The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-09-08 00:00:00

_lrrpoot

SDAY MORNING, SEPT.

The statements contained in a letter, published in
)ur last, from the Secretary of the Birkenhead Dock
-2ompany,
comparing the relative expenses of car-
coes imported into the Mersey by the Bill-
iew docks on the one hand, and the Lis,
locks on the other, seem to us to require a few

ennead

erpopl

; inasmuch as, if the view taken

he company is a correct one

the works on the

. .
.esiiire shore are calculated to strike a heavy blow.
tinst the prosperity of Liverpool, and especially
weaken the security of the holders of our
.dock

We flatter Ourselves

however, that ,we

be able to reassure those parties—if, indeed,
can be any amongst them who have felt seri-
tpprehensions—of the perfect ability of the
Estate of Liverpool to maintain its present
state of prosperity, notwithstanding any oppo-
which may come from the Cheshire side of

river, or from any other quarter.
rue Birkenhead Dock Company ground their
)ectation of securing a considerable portion of
heavy merchandise entering the river, for trans-
t inwards to the manufacturing districts, firstly,
n the saving of ----- , to arise

wge, porterage, &c
in the proximity of the docks themselves to the
ock warehouses which they are erecting, and to
le railway, which is to transport them ; but,
iainly, upon the fact that the merchandise im-
orted will neither be subject to the Liverpool town
ues nor to clock rates of any description. FrOm
iese sources they chew, in tables which they append
3 their statement, a saving upon a cargo of 1,000
ales of cotton of £lO9 9s. 9d. in favour of the
reporter using the Birkenhead docks ; and, upon a
ergo of 1,000 feet of timber, they give the Liver-
pool charges at £4 I Is. 4d., and those of Birken-
head at only £1 17s. Bd. The saving of dock rates
and town dues alone, upon a vessel of 1,000 tons
from New York, by using the Birkenhead docks
instead of the Liverpool docks, they estimate !at

To enable us to deal with these statements, we
must examine the relative advantages of the tivo
sides of the river, and the capabilities of this side
to meet the threatened competition, by an accom-
modation of our rates to the circumstances ,in
which we are about to be placed. In the first
place we must explain, what is perhaps lost sight of
by some parties, that the body issuing such state-
ments—the Birkenhead Dock Company—is not the
body providing the dock facilities, whose superior
cheapness is represented. The docks are in the
bands of a body of " Commissioners," describedtby
the letter referred to as " a public body created in
1344 by the act of parliament which authorised the
construction of the docks ; to them the Crown has
granted an area of wharfage and water spacei.of
2721 acres, uhich form the site of the workS; ion
the security of this property, and of the rates which
are to be levied on the shipping making use of the
( „hey have borrowed money fc
struction." Tae Dock " Company"
who put forth the appeal to the merchants and
shipowners of Liverpool, to which we are now re-
ferring, is a private body, a partnership, with views
solely of their own aggrandisement, and uninte-
rested permanently in the profitable or unprofita-
ble working of the docks, at the prices with which
their Commissioners set out. They are thus offer-
ing to the merchants of Liverpool advantages, to be
derived through the cheapness of a totally different
body—possibly to be derived from the losses sus-
tained by that company. The Dock Commissioners
may or may not be able to work their docks, ty the
aid merely of the tonnage dues upon shipping,
which alone they are authorised to levy ; and if not,
what becomes of the statement of comparative
cheapness paraded before us ? Or, if the Liverpool
Dock Committee are likely shortly to be in a position
to afford us equal advantages, with the additiOnal
facilities presented by the location of their works on
this, undoubtedly the best, side of the river, again
we have lo ask, what becomes of the statement of
the Birkenhead Dock Company ?
Now, we submit that both alternatives are against
the Dock Company. We cannot believe that the
Commissioners can profitably work their docks With
mere dues upon tonnage. Dock water space -and
quay room is never productive of reasonable inte-
rest upon the outlay required for their construction,
without higher rates than the Commissioners' are
authorised to levy, unless some co-operative source
f profit exists. The Dock Companies of I..ondbn
.y fair dividends; but only because they have dock
arehouses as auxiliaries. Here in Birkenhead the
arehouses are in the hands of a private company.
our own town, it is true, we have a large surplus
come, irrespective of any concern with ware-
ruses; but that is a surplus over the interest on
e debt alone and the expenses of working, nc
-er the original cost of our docks, a very g
irtion of that cost having been paid by the
rporation, thus leaving a large margin over th
ere interest on the debt. We suspect greatly tha.
a Birkenhead docks, with their low charges, can-
tbe remunerative. We doubt whether they will
y, with those charges, the interest of the money
rrowed for their construction. Their working
doubtless benefit the Warehouse Company and
owners of land in Birkenhead ; but we fear it
I be attended with loss to the Birkenhead Dock
The result must be, as far as we
e, the exaction of the extreme rate of tonnage
flowed by the act of parliament, and, too pro-
ly, the adoption of a scale of dues on goods.
'V very different prospect of public advantage to
rue is presented by the Dock Estate of Liver-
)l. That estate will have in the present year
aething like £lOO,OOO of surplus income. This
y statement of the Birkenhead Dock Company
nforms us that the income of the Dock Estate of
rpool, during the year ended 2th June, 1645,
232,479 10s. 9d. It has incrbased since, and
The opening of the Albert Dock
ouses, the interest upon the cost of which
ave been paying without a farthing of return,

the it 'con-

nissioner

Teasing,

El further increase our receipts and our surplus.
Lis surplus we can get rid of, by a reduction of
r Dock Rates. It may be done next year, or any
ar; for it will not be necessary to retain a greater
come than will fully cover our bonded debt,
rich, unlike that of our neighbours, does not re-
esent the cost of one-third of
.the docks them-
lves. Here is one source of cheapness to offer
[ainst Birkenhead. We shall shortly have a rail-
ay communication from end to end of our Dock
state, which will give additional• facilities and
leanness. And t

re have besides the ad-

of our established position as

-nmerce of the district, with