The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-31 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL TOWN COUNCIL.

AN adjourned meeting of the Town Council was held
on Wednesday last, for the purpose of considering the
clauses of the Amended Sanitary Bill, and of the proposed
bill for establishing a Police Superannuation Fund. The
chair was occupied by his Worship the Mayor. A memo-
rial from the Honseowners' Society was read. It com-
plained that many of :the powers sought under the-
amended bill were oppressive and unjust ; and prayed
that the Council would not sanction the passing of the
bill. The Council having resolved itself into a committee
on the bill,
The MAYOR stated that the principle of the bill having
been adopted at the last meeting, the business,- that day,
was simply to consider and adopt or modify the clauses_
He also intimated, that, at a future meeting of the Coun-
cil, notice might be given to reject the bill altogether.
The first, second, and third clauses, of a merely formal
nature, were adopted without alteration or discussion.
On the fourth clause being read,
Mr. Alderman COOPER objected to its adoption, as it
went to lessen the time required for notice being given of
intended paving or sewering operations, from twenty-
eight to fourteen days, and did away with the necessity of
affixing a notice in front of the Town Hall. It then went
on to repeal the 81st and 82d clauses of the Sanitary Act,,
the first of which gives to an aggrieved party power of ap-
peal to the Quarter Sessions. He concluded by moving
that the 81st clause, which gives the power of appeal, be
retained. After some discussion the amendment, that the
81st clause remain, was lost by a majority of 33 to 12. He
then moved that twenty-eight days' notice be given, and
that a copy of the notice be served upon owners. After
some further discussion the clause was agreed to, with an
addition, that a notice in each case be posted in the pub-
lic offices, Cornwallis-street.
Clause 5 was then passed, as also clause 6, which_ pro
vides that, if the Medical-officer certify a street to be
unhealthy, it shall be sewered by the Council.
Clause 7 provides that parties laying out new streets
shall give 90 days' notice. By the existing act, 42 days'
notice is only required.
Clauses from the 7th to the 18th inclusive, were then
read and passed.
The 19th imposes a penalty of £5 a-day, during the time
the offence is committed, on all who shall occupy, or suffer
to be occupied, cellars in courts
_

The neat, the 27th, relating to the consumption of
smoke, created a very long and animated discussion. It
was to the effect,—" That the sanction of the Sanitary Act,
126, be repealed, and in lieu thereof it be enacted that all
furnaces employed in working engines by steam, in manu-
factories, and on steam boats while in the river, should, is
all cases, be constructed and altered so as to burn the
smoke arising ; and if any person so negligently used hi%
furnace that it was not consumed, and an unnecessary
quantity of smoke was occasioned, every person so offend-
ding, and the owner and occupier of such place, should
forfeit and pay £5 for every day that the nuisance con-
tinued ; provided that the words " consume or burn the
smoke" should not be held to mean consume or burn all
the smoke; and the magistrates might remit the penalty,
provided that the person altered such furnace, &e.
Mr. W. J. HORSFALL contended that it was practically
impossible to consume the smoke in some manufactures..
and that it was the duty of the Council, before imposing a
penalty, to point out the mode.
Sir JOHN BENT opposed the clause on the same ground,
and moved, as an amendment, either that it be modified
by the allowance of twenty minutes or half-an-hour after
the first lighting of a fire, or that it be struck out alto-
gether.
Alderman PARKER seconded the amendment. The
Council divided on the question, when it was decided that
the clause should stand as part of the bill by a majority of
30 to 17.

v~A•second amendment was then passed, that the clause
be referred back till the meeting on Wednesday next, for
further consideration ; as .was also, after some discussion,
the clause limiting the width of carriages to seven feet
six inches.

The 32d, or rating clause, also gave rise to considerable
debate. This provides that the owners of all tenements of
£lO, and under, in value, shall compound for payment of
the rates of their tenant; at two-thirds of the assessment ;
and that a like option be given to those owners of houses
up to £l3 inclusive. _ _

-After opposition from Mr. Thomson, Mr. Moss, and Mr._
Beckwith,
Mr. LANGSDALE showed that of the number of 67,000
assessments in the borough, 26,000 only paid, and 41,000
escaped. He showed that small property paid better than
other descriptions, and said that if the clause were carried,
the Liverpool rate, which was now is. Gd., would be re-
duced to 14d.; Kirkdale, now 2s. 3d., to is. Bd.; and Ever-
ton, now ls. 10d. to is. sd. ; West Derby, now ls. Bd., to
is. 4d.; and Toxteth-park, now 2s. ld., to is. 2d. The
clause was eventually passed, an amendment that it be
struck out being lost by a majority of 29 to 11.
The remaining clauses of the bill were then passed.

The Council afterwards took into consideration the Police
Superannuation Fund Bill, which was passed nem. die.,
the only suggession thrown out being one that the market
constables be included in the benefits.
The Council then adjourned.