafter fowls: ;natty of using fictitious mallet,
fications shall be subject o a fine, and' if esteemed their election to •
be void, and the parties afterwards to be incapacitated fame ever
being members of the Dock Committee. Now, I atonic' lime tee
move that, if I em in- order in so -doing, became I opine that'
Liverpool woad certainly add to the in little disrepute which shoe
has hod hitherto about electioneering business ; and if we commence •
with an open and avowed legal or technical fraud upon the inten-
tions of the legislature, I consider it weird; bodisgraceful to the town.* -
and to the Dock Committee if not prevented.
The Chairman Perhaps the c netnettee will anew me to say I do

not know upon what course Mr. Evens assumes or suggeks that
my qual fication will not be 1 g Land toe:a:fide.
Mr. Evans: Because 1 Iseard,'with great concern, that there was
a doubt about it.
The Chairman : I do not know rho eapres-ed any doubt about my
qualification. I have a perfectly legal and bcssa-fias qualification.
Mr. Evans : I am very glad of it. My anxiety to have you •
reta nod rendered me the move willeig to propose th s resolution.
The Chairman : Oh, lam quit r sure of t iat, but I wish you had
asked me the ques ion before you menrionrd my menu p ibliciy.
Mere matters of rumour, anti of a kiwi which parties may r ire for a
variety of p Irposes, should not be repeated in public at a meeting
like this.
Mr. Evans : I will telt you what wars mentioned to me—that:your
name was in the report of a ship b.loneing.to another house.
The Chairman : I have nothing to say apse the subjee but that I
believe my quelifi a:ion to be as tones fide•and real as yours, o: that
of any other member of the board.
Mr. Robinson : The principles on which- the election into be con-
ducted are laid down in the Ca servaricy Act.
The Cnair can : I do not think we have anything •to do with the
matter.
Mr. Evans Does the act make a provision sguinst a man who has
no qnslitle :Von coming In upon fictitious queitiation ? 13,:e :use how
are we know hereafter, when we may ms all gone, how far corruption •
may go and into whose hands the management of the dock trust
may ultimately get—perhaps into the, h ands of those who have no
interest whatever in its well-being.
Mr. Brocklebank apprthendert that every man on the list of voters..
on the 24th of Jane last, would be eligible ta• be e.ectel to the Dock •
Tru.t.
Mr. Bold : No, no.
The Chairman : It is all a qusstlonfor the returning officer. It Iw'
a matter we have nothing to do with. We ace quite going out of Ottr,
province, I would suggest.
Mr. Evans: h, I think not.
1 he Chairman : in the fint pla^e, we-have no right to assume that.
any 'man has a fictitious qualification. It is a mere question or,
rumour, and iumoar very often has no real foundation.
Mr. Evans: Is there anything F.:Althea. in the reports of the
Custom-house ? •• I am :old, by a very high authority in Liverpool,.
that there is a report of one of the ships of Mr. Shand
The Chairman: I do not know anything about that.
Mr. Evans: I only want yr u to know that I hat teas .noble groan&
for taking the matter up, which I did with great reluean,e.
Mr. Gladstone thong it it decidedly n ,cesuary to make pros-Isles
that no such fraud should be committed up :n the es ate. Whether
it was their business, or the bnsi eel of the new trust, or the.
business of the Government, it ought to be done.
Mr. Evans: I d s not mean to impute auy trine at all to one.worthr
chairman, because matters like this have all'along been made lightof,.
and very honourable persons have availed of such things. But, as
this is now beginning to bs one of the most important trusts in the
whale emple, we ought to begin in: purity. Ultimately we, shalt
otherwise, no doubt, like all human aft :irl,verga into corruption.
Th r Chairman rid not think the board could deal with the sehject.
Mr. Evans: 'then I suppose this resoluton is not aim ssible?
The Chairmrn did not think th board had anything to dOevitt...tt.
The committee would b, dead in a fortnight.
This closed the general business.