The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-11-16 00:00:00

COURT OF REQUESTS COMMITTEE

On the motion of MR. SHAND, the following gentlemen
Were elected the Court of Requests Committee :—Mr. J. B.
Lloyd, Mr. Copeland, Mr. John Smith. Mr. Cooper, Mr.
Trotman. Mr. •EVans; Mr. Bright and Mr. Slater.

The MAyón read a memorial signed by 1,050 persons,
complaining that this court, under its present mode of work-
ing, worked injustice to suitors, and suggesting that a jury of
three respectable men be appointed to assist the committee.
The memorial was referred to the committee for them to re-
port thereon.

CHURCH EXPENDITURE COMMITTEE

The following gentlemen were appointed the Church Ex-
penditure Committee, on the motion of Mr. ASPINALL :
Mr. Birkett, Mr. Griffiths, Mr. E. Molyneux, Mr. Procter,
and Mr. Earle.

PARKS COMMITTEE

Mr. SANDBACH said the Parks Committee must be consi-
dered defunct. It would be a delusion upon the public to
appoint a committee till the council were in a condition to
afford to make the parks. This would show that the propo-
sal was not what it had been called, a tory job.
Mr. JORDAN said he disagreed with those who called it a
tory job, and that he was convinced as £20,000 had been
raised by subscription for building a single room by the pub-
lic, the same amount might easily be raised for this purpose.

coußrs OF LAW COMMITTEE

On the motion of Mr. H. LAWRENCE, this committee
was thus constituted—Mr. Sandbach, Mr. Brantley-Moore,
Mr. Molyneux, Mr. Aiken, Mr. Lloyd, Mr. H. Holmes,
Mr. Earle, Mr. Barclay, and Mr. Fl. Lawrence. At a sub-
sequent period of the meeting, Mr. Aiken and Mr. Evans
were added to the committee, and so far as related to a reso-
lution of the council on the Bth of September last, concern-
ing the 'removal of the police-courts, &c., to the site of
Islington market, or that of the new law courts.
TOWN-HALL ESTABLISHMENT COMMITTEE.

On the motion of Mr. SANDBACH, the following gentle-
men were appointed to this committee :—Mr. Earle, Mr.
Barclay, Mr. Ilodgson, Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Sands.

OBSERVATORY COMMITTEE

This committee was constituted as follows :—Mr. Alder-
man Houghton, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Chilton, Mr. Aiken,
Mr. Platt, Mr. Freme, Mr. Nicol, Mr. Rae, and Mr. Shand.

WAREHOUSES AND BATHS COMMITTEE

On the motion of Mr. AIKIN, this committee was merged
in the Health Committee, and was constituted of the follow-
ing 16 gentlemen :—Mr. Bushell, Mr. Houghton, Mr. Bir-
kett, Mr. Yates, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Edwards,
Mr. Kilshaw, Mr. Evans, Mr. Moon, Mr. Crook, Mr.
Griffiths, Mr. Harbord, and Mr. Isaac Holmes.

BIRKENHEAD COMMISSIONERS

On the motion of Mr. ASPINALL, seconded by Mr. C.
BusnELL, Mr. Bolton was appointed a Commissioner of
Birkenhead, in the place of Mr. IVlorecroft.

WALLASEY EMBANKMENT

Mr. ASPINALL moved that Mr. Houghton and Mr. Aiken
be appointed Commissioners of Wallasey Embankment, in
the place of Mr. Hornby and Mr. Case. Carried.

DOCK COMMITTEE

Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE said he rose to propose for the
consideration of the council the names of four gentlemen, fit
and proper persons to supply the vacancies in the Dock Com-
mittee. There were two gentlemen retiring from that body
whose loss he was aware could be be but ill supplied. They
had devoted their time zealously and faithfully to the manage-
ment of the affairs of the Dock Estate; but when he read
the names of those he was about to propose he thought the
council would agree with him that he had endeavoured so far
as -in -him lay- to supply their place. He begged to propose
that Mr. Nicol, Mr. Molyneux, Mr. Shand, and Mr. Chil-
ton be elected members of the Dock Committee, in the place
of Mr. Hornby, Mr. Booth, Mr. Benn, and Mr. G. HOU.
Mr. To RN ER seconded the motion, and it was unanimously
carried.

