The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-03-09 00:00:00

a very consic

such 're

Pike range the f

strata resemble basaltic (
The locality around the A

upon tho mill-stone grit formation, which is seri-
ously fractured and very ill calculated to retain

k portion of the Reservoir itself is upon
the coal measures ; but it is doubtful how far they
partake of the dislocated character of the neighbour-
k. Reservoir, in such a local

water.

ing strat

must

bepliddled at a large expense, to ensure its safety

-
the depository of the large body of water proposed
to be collected in them. The extent and expensive
character of this puddling may be judged of, when
we see from the section, that one, the Rivington
Reservoir, is to contain a column of water of 52
feet at its lowest point, which gives a pressure of
24 lbs. to the square inch; and that the Anglesark

Reservoir is at its lowest point 32 feet deep; which
gives a pressure of 151135. to the inch. And this
too upon a bed, a part of which is known to be
naturally unfavourable forthe retention of water, and
the rest suspected of being greatly fissured. In the
Rudi]lesworth Reservoirs, similarly situated as to the
bad strata upon which they are to be formed, the
column of water is to be, in the IN
in the East 88 feet. II

t 81 feet, and

it is certain, that a very
expensive process must be resorted to for the pur-
pose of securing their retentive power, if indeed
such a result can be achieved at all. The strata
upon their banks, moreover, are very bad. Upon
the whole the opinion of Mr. Cunningham, with
respect to all these Reservoi

ith the exception
lie lower one, is, we are informed, unequivo-
The lower Reservoir may be

Hy, unfavourabl

secured ; but .it

around can supply
. _

not certain t
with the body oA

ountry
%ter which

it is calculated to contain

;hat the

Ir. Hawksley calculates in his report of the 30th
ry, contained in the pamphlet just published
the Health Committee, that from 10,400 acres of
mountainous water . shed, he shall derive, at a
million of gallons per diem,

moderate estimate, 23:1 I
which will allow for 800

persons twenty gallons

'llions of ga

applicable for °the

fention of our readers to th

P the above

n

=pitted it about 17 to 18 square miles

Mr. Hav

.hoot i

containing in round numbers

n yearl

,IthoUgh this

tained, and is. Tr
been satisfactoi

by no means well asce
caggerated. Now, it h

pon excellent

ithority,

by many 3

that upown
in question

t a third of to

/ inches

I give

15 mil

hick- Mr. Cunt

'or Live'

report, he invalidates the-whole of the conclusion 3
rived from these analyses. Addressing the
'Awn-clerk, he says,— _ _

" Museum of Economic Geology,
" 9th February, 1847.

" As you are aware, I proceeded on the Bth of January
to the district from which you propose to take Water for
the supply of Liverpool, for the purpose of taking fair
specimens to report upon and analyse. I was accompa-
nied by yourself Mr. Hawksley the engineer, Mr. Thine,
one of your Councillors, and Dr. Duncan, the Health
Officer to the Corporation.
_ _ _ _ _ _

