The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-06-10 00:00:00

WATER, AS SUPPLIED TO LIVERPOOL;
A SECOND PAMPHLET, BY HARMOOD BANNER, ESQ•

This is another appeal to public opinion from the pen of
the Chairman of the Liverpooland HarringtonWaterWorks
Company, in reply to a letter addressed that gentleman by
Mr. Samuel Holme. Both parties have already appeared
as antagonists before the public, on the same subject ; and
although it would require much time and study to enable
us to form a precise decision on the statements they re-
spectively furnish, or the arguments they thence deduce—
and both are probably on some points in error—a hasty
perusal of the pages before us leaves an impression upon
our mind—supposing the data furnished to be correct—
that Mr. Holme has hazarded one or two assertions which
here meet with statistical facts which it will require con-
siderable expertness so to deal with as to enable him fully
to maintain his former grounds on the particular points
we allude to. We shall not, however, on so complicated
a topic, venture to pronounce a positive opinion of our own,
so as to prejudge the case. The question is undoubtedly
in able hands, and the public at large are the proper
judges. Nor do we attach the slightest blame to either
party for taking the field. That there bas been a general
and not groundless complaint of a deficient supply of wa-
ter from the two companies' works, especially in cases of
fires, and that the prices charged for the article for do-
mestic use have been considered high as compared with
the charges made in some other localities, will admit of no
denial; and it became perfectly legitimate in Mr. Holme
on the one hand to take up the matter on behalf of the
consumers, and the mercantile interests of the town ; and,
on the other, in Mr. Banner to defend to the best of his
ability, and with the mans which his experience placed in
his hands, the companies (one of which he especially re-
presents) from any undue imputation, or assumption of
neglect or culpability, not in his opinion borne out by the
evidence. We wish, however, that both parties bad come
to the contest imbued with a little more of the suaviter in
motto, and had not indulged in personal reflections, and
somewhat unseemly epithets, which never yet served a
good cause or bettered a bad one ; and had hoped that
after the first heat of controversy these would have been
dropped, and the time sacrificed in concocting them been
applied to the clearer elucidation of the argument. In
this respect, if we remember aright, Mr. Banner was first
conspicuous, and provoked a return of the fire, with per-
haps a modicum of interest. Here at least it should have
ended ; but we regret to remark that he has not aban-
doned his offensive attitude, and we shall in all probabi-
lity have to endure the sounds of a counter volley from
the other side, which will be nothing welcome, albeit we
cannot ourselves he wounded by the pellets. In the book
before us Mr. Holum is charged with " an intensity of
resentment," " a torrent of declamation," " rambling
calculations based only on supposition," " fallacies,"
" strains of bathos," " insulting trash," and the like ; and
in one place it is even stated that Mr. H. " basely im-
putes" such and such conduct to the Cornt any, &c.
Would that gentlemen, in addressing themselves to the
public, would remember that that public is sufficiently
philosophical to have long since discovered, that in the
moral as well as in the physical world there may be a great
deal of heat without any light.
Mr. Banner complains of a misrepresentation of his
argument by his antagonist, as to the abundant and the
timely supply of water at fires, the latter implying that
Mr. B. did not consider an abundant supply necessary or
impartant, but merely an early supply ; whereas he bad
all along advocated, and so far back as 1823 had called the
attention of leading and influential parties to the subject,
with the hope of accomplishing " an early and abundant
supply." lie next combats Mr. H.'s opinion against the
utility of tanks to insure a ready supply for the extinguish-
ment of fire, and, in addition to argument, quotes, in their
behalf, the authority of Mr. Stewart before the parlia-
mentary committee. But for tanks in Manchester much
valuable property would have been destroyed. The water
companies, he also states, in place of not acting up to
their acts of parliament, " have gone far beyond them :
supplies of water for days, weeks, and months having been
given for salvage purposes, though the salvors had no
claim, at an enormous cost to the companies, without
compensation." Mr. H. is wrong too in stating that the
act required the mains to be always full at night ;"
whereas, the words were, to be left full at night, which
was always done; and it would be an impossibility to
keep them quite full, as shown by the evidence of Mr.
Thompson. Mr. H.'s assertion (which he declares he
will not retract) that there is no limit whatever which
the company can charge for every purpose except for
dwelling-houses, shops, and shipping, is next disposed of
in a manner apparently showing that he had hazarded an
erroneous statement. The writer enters largely into the
question of price, supporting his former position that the
principle fixed by parliament of charging the water ac-
cording to household rent, is, in effect, compelling the
rich man to assist in providing a cheaper supply to his
poorer neighbour. On the question of furnishing water
to charitable institutions, he considers Mr. [L's expres-
sions and opinion, that it should be given for nothing,
" illiberal and unjust." " Proprietors of water works
are, (he says,) according to their ability, contributors to
the public charities as well as he. It the company to
which they belong subscribe, they again become contri-
butors, and there can be no reasonable ground for ex-
pecting that they should sell the commodity in
which they deal without fair remuneration, any more than
any other dealer in another commodity." In order to
show that no article of necessity is supplied half so cheaply
to these institutions as water, he supplies a table showing
the charge for water to eleven of our principal charities—
total, £53 15s. ; and the annual subscriptions of the com-
pany to those charities—total, £47 ss. Od. ; so that it ap-
pears that the entire cost of water to them all is but
X 6 10s. per annum. With respect to the want of taps in
some courts, that is the fault of the landlords; and Mr.
H. is called upon to give the name of the poor woman in
a cellar who was said to pay 3d. a week for water,
and also all the " other instan.vs," stated in generalities;
for, (says our author,) "on beh ilf of the water company
I represent, I invite them, I entreat for them, I challenge
complete investigation : the aggrieved are entitled to re-
lief. and the directors are anxious to afford it."

