The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-02-17 00:00:00

SPECIAL MEETING OP THE TOWN COUNCIL A special meeting of the Town Council was held on Wed nesday, in the Town-hall, for the purpose of considering the heads of a bill proposed by the Fire Committee to be intro duced into parliament during the present session, for the preventio n of fires ; a motion by Mr. North for the esta blishment of a steamer to be used in case of distress at sea ; and a motion by Mr. Birkett for providing a remedy for certain inconveniences in the case of surcharges to the The MAYOR presided I ncome-tax PREVENTION OF FIRES - PROPOSED PARLIAMENTA, Sir Taos. BRANCKER said this special council had summoned at the request of the Special Committee on Fl, not for th e purpose of giving any detail of their proceeding. but because, if they were t o go to par li ament at all this ses sion, it was necessary they should present their petition to the House of Commons in a very few days. The committee a had d rawn up a Telm in general terms, merely calling upon the council to gi ve th em aut h or i ty to take the initiatory step of i ntroducing a bill, f or i t to b e read the first time. The bill would afterwards be laid before the council; and at pre sent he did not know that more than five minutes n taken in reading the committee's report, and in determn, What step to take. He would conclude by saying that the committee did not call upon the council to pledge themselves to the proposed measure, or to incur any serious expense. Mr. HORNBY inquired whether the committee had any pro ceedings to produce? if they had, it would be desirable for them to be read before the intended bill was brought for ward. Sir Tilos. BRANCKER, in reply, said that the proceedings of th e committee consisted mainly of communications with Mr. Bold, M r. Stewart, and others, from whom they had received reports which would in due time be laid before the co uncil. The p resent, h owever, was merely an initiatory which, if the council went at all to parliament, must be done immediately, or the session would be lost altogether. The DEPUTY TOWN -CLERK then read the report of the special committee, of which the following is a copy : "The Committee appointed " REPORT. o the sth Octber, 1842, to inquire i n t o the most efficaciou s measures against fires, and also the best means of arresting the progress of any fire Which may hereafter unfortunately break out, have agreed upon the following report—. That the Commissioners for the better Paving and Sewerage of th e town have, in consequence of communica tions with this committee, determined upon goin g to parlia ment, in the present session, for a bill, to enable them by contracts with proper parties, and if necessary, from the river, to provide water for the watering of the streets, in re servoirs and mains, which supply would be constant, and Friable them upon reasonable terms to afford water at the instant from such mains in every part of the town, and im mediately as the urgency might arise, for the important object already stated. recommend to the Council to go along with the bill of the ec°onmtn'raicstsin or ers to p ar li ament, for powers by another bill, to material su ch supply o f water, ( w hi c h wi ll not to any police rate extent increa se t h e expense now charge d upon the streets ,) and to r egu l ate the position ' as 8 to the width of vare, hous es h and the b etter construction and management of vent er eafter to be ere c t e d i n th e t own , so as t o pre the recurrence of loss of life and property, which, of late years, have so frequently visited this town, and as far as may be reasonable, and deemed by the Council practicable, to N'Ply a part of erectedgulations and management to ware houses already That these Powers are proposed by the committee, to be inserted in a bill, which, as soon as printed, should be circu lated amongst the Council and laid before the public, in order that it may receive every possible consideration and suggestion prior to any material expense being incurred. " That, until this shall be effected, i coro d . t which will require the e e devotion of considerable time on the part of the committee and their legal assistants, the committee desire from the Council permission to proceed to the printing of the bill, and to the extent of its being read a first time ; the se cond reading standing over until the measure shall have had that consid erat i on which the committee are anxious for, not only from the Council but from the public." Mr. PLATT understood that some time ago an offer had been made to the council by the canal company of the spare water of the canal, if a reservoir was constructed. He wished to ask whether that proposition had been carried into effect ? Mr. THORNHILL replied that no such offer had ever been made. He (Mr. Thornhill) was upon a deputation which waited upon a number of the proprietors of the canal, but they had made no such offer. Mr. PLATT.—I think you recommended it ? Mr. THORNHILL.—It was mentioned in the town, but not carried into effect. They would give us the overflow, and nothing more; but that could not be depended upon. Sir Triostas BRANCRER observed that this was a point for the consideration of the highway-board. All the com mittee wished, at present, was, to have power to get the bill read a first time, and afterwards, the council might proceed with it or not, just as they saw fit. Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE really thought the committee ought to give the council something more to guide them selves than the meagre report which they had just heard, for he did not see how they could possibly form any opinion at all with such a report. The committee asked permission to go to parliament, which was a very serious step, involving considerable expense, yet they did not tell the council whether it was for the prevention of fires or to extinguish them when once they began. Sir THOMAS BRANCKER.—For both. Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE, resuming, said that was a reason why the committee should give the council something more in detail the nature of their proposition. The only thing that he gathered from the report was, that there were to be two acts of parliament, both for the same object ; the highway-board were to have one act and the corporation another. He thought they should be ridiculed and laughed at in London if they said there that such a thing was necessary. It was rather absurd, indeed, that one body should sweep the streets and another pave them •, but, really, to say that two acts of parliament were required for the one purpose proposed, all the expense of which would have to be borne by the town, was, certainly very hard. Added to that he should be desirous to keep out of parliament this year. The people of London were quite tired of them (laughter), and be sever met a member of parliament in London bet he was asked by him, " Well, how many bills have you holt Liverpool this session ? " (Hear, hear.) At the same time, he was deeply interested in this question, Mr be was a ftareltortse owner, and one who had sufereel materially in purse by the recent conflagrations, inasmuch as he belonged to the Fire Insu rance Company of Liverpool. Eesides, be thought it a dis grace to the town to have such disasters in 'it its those which had occurred ; but, at the same time, he was - sot one of those who liked to rush into matters precipitately ; and if the Fire -Committee were not prepared with something more definite than they had yet seen, he hoped the council would Pause before giving their permission to proceed one step. The MAYOR suggested, that Sir Thomas Brancker might be able to give the council some information upon the heads of the intended bill. The present did not appear a desirable period to enter into details ; but if the heads were furnished, they might materially assist the discussion. Sir THOMAS BRANCKER replied, that the object of the committee was to provide for the making of all new ware houses, as far as possible, tire-proof. As regarded the exist ing warehouses, the committee propo s ed t o d o w h a t was pos sible i n order to render them more secure from file than they were at present ; and the reason why the bnsiness was divided into two parts was, that when the committee came to confer with the Commissioners of Highways, they Mend they had stron g obje c ti ons t o any party meddling- with the streets except themselves. It was originally intended that all should be comprised in one bill, if they went to parliament at all, but the objections started were so strong that it was considered best to give the Highway Board the entire management of the water part of the business; and the Fire Committee had un dertaken to go to parliament for powers for the prevention of fires. Mr. KILSHAW.—That is, provided the council agrees. Sir THOMAS BRANCKER.—Yes ; provided the council agreed. The committee could not undertake the other part, because it was not in their province. Mr. ASPINALL, as one of the members of the Highway Beard, reserved to himself the right of opposing this hill. Two bills were to be framed, neither of which were Yet commenced. Next Friday week was the last day oil which they could be presented ; and, therefore, he °PPosed the proposition, because it was too hasty. Ne op- Posed it, too, upon another and a very serioas ground, namely, that the Highway Board had pledged themselves to a rate of one penny in the pound before they had called a meeting of the inhabitants to know whether they would sanction it. He (Mr. Aspinall) contended, that before Pledging themselves to an additional rate of one penny, such a proceeding should have been sanctioned by a meeting of the inhabitants ; and, on these grounds, he opposed the report. ;rMr. Alderman Nicol. thought some misunderstanding was evelling : gentlemen were confounding the bill which the ire Committee pr opose d to app l y f or, w i th that of the High way Board; but he apprehended that the sanctiog of the council was not necessary to that of the Highway Board? The TOW N - CLERIC—Not at all. Mr. Alderman NicoL.—The council, then, having nothing to do with the bill of the Hieliv. , ay Board, it was not that bill for which the committee applied for the sanction of the council; but it was for a bill intended to regulate the con !truction of new warehouses, to regulate the width of streets in which the were built, and, as far as they could, to improve thel they ngywarehonses ; the details of which, he appre- I ended would be of some length, and would detain the c ouncil too long even to be then read. The truth, however, as, the T own-clerk had been so much occupied with other things that the bill was not at present prepared ; but, re specting t h at, he could inform the council better than he (Mr. Alderman Nicol) could. At all events, with the bill of the Highway B oar d the council had nothing to do. 1t ~ all% BIRKET T thought it desirable to remind the council Se ptember how thi s matter was placed. In the latt er en d o f or th e beginning of Oc e on of the ficouncil was drawn to the subject tober by an awfully attenti calamitous re; they were memorialized by all the associated bodies •, nd a be done ver universal feeling pre va il e d t h at someth i ng should by them. A 'w special committ ee was appo i nted, of , hioh •he Was a member ; an d up to last week he always en tertained the opinion that it was not desirable to go to par liament this year. In expressing that opinion, however, he as say he felt himself in an awkward position, inasmuch ,' It; might be thought that, being a very heavy rate-payer, he was desirous of shielding himself from expense; but when th c ame to co ns id er the situation the town was placed in by :'ti.!great fire, an d t h at during the time the committee were :T_t.oag another great fire had taken place, as Mr. Holme could ito, owin g , i n a great degree, to the want of those precau 'cos which he trusted were about to be taken, lie was forced !L(1) acknowledge it was desirable they should attempt, at least, I,,Fibtain the bill this year. With regard to there being two 'N i ls, the council were aware that the Commissioners of eweghways had the power to repair the highways and to water streets ; and in the last session they obtained a bill Powerinn. them to lay a rate of one halfpenny in the pound in order to have the streets watered. It was now proposed that that bill should be done away with, and in lieu of it, that a rate of one penny in the pound should be laid, for h two objects of watering the ad supplying Water for the prevention of fires. The committee streets generally and h unani mously come to the conclusion, from the evidence dce before th em, (and they bad had no contradictory evidence,) en ake , aothing vvould ever prevent fires, when they did t a place, source from extending as they had done, unless there wa "Pon which at all times dependence could be la s ced fur a s upply of water. It was quite impossible ; ever there xperience of the last 20 years had shown that w ien was not a and, l l indeed, the "ad been a great fire it was simply because there b uPply of water. It was, therefore, in order to fires as wellthis necessary supply of water, for the prevention of fi Board, not as the watering of the streets, that the Highway "Pon their owit Inotion, but having Pi the subject , re Cornseittee of the conncil, had taken been movedto it by . the . and they intended to apply_ to a surri of parliament for u p p o e w ri e u r r t i o ws r e ai . s e e f , . mimey not exceeding, £30,000 for th Purcuasing tanks and laying mains. To repay the pound. They Proposed to lay a rate of one penny in this sum they , w ould hav e ca l led the inhabitants together and they must be nd taken their Phinion ther eon b ut for the circumstance that b . ef ore parli ament next Fr id ay week, o line for it. T heir resolution was to go s toparliament that there was no t same way as t h e council, and to p l ace the bills betwe en the first and second readings, in the thei nabeyance b etween opinion until of the i n h a b itants had been obtained whethertheywouledst thanee tion them. I f the council would not go t o parliament , c ommission ers would not go ; b ut th e council must bear in mind, that i n taking the initiatory step,only a limited amount of expens e was incurred. and If they now re fused to do :ivy thing—____ Mr. G. 14. LAWRENCE.