The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-16 00:00:00

Eiyz aterpool &tanbarizi.

TUESDAY 21IORNING, MAY 16, 1848.

THE proceedings, thus far, before the committee
on the Birkenhead Dock Bills have disclosed fea-
tures and pretensions on the part of the promoters
of a most unreasonable nature. To enable the
reader to form a just estimate of their character,
we shall briefly recall to his memory the circum-
stances under which this attempted encroachment
on neighbouring interests has been prompted.
The original scheme for the erection of docks on
the site of Wallasey Pool was heralded before the
public with great acclamation in 1843, as calculated
to afford a large and cheap acquisition to the ex-
isting accommodation of the trade of the Mersey.
The plans consisted of an outer basin, and a small
interior dock, with graving docks, &c.; but their
most important feature was a large inner float,
giving two hundred acres of water space, which
was to be maintained at a depth of thirteen feet.
On the faith of this stipulation being kept, the
frontage land upon the margin of the float was
eagerly bought up, at most extravagant rates, for
wharfs, building yards. &c. A line to these pro-
posed works was laid out, and is in the course of
completion, by the Chester and Birkenhead Rail-
way Company; and an expensive junction line with
Manchester the Birkenhead, Lancashire, and
Cheshire Railway—was also projected, and subse-
quently amalgamated with the existing Chester and
Birkenhead, the encouragement being the absence
of any other charges except a moderate tonnage
rate upon vessels, and the opportunity thus afforded
for the transport of goods to Manchester and the
interior free of cost. An act of parliament author-
ising the project was passed in 1844. Another act
was also obtained by a private company for the
erection of warehouses on the site of the proposed
inner dock, which have since been completed.
The progress made thus far, or rather the want
of progress, is known to most of our readers. A
considerable portion of the sea wall has been exe-
cuted ; and last year an inner dock, constructed,
however, without the authority of the original plans,
was opened with great pomp by her Majesty's
Commissioner of Woods and Forests. To meet
the expenditure required, the borrowing powers of
the act were put in requisition, and between three
and four hundred thousand pounds drawn from the
pockets of private parties in search of investments.
A hitch occurred, however. Confidence in the
scheme gave way, and money was no longer to be
had. The works were suspended ; and the Com-
missioners bad to go to the Woods and Forests in
the attitude of suitors for aid, and also as peti:

tioners for pardon for deviation from the original
plan, and the result was the bill of last year. By
it the land to he made on the north side of the
Pool was handed unconditionally cler to the Crown,
and although the original draft of the bill in ques-
tion contained the clause requiring the depth of
water in the inner float to be maintained at a per-
manent level of thirteen feet above the Liverpool
Old Dock sill, the clause in question was thrown
out in the House of Lords, on the objection of
Captain Evans, conservator of the river. The loan-
ing part of the question was left over for further
consideration, and has at length been settled, one
of the conditions being the re-constitution of the
trust and the surrender to the Crown of a control-
ling power over the acts of the trustees, by the
nomination of a chairman. The legalising of this
arrangement is the object of two of the bills now
before the Committee.
That the price thus to be paid by the unfortu-
nate bondholders for the completion of the docks is
an unfortunate one for themselves and all concerned
it would not be difficult to show. In its capacity
of creditor the Crown steps in, of course, with a
prior dernannd for so much of the dues which may
.be raised as will cover the interest on its advance,
if the docks ever earn so much :• and it must be
borne in mind that land, the sale of which was to
have paid a great portion of the cost of constructing
the docks, has already been handed over to the
Crown, and with it, moreover, every chance of the
Commissioners being able to fulfil their engage-
ments with the coasting trade, as to the providing
of a beaching ground on the Scacombe side of the
pool.
We might perhaps question the right of the Go-
vernment to 'embark the money of the public in
such an undertaking, and upon such security as is
offered by the Birkenhead Docks. We have no
doubt, however, that they will secure themselves