The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-01-13 00:00:00

CORONERS' INQUESTS

The MAYOR saidileii;d-reeei;WacOmmunication from
Sir James Graham, in reply to one addressed to him by the
Town-cletk, at the direction of the Mayor, upon the present
state of the law as regards coroners' inquests. The case was
this :—if the death of any person took place in Liverpool,
and the cause of death occurred two hundred miles off, the
law at present required that the body should be taken to that
place in order that the coroner's inquest might be there held
upon it. This seemed to be a great defect in the law, and the
Town-clerk was directed to write to Sir James Graham upon
the subject. The following was his reply :

Whitehall: 9th January, 1843.
" am directed by Secretary Sir James Graham to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the Gth instant,
relative to the jurisdiction of coroners, and to inform you
that Sir James Graham will consider as to the best means of
providing a remedy for the inconvenience pointed out in your
letter.—l am, &c.

(Signed)
" T)le Mayor of Liverpool."

" S. M. PHILLIPPS

THE BIRKENHEAD COMMISSIONERS

The MAYOR stated that he had received the following
letter from Mr. John Deane Case, Chairman of the Birken-
head Commissioners.
" Holly-bank, Woodside, 10111 January, 1843.
" My dear Mr. Mayor,—My attention has been called, by
a friend, to a part of the proceedings of the Town Council on
the 4th instant, as reported in the Liverpool Mercury.
" Mr. Councillor Parker is therein represented as having
asserted, that at a meeting of the Board of Commissioners of
Birkenhead, of which I have the honour to be chairman, I
should have said, ' I did not care a farthing for the Corpora-
tion of Liverpool.'
" Now, Mr. Mayor, I trust you will pardon the liberty I
take in troubling you upon this occasion : such words, or any
of any similar import, never escaped my lips ; and I am sure
you will do me the justice to read my distinct and emphatic
denial of them, at the meeting of the Town Council, to-
morrow, to which day, I find, it stands adjourned.
" If such words as those in question could, with justice,
be laid to my charge, either by Mr. Parker or by any other
person, I should well deserve to be branded with the crime
of deep ingratitude for the many favours which I have re-
ceived from the Corporation of Liverpool, during a faithful
servitude of fourteen years, as one of their officers ; and I
should consider myself wholly unfit for the situation, which
I have the honour to fill, at the Board of Commissioners of
Birkenhead, as chairman.—Believe me to remain with great
respect, my dear Mr. Mayor, yours, very faithfully,
" JNO. DEANE CASE.
" To Robertson Gladstone, Esq., &c. &c. &c."
There was also the following letter, up;:, the same subject,
which the Town-clerk had received from Mr. 11Iallaby.
" Fenwick-street, Jan. 10, 1843.
" Dear Sir,—My attention has been directed to a report in
the Mercury of the 6th instant of a speech made by Mr.
Parker, in which the following statements appear :
" ' If Mr. Hornby had sat at the Board of Commissioners
at Birkenhead, and if he had been told by the chairman that
he did not care a farthing (here the worthy councillor snapped
his fingers) for the corporation,
if be had been told by the
Clerk to the Board, What do we care for your Town-
clerk?' (snapping his fingers again,) we can drum up the
Cheshire members and carry any
bill we like against you.'
With reference to the first, relating to J. D. Case, Esq.,
the Chairman of the Commissioners, I beg to state that not
only have I never heard such expressions a 4 those imputed
to him, hut, on the contrary, in common with every corn-
missioner, can affirm that his language has been uniformly
highly courteous whenever he has alluded to the Corporation
of Liverpool.

" For myself, I deny as strongly
as possible ever alluding
to the representatives of Cheshire or any other member of
parliament, or to yourself in so indelicate and foolish a man-
ner as the paragraph ascribes to me, or of ever uttering any-
thing at all like it, or tantamount to it. The members for
Cheshire have ever been found ready to vindicate the rights
of their constituents, and to advance the common weal
without unjustly invading the rights of others; and the com-
missioners, in submitting any measure to parliament, hope
to receive support only if by it the public good will be pro-
moted.