—I never said the council should refuse; I only asked for more information. Mr. BIRKETT, in continuation, said, if the council now refused to authorise the committee to apply for this bill, the present session would be lost. The committee asked only for leave to go to the first reading, and then the bill would be submitted to the council; no person would be now pledged to the details, for the whole measure would afterwards be subjeot to consideration. But, as be said before, if they refused their consent now, there would be no time, because if t not in parliament by next Friday week with the hill, aion& with the petition, they could not go for it this session. lie, therefore, for one, would not take the responsibility of saying that to the town; but he would take any means to prevent that which, it had been proved by evidence before the com mittee, had caused a loss to the town of no less than one million and a half of money in the last ten years. (Hear.) Mr. Alderman EARLE thought he had heard the chairman of the Finance Committee (Mr. G. H. Lawrence) say he would not give any authority whatever to the committee, not even to give the parliamentary notice ; whilst it had repeatedly been stated that if they did not do it now, the hill would be lost entirely for the present session. He thought gentlemen would be incurring great responsibility by so refusing, seeing the calamitous fires we had lately had ; and as measures had been brought forward for the prevention of similar fires, and for the extinguishing them if they occurred, the council ought certainly to be in a condition to have the bill brought in, at any rate to see what it was. He presumed there would be no great expense in that? ley were The - TowN:CLERK.—There are no fees payable upon the first reading. Mr. Alderman EAltLE.—Then there was the more reason why they should go on. He would remark, after what they had heard to-day, that it would be a very sensible thing to bring in a bill, for placing the paving of the streets in the council, instead of there being two separate bodies. That would be good common sense. They had heard enough to day to see what an absurdity it was to have two bodies work ing in that way, and the Town-clerk would tell the council so, too ; and, moreover, if they were separated the streets would be better paved. (Hear, hear.) _ Mr. PROCTER wished for a little snore information from Sir Thomas Brancker. He had said that it was intended to give the Highway Board the whole control of the water? Sir Thos. BRAN CKER.—Yes ; they have the control of the pipes. Mr. PROCTER replied that the Watch Committee would not be satisfied with that. Mr. Alderman EARLE feared that, with the Watch Com mittee against it, the public would suffer. Mr. HODGSON said, the fact of the committee having had so many points to settle had made it difficult for them come to a conclusion so as to enable them to offer the d,tails of the measure to the council in time for the present session. It was only just now that they had been able to arrange the parts which each body should take; and though it might not be thought that one body should take the paving of the streets as well as the management of the water, yet if that was opened as a matter of conflict now, it was clear the council would not be able to obtain the remedy which they sought. The question was, whether the council were prepared to take upon themselves the responsibility—merely for the purpose of delay, and for getting information which, after all, was distinctly promised before the second reading of the bill —of throwing aside the whole of the scheme for another year. They would not only expose themselves to the unfavourable comment which circumstances that might possibly arise would justly bring down upon them; but did they not know that the feeling now abroad, which would enable them to accomplish this which was so desirable, might cool, and that they might find next year that they could not get on? The arrangement was now made, and if they tried to upset it by voting (for it was clear there must be a vote), the object would be upset; and the object was so great, that he was not afraid of its being carried with the utmost harmony. As soon as the bill had passed the first reading, all the details would be made the subject of discussion, just as if it had never been undertaken ; and the expense, he believed, was so trifling, that they would all be ashamed of making that a subject of discussion, even for the purpose of delay. Mr. PARSER contended that more information was re quired before proceeding to a decision. It was true un doubtedly that there had been communications between the Fire Committee and the Highway Board, but no plan had yet been laid down to enable the council to judge of the merits of the bill ; and he was of opinion that before going to parliament at all every detail should be produced. From the information of a practical man, he begged to say that the fire in Crompton-street could n o t have been better managed than it was ; and as to that in Greenland-street, it was a po sitive fact that the more water there was thrown upon it the more it blazed. (Laughter.) Mr. PLATT said, so tar from that being the case, no water could be got there for more than half an hour after the fire was discovered. (Hear.) _ _ Mr. PARKER was satisfied that all the acts of parliament in the world would never remedy the evil. Besides, when ever they went to parliament, the burden fell upon the inhabitants. It was for the benefit of the mercantile com munity only that the inhabitants were called upon to pay. (Cries of " No, no.") Then they were asked, " What would Liverpool be without her merchants ?" True, but what would the town be without a population ? It would be an empty shell! (Loud laughter.) This was a question be tween the insurance companies and the mercantile interests — (no, no)—not between the ratepayers and the merchants ; whilst all the burden would fall upon the ratepayers ; and seeing that there was so little information on th• details, he hoped the council would agree to postpone it another year. He was perfectly willing to bear his share of the responsi bility of delay. Mr. Alderman Nicol - , suggested that the Town-clerk should give the council a general idea of the bill. It would save time, and prevent gentlemen from having the trouble of making speeches. (Hear, hear.) Mr. PLATT, as a heavy sufferer by the late fire i❑ Green land-street, begged to say it was very evident to him that Mr. Parker knew nothing about the matter. (Laughter.) Had there been a supply of water at the time the tire was discovered, it might have been readily extinguished ; but there was none till three-quarters of an hour afterwards, and under such circumstances anybody who knew the combustible nature of the materials would not wonder at the conflagration being so serious. Mr. PARKER.--I only say that Mr. Whitty tried the ex periment, and the more water he threw on the flames the more they burned ! (Laughter.) The MAyort.—That seems extraordinary doctrine. If it is so, that is one reason why we should have no bill at all ; or water either, if that principle be correct ! (Renewed laughter.) Mr. S. HOLME.—I hope it does not apply to malt! (Con tinued laughter.) Mr. Alderman EARLS.—It's a new discovery, Mr. Mayor. Mr. PARKER..