The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-10-12 00:00:00

TOWN COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS.

The usual monthly meeting of the Council was held,
in the Tow-d
-hall, on Wednesday.
In moving the confirmation of the proceedings of the
Finance Committee, Sir T. BRANCKER also moved a re-
solution authorising the borrowing of the sum of £20,000,
under the Borough Fund Act, for the payment of the
purchase of the land at West Derby.—Mr. PARKER then
brought forward his motion for a statement of the amount
due from the Birkenhead Dock Company to the Liverpool
Corporation. He proceeded to complain that the Finance
Committee had not afforded him the information he
wanted, as it was connected with a subject in which the
public at large were much interested. He believed the
money due at Birkenhead had been obtained under an
Act of Parliament by certain influential gentlemen in
London, because he must leave the Birkenhead gentle-
men out of the question, for they had nothing to do with
the finding of the money. If he were permitted to use
an Irishism, he would say, that the docks on the other
side of the water were London docks built at Birkenhead
—(a laugh,)—because all the money came from London,
and was supplied by London capitalists. In treating with
those London capitalists at present, he should like to
know what was going on. It appeared by the papers that
the Chairman of the Liverpool Dock Committee was in
treaty for the transfer of the Birkenhead Dock estate to
Liverpool; but the Liverpool Dock Committee had no
power to make transfers and buy docks. It was the
Council that should be treated with, and not the Liver-
pool Dock Committee, and yet the Council were in the
dark. He urged upon the Council to be careful as to
being driven into a bargain with the folks at Birkenhead.
There was now £llO,OOO owing for the fee-simple of the
property, but what was the amount of the principal and
interest at present due ? They were not to be carried
away by any false sympathy for Birkenhead, because it
was the London capitalists who were desirous of selling
the undertaking—those who had got up an unsuccessful
opposition to injure Liverpool. He would pay the actual
value for the docks, but not what had been laid out upon
them. The MAYOR inquired if any one seconded the
motion, and there being no reply, the proceedings were
confirmed amidst much laughter at the abrupt manner in
which the motion was disposed of.
Mr. Alderman BRAMLEY.MOORE in moving the con-
firmation of the Dock Committee proceedings said that
he had the satisfaction of telling the Council the position
in which the docks were now as compared with the cor-
responding period of last year. Notwithstanding the re-
duction of £4OOO per annum, which had taken place in
the rates, the receipts were just equal now to what they
were at this period last year. Last year they were £71,901
—this year, they were £71,822. It stood about thus :
the reduction in the whole income was about thirteen per
cent., and yet the receipts for the past year showed that
there was an increase in actual business of about the same
amount, thirteen per cent. This would be very satisfac-
tory to the Council. There was nothing in the proceed-
ings of the Dock Committee which particularly called for
remark, except that that committee were now seeking for
powers to go to Parliament to obtain permission to con-
struct warehouses round any of the dock quays • and this
was in compliance with a clause in the 9th and 10th of
Viet., by which the Dock Trustees were compelled to go
to Parliament this year to get an enabling power to build
warehouses round any of the docks. The principal point
for consideration would be the amount which the Dock
Committee were seeking powers to raise for this purpose.
The sum stated in the proceedings was £300,000, and this
it was proposed to raise for the purpose of enabling the
Dock Committee, as they might see fit hereafter, to con-
struct warehouses round any of the docks which might be
found most convenient for them. His own views on the
warehouse question were pretty well known, and had been
known for a long time. In the year 1836, when he was
chairman of the Brazilian Association, his opinion was
given as to the desirability of warehouses being erected
round the docks. The only question which weighed with
him and others at that time was, whether the erection of
such warehouses would infringe any of the rights of the
warehouse owners; but the utility of the plan was so self-
apparent that no commercial man could entertain a
doubt about it. That opinion he had seen no rea-
son to change, but still it required that the Dock
Trustees should proceed with great caution, and more
especially in times like the present, and at present,
too, when there was a still more pressing claim on
the Dock Trustees than the building of warehouses;
and that was the extension of dock accommodation.
The committee were at present suffering all manner
of inconvenience in the management of the docks. The
docks were crowded ; and during the late gale of wind,
there were no fewer than 140 vessels riding at anchor in
the river, and unable to find shelter in the port. There-
fore, there was a more pressing demand upon the trustees
at present, which was to finish some of the works in hand,
and to afford accommodation to the shipping with all pos-
sible speed. He was quite aware of the old argument,
that if they built warehouses they would not require docks ;
but the docks must be built, for additional accommodation
was required. This was evident from the number of
times the flags were up at the different docks during the
last quarter. At Trafalgar Dock they were up the whole
time ; at Waterloo and Victoria 55 times ; at Prince's 54 ;
at George's 68 ; at Canning 79 ; at Salthouse all the time ;
at Albert 16 times ; at the Queen's 30 ; at the Union 24 ;
at the Brunswick 26 ; and at Toxteth 20. His object in
bringing this under consideration now was, that under the
present state of the money market, the demand for money,
and the demand likely to continue for money, made it ne-
cessary that the Dock Trustees should proceed with great
caution, pursuing what was more immediately required.
He did not disparage the utility of warehouses, for ware-
houses they must have; but there was not that want at
present for warehouse accommodation that there was for
dock accommodation, and this was proved by the fact,
that one-third of the warehouses in the town were now
empty. The Dock Committee were of opinion that, in
the first instance, warehouses must, as a matter of neces-
sity, be built round the proposed dock in Wapping, from
its central situation, and also because new warehouses
might be erected with great convenience. The next spot
where it would be required to erect warehouses would, in
all probability, be the Prince's Dock, because there was a
range of transit sheds there unproductive to the dock
estate, and because it was desirable to make those sheds
productive,
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parti-
cularly for the tobacco trade; and, therefore, in all proba-
bility, warehouses would be erected there; but, at present,
as he had already said, it was impossible to say where
warehouses would be constructed after those at the
Prince's. It did not follow, that, because the Dock Com-
mittee were about to obtain powers to borrow £300,000,
they were going to lay out that sum at once; and so long
as the Dock Committee•was constituted as it was at pre-
sent, he had no apprehension that they would call for
more money than was required, or that they would act in
any other way than the soundness of their discretion I
would dictate.

