The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-04-09 00:00:00

Alderman PROCTER explained that it merely implied
that the report be received without passing any opinion
upon it.

Some discussion ensued on the wording_ of the motion,
and its meaning, which was put an end to by
Alderman HoRspALL moving, as an amendment, that
the Report be read and adopted.
Alderman COOPER briefly seconded the amendment.
The MAyoR was then about to put the amendment,
when

Mr. BENNETT rose, and said that he thought some-
thing more should be said on the question before they
went to the vote. It was requisite to know what they
were doing before they adopted the Report, especially as
they had heard from Mr. Ilornby that he had not read it.
He (Mr. Bennett) had read it carefully, and he gave Mr.
Stephenson credit for extreme straightforwardness. He
gave himcredit for giving them everything which had come
to his knowledge; for giving it to them in so clear and
unmistakeable a manner. He only regretted that with
the information he (Mr. S,) had shown himself to be por.
sessed of lie had come to the determination to adopt the
Rivington Scheme as the best plan. There were in that
report so very many strong arguments in favour of the
home supply, that he hoped the Council would hesitate
before it came to the resolution of adopting the recom-
mendation. He regretted that he had not prepared, in a
condensed form, all the items in that report in favour of
the home supply to lay before them ; but he would en-
deavour to poir.t them out. He would first allude to a
very important part of the report, which in itself should
cause them to hesitate. In page 35 the Report says :
"The yield per day or month is only known during 1847 and
1848, and its irregularity is so great even in these years as to
render it impossible to calculate with accuracy upon the quan-
tity of a month of any other ye.ir by the rain-fall only. As an
instance of this, taking the month of January in each year, we
find that in 1847 an inch of rain-fall produced 330,500,000, and
in 1848 only 216,100,000, although in the previous month of Be.

cember, 1847, 8 inches of rain bad fallen, and in December,
1846, only 3.9 inches. Again, in February, 1847, one inch
yielded 266,900,000, but in February, 1848, only 147,100,600,
although, in the month of January, 1847, only 1.9 inches of
rain had fallen, and in January, 1848, 3.1 inches. This is suffi-
cient to show the absence of a rule which would justify the
construction of any balance of account for each month of those
years when the actual flow was not measured, and I have,
therefore, made out tables, showing theNuantities flowing into,
abstracted from, and left iu the reservoir during 1847 ..nd 1848,
and propose from them to be guided in reference to the capa-
bilities and equalizing effect of the reservoirs during other
years."

Now they were aware that in some instances nearly double
the quantity of water was collected from one rainfall
than another; still Mr. Stephenson gave them but
one calculation. He admitted that 1847 and 1818 were
extremely wet years ; and all instances where, for the
four or six years he makes calculations in the dry years,
he takes such an average as will bring on the dry years to
keep them up. He contended that from a careful study-
ing of the amounts given by the various rainguages, and
deducting the necessary quantity for compensation, the
amount left at the utmost, and under the most favourable
circumstances for distribution at Liverpool would be
about 11,500,000 gallons per day. As regarded storage
he conceived that Mr. Stephenson was wrong in his de-
ductions. He says that Rivington storage is in excess of
most of the large towns similarly supplied with water,—
and he instances Manchester, Bolton, and Belmont. But
he (Mr. S.) was not aware of the whole facts of the case.
He tells us that Manchester is not equal in that respect
to Rivington. Now that was easily accounted for, be-
cause in the dry seasons that district was to be supplied
with from 18,000,000 to 20,000,000 gallons daily from
springs. Now Mr. Hawksley had over and over again
informed them that the Rivington springs would not yield
more than 2,000,000 gallons per day. After a few obser-
vations as to the comparative costs of the home and the
Rivington schemes, Mr. Bennett proceeded to discuss the
comparative qualities of the water, which were to be
obtained from the respective sources. In page 44 of
the report Mr. Stephenson says :
"There can be no doubt that the quality cf water which
would be obtained by sinking wells at some distance from the
town is excellent, possessing hardness only in a moderate
degree, and there is, in fact, little difference of inmortaneo

existing between it and the writer from Rivington. That from
the sandstone would be preferred by many for drinking, while
the water from Rivington, from its softness, is better for
almost every other purpose; the former may be said to be the
most palatable, and the latter the most useful. The analysis
of Dr. Lyon Playfair, made in 1847, is conclusive on this
point."