CHAIRMAN OF THE DOCK COMMITTEE.
Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE said the last motion being carried,
he should proceed, with the permission of the council, to
propose to them a gentleman to fill the chair of the Dock
committee. In doing so, he could not help expressing his
regret that the act of Parliament obliged the Council to pass
over the services of the gentleman who now occupied the
deputy chair, Mr. Horsfall. Had they been able to induce
Mr. Horsfall to enter the Council chamber, which he would

have done with the unanimous approbation of all, they would
not have been driven into this stress. Mr. Horsfall's years

and previous services were entitled to some consideration,
though it was impossible to prevail upon him to accede to
their wishes. Under these circumstances, he (Mr. Law-
rence) was obliged to propose to the Council the name of
another gentleman. In doing so, he should propose one who
was a merchant of considerable standing in this town, who
had already been a member of the Dock Committee—and let
him add this—who promised to devote his time, to the ut-
most of his power, to discharge the duties of the chair. He
might he told that his friend, Mr. Sands, whom he was going
to nominate—(hear, hear)—had not devoted as much time
as could have been wished to the committee, but when he
told the Council that Mr. Sands was prepared as far as in
him to discharge the onerous duties of the chair with effi-
ciency and zeal, he hoped the Council would repose confi-
dence in him, and confirm the nomination. He begged to
propose that Mr. Thomas Sands be elected chairman of the
Dock Committee.

Mr. TunNER seconded the motion
Mr. Alderman EVANS quite agreed in the appointment of
the four gentlemen who had been elected members of the
dock committee, but when it came to the appointment of a
chairman, it was a very serious matter, and quite a different
case. The chairman of the dock committee was literally the
dock committee for six days in the week. He received all
the communications, he attended to every emergency, and,
of course, he required a great deal of judgment and a great
deal of zeal. They had been very fortunate in having had
chairmen who professed these qualities in the late Mr. Lea-
thorn and Mr. Benn. To Mr. Sands as an extensive mer-
chant, an enlightened and clever man, he could have no ob-
jection ; but knowing the duties of a chairman, and having
seen the coolness with which Mr. Sands had hitherto attend-
ed to dock affairs, he did not expect him to give up that time
which would be so valuable to the management of his own
affairs, Mr. Sands, the council had heard, had already pro-
mised to devote a great deal of his time to the affairs of the
docks, but he (Mr, Evans) hardly thought he had a right
conception of the quantity of time they would require of
him. He therefore should not expect from him a sacrifice,
which, without meaning anything invidious, he would have
to make. Knowing that the dock affairs would never pros-
per without a degree of enthusiasm in the conduct of them.
he (Mr, Evans) declared that nothing but a man who must
be called a zealot ought to hold the high office of chairman of
the dock committee. The gentleman he should name had
passed all his life among the docks; his knowledge of them
had not been acquired in his office. He had not gained it
through the medium of clerks, but he had gone to the docks
himself, and had there acquired that practical knowledge
which arose out of the actual management of his own affairs
in the docks. Mr. Aikin was a merchant upon a very large
scale ; he was extensively concerned in ships and shipbuild-
ing; his interest and his business were all intimately con-
nected with the management of the docks; and he (Mr.
Evans) believed that every body who knew the interest he
had taken in the management of the docks both before and
• since the passing of the municipal reform act, would admit
that there was no gentleman in the whole community who
could compete with him for capability for the office. Mr.
Aikin had had the office offered to him before ; it was offered
to him upon the last occasion, after the death of Mr. Lea-
thorn, and he refused it. If he accepted it now he would
accept it reluctantly, but, nevertheless, once in office, he
would give it the benefit of his knowledge, and of his great
activity and zeal. Under these circumstances he (Mr.
Evans) thought the council and the town at large would, in-
deed, have to congratulate themselves upon Mr. Aikin con-
senting to take the office. He had no need to tell the coun-
cil that this was no party affair ; it would be the height of
absurdity in him to address the council at all in the spirit of
party ; but he really called upon them to weigh well before
they made any other appointment than the best they could
make. As to political influence, he might appeal, he be-
lie‘?ed, to every gentleman that knew anything of the docks,
whether they had the least intermingling of politics in the
establishment, or whether the chairman, or the gentlemen
who held different opinions there, ever interfered with those
in the service of the docks, or in any way interfered with
those who were in a subordinate condition. He mentioned
this in order to let the council know that it was an appoint-
ment not recognieed by him with any other view than that of
the public service. He had now only to move an amend-
ment, that Mr. Aikin be the chairman of the Dock Com-
mittee. -
Mr. MELLOR seconded the amendment, and in doing so he
disclaimed all party feelings. The dock estate of Liverpool
was too vast, and too great to be administered in a spirit of
party. It was the duty of the council to have in the chair
the ablest man they could find—a man acquainted from ex-
perience and length of years with the working of the docks.
It was no disparagement of Mr. Shand, to say he did not
profess that experience and knowledge of the affairs of the
Liverpool docks which was absolutely necessary.e
thought the
opinions. of a very large majority of the members of
the council would be that Mr. Aiken had the preference in
this respect. As a member of Exchange ward, he spoke the
sentiments of a large proportion of the merchants who
assembled upon the Exchange, when he said they would give
the preference to Mr. Aiken, not upon account of his politics,
' but simply upon account of his experience of the affairs of
of the docks. He hoped that gentlemen would rise superior
to the little, petty, paltry feeling of politics, and divesting
them Selves of party spirit, give their vote in favour of that
gentleman who was best qualified for the situation.
Mrs .G. H.:;I4AWILENCE replied. It was high time indeed
for gentlemen to call upon the council to rise superior to
- party, and to throw political feeling aside now that they were
to minority. It was time enough for them to draw compari-
sons between Mr. Sands and Mr. Aiken, which would not
have been done had they had the ascendancy. Both were
equally fit for 'the chair 1. but it came very late in the day to
tell the council this. What was their course when they had
the power in their own hands in the year 1837, when a near