--It is based upon science, sir. The TONOV-CLERK said, he should be glad to give the Council any information in his power • and he would be g i n by stating that he h a d never , i n his life, met with any bill which seemed so full of difficulty as the present. It was a bill in which they could not be materially assisted by counsel, for it was a bill as to which every provision must be framed by the hand of men who had some practical information, as well as some legal knowledge, to satisfy an act of Parliament. He despaired of much advantage from the assistance of coun sel, any further than testing what he did himself, and in see ing whether the bill would stand the objections of opposing counsel. He considered it a bill of the greatest importance to the town of Liverpool, and he was satisfied that though the bill might be prepared, and go on this session (which was not at all to be despaired of), that the best thing they could do for the town would be to proceed at once to the first read ing, even if it were ultimately to stand over to another session. He did not, however, think that would be the result ; but if there should be a prospect before them of its standing over he would say, " proceed at once to the presenting of the bill, for I consider that every clause to be put in that bill must be tested by being put into a printed shape before it would be at all likely to answer the purpose." With regard to the de tails of the bill it would be very easy to state them ; but it was extremely difficult indeed to put those details into legal language. In the first place he would draw the attention of the Council, before he stated the heads of the bill, to this fact, that they had before them a most desirable point gained in the disposition upon the part of the Commissioners of Paving and Sewering to go to Parliament for an act to enable them to supply the town with water in every part—not by reservoirs here and there, but by mains, by which water would be furnished wherever it was wanted, and at all times and under all circumstances, as was fully ex plained in the report before the Council. Here he must be allowed to mention, that it was not any part of the plan of the Commissioners for Paving and Sewering, as be under stood it, to interfere, in the slightest degree, with the powers of the Watch Committee, or those of the Fire Police Com mittee; they were, in fact, only to supply the water to be used by the Fire Police Committee just as the Fire Police Committee would use the water at present : they would exer cise no control over the water beyond the placing of it in the mains in all parts of the town wherever it could be wanted, and then the Fire Police Committee would exercise their power upon the materials so provided for them. As to the general details of the bill, he would say, in the first place, it had been his desire to begin with placing the execution of the bill ander the regulation of a committee of the council, just as any other branch of the duties of the council. Then, it was easy to enact very useful things as to the new warehouses. Now, as to new warehouses, there could be no objection to enact that they should be built with iron doors I and iron shutters ; and he thought it must turn out, upon consideration, but only after the most serious consideration, that this provision ought to be made to apply to the existing warehouses. (" Hear, hear," from Mr. Birkett.) Then, there was one most useful provision, which he would state upon the authority of a gentleman of great practical experi ence in the town, that it would be a great protection to ware houses if there was, between the roof of one warehouse and the roof of another, either parapet walls or a wall to prevent the communication of fire, serving also as a protection to persons who might be upon the warehouse not upon fire when repelling the flames from that which w as b urn i ng . Mr. G. 1 1 1. - LAWRENCE.—That is for future warehouses? The TOWN-CLERK.—Yes ; for future warehouses. With the protection of iron doors and shutters, to a great extent, the existing warehouses would remain in their natural con struction. In the next place, lie apprehended there would be no great difficulty in enacting that, in future, no warehouse for the deposit of goods should be built without a space of sixteen yards in froth of it, whether it consisted of a street, square, er court; and again, there should be a passage within any new warehouse, which, for every one hundred yards, at least, should be ten yards wide. When he stated 100, the number 100 was used by him more as an illustration than anything else, because it might be fixed at fifty yards, or two hundred yards, just as the committee thought proper. Again, if there should be any communication with that passage, so as to admit assistance to arrive to put down a fire there, it should be by means of a passage covered in that way so as to be fireproof. For instance, if it should be determined by the merchants of this town, as he understood was not at all unlikely, to build warehouses in squares or courts, they would take care that any communi cation from the streets into that square or court should be by a passage so constructed as to protect the fire-police when going info the particular square or court. Then, again, it would be for consideration —but only for consideration until they saw how far they could put the provision into legal shape—how far they could overcome the legal difficulties ;in fact, so soon as they could make the object intelligible, not so much in legal language, but so that practical men could understand r i t s , a f n o d r o t h t b e e y r I s i a n d , o t u d s e t a k l o w t what wit the lawyers e o a n n i t y —so able s o t ot s oo fireproofos n u b , lie i r t said, o h as re e council u s s ecsi could in n the b w e printdone,h ch 0 certain f i t t h w e o b u g d l op o b r d e o sv s o e s of i n r as i dangerous nature should he warehoused, and to which ware houses those goods should be restricted. There was another suggestion, and one of great importance, that instead of legislating as to the distance between dangerous trades and the warehouses which contained the wealth of the merchants of the town, that the difficulty should be at once disposed of, by enacting that places in which a dangerous trade was carried o n s h ou ld have all the various flues combined into ene, ana go into a chimney which sliotld carry them up tb-a height of at least sixty or seventy feet above the ground. 'Pisis seeth e d t o hi m, when it was mentioned t• him, as a very large demand to make upon those trades ; but he was quite astounded to find, from the information of gentlemen of the greatest practical experience, that t chimney of that kind would not cost more than £7O. (Hear, hear.) Another part which had bad anxious consi deration on the part of the committee was this, that in order to make some compensation for the necessary expense which would be thrown upon the new warehouses, there should be a register provided, in which every warehouse built under the act should be registered, and which register should be pub lished under the direction of the council ; and any existing warehouse, if the owners thought proper to submit to the regulations applying to new warehouses, should have aff or d e d to them the bounty of being admitted into that register. cliffinuiry ind e ed There was another subject, and sue of great ..namely, whether the powers to regulate porters in ware houses could not be materially improved ; whether it was possible to have gangs of men under the direction of ware house owners, and to elevate some of those porters into the rank of foremen, who should be made