The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-01-30 00:00:00

TOWN COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS.

Yesterday, a special meeting of the Council was held at'
the Town-hall, for the purpose of taking into considers..
tion and determining upon the proceedings of the Dock
Committee, on the subject of further dock accommodse.
tion, north and south of the present line of docks, uptr
which the Council of the 31st of Oct. last came to the fel%
lowing resolution,—" That it is expedient that a special,
meeting of the Council should be called for an early day
after the 9th of November next, to take into consideration
the subject of going to Parliament for power to purchase'
land, &c., to the north and south (both or either) of the'
present line of docks, for further dock accommodation
and also for power to make a communication by water
from the proposed new north docks, eastwardly, to the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and to purchase land neces-
sary for that purpose ; and that in the meantime the Dock
Committee be at liberty to give the requisite parliamentary.
notices, all proceedings thereon being subject to the de-
termination of the Council, as trustees, at a special meet-
ing to be called after the 9th of November next," and all,
subsequent proceedings of the Dock Committee relating tO,
the same subject; and also to take into consideration the
proceedings of the Finance Committee, with reference to
the town dues, and comprising the appointment of an out-
door officer at £250 per annum. The M AYOR took the
chair at eleven o'clock, at which time there were about 30'
members in their respective places.
The DEPUTY TOWN-CLERK was about to read the pro-
ceedings of the Dock Committee, when
Mr. PARKER rose and said, be should wish the Town-.
clerk to read the sth and 6th of Victoria, chap. 101, s. 2r
inasmuch as it might save some discussion.
The TOWN-CLERK immediately complied with the re—
quest. The section set forth that it should not be lawful'
for any member of a town council to vote or take part in
any discussion in which such member should, either di-
rectly or indirectly, either by himself or his partner or
partners, have any pecuniary interest whatever.
Mr. NORTH said, it had been stated over and over'
again before, and that he wished to state it now againr
that there was no intention on the part of the Harrington
Dock proprietors to take part in the discussions or divi-.
sions on this subject.
Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE thought the Harrington Dock.
proprietors might take part in the discussion, provided,
they confined themselves to that part of the subject which'
related to the purchase at the north end of the town. He
called attention to the fact, that all the members of the
council were interested in this great question, either di-
rectly or indirectly.
The TOWN-CLERK admitted that there was a general
interest which the law could not possibly be intended to-
affect. It was difficult, however, to separate the subjects
of north and south.

Mr. HonGsoN expressed a hope that this preliminary
matter should be rightly understood. The question would
be, whether the proposed improvements should be made;
and then the next question would be, as to how they
should deal with the property itself. In other words, the
question would be, whether docks should be made at the
north or south, or both, and then they would have to de-
cide as to the land they were to purchase. If, there-
fore, those who happened to have an interest in the Har-
rington Company were to be precluded from discussing
and voting on the question, others would hereafter be pre-
vented from considering any improvements in the town.
Mr. EvANs said they had to deal with positive law in
the matter. With regard to the Dock question, it was
either one question or else it was many. It was-either
north and south combined in one, or else it was the north •
against the south. The question, therefore was, whether
interested parties should engage in a decision of the south
as a7ainst the north.

Mr. H. HORNBY. as one interested in the Harrington
Company, expressed his willingness not to take part in
either the discussion or the division. He contended that
the members of that company could not vote for the pur-
chase of the estate, nor vote in any way on the subject, as
the voting against the purchase of the north might in-
directly secure the purchase of the south, and vice versa.
Mr. HonosoN thought he should have a right to call
upon all parties to vote if he submitted a motion, to the
effect that docks be made north and south.
Mr. RIRKETT coincided in opinion with Mr. Hodgson.
_ _ _ _

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it was an evasion to put the subject generally. It was a
question of simple law; and in a matter of the kind, where
parties might be pecuniarily interested, the law ought to
be construed strictly.

