The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-02-13 00:00:00

affords a result of aboutl,Boo,ooo gall Ons, plus the injection
water, valued by them at, if I remember aright, :360,C03 gallons,
or in the whole, of about 2,2C0,000 gallons; and .thich report
also remarks that the yield was gradually diminishing during
the progress and up to the close of their investigation—thus
establishing an important fact which had been anticipated and
predicted by me, from information otherwise and previously
obtained, that the level of the fresh water supply is gradually
descending in the sand-stone.stratum of Liverpool by reason of
the constant withdrawal of a larger quantity of water than the
percolation from the surface is capable of reinstating.
I must further observe that the apparent yield, improperly
quoted by Mr. 111‘Donald, is not the yield which Messrs. Ken-
.r I -

or state to be practicaily available for the use of
the town, and differs therefrom by the entire quantity which
Mr. M`Donald disputes with me. Between myself and Messrs.
Kennedy and M‘Gregor the agreement is as complete as could
reasonably be expected, while between Mr. M`Donald and
Messrs. Kennedy and Macgregor there lies,a difference exceed-
ing 25 per cent. on the gross yield, and between Mr. M`Donald
and myself a difference of 50 per cent. on the net yield.
2nd.—ln regard to my supposed connection with the existing

hands of the Corporation, althougii the contrary is asserted by
Mr. M`Donald, tdl the Ist of March, 1848; nor did the Corpora-
tion in any way interfere with the rights of the companies prior
to that date; neither did I ; for during the most part of January
I was occupied in London on the water arbitration, and after-
wards, till late in March, was located at Newby, Durham, Sun-
derland, Whitehaven, and other places, on my ordinary pro-
fessional business.

Mr. M`Donald's assertions on this head are, therefore, as
wholly unfounded as they are perfectly gratuitous.
3rd.—ln respect to Captain Francis and his alleged connec-
tion with the existing. works
It is

also equally untrue that I appointed Captain
Francis master of the enginernen, or at anytime gave any
instruction to the workmen not to obey Mr. M`Donald
but it is true that immediately previous to the arrival of the
arbitrator, and previons also to the Harrington Company's with-

.
workmen contravening,* the insirnetion he had received by
stopping his engine, so as to prevent the Corporation from ob-

- -
tainmg that information w
occasion I most (

on that

linly did—what I should niost certainly
under a similar exigency do again—insist upon my lawful
authority being recoznised and submitted to.

'On this occasion, Captain Francis assisted me by day and by
night in making such observations (not "tests") as would
enable me ultimately to approximate to the actual yield, with
sufficient accuracy for the purposes of the arbitrrtion, notwith-
-"ng the refusal of the Harrington Company to allow the

yield to be `• tested" by me in such a manner as to remove
every occasion for cavil or disputation. On some subsequent
occasions also Captain Francis noted the number of strokes the
engines had respectively made, with the view of ascertaining
the quantity of water SUPPLIED to the town (so far as the same
could be ascertained in the absence of any experimental
knowledge respecting the leakage and slip of the pumps,
which were then known to be in a wretched condition); but
this determination was, of course, inadequate to the solu-
tion of the since solved problem to which Mr. M`Donald
ignorantly enough imagines it competent.
4th.—ln regard to what passed at the first interview between
Mr. E tephenson, Mr. Wickstead, and myself.
It is true, as stated by Mr. M`Donald, that Mr. Stephenson
declined personally prosecuting any experiments on the yield of
the springs ; but it must again be mentioned that he so declined
on the ground of the near coincidence of the opinions expressed
by Mr. Wick-stead and myself rendering such a measure
wholly unnecessary ; he did, nevertheless, call in to his assist-
ance Mr. Hocken, of Newcastle, a gentleman who possessed a
series of exact admeasurements made by himself of the yield
of the Harrington wells,—admeasurements confirmatory, as
Mr. Stephenson has since told me, of the statements submitted
to him by Mr. Wickstead and myself. Mr. M`Donald is also
in error in supposing the discussion before the arbitrator re-
lated to the quantity of water which bad previously been
delivered by the company; the question raised was wholly and
solely a question of value, and had regard only to the value of
the quantity of water of which the company were in possession
and could tray sfer to the Corporation in a condition available
for distribution to the inhabitants. The bygone acts of the
vendors with reference to the delivery of the water did not and
could not form any element in the worth of the undertaking to
an incoming tenant.

