The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-24 00:00:00

may remember, was a very strong one
stated by Mr. Hartley, that such increased accom-

It was

modation was urgent—as urgent as when he first
came to Liverpool, in 1824;—and when we look at
the vast increase of space which, since then, has
been covered with docks, and look at the admitted
fact that the trade of the port is now increasing i❑
a ratio equal with that of its past increase, such ur-
gency will readily be admitted by men whose minds
are not preoccupied by their own particular crotch-
ets. It is urged, in reply, by the editorial alder-
man, that the inconvenience now sustained by the
shipping trade would be obviated by the " simple
putting up," in the three southern docks, so con-
nected at present as to render it impossible to '6 let
dry" each separately, of dock gates in reverse—
an operation not quite so simple, perhaps, as Mr.
Evans supposes—and by the increased facility for
discharging, and the increased space afforded, when
the Albert Dock and his pet warehouses shall be
completed. We contend, on the contrary, that such
remedies are totally inadequate to the evil at present
existing; that giving Air. Evans the benefit of the
fullest realization of his hopes, with respect to the
working of his warehouse scheme, and his "simple

putting up" of transverse gates, to disconnect, when
required, the three southern docks, the additional
dock accommodation gained will barely carry us on
to the period at which the earliest portion of the
measures contended for by the majority of the Dock
Committee could be brought into operation. And
such, we need not say, is the opinion of nine prac-
tical men out of ten.

In corroboration, however, of this view of the
case, we have the return, just published, of the
number of days during which the flag has been
hoisted, to denote that our existing docks were
closed against the admission of shipping during the
past twelve months.

The Waterloo and Victoria have thus been closed 175 days.
The Prince's..
George's 302 „
Average of North Docks, 7 months and 27 days.

King's
Queen's . .
Union and Coburg
Tax teth
Average of South Docks, 3 months and 13 days
Brunswick, the only convenient timber dock

127 ~
113 „
137 „

251 „
42 „
25 „

Canning.. .
Salthouse .
Average of entire Docks, 4 months 26 days
Average, exclusive of Canning and Salthouse, 5 months
25 days.
This vast deficiency, and the inconvenience occa-
sioned by it, the completion of the docks now erect-
ing, and of the warehouses, can do no more than
make up for ; and we have therefore still to provide
for future demand for dock accommodation.

In what direction, then, are we to look for the
land required ? Mr. Evans contends for " the great
superiority which the Corporation land at the North
Shore possesses" over the Harrington property "for
dock and commercial purposes." Is that site, we
ask, superior to the South Shore, for the timber
trade, already established at that end of the town,
provided at a vast expense with the necessary offices
and yards, and having its principal dock filled for
eight months and eleven days out of the past twelve
months ? No man will assert either that the timber
trade does not require increased accommodation, or
that the removal of any portion of it to the North
Shore is advisable or practicable. Independently of
local advantages—of the trade being already esta-
blished in the south—the greater exposure of the
north to currents and tides, points out that as the
most unfavourable which could be selected.