The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-09-17 00:00:00

me courtesy was hitherto shown,
ieverity."

It is insulting

to common se

any conces

ion can b

se to tell us that

ty made to a power

which thus seeks to stifle public opinion, an to
enchain the minds of the people which owns its
rule.

Although we are afraid that we are now too fa

gton Pike E

able to retrace our steps, opposed as the opponents
)f that scheme are by a powerful body in the Coun-
:il,.there are circumstances occurring around us

the parties who have hitherto been its most promi-
nent supporters. We have already called the atten-
tion of our readers to the condition, so far as water
supply is concerned, of the town of Newcastle-upon.
Tyne. A company are now furnishing the people
of that town with surface water, collected in the
as it is proposed to collect the rainfall
upon the Rivington hills. Works have been con-
structed for the purpose at a cost of £200,000 ;
and reservoirs have been provided which it was
represented were of sufficient capacity to contain at
one time about six months' supply. The streams
which were to furnish the water were guaged in the
same way as Mr. Hawkesley guaged those of
Rivington, and were estimated to be capable of
affording nearly twice the quantity required by the
town ; yet the result is—we quote from a highly-
respectable paper, the Newcastle Journal—that
"the Whittle Dean scheme is a decided failure."'
That paper again returns to the matter on Satur-
day last, in a long and powerful article, and a few
remarks from our contemporary upon the subject
may possibly stagger the advocates of the Pike
project. The Journal says :
" It is impossible to publish the various letters sent and
statements made to us with reference to the impure and
disgusting condition of the Whittle Dean water, with
which the inhabitants of this town are at present supplied.
The water is charged with vegetable matter in an ad-
vanced stage of decomposition, so that the appearance,
taste, and smell of it are most offensive : and, besides, it
is no uncommon thing to find in it askers and eels moving
about in vigorous vitality."

same wa

This is certainly not the kind of fluid with
which Liverpool is at present supplied; and we are
a little at a loss to discover on what grounds it is
anticipated that the Rivington article will be much
better than that of Whittle Dean. Both are sur-
face water. Both must of necessity be exposed in
the reservoirs to the action of the atmosphere. en-

gendering the growth of vegetable matters and the
accumulation of putrid animalculx, the removal of
which it is doubtful whether any system of filtra-
tion can accomplish fully ; to the extent, at all
events of rendering the water fresh and pure as it
'ought to be for human use. As compared with
.the water of the Tyne, with which Newcastle was
formerly supplied, that of Whittle Dean is pro-
nounced decidedly inferior :
_ _

" Under the old system of supply from the Tyne. the
great difficulty arose in purification, which was never
effected, and hence the discolouration. But the impreg-
nation of the Tyne by peat moss, and products sof veeeta-
ble decomposition, was never so extensive as that of the
Whittle Dean water now, for the ebb and flow of the
tide preventeci it from becoming a stagnant and corrupt
mass, like the still water of a reservoir. The plan by
which the Tyne water was attempted to be purified was
by filtration; that adopted at Whittle Dean is by allowing
the ingredients mixed with the water to subside • but that
process requires considerable time, and the lower the

point at which the reservoir is tapped, the closer approach
is made to the subsiding elements. When the clean
water is run off, and the influx is insufficient to replace it,
then the accumulated deposit of many months must be
resorted to, and such is the material now supplied to the
inhabitants of Newcastle, alternately with water taken
from the Tyne, and imperfectly filtered, if filtered at all."

The subject is well worthy of investigation ; and
a visit to the locality by some of the members of
our Health or Water Committee, might at all
events tend to guard us against fatal mistakes in
the construction of our own proposed works.

The boats of the fishermen at Scarborough have been
so loaded within the last few days with herrings, codfish,
and salmon, as to make fish attainable almost for nothing.
Codfish have been sold there for sixpence each.
BALLOON ASCENTS ON HORSEBACK.—The Times of
yesterday has a strong leading article in condemnation of
these senseless and dangerous exhibitions, founded on the
recent melancholy end of Lieut. Gale.

Wuo's TO SMOKE IT ?—A cigar aianufacturer in Bath-
street, Bristol, is now exhibiting a cigar nearly five feet
in length, 24 inches in circumference, and weighing 351bs.
It is stated to be intended for the exhibition of 1851.

Gainsborough (says the Lincolnshire Times) has for a
week been kept in a state of considerable excitement by a
number of boys being placed in the stocks in the market-
ming. They were confined three

place for Sunday

hours each on

venal days

A correspondent of the Times states that, in order to
test edible mushrooms, a gold ring, or any other piece of
gold, should be rubbed on the skin of the fungus. if the
colour, the mushroom is

yellow or °rang

bruise to
poisonous ; if otherwise, it is quite safe
Arrangements are in progress on the part of the direc-
tors of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts for a grand celebration of the 150th anni-
versary of the establishment of the society, which was in-
corporated by charter from King William 111., in 1700.

Last night a meeting of the Congregation belonging to
the Crescent Chapel, Everton, took place, for the purpose
of presenting to the Rev. John Kelly, a testimonial of the
esteem in which he is held by his flock. Addresses were
delivered by several of the leading Independent ministers.
The take of herrings on the north-east coast has been
The wholesale price at Culletcoats on Thurs-
day was two shillings a thousand, being at the rate of
more than forty for a penny. They have been retailed in
Newcastle at eight a penny, and at Shields the retail price
was tenpence and one shilling per hundred.

immense

STEAMBOAT ACCIDENT.— The steam-packet Fame,
when on the eve of starting from Yarmouth for London,
on Sunday, burst one of her boilers and_was incapable of

but there was no injury done to

,ns ; the passengers

have proceeded to London by
Loss OF THE NEW ZEALAND AT SEA.—The steamer
William Joliffe, from Havre, has brought two ships'
boats, three sails, one awning, six pistols, six oars, two
compasses, one lamp, one speaking trumpet, and a medi-
cine chest, belonging to the vessel New Zealand, of Lon-
don, lately burnt at sea, and landed by a French vessel at
Havre. together with the captain and crew, who were
picked up by the same vessel at sea.
Considerable excitement exists in the little town of
_

gharne, Carmarthen, in consequence of one of the
ants in the household of J. H. Severn, Esq., having

fter partal

he voy

ared that

imself