The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-07-06 00:00:00

low rate of charge to the casual passenger, viz., one
penny, was forced upon the commissioners under peculiar
circumstances, and not their own choice ; but it must also
be admitted that the parties who were the immediate cause
of this reduction being forced upon the commissioners,
having subsequently seen their error, or rather the error
of their predecessors, very reasonably offered to retrace
their steps, which they accordingly announced by adver-
tisements, and actually adopted during the space of one
month, their example being followed by Tranmere Ferry.
This gave ample opportunity for the commissioners to
adopt the same course, which, however, they declined ;
consequently they have taken upon themselves the respon-
sibility of whatever may be the ultimate result. I there-
fore contend it is very unfair towards the present rate-
payers that they should impose upon them the highest
rates they are empowered to levy, while at the same time
they are throwing away the opportunity of raising a reve-
nue from a legitimate and most available source, and one
which would not press upon the great body of ratepayers.
Every man must be aware that those residents who have
occasion to cross the river every day, contract by the year
or half year, and that, therefore, they would not be
affected by whatever might be the charge to the casual
passenger; while, should the legitimate charge of twopence
be resumed, the casual passenger, who may have occasion
to cross over either on business or pleasure, would not be
deterred from doing so from the consideration of a penny.
The only parties deterred from crossing would be a num-
ber of shoeless children and beggars, who now infest the
boats and the town, to the annoyance of the respectable ,
inhabitants, and who only tend to increase our poor-rates,
which a very few years since were only fourpence. but have
now risen to a shilling. The majority of the ratepayers have
not made themselves acquainted with the provisions of j
our local acts of parliament, although they impose upon '
them heavy liabilities, and at the same time great advan-
tages, if judiciously administered. The Woodside Ferry
Act provides that the profits of the ferry shall be applied
in aid and reduction of the improvement rates of the
township. When application was made to parliament to
authorise the purchase of the ferry on behalf of the town.
ship, T was present when the bill came before the com-
mittee of the House of Commons. I remember they
inquired (very naturally) what advantage it would be to
the ratepayers to become the proprietors of the ferry, see-
ing they would still have to pay for the crossing as before
(a question which might be asked at the present day), and
what equivalent could be offered to them for rendering
themselves liable for so heavy a debt ? It was answered
that the profits of the ferry were to be applied in aid of
the rates, and that the profits were already so consider-
able that the rate then in course of collection would be
the last improvement rate ever required to be levied. It
is said there is generally some clap-trap made use of in the
shape of what is termed a moral clause, in order to induce
the Legislature to grant a Money Bill; however, this as-
sertion gained the bill, and what has been the result ? The
act was obtained in 1842, just ten years since, and instead
of the Improvement Rate being abolished, it has been
increased, and, together with the other rates, is now at its
maximum. By the Ferry Act the Commissioners obtained
power to borrow money to the amount of £150,000, and in
the following year a meeting of the Ratepayers was called,
in order to prevail upon them to sanction another applica-
tion to Parliament by the Commissioners, for powers to
borrow an additional £lOO,OOO for the purpose of forming
a park, &c. It must be in the recollection of many still
resident in the town, that at this meeting the same inge-
nious argument was resorted to, and the same promise
held out to the ratepayers, viz., that the improvement rate
then in course of collection would be the last ever required.
Have they kept faith with the ratepayers, any more than
with the bondholders ? Yet I contend that it has been in
their power to do both. We may now inquire what are
the objects for which a bonded debt of £400,000 has been
incurred, and how has the money been applied ? This is a
somewhat difficult question to solve. By the Woodside
Ferry Act, which empowered the commissioners to pur-
chase the ferry from Mr. Price, they obtained powers to
borrow on the security of the tolls of the ferry and the
rates of the town (except only the sewerage rate) £150,000,
which included £9,000 they had previously obtained
powers to borrow. The purchase of the freehold from
Mr. Price amounted to £44,000, which, together with al,
unerpired lease, vested in a company called the " Wood-
; side Ferry Company," their steam-boats and other stock-
, in-trade, amounted in all to £78,000. Why then was not
the £44,000 paid to Mr. Price out of the money borrowed
for that purpose, and the freehold conveyed to the township
(in accordance with the provisions of the act of parlia-
• meet)