the parties to com mand those gangs. It would also he for consideration, whether, considering the great extent of loss of life, as well as of property, in this town, it would not be deemed by thy• legislature essential to enact, that any wilful act or negligent omission upo❑ the part of porters and others employed in warehouses, whereby property might be in danger from tire. ought not to be deemed a misdemeanour, and, if proved, be punished either by temporary confinement or the payment of a penalty; whether, in short, they should not be regularly indicted, and, if proved guilty, be punished by fine and im prisonment, or either of them. Such were the considera tions ; and he would only say himself, that if this bill were to go on in another session, and not in the present.session, still the best course would be to get it printed for the present session. At the same time, he did not at all despair of the bill being brought forward in the present session, if the council so pleased kbut, in either case, the bill, being printed, must stand the test of the most rigorous examination by every interest concerned; and every man who had anything to assert against it ought to be fairly and quietly heard, what ever his rank of life might be; for he certainly thought, that unless it stood all these tests it would only be an act of par liament which, in another session, would have to be re pealed. Mr. G. 11. LAWRENCE asked if there was any arrange ment between the Paving Board and the council, that if the bill of the council failed theirs should be withdrawn also ? Mr. JOHN Homurs replied that the Paving Board were going on with their bill merely at the suggestion of the com mittee. The Highway Board thought, at one time, it would would be much better to postpone both bills till the next session ; and he thought from what the Town-Clerk had just said, that that would be the best step yet. The Town-Clerk had not said that postponement would be the best step. He thought the bill should be proceeded with as far as the first reading, this session even if they could mot go en till next session. ✓ Mr. BIRKETT observed that that was precisely his reason for voting in the committee for recommending the council to apply to parliament this session, upon the distinct under standing that both bills should be submitted to the inhabit ants previous to the second reading, when no great expense had been incurred. Mr. PLATT presumed that the Town-Clerk was aware that there was ati act of parliament against dangerous trades passed forty years ago,—for instance, his own trade (Mr. Platt's)—being carried on unless at a certain distance from any other building. The TOWN-CLERK was perfectly aware of that act, but i❑ going before Lord Shaftesbury they had found it difficult to convince Thin of the policy of those restrictions. Mr. H ODGSON thought it most important to make a com mencement in this matter, because the council would then be committed ; but if they postponed it till another session a great many intervening circumstances might occur to put it aside. If they commenced now they would go on. Mr. ISAAC HOLMES referred to the plan which Mr. Adcock (whom he spoke of as one of the most scientific in dividuals existing) had desired to lay before the council, and expressed his opinion, that if the gentlemen named had communicated with Mr. Adcock, his plan would have been adopted and proved successful, so perfectly simple and so effectual was it. Mr. Alderman BRAMLEY-MOORE said, that after the ob servations which had fallen from the chairman of the Finance Committee, he was rather disposed to acquiesce in the post ponement of the bill ; but having since listened to the exposi tion of the Town-clerk, he confessed that he saw strong grounds why the council should proceed immediately. In the first place, the council were informed that, until the first reading of the bill, no expense i❑ fees would be incurred— Mr. ASPINALL —Yes ; about £3OO. Mr. BRAMLEY-MOORE.—And consequently, as it would advance the business, he would say, " let the bill be printed, and let the inhabitants be put in possession of it as well as the council." it was from the town that the council must hear objections and receive instructions in this matter. (Hear.) It was clear that there were a great many conflict ing interests involved, and before going to parliament it was only proper that they should be in a position to judge of the details. To judge of them now would be exceedingly pre mature; it would be taking too hasty a step, because none were competent to form an opinion from hearing the report read, nor would they be in that position till the bill had been printed and placed in their hands. The argument that they would be throwing away a large sum of money, therefore, fell to the ground. With regard to what Mr. Parker had said, as to this being a question between the merchants and the insurance companies, he (Mr. Moore) held a totally different opinion, because every body knew that occasionally a fire was a desirable thing for an insurance company, and a great good. They might lately have been too frequent for them ; but the insurance companies had all lately raised their premiums 50 or 60 per cent., which was a great consideration not only to the merchants but to the inhabitants, because if property was destroyed and insurance was raised, it was clear that you enhanced the value of the property that was left. With regard to the bill involving a rate, the town would speak its sentiments upon that subject when the bill was before the inhabitants ; in the meantime, it was not for the council to consider whether they would incur any obligation by the measure, whether it would increase the rate id. or Id., or whether there was no rate at all; but they ought to be guided by what was consistent with the general interests of the town. If they were to consult every individual whe ther he would pay 6d. or Id., be might object to both, be cause he might not be in the district where fires occurred ; but nevertheless he was boend to contribute his proportion towards the general benefit of the community. The consi deration of a rate, therefore, ought not for one moment to weigh with the council, seeing that it was yet necessary to take steps to putthemselves in a position to judge what would be the best and most advisable measure for the general benefit. Mr. THORNHILL understood that the bill to be applied for was for the regulation of warehouses and that of the Highway Board for providing a supply of water, for which they were to lay a rate. He should object to its being called a fire-police rate, because that rate was quite sufficient for the purposes to which it was devoted; it was one halfpenny in the pound, and they had now a balance of £2,500 in hand beyond their expenses. The TOWN-CLERK, in reply, said, the calculation was that the money to be required by the Paving Board for supplying water to the Fire Police Committee would not exceed the pre sent amount which the fire police now sustained, or if it did it would be only to a very trifling extent. There was one point which he had not yet mentioned, and it was this,—it was proposed by the committee, (at least it was under con sideration,) that there should be $ clause in the bill author izing the chief magistrate of the town to direct the demolition of any building which it might be expedient to remove, with a view of putting a stop to fire. In cases of that kind it had been conceived reasonable and proper that the public should bear the expense of such proceeding, and upon that account it might be necessary, upder the direction of the committee, to propse that a small addition of one halfpenny should by, made to the rate. Mr. THORN HILL asked who was to collect that rate? The TOWN -CLERK.