The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-11-12 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Mr. BUSHELL was sure the Council would find, ulti-
mately, that no saving had been effected. He was sorry
the argument had been used, because he thought that
since they had devolved on Mr. Shuttleworth the impor-
tant duties of the Town-clerkship, and loaded him with
more than the late Town-clerk had to bear, it would be
unjust towards him to lower the salary. (Hear.) •
Mr. PROCTER said he sheuld vote for the £2,000 a-year ;
but that he could not agree with those members who sup-
posed that a saving would be effected, particularly if they
appointed a Prosecuting-clerk, at £3OO, and a Clerk of
the Peace at £5OO a-year.
Mr. SHUTTLEWORTII said the present cost for Town-
clerk, Deputy Town-clerk, &c., was £3,700, and that if
the present proposals were carried out there would. be a
direct saving of £3OO a•year. Hear, hear.)
Mr. SHEPPARD.-Mr. Mayor, I trust, under all the
circumstances of the case, that Mr. Alderman Moore
and the gentlemen who advocate the reduction in ques-
tion will now see the necessity of withdrawing their
amendment. It is, sir, admitted by all that a more effi-
cient person cannot be found than Mr. Shuttleworth;
therefore I see no reason to reduce the salary. The du-
ties of the office are very extensive, and the responsibili-
ties great ; and, consequently, I think the Town-clerk
deserves the amount proposed—viz., £2OOO per annum.
I voted in the minority on the last division, but most
assuredly I will, if the Council divide upon the motion,
now vote against the reduction. I respectfully, but
firmly, call upon the gentlemen concerned to give up
their opposition, and to let the resolution pass unani-
mously.
Mr. SANDS also spoke in favour of granting the £2,000
a-year, after which Mr. Moore consented to withdraw the
amendment.

The original motion, anpointing Mr. Shuttleworth
Town-clerk, at a salary of £2,000 a-year, having been
carried, that gentleman proceeded to the seat on the right
of the Mayor, usually occupied by the late Town-clerk,
amid loud cheering and clapping of hands.
Sir T. BRANCKER congratulated the council on the ju-
dicious choice they had made, and said they would never
repent of it; that Mr. Shuttleworth would do his work
like a workman ; and that he would stand higher, if pos-
sible, in their estimation that day twelve months than
even he did at present. (" Hear," and cheers.)
Mr. MOORE again explained, that, in submitting his
amendments, he entertained the highest opinion of Mr.
Sbuttleworth's legal fitness for the situation.
Mr. SHDTTLEWORTIi having taken the usual oath, and
signed the declaration as Town-Clerk in the presence of
Mr. Sands and Mr. John Holmes, delivered the following
address :—The council having been for some time occu-
pied with routine business, I shall not attempt to trespass
on their attention with any lengthened remarks ; but I
hope you will allow me to express my grateful thanks for
having appointed me to this high and important office.
That the council could have selected a more able man I
readily admit ; but they could not have appointed any one
more resolutely determined, by energy and zeal, to atone
for his other deficiencies. (Hear, hear.) Nor could they
have selected any one more ardently devoted to the best
interests of the great estate, the affairs of which this coun-
cil is called upon to administer. (Hear, hear.) I shall
not detain yon longer than to express my hope that my
conduct in the office may be such as to show the council
and the public that their confidence has not been mis-
placed. (Cheers.)

MEETING OF THE BIRKENHEAD
COMMISSIONERS.

