The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-08-25 00:00:00

THE SANITARY BILL.

A special meeting of the Town Council was held yes-
terday, " to receive the report of the special committee
appointed on the 3d April last, on the bill of Lord Lincoln
and the sanitary bill of the Council, and on the other bill
or bills on the important subjects therein projected, com-
prising a recommendation to appoint a special committee
to make the necessary preparations for carrying out the
several provisions of the sanitary acts which come into
operation on the Ist of January next, and to confer on
such committee full powers to take all necessary steps for
securing an adequate supply of water to the borough for
domestic, manufacturing, and other private and public
purposes." The notice also contained an intimation that
the Council would consider a memorial of the president,
treasurer, and committee of the Guardian Society for the
protection of trade, on the subject of the supply of water.
The MAYOR presided.
Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE said the Council had been
assembled for the purpose of having laid before them a
copy of the Sanatory Act, which bad now become the
law of the borough. A more important measure had
never been submitted to the Council, or one from which
greater advantages might be expected. It had been ob-
tained with considerable difficulty, and after much muni-
cipal expense ; and it had hazarded, in some degree, the
cordiality and friendship which had subsisted between
some members of the Council and some members of the.
Paving Board, whose powers and authority would be
taken away by it. Any feelings of that sort, however,
were done away with, and merged in the one considera-
tion of the general good. It was now the duty of the
Council to put the measure into motion by appointing a
committee to take the first st,-ps towards carrying it out.
At this season it was important the Council should act
quickly, inasmuch as they had obtained the services of
those gentlemen who were acquainted with the details,
and also with the wishes of the public, some of whom
might not be in the Council after the Ist November next.
Be that as it might, it was desirable the Council should
at once proceed with carrying out the measure—
Mr. LACE suggested tkat the report of the committee
should be read before any general statement was made,
as the Council would then be better able to see the pur-
poses and objects of the committee.
Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE inquired whether it was neces-
sary to appoint the committee first?
Mr. LACE replied that the Council would then be able
to see the objects in view.
Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE said he had been guided, in
his mode of proceeding, by the Town-Clerk.
The TOWN-CLERK then read the following report :
" The Special Committee appointed on the 3rd of April
last, on the Bill of Lord Lincoln, and the Sanatory
Bill of the Council, and any other Bill or Bids on
the important subjects therein proposed to be pro-•
vided tor,
" REPORT, _ _

" That the Sanatory Bill of the Council has received
the Royal assent, the bills introduced by the Commis-
sioners for Paving and Sewerage, and by the Commis-
sioners for improving Toxteth-park, having, under an
arrangement, been withdrawn by their promoters when
before the Committee of the Louse of Commons.
" No alteration affecting any principle has been made
in the Sanatory Bill since it was submitted to the Coun-
cil, except in relation to the supply of water for domestic
purposes, which will be hereafter referred to.
" The act comes into operation on the Ist of January
next, and after that data all the powers now vested in
the Commissioners for Sewerage, &c., and in the Com-
missioners for improving Toxteth-park, so far as the
powers of the latter body can be exercised within the
borough, are transferred to the Council, who are also
invested with all the powers hitherto exercised by the
Surveyors of Highways within the townships of Everton
and Kirkdale, and that part of West Derby which is
within the borough ; and these townships, which have
hitherto been without any provision for sewerage, will
now have the benefit of a general arrangement to be made
for that purpose.

. .
" The Council, therefore, throughout the whole bo-
rough, after the Ist of January next, will regulate the
paving, sewerage, and cleansing, including the removal of
all refuse from private dwellings.
" The enactments of the present Health Act have
in several respects been amended by this act, and
upon the Council will devolve the duty of carrying
out the provisions of the new act, as amended, re-
lating to the width 'of streets and courts, the con-
struction of houses therein and their drainage, the
flagging and channelling of courts and passages, the de-
scription of cellars used or intended for habitation, the
regulation of slaughter-houses and knackers' yards, the
registering and inspection of low lodging-houses, and the
abatement of nuisances, including the important enact-
ment requiring that all furnaces employed in working en-
gines by steam, or in any mill, factory, tlyehouse, brew-
ery, backhouse, gas works, and other buildings used for
the purpose of trade, or manufactures, within the borough
and furnaces employed io working the engines of any
steam-boat plying on the River Mersey, shall, where
practicable, be constructed so as to prevent or consume
their own smoke.