" To ynu personally, who know me, any denial of such
expressions as those attributed to me would be unneces-
sary, but, to a large and important body like the Town
Council of Liverpool, I feel it my duty in a formal manner
to make this communication.—l am, dear sir, yours, very
truly, jOSEPTI MALLABY.
" Richard Radcliffe, Esq., Town-clerk."
Mr. PARKER said he would have made it his business to
go over and explain the matter to Mr. Case, but he was pre-
vented by the late severe weather. Mr. Case had always
treated him in the most gentlemanly way, and he denied that
his allusions were directed to either him or Mr. Mallaby. He
had, however, heard expressions similar to those which he
had used from other members of the board, and if Mr. Wood
were present lie would confirm him in the statement. As to
his remarks about the drumming up of members the Town-
clerk would bear him out that the zeal of the Cheshire
members for their constituents was exemplary.
Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE ridiculed the idea of any such
feeling as jealousy being cherished between two places so
situated with respect to each other as Liverpool and Bir-
kenhead.

Mr. EARLE said this was the reason why Mr. Hornby had
brought forward his motion for the substitution of another
person instead of Mr. Parker. At this Mr. Parker had taken
offence, though no offence was intended.
Mr. PLATT thought Mr. Parker did not allude to Mr.
Case at all : it was Mr. Jackson that be alluded to.
Mr. EARLE.—Now we shall have Mr. Jackson writing.

PIERS AND LANDING STAGES.
I Mr. SAMUEL HOLME said he had taken the earliest op-
portunity which the forms of the council admitted of bringing
before them the subject of the inefficiency of the landing
stages at the pierheads, being convinced, when he had stated
a few facts, that it was necessary to have a special committee
to consider their efficiency, with a view of providing better
accommodation. The present landing slips were not only
totally inefficient, but a disgrace to this great town ; and
speaking as a practical man, lie must say that the remedy
for this state of things might be very easily provided. lie
knew that the Finance Committee had a laudable anxiety
to give better accommodation, but with the weight of busi-
ness that pressed upon them, they could not give that atten-
tion to the subject which its importance deserved, and which
its importance really demanded. He contended that from
the great increase in passengers, better accommodation was
required ; and by a clause in their last improvement act, it
was obligatory on them to provide such accommodation
forthwith. Eleven-twelfths of the passengers who were con-
tractors at the ferries were rate-payers in Liverpool, and
surely they had a right to expect better accommodation.
Let him also call attention to fact, that the corporation
had a great interest on the other side of the water—that they
had an estate there worth not much less than quarter of a
million sterling; and when he also remembered that the
corporation had taken the land from the river for the forma-
tion of the docks, these, he thought, were strong arguments
why the subject should neither be delayed nor neglected.
Let any gentleman go down to the pierhead, and see the
crushing there was daily there : would they say it was safe
to land or embark in such confusion ? It was a state of
fbetter accommodation ato2ao do r a £
state-
ment3ooo
of the number of
things which ought not to exist ; and, although £2OOO might
have been spent in giving
moreSeaco ms
ibmeulsdl i
passengers across the river
from Woodside and Monks' Ferry. In 1812 there were
1,725,000 who paid at the gate. There were 890 contractors,
many of whom cross four times a day.; but assume that each
slip,
not it
b we aesxp n
eo ndaerdzu. argument
had why
prepared
only twice, they would give 649,700 annually.
Above 50,000 crossed yearly with parcels. and merchandise,
making in the whole at those two ferries in 1842, 2.424,700,
and the number had been daily increasing. To and from
Eastham. Runcorn, Birkenhead, and Rock Ferry, the num-
ber was understated at 1,500,000 annually. Above 6,000
persons landed or embarked within every 24 hours from the
mail packets, the Scotch boats, the general Irish steamers,
the north of England, the Isle of Man, the Welsh and other
boats, making annually 2,190,000, so that the following re-
sult was arrived at :
_

Woodside and Monk's Ferry ..................
Other ferries. not including Seacombe and Egre-

2,424,700

w0nt.................... : ...............
General embarkation or landing from steam-

1,500,000

packets, &c.

