The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-04-02 00:00:00

should the trail

ed to Birkenhead.' The owne;shi

.......“. •. a. vs vi..nioGU 1.1../ UCVULC ior tine
-,.,,,cage- storage of timber, is divided amongst a number of
,us get rid of an parties, some of whom have purchased their lots at
eole to the charge of high prices, for which, of course, they expect to he
triunity from local remunerated. The Crown, Mr. Rendel stated in his
-
4 for by parties evidence, has a portion of the frontage. The Dock
Company have a large slice of the best portion of
it, amounting altogether to 90 acres, purchased
from the parties who originally purchased from the
Liverpool Corporation, which Mr. Rendel says,—
" I am almost afraid to name the amount, between
£400,000 and £500,000. They have also purchased
from other parties, making the whole quantity held
by them about 110 acres. The frontage on the
Seacombe side is in private hands. Can it be ex-
pected that either the Dock Company or the other
owners will hesitate to extort from the trade the
,ho are reany enone_ utmost rent so soon as ever it is placed in their
,
---1--• would p 4 Power ? It was urged, however, that further up the
_ I pool is a large quantity of land, let at present for
agricultural purposes at £2 an acre, which the
owners would be glad to let for timber storage at
-d. per yard. The fact, however, is clear, that the
most convenient sites for the trade will be high-
priced ; and few amongst them, we fancy, would
desire greatly to avail themselves of the remaining
marsh land, of which Mr. Rendel talked so glibly.
.ii to I
1 And now a word about the alleged danger to
.-ith a view shipping, and especially to our ferry steamers, to
arise from the transport of the timber going to
..,
in opposition to some Runcorn by water conveyance. At present the
't are merged agai :me, quantity is stated at 75 per cent. of the whole that
essions _ is forwarded to the interior. In the first place,
however, we may with great confidence predict that
rative advantages of docks at the north over those
at the south end of the town, and the competing this quantity will be materially lessened after the
l
Birkenhead scheme, attention has been too exclu-
ocality of the trade shall have become changed.
U
sively directed to the mere saving in the cost of Up to within the last two or three years, parties
discharging, piling, and rent, labour, &c. Great, had scarcely any option, owing to the want of
a
however, as that saving is certain to be—and we adequate facilities at the Wapping Station. Mr.
contend that it will be sufficient to enable Liverpool Smith, in his evidence, says that "the Railway Sta-
to engross nearly the whole of the supply of the tion at Wapping does not afford the facility that they
kingdom—there are other very important facts required ; and timber being an article which in the
which will materially increase the advantages pre- least profitable to carriers, as a matter of course is
viously pointed out. And first we shall refer to the the most neglected ; and such has been the diffi-
timber required for our own local consumption. It culty occasionally of getting timber by the railway,
was stated in evidence upon the Dock Bill in 1848, from the press of goods, which they preferred
Mr. Bramley Moore, that the consumption of taking, that we have had the team keepers
-pool itself was nearly 50,000 tons,
.or rather strike from the delay. * * * 4, I have known
,re than one-sixth of the entire import; and, in them detained four hours, and the team-keepers
reply to a question as to the most convenient local-
have positively struck on three occasions, not to
ity from which such supply could be afforded, that send timber by the railway at all." In future,
"he should he inclined to say it is most convenient however, we shall have the London and North
Western, the Lancashire and Yorkshire, the Liver-
at the north end of the town ; first, for this reason,
pool and Bury, and the canal, all connected
the south end of the town is principally built over,
and covered with houses; and at the north end with our timber docks and yarde, and competing
there is a great deal of vacant ground which will with each other for the carriage to the interior. As
,
in the course of a very short time, be also covered to the danger to accrue by the transport in floats
with houses; therefore if houses are to be erected of the quantity which will still have to be conveyed
there will be a great consumption in the town so up the river, it was admitted by the. most compe-
far as building is concerned, and it would be nearer tent of the witnesses examined on the .bill, that
the point of consumption at the north." In reply that they could be towed up without danger at the
to another question, the witness noticed the incon- young flood, when little shipping is moving in
venience of access from the yards at the south to the river; and, with respect to the danger to
saw-mills, for the erection of which there would be ferry steamers, the floating of timber from Bir-
ample space at the north. The cartage, too, through i kenhead to this side would be more dangerous
the centre of the town, or along the docks, which than that represented as likely to occur on this
must take place should the timber trade be permit- side. It should be borne in mind too that, by the
ted to remain at the south end, would be in a very detention of the large timber ships at the north of
great measure got rid of. With respect to the posi-
the Estate, the river opposite our principal docks
tion of our local consumers, in case of the bulk of would be rendered much clearer of obstruction