" The cnumil will also be required to nominate a civil
engineer to act as local surveyor, a medical officer of
health, an inspector of nuisances, clerks, treasurers, and
the other officers, which the consolidation of the local
boards will render necessary the appointment of the two
first-named officers being subject to the approval of the
secretary of state.
" Each member of the Council has been furnished with
a copy of the act, but this short epitome of its leading
provisions is introduced into this report, in order to im-
press upon the Council the importance of the trust which
the legislature has confided to them, and the heavy re-
sponsibility to Parliament and the public under which
that trust must be exercised.

" Your Committee have spared' no pains or labour in
their endeavours to make the bill efficient. Upon the
Council and the Committees appointed for the purpose
will now devolve the onerous and responsible duty of
carrying these provisions into effect, and in order that no
time may be lost, a ter the commencement of the act,
your Committee recommend that a Special Committee be
now appointed to make the necessary preparations for
carrying out the provisions of the act, to consider and re-
port upon the staff of officers required, and to provide the
maps and plans required by the act.
" By this act the waterworks, now in course of con-
struction at Green-lane, by the Highway Board, are
transferred to the Corporation ; and by the bill, as sub-
mitted to the Council, it was proposed to enact, that the
Council should have power to erect any number of new
cisterns, pumps, conduits, 'or other waterworks for the
supply of water to the inhabitants of any street, court,
or alley, or to erect the same in any public situation for
the gratuitous use of any persons who may choose to
carry the same away for their own private use, but not for
sale, with power to contract with the water companies for
a supply of water. These clauses were, however, objected
to by the existing water companies, who petitioned against
the bill, and the Committee of the House of Commons,
considering that the question of water supply should be
int. oduced in a most comprehensive manner, struck out
the clauses conferring power upon the Council to supply
water for domestic purposes even gratuitously, and the
use of the water is therefore confined to public purposes,
iqcluding the extinguishing of fires, cleansing and water-
ing streets, flushing sewers, and the supply of public
baths and wash. houses.

" Your Committee, pursuant to the instructions of the
Council, opposed the bill of the Liverpool and Harrington
Waterworks Company, but the Committee of the House
of Commons passed the bill, inserting the following
clause :

•'' And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for the said
company cf proprietors, and they are hereby authorized
and required, at any time, within twelve calendar months
from the termination of the present session of parliament,
if the Council of the said borough of Liverpool shall think
fit to purchase the same, and shall be authorized and em-
powered so to do by any act to be passed in the present or
in the meat session of parliament, to sell to the mayor,
aldermen, and burgesses of the said borough, the water-
works, land, machinery, or other property, rights, and
privileges vested in the said company of proprietors, for
such price or consideration as shall be mutually agreed
upon between the said Council and the company of pro-
prietors ; and in case of disagreement as to the said price
or consideration, the amount thereof shall be determined
by arbitration, according to the provisions for that pur-
pose contained in the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act,
1845;' and if such amount shall be so ascertained by ar-
bitration. the arbitrator or arbitrators. or their umpire,
shall not assign any additional value for the said water-
works, land, machinery, or other property, in consequence
of the powers hereinbefore contained for creating new
shares, after the expiration of the said period of twelve
calendar months, as aforesaid.'