TelatiMY of his came into that room, bound by file law to re-
sign the key of the dock seals—what did they do then I He
had been in the dock trust since 1813, he had been a member
and chairman of the committee for years, but he was not then
fit to be upon the committee. He was to sweep the streets,
to be a watchman or a scavenger. That was the way they
had treated him, but now their cry was to throw over party
politics. He wished they themselves had set a better ex-
ample. _

A long and 'very warm discussion followed between Mr.
Evans, the Mayor, Mr. Bolton, Mr. John Holmes, Mr.
Freme, Mr. Aiken, Mr. Earle, and others ; after which the
council divided, when their appeared
__

For Mr. Aiken
For Mr. Sands
Majority for Mr. Sands,

For Mr. .Ailien.—Councillors—Thornhill, Preston, H.
Holmes, Mellor, Sands, j. Holmes, Bolton, Bright, Priest-
ley, Yates, Jordan, Platt, Mather. Aldermen—Holt, Bulley,
Freme,' Harvey, Evans, Barclay, Earle, Moon,-21.
For Mr. Sands.Coancillors—Shaw, Isaac Holmes, Hough-
ton, Sandbach, Copeland, Edwards, Barton, Blundell, Aiken,
Rae, Aspinall, Toulmin, J. Lawrence, Robinson, Cooper, H.
Lawrence, Wood, Birkett, Gladstone, Bushell, Prooter,
Lloyd, Rigby, Kilshaw, Parker, Jones, J. Smith, G. H.
Lawrence, Trottnan, A. Smith, jun., Harbord. Aldermen—
Houghton, Nichol, Turner, Chilton, Bratnley-moore, Moly-
neux, Crook, and the Mayor.-38.
The MAYOR having announced the result,

Mr. SANDS returned thanks. He was sure he need not
inform the council that he had been induced to accept the
office to which he had been elected with considerable hesita-
tion and reluctance. He was quite aware it was not one that
was a mere honorary appointment ; he was quite sure it was
as important as had been stated by his friends, Mr—Evans
and Mr. Mellor. It involved not only great responsibility,
but it would entail upon him very great labour. If he found
in the next two or three months' experience, that his other
avocations would not permit him to discharge the duties
which the dock office would entail upon him, he could assure
them, he would come to the council and state that fact, and
request them to appoint some one who could better discharge
the duties of the office. He would not hold the office one
day longer than he could discharge the duties of it with satis-
faction to himself and with advantage to the dock estate.
(Applause.)