The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-01-03 00:00:00

TOWN COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS.

The usual monthly meeting of the council was held, for
the despatch of business, in the Town-hall, on Wednesday.
JOSHUA WALMSLEY, Esq., the mayor, presided.
The DEPUTY TOWN-CLERK read ie proceedings of the
last council, and they were confirmed. He next read the
minutes of the Finance Committee's proceedings at their
meeting on the 6th December, from which it appeared that
the memorial of Mr. Okill, the clerk of committees; was
considered, and be was requested to report in detail the
grounds upon which he applied for an increase of salary.—
The deputy town-clerk further read the minutes of a special
meeting of the committee, held Dec. 19th, at which an offer
from Messrs. Hetherington, Grindrod, and Addison, to sell
the Birkenhead Hotel property, was considered: It appeared
,from the minute that this estate contained about 43,000
square yards of land, and that the sum asked was £65,000.
The committee resolved unanimously to recommend the
offer to the consideration of the council, and appointed a
sub-committee to obtain further information. At the meet-
ing on the 27th, Mr. Okill's memorial was further consi-
dered, and the committee unanimously agreed to present the
following report to the council :
' REPORT ON MR. OKILL'S MEMORIAL.

" After mature deliberation, the committee have arrived
at the unanimous opinion that the statements in the memo-
rial are fully sustained—that Mr. Okill's services have been
of no common kind, and that it would be difficult to estimate
too highly their great importance to the corporate estate.
To him the council may be truly said to be indebted for the
knowledge at present possessed of the great concerns under
their management. Previous to the period when Mr. Okill,
in 1815, was employed to audit the treasurer's accounts
(which had never undergone any examination from the time
of that officer's appointment in 1789), there was an entire
absence of system or method, and there was an almost total
want of reference or guide to the corporation freehold and
leasehold property, and an ignorance not only of the vast
extent, situation, and capabilities of the estate, but of the
number of the lessees or the terms of their respective leases.
In support of this last observation, and as a proof of this
want of knowledge, a premium was offered to the officers in
the service of the council upon proof of the lapse of any lease.
On the 13th June, 1814, the following entry stands recorded
in the Select Finance Committee's proceedings of that date :
" Resolved—That it be recommended to the council to
allow the town-clerk, the treasurer's clerk, and the survey-
or's clerk, the sum of one guinea for each and every lease
which any of them may prove hereafter to have lapsed to the
corporation.'
" The results of this investigation, and the suggestions
arising from it, are fully given in the reports made by Mr.
Okill from time to time. During the progress of his ex-
amination, an opportunity was afforded, of which he availed
himself, when permitted, for acquiring an accurate and ex-
tensive knowledge of the corporati, estate, and for reducing
tl►;s knowledge into a permanent form, in which it might be
made of the greatest use. At this time, the only authentic
map of the Estate was that of Mr. Eves, made in 1765.
Taking this map as the groundwork, Mr. Okill proceeded
to construct the present enlarged map, riow it constairt use,
which must be well known tothe council. 'On its 'prepara-
tion he laboured for several years, having a most difficult
task to execute, from the want of references• and- other into'
formation. It was at last completed, and presented to
the corporation in 1822. On it were laid down the diffe-
rent freeholds and leases, whether for lives or years, the
reversions sold, and the land or property given up for
public improvements—each distinguished in the various
streets ; and subsequently, upon the important change in
the mode of leasing from lives and years to sixty years,
and afterwards to the present time of seventy-five years,
these two classes of leases were also added. Each leasehold
property refers by number to street indexes and registers of
leases ; and, as the system introduced and adopted by Mr..'
Okill has been carefully kept up, the leases, surrenders, &c.,
being periodically marked on the book, and registered in the
respective books, there is now no information that may be
required, as to any of the corporate property, that cannot.
readily be obtained. The coitimittee also found that a re-
gister is kept of the property still held for lives and years in
each street, distinguishing such as annually comes upon the
years. This list extends at present to the year 1860, being
twenty-one years from 1839, so that it is known prospectively„
what premises in each year Tall into the hands of the corpo-
ration, thus regulating their arrangement for the renewed
leases for seventy-five years. The committee have reason to
believe, that since the introduction of the present system
there has been.only one instance of an error, in a• property
comprising 4900 leases' and grants. ' This was brought under
the notice of the council last year, and the rectification of
the mistake was honourably entertained by the party errone-
ously in possession.
" It may be only due to Mr. Okill to particularise some
instances of the advantages resulting from his investigations.
In the early stages of his labours, but before they were
brought to a close, the corporation had received, as appears
by the books, the sum of £19,552 for ground rents and the
sale of property out of lease, and he reported a further sum
of nearly £19,000 which remained for collection at the close.
In addition, he also reported. as actually lapsed, a list of 110
houses, besides upwards of 1100 houses on the years, of which
the council were in perfect ignorance. The whole system of
ground rents appears to have been equally neglected ; and
from this source £7OO per annum were added to the corpo-
rate income, through Mr. Okill's investigations. The re-
gisters then in existence contained indeed this information,
as is evident by the results, but no person appeared to have
examined, arranged, and brought to light their contents, be-
fore the time of Mr. Okill.

