The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-12-24 00:00:00

PROPOSED DOCKS IN TRANNIERE POOL.

In another part of the paper we present to our readers a
typographic plan of the new dock proposed to be formed
upon the site of Tranmere POol. Its main features will
require little description at our hands. The entrance, it
will be seen, is through a gut 70 feet wide, with double
gates, the silts .of which will be sunk nine feet below the
Old Dock sill, and which will afford ingress and egress
to the largest of our sea-going steamers. On the south
side of the gut is a quay of 100 feet in width running round
the east end of the dock and about two-thirds the length
of its south side, upon which it abuts upon the present
Tranmere slip, which, with that of Birkenhead, will be
left untouched. The projecting gut on the north side of
the dock covers the site of the canal now forming by Mr.
Gilbertson ; and the west side affords space for additional
quays. building yards, or dry docks, as may be found most
desirable. The total water space afforded is 11 acres 1980
yards, in addition to which the open basin at the mouth
of the gut is proposed to be deepened to 9 feet below
the Old Dock sill. Two other plins have been lodged
by the projector of the scheme, Mr. Chamberlain, vary-
ing in details and form ; but that which we have given is,
we believe, the plan which meets with preference. The
estimated expense, we learn, is somewhere about £60,000,
and the engineer is Mr. John Hartley, son of the dock
surveyor of this port.
It will be observed, by the report of the proceedings of
the dock committee, on Thursday last, that the whole of
these plans have been submitted to their inspection ; and
that without pledging themselves with respect to the
course to be adopted towards them, they evidently regard
the project with no disfavour. On the other hand, looking
at the valuable property, possessed by the corporation on
the north side of the pool, including the Birkenhead Ferry
and estate, that body cannot look upon a project, whose
success must tend materially to increase the value of such
property, with a hostile eye. It is probable, therefore,
that no material local objection will be offered before par-
liament, provided, however, that the scheme can be car-
ried out without abstracting any portion of the tidal water
at present discharged from the pool, on which ground
the dock committee, last session of parliament, based
principally their opposition to the Wallasey plans. It is
said, we know not with what degree of truth, that the
acting conservator of the river, on the part of the admi-
ralty, has set his face against the scheme, being of opinion
that the volume of water held by the pool in its present
state cannot be furnished. This, ho•vever, is a question
of practical engineering which we should think could
easily be got over, when the now greatly reduced capacity
of the pool is considered. _ _

It has occurred to us, and we dare say will suggest itself
to many, that a scheme so feasible in its details, and so
comparatively inexpensive, ought not to be allowed by the
authorities of Liverpool to pass entirely out of their
hands ; and th.,t they ought rather to become parties to
its construction than to oppose it. We suggest this, not
solely because of the operation which its success must
have upon the value of their extensive estate in its neigh-
bourhood, but as calculated in itself to be of great utility
to the general trade of the port, whilst it cannot be re-
garded as calculated to damage the interests of the docks
of Liverpool. It may be argued that this would be a
course full of inconsistency, after the opposition offered
to the Wallasey Docks. We do not think that the pub-
lic at large, or the shipowners and merchants of the port,
will regard it as such. There is no great danger here of
any serious diminution of the tidal waters and consequent
decreased action upon the banks outside. There is no
extensive beaching ground abstracted from the shipping
of the river; and rather than regard the adoption of this
project by the dock committee as an inconsistency, we
much question if three-fourths of the intelligent public
have not for years past been directing their attention to
this particular locality as the spot on which docks on the
Cheshire side of the Mersey should be erected, if required
at all. We leave this matter for better judgments than
our own to decide upon.

MESSENGERS OF THE:COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Sin,—A letter signed "A Solicitor" has appeared in
the Liverpool Mail and Courier, stating that the mes-
sengers of the Court of Bankruptcy exact the enormous
sum of £3 l4s. in every insolvent case, for advertisements
alone.

Mr. Green, a solicitor practising in insolvency, having
acknowledged to my solicitor that he is the author, I
shall feel obliged by your doing me the justice to insert
the following items of a messenger's bill, so that the pub-
lic may judge between us, and so dispense with my giving
the unpleasant denial in more direct terms. If truth
travelled as rapidly as fiction, I would not have tres-
passed on your valuable columns.

MESSENGER'S BILL IN INSOLVENCY.
INTERIM ORDER.