The monthly meeting took place on Tuesday evening
last, William Jackson, Esq., in the chair.
A letter was read from' Mr. John Deane Case, tender-
ing his resignation as a commissioner, (of which he was
chairman,) he being about to remove to another district.
The CHAIRMAN said he regretted the circumstance.
No gentleman not a ratepayer, or not possessing property
in the township, could be a commissioner, and this had
been the cause of Mr. Case'S resignation.
Mr. BENTHAM proposed as the only qualified person
to fill the vacancy, whether as the largest landed proprie-
tor, or as the person to whom the township was most in-
debted—Mr. Jackson.
Mr. WATSON seconded the proposition.
Mr. JACKSON returned thanks, stating that he would
ever equally protect the rights and interests of the land-
owner and the rate-payer; and that he hoped the same
unanimity which had hitherto existed amongst the mem-
bers of the board would continue to exist, so that they
might chew an example to other places that " union was
strength."
The appointment of Vice-Chairman, caused by the elec-
tion of Mr. Jackson to the office of Chairman, was post-
poned until next week:
The CHAIRMAN moved a, vote of thanks to Mr. Case,
which, accompanied by a handsome eulogy on his services,
was carried unanimously.
On the motion of the CH FARM AN it was agreed to pur-
chase 3,000 yards of land in Cleveland-street, at 7s. 6d. a
yard, for the erection of a police-court, magistrates'.
room, and bridewell. It was then agreed to sell in De-
cember, by public auction, about 70 acres of land skirting
the park. It was also agreed to take pro temp Mr.
Brassey's house, Hamilton-square, at a rent of £125 for
offices for the Commissioners, their officers and clerks,
the present town-hall being inadequate.
The CHAIRMAN said he was of opinion that the board
would derive £lOOO a-year from the new market, and that
they would have a surplus by selling the land round the
market, on part of which the present town-hall was built.
The Market Committee presented a report relative to
the recent falling of a portion of that yet uncovered build-
ing by the force of the gale of Saturday week, from which
it appeared that the walls, &c., were perfectly substantial ;
and that had the cross-walls, to be built for the shops at
distances of ten feet, been erected, the accident would
have been prevented. Another report was submitted by
Mr. Colo, the surveyor, showing that the walla. ace., of the
Birkenhead Market, when completed, will be stronger
than those of Gill-street market, or St. John's, on this
side.
The CHAIRMAN then left, as he had to proceed imme-
diately to London, and Mr. J. S. Jackson was appointed
to preside in his place. He remarked that he hoped the
newspapers would notice the reports relative to the mar-
ket, as they showed that the falling of a part of the walls
was purely accidental.
The Ferry Committee presented a very favourable ac-
count of the receipts for the last month—admitting that
much was due to the vast concourse of persons from Liver-
pool, who had attended the festival. The receipts in Oc-
tober, last year, were £1,138 12s. 7d.; the receipts of
October, this year—£2,224 19s. Bd. •, leaving a balance
in favor of the past month of £1,086 7s. Id.
Mr. BnowNniuu-asked whether there was any truth in
the report, published in the Mail of Saturday last, as to
" there being whole streets of rubbish in the township,
plastered with cement, and built by rogues, &c. ?"
The CHAIRMAN replied there was not. Every build-
ing had been erected under the building act, which was
more stringent in Birkenbead than almost any other place ;
but there really was no use in contradicting what appeared
in the Mail. (Hear, hear.)
A vote of thanks was unanimously passed to the Nor-
wich Union Insurance Company for having presented
the township, on the 23d of October last, with a very
valuable fire-engine, with the requisite appurtenances.
The board then adjourned.

CORRESPONDENCE.