"To come to a later period. In the year 1828 a claim to
the whole shore of the lordship of Liverpool was preferred
by the Duchy of Lancaster ; but, through Mr. Okill's pre-
vious researches, and on the-production of copies and ex-
tracts froth the records of the corporation made by him, this
claim was at once abandoned by government, and the corpo-
rate title acknowledged ; and it is on the title so admitted
that the approaching conveyance of the site of the New Fort
to the Board of Ordnance rests—a title declared by the town-
clerk
to be clear and unexceptionable.
" Upon the great question of the town dues, the committee
beg to record their opinion that Mr. Okill was not ade-
quately remunerated for his services on that occasion, consi-
dering,.as he himself states in his memorial, the immense
importance of the property at issue, the success attendant on
the line pointed out by him, and the sacrifice of his health.'
The committee have very recently been put in possession of
additional testimony to his valuable services upon this great
trial, under the hand of the 'late town-clerk, and in the de-
claration, before the result was known, of Mr. Foster's im-
mediate predecessor,
,Mr. Statham.
"'ln' coming,' as the committee do, to the unanimous con-
clusion to recommend a compliance with Mr. Okill's memo-
rial, they consider that they are only performing an act of
justice, and that his general services to the corporate estate
—his peculiar-and extensive knowledge of its character--his
attachment to all that relates to its welfare and prosperity—
his devotion to and most intimate knowledge of the subject—
the great increase of business in his office—and his length of
service, all establish his strong claim to en advance of salary ;
and the committee accordingly recommend, for the sanction
of thecouncil, that an addition of £2OO per annum be made
to his present salary of £7OO, commencing with the present
quarter.
" It will be seen, however, and the committee hope it will he
clearly understood, by the council, that this salary is not
viewed by the former as one to be attached to the office of
clerk of the committees ; but that it is recommended only
with reference to the present individual holding the office, on
the diStinet.ground of his great services to the estate already
enumerated. They consider that it would indeed be difficult,
if not impossible, to find a successor uniting so many and
such peculiar qualifications for his office. It is, therefore,
with great satisfaction that they direct the attention of the
council to the concluding passage of Mr. ()kill's additional
statement. In this he says, that he should feel happy if he
could transfer his acquaintance with the estate to his succes-
sor, but that experience and a similar devoted attachment
only can attain that desirable end.' ,Availing themselves
gladly of the feeling, and being assured of Mr. ()kill's wil-
lingness to make the attempt, the committee strongly recom-
mend that the introduction of some person to the office of
the clerk of tip committees should be borne in mind when a
fitting opportunity occurs, who may gradually be initiated by
Mr. Okla into a knowledge of the estate and of the present
system pursued in its management, and who may also be pre-
pared-to replace the services of Mr. ()kill, when, from age or
from death, he shall cease to fill his present important situa-
tion."