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

DOCK COMMITTEE.

At the meeting of this body on Thursday, Mr. Nicol,
the deputy-chairman, presided. There were also present
sixteen other members. Mr. J. Bramley-Moore sent in
his resignation of the chairmanship of the committee, and
in doing so bade the members " an affectionate and grate-
ful farewell," thanked them " for the great kindness and
indulgence which he had received as their president, and
for the unbounded confidence always reposed in him,
which he could say conscientiously had never been abused."
The following passage from the letter is highly import-
ant:—

"When I accepted the important office of Dock Chairman, I
found the estate prosperous, and with a large surplus—a sur-
plus sufficient to enable you, with due regard to the bondhold-
ers, to make considerable reductions in the dues in 1844, and a
further reduction during the past year to • the amount of about
£40,000 per year. It is highly satisfactory for me, after a care-
ful examination of the accounts, to be able to state, that not-
withstanding these reductions in favour of the commerce of the
country, the estate exhibits a surplus of income over expendi-
ture of £35,761. In arriving at this result, the interest on the
entire bond debt, including the new north docks and purchases
at Wapping, is charged to the debtor side, and not added to
the capital. The tonnage inwards during the present official
year, as compared with the corresponding period of last year,
say from the 24th of June to this date, is also a gratifying cir-
cumstance, the increase being 26,371 tons.
On the motion of Mr. Molyneux, a vote of thanks was
passed to Mr. Moore " for the able and zealous manner
in which he has defended and promoted the interests of
the Dock Estate for a period of seven years, and his cour-
teous and impartial conduct in the chair during a period of
five- years." Mr.. Tobin, as the oldest member of the
board, seconded the motion, and said that no chairman
could have given more satisfaction than Mr. Moore. They
were very much obliged to him for all that he had done.
The various committees were then appointed. On the
Warehouse Management Committee, Messrs. Saunders,
Rankin, Bold, Henderson, Mann, and Molyneux were
proposed as members.—Mr. Aikin thought that if Mr.
Robinson were appointed on this committee, it would
save several thousands a year, as he was intimately ac-
quainted with warehouse management, and there were
warehouse-keepers in the town who had conducted a
much larger business than the committee had to manage,
at a tithe of the expense which it cost the committee.—
Several members thought that the appointment of Mr.
Robinson, when there was no vacancy, would imply a
vote of censure on the committee.—After some further
discussion, the committee was appointed, without inclu-
ding Mr. Robinson,—Mr. Mann first observing that
these warehouses were a novelty in Liverpool, and the
committee had to contend with many great difficulties,
and against the opposition of almost the whole town in
the management of them. Let a man be ever so conver-
sant with the up-town warehouses, he was as a child
when he came to these warehouses, and he had to unlearn
much that would be beneficial in the management of
other warehouses. The expense of management had been
vastly increased in consequence of the opposition they had
to contend with from the warehouse-owners, the land-
owners, the merchants, the brokers, the warehousemen,
the carters, and every individual. The sub-committee
had been watched with a lynx eye; and if by any possibi-
lity an error was detected, then came a claim against the
dock estate. He thought it would be hardly right that
any alteration should take place at present. Up to three
months non the total average cost on goods was 151 d. per
ton, LI the last three months the cost had been
reduced to ton, and they had great hopes—indeed
a certainty----of I%;.sn.:ng it considerably still; therefore,
the present committee ought to have the credit for any
thing that occurred in the cheapening of the charges.