The gist of the pamphlet is the reply to Mr. Holme's
statement as to the price of water in other towns. On
this point, (says our author,) " Mr. Holme quotes me as
follows :—' You say the charge for water in Liverpool is
not so highly rated as in other places ;' and he adds,
' Here again you are wrong; I could give you instances
where towns are supplied at a cheaper rate than Liverpool,
but I prefer to give you the evidence of one whom you
will not venture to contradict, namely, Mr. Thom, of
Bothsay. He says, at Campbelltown a family of five
individuals will be supplied for one shilling and fourpence
per annum ; at Ayr. for two shillings and twopence ; at
Paisley, it is two shillings and ninepence ; in Greenock, I
think it is two shillings and sixpence.'
" For the specific and tangible I am thankful, but I
complain of the indefinite. ' I could give instances,' has
an extensive meaning. It not only declares the certainty
of such instances existing, but it is designed to convey the
implication that in a majority of towns water is supplied
at a cheaper rate than in Liverpool. Indeed Mr. Holme
has before declared it ; yet the only proof he offers is this
evidence of Mr. Thom. Before I dispose of this, let me
premise that Mr. Holme had a great deal of testimony on
this point before him as well as Mr. Thom's. He strongly
recommends my perusal of the volumes of evidence pub-
lished by the Commissioners of Sanatory Inquiry. I have
a right to assume, therefore, that he has lead them tho-
roughly. Indeed he has frequently appe led to, and
quoted from them. And yet, containing as they do nu-
merous instances of the charges made for water by other
water companies, ready to his hand, he has suppressed
them, and confined himself to this solitary selection. The
cases suppressed being generally against the position he
was contending for, I will leave comment upon their ex-
clusion to the reader. But it becomes my duty to supply
the deficiency, and they wi.l be found in the following ta-
bles, with some others a hie') 1 have been able to procure.
The result will show that in Liverpool the charge for wa-
ter is less, to the lower orders especially; than in most
other places. And now, to test the accuracy of Mr.
Holme in stating this instance of cheap water, in the
places named, -upon the evidence of Mr. Thom. The fact
is, the evidence quoted is not at all as to the charge for
water by the companies. It is only as to the cost of Mr.
Thom's machinery, or mode of supply, if applied by him
to small towns, and he enumerates these situations where
such would probably be the cost. It is merely hypo-
thetical."
After some further remarks on the manner in which
Mr. Holme has given some of the evidence on this point,
and excluded other parts that bore against himself, Mr.
Banner furnishes a table of charges in many of the princi-
pal towns in England and Scotland, with the amount re-
quired respectively per annum on given rents from the
lowest to the highest ; and from this it certainly appears
that while some are lower than the charges at Liverpool,
others of them are much higher, and others about the
same. We have no means of ascertaining, however, the
facilities, as compared with Liverpool, in procuring and
conveying water to the inhabitants of these respective
towns; and if Preston, for instance, be taken as an ex-
ample, in which lOs a-year is charged on cottages under
Lit) value per annum, no criterion is afforded, inasmuch
as the water company there is a complete monopoly, and
the inhabitants, who complain of exorbitant charges, are
taking steps to procure a large reduction. Towards the
close of his remarks he says—
" I have no objection to have my pamphlets placed side
by side, and reau page by page, with Mr. Holme's reports
and letter, as they affect the Liverpool and Harrington
Water Works Company ; and am content to leave them
to the disinterested judgment of those who honour them
with their perusal."
Mr. B. states that Mr. Holme boasts of having the
public press with him, and against water companies, and
adds—" of this disadvantage (to myself) I am aware ; and
the feeling was signally exhibited in some of the papers
on the appearance of his letter. Copious extracts from it
were promptly inserted, several in different parts of the
same paper, on the same day. There had been no ex-
tracts of portions of the pamphlet to which Mr. Holme
was replying. so that both aides might, be seen and under-
stood." With reference to this remark, we trust Mr.
Banner does not include the Standard, in which his
work was noticed at some length in, to our thinking, a
spirit of candour and fairness—extracts being given, and
the heads of the contents supplied as closely in accordance
with our perception of the author's views and meaning as
could be furnished by a synopsis, to which our limited
space necessarily constrained us. Our author concludes
in these words.--
" Looking to the immense population, the consequent
number or dwellings and other premises to be served, the
demands of the shipping along the distant range of docks,
the mode and cost of obtaining and raising water, and of
distributing it through the vast space over which the works
of the company necessarily extend ; they, who will duly
appreciate these considerations, may ascertain, by com-
parison, that the inhabitants of Liverpool are as well and
cheaply supplied as in most places in her Majesty's do-
minions."