The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-06-13 00:00:00

WARD MEETINGS ON THE WATER QUESTION.

ST. ANNE'S WARD.
Yesterday evening, a meeting of the ratepayers of St.
Anne's Ward took place at the Portico, for the purpose in
takenpubli c
before had a
the
e opportunity
committee
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effect of memoralizing the Town Council to suspend their
decision respecting th Rivington Pike scheme, until the
thdeigeosotoinogoilt.he
Theev roomidence
was nearly filled, notwithstanding the notice given was
short and imperfect. •
Mr. VINCENT HIGGINS was called to the chair, and
briefly explained the object in view. All strangers, he
said, remarked, when they visited Liverpool, that they
knew of no town worse Supplied with water, which was not
seen to flow in any direction ; nor had they either cisterns
or public pumps. He thought that the Council ought to
pause in proceeding with so large and expensive a scheme
as that which they were precipitating. In conclusion he
referred to several pamplets, pro and con, and amongst
the writers was Mr. Spencer, who was rather in favour of
the corporation scheme ; yet he concluded his remarks in
words to this effect :—" After all I think it of great im-
portance that three gentlemen should be appointed to
thoroughly investigate the locality and the quality of the
water at the Pike, one of whom should be a geologist, one
an engineer, and one a chemist."
Mr. BROWN moved the first resolution, which he re id
to the following effect :—" That in the opinion of the
meeting, before further proceedings be taken with respect
to the Rivington Pike scheme, the capabilities of the
present works should be fairly tested, and therefore we
call upon the Council to postpone further consideration of
the question, in order to give the ratepayers time to con-
sider the question maturely." It might be said, perhaps,
by the advocates of the scheme, that it had already been
fully tested by the recent enquiry ; but the Council had kept
the public in the dark a§ regarded the evidence obtained.
The inhabitants, he thought, who would have to pay the
cost, ought to know upon what grounds the adoption of
the scheme was founded, and at least to have such infor-
mation as would satisfy them that it was likely to be suc-
cessful. In his own opinion the friends of the measure
would find themselves mistaken in its results, were it car-
ried out. He quoted the opinions of two gentlemen of his
acquaintance, who had long lived at the Pike,—one of whom
declared he had sometimes known the whole proposed
ground and streams to be quite dry, and the other was of a
similar opinion, and also stated that the water was gene-
rally impure. Another gentleman who had long been con-
nected with mines in the district, said the promoters of
the scheme were totally mistaken, and he instanceda tract
of the ground, where the water was so little that it ran
twenty miles before it produced what is called a mill
stream and a half. The expense, too, would begreat. He
had heard, that the Corporation had already guaranteed
£2,000 a-year to a mill-owner, on condition that his mill
should not be worked. With respect to our own home
resources, many clever men wero of opinion that by
boring a little deeper we should obtain a sufficient supply—
so much, indeed, as ten millions of gallons per day. It
therefore behoved all ratepayers to do their best to pre-
vent further outlay upon so uncertain a scheme. ( Hear.)
Mr. JEFFERY seconded the resolution, and began by
saying that the Council had certainly got into a puddle,
and he was much mistaken if they did not come
out of it dirtier than ever. ( A laugh.) They had
appointed a committee of inquiry, but they had kept
the ratepayers in ignorance of their proceedings, and the
facts upon which they had acted, for no reporters were
admitted to their, meetings. Pamphlets had been writ-
ten, and most of them ably, on both sides of the ques-
tion, but the ratepayers not being in possession of the
evidence, were not in a position which enabled them
to decide, and he thought the Council ought to pause
before they proceeded further with a scheme so apparently
uncertain, and which would entail great expense upon the
town. The local taxes, they (the ratepayers) had already
to pay were enormous, and they had a right to know what
the Committee had been doing. The report was expected,
but they wanted the evidence. The question, he
thought, divided itself into four shapes, First,—
