The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-01-26 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL POLICE INTELLIGENCE,

CRIMINALITY V. SNOW.—That the weather exercises an
influence over criminality, few frequenters of a police
court can doubt. Thanks to the heavy fall of snow, the
number of felonies to be heard on Thursday morning did
not exceed three.

THE GAOL NO CURE.—On Friday, .a female, named
Margaret Burns, who was only released from prison on
Tuesday, was again committed for trial, for stealing a
petticoat. She had upon her when arrested, 12 lbs. of
meat, some loaves, and herrings, all of which had proba-
bly been stolen.

YOUNG THIEVES.--A boy, named William Hunt, was
charged at the Police-court, on Thtlisday, with having
robbed the shop of Mr. William Hignett, tobacconist, of
Dale-street. Mr. Hignett stated that he had observed
the lad lurking about his shop for several weeks past,
that he frequently came into his shop, when, if observed,
he would ask for a halfpenny worth of tobacco, or some
similar purchase. About six o'clock on Wednesday even-
ing, he caused him to be apprehended, and subsequently
the house in which the boy lives was searched, when
quantity a cigars was found which proved to be com-
plainant's property. Mr. Hignett considered that the
value of the cigars thus taken from his shop amounted to
thirty shillings. Constable 545 deposed to searching the
boy's house and finding the cigars in question. The lad
was committed for fourteen days. Another lad, named
Edmund Rurgess, was committed for fourteen days, for
stealing a bar of iron in Ford-street.

ILLICIT DISTILLATION.—On Saturday an elderly man,
named Charles Connerty, and a little boy, named John
M`Lean, were brought before Mr. Rushton on a charge
of having been found at work at an illicit still, in St.
Martin's-street. Mr. Rushton remarked how pitiable it
was to see children engaged in such illicit occupations,
and ordered each of the prisoners to pay a fine of £3O, or,
in default, to be imprisoned three months.—Frank Camp-
bell, Jeremiah Maher, Patrick Brady, and Hannah Maher,
were next brought up on a charge of having been working
an illicit still. It appeared that the Custom-house officers
went about five o'clock that morning to a court in
Maguire-street, and knocked at the door. The. female,
who answered from inside, refused to admit them ; and

finding that the inmates were destroying some of the
barrels and utensils used in their unlawful calling, the
officers proceeded to the rear of the premises and forced
open the door. On entering they found the still at full
work, and the prisoners in 'bed .in another apartment.
He ordered each of these prisoners also -to .pay a fine of
£3O, or, in default, to be imprisoned three months.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.OF HEALTH
OF TOWN MEDICAL OFFICERS.

