The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-01-07 00:00:00

COMMISSIONERS OF PILOTS

The following forty-one members of the council were
appointed as commissioners to carry into execution the
local act for the better regulation of pilots :—The Mayor,
Messrs. Sands, Horsfall, Leigh, Procter, Moore, Hough-
ton, sen., Bushby, Swainson, Hodgson, Henderson,
Mann, Bushell, Turner, Harbord, Griffiths, Lloyd, Ath-
erton, Kilshaw, Molyneux, Sothern, Rigby, Royden,
Chalmer, Blundell, Glazebrook, J. Holmes, Booker, G.
H. Lawrence, Middleton, Toulmin, Thornhill, G. G.
Hornby. Pemberton, Shaw, Plumpton, Lace, Sheppard,
Blackburn, and Aspirinll.

.
ASPINALL moved the confirmation of the proceed-
ings, and laid the plans for the new baths and wash-houses
on the table. He remarked that the washing tubs were
increased in size, and that additional laundries had been
ordered for the ladies who talked so much and made such
a noise that they were obliged to be separated. (Laughter)
In all the corporation leases there was a distinct agree-
ment that there should be no cellar habitations, and
where this covenant had been broken, the Town-Clerk
was authorised to proceed against the parties.
FINANCE COMMITTEE—THE SURPLUS FUND. CORONER'S ACCOUNTS.
The Finance Committee estimated the income for next The Coroner's accounts, amounting to £9O 13s. 3d.,
year at £132,000, and their outlay at £119,276, leaving a were referred to the Finance Committee.
gross surplus of £12,824. They calculated upon a further THE WATCH RATES.
outlay for the schools, &c. to the extent of £2,042, which The Watch Committee were authorised to take the ne-
would leave a nett surplus of £10,782. Out of this sur- cessary proceedings preparatory to laying the annual watch
plus they proposed to devote .£4OOO towards the erection rate.
of the new baths, and 500 to the completion of the Obser- Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE complained that however much
vatory ; and they reported that the new Assize Courts the borough might increase in extent and population, they
arid St. George's Hall would absorb the whole of the ba- were prevented from laying a heavier rate than existed for
lance. They further reported that an organ, which it seven years prior to the passing of the municipal act. He
would take three years to build, would be required for the also complained that there were heavy arrears due to the
hail, and that it would necessarily cost a large sum ; and council, and that the parish, and particularly the out-
they concluded by stating that the greatest economy was townships, were great defaulters. Toxteth-park was in
necessary, with a view to the beneficial management of arrear to the amount of nearly £2,000
the estate.

AUDIT COMMISSIONERS.
The Mayor and Messrs. Sands and Thornhill were ap-
pointed as auditors under the Pilots' Act.

TEMPERANCE

Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE moved the confirmation of the
proceedings. He said their confirmation involved the ac-
quiescence of the council in the report of the sub-com-
mittee of Finance, and enabled him to ask them to appro-
priate their supposed surplus. £10,782 for the benefit of
the inhabitants and the improvement of the borough.
They could not do better than follow out the course of
.
ea. predecessors in devoting the first fruits of their in-
c charities of the town by subscribing to

A letter from Colonel Williams, on the subject of tem-
perance, which was headed " Intelligence by the Great
Western," was read, and ordered to lie on the table.
Mr. Timms remar,Poi, that although the consumption
of spirits was decrehlng, the consumption of opium was
increasing.

come to the publ
the

Dispensaries
Northern Hospital
Southern Hospital..
Opthalmic Institution
Refuge for the Destitute
Botanic Garden
Royal Institution ......
Ladies' Charity .

£157 0 0
100 0 0
100 0 0
30 0 0
25 0 0
100 0 0
100 0 0
30 0 0

The proceedings were confirmed, and a recommenda-
tion for the increase of the salary of Samuel B. Parry,
draftsman to the Surveyor's Department, from £lOO to
£l5O per annum, was ordered to stand over until the next

meeting.

..:H COMiIITTEI

-STREET-SWEEPING MACHINES

The Watch Committee reported that their attention
having been called to a letter published by Mr. Miller,
the late Head Constable. in the Mercury, they resolved
not to reply to the misstatements therein contained, but
merely to observe, that the course adopted with reference
to the late Head Constable had proceeded from that com-
mittee, and that the Mayor had taken no part in the mat-
ter further than to express the opinions of his colleagues.
—They recommended a gratuity of £lO, and a payment
of 10s. a week to Mrs. Fairclough, the widow of the po-
lice-officer of that name who was recently murdered in the
Park ; and they also recommended the purchase of fifteen
additional street-sweeping machines.
Mr. HonosoN moved the confirmation of the proceed-
ings, and the appointment of Inspector Henry Morley as
beadle of the parish,

_
Mr. NORTH said there was one part of the proceedings
"A heard with very great regret, and which he
-ndeavour, if nobody else would, to pre-

should certainiN
rail or
solutic

n the council not to confirm

He alluded to the re

orderit

street-sweeping machines.

