The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-10 00:00:00

TOWN COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS.

On Wednesday the usual monthly meeting of the coun-
cil was held in the Town-hall.
PURCHASE OF NEWSHAM-HOUSE ESTATE,
The proceedings of the Finance Committee comprised
recommendations to purchase the Newsham-house Es-
tate ; to allow Mr. Francis Venu the salary of £lOO per
annum, in respect of his office of Sergeant-at-Mace; to
increase the salary of the clerks in the Town Dues Office,
as follows :
__

Mr. Ellis
Mr. M'Naughten from £135 to £l7O per annum.
Mr. Kaye from £lOO to £125 per annum.
and to appoint an additional clerk at a salary of £lOO per
annum. _ .

Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE, in moving the confirmation of
the proceedings, referred particularly to the proposed pur-
chase of the Newsham-house Estate. He said it con-
sisted of 260 statute acres, of which about 240 or therea-
bouts lay contiguous to each—not exactly in a ring fence,
for a road separated it in one part. It was distant about
100 yards from the municipal boundary, and it was about
two miles from the Town-hall. Added to this, there
were 16 or 17' acres situated almost in the village of West
Derby. So large an extent of acreage had not been offered
for sale for a long time, and the opportunity might never
present itself again. The debt of the corporation was now
about £550,000, but they were about to receive a large
sum for the sale of their land in Great Howard-street to
the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, and
with that sum he proposed to purchase the estate in ques-
tion. He admitted that it would be advisable to make
improvements in the town, but still he thought that the
propriety and policy of the purchase were based upon
strong grounds. He wished the council to consider the
matter in the light of an investment. The price to be
given was £85,000, and £2,000 more tolenable that portion
of the property which was copyhold to be enfranchised
and made freehold. The rent would be about £1,700. He
had no fears of the property. He believed the price of
the land would increase. When he considered the ad-
vancement of Liverpool—the density of its population—
the abandonment of cellar occupation, and the great in-
crease in the number of new houses, 15,000 having been
built in the course of a few years, he thought they might
embark in the present adventure with every likelihood of
success. As to the policy of the thing, there were differ-
ences of opinion amongst his colleagues on the Finance
Committee, but as to the reasonableness of the price there
were no differences. He had every confidence in the wis-
dom of the present Council. He should be much disap-
pointed if they refused to purchase and manage the pro-
perty with enlarged and liberal views, bearing in mind
that the financial interests of the council would not be
frittered away, and that the interests which involved the
health, happiness, and mor.lity of the community ought
not to be disregarded.

Nicol thought the money might be laid out a great
deal more advantageously by making improvements in tte
town. The proposal was to lock up a large amount of
money, to realize a very small per centum by it, and, as it
seemed to him, to hold out nothing in the shape of bene-
fit to the inhabitants.

Several gentlemen spoke as to the propriety of the pur-
chase. Mr. EVANS observing that it was an estate which
would cost at the rate of £335 an acre, and only Is. 41d.
a yard, and that within two miles of the Town-hall. All
he could say was, that if he had the money he should be
happy to give £25 per cent. on the purchase. It was one
of the happiest and best windfalls which had been offered
to the town for some time, and there could be no reason-
able objection against it.
Some discussion followed upon the propriety of widen-
ing Berry-street, and making various other improvements
in t ,e principal thoroughfares upon some general plan,
after which the purchase of the Newsham-house Estate
was agreed to, and the whole of the proceedings were con-
firmed.

A. note was read from Mr. Abbott, of the Town-hall,
requesting to be permitted to withdraw his notice of resig-
nation, and his request was complied with.

LORD LINCOLN'S BILL

The sub-committee of the Watch and Health of the
Town CJM mittees on Lord Lincoln's hill and the bill of
the council reported that the former embraces the follow.
ing subjects :-
1. Paving and supervision of streets, including restric-
tions on the mode of laving out new streets.
2. Public sewerage and effectual drainage of houses by
their owners.
3. Scavenging and watering streets.
4. Supply of water for cleansine sewers, streets, &c.,
for domestic use, and for extinguishing fires, with
provision., for establishing A fire police.
5. The appointment of a medical officer of health, an
inspector of nuisances, the suppression of nuisancL s,
registering of lodging-houses, &c. _ _ _

As stated in the fo—rmer report, several of the powers
which Lord's Lincoln's bill proposes to vest in the Com-
missioners to be elected under it, are in this borough n.,sv
exercised by different bodies. The Commissioners for
better Paving and Sewering of the town have the control
of the pavements within the parish of Liverpool, which
are vested in them, whilst the soil and freehold belong to
the corporation ; the Commissioners water the streets,
and the council cleanse them ; the powers of the Commis-
sioners for Sewering are confined to the parish of Liver-
pool, whilst Everton, Kirkdale, and the part of West
Derby within the borough, and now becoming very popu-
lous, are entirely without provision for sewerage; and
though the council have power to cleanse the streets in
these townships, they cannot raise any rate for that pur-
pose. The most populous part of Toxteth-park, though
forming part of the borough, has its own commissioners
for sewering, paving, &c., whilst the council have power
to cleanse, though they cannot raise a rate; the Health
Committee of the Council can enforce drainago in courts
throughout the borough, but have no control over the
main sewers; and the Commissioners for Paving in Li-
verpool have now to supply water for extinguishing fires,
whilst t e control and management of the Fire police is
with the Watch Committee of the Council.