—The Fire Police Committee. • Mr. THORN HI LL•—I should object to that, The TOWN -CLERK said, that the rate for the better water ing of the town would be a rate which must rest entirely with the Paving and Sewerage Commissioners ; but whether the committee might finally determine to. recommend any addi tion to the rate would depend upon further consideration, and of course any recommendation would be subject to the con firmation of the Council. Mr. THOMPSON.—What is the objection to going for a joint bill? The TOWN-CLERK, in reply, said the proposition in the outset was to go for a joint bill, but they had been recom mended by the parliamentary agents, upon excellent grounds, to prefer the course of going for two bills, because what was called " multifariousness" in proceedings at law, was by no means approved of by the taste of the present day in parlia ment. If his course as Town-Clerk were to come over again, he thought there was no part of it he would avoid so much as the mixing up of different subjects in one bill. In the case of providing water that belonged to the Paving board, because they had the control of the pavement—they were the proprietors of the pavement--they were the parties to break it up, and they could, with their *wit consent, lay the requisite mains for the purpose of Applying water ; and so long as they were not united with the council, it was far better it should be so. le mast say, too, that he had gene• rally found that mixing up different subjects in one bill, had caused eventually greater expense than if several bills had been introduced fpr the purpose. Mr. JOHN 110LMES.—We gave a joint notice with the council of oar ielentioa to apply to parliament. Sir THOMAS BRANCKEE. here moved that the report of the Fire Committee be adopted. The TOWN-CLERK said the Deputy Town-Clerk bad re minded him that there was to saving in fees in parliament on a joint bill, for when it was found out that two parties had joined in a bill,•both were made to pay the fees. In that case there were two fees paid. Mr. Alderman EARLS.—They rob them both then. The TOWN-CLERK.—They rob them both ; and for the information of the Alderman who spoke last, I may mention, that when they find they have a corporation to rob, they make that corporation pay doable fees. . . Mr. Alderman Nicol, seconded the motion proposed by Sir Thomas Brancker. Mr. EVANS said it had been asserted that the bill was for the benefit of the town, but he would say that the expense in favour of a particular description of property ought to fall upon that property ; but it had bee■ hustled off that pro perty o❑ to all other property. It was intended to have the law made prospective as regarded all sew warehouses. He would appeal to Mr. Holum if there were not as many ware houses now building as would answer all die purposes of the town for two years to come ? At all events then they had two years before them, for they could not interfere with the ware houses already in course of erection. It was useless to talk of iron doors and windows to the existing warehouses, unless they could change the stairs. Then 'Was the cause of all the evil. All kinds of windows, it was well ksown, were more likely to be left open time shut. He looked upon this as an attempt to bolster up the old warehoast system is Liverpool. It appeared they were going to lay a penny is the pound on the whole property of the town, and all As benefit that the inhabitants at large would have in return, would be an in creased facility in watering the streets. There was not the slightest necessity for haste in tke business. He repeated that anything they could do for the old warehouses would be useless, unless they could so alter the stairs as to give easy access to the uppermost stories. Again, it their interference with the porters, they were proposing unjustifiable measures for bolstering up a bad system. To say, if a man were guilty of carelessness that he should be liable to a punishment little short of felony, was most extraordinary. hle could not be lieve that a monopoly of labour would be continued, even if enacted. Mr. SAMUEL HOLME, who spoke under the oppression of a severe cold and hoarseness, thought it would be admitted that the calamitous fires that had occurred in this town du ring the last few years, and which had involved the destruc tion of property to the extent of nearly one million and a half within the last ten years, thus causing an annusl loss of something like £150,000 upon the average, was a state of things which loudly called for a remedy. When he added to that the destruction of the furniture of the poor, and the alarm incidental to a great conflagration in a large town ; when he called to mind the appalling spectacles which he had himself frequently witnessed with the deepest pain, of the mutilated fragments of some of his fellow creatures car ried out from under the burning ruins ; those who considered these matters would cordially agree with him that it was a state of things which required immediate and instant remedy. He begged to say, further, that these calamitous results needed not to have taken place if the warehouse property of Liverpool had not been constructed upon false and improper principles. He could bear testimony to the efficiency of the tire-police, as for some years there had scarcely been a single fire at which he had not been present. He had no hesitation saying regulated, niwtivahetabretipdt Liverpool yo n loa;r a n l bd l mu England rer. what Hewittcould skilfullyu l there d any i yrwwe fire-police whenudn o, the ht he a ad fire-policetoh;ew warehouseh at could b i n e t fire policet er No was generally half burnt before a drop , o n t; water could be Cal ton-street, a fire which only occurred a few ob tained ? In the case of Sir John Tobi s weeks previouslyG al marrri.vewd hoiotttyherusnponitn:ouabldouhta to the great fire, a single bucket of water soon after he (Mr. like a lunatic, begging put the fire out, but a single bucket of water could notvb 11 i himself u' e) obtained. He saw for water in all directions; and it was not till tw o s t or i es o f that warehouse, c on t a i n i ng most valuab produce, had been consumed, that any w a t er cou l d be obtained, and even then they were obliged to obtain it f rom the dock. That a ready and immediate supp ly of water w ou l d at all times almost ex tinguish great fires, there was on that occasion practical proof, for as soon as they got a sufficient three stories went then in a state of dreadkul pply, although conflagration, they sdiceeeded hi preventing the fire from extending to the remaining three stories, both as to the building and the pro duce they contained were saved. He mentioned this fact to show that a supply of water ought to be available, immedi ately, and in all directions, whenever a fire took place, for, he repeated, that a single bucket of water, when first the fire broke out, was of more importance than almost any quantity of it afterward:=. It was not his intention to have gone into details as to the detects in the warehouse system, as the com e them power to niittee were merely a atnent, to prevent them from being thrown over the session ; he would, however, with the permission of the council, as far as his strength would allow him, state a few of the defects which, as he conceived, attached theinselles to the warehouses of Liverpool. The first was the narrow streets in which many of the warehouses were erected. When a warehouse took fire in a narrow street, and there was a wind blowing towards the opposite building, having nothing but wooden doors, wooden shutters and pent house, the fire was almost immediately communicated, from the great heat thrown from the other side of the street. The best plan was to give a practical proof of his meaning. When the fire took place in Lancelot's-hey he was down there; the fire shot across the street in one s h ee t o f fl ame , an d long before the warehouses on the west side were consumed, the warehouses on the east side were in a state of conflagration. Mr. Alderman EVANS.