" The weather 'was frosty, and I was informed had
been dry for a considerable period. The specimens of
Water were taken in all cases from the body of the
Brooks, which were remarkably clear and colourless;
the only. one upon which I had occasion to make the
slightest deviation from this description was in the stream
below Anderton Ford, which had a very slight white
muddy precipitate in suspension, but not so much as to
render it at all objectionable."
This would undoubtedly be conclusive as to the
quality, although not as to the quantity of the sup-
ply to be derived, if for a moment it could be sup-,
posed that we could obtain such supply from the
brooks, or if the weather was always as Professor
Playfair found it, " frosty," and " had been dry for
a considerable period." But that supply has to be
obtained by impounding the annual fall of 60 inches
of rain upon 10,400 acres of land, a portion of which
is cultivated, and the rest composed of deep peat soil
and heather ! Instead of " remarkably clear and
colourless water" from the body of the brooks, the
reservoirs must depend upon the sweepings of
floods, carrying with them the decomposed animal
and vegetable matter, accumulated during the dry
periods. The high lands are principally composed
of peat moss ; and the whole is liable to receive a
constant coating of soot from the factories and
coal-pits. If Professor Playfair would take advan-
tage of the first period of heavy rains to procure a.
sample of water for analysis, perhaps it would alter
his opinion as to its pure character.
We have already adverted to the circumstance
that the water has been analyzed by Dr. Brett, our
townsman, and that with his opinion the public
have not been furnished. Perhaps .the reason was
that Dr. Brett objected to give a decisive opinion
without another sample being furnished him. It is,
we believe, the fact that the first sample, upon
analysis, produced a deposit of solid matter, which
led
.him to express himself convinced, without fur-
ther examination, that the water was peaty.
Whether or not such water was taken when the
weather was frosty and dry we cannot say, but cer-
tainly, from Dr. Brett's high ' standing as a chy-
mical analyst, the publication, in an unreserved
form, of 'his opinion, would have been most satis-
factOry to his fellow-townsmen.
With respect to the hardness which Professor
Playfair discovers in the water supplied by the
companies, we are not sufficiently chemical to give
-an opinion. It is fair, however, to remind the pub-
lic
that there has never been a single complaint of the
insalubrity of the water from any medical authority.
And looking at the startling deficiency of evidence
in favour of the Pike scheme, above noticed,—the
conflicting engineering testimony with respect to
its merits, and the knowledge which we have that
the efficiency of the present Company's supply has
increased, and is capable of great further increase,
we have a fair right to call upon the Council to adopt
the course which we have suggested beforatime—to
pause before they irretrievably commit themselves to
a Parliamentary contest, or to the possibly worse
contingency of a victorious result. As an instance
of the disposition of one at least of the Compa-
nies, to perform their duty to the town, and as well
of its capability, we may mention that a week ago
the Harrington Company were apprised by the
Town Clerk, that, in Dr. Duncan's opinion, a daily
supply was necessary for a certain district. The re-
quest was acted upon on the afternoon of the day
on which" it was received; has been acted upon ever
since ; and no sensible effect has been noticed at
the Works upon the supply available for the general
consumption of the town.

IT is a satisfactory circumstance, which the at-
tentive observer of the progress of human affairs
has continually brought before his observation,
that whatever may be the amount of selfishness
and . tyranny opposing it, the cause of truth and
justice, urged with vigour, however humble may
be the. station of those by whose energies it is
urged, will ultimately prevail. The history of the
Factory Bill is one pregnant with this lesson. A
few years ago the cry for a restriction of the hours
of labour to ten hours, was set down as the cry
merely of a few disaffected operatives, led on by
demagogues, anxious only to prey upon them, and
to profit by the appropriation of the f
which it was sought to be urged forward

the honest and indefatigable Richard Oastler, en-
throned though he was in the hearts of thousands
of suffering women and children, and boasting a
kingly title, before which that of the King of the
Rail Way System is as gaudy dross—even the- King
of the Factory Children waq reviled as an in 00Z2
_ and the amiable Michael Thomas Sadler
sneered at as a mad enthusiast, by the. hollow and
selfish philosophers, whose tyranny they sought to
put down.
Was the result of even these first efforts in the
cause of humanity not an exemplification of the
saying, that " the truth is mighty, and will pre-
vail" Wealth, ignorance, the apathy of the
public mind, and the cupidity of the manufac-
turers, were arrayed against these men. Yet their
combined influence was borne down by the cause
which they had in their hands and in their hearts.
The atrocities of the " billy " roller ceased to be
perpetrated. The strap and the scourge_ ceased to
afflict, and to stimulate to renewed exertion, the
fainting limbs and sinews of infancy. The whole
system was ameliorated. Public opinion would
not tolerate its cruelties, when once they had been
fairly dragged before the light of .day.

Since that happy issue was achieved, the pro-
gresi of the measure at first. demanded—the limi-
tation of the hours of factory labour to the power
of human beings to support them—has never been
for a day arrested. Their old leader was impri-
soned, and pined his days in a cell far removed
from the scenes of his labours of love ; but his pen
pleaded from those stone walls, although his tongue
was silent. A new and noble advocate appeared
in the field. Fresh witnesses and advocates pressed
forward ; and at length a portion of the demand of
the operatives was conceded. The weight was
taken from the shoulders of infancy; and twelve
hours per day was made the maximum period of
adult labour.

It was hoped by the philosophers that the sop
thus thrown out would appease the claims of the
ten hours advocates. But no. They felt that they
had a just, a rightful cause. They had measured
the extent of the suffering which they sought to

get rid of. They knew, by sad experiem
much toil the, human frame was capable;
could not be seduced into a compromise

Of how

and they
Last

on, their cause was only prevented being vic

?ions by a wretched exhibition of tergiversatior.