The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-07-09 00:00:00

TOWN COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS.

The monthly meeting was held on Wednesday. Mr.
Avison was permitted to retire from the paid officers'
committee, and Mr. Woodruff was appointed in his place.
The Town-clerk being in London, Mr. Driffield, the
deputy Town-clerk, read the minutes of the proceedings
of the last Council.

The proceedings of the Finance Committee comprised
the following recommendations :—that Mr. John Surr be
appointed to the situation of audit-clerk in the town-dues
office, at the salary of £lOO per annum ; to increase the
salary of Mr. Fell, chief inspector of weights and measures,
from £2OO to £250 per annum ; to purchase four fields on
the south side of Newsham-house estate, at ls. 6d. a
square yard ; to grant the reversion of so much land in
Hardman-street as is necessary for the site of the church
only, and the remainder so long as it is used for the pur-
poses of the School for the Blind. The proceedings also
contained the following offer, relative to Birkenhead Ferry,
from Messrs. E. and S. Willoughby :—" Traninere Ferry,
June 27, 1850. Sir, We beg respectfully to make you
an offer for the occupation of the Birkenhead Ferry, on
the following terms :—To pay annually £5OO for the use
of your boats, with privilege to purchase one or all of them
at valuation. To pay £2OO rental for the ferry as it is at
present ; but if, in the contemplated alterations, a slip
should be formed in a line with Abbey-street, the annual
rent to be £5OO, for the term of fourteen years: other
usual covenants to be observed. We are, sir, yours
respectfully, E. and S. WILLOUGHBY. To the Chairman
of the Finance Commitee."—Mr. Surr's appointment
was confirmed ; and Mr. Fell's increase was referred to
the paid-officers' committee.—The purchase of the fields
near Newsham-house was confirmed ; but at the sugges-
tion of Mr. BIGHAM,- the grant of the reversion of the
land in Hardman-street was postponed for one month.
Mr. BENNETT inquired if Mr. Venn's visit to London
had reference to the inconvenience suffered by the public,
owing to the management of the County Court ?

HORNBT said Mr. Venn's visit "to London was
with reference to a bill in parliament affecting the Borough
Court, which was a considerable source of revenue to the
borough fund, and of great public convenience, and Mr.
Venn's object was to take care that no provision should
be introduced into the bill which would affect their court.
They had nothing to do with the County Court.
The proceedings of the Dock Committee having been
read, Mr. LITTLEDALE said that the report on the
timber trade was not yet ready.—Mr. PARKER referred
to the reduction of £40,000 which had been made in the
dock dues, and to the statement that a great inerease of
shipping would in consequence take place, and then re-
ferred to the decrease of £13,000 in the last year's ac-
counts which had been given b the public.—Mr.
THOMSON said the great increase in the former year's
receipts arose from the potato rot. (Hear, and laughter.)
—Mr. ROBINSON said there was no decrease in the general
trade of the port, with the exception of cotton. There
had been a decreases of 700,000 bales of cotton, and the
receipts on that amount would show a surplus.—Mr.
DOVER said it was most difficult to get a positive know-
ledge of the dock affairs from the published accounts.
He had endeavoured to make something like an estimate
of the present nosition of the dock affairs ; he had assumed
the interest of the money to be £lBo,ooo.—Mr. MANN
rose to order. There was nothing in the proceedings to
justify any gentleman to go into the position of the dock
estate.—The MAYOR said Mr. Dover was not in order.
He also thought Mr. Parker might as well be quiet.—Mr.
DOVER believed that the dock estate was a good one ;
that it was perfectly solvent; but if the Dock Committee
went on, in his humble opinion, it would be in a very
different position in a few years.—Mr. LITTLEDALE said
the yearly accounts of the Dock Committee were made up
to the 24th Juno, and when they were prepared, he would
be happy to give any member whatever information he
might require. As regarded the deficiency, that was also
in the same position. All they could state was, that the
deficiency arose almost entirely and wholly on the North
American trade; almost every 'other trade showed a very
healthy increase.—The proceedings were then confirmed.
The proceedings of the Courts of Law Committee con-
tained a statement of the actual amount expended on St.
George's Hall, and an estimate of the amount required for
its completion and furnishing. The total amount expended
on the hall up to the present time, was £140,300 4s. 4d.;
for future works, the completion of the steps, approaches,
ventilation, courts, and other contingent charges, £34,367
9s. Bd. ; for a large organ for St. George's Hall. and an
organ for the concert-room, fixing, &c., £17,000; making
a total of £191,667 14s. The report stated that there was
no doubt the courts would be ready by the March assizes
of next year.—Mr. BIGHAM did not think the report at
all satisfactory. It would be exceedingly unsatisfactory to
the public to learn that a building which was only to cost
£93,000 was to cost somewhere about £200,000.—1n re-
ply to a question, Mr. J. B. LLOYD stated that the hall
would be opened certainly within a few months after
the courts were opened.—Mr. PICTON defended the
late Mr. Elmes, and stated, that St. George's Hall would
have been built for the sum named by him, £93,500, had
the Council not thought proper to use a different class of
stone, and to order several additions and alterations not
embraced in the original estimates; but, he said, when a
great town entered on a great public work, which was to
be a monument of the taste and the public spirit of the
people of the age, and of this town, they ought not to be
niggardly, or spoil a large, a handsome and elegant public
building, for the sake of £20,000, £30,000, or £50,000—
(hear)—that would remain in future ages, after they were
forgotten, and would be a memorial of the taste of Liver-
pool in the middle of the nineteenth century. It would
be an example to their successors to follow, to adorn the
town of Liverpool, and make it second to none in the em-
pire in external beauty, as it was second to none in public
spirit. (Hear, hear.)—After some further discussion the
proceedings were confirmed.
From the proceedings of the Water Committee, it ap-
peared that three applications had been made to Mr.
Hawkesley to give the necessary instructions for the erec-
tion of a machine for testing water-pipes about to be used
in the Rivington Pike scheme; but no answer had been
received to these applications from Mr. Hawkesley. Some
discussion followed, in the course of which Mr. Hawkes-
ley's conduct was rather severely censured by Mr. BEN-
NETT, and other gentlemen.—The proceedings were con-.
firmed.

A letter was next read from a society recently esta-
blished in London, for maintaining and extending self-
government, in opposition to centralisation. The letter
showed, at considerable length, the evils that would arise
in corporate and other towns from the recent health
act and other measures; charged the government with
hurrying bills through parliament at the close of the
session, and requested the Council to aid them in repel-
ling the strides of centralisation.—Mr. T. B. HORSFALL
moved that the communication be referred to the Health
Committee. He said he concurred a great deal in what
the communication stated. He did not concur, however,
in the statement that there was a desire on the part of the
government to hurry bills through parliament, embracing
that principle, without giving ample time for their consi-
deration.—Mr. DOVER said, as regarded the introduction
of the new poor-law, although it had not added to the
well-being or comfort` of the poor, the rates had been
doubled. That arose from the fact that gentlemen, who
neither paid the poor-rates nor knew anything about
them, directed their proceedings. They had a Select
Vestry, and they fancied they were managing the affairs
of the parish. It was no such thing—the management
was altogether in London.
Mr. BRISCOE brought forward his motion respecting
the purchase of land for markets, which, after a long dis-
cussion was negatived ; but Mr. Briscoe's name was placed
on a sub-committee appointed by the markets committee,
to consider the rental of the stalls, and the subject of
market accommodation generally.