The £34,000 was paid, we may presume, to the Old
Woodside Ferry Company, for the boats, and the unex-
pired term of their lease, otherwise they would not have
given up possession of the ferry and boats ; but what has
become of the remainder of the amount borrowed ?—say
£107,000. Could it have been legally applied to any
other purpose than that specified in the act ? That is a
question which I am not able to answer.
In the year 1843, twelve Months after the Ferry Act
was obtained, the commissioners again applied to parlia-
ment, and obtained further powers to borrow an addi-
tional sum of £lOO,OOO, for the purpose of purchasing
land and laying out a park for public recreation, and also
public baths. The baths for the benefit of the public,
and the park for their recreation, form the moral clauses
in this bill, which operate so powerfully on the minds of
a parliamentary committee when money is sought for ;
but where are the " baths and other conveniences for the
inhabitants," mentioned in the preamble to the bill ?
Surely £lOO,OOO was a sum more than doubly sufficient to
carry out all that this act authorised, for the purchase of
the park land would have been only about £17,000, even
had it been paid for, which, however, ;was not the case ;
for when the park had been laid out, some of the land sold,
and several houses erected thereon, it was discovered that
the parties having so purchased land, and built thereon,
could not obtain a title to the land, because the commis-
sioners, not having completed their purchase, were not in
a position to grant one. The park, it is true, has been
laid out, and that most judiciously ; but the most promi-
nent features in the act, viz., the purchase of the land,
and construction of the baths, not having been complied
with, I am at a loss to conjecture as to what purposes the
£lOO,OOO borrowed under this act has been applied. All
that we practically know is, that we have to pay the inte-
rest every year, in the shape of maximum rates. Another
act was obtained, during the same session, for the pur-
pose of forming a cemetery, and purchasing land for the
same, but this act seems to have become a dead letter.
In the year following (1844) another application was made
to Parliament for the purchasing of the Monks' Ferry
from the Railway Company, the purchase-money of which
was £20,000, and powers were sought and obtained to
borrow £50,000, in order to effect this purchase. The
£50,000 has been borrowed, but the purchase has not
been completed ; and, according to evidence produced in
the court, at Birkenhead, a few months ago, five years'
interest were due. What, then, has become of this
£50,000 ? If such a state of things is to be continued,
there is not the most remote probability of Birkenhead
overcoming its difficulties ; but if the affairs of the town
had been judiciously conducted, I maintain that the bond-
holders might have been receiving to this day 5 per cent.
upon their bonds. In proof of this having been the ex-
pectation of the commissioners for several years past, I
transcribe a passage from the report of their proceedings
in November, 1845, where the chairman, after having
stated " as a bold fact, that Birkenhead was the richest
corporation in England," went on to say, " He would
pledge his faith that, according to the statements which
had been laid before him, the ferry receipts would be
sufficient to pay the interest of the bonded debt of Birken-
head" ; and at the same meeting it was moved, that, in
the intended application to Parliament for a new bill, " a
clause be inserted, giving the commissioners power to
apply out of the surplus revenue from the ferries, after
discharging the interest on the bonded debt, a sum of
money towards defraying the costs of maintaining the
various public hospitals and warehouses necessary for the
township." - I offer no comment, but would merely com-
pare the expectations and intentions of the commissioners
of that day with the position of Birkenhead in the present.
What means, then, have the commissioners of extricating
the town from its present position ? The rates of the
town being now at their maximum, there is no other
means than that above referred to by the chairman of
1845, viz., the profits of the ferry ; but in order to render
that effective, they must return to the fares of 1845 ; and
what would be the probable result ? The revenue would
be increased by £B,OOO or £lO,OOO, to which the resident
ratepayers would not be called upon to contribute, as the
contract would be always at his command. The aggre-
gate receipts from the ferry amounted last year to about
£21,000, of which about £18,580 was received from casual
passengers, while only about £2,060 was received from
contractors, by which it will be seen that the ratepayers
who are contractors contribute but a small proportion of
the receipts the channel, then, through which the reve-
nue might be increased is the casual passengers.
The ferry receipts in 1845, according to the chairman of
the commissioners of that day, were about £21,000, and
for the first six months of the following year upwards of
£14,000, and the same rate of increase he said was going
on. The charge for the contractor was the same as at
present, and for the casual passenger twopence. If such
was the amount received seven years ago, what might be
expected after seven years' increase of the population on
both sides of the water ?
Agreeing, then, as I do, with the general doctrine
adopted by the commissioners, that " we are bound in
justice to the bondholders, and by every principle of
honesty and fair play, to pay them the highest amount of
interest we can raise by taxation," I, at the same time,
maintain that the whole of the burden should not be
thrown upon the shoulders of the ratepayers, who are
willing to contribute a fair share, but should be equally
distributed among those for whose convenience and
accommodation an efficient ferry is maintained, and who
partake of all the improvements effected at so great an
outlay equally with the ratepayer. It may be said that
the ferry is the only local fund the township possesses.
It is not, therefore, unreasonable to assert that the cora-
missioners would be not only justified, but are morally
bound to make its resources available to every purpose
that would lighten the burden of the ratepayers ; and if its
resources could not then be further extended, it would
be desirable that further powers should be obtained in
accordance with the proposed clause above referred to,
" to apply out of its surplus revenue, after discharging the
interest on the bonded debt, a sum of money annually
towards defraying the costs of maintaining a public hos-
pital, and other institutions necessary for the township."
By such means thousands would be contributing towards
the maintenance of useful public institutions, while, at
the same time, the individual contributions would be so
small as to be almost imperceptible to the contributors.
It will, probably, be said that I have been actuated by a
view to my own advantage, in calling attention to the
above proposals. This, in some degree, lam willing to
admit would be the operation, but not wholly so ; for a
little reflection may convince any one, that whatever
arrangement can be made which can conduce to the ad-
vantages of one ferry must conduce also to the advantages
of the other, and the same remark will apply to disad-

WILL

liabilit

,OUGI

Birkeub

.ead, July 18t,1852,