The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-04-29 00:00:00

COP Y 01."I'HE PETITION TO THE HOUSE Uk COM-
MONS OF THE RA'Z'E-PAYERS OF THE LIVER-

POOL DOCKS. • ,
.TO THE HONOCItABLb: rn F. COMMONS OF GREAT BRITAIN AN
IRELAND, IN PARIAAMENT ASSEMBEED.
The humble Petition of the undersigned Merchants, S • owners,
- and Others, Inhoh;tants of the Town of Liverivol ying Rates
to the Liverpool Dods,
SHOWETH,
THAT a Bill has been lately introdu into your Honoura-
...l. ble House, intituled, "A -Bill to alter and amend the
several Acts for making and maintaining the Liverpool Docks,"
by which Billoeveral very important alterations in the constitu-
tion and management of that Trust, and materially affecting the
interests of your Petitioners as payers of Dock Rates, are pro-
posed to be made.
That previous to the late Act for the regulation of Municipal
Corporations, the management of the immense estate and reve-
nues of the Liverpool Docks was vested in a Committee of
twenty-one persons, of whom thirteen were members of, and
elected by the then Common Council of the said town, and the
remaining eight were persons elected by the Merchants and
Brokers, paying Dock llates to a certain annual amount, out of
their own body,
That the preponderance of power thus secured to the late
Common Council over the general body of Rate-payers, from
whose enterprise and industry the whole revenue is derived, has
long been, and is a matter of grievance to the mercantile com-
munity of Liverpool, who consider themselves unjustly excluded
thereby from the management of their own Estate.
That, under the said Act for the regulation of Municipal. Co-
rporations, the powers and functions of the present Dock Com-
mittee will expire on the first day of November next, and upon
the framing of the said Bill, for the new constitution of the
Dock Trust, many conferences have been.had between the As-
sociated Atercantile Bodies, as repr.-senting your Petitioners,
and the Town Council; and your Petitiouers,‘alt hough. strenu-
ously contending, upon every principle of justice, that by and
out of the body of Rate-payers exclusively the whole Dock -Com-
mittee ought to be appointed, proposed, for peace sake,,to make
large concessions to the Town Council,
,but• which proposals
that body have altogether rejected.
That, following up this their opposition to the just claims of
your Petitioners, the Members of the Town Council and their
supporters attended, in great numbers, a Meeting of Rate-
payers held'on the 25th day of April instant, for the purpose of
discussing the said questions pending between them and your
Petitioners; at which Meeting, a resolution, proposed by your
Petitioners, to the effect of this their Petition, was, contrary, as
your Petitioners believe, to the expressed sense of a majority of
the Voters then present, declared to be negatived; and, in like
manner, a resolution was pretended to be passed, that a poll
upon such questions should be taken, as well of Householders
qualified to vote under the Municipal Act, as of Dock Rate-
payers, such resolution being not only contrary. as your Peti-
tioners believe, to the wishes of the major part of the Meeting, but
most unjust in itself, inasmuch as upon no principle of right
ought householders, as such, to be admitted to vote on a ques-
tion affecting exclusively the interest of the Dock Rate-payers.
That by the said Bill as now framed, it is, as your Petitioners
believe, proposed to give to the Town Conticil the power of
electing at least half of the Dock Committee nut of their own
body, and the casting vote for Chairman : an assumption of
power, which (paramount as in effect, it will almost always be
over that of the Rate-payers,) is, as your Petitioners contend,
extremely unfair, and directly opposed to the great principle of
Representation now so generally acted upon by the Legislature.
That the Rates of the Liverpool Docks account annually
to upwards of £200,000, and the Trustees are indebted
for money borrowed on the credit of such Rates, to the
amount of more than a million, the management of which vast
income, your Petitioners submit, as an incontroverO
justice, ble prin-
ciple of usfice, ought to be entrusted to the Hate-payers, by
whom exclusively it is created, and who alone are interested in
the tine appropriation of it to the benefit of the. Port, and the
reduttion of Dock Rates. That, on the other hand, the Town
Council who have no such interest—whose trusts and duties are
municipal, not commercial—many of whom are not Rate-
payers, nor acquainted with mercantile affairs—and who as a
body were elected by persons,* for the most part having no in-
terest in, nor contributing to the funds of the Dock Estate, are
ineligible for, and'have no right to interfere in the management
of the Dock Trust. .

That for these reasons, Your Petitioners can ac':,nowledge no
system of government to be just, but such as will give the full
and entire control of the Dock Estate, to the Rate-pavers, either
alone or conjointly with the Bondholders, creditors of the Duck
Estate, to whose claims for a participation in the management
of such Estate, your Petitioners are friendly; and therefere
Your Petitioners pray, that in the proposed Bill, the great
principle of Representation may he strictly adhered to, and
that the Rate-payers, as the parties who create the revenue
and are mainly interested in the good management of the
Dock Estate, (conjointly with the Bondholders, if your
Honourable House shall so think lit,) may be empowered
to elect the whole of the Committee for the Management
of the Dock Affairs; and that your Petitioners may be
heard before your Honourable House, or any Committee
thereof,-by themselves, their counsel, agents, and witnesses,
in support of this their Petition, and upon such of the clauses
and provisions of the said Bill as affect the rights of your
Petitioners.
And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c.
Liveipool, April 26, 1836.
* Of the 5028 Electors who voted at the last Municipal Elec-
tion for Liverpool, 460 only were payers of Dock Rates.

COLONIAL BANK.
We take the following from the City Article of the-Times of
Tuesday :
"The chief business of the share market arose out of the Co-
lonel Bank shares which were brought forward to-day. This is
not to be confounded with the common :un of speculative com-
panies, which abound so much at present, but is rather to be
viewed as a natio,nal undertaking. A charter has been obtained
previously to introducing into this market, as a public security,
and the directors are already proceeding with arrangements for
immediately carrying into effect the important object for which
the cfiarter is granted. They have taken care to exclude mere
speculators front participation in the undertaking by requiring
a deposit of £lO upon each share, and announcing their inten-
tion to call for an instalment of £l5 more within a very short
period. To the West India colonies this company must‘be of
the most essential benefit, not only in preventing the fluctua-
tions of the exchang-es, universally complained of by the mer-
chants who trade with them, but in the better regulation of the
whole monetary system. So many.persons having an interest
n the colonies have been desirous of this company, that
the directors have had, it is said, considerable difficulty in ap-
portioning the shares, so as to satisfy their respective preten-
sions. Of course they have given the preference Co those con
nected directly with the West ludies, and have also reserved a
considerable interest in it for the residents in the colonies them-
selves. Considering the very difficult and delicate task they
had to perform, they appear to have fulfilled it, on the rhol.:!
so as to leave no just ground of complaint."