The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-11-02 00:00:00

New Sts. ..8,056 17 1
Lands 501d.1,669 8 3

Interest in-
hiding Ferry
„ Rent
~ Recd. on
.oan

4,248 6 0
229 17 4

58,371 15 9 £58,371 15 9
The value of the assets of the town, as estimated before
to Commissioners for making the parliamentary inquiries
the Gas and Water Bills in January last at £598,317.
-e give the following copy of the valuation as produced :

VALUATION OF PROPERTY OF TOWNSHIP OF BIRKENHEAD
Woodside and Monks' Ferries. X. s. d. s• d

Jett income over expenditure

11,000 0 0

,ue of Woodside, &c., Ferries,
'aken at 25 years' purchase
rket, at cost

275,000 0 0

28,200 0 0

yards of land on which it stands,

15,368 0 0

43,568 0 0

7,433 0 0
3,521 0 0

I on which'they

stand, at 15s

10,954 0 0
Park, Flaybrick, &c. ... . . 212,759 0 0
Bs deposit received on land sold 6,888 0 0
-205,871 0 0
1,169 0 0

is valuation

Land sold in Ivy and Chester-street
and not valued by Mr. Stewart.
2451 yds land for Town-hall, at 40s 4,902 0 0
2955 do. do. Bridewell, at 40s 5,930 0 0

at 15i 3,917 0 0
87 do. do. Market at 60s 9,861 0 0
00 do. Cemetery Land at 6s 27,400 0 0
02 do. Collegiate Land at ss6d 5,324 0 0

61,055 0 0
700 0 0

of Old Town-ball Materials

598,317 0 0

Amount down,
zunt borrowed on 80nd5....

_598,317 0 0

366,367 15 0
31,198 0 0

ating Debt.

397,565 15 0

which will be recovered on
ant of new streets, and which

10,000 0 0

387,565 15 0

Surplus over Debt.... 210,751 15 0
But the accuracy of the data, and the principle upon
7hich several portions of this estimate was framed, were
isputed ; and the land and other property is no doubt
:reatly overvalued. _ _ _ _ _ ..

Indeed it was decidedly objected to by Mr. Mortimer,
; incorrect, when it was produced before the Commis-
oners by Mr. Brownrigge, the chairman of the finance
)mmittee, when it was withdrawn for further explana-
ons, which have not yet appeared, although they may
robably be laid before the Commissioners to-night.
To enable us to show more conclusively the fallacy of
ie calculation, we must first enter into a few particulars,
hich more appropriately present themselves at this stage

of our inquiry.
A great portion of the reliance of the inhabitants for
the means to meet the expenses of the township and the
interest on its debt has been placed upon the alleged
profit of working the ferry ; and from time to time this
profit has been stated at from £4OOO to £7OOO or £BOOO.
No statement, however, which can be called satisfactory
has as yet been published of the precise revenue derived
from this source. In an account. professing to be such a
statement was published in April, 1844, from which it
appeared that the receipts for the year had been £15,589
18s. 4d., and the payments £9457 10s. 2d., the difference
from which was paid to the Commissioners. To set
against this, however, the Commissioners paid £7148
6s. lid. for one steam packet and part of another ; and
the ferry account is not debited at all, with either rent or
interest upon the outlay of about £BO,OOO. Another
account, for the year 1844-5, shows an apparent profit of
£2787 15s. 3d. ; but here also no item for interest or rent
appears, and a further sum of £3280 had been paid by
the Commissioners for a new packet. In 1845-6, for the
first time, an item of interest from ferries (£3879195.)
was paid over to the Commissioners, and the nett profit
appears to have been £6966 is. 9d., which was, however,
again absorbed by the purchase of new boats. The last
statement published, for the year 1846-7, we give from
Mr. Mortimer's work, from which it will be seen that the
items of " new boats" and " interest" again absorb the
apparent profit of working the ferry :
The receipts were, for the year ending 22d April, 1847 :
^•-"From annual contractors £2,027 10 6
From daily passengers 19,063 5 2
From freight of goods
From rents, weighing machine, &c. l7l 15 6

R 22,614 13 2
. 1,552 19 6

From previous balance

.€24,167 12 8

And the payments in the same year were :
For coals £2,287 18 2
Wages 5,954 10 9
Ditto? Monks' Ferry
Repairs of boats 2,585 7 6
Ditto of piers
New boats 4,626 6 8
Miscellaneous
Hire of vessels 597 0 0
Salaries

Cash paid to the Commissioners
Balance in hand, 22d April, 1847

3,879 19 0
212 3 5

.024,167 12 8

It must be obvious from the above, that the estimate of
the value of the ferry is enormously over estimated ; and
the same may be said of the value of the market. It
iSeU:I2S foolish to calculate upon the pfifisibility of ever re-