Some further conversation occurred, at the close of
which, it was understood that parties interested in the
Harrington Company could not take part in the discussion.
The DEPUTY TOWN-CLERK having read the proceed-

ings of the Dock Committee,
Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE asked how the proceedings
were to be dealt with ?—whether their confirmation would
depend on a bare majority of the Council, or whether the
veto would have to be exercised, only two-thirds of the
Council being present.
The TOWN-CLERK, at considerable length, replied to
this question. He first called attention to the origin of
the dock estate, and to its altered constitution in recent
years ; after which he cited the opinions of Mr. Wight-
man, Mr. Cresswell, Mr. Starkie, Sir John Campbell,
and Mr. Henderson, to show that the determination of
the present question must be by a simple majority of the
council, not depending on two-thirds to annul and one-
third to confirm.

Mr. BIiiMCEY" -MOORE then rose and moved—" That
the proceedings and resolutions of the Dock Committee,
from the 28th of September to the 24th instant, so far as
the same related to extended dock accommodation, be
confirmed ; that the Dock Committee be authorised to
prepare and present a bill for carrying the same resolu-
tions into effect, laying before the trustees the plans so
soon as they shall have been printed and prepared, the
Dock Committee having full authority to proceed with
the bill, the Dock-solicitor conferring with the Town-
clerk on the subject, and settling the same with him,
subject to the approbation of the trustees ; and that the
Dock Committee be authorised to affix the seal of the
trustees, preparatory to the bill being brought in." In
proposing this resolution, Mr. Moore spoke for upwards
of an hour and a quarter. He commenced by saying, that
some little misunderstanding appeared to exist in the
minds of certain members, with respect to the report of
the Dock Committee not having contain d any particular
recommendation. But no resolution on his head was ne-
cessaryor called for, inasmuch as resolutions recommend-

ing dock extension were in existence three months since.
And, further, it was unnecessary on the present occasion
to deal with the plans. They had five or six weeks be-
fore they need come to any decision as to the plans. It
might be as well, however, to state that the plans had been
under consideration—that a great many others had been
submitted, and that the estimates would not be materially
altered, probably not more than about £5,000 to £lO,OOO.
(Hear.) He believed it would be a waste of time were he
to occupy the attention of the council at any length in
proving the necessity that existed for dock extension.
With such an array of evidence as had been taken, he be-
lieved they would be all pretty much agreed that dock ex-
tension was required. He might, if he were so inclined,
detain them with a history of the number of times the
flags had been flying—the number of years the docks had
not been run dry, and the danger incurred by keeping
them in their present condition ; but all this was unneces-
sary. He contended that there had been a great and re-
gular progressive increase of not only the commerce•
of the town, but of the shipping generally. If the,
went back, for instance, to 1751, and divided the"
yearsending 1843, 676,000 ; and for the past
in the eight years ending 1835, 542,000 ;
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the 31st December, '43, as compared with
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the year ending the 31st of December, '42, there had been
an increase of 210,408 tons, with an increase in the re-
ceipts of £218,000. (Hear, hear.) This would settle the
question as to the increase of trade ; and he begged it to
be understood that these returns had been taken from
official documents. He had heard it remarked that some
persons experienced a difficulty in reconciling the quan-
tity of tonnage here and that of London with the customs
receipts of both places. The Liverpool Customs' receipts
were about one-third the amount of those of London. They
amounted to four millions in Liverpool and to twelve mil-
lions in London ; but parties forgot, when contrasting
the receipts of both places, that the great staple coming
into Liverpool paid, comparatively speaking, no duty at
all, while the imports into London consisted principally
of articles for home consumption, which paid heavy du-
ties. There was, therefore, no analogy between the two
places. (Hear.) The Liverpool Customs' receipts ex-
ceeded the whole of the Customs' receipts of Scotland
and Ireland put together; but in order still to show that
Liverpool required dock extension more, perhaps, than
any other town in the United Kingdom, he would
state a fact—namely, that while the increase of the popu-
lation of Great Britain had been 14 per cent., the increase
in the immediate neighbourhood of I,iverpool had in-
creased more than double that amount. The increase
during the last ten years had been 39 per cent., exceeding
Manchester by 9 per cent. It was clear, therefore, that
increased accommodation to meet this demand was called
for, and that it was the duty of the council, as trustees
and faithful servants of the town, to meet those demands
in the best manner that they could. ( [fear, hear.) It
had been observed by slr. Evans on the last occasion,
that with the increased accommodation which would be