"Under this clause it is compulsory upon the company
to .ell their works if the council think fit to purchase
them within the time limited, via. twelve calendar months
from the close of the present session of Parliament. The
propriety of such purchase, considering the quantity and
quality of the water supplied by the company, the cost at
which new and independent works could be constructed,
furnishing a constant and unlimited supply of water of the
finest quality, and all the circumstances of the case, has
become a most important question ; and your committee
recommend that it should be referred to the special com-
mittee:to be now appointed to consider this question con-
ferring upon such committee full powers to take all neces-
sary steps for obtaining an adequate•supply of water to the
borough for domestic, manufacturing, and other private
and public purposes."
Mr. LACE moved the confirmation of the report. He
need not enter into details further than to say the com-
mittee thought it necessary a special council should now
be summoned, seeing that in case any negociation should
be necessary with the Liverpool and Harrington Water-
works Company, it must take place within twelve months
from the end of the present session of Parliament, and
there would be very little time to give the notices for an
act if any should be applied for. The special council was
also thought nec-ssary upon another account. There was,
at present, a bill before Parliament which might or might
not pass, which prescribed that all plans should be lodged
in the Private Bill Office by the Ist November, so that,
although only a fortnight would be gained by the calling
of the special meeting, even that fortnight would be im-
portant, if the Council, upon the report of the committee,
deem it necessary to apply for an act of parliament to
supply water from various sources.
Mr. JAMES LAWRENCE seconded the motion.
The report was then unanimously confirmed.
Mr. T. B. HORSFALL apprehended the Committee
should make a full report to the Council before making
any purchase.
Mr. Lace replied, of course. The Council were abroad,
as it were, at present, as to what should be done ; and it
was necessary a committee should be appointed to take
that subject into consideration. The committee was one
merely for the purpose of enquiry, and their report would
be presented to the Council.
Air. G. H. LAWRENCE added, that the committee was
one for details and arrangements. With these views, tte

Council would agree with him in thinking it would be
much better to leave the subject in the hands of those
gentlemen who were already acquainted with the details
of the measure, and also with the wishes of the town. He
should, however, propose two gentlemen in addition to
the existing committee. He then proposed the re-election
of the following gentlemen seriatim :—Mr. R. Houghton,
senior, Mr. James Lawrence, Mr. Turner, Mr. Thorn-
hill, Mr. Chahmer, Mr. Ratbbone, Mr. H. Hornby, Mr.
J. A. Tinne, Mr. Sothern, and Mr. Lace. To these gen-
tlemen be proposed to add Mr. John Stewart and Mr.
William Nicol; Mr. Stewart for his extensive practical
knowledge upon the various subjects comprising the ob-
jects of the bill, and Mr. Nicol because he was the repre-
sentative of the Council at the board of the Liverpool
Waterworks Company.
The committee, as proposed, was unatimonsly ap-
pointed.
The TOWN-CLERK then read the following memorial,
from the Guardian Society, for the protection of trade :
"To the Worshipful the Mayor and Town Council of
the Borough of Liverpool.
"The Memorial of the President, Treasurer, and Com-
mittee of the Liverpool Guardian Society for Protection
of Trade,

SHEWETEI,—That your memorialists, baaring in mind
the efforts which were made in the early part of the pre-
sent session of Parliament to curtail the riots and privi-
leges of the Liverpool and Harrington Water Company,
beg to refer the Council to the fact that those efforts re-
sulted in the introduction of a clause into the Company's
Bill by which they were restrained for twelve calendar
months from the termination of the session from raising
any additional capital by means of shares. That such a
clause was inserted to enable the Corporation to make ar-
rangements and mature plans for the purchase of the in-
terest of the company and to establish waterworks over
which the Corporation itself would have the sole control.
"Your memorialists deem it of importance that such ar-
rangements should be speedily made, and they respect-
fully crave leave to urge the Council to take the necessary
steps to effect that object."
On the motion of Mr. LACE, the memorial was re-
ferred to the committee just appointed.
Mr. PARKER hoped that as the legislature had invested
the Corporation with full sanatory powers, they would be
carried into execution without delay ; and he was most
glad to see the feeling with which the whole subject was
taken up. In too many cases where local bills had been
obtained, they had been allowed to remain a dead letter;
but in the present instance he trusted that error would be
avoided.

Before the Council broke up,
The MAYOR announced the death of Mr. John Footer,
architect to the Corporation for a great number of years.
He was sure the Council would feel deep regret at the
Joss which the Corporation had sustained, by the decease
of this gentleman, who had tendered to it many most im-
portant services. (Hear.)
The Council then separated.