[We had no room for the following,article last week.]
Edwin Chadwick, Esq., registrar-general, having been
-requested to give a testimonial to the fitness of Dr. Dun-
can to act as officer of health for Liverpool, on the sub-
ject of sanatory arrangements, has addressed a letter
(dated Somerset-house, Jan. 8,) -to Mr., Shuttleworth,
the town-clerk, to be submitted to the corporation.
He commences by a warm eulogium on the talents and
zeal in the cause of public health already disinterestedly
exerted by Dr. Duncan, as evinced especially by his able
report on the causes of the unhealthy condition of Liver-
pool, which he ranks with the reports of the most eminent
men who have devoted their attention to the same philan-
thropic object in other large towns, tmd• proceeds to say
that the arrangements of our council_in relation to the
appointment of a health officer, have been made under a
misconception of the onerous duties to be performed. .11e
remarks upon the impolicy of fixing the. salary at so low
an amount as very little more than the annual payment of
£1 per thousand of the persons whose general health it is
proposed to watch over, while the impending loss on each
adult person's premature death is, at least, £325. If, he
says, the services required had been fairly examined, it
would have been seen that not cue, nor two, professional
men giving their whole time to the performance of pro-
per duties, could execute them. He estimates, taking the
authentic statistics of diseases- and their causes in this
town, that in order to initiate measures of prevention,
" three or four officers of health. at the least, giving their
whole time to the service, at an-expense of £2,200 per an-
num, would be a very economical expenditure, as power-
fully tending to reduce the annual. charge of £lB,OOO for
the excess of funerals alone ;" but, he adds, " that the
intended compensation for the services of one officer, that
he may take private practice, is entirely destructive of all
efficiency, even if a full number of officers were appointed,
and the remuneration were. adequate." This opinion is
grounded on past experience in analagous cases, for, as
the writer of the letter justly, we believe, states, " regular
private practice not only acts• constantly as an inducement
to the neglect of regular public duties, but often as a se-
vere penalty for the proper performance of them." He
is, iu fine, of opinion that officers of health should be in-
dependent of all such influences ; should be responsible
only for adequate attention to the public service ; and that
the requisite expenditure he proposes would result in a
vast pecuniary economy.
The only passage of Mr. Chadwick's intelligent letter
which we have room to quote verbatim, is the close :
" I am not aware in what stage the question as to the appoint-
ment may be ; but I hope it may not be too late to submit
these grounds for revising the arrangements under which it is
proposed to be made. Dr. Duncan, after his reports, and the
demonstration of their truth, can really have stood in no need
of any testimonial from me; and should the considerations I
have'submitted be deemed too late to alter the arrangements, I
would beg to present this as a personal testimonial in the way
of protest against the precedent of allowing private practice on
the part of an officer of health to come in conflict with his pub-
lic duties."

We doubt not but the suggestion thrown out from such
an authority will receive due consideration by our local
authorities, and if they find they have erred in judgment,
they will not hesitate to adopt it, or some approximation
toward it, for-the public good.
There is but one point of omission in Mr. Chadwick's
letter, which; we feel assured, had he known the fact, he
would cheerfully have supplied. He has borne due testi-
mony to the noble exertions of Dr. Duncan in the cause
of public health, but makes no mention of the long and
equally honourable services of Dr. Harbord and Dr.
Watson, whose able and undeniable expositions of the
nuisances, want of sewerage, &c. throughout every dis-
trict of Liverpool, have appeared in the columns of this
journal,—forming a mass of valuable evidence on the sub-
ject, which has fully opened the eyes of our thinking com-
munity, who were before comparatively ignorant of dan-
gers that surround them on all sides, and who, however
they may lament, cannot controvert their existence.

OFFICIAL ENQUIRY

AT BIRKENHEAD.

On Tuesday, Messrs. Goldfinch and Rennie resumed
their enquiry relative' to the contemplated Birkenhead
Water Works Act, when Mr. Lloyd proceeded with the
examination of Mr. Hawkesley, the engineer, who read a
paper giving an analysis of the water at Birkenhead, and
which he declared to be excellent ; but at the same time
he stated that the present works were not capable of sup-
plying 2,000,000 gallons, the quantity necessary for
80,000 individuals, and the shipping that might be ex-
pected at the new docks. Upon cross-examination, Mr.
Hawksley stated that he had not heard that the present
company contemplated making a reservoir near the site
now proposed by the commissioners. With regard to the
rate at which the present company supplied the water,
and the rate charged at Nottingham, and upon which Mr.
Hawkesley based his calculations, there appeared to be
but little difference. The quantity of land which the
commissioners proposed to take for the new works was
23,132 square yards of land at ss. 3d. per yard. The bill
provided for the raising of £60,000 on the supposition of
having to provide entirely new works, and, if they had
not to do this, £30,000 would be sufficient. The case for
the promoters of the bill here terminated.
Mr. Highfield, on behalf of the Birkenhead Water
Works Company, read a statement, from which it ap-
peared that the company had not charged the inhabitants
the full price which they were allowed to do by act of
parliament. Upon cross-examination by Mr. Lloyd, Mr.
tio
total
yline.
am trholeiiBt4
wnl
wtha
ioscfhxt
7hh had been Water
applicablet aondt Gea3s tc concerns,hns c r
oefis
sie,
dividendpatenmds
ibnteheree,
Highfield stated that upwards of £90,000 had been laid
1846, and the whole of the profits had been laid out in
extending the works. He also stated that negociations
had been commenced between the company and certain
owners of land, in the month of April last, with the view
of enlarging the water works ; and these had only been
put a stop to from the knowledge that the commissioners
had begun to entertain the question of establishing gas
and water works. The amount which had been applica-
ble as dividend from the water concern alone was about
£1,600. Mr: Jackson opposed the bill in person ; and
after some remarks as to the impolicy of the commission
ers taking up the supply of water, &c.,-brought the pro-
ceedings to an abrupt termination by promising to give
water gratuitously for sanatory purposes, and to do all
the other acts contemplated by the Commissioners, and to
put in a written document to that effect by Friday. This
was deemed satisfactory, as Mr. Goldfinch said that after
an offer of that sort Parliament would pause before it
interfered with Mr. Jackson's vested rights.

