The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-02-19 00:00:00

COUNCIL MEETING.

A special meeting of the Council was held yesterday.
At eleven o'clock the Mayor took the chair.

IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE.

The proceedings of this committee having been read,

Mr. BENT, in moving the confirmation of them, said
he was happy to inform the Council that the whole of the
property in Dale-street and Elliot-street would very
shortly be in the possession of the Corporation, and that
the Surveyor was preparing to dispose of a quantity of
land, which would enable the committee to carry into
effect the further projects required by the Improvement
Act without any expense to the burgesses. He had also
to give notice that, when the proceedings were confirmed,
he should move to fill up the vacancy in the committee
caused by the lamented death of Mr. Henderson.

Mr. BENNETT seconded the motion, and the proceed-
ings were unanimously confirmed.
Mr. BENT then rose, and moved that Mr. Avison be
added to the committee.
Mr. BENNETT seconded the motion.
Mr. T. L. HonsoN said he had personally no objection
whatever to Mr. Avison, and, without intending any dis-
respect to that gentleman, he should move that the va-
cancy should be filled up by the.appointment of Mr. Ar-
thur Henderson.
Mr. BECKWITH seconded the motion.
Mr. Alderman PROCTER said he considered it discour-
teous to the committee to move an amendment in such
cases. He thought something was due to committees,
and as it had been the custom to allow them to nominate
the parties who should fill up vacancies, he recommended
Mr. Hodson to withdraw his motion.
Mr. PICTON and Mr. Alderman JAMES LAWRENCE
also recommended the withdrawal of the amendment.
Mr. H. HORNBY said he should certainly vote in favour
of Mr. Avison, as he had been proposed by the committee;
but, at the same time, he would not consent to the doc-
(rine laid down by Mr. Procter and others on the subject,
as he conceived it to be quite in the power of any member
of the Council to propose any gentleman he might think
proper•. If the recommsndation was adopted, theylmight
establish a rule which might be very inconvenient.
Mr. HonsoN said he should be very sorry to offer any
offence either to the Council generally, or to any member
of it : at the same time, however, he would not give way.
The Council then divided, when there appeared for
Mr. Avison 24, for Mr. Henderson 4. The following
were the votes :

For Mr. Avison,—Councillors Woodruff, Thomson,
Bighorn, Godfrey, Hornby, Wagstaff, A. F. Jones, Gardner,
Lloyd, Johnson, Picton, Parker, Freme, Bennett, R. L.
Jones, Fisher, Lloyd; Aldermen Hodgson, Swainson,
Lawrence, Cooper, Procter, Bent : and the Mayor.
For Mr. Henderson,—Councillors Hodson, Avison,
Beckwith; and Alderman Dover.

COURTS OF LAW AND ST. GEORGE'S HALL COMMITTEE.
The proceedings of this committee were read and con-
firmed without remark.

MARKETS COMMITTEE.
The proceedings of this committee having been read,
Mr. COOPER moved their confirmation, and remarked
that after they had been confirmed, he should move the
appointment of Mr. Wagstaff in the room of the late Mr.
H. G. Harbord,
Mr. R. M. BECK-WITH rose and said he snould like to
know the names of the different parties who bad been
employed by the committee, and complained that there
was partiality on the part of the committee, instead of al-
lowing every tradesman in the town a fair share of the
work and no more. If they were to examine who had
been employed, they would find for one part Mr. Cooper's
brother, for another Mr. Cooper's cousin, and if they
turned to the Finance and Gardens Committee, they would
find Mr. Cooper's brother again.—(Oh, oh.) He did not
wish to be invidious— laughter)—but there was too
much coopering, and it was time they should take
the bonds off and burst the cask.—(Renewed laugh-
ter.) It would be seen by reference to the proceedings,
that by his interference he had put an end to the system
of having the bad meat sold to the Zoological Gardens,
and whatever members, might say, he considered he had
only done his duty in drawing attention to the subject, as
the practice was illegal and against the law. He, how-
ever, thought it only right that they should ascertain as
far as possible whether the money for which the meat
had been sold, had found its way into the pockets of the
corporation,and with that-view had examined the books
of the committee, but he was unable to make the accounts
balance. Mr. Beckwith then complained of a resolution
come to by the committee, in which they stated that the
proper place to obtain information respecting the accounts
was from the committee, and deprecating any interference
on his part with the officers placed under the control of
the committee.. He should like to know who gave the
committee power to prevent any member of the council
from obtaining information from the books of the Cor-
poration. When Mr. S. Holmes went through the
market, he never asked Mr. Cooper, or any other person,
permission.
Mr. Alderman PROCTER rose to order, and complained
of discourtesy in addressing an individual member of the
Council instead of the Mayor.
Mr. BECKWITH felt obliged to Mr. Procter for the cor-
rection. Still he wished to know where Mr. Cooper ob-
tained the • information from on which he founded his
attack on Mr. Macdonald, except from Mr. Ashlin.
What was fair to Mr. Cooper was fair to himself. He
therefore considered he had only done his duty in ex-
amining the books, and would proceed to give them a
specimen of the mode in which the books at the market
were kept. He then read over a number of small items
for meat sold to the Zoological Gardens, and the pay-
ments received on account of them.; but it appeared from
those accounts that sometimes mora was received than
charged, and at others less. At length
Mr. H. HORNBY rose to order., and complained of Mr.
Beckwith wandering from the question before the Council.
The MAYOR could see no use in bringing the accounts
before the Council ; but be thought any interference on

