Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-11 00:00:00

THE
WEAVER NAVIGATION BILL

(FROlf OUR (WN.NREPOATER

HOUSE OF :,00MMONS, WSDNZIWAYi

The select committee appointed-to inquire Into this bill assembled
this morning, Lord Naas in the dials'. The other members of the
committee present were—Me Mtirquis of Blandford, Mr. Wickham,
Mr. Booker Blakemore, and Mr. Headley.
The bill is promoted by various merchants in Liverpool enzaged in
the salt trade, and is opposed by the Trustees of the Weaver Naviga-
tion and bythe Justices of the Peat* of Cheshire.
Mr. Calvert, Q.C., Mr. Manesty, anceMr. Haley a peered on behalf
of the promoters. The trustees were represented by Mr. Hope Scott,
Q.C., Mr. Welsby, and Mr. Burke; end the justices of the peace by
Mr. Sergeant Wrangham, Mr. Cross, and Mr Ranue.
Mr. CALVERT, in opening the case, entered into a history of the
navigation of the Weaver, which he stated- was under the control of a-
trust constituted by Act of Parliament in 1714, the trustees appointed.'
being country gentlemen of Cheshire of- the highest respectability,
but who could not be regarded in. any way as protectors
of the navigation. The Interest which was felt in the question- in
Liverpool, arose from the salt trade whkh was carried on upon the
river, there-being two salt fields, small in extent, at Northwich and
at Winsford, By the original Act of parliament, trustees were ap-
pointed, in order that the navigation of the river should be kept open.
The works which were contemplated by the act, and which the truss
tees were required to make, were works for -the benefit and impro, e•
ment of the river, a toll being granted for such works, but upon no
other condition. Hitherto, no favour had been conferred upon the
trade of thoriver, but everything that had been dons for the im-
provement of the navigation had been amply paid for. By the 28th
clause of the Act of Parliament, any surplus of the pesduce of the
rates, over and above what was necessary for improving the naviga.
tion, was directed to be applied to mending and repairing the public
bridges in the county of Cheater. He contended that, by this clause,
a present was made to the county fends without the smallest con-
sideration being given in return. The 29th clause enacted that a
portion of the surplus thus presented to the county should be em-
ployed in repairing the highways over which the traffic to and
from the- river might be supposed to pass between Frodsham
and Winslett bridges. The effect of that clause was to postpone
the general interests of the county, an 1 to give a preference to
the highways contiguous to the river. He did not think, however.
that the legislature ever contemplated that the county of Chester
should receive a large revenue from the navigation. It appeared
from a Parliamentary return recently presented to the House
of Commons that the sums received by the county from, this
particular source were, in 1843, £13,000 ; in 1844, £'20,000 ; id 1345,
£12,0001 in 1r46, £17,000; in 1847, £21,000; 1848, £25,000; 1849,
£25,000 ; 1.850, £19,000 ; 1851, £23,000 ; 1852, £22,500 ; 1853,
£l4 000; and in 1854, £16,500. Consequently, under the possibility
that there might be a surplus produce, the county of Chester, since
the year 1843, had received these enormous sums, the smallest of
which had been £12,000 and the largest £25,000. The legislature
could never for an instant have contemplated that such• a con-
sequenc would ensue, and, therefore, it was evident the Corpo-
ration of Chester had reaped an advantage which was never
intended to be conferred upon it. The only tlt'e to the tolls
was a Parliamentary title, but the law of England scarcely
recognised as a principle that money should be paid for which
no consideration was received, and in a c mrt of equity it would
be impossible to enforce payment. He believed he should be enabled to
satisfy the committee that the public interests imperatively equired
that Parliament should interfere in the matter, and compel the trustees
to reduce the tolls. The act by which the original trust was constituted,
was passed in the year 1714. In 1760 another act was passed, which gave
further powers to the trustees, and reduced several of the charges ;
and the act of third and fourth Victoria, empowered the erection of
churches out of the proceeds of the navigation, for the benefit of the
population who were in immediate connection with the Weaver. The
learnedconnsel then adverted to the probability of a competition on
behalf of the railway companies, if the tolls were net greatly reduced.
but when dock acccomtnodation wasprovided at Birkenhead, he saw no
reason why the trade of tile Weaver should not go there. If Parliament
would only keep down the expense, he felt confident that a rivalry
bgtween the navigation on the one hand, and the railway companies
on the other, might be carried on with great benefit to both
parties, and to the public advantage as wee In many parts of the
country the tolls charged for navigation for a distance of thirty and
thirty-two mi'es, only amounted to ad ; but in the case of the Weaver,
is was charged for distances varying from twenty two to eight miles.
Surely then there was a clear case for an immediate reduction,
