The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-05-18 00:00:00

BIRKENHEAD DOCK BILLS.

Mr. Abernethy's report to the Admiralty upon the Bir-
kenhead Dock Bills, ordered by the House of Commons
to be printed, was issued on Saturday. Mr. Abernethy
finds fault with the commissioners for having turned all
their attention to the little Bridgend Dock, which, he
says, is made the dock, instead of proceeding with the
great works of the 150 acres of float and tidal basin.
"The works," he says, "are almost suspended, and a pas-
sage excavated tlirotigh the red sandstone, between the Bridgend
Dock and the Woodside Basin, equal in area to its own extent,
as a temporary passage. Much valuable time is spent and
money expended on this work, the consequences of which were
soon felt. The temporary cut is then surrounded with quay
walls, furnished with gates, and all the necessary expensive
and certainly most substantial masonry. The work is all but
completed. When completed, according to the evidence, it
will amount to .4'78,000 expended on this uniegalized work,
and, it would appear, up to December last, .t'263,967 on the
whole works.
"All that has been obtained, since the bill of 1844, is the
Bridgend Dock of 3i acres, with a lock opening into a channel
not yet formed, and which cannot be preserved, when for Med,
without the aid of sluicing from the great float, except at a
great expense; and the temporary cut, now a dock of 3i acres
area, and of such a width that no Ordinary sized steamer can
wind in it.
"To sum up all, instead of dock accommodation for some
i,poo vessels, there is provided insufficient accommodation for
some fifty or sixty at most, and that partly at the expense of
the coasters."
"'the argument used is, that all has been done for the pur-
pose of exhibiting a revenue, so as to be enabled to borrow
money to carry out the great works."
Mr. Abernethy is of opinion that a more comprehensive
plan would have proved more effectual even in enabling
the commissioners to exhibit early revenue. Mr. Aber-
nethy is opposed to the plan of building the walls round
Wallasey Pool in portions as landowners may desire and
furnish means, the rest being supported by timber piling.
He thinks the walls should be built " cautiously by the
commissioners as they may be from time to time required."
In the end, Mr. Abernethy submits the following con-
clusions :
" That the intended dock, being nearly constructed, at a
considerable expense, it is expedient to legalize it ; that, if per-
mitted to be used as a passage dock, it should only be for a
certain time: on the completion of the entrances from thegreat
tidal basin, it should at once be closed ; that, for the present,
the construction of the necessary circular basin, and one grav-
ing dock at most, should be granted; that no powers should be
granted to erect a custom-house or other works not absolutely
necessary for the accommodation of shipping? that it is expe-
dient to extend the cuivei t beyond Woodside Ferry Her; that
after the works before mentioned, all the moneys that can be
raised by existing acts, or to be raised under the proposed bill,
shall be devoted exclusively to the carrying out of the great
and important works of the great float at Wallasey Pool, and
tidal basin."