his part more likely to waste time than save it.
Mr. BECKWITH proceeded. The last item he should
mention was one in which £1 15s. worth of meat had
been sold, and the sum of £2 15s. received. Then there
was another account, and that was for bones. (Laughter.)
in order to produce a balance, he found the two accounts
dovetailed together.
The MAYOR said if Mr. Beckwith had not confidence
in the committee, the proper mode was for him to bring
forward his charges, and move the appointment of a com-
mittee to investigate them.
Mr. Alderman D. HODGSON said Mr. Beckwith ap-
peared to have a strange misconception of the rights of
members of the Council. It appeared to him that when
they met in that room they had all an equal right to
express their sentiments, to give notice of motions, and
to bring forward those motions ; but, apart from the
Council, they had no right to interfere with duties already
placed in charge of the various committees. They had no
right, as individuals, to interfere either with them, their
books, or their officers, if it should displease the committee.
Mr. Beckwith appeared to have mistaken his position. If he
had any well-founded charge to bring against the com-
mittee, the proper way was to lay it before the Council,
and have a committee appointed to investigate it; but it
appeared to him to be only in accordance with the law
and with common sense, and that the committee were
only doing their duty, in forbidding any of their officers
from giving information to any individual members of the
Council.

` Mr. J. B. LLOYD regretted that Mr. Beckwith had
taken up the time of the council in bringing forward those
items which, from the tone he used, appeared to him
' (Mr. Lloyds as if he had some bone to pick with the
i• chairman (Mr. Cooper). The result, however, was as he
expected. The items he had brought forward clearly
showed that there was nothing wrong. It was, however,
clear, according to law, all meat seized ought to be de-
stroyed, but it was thought that there might be some meat
seized which would be fit for the food of animals, and it
would be hard if it were not allowed to them. The
animals were kept at the Zoological Gardens for the
amusement of the public, and if Mr. Beckwith would
refer to the letters sent to him by Mr. Atkins, he would
see that his charge about the meat finding its way into
market again was quite unfounded. As to the charge
against the accounts, she would oppose the statement
made by Mr. Beckwith, the certificate of Mr. Bulley,
who had gone through the whole of the accounts, and
found that they did balance and were quite correct.
Mr. T. LLOYD said, had it not been for the matter being
brought forward by Mr. Beckwith, there would have been
a continuation of the system of disposing of the bad meat ;
for he then believed, and did still, that a great portion of
it still found its way back to the markets.
Mr. Alderman .COOPER.—Nothing of the sort.
Mr. T. LLoY:D.—I believe it does. With regard to the
ether subject, he agreed with Mr. Beckwith, that the work
done for the Corporation ought to be more generally dis-
tributed amongst the tradesmen.
Mr. Alderman .JAMES LAWRENCE said the tradesmen
were not selected by the committee. All the committee
did was to order the work to be done, and left the choice
as to who should do it to Mr. Weightman, as more likely
to select the best parties.
Mr. LANGSDALE thought that 'very wrong- He would
not allow it in the committee over which be presided.
Mr. THOMPSON said this practice ought to convince all
Of them of the necessity of having all work done by
contract.
Mr. COOPER.—What six-and-eightpenny jobs ?
Mr. FISHER said all he had heard, so far as he could
understand it from Mr. Beckwith, was an attack upon the
chairman of the committee, not borne out by a single
fact. The next time he hoped Mr. Beckwith would con-
dense -his statements so that they could be:understood.
He had not shown either that the work was badly done,
or that an,improper price was ,paid for it ; and.so far from
what had occurred convincing any one as to the, propriety
of contracts, it was just the reverse. in fact, Mr.,Beck-
' with had put the Market Committee in a better.position
than it was before.
Mr. FREME said a good deal of misapprehension existed
in the minds of many of the younger members of the
council on one part of the subject. He considered that
out of the council no member had any more power than a
burgess of the town. He had no right to speak to, any
constable or officer of the corporation as to the mode in
which he should perform his duty ; but if he saw anything
wrong, he ought to bring it forward either in council or
committee. He must, however, protest against any mem-
ber of the council being excluded from seeing any of the
books of the council. Ali proceedings of committees,
after passing the qiuncil beclme part of the muniments of ,
the council, and aZcording to the whole spirit of the Muni
cipal Reform 'Let, should be open to the inspection of
every member. As to th charge against the mode of
keeping the accounts of dip-markets, some time time ago
great trouble and pains" were taken to przt them in a pro-
perstate,
and information was sought on do subject from
every large market in England ; but it was tht,sught better
to keep a strict watch on the officers, rather than A:lopt what
could only be at best an imperfect check. He kuniv.when
Mr. Graham was superintendent of the market, the books
were remarkably well kept, and he did not know of ai
books which presented so fair and perfect a view of the
accounts and proceedings as they did. He did not know 1
whether there bad been any deviation from the system—