He would not

bstract reasoning on the sub-
ject of machinery, but co.ntent himself with saying that !
he had always been one of those who was disposed to con-
sider their manufacturing skill in this respect as a per-
mitted evil rather than a positive good, But leaving those
things to political economists, under the correction and
guidance of, as he hoped. Christian legislation, there was
an humbler sphere of duties, certainly within the direc-
tion of the council, which he thought they should outrage
by the proposition before them ; for to deprive the poor
man, and especially him who had learned no art or trade,
of his own property, by taking away the article for his la-
bour, appeared to him (Mr. North) to be sinning against
first principles, not only Gf political economy but Chris-
tian charity. By this proposition, if carried, 50 poor men,
who were starving, would be deprived of all employment.
They were of a class incapable of doing other work ; very
many of them had been for years in the town ; and was it
not a miserable policy—a very short-sighted economy—to
rob such men, he might almost say, of their birthright—
the right of e.echanging a day's labour for a day's wages,
by such a proposal ? It appeared to him equivalent to
blotting them out of the social system altogether,—repla-
cing them, for the sake of some fancied improvement in
the performance of their work, by horses and revolving
besoms. (Loud laughter.) He did not believe that the
Public health would be promoted by the use of these ma-
but the but the contrary. He quite admitted that in cer-
tain liquid states of the mud in Bold-street and Church-
street, the machine would remove it and level the surface
prettily to the admiration of ladies and shopkeepers—
theghter)—but it was not by cleansing these streets that
public health was to be promoted. It was by cleans-
ing the narrow back streets
and dirty corners where heaps
of refuse lay that they never touched. Anybody who
watched the machines would see that they were clogged by
the
the smallest accumulation of filth, and that the labour of

ulinappy horses amounted almost to cruelty to ani-
mals. He moved as an amendment that the proceedings
be confirmed, with the exception of that part which rela-
ted to the purchase of the cleansing machines.
Mr. PARKER, as a member of the Watch Committee,
seconded the amendment. He considered that the ma-
chines were to a certain extent ineffective, particularly in
the back streets, and that a greater product of dirt was
obtainable when the streets were swept with brooms than
when they were swept with machines.
Mr. TINNE, as having been the original mover of the
resolution whereby the machines were introduced into
Liverpool, defended their use. He thought it too late
now to condemn the application of machinery. The em-
ployment of poor people in sweeping the streets had been
considered by them as a great degradation. He held in
his band a report of the Town Council of Manchester, in
which the members spoke in the greatest praise of the ma-
chines. He concluded by saying that the machines would
only be used in the main streets, and that sweepers would
continue to be employed in the back streets.
Mr, MooRF. thought they had better follow the exam-
Plc of the sister town, Manchester, and laud the Watch
Committee for the improvements they were making in the
sweeping of the streets. The same arguments had been
used in the course of the debate as might be used to stay
the making of a railway along the line of docks. All the
cart-owners might rise up and prevent the railway from
being made, upon the ground that it would injure their
interests, although the object of making the railway was
to render Liverpool one of the cheapest ports in the king-
dom. (Hear.)
Upon a division the numbers were—
For Mr. North's amendment H
Against it
The amendment was consequently lost.
Mr. MOORE heard an application had been made by the
Gas Companies to the Watch Committee to allow the
town M be divided into districts, and to enter into a con-
tract for the supply of gas. The corporation paid the Gas
Companies about £13,000 a-year ; and he feared the ob-
ject of the present application would be to form a mono-
poly in the article of gas. He wished to know if the Watch
Committee had acquiesced in a division of the contract or
not?

Mr. Honcsos said they had not further acquiesced in
it than this—they were perfectly well aware that the two
companies could not form a combination without their
consent, and that the great check the committee had upon
the injurious effects of combination wus to pay a due re-
gard to the terms of the contract, the price asked, and to
compare the price with what it was in other places. No
agreement had yet been come to, and none would be come
to without devoting the fullest attention to the subject.
Mr. TitottNtini. said the committee had sent word to
the different gas companies that they would receive a ten-
der only from one company, and that they would only
have one responsible company for the town. All they
wanted was good gas at a low price.
Mr. Moom. said he came to the conclusion that the
public would be the sufferers by the proposed arrange-
ment. He threw out a suggestion as to whether it might
se well for the Watch Committee to make their own

gas.
The proce,

gs were then confirmed

THE THANMEIL nom.
The proceedings of the Dock Corninitt
read,

aving been

.r. HUGH Horny asked why that committee bad
considered it inexpedient to take any notice of the appli-
eltion made to them by the Finance Committee to be-
come parties to the dock at Tranmere Pool.
Mr. MoortE said that if he were to answer the question
it would defeat the object the committee bad in view. He
must decline giving any answer, upon the ground that,
if
he were to do SO, it might he prejudicial heretfter to the
interests of the ,-omntittee.
Mr. H. lion.snir declined to press for an answer to his
question, upon receiving a promise from Mr. Moore that
the subject would be re-considered by the Dock Commit-
tee.