hich renders

stry assembled,

upon the

as to the compa

the stock beng located at Birkenhead, we conceive
that it would be perfectly intolerable. For our
builders and retail dealers to have to cross to
Cheshire for their supply would be regarded as a
grievance of no light character; and the continual
transport of that supply across the river would be
a nuisance, and tend to endanger the navigation.
Moreover, so far as the question of the local supply
concerned, the disadvantage to con-

We must here pause. Next week, hoverer, we
shall probably return to the subject, and trust to
1?e enabled to shew to our friends at the south end
of the town that, although for a short time the
removal of the bulk of the trade to the north may
create inconvenience and loss, they will ultimately
be benefitted by the change.

of Liverpool

ONE of the most disgusting pieces of political
time-serv;ng and hypocrisy that we ever remember
to have observed, was that exhibited in the House
of Commons on Tuesday evening week, in the de-
bate upon Mr. Hutt's motion for the withdrawal
of the African squadron. For the first time since
the days of the Commonwealth, and in a reformed
Parliament, too (!), we had exhibited to us the
spectacle of a majority of 232 members sitting sul-
kily upon the ministerial benches, ready, like beaten
hounds, to obey their master, and to record at his
bidding an opinion to which most of them in their
consciences objected. Openly, glaringly, this was
done. It was known to every man who witnessed
the proceedings of that night—to the loungers in
the lobbies, and tile very door-keepers in the house,
—that, of the poor cowed creatures sitting at the
back of the Treasury benches, with all the pomp of
station, and the pretence of deliberation, not one in
ten was permitted to have a will of his own upon
the subject under discussion ; that they had, on
that very morning, been lectured and threatened by
the minister with his severe displeasure in case of
their presuming to think or speak for themselves;
that, in a word, they were as completely his—chat-
tels, goods, things—as the tables and chairs in his
house in Chesham-place, whence they had just
come, after submitting their necks to bondage.
Happily, we have not been left to imagine this
scene, so humiliating and disgraceful to Whiggery.
A graphic description of it is given in a letter in the
London Times, by a member who was present on
the occasion, and to which we alluded last week.
With a few honourable exceptions, these in-
tensely-disgusted gentlemen managed quietly to
swallow their feelings—to eat their leek--and, were

sumers would be very materially increased by the

distance, inland, of the locality in which it is pre-
sumea the stock would be located, and the large
area over which it would be spread. Mr. Bendel,
the engineer of the Birkenhead works, in his evi-
dence given'on the North Docks' Bill, not only
contemplated the extension of the stock of floated
timber as far as Poulton Bridge, but even to inun-
date the marsh lands above for the purpose. The
task of making a proper selection at such a distance
and in such a rough locality, and of bringing it
over to Liverpool, would be no small joke !
With respect to the comparative advantages of
the north over the existing locality of the timber
trade, so far as regards the cost of its transmission
to the manufacturing districts of Lancashire and
Yorkshire, a very striking fact was urged by Mr.
Bramlev-Moore, and confirmed by Mr. Rankin
and Mr. James Smith. Of the timber at present
forwarded to these districts, it was estimated that

75 per cent. at present is forwarded up the river,
and 25 per cent. by railway and the Leeds and
Liverpool Canal. In cartage alone to the terminus of
the Canal station, in Old Hall-street, the cost to the
trade is put down at £60,000 per annum, an amount
which in five years would pay for the entire north
docks. The per centage, Mr. Smith informed the
committee on thebill,was 3- per cent. upon the,piece
of colonial timber. We have already referred to the
saving in cartage which would accrue by the canal
being brought into connexion with the timber
yards and floats at the north, a saving which would
be shared by the ratepayers of the town, in the re-
duced wear and tear of their highways ; and there
would be an equal saving in the cartage of the sup-