On Wednesday, the Commissioners commenced their in-
quiry into the Sanatory Bill of the Commissioners, the
clauses of which, upwards of 200 in number, were read
through by Mr. Townsend, after which Mr. Brownrigg
submitted the following financial statement respecting the
present position of the township :

ALUATION OF PROPERTY OF TOWNSHIP OF BIRKENHEAD

s. d 4. a. d,

11,000 0 0

Woodside and Monk's Ferries.
Nett income over expenditure.
Value of Woodside, &c., Ferries,
Taken at 25 years' purchase..
Market, at cost
7684 yds of land on which it stands, at 40s 15,368 0 0

Slaughter-houses, at cost
Land on which they stand, at 15s
Land per Mr. Stewart's valuation.
New Park, Flaybrick, &c.
Less deposit received on land sold

43,568 0 0
7,433 0 0
3,5210 0

10,954 0 0

212,759 0 0
6,888 0 0

-205,871 0 0
1,169 0 0

Land sold in Ivy and Chester-Street
Land not valued by Mr. Stewart
2,451 yards land for Town-Mill, at 40s 4,902 0 0
2,965 do. do. Bridewell, at 40s 5,930 0 0
5,223 do. around Slaughter-houses,
at 15s 3,917 0 0
do Market at 605.. .
Cemetery Land, at 6s 27,400 0 0
Collegiate Land ss. 6d 5,324 0 0
61,055 0 0
Value of Old Town-hall Materials .... 700 0 0

X 598,317 0 0

Amount down... 598,317 0 0
Amount borrowed on Bs 366,367 15 0
Floating Debt

Less, which will be recovered on account
15 0
of new streets, and which forms part of
the Floating Debt lO,OOO 0 0
387,565 15 0

Surplus over Debt,

£210,751 15 0

On Thursday, the Government surveyors resumed their
inquiry in connexion with the Sanatory Bill. Mr. Brine
arid Mr. Salter, the surveyors, and other of the township
officers, were called to give evidence as to the drainage and
sewerage, in order to ascertain whether it came up to the
requirement of the Government Commissioners. They
were also examined as to the public edifices, including
the Town-hall, their cost, &c., and the erection of build-
ings in general. The evidence went to show that such
new buildings were necessary, in order to meet the in-
creasing wants of the township. The next subject that
came before the surveyors was as to the street pavements,
sewers, &C., and on this head a great body of evidence
was taken. Some information was also elicited as to the
necessity of having public cemeteries away from the
town, and the injury to public health from allowing inter-
ments in church-yards and other places situate in large
towns. Mr. Salter, surveyor of buildings, produced re-
turns of the number of houses in the township receiving
a supply of water and gas, with the mode of supply, and
other interesting and valuable details. He was highly
complimented by one of the Government Surveyors, and
also by Mr. Townsend, for the admirable manner in. which
the feturns had been compiled, and the amount of infor-
mation contained in them. This closed the evidence in
•favour of the Sanatory Bill, and there being no opposition
the court was adjourned at two o'clock. After the pro-
ceedings terminated, the Government Surveyors went
round the township to inspect the various public and
other edifices in the township, the site of the proposed,
and the situation of the present, water and gas works,
&e., in order to complete their commission.
On Friday, Mr. Mallaby, on the part of the present
Water Company, laid before the Commissioners a written
document containing the conditions under which the
former were willing to carry out the projected alterations.
Tee court re-opened, at one o'clock, to hear the reply of
the Commissioners, which was unfavourable to a compro-
mise. Evidence was adduced on the part of the company
to show that the present rates offered by the company
were more advantageous than those proposed by the Com-
missioners. The gas question will be mooted next month.