In reply to Mr. COOPER,
Mr. BRAMLEY-MOORE said the Dock Committee had
not the slightest intention of making a landing-slip at the
south end of the town. It was for the Corporation to
make it, if they pleased ; and if any proposition of the
kind should he submitted in Council, he would have
great pleasure in seconding it.
Mr. EVANS denied that Mr. Bramley-Moore had on
all occasions been the earnest advocate of dock ware-
housep, and said that by his votes in the Council he had
sometimes opposed their erection. He (Mr. Evans) ob-
jected to the idea of converting the wretched buildings
called the transit sheds on the west of the Prince's Dock
into warehouses, and said that that magnificent dock
ought to have warehouses all round it corresponding with
the greatness of the commerce there carried on. He
concluded by promising that, at the'proper time hereafter,
he should move as an amendment that a much larger
amount than £300,000 be sought for, that the Prince's
Dock quays be the principal object of the expenditure,
and that it be proceeded with with all possible speed.
Mr. Alderman Mem, thought that if the proceedings
of the Dock Committee were confirmed, the sum of
£300,000 must be approved of, and it was a question
whether the Council could originate another sum, as it
should come from the Dock Committee. With regard
to what had been said by Mr. Evans, the sympathy with
the warehouse-owners did not exist in the Dock Commit-
tee; but there were ample and sufficient reasons for leav-
ing the question of warehouses out of the Dock Act of
1844. That act went merely for the construction of one
dock in the north, and one in the south. How inconve-
nient would it have been to have had warehouses con-
structed at Beacon's Gutter on the one side, and at the
Dingle on the other, when they had a magnificent range
of docks at the centre of the town, without warehouses
altogether. Mr. Evans had placed particular stress on
the warehouses at the Prince's Dock. He was quite at
issue with him there. He thought it the most inconve-
nient of any, because a gut at each end had to be passed,
before a vessel could be got clear. It would be found in
every dock which had warehouses, that a contiguous dock
was required for the purpose of reloading ships, and al-
lowing them to lie up. He agreed with the Chairman
that additional dock accommodation was required, and
expressed his belief that the sum asked tbr dock ware-
houses was as much as could he expended in two or three '
years.
__