Mr. Sterilienson's conclusive letter, in reply to an enquiry
made by the water committee when this same charge was once
before raised, I beg to append.

Mr. M`Donald's monocular calculations with respect to the
available yield of the wells demand correction; so do his state-
ments with respect to the population. They ought to exhibit
the following results, namely : Galls.
Harrington Wells, gross yield, at a practical level
(see Messrs. Kennedy and M'Gregor's report),

about
Bootle Wells (now known to afford), an available

2,200,000

yield of
Green-lane Well, an available yield of about

920,000
1,200,000

Gross total
Deduct injection water, which ought not to
be supplied to the town 360,000
Deduct water stated by Mr. Duncan to be
required for certain public purposes 400,000

4,320,000

760,C00

Residue being the net daily quantity properly avail-
able for the supply of dwelling-houses, trades,
manufactures, shipping. cranage, _ 1,560,000

. ,
Again, on reference to the printed evidence adduced by the
registrars of Liverpool and the adjacent districts, and as well
to the evidence adduced before parliament, Mr. 31`Donald will
find, to his evident amazement, that the population existing
within the parliamentary borough is actually 370,000 souls or
upwards, to which must be added about 50,090 for the popula-
tion without the parliamentary boundary, thus making toge-
ther a total of 420,000 souls

If, therefore, we divide 3,600.000 by say only 400.000, we
shall, now that the Green-lane Well has been added to our
former resources, have a result not exceeding nine gallons per
head per day; a calculation well agreeing with the estimates of
highly competent gentlemen who, on former occasions, consi-
dered the domestic supply of the Harrington Company equal
to seven gallons per head per day, and the domestic supply of
the BooVe Company equal to about six gallons per head per
day!!! or less than one-half of the quantity actually required
for present necessities._ _

71'h.—In regard to the letter written by me to Mr. M'Gill,
from which much has been attempted to be inferred touching
my absurdly alleged connexion with the existing works, I have
to state that this letter was a friendly communication, arising
in part from Mr. M`Gill having voluntarily called upon me at
the Stork Hotel to ask my assistance on matters personal to
himself, and in part from the circumstance of the water com-
mittee having specially required my attention to the very cor-
rupt state of the Green-lane reservoir. There is nothing in or
connected with that letter I have cause to regret (except the
ungrateful use now sought to be made of it), but I must say I
was certainly startled by the answer I received from Mr.
M'Gill, which I then judged. and as it now appears rightly so,
not to be the unaided offspring of Mr. M'Gill's own mind, but
rather of those misthinking individuals who have allied them-
selves together to carry out an unparallelled system of fraud
and misrepresentation. How true were my then suspicions
subsequent events have only too well proved.
B.—Notwithstanding Mr. Macdonald's CE rtificate of its purity,
I still entirely object to the delivery of " injection water" to
the inhabitants. The vegetable portion from the packings, and
the animal portion from the grease of an engine, and supplied
at unwanted times, it is, I apprehend, anything rather than
agreeable. However, as regards Mr. Macdonald, de gustibus
non est disputandurn, though there be, as I know, many persons
in Liverpool who can, and, if need be, will, relate the " disgust"
they have felt in perceiving the presence of oil and tallow in
the water they were about to use from the pipes of the Har-
rington Company.