INTERESTING EXPERIMENT BY THE
LIVERPOOL AND,4HARRINGTON WATER-

WORKS COMPANY.

On Thursday forenoon, several :gentlemen assembled in
the yard of the Waterworks. Company, in Harrington-
street, to witness an experiment in the ejection of water
through a simple hose and, pipe, which, as was fully
evinced, will, if adopted, prove of inestimable value in
the rapid extinguishment ofofires in any part of the town,
independently of the slow, Uncertain, and expensive em-
ployment of the best ordinary, fire-engines,
A length of new hose, with a metal branch pipe, of
iths of an inch in diameter). was secured to a stand-pipe
communicating with one of,the mains in the middle of
the yard, and by means of-this simple and portable appa-
ratus, such was the united.'pewer of the hydraulic pres-
sure of the water in the reservoir and the force of the engine,
immediately proximate at the works, that it threw a con-
tinuous stream of water to an astonishing height, and to
a great distance, by the mere 'direction of two men, hold-
ing the one pipe, and theyon the ground. Had a man oi
two been placed on the roof of one of the lower build•
ings with this pipe, there can be no question that the
water would have reached a much higher summit, for the
hose was tortuous and kinky in several parts, and, more-.
over, not perfectly water.tight, being, though of the best
leather, quite new, and partly pervious through the extra-
ordinary pressure. As itwas, even in the infancy of the
contrivance, which, when pefected, will be much more
effective, the water was thrown to the top of the engine
chimney of the works,.--Nheight of at least 100 feet, and
from a point at a considerable distance from it. The
power exhibited in combined distance and height was also
surprising. The water-was thrown clear over the whole
length of four story buildings, round three sides of the
large yard, over the still higher range of houses on 'the
west side of Hill-street on the west.

After this first expepinient, the parties proceeded to the
south end of Exchairj-e-street, with the same piece of hose.
This was intended to,show the power of the contrivance
.at a long distance from the works, wherever the-company
have laid mains, It was not expected that the water
could be thrown so high here as close to the engine,. and in-
deed, the superintending engineer, Mr. James Mc, Do-
nald, had ordered.that the engine should be at. at a low
pressure, lest any of the pipes in the main (which have
not been all proved, as all the new ones are}, should give
way. Nevertheless, the water was thrown. aeress.Dale-
street, to the toe of Bank-buildings, five to six, ordinary
stories in height, (say 50 feet,) and over the top of the
buildings 'immediately contiguous at the west corner of
Exchange-street east, an apparently greater achievement,
as the projection was nearly perpendicutar. The advan-
tage of the system—to' which Mr. Mc. Donald has given
his utmost attention—is not only the projecting force that
can be/given to the water, but the continuity of the,
stream. By gravitation and steam-power, provided the
pipes be strong enough, (and they can all be made 50.,)
as much water can be thrown, without delay, in or upoe a
burning-building by one of the branches used on this oc-
casion, as by six ordinary hand engines within the same
time,—the latter, be it remembered, requiring successive
relays of men to work them, and long pauses between
each exertion, during which the, devouring element is ac-
complishing its work.