The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-06-25 00:00:00

June 25, 1844

CORRESPONDENCE.

BIRKENHEAD DOCKS.

t.O THE EDITOR OF 'f 7E LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
proposal for building docks and warehouses at Bir-
Xenhead having been sent to me, 1 presume, to induce me
to become a shareholder in the contemplated joint stock
sseuraPanY. I have, as became me, given it due considera-
"n• The first observation I have to make is, that the
Proposals contain no name of reference, nor any sponsors,
but are cast forth on the world as an unknown foundling ;
and another is, that if the scheme was a good one, I think
Tour own townsmen possess both discrimination and
, _Wealth enough to raise the sum of £400,000, without it
*tin
g necessary to apply to the capitalists of London. I
"eye taken some trouble to examine the plans and the
evidence adduced before the committee of the Commons,
VI hope I sha 1 be pardoned if I make a few observe-
."'Ons Upon the extraordinary misstatements which I find
!Wintered through the " proposals" which have been sent
to me, for I am now old enough to know that those who
Live fish to sell, are anxious to advertise its freshness.
The
Proposals commence by showing the want of dock
accommodation at Liverpool ; and this fact is, I believe,
are admitted. But the Dock Trustees of Liverpool
now before parliament to obtain power for the con-
struction of 42 acres of additional dock accommodation;
and I recollect reading the speeches of Messrs. Evans and
some time ago, who declared most emphatically
_that when the Albert Dock and warehouses were corn-
-P..41Q. there would be abundant dock room for some
resra to come, and on this ground they opposed any dock
41Steesion at all, as utterly needless. If, therefore. those
gentlemen are to be believed, and parliament sanction the
construction of 42 acres in addition to the Albert Duck, I
gar that docks at Birkenhead may not prove a very pro-
table investment, in the face of superabundant accom-
Ettodation at Liverpool, with a power in the hands of the
Dock Committee to reduce their dock rates one shilling a
vw,e,. whenever it may suit their purpose to do so ; and
"'eh will probably take place so soon as the £400,000 is
Convertedinto masonry, and a return for the capital ex-
Plied is
begun to be looked for.
£640
t in addition to the sum now stated for docks,o
' 100 •
• s wanted to form a warehousing company, or,
Us the whole, a million of money ! I should not object to
Subscribing to the plan if I could see any prospect of
getting a return, but 1 confess that I am obtuse enough
lot to discover the 10 per cent. of which the prospectus
Vaunts. lam told that the merchants of Liverpool set
their faces against warehouses managed by companies, and
insist upon doing their own business, and thus opposed a
clause in the Fire Bill giving that power to others which
they declared should not go out of their own hands, and
the clause was obliged to be withdrawn. I do not say
that they were right in doing so, but I mention a fact to
illustrate my assertion.
It may be the case that warehouses at Birkenhead may
oblige the owners of warehouses at. Liverpool to reduce
their rents so as to meet the competition; but that reduc-
tion would make an awful difference in the per centage at
Birkenhead ; and it. is probable that instead of it being 10
Per cent., it may prove to be like a lady's fortune, a given
amount first halved, and the remainder divided by four.
Much stress is laid on the contiguity of Liverpool
warehouses to other buildings. Nov, that danger has
been diminished by the alterations made and to be made
by the late Fire Prevention Act, and when that act is
61117 carried out in all its spirit, the ravages of fire will be
very limited. The charge of such high premiums by the
insurance companies is for two purposes. Firstly, as a
Corrective of the present system ; and, secondly, to reco-
ver the prodigious sums which they have lost. It is not,
M I:nY opinion, reasonable to anticipate that mercantile
Produce will be insured at Birkenhead for Is. 6d. per cent.
the prospectus asserts. I have it from the best author-
ial here that cotton, upon which so much stress is laid,
Will be followed wherever it goes by a high rate of insu-
; and in Manchester the rates upon the insurance
of cotton stowed in detached and fire-proof buildings has
been raised from 'is. to 205., and yet your prospectus as-
sumes io your differential charges, Is. 9d! A contrast is
drawn between the advantages of Birkenhead and Liver-
pool in reference to the cartage. Now 1 understand it is
Vvae_ti that the cartage of all the produce imported into
cr"01, and usually warehoused, never yet amounted
00,000 in any one year. Spread this sum over the
eine of the goods, and the fraction is so diminutive that
Can hardly calculate' it. Even cotton, a bulky article, is
none for 2d. a bale, worth from £8 to £lO, and in nine
eases out of ten 10 per cent. is absolutely deducted even
am the 2d. Now, if you set against the cartage of goods
~,"Pense that might be incurred by lighters for convey
"rtions of goods across the Mersey, and which will
ave to be done in assorted cargoes, I think the extra ex-
Penises connected with Birkenhead will be greater than
the cartage at Liverpool. Besides, it is assumed in the
Charges for 1,000 bales of cotton. in all instances, that the
cartage is the third length. This is a gratuitous assump-
tion. I am assured on good authority, tested by former
experience, that the first length only is paid by the im-
porter, and the additional lengths invariably by the ware-
let:Rise-keeper. Exposure of goods on the quays to wea-
ther is one of the alleged objections to the Liverpool docks.
Will, it is notorious that all the dock quays are surround-
ed with sheds, and that there is no exposure of any thing
'except timber, to the weather. And it is also notorious,
that the Woods and Forests have tied out the Birkenhead
Commissioners from erecting any thing but sheds and huts
vas the margin of the tidal basin and three-acre dock,
'Which the bill, if obtained, empowers them to make. One
is almost tempted to exclaim with the Frenchman, in re-
ference to the generality of prospectuses, " They lie like
epitaphs."
Pilferage-is another alleged evil deprecated in Liver-
Pool. I deprecate it everywhere, and sincerely wish that
there may be neither chicanery nor pilferage at the Bir-
kenhead warehouses ; but the experience of a life has
*hewn me, that we have in general more to fear from the
pilferage of our own servants, than from the professional
thief who breaks our locks and carries away our sugar
and coffee. Ido believe that the charge of pilfering at
Liverpool has been much exaggerated. I have had some
knowledge of the state of things both in Liverpool and
London, and I unhesitatingly assert that the loss in weight
on cargoes has been in general much less in Liverpool
than it has been in London. Some time back a public
• meeting was held at the Commercial Sale-rooms, in Min-
cing-lane, London, to take into consideration the best
mode of redressing the grievances under which the coffee
trade laboured by the loss of weight in their goods while
under the charge of the various dock companies. The
account is so remarkable, that I copy it for your informa-
tion from a newspaper now in my possession :
" FURTHER SERIOUS LOSS, FROM PILFERAGE, IN THE LONDON
DOCK WAREHOUSES.
tie colonial
On Friday, the 2'th ult., a meeting of those interested in
colonial and foreign coffee trade was held at the Commer-
cial Sale-rooms, Mincing-lane, for the purpose of receiving a
report from the committee appointed to consider the best means
;fora
be adopted to redress serious grievances, to which the trade
a lone period has been subjected. The chair was taken by
sus. Edwards.
The Chairman said that the committee had had interviews
with the directors of the principal docks, who had promised
even assistance in remedying the evil complained of. He
moved that the report of the committee be read.
114 e Hon. Secretary then read the following report
soh in pursuance of the desires of the trade, they have
"'" and obtained interviews with the directors of the East
and
Com-
panies, West India. the London. and the St. Katharine D ck Com-
Vnies, and have laid before them statements of the losses con-
k:intl.!, sustained, in consequence of the delivery weights of coffee
ng seriously short of the landing weights, on which payments
are rnade both for coffee and duty. They have also drawn the
....;rition of the several directors to the great discrepancies
h rre shown in the delivery weights, and have ventured to
T.rlireaS doubts as to whether such discrepancies can be solely
the effect of natural causes.
That the directors of the several dock companies have
dared their readiness to act in any manner which may be
ilUggested, in order to prevent such losses, and to exercise the
Greatest care and vigilance, so that deficiencies may not be the
result of want of attention, or any other cause which such care
and vigilance may prevent.
That not any of the directors seem, however, to subscribe
to the opinion that any other cause than that of absorpti n by
atmospheric influence has operated to produce the losses com-
plained of.
" ' That, notwithstanding this conviction on the part of the
directors,
mctors, committee cannot but retain their former opinion,
casesusishow discretpaant thecies business
rite irreconcileable with
lllMUchcaon)nc- n, andalso h
of weighing and
i
tarring packages on landing is frequently carried through so
hastily as not to ensure proper security;o sufficient y strong to
to the buyers; and that
many coffees are lauded in packages
bear further transit, and which the directors
com-
panies state that they have no power to of the dock tsanction of the importers, which, as entailingalter, but with the
expense, is
rally withheld.gene-