• .
But Mr. Macdonald relies for his exculpation on a clause in
the Rivington Act, enabling the Corporation to require the
owners of certain mills "at Rivington ' I) to return th... injec-
tion water, which may be used from a certain gcit, belonging
to the Corporation, again into that appendage to the works.
Now, sir, to this inferential justification. manifestly deficient
of every analogy, the answers are numerous and easy. In the
first place, the mills are not at Rivington, nor even within six
miles of the head of the Rivington reservoir.. In the next place,
the comparatively small quantity of water which may be so
used will, if the Corporation so please, and not otherwise,
enter the goit, or artificial river, and then, after pursuing
that course for several miles, pass, intermixed with an immense
quantity of other water, into a large reservoir, or lake, of
about one and a half mile long; thence subsequently into a
much larger reservoir, or lake, two miles long ; thence through
several acres of filter beds, and finally down 24 miles of main
pipes, to reservoirs intended to be made at Prescot and Liver-
pool. A rather tedious journey this to he undertaken by hot
water, as somewhat snore than four months must be consumed
in its performance!—whether then this journey is likely to
leave in existence any decomposable organic matter, or trans-
ferable heat, Mr. Macdonald's " eminent" chemistry must de-
termine. But lastly, and here lies the evidence of Mr. Mac-
donald's indiscreet venture into matters which it is more than
evident he very imperfectly comprehends ; if Mr. Macdonald
had chosen to make a proper inquiry of those who could have
furnished him with proper and accurate information, he would
have found that just below these said mills the corporation are,
by another clause of the same act, required to afford a supply
of water for driving wheels and other machinery, which water
is afterwards to flow down the Brinscall brook, and thence
into the river Yarrow, as part of the compensation water to be
discharged into that river. For this purpose "injection water"
is according to my apprehension, just as available as any other,
water in the possession of the corporation, and for this purpose
the injection water of Messrs. Park's mill may Le readily ap-
plied after being conducted for a short distance by means of
common pot pipes laid in the said goit, or on the banks thereof.
So much for Mr. Macdonald, but before quitting the subject
of the supply of water to Liverpool I will take occasion, for the
first time, to draw attention to the very extraordinary posith n
in which this question has been placed by the reckless and over-
drawn statements of persons of whose education and position in
society (a position which has its responsibilities as well as its
pleasures,) better things might have been and were anticipated.
Three years ago I came to Liverpool under a summons from the
Corporation to assist them on various matters connected with
the supply of water. I then found all expectation of being able
to procure a sufficient supply of good water had been already
abandoned by all but universal consent, and this, after much
controversy and considerable investigation. Accordingly nu-
merous plans were speedily suggested by various engineers;
and amongst others the following sources were proposed,
namely :

Situation
Windermere Lake

Distance.
About 100 miles by any available

route.
Dee, near Llangollen (calledi About 64 miles by Runcorn, and
Bala Lake scheme) I 74 by Warrington.
Holywell Spring About 40 miles, by nearest practi-
cable route.
River Hodder About 45 miles.
River Ceriog_... About 70 miles.

iiivington Mills
When, after a fuller and nAlobroeustetiriene inquiry than was
ever instituted into or about any water project, the last-mer-
tioned suggestion was adopted both by the Corporation of Li-
verpool and by Parliament, not, as affirmed by your contempo-
rary, the Mercury, for the fraudulent purpose of beating down
the value of the works of the two then existing companies, but
as a measure bona fide proposed for the relief of the necessities
and the improvement of the condition of the present large and
future augmented populations of Liverpool. Had the tormer
been the acknowledged or even suspected object of the Corpor-
ation of Liverpool, most assuredly the author of this communi-
cation would have scorned any proposition to act as their engi-
neer. Such, however, was not the fact. Will, then, Liverpool,
will the Corporation, will the mill and landowners, who are
said to have expended .E 30,000 in opposing the bill, will the
contractors, will Parliament submit to be to be told, in accord-
ance with the inference to be drawn from the language of the
Mercury, " Gentlemen, it was all a clever trick devised by us
to diminish the value of the Water Companies' Works ; it has
answered its purpose ; we are obliged by your attention and
attendance, and the country thanks yco for your services."
hut, Sir, what are the artifices to which such persons have