Mr. HORSFALL agreed with Mr. Evans, that the
amount proposed to be applied for was much too small.
If an amendment were made for £500,000 instead of
£300,000, he should support it, on the ground that it
would be conducive to the general interests of the town,
and that it would be for the interest, not only of the bond-
holders, but of the warehouse owners also. The present
monetary crisis was no more an argument against the rais-
ing of £500,000 than it was for the raising of any larger
sum than £300,000, for it was not intended to expend the
money immediately, and it was far better to have the
power to raise it when it was not required, than to be
without the power to raise it when it was required.
(Hear, hear.) He was satisfied that if there had been no
restrictive clause in the Albert Dock act the warehouse
owners would now be in a much better position than they
were, for that restrictive clause conveyed to the public
the impression that no additional dock warehouses would
be built. The consequence was, that, since 1841, no
less than 327 large warehouses and sheds) exclu.

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• •

sive of vaults, had been erected ; and this would- account
for many of the warehouses in the town being now.empty.
If the Council would not assert the principle, that dock
warehouses would be built, it would be the best thing that
could be done for the interest of the warehouse owners,
because it would check the building of warehouses and
save the pockets of the public.
Mr. AIKIN was happy to think that the prevailing opi-
nion out of doors, and among the members of the Dock
Committee was, that the Prince's Dock was the place
where warehouses ought to be built.
Mr. BOOKER exclaimed—how are the mighty fallen !
Two years ago he had been kept out of the Council by the
warehouse interest. But he would not resent. He would
rather suggest, though decidedly favourableto worehouses
on the quays, that it was desirable to wait for a year to
see the further working of the Albert Dock before any
more warehouses were built. They would not be acting
wisely if they destroyed £3,000,000 worth of warehouse
property in the town. He wanted equal justice to be done
to all ; and he believed that violent changes were never
good.
Mr. LACE, seconded by Mr. ROBINSON. moved that
the proceedings be confirmed, except as related to the
proposed amount of money to be borrowed.
The amendment was adopted, and it was understood
that the increase of the £300,000 would be reconsidered
by the Dock Committee.
Upon the proceedings of the baths and washhouses being
read, Mr. BENNETT addressed the Council relative to the
contract into which Mr. Pooley had entered for the Paul-
street Baths, and the conduct of the surveyor in that
matter.
Mr. LACE defended the surveyor, and
Mr. HORSFALL and Mr. BOOKER applauded Mr. Ben-
nett for his conduct throughout the affair.
Eventually the proceedings were confirmed.
Mr. PARKER, after showing that the baths were almost
self-supporting institutions, moved that the sum of £5OOO
be voted out of the surplus income of the present muni-
cipal year, to be expended in the erection of baths and
washhouses at the south end of the town.
The motion was, after a brief conversation, withdrawn,
the whole of the surplus for the present year having, ac-
cording to Sir T. Brancker, been already appropriated,
Mr. AIKIN announced that, between this and the first
of January next, the Observatory Committee would use
their influence to have Greenwich time universally adopted
in Liverpool. He regretted that whilst foreign captains
availed themselves of the advantages of the Liverpool
Observatory very few English captains did the same.
Bills to the amount of £9850 were passed for the carry-
ing of the Rivington-pike Scheme through Parliament,
and it was announced that this was by no means the whole
of the expenditure incurred by this measure.
After a great many compliments passed upon the labour
and assiduity of the Town-clerk, with reference to this
scheme, it was unanimously resolved, upon the motion of
Mr. LACE, to allow the Town-clerk the sum of £5OO for
his extra labour in soliciting the Water Bill in the last
session of Parliament.
The TOWN-CLERK returned thanks for the 'vote.
The MAYOR called attention to the fact that at the Mu-
nicipal Revision then holding, 4000 objections had been
lodged against his fellow-townsmen, and that not above
15 of the number were valid. He hoped something would
be done to alter this disreputable and disgraceful state of
things.
Mr. RATHBONE expressed his belief that Mr. Samuel
Holme would, on a future day, submit a motion for plac-
ing the municipal revision upon the principle of the par-
liamentary revision, and thereby subjecting both parties
to fines if they lodged frivolous objections, and he (Mr.
Rathbone) would be happy to second any motion of the
kind. (Hear, hear.)
The Council adjourned at four o'clock.