The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-08-01 00:00:00

THE PROPOSED NEW DOCKS.

IDURING a

the public of Liverpool has been

Isurprised, and we believe to

some extent gratified, by

m from the Dock Trustees for a vast

increase of dock accommodation. Experience has proved

that the docks at present in existence, large and coin•
modious though they undoubtedly are, are not adequate to
the requirements for conducting the traffic of the port,

and, viewed in

~cnnexion with the daily increase of that
traffic, the conviction forces itself upon even the most
indifferent; that a large extent of additional accommodation
must at no distant day become an inevitable necessity. To
provide for such an extension, therefore, was only an act
of ordinary prudence, and that was wisely gone about, in

entrusting the matter to a Sub-Committee, which has

justified the confidence reposed in it by looking at the

subject with a comprehensive eye, and recommending
a general and comprehensive plan of action. It is far
from improbable that a careful scrutiny of the plan

suggested may lead to considerable modification in
its details; but no chance, we should think, exists of
seriously attacking, far less invalidating its general prin-
ciple. That embraces one or two features of leading

importancE

The first is its ample extent and systematic

I arrangement; the second, its adaptation to the prospective
wants of the port in providing accommodation for ships
of larger tonnage than can now with safety be conveyed
into our docks ; the third, and not the least important, a
3f linear extension, which has
most to attenuation along the

he system

stretched our fine docks a

eastern margin of the river, renderin

tg communication

between their extreme ends tedious and inconvenient—

difficult and expensive

The scheme propounded by the Sub-Committee in their
report, which will be found in another column, may with
safety be denominated gigantic ; but in our day enterprise
has assumed Titanic proportions in most forms under
which it is developed, and, in the ordinary relations of
cause and effect, small undertakings'by large communities
become ridiculous if not impossible. The Sub-Committee
recommend an addition to our dock accommodation
little short of as much as we already possess ; and they
recommend this addition to be formed to the eastward of
the present northern division of our docks. The land on
which it is proposed to construct these docks is, to a great
extent, vacant, or not very profitably occupied, a circum-
stance rendering its acquisition at the present time less
difficult than at a future period, yet still involving the
outlay of a large sum of money in its purchase, and esti-
mated by the Sub-Committee at £702,700; the total cost
for the land, the construction of the new docks, and the
erection of warehouses, they estimate in all at £3,216,686,
for which additional dock accommodation would be fur-
nished to the extent of 140 acres 1,963 yards, the
existing accommodation amounting to 177 acres 3,684
yards. As a part of their general plan, they also recom-
mend the erection of additional warehouses, and the
execution of improvements at the Harrington Dock at a
cost of £200,000, making in all an outlay of very nearly
three-and-a-half millions sterling. The nature of the
operations, however, would necessarily throw their
execution, and consequently the outlay of their cost, over
an extended period of years—thirteen being the number
suggested—which it is conjectured would allow of the
works being executed to a great extent out of current
revenue, without the necessity of incurring a large amount
of permanent debt.

The next point for consideration is the expediency of
proceeding with so extensive a series of undertakings.
In their report, the Sub-Committee inform us that the rate
of increase in the business of the port warrants the under-
taking, and in proof they tell us that in 1830 the extent
of dock accommodation was 57 acres 1,598 yards, and that
the average tonnage of the five years preceding that period
was 1,312,932 tons ; that in the three years ending 1863,
with a dock accommodation of 177 acres 3,684 yards, or
nearly three-and-an-eighth times greater than at the pre-

ceding period, the tonnage was 3,864,715 tons, or as nearly
as possible in the same ratio of increase as the accommo-
dation. If, however, we extend the period of investiga-
tion, the ratio of increase in imports at all events appears
still more favourable. In the ten years ending with 1809,
we find the number of ships entering the port was 50,002,
with an aggregate tonnage of 5,108,805 tons; in the ten
years succeeding we have 62,026 ships, with a burthen of
8,6,18,2.77 tons ; in the ten years ending with 1829, the
ships entering were 94,255, and the burthen 11,106,035
tons ; for the period ending in 1839, the ships amounted
to 137,290, and the burthen to 17,687,708 tons; at the
end of 1849 the number of ships entered for the preceding
ten years amounted to 185,986, and the tonnage to
28,763,101 tons ; and for the four years ending with 1853,
the number of ships entered was 83,491, with a tonnage
of 15,076,490 tons, which, if carried on at merely the same

rate for the remaining six years of the decade, would give
208,727 ships and an aggregate tonnage of 37,691,226.
tens. By:thus extending our retrospect over better than half
a century, we find the past gives full assurance for the
future, and leads to the pleasing conclusion of a steadily
progressive improvement, which the further development
of facilities would materially and rapidly increase.
This seheme of dock improvement, presented by the
Sub-Committee, is to be taken into consideration by the
general committee at their next meeting, when its merits
and demerits will no doubt meet with that calm and im-
partial deliberation which its importance demands. We
trust, however, that in discussing its various details, due
regard will be observed in respect to the careful judgment
and comprehensive understanding which the members of
the Sub-Committee have obviously brought to bear upon
the subject, in all its intricate and important bearings, and
that individual or sectional partialities, as we are sure
individual or coterie interests, will be sedulously excluded
from any share in the decision. The subject is one of
vital interest to the present and future prosperity of
Liverpool, and as such it demands, as it no doubt will
receive, the most assiduous and temperate deliberation.

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.

FRANCE.

Prince Jerome Napoleon has left Paris for the Chateau
of Meudon.

The French Government has, it is said, sent Prince
Albert an invitation to be present next month at the ma-
noeuvres at the camp of Boulogne. The King of the Bel-
gians is said to have promised to proceed there at the
same time with the young King of Portugal.
The Messager de Bayonne gives some details of the
proceedings of the Emperor and Empress at Biarritz. On
their arrival, the poor of the neighbourhood placed them-
selves in the way of the Empress, and she gave money to
them all. The Emperor passed in review the 35th Regi-
ment of the line, which was drawn up to receive him, and
invited the Colonel to dinner. Their Majesties walk out
frequently. The Emperor, on the second day of his resi-
dence at Biarritz, took the Empress to Port Vieux, and
leaving her there with her ladies of honour, went off on
foot with the Prefect, toward the Me des Fous. Here
His Majesty entered the cabin of a bather, and having
taken one of the bathing dresses proceeded to the seaside,
entered the water, and commenced swimming about
among the persons who were bathing there. Biarritz is
described as exceedingly crowded, strangers having come
in from every side.