-It was so with the Goree, which is a wide street. go to par Mr. Hoene.—The next defect was the non-separation of the roofs of warehouses. Warehouses built in stacks, with nothing to separate them but a lead gutter, between the spar of one warehouse and the spar of the other. No sooner did the lead melt than the spars, being at a declination from the roof, ignited, and the warehous e itnrnedietely took fire. Th e warehouse got into a state of flame at a part which the police could not reach, and so it ran from roof to roof, and that was the reason why we had seen such great destruction. If the warehouses had been properly constructed, the fames would have been confined to the place where they had originated. The next defect was the proximity of the bearing timbers in these warehouses. It had not been unusual for stacks of warehouses to be erected from one end of a street to another, in many cases with party walls, and being connected one with another, here was another means of communicating fire. The next defect in warehouses was having them constructed with wooden pent-houses projecting from the roof, cat-heads, with wood doors and windows ; the consequence was, that all these being constructed of Baltic timber, which was full of turpentine, the pent-houses were commonly the first thing to take fire. He need not tell the Council that the pent houses of warehouses were just in that position which the fire-police were unable to reach by the force of their engines. It was quire an error to suppose that one of our common en • gines could reach the pent-house of a tall warehousd. The next defect was wooden staircases ; and a great defect it was, because in consequence of their being merely separated from the warehouse-rooms by a thin wooden partition, and the stairs being spiral, the flames ran up them ; and when a ware house took fire the staircase was almost the first thing com pletely consumed. It was likewise a means of communicat ing the flames from room to room ; and therefore he was under the necessity of saying that wooden staircases were a great defect in our warehouses, and one which he hoped to see soon remedied. Besides, when a staircase was on fire it was utterly impossible for the fire-police to get into any room which might be in a state of conflagration. The next great defect was the proximity of many warehouses to dangerous trades. It was not at all an unusual thine. in Liverpool to see a stack of warehouses filled with cotton, every window open, and within a few yards of it half a dozen, or a dozen common low smithy chimnies vomiting out smoke mixed with sparks. Under such circumstances, it was only to be wondered at that our fires had not been more numerous than they had been. There were great numbers of other trades which were exceedingly dangerous, whose proximity to warehouses was to be carefully guarded against. Having spo'een of the defects in our ware houses, let him now be permitted to speak of that which he would venture respectfully to submit to the council, as a practical man, who had paid great attention to the subject, who had assisted with his own hands to erect many ware houses in Liverpool, and who, since he had become a master tradesman, had had some practical experience in the building of warehouses. With great respect, therefore, he begged to recommend, as the council probably could not obtain an act of parliament to operate retrospectively, that in all future streets laid out for warehouse purposes, or in any case where mercantile men, either individually or in bodies, might choose to build warehouses in squares, there should be an increased width of street or of court. If you had sixteen yards width, it was probable that the warehouses being on fire upon one side would not communicate to the warehouses upon the other ; and, as an example, in the great fire in Crompton-street, the warehouses upon the side - of - Neptune -street—a street of six teen yards wide—were unscathed. He, therefore, considered an increased width of street a subject of vital importance. He would, likewise, beg to point out the necessity for a bet ter separation of roofs and bearing timbers, and as a sketch would give more information than he could orally he had drawn one—which he submitted to them—from which they would see that every warehouse would be rendered a perfect funnel, completely fire-proof, to conduct the flames, so that they could no more communicate to the adjoining building, than if they were sent up the middle of the chimney. Then he would suggest that the doors, shutters,pent-houses,cat-heads, should be of iron, and especially the staircase, which, instead of being of wood, should be framed either of seine or of iron ; and that the staircases should be enclosed with brick walls up ' to the top of the building, by which the fire-police might, at any moment, have free access to the top of the warehouse, the roof of the adjoining warehouse, and water be taken to ' where water was wanted. The next was smithies and fur naces in the vicinity of warehouses. Unquestionably, as a measure of public security, they ought to be obliged to turn their small flues into one general chimney. The great danger from sparks—for it was a spark from a bone-boiler's which ' first set fire to the warehouses in Galton-street—would then be avoided, and no calamitous result would ensue. Ware houses, he granted, might be built fire-proof at a compara tively small expence above the common mode of building : he was not, however, prepared to say how much additional, because, at present, it was in some degree speculative, and iron-founders were not prepared to give estimates with that accuracy which would soon be arrived at ; hat he had no hesitation in saying this, that warehouses might be built en tirely fire-proof for somewhere between 13 and 17 per cent. additional. And this he did contend, that if warehouses were not erected entirely fire-proof, if you had the party walls made strong enough, the whole of the timbers completely divided, the roofs divided at the top by i arapet walls, if you had iron doors and iron shutters, and stone or iron staircases, yogi would convert every warehouse into a perfect fire-proof funnel ; and he would stake his existence that a warehouse constructed upon this