2,190,000

gonle altered, some serious plank. 6,114,700
Taking into consideration the hours the 6,
now ply,
that it was low water one-third of the period in each day,
that unless uonrlesesmt
the consequence was that 2:03E3,000 persons had annually to
He felt convinced,
acci-
dent would occur which would force attention to it. With
these remarks he begged to wove that a special committee
be appointed to consider and report upon the best means of
bhaerskysatcermosws
aassisno
giving increased accommodation to passengers lauding and
embarking at George's Dock pier.
Mr. AIKIN seconded the motion, expressing a hope that
the mover, however, would allow it to be so framed as to
give a committee with duties similar to that which formerly
existed. Mr. Aikin proceeded to show the duties of the
former committee, which were, amongst other matters, to

superintend and regulate the ferries, and to endeavor to
restore the Irish mail steamers to Liverpool. The new sta-
tion had so failed in all that had been anticipated, that but
little trouble would be required to place matters on their
former footing. ,
Mr. BIRKETT moved the following amendment That
the further consideration of the subject be postponed until
the council shall have ascertained how far the landing-stage
now in course of erection, and nearly completed, at the Sea-
combe Slip, will be efficient; and that, in the meantime, it
be referred to the Watch Committee, to give the requisite
instructions for all legal steps to remove as far as practicable
the evils complained of.
Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE seconded the amendment. lie
opposed the motion on the ground that it was unnecessary.
The motion implied that thhubject had not been considered,
but it had been considered maturely. It had been amply
reported on by Mr. Aikin and himself (Mr. Lawrence) in
1841. Mr. Lawrence proceeded to contend generally, that
it was necessary to wait till they could see how the improved
slip at the Seacombe Pier worked, ere they commenced any
fresh operations.
Mr. EARLE urged the necessity of some alteration in the
steps at the George's Pier.
Mr. Evaxs said he had never known the day when the
council was not impressed with the importance of this sub-
ject. He never knew a new committee which did not cut out
new works, and he never knew new work that was not expen-
sive. That which was done had not been tried, and having
been accomplished at so large an expense, it ought to be
tried. This was not a maiden question, it had been fully
discussed. It was infantile impatience not to wait even a
few weeks for the result of what had been done.
Mr. AIKIN contended that the committee should be one
to superintend the details and regulations of the landing
places, one which could take a number of matters into serious
and separate consideration, in a manner that could not be
done by the Finance Committee.
Mr. NORTH. supported the resolution. He would have
been better pleased with it had it been extended in the form
suggested by Mr. Aikin. The landing places required regu-
lation, and the committee would be one of supervision.
Sir THOMAS BRANCKER supported the amendment.
Mr. HOLME briefly replied, and the council divided on the
amendment, which was carried by a majority of 24 to 13.
The following are the names of the voters on each side;—
For the amendment,—Messrs. Shand, Isaac Holmes,
Thornhill, Blackburn, Thompson, Hornby. J. Holmes, As-
pinall, J. Lawrence, Cooper, Birkett, Procter, Rigby, Kil-
shaw, Parker, G. H. Lawrence, Trotman. Hai bord, Barclay,
Turner, Freme, Holt, Evans, and Sir Thomas Brancker.
—24.

Against the amendment,—Messrs. Preston, Edwards,
North, Aikin, Ho!me, Priestley, Rae, Platt, Bulled*, Earle,
Bramley-Moore, Molyneux. and the Mayor. 713.
The council separated at a quarter-past two o'clock.