SHIP-BUILDING.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

- -
SlR,—Most writers on shipbuilding have shewn that
every good quality in a ship, such as stability, the true po-
sition for her cargo, with insurance of safety in a gale, de-
pends on the correct point on which the gravity centres ;
to this all scientific men have fully assented, yet they have
all left us in the dark with respect to its true position.
Scarcely two have agreed as to its height; some are for
fixing the centre of gravity low down, others as near the
line of flotation as possible, from which two points there
are a great variety of opinions. Experience and prac-
tical results have shewn, that by raising it as high as pos-
sible the ship becomes leis laboursome, and therefore less
liable to injury in a sea, and the adoption of this principle
will greatly add to her capacity above her load line,
through which she fully supports her canvass in a gale.
This opinion is supported by the following practical re-
marks. What would become of sailing boats, such as gigs
and skiffs, whose canvass surpass in quantity (by compa-
rison) all other vessels ? yet they pass through a sea with
ease and safety, having no other ballast than from four to
ten men, and often more, whose position raises the centre
of gravity above their gunwalls. Again: where is the
centre of gravity of our first rate ships, with four tier of
guns, whose height and weight above their line of flota-
tion far exceeds the parts immersed? yet they have been
proved the safest of all ships in a gale. Again : load two
ships, of equal strength, size, and form, to the same
draught of water, one with timber, the other with iron ;
the iatter will strain in a sea, to her great injury, when
the former, under the same circumstances, will perform
her voyage with ease and safety. Lastly : how many ves-
sels, through the correctness of their form, are not only
able to shift without ballast, but even work to windward.
These remarks will go a great way in establishing a prin-
ciple, that the perpendicular position of gravity, in the
formation and building of merchant vessels, should be
raised as high as possible, to promote ease and safety.
I am aware, from the nature and quality of which mer-
chant-ships' cargoes are composed, a correct standard
cannot be obtained : this trifling uncertainty ought not to
lessen the responsibility in the construction of a ship. The
centre of gravity remains an unsettled principle with the
learned, as to a fixed point in the fore and aft direction,
a point of all others most essentially necessary to the for-
mation of a ship's body, on which alone depends the qua-
lities of capacity, stability, and safety ; yet to this magic
centre no theorist has come to anything like certainty;
whence arises that diversity of opinion, produced from
vain speculations, whereas common observation and expe-
rience directs to the half-length of the ship as a natural
position for her main transverse section, for :his one rea-
son, among many that may be deduced :—if the midship
bend (dead flat) is stationed at either of the extremes, the
centre of gravity, and with it the centre of displacement,
must follow, or it must be removed by artificial means,
through which her disjointing is speedily effected. Ships
built with their dead flat far forward must ever unite in
one their pitching and rolling motion, that is, they waddle
from the starboard bow to the larboard quarter, and the
reverse on the opposite roll; the effect in a heavy sea is
tremendous, from the after part of the vessel flying from
right to left, and from left to right. It may be asked,
seeing that the true position of the centre of gravity still
remains an undetermined quality, whether it is a neces-
sary qualification in shipbuilding ? I would answer—yes,
it is of the first moment, when correctly placed ; but the
great evil with shipbuilders, from its undefined principle,
is that they either consider that as a quality it is wholly
unnecessary, or that it is immaterial to a vessel in what
part it centres, seeing the ballast or cargo will find it out ;
as such many construct their ships without a reference to,
or calculations thereon ; others pursue a system equally
as bad, by resting satisfied with finding the centre of gra-
vity of the whole fabric. Hence proceeds so many dan-
gerous and ungovernable vessels. Yet there are ship-
builders who feel the importance and the responsibility
attached to their profession, who in constructing see the
necessity of commencing with the centre of gravity at the
lower water or Level line, and carry it by degrees to the
gunwall. It is on this principle, and on this alone, that
the centre of gravity becomes of the first importance in
the construction of a well-regulated vessel—it is the only
attainable means in order to perfection. When deter-
mined on with judgment it becomes the focus to guide the
formation of each level, or water line, to its true course ;
it is the centre around which the ship's capacity revolves.
It is the judicious placement of this centre, from the keel
upwards, that secures to a ship those beneficial and essen-
• tial properties which prove her protection in every dan-
ger. To define the centre of gravity, and prove the ad-
vantage of placing it correctly in a vessel, take a piece of
fir two or more feet long, by two or three inches square;
by suspending it at the half-length between your finger
and thumb, or with two pins, you find no difficulty in
keeping the upper surface level, produced by having the
true centre of gravity ; remove the pins towards either end,
and the longest part will immediately drop, which to bring
it into an horizontal position, will require either a weight
at the short end, or to be lengthened by some artificial
means : in either case it will be evident that the centre of
gravity is removed from its natural point, without any be-
nefit resulting therefrom. Again : does not a person on
taking a piece of timber on his shoulder,. first balance it
before he proceeds forward ; and if from some cause the
part, behind proves the heaviest, is there not an artificial
weight added to the shoulder by the pressure of the hand
on the light end to equalise the balance ? By these sim-
ple experiments true principles are often established, and
false ones detected ; from these plain similies there is a
greater object in view—that of demonstrating the false
principles whereby ships are ow built. In my next I
shall resume this subjept, wherein will be shewn a mecha-
nical method for finding the centre of gravity of each
water or level line, with the ship's displacement.
I am, sir, &c. JOHN COCK.
Pembroke Dock, Ist Nov. 1844.