The reports of the Commissioners for inquiring into the
state of large towns, strongly urge the importance of these
various duties being combined uhder one management,
and Lord Lincoln's bill, which appears to be based on the
recommendations of those commissioners, adopts that
principle in its provisions. . _

•
The principle of one governing bNly for all municipal
purposes appears in the Municipal Act, by which it is pro-
vided that the trustees under any local rct for paving,
lighting, cleansing, watching, supplying with water, and
improving any borough, or part thereof, may transfer
their powers to the Council; and under this provision,
the Commissioners for watching and lighting the town
did, in the year 1836, transfer their powers to, and they
are now exercised by the council.
And, independently of their concurrence with this view
as a great principle, the sub-committee are of opinion
that many practical inconveniences have arisen, and should
the same system continue, will still arise in this borough,
from the want of uniformity of action, which can only be
secured by combined management.
The council having, on the 29th of October last, affirm-
ed this view by adopting the report then laid before them,
notice of intention to apply to Parliament for a bill was
published by the Town-clerk, in the local papers, on the
7th November, such notice specifying the intention to re-
peal, alter, or amend the provisions of all the existing acts
of the Commissioners for paving. &c. in Liverpool, and so
much of the act of the Toxteth-park Commissioners as re-
lates to the borough ; and to vest all those powers in the
Council, with such additional powers as are necessary to
enable the Council to frame, for this borough, a local bill,
on the plan of Lord Lincoln's public bill,..substituting the
council for the Commissioners proposed under that bill
and thereby avoiding the inconvenience of further elec-
tions, and the expense of separate establishments.

The Sub-committee then go on to refer to what the
Toxteth•park Commissioners, the township of West
Derby, the Harrington Water Company, and other public
bodies have been doing with respect to local affairs, and
they conclude as follows
`• " The Sub•comm'ttf'e have not been unmindful of the
importance of an adequate supply of water for cleansing
and fire-police purposes, and for domestic use, and they
refer to the report on this subject, unanimously adopted
by the Council on the 29th of October last.

But they are of opinion that the subjects of water
supply and drainage should be taken together, and that
the interests of the public would only be effectually secu-
red by adhering in t hi• particular also to the plan of Lord
Lincoln's Bill. In that bill it is proposed that an inquiry
should be instituted as to the existi ig supplies of water,
and that the best plan of increasing the same, how far any
existing companies are able and willing to extend their
supplies, and what streams and supplies of water would be
available by the enlargement of existing or by the con-
struction of new works. Such an inquiry, carefully con-
ducted and maturely considered, by able and scientific
persons having their attention specially directed to the
combined objects of drainage and water supply appears to
your sr.b-coilitnittees to be a necessary step previous to
the adoption of a plan sufficiently comprehensive to se-
cure both objects on a scale commensurate with the re-
quirements of this borough, and as the report of the
Health Committee on the supply of water was only
affirmed by the Council on the 20th of October last, there
was not in their judgment sufficient time for such a sur-
vey anti examination as would haveadmitted of a matured
and well digested plan being laid before Parliament in the
present session. Your sub-committee therefore abstained
from attempting in the present bill to obtain powers to
construct new works, which, upon such further consider-
ation by competent persons, might, after the expenditure
of large sums of money, have proved insufficient for the
required purposes. But provisions will be found In the
hilt to be submitted to the Council, under which the sup-
ply of water to the inhabitants, and especially to the poor,
may be rendered, even under existing circumstances, much
more effic'ent than it has hitherto been.

" In conclusion, your sub-committees, representing two
of the most important committees of the council, are
strongly of opinion, upon mature consideration, that
should the proposed bill of the commissioners be passed,
and the operation of Lord Lincoln's bill within the bo-
rough be thereby prevented, most of the evils now expe-
rienced from the existence of two public bodies for muni-
cipal purposes will still continue; and your sub-commit-
tees recommend that power should be obtained from the
Council to nroceed with the bill which has been prepared
—the several clauses being submitted to the Council for
their approval, previous to going before a committee of
the House of Commons on the bill."
A long discussion followed the reading of this report.
Mr. Kaye. Mr. Aspinall, aad Mr. Proctor spoke in fa-
vour of allowing the powers to be vested in the Highway
Board, on the ground, generally, that that board was
quite competent to discharge its duties, and that if the
management of all local interests were concentrated in the
council there would be a very considerable difficulty in
making quorums on all occasions. They said, moreover,
that they were willing to abide the issue of an appeal to
the rate-payers.
Mr. Tinne, Mr. Higgins, and Mr. Earle were in favour
of concentrating all interests in the Council ; and even-
tually their report was adopted.