Could sufficient water be raised from our present wells ?
Second,—lf it could not, would the use of salt
water for the streets, baths, and sewers, make up the
deficiency. Third,—Would additional wells make up the
required supply ? And fifth,—Was the water to be got by
.the Rivington scheme of good quality and sufficiently
abundant for our wants. Supposing it were, would it
not be difficult, as well as highly costly to introduce it,
as the mains must be laid over coal mines, and uncertain and
dangerous ground in which, as had been said, the simple blow
of a sledge hammer might unsettle the land and make a coal
profitable, (meaning, as we understood him, that if an
unprofitable mine were flooded, the Corporation would be
called upon for heavy compensation in damages). The
next plan was the Bala Lake scheme, and he had never
heard that they could not have enough of water from that
source. The cnly difficulty was its conveyance thence,
and if this could be removed, and our own wells were
found insufficient, that would probably be the most desi-
rable scheme. He thought the Corporation ought to
offer premiums to qualified parties to expound the best
plan to be pursued—say £5O, £3O, and £2O. What the
ratepayers asked was not to endeavour to blame the com-
mittee, many of whom were estimable men, but to be
satisfied by the evidence of competent individuals before
they were drawn into enormous expense. As to opposi-
tion to the Bala scheme from the Admiralty, he
thought that unworthy of notice. The Admiralty
could not sail their fleets on the Dee, and their
opposition in such an emergency as the supply of
water to nearly half a million of persons, would be merely
formal,—they being conservators of shores and rivers.
He then referred to a letter in the Mercury, which had
remained uncontradicted, and might therefore be assumed
to be true. The writer stated that the Pike scheme was
entertained for Manchester, and Mr. Hawkesley being
called in, gave it as his opinion that it would not do, and
that the water was insufficient in quantity and of the worst
quality. But when the same gentleman was employed by
the corporation here he said as to the Pike that the water
was copious and of the very best quality ! (Hear, and a
laugh.) It had been said that if we did not agree amongst
ourselves the matter would be taken out of our hands, an
we should be placed under Lord Morpeth's act. For his
part he would rather that the thing should be so if
they had an assurance that the work would be well
accomplished. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. WEST, C.E., came forward, and said that he would
stake his reputation, that, if tried, they would get an
abundance of water from under their own feet. As for
surface drainage, he considered it a childish idea. Having
been at the Pike, he would explain to them his impres-
sions of it, It was altogether a mountain country, down
which the water came highly charged with barytes, a very
strong poison, and the sulphate of iron. Instead of the
works costing only £400,000, he would venture his repu-
tation that they would not get off for £2,000,000, (Cheers.)
The resolution was carried by acclamation.
Mr. DANSON, in conjunction with the other represen-
tatives of the ward, having been called on, stated that he
differed from his constituents on this question. He
entered into a long statement, which was received with
marked disapprobation.
Mr. J. B. LLOYD was also in favour of the Rivington
Pike scheme.
A RATEPAYER then asked if the two members who
had last spoken would vote for the postponement of the
question ?

Mi.:4SiNSON said he would not.
Mr. LLOYD said he would support the postponement.
Mr. DANSON explained that if he could at the eleventh
hour see a good ground for the postponement proposed,
he should not object to meet the wishes of his consti-
tuents. •

The resolution was then put to the meeting, and carried
unanimously.
Mr.. HENRY CLAYPOLE moved a vote of thanks to the
chairman, seconded by Mr. Gibbons, and Mr. Jeffrey
having previously asked the meeting to include in the
motion the members for the ward who had favoured them
with theirbresence, it was carried unanimously.
Mr. DANSON repeated his half promise of compliance,
on Wednesday, with the desires of his constituency.
After the proceedings had terminated, Mr. Jeffery
came forward and reminded the ratepayers that a meet-
ing would take place in the Sessions House next day, in
which they were all interested as tax-payers ; and urged
them to be in attendance at a quarter before twelve
o'clock.