" ' EDWARD EDV7ARDS. Chairman.
" ' JAMBS C. Qvlca, Hon. Sec.

21st Nov., 1842.'

" Mr. Moffatt rose to move a resolution that the report be
adopted. He expected no redress from the dock companies, and
thought that government ought to be applied to, in order that
the trade should not be charged on the landing weights. Re-
cently, in a parcel of fire bales of Mocha coffee, there was a loss
of 531bs. One bale was deficient, in another purchase he had
Made, of 271bs.
" Mr. Chenery and other parties spoke of great deficiencies,
that could not arise front natural causes.
" The report was adopted.
Condor had been thirty-two years in the trade, and in
the last two or three years the decrease in the weight of bales
Coffee had augmented. lie moved a resolution in favour of
applying to the First Lord of the Treasury against the levying
of the duty on coffee at th= landing weight.
tt"The resolution was carried. and the committee was strength-
tri seral parties of influence in te trade, to give weight
PYePervesentation s to the governmenht.
sod t;i.kee Imeeting then adj."
and d.:en, therefore, you take for your model the docks
erf rehouses of London, do not consider them to be
tkeect. They are not, however, crammed with cotton,
tii.jours at Liverpool, nor as it is intended those at
• `"ehhead should be : and yet such is the caution of the
ins,ara nee-offices, that they will only take a very limited
; and it is a fact the truth of which you may easily
Eeertain, that a great part of the goods in the various
;Zion dock-warehouses is not covered at all.
Nr-ze,vg ant of classification at Liverpool is spoken of.
Ml am informed that the insurance regulations and
ti_e Fire Prevention Bill are not only obliging classifica-
v.un• but actually compelling the alteration of existing
-•arehouses.
acre Prospectus holds out that the floating dock of 150
the tidal bason or harbour of 37 acres, and the
of gel! see., are to be constructed by the Commissioners
tee.',Kenhead at an expense of £400,000. How the in-
% " of this outlay (which will probably be increase.d
tv„ell the ork comes to be paid for) is to be raise,d,
rated; nor is it for me to inquire. As the Crown
11„'..tY takes all the land they make, and as the tidal
d'e[ro,our will be non-productive, and will require a co
uagrle annual expense for sluicing and dredging, ma-
thaitn„ent, repairs of gates, locks, &c., I must assume
the interest will be paid by the ferry, the sale of
tveVniP land, or by a tax upon the population. Which-
ever may be the case, it is clear that £20,000 a-year for
,_ta
do ust be sunk upon forming a mere entrance to the
alga
4 for it is a i
bsurd to suppo dse that such a sum
ce can
doleePea 150 acres of pool, an convert that spanto
"• And yet the prospectus would lead one to sup-