Now from all this it struck him (Mr. Bennett). that the
report upon the Rivington water coincided with what an
eminent French analytical chemist once said of the scheme
of making sugar from beet root. He said that beet root
possessed all the necessary qualifications for being con-
verted into sugar—but that of sweetness. So it was with
the Rivington water, it had all the good properties of
water, but it was not wholesome. Mr. Stephenson had
put a great damper on those who talked of the prospective
wants of the town, for he had told them that it was a
scheme which at best was only to last 20 years. He agreed
with Mr. Stephenson when he told them that there was
plenty of water in the new red sandstone; and be still
more agreed with Professor Ansterl when he said that to
obtain an abundance of water from that source it would
be necessary to sink 1000 feet. That was his (Mr. Ben-
nett's) opinion ; for he thought that water to be got in
real abundance must be sought for below the shallow
depths which they were now sinking. Professor Ansted
said more ; for he said that if he were to sink a good shaft
to the depth of 1000 feet, the water would so rise in the
shaft that they would be able to supply all the wells in the
neighbourhood; that in fact the more we would pump
from the sandstone the more it would yield. Ho con-
ceived that Mr Stephenson had paid too much attention
to the statement put forward by Mr. Bold. At page 9 Mr.
Stephenson told them that the drainage space requisite to
supply such wells-was something like a mile in radius.
Now how he could make that statement agree with the
table supplied by Mr. Bold, and on which he had placed
such reliance, he (Mr. Bennett) was at a loss to discover.
He found from that table that of the wells said to be
drained by Green-lane, one half of them were at least
1800 yards from Green-lane well. Many of them, how-
ever, were more than 2000 yards from that point. After
a few more observations Mr. Bennett concluded by ex-
pressing a hope that the Council would not hastily adopt
any scheme which would involve an outlay of so
large a sum of money ; and for all parties he thought it
would be better if a little more time were given to digest
and examine the Report before it was adopted.
Mr. PARKER said that the Council and the public had
consented to get the opinion of one of the highest and
best engineers of the day upon the question—an opinion
they should bear in mind, which had cost them an im-
mense sum of money—no less than £12,000, and there-
fore he hoped that that opinion would be attended to.
He was happy to say that out of doors the people were
anxious that this matter should be settled, and so far as
he had been able to ascertain, not one ward was opposed
to the adoption of the report. For his own part, although
from the first he bad consistently opposed the Rivington
scheme, he now felt that the time for all opposition was
past, and therefore the measure would receive his hearty
co-operation.

Mr. H. Hoar BY observed that it was not his intention
to have spoken on this motion, had it not been for the ob-
servation of Mr. Bennett. He certainly had contented
himself with reading the two last pages of the report, be-
cause he did not consider himself at all qualified to exa-
mine an engineering question like the present. They were
not met to do so ; but they were met, like a body of com-
mon-sense gentlemen, to take the report and deliberate on
its commercial bearings. He felt great disappointment at
the manner in which the Chairman of the Water Com-
mittee had brought this matter before the Council.
(Hear, hear.) He thought certainly that that gentleman
would have come there prepared to tell us either that the
Water Committee could give us an assurance that they
could still induce Parliament to abandon the Pike bill ; or
that, being unable to do so, they would recommend us to
adopt the report and abandon the bills before Parliament.
He really thought that enough of money had been
expended and enough of ill blood engendered in prose-
cuting a useless opposition. When this matter was put
into the hands of Mr. Stephenson, he, for one, was willing
to abide by whatever might be the wish of the majority of
the council when that report would be laid before them.
And he would ask them now—even at the eleventh hour—
to carry out the bill which had been decided upon in the
least expensive manner possible.
Mr. PICTON said he could not content himself with
giving a silent vote on this question, though he would
premise that he would not trespess at any great length on
the time of the Council. He was sorry that he could not
come to the same conclusion as Mr. Hornby. He felt
sorry to disturb the unanimity of the Council ; but he
was obliged to come to an opposite conclusion on the
statements and evidence submitted to him. Therefore,
he might premise that whatever decision the Council
might come to on this question that day, he should feel
himself disposed to bow to it with the utmost possible
respect, and, whatever that decision might be, he would
endeavour in good faith fairly and truly to carry it out.
(Hear, and applause.) In receiving Mr. Stephenson's
Report, if that gentleman had been content in giving us
the two last pages, if he had merely said, taking all
into consideration I recommend such and such a course,"
without going at any great length into his reasons, he
Picton) should not have lifted his voice against it.
He should be perfectly satisfied to bow to Mr. Stephen-
son's opinion ; but he thought proper to go into his rea-
sons ; he had given them at great length, the reasons why
he had come to certain conclusions. Mr. Stephenson
took them along with him through the chain of reason-
ing in which he arrived at certain results, and they were
therefore competent, nay more, they were called upon to
exercise their own reason to see whether from the same
practical facts, and the same evidence from what Mr. S.
had reasoned, they could arrive at the same conclusion
that he had. He (Mr. Picton) confessed, after giving
Mr. Stephenson's report the utmost consideration which
the short time elapsed since they received it would allow,
he was compelled to come to a conclusion somewhat
different as regarded the facts and the evidence there put
down. It would be bad taste of him (Mr. Picton) to
enter at any length into the engineering question ; he
would refrain from any attempt of the kind ; but when he
came to the evidence and facts, and calculations, and
when the figures were laid before them, they were compe-
tent to come to a conclusion of their own. The report
first stated in so many words that there was abundance of
water in the new red sand stone. That was a full justifi- '
(sex PAGE 8.)

Mr. BENNETT.—The drainage of Rivington is 10,000
acres.

Mr. THomsoN would now ask, if the price of the water
was to be raised on the people of Liverpool ?
The Tows-cLEux.--No, Sir.
Mr. THOMSON.—With respect to the report, he must
say that ➢lr. Stephenson had not behaved well to the
town, in procrastinating his report to the last minute,
lie wished to be informed whether government could
compel them to go on with the works ?
The MAYOR.---I think you had better put the question.
Mr. PICTON wished to be informed what the motion or
the chairman implied ? Whether it implied the adoption
of the report ?