The income of the navigation in the year ending the 31st of March,
1857, amounted to £11,050 for 221,000 tons of coals, £3,000 for 63,000
tons of rock salt, £37,925 for 758,000 tons of white salt, and £2,000
for other articles, making £54,000 altogether. In France the average
consumption of salt was 211 lbs per mac per annum ; iu England,
where we possessed a more thirsty race, twenty five pounds, and
in America sixty pounds. Is was consequently of Immense
importance to keep up the trade with America. which country at
present produced 300,000 tons a year, and received an equal amount
from Europe; and it was also important to the trade of this country
that as large a proportion as possiole of the quantty obtained from
Europe should be supplied from Cheshire. At this moment the ships
which conveyed coals to the Mediterranean took in salt upon the
return voyage on the coast of Portugal; but if the price of salt could
be kept down as low as possible, it was probable that the cargo would
be taken to America direct from Cheshire. Tne salt trade itself was
very peculiarly situated. The cost of producing a ton of salt was
estimated to be—for wages, is; feel, 4s; dues, Is; repairs to works,
Is ; rent and taxes, 6d; making altogether 7s 6d, to which is fid,
the expense of conveyance to Liverpool, must be added. Consequently,
the entire cost of a ton of salt was 9s, and the committee wpiria
sestrVz: o ..,—namely,.redi ,
averagetthattles.lt might amount
hr ..ace irowh
ntreceivedfoe,
tte -ee treeapar, ecisely
the could
be carried on at all under eucis circumstances. And he was bound to
explain that everynow and then, in a fit of desperation, the merchants
formed themselves into an association, and raised the price to 13s or
14s. If the committee passed the bill now before then they would
prevent this starvation process, and encourage the manufrcture of
salt—a trade which was of the greatest importance to the merchants
of Liverpool, inasmuch as it provided them with a profitable ballast
for their ships. The proposition which the promoters of she bill now
made was, to reduce the due upon wli'te salt from Is to 4,1;
and the trustees of the Weaver opposed the application, on the
ground that the navigation required great improvement, to
effect which the continuance of the present tolls was absolutely
necessary. The learned counsel then commented at some length
upon the dereliction of duty which, ho contended. the trustees had
committed, in not having made ample provision for the improvement
of the river out of the immense revenue which they had already re-
ceived, and then proceeded to quote the repot of the Board of '1 rade
upon the subject. The Board, after detailing the nature of the dues
imposed, stated that they amounted to 20 per cent. upon the value of
the {article produced, which was a greater burden than any other
trade was subjected to. Upwards of £1,500,000 had been re-
ceived by the trustees since their act first passed, of which sum
only £843,720 had teen expended in improving the navigation
of the river, the remainder having been received by the county
of Chester. The average annual receipts had been £42,000,
the payments fur improvements had only been £21,000, while £915
had been devoted to the erection of cnurches since 1541, and the re-
mainder had been applied to purposes connected with the county of
Chester. In short, the people of Cheshire levied a lax upon salt of
£42,000 a year, of which only £21,000 was employed in keeping up
the navigation of the river. The promoters of the present bill simply
asked that the dues upon salt shou'd be reduced from is to 4d, but
the Board of Trade suggested much more stringent measures. They
said that the navigation ought'to be given to a body who fairly repre-
sented the trade and traffic of the river, who should be required to
maks the tolls fair and equal for all persons, and to abolish all privi-
leges and exemptions. In conclusion, the learned counsel appealed
to the committee to grant the present bill, and thereby free the trade
from the restrictions by which it was now tied down.
In reply to Lord Naas, Mr. Calvert said—The promoters of the bill
were still merchants of Liverpool. Petitions in its favour had also
bean presented by many of the salt manufacturers.
Mr. STEPHEN GUION was the first witness. He said he was a
merchant of Liverpool, and member of a firm which traded with the
United states, and which had a large number of vessels exclusively
engaged in the trade from the Mersey. The firm exported large
qamtities of rock and common salt, which reache i Liverpool from
Cheshire by way of the river Weaver. The price of salt on board the
fiat was 5s 6d to 6s per ton, and, in addition, 3s was charged for dries
on the rival* Weaver and for carriage. A sum of 6d per ton was also
charged by the Liverpool Corporation for Town Dues- The witness
then gave evidence in confirmation of the statement of Mr. Calvert,
with respect tb the salt trade with America. and expressed an opinion
that if the dues charged by the trustees of the river Weaver were
reduced, the English merchants would he in a better position to com-
pete with the salt produced in America itself.
The committee adjourned at four o'clock till this day (Thursday).