The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-11-21 00:00:00

MEETING OF THE HEALTH COMMITTEE.

Yesterday afternoon, a special meeting of the Health
Committee took place in the Council Chamber, for the
purpose of considering a report of the Inspector of
Nuisances, a recommendation of the Sub-committee
thereon, also a resolution passed by the latter—the whole
referring to nuisances. There were present, Messrs.
Tinne, (in the chair.). the Mayor, Bennett, Harbord,
Hodgson, Rimmer, Hindley, Neill, Hereby, Parker, and
Ferguson ; also the Town-clerk and the medical officer,
Mr. Duncan. The first report read was to the effect that
on the banks of the canal, Mr. Rose, the contractor for
the removal of night soil, &c., from the houses and streets
of the town, had deposited an immense quantity of ma-
nure, the gases arising from which were detrimental to
the public health. A resolution of the sub-committee
also proposed that night-soil, &c., should be removed in
close or water-tight carts, so as to prevent droppage in the
street as much as possible, and it was also recommended
that the soil or matter should be conveyed from the cess-
pools into the tight carts without being thrown into the
street, and thence lifted into the carts,—a mode which
left the street in a very dirty condition.—A long discus-
sion ensued, in which various opinions were expressed. It
appeared that the contractor had already had many
water-tight carts constructed at considerable expense, and
that they saved much of the slopping in the streets hich
had been complained of. The Chairman, Mr. Bennett,
Mr. Hodson, Mr. Parker, and Mr. Harbord took part in
the discussion ; and the last named expressed strong opi-
nions on the insufficiency of the present system, as af-
fecting the public health. He proposed that carts resem-
bling floats, but covered, should be provided, so that the
soil might be transferred from barrows, &c., into them,
without intermediate deposits in the streets.

Mr. HODSON said the contractor had done all he could
do to keep the town clean, but there were obstacles.
The CHAIRMAN said that to carry out the recommenda-
tion of the sub-committee—in having low carts, &c.—
would cost the town £15,000.
Mr. HARBORD said the removal of the night soil cost
the town a vast sum, and about 15,000 tons were col-
lected in a depot in the outskirts, the effluvium from
which was productive of disease.
It was finally agreed that the contractor should receive
notice to remove the soil at the depot alluded to within
two months,

Mr. PARKER ridiculed the complaints made of intoler-
able smells over the town ; he considered this to be hum-
bug to a great extent. Their forefathers, who had many
of them lived to a good old age, were not so sensitive in
their nasal organs ; and he believed Mr. Harbord's sense
of smell was so fine that he could scent a fox in any cover
in England, at 100 yards distant.
Mr. Rose was then called in, and his opinion solicited
as to avoiding the nuisance of depositing soil in the streets.
He stated that it would be impossible to avoid much of
this in Liverpool, or to place the soil in carts, as proposed,
without great additional cost. Several plans were sug-
gested to him, of discharging it from covered barrows into
the carts, by Mr. Bennett (who produced a plan) and
others ; but he said the bar to the idea was, that in this
town, the night manure was so saturated with water,
from the cess-pools being flooded from want of drainage,
that it could not be accomplished. He had done his
utmost to keep the town as clean as it could be kept
under the circumstances, and had exerted himself night
and day to see that his men did their duty in sweeping,
&c. the deposits in the streets. He should remove the
manure from the depot, but there must be still a con-
siderable quantity left there, from daily accumulations,
which could not be taken away until it had been deposited
24 hours, owing to its being in so liquid a state. It ap-
peared he was a loser by the contract, as the manure was
not easily saleable. It was agreed that any nuisances
that might hereafter arise should be reported to him. It
was further agreed that 24 of the police should be ap-
pointed by the sub-committee to act under the Inspector
of Nuisances, and (in conjunction with the whole of the
police force) to report upon all nuisances, or practices
detrimental to public health. Finally, it was agreed that
an additional number of the handbills, containing pre-
cautions against cholera, should be printed and distributed
amongst the inhabitants. The meeting then separated,
apparently somewhat tired out by a subject not altogether
pleasant.

PROSPECTS OF OUR AMERICAN COMMERCE,
AND EFFECT OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE

EUROPA.

At the period of the sailing of the Europa from New
York, we learn from the first sources that the general
feeling amongst commercial men was one of great confi-
dence in approaching prosperity throughout the country.
The result of the elections, affirming the return of a peace
advocate (Gen. Taylor) for the Presidency, had contri-
buted greatly to this result. The dry-goods houses had
been doing an excellent trade ; and, as a proof, the orders
per the Europa for manufactured goods of all descriptions
were on an extensive scale. This feeling in America,
together with the news generally by the Europa, has had
a vivifying effect upon our Cotton market, in which a
large business has been done at dearer prices. With
respect to Breadstuffs, a fair, but not an immoderate,
quantity is reported as coming forward, much of which
should already have been here, but for the recent preva-
lence of adverse winds, which has delayed arrivals. With
the present winds, however, many of these are coming
into port ; but, having been previously advised, they
are not likely to produce any large depression in the mar-
ket. We learn that the few samples of Indian Corn of
the new crop which have now come up are of superior
quality to those of last season, as is the new Bacon re-
ceived.

A MISARRANGEMENT OF TOPICS.
A contemporary, in his report of the proceedings of
the Dock Committee, informs us that
" A letter was next read from Mr. Cubitt, announcing that he
had fully drawn out the plans for the permanent mooring of
the new landing-stage, and certifying the correctness of a
heavy bill submitted."

The latter portion of Mr. Cubitt's communication was,
we should think, like the postscript of a lady's letter, the
most personally interesting to himself, and might with
propriety have been the leading subject. We question,
however, whether the Dock Committee view it in the
same light; and, with respect to the " permanent moor-
ing " of the monster stage spoken of, we ourselves should
iike to be assured upon the subject.