principle would never communicate fire to any adjoining buildings ; but that the fire might in all cases be kept in the building in which it originated. Me knew it was said, and it might be argued, that this act would be an interference with the rights bf private property ; but he begged to ask, whether the Building Act, which was not obtained without opposition, was not in some degree an act of interference with private property? P ar li amen t gave the council p ower to compel individuals ab ou t t o erec t h o uses in Liverp oo l, t o have stronger walls and stronger timbers than had been hitherto usual. Was not th at , i n so me degree, an act of in terference with th e r i g ht s o f pr i vate property ? Again, the Health of the Town Bill was an interference with the rights of private property, for it compelled parties to have courts of a certain width, and that all should be lewered, which would involve expense; therefore, when he was told that this pro posed bill was in some degree an interference with the rights of private property, he replied that it was not more an inter ference with the rights of property than the Building Act, obtained some years ago, or the Health of the ?own Bill, now in operation. In all great measures for the public benefit, there must, in sonic degree, be an interference with the rights of property ; and he contended, that this proposed bill should be looked upon as an extension of the Building Act, and not as upon a new bill. Mr. Evans said, " let this bill lie over for a few months ;" but could any man guarantee that his own house wou ld not b e b u rnt down this night;? Could any one say th a t L aunce l ot ' s Hey might not be in flames within a week from this time? And if they had established, as this committee had e stablished,and was firmly of opinion that great danger resulted from the present system, why defer even for a few weeks? Mr. Evans contended for the necessity of dock warehouses ; but when he was opposed, did Ine ever think of saying, " let the bill lie over for a few months, it is of no importance ?" (Laughter.) No e he said it was of vital importance, and he would not welt for a moment; and he (Mr. Holme) now threw upon the council the responsibility of refusing to go to parliament for the benefit of the poor who suffered from these fires, as well as the rich merchants, for this bill which was imperatively wanted. Mr. Evans said that buildings were now being erected. So they were ; at thi s mom ent a number of ware houses were being e rec t e d ; b ut he (M r . Holme) begged t o observe, that many of th em were i n t h e pl a ce of tho s e w hi c h had been burnt down, and, with one slight exception, they were all being reconstructed as they were before ; and he was very much mistaken if, in reconstructing those warehouses in a street only eight yards wide, they were not erecting mate rials for another serious bonfire at no distant period. Mr. Evans stated that iron shutters were of no use unless they were closed; but the shutters of warehouses were those which of all things the Fire Committee would say that there should be a clause compelling them to be closed, in the same way as Mr. Evans would make a law to compel shipkeepers to walk the deck all night. He granted that iron shutters were of no use unless they were closed. [Mr. Alderman EVANS.-- " Corn."] Well, there might be an exception in the case of corn. He was reminded, that warehouse occupiers were compelled to heave, the heisting ropes up ; and the same thing might be enacted with regard to the windows. Mr. *vans had talked a good deal about bolstering up old warehouses: lie seemed, indeed, to have a great horror of old warehouses ; but he knew not with what grace Mr. Evans could say that this was a bill to bolster up old warehouses, when they were absolutely trying to make those old warehouses compa ratively fire-proof. Mr. Evans must remember that they were not laying the foundation s of a new town, but that they were dealing with Liverpool as it was, and as it had grown during the last century and half. If they had to begin de novo, it would be easy to say they would not have warehouses in the streets at all ; but they had to deal with two or three millions' worth of property in existence—much of w hi c h be longed to trustees, which, of course, it was difficult to deal with—upon which he knew a great many children depended for•their bread ; and, therefore, they must deal with things as they found them, and not argue as if they were going to build a new town. He (Mr. Holme) thought the council would give him credit for di sinterestedness, for as a ware house owner this proposed bill would involve him in consi derable expense ; and with reference to his own trade he was at once agreeing to cut off a considerable portion of that by which he earned his bread. He, therefore, stood up as a dis interested man to recommend this measure. He was not an their e t i n r em re b ii e m r r of the n individual for great haste, but he s a id , i f the council did not give the committee permission to g o to parliament for a mea sure to prevent life and property from b e i ng l os t, a ft er th e labour, attention, and time which t h e committee had be stowed upon the subject, he tho ug h t i t would be hardly treating them fairly ;--at all event s h e trusted that the bill ad any council. w pu o t uld in t t i o len the be Bands gla might go to the first reading and be pr i nted in order to be li e s from the t own , an d h e should be p repared to defend those clauses which he h a d had the ho nour of suggesting. Mr. Holme concluded by an earnest call up on t h e council to agree to the motion. glad to to ofheeavrer d Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE said he sho u ld g i ve a vote at vari ance with the se n ti m ents he had exp ressed at the begin nin g. After the able speech he had heard f rom Mr. Holine, an the (A i rimportant Lawrence) details n could which ot that g en tl eman had produced, he incur th e responsibility of delaying at this moment the object of t he committ ee . I t wou ld be too great a responsibility for him to in cur; b ut he did com plain of the committee having given the council so bald and poor a report. When the bill should come before them in a printed shape, he should be ready to give it eve r y considera tion in his power, but at the same time he thought the diffi culties in it were very great. The motion was then Put by the MAYOR and carried witkout a division. STEAM BOAT, paper by mi s t a k e. that it bad b een put on the paper Mr. NORTH stated that he was not prepared t o b r i ng for ward his motion on this subject, of whi c h he had given no oeodrnth the optio n o f b ringing it forward i t n i cToe order de e no- It MAYOR hadb e e e e mx n pr p l. a u Ni t o either now or at the next meeting. The motion was then postponed till the next meeting. THE INCOME TAX. Mr. BIRKETT b ro ught forward a motion of which he had given notice, with reference to the pla ces o f appeal aga i nst surcharges to the Income Tax for those p arts of the b oroug h whieh are the tax in the parish, and they co ns id ered that part i es chargeable to it in the new parts of th e b orough should and not overseers within wardens Liverpool were the collectors of de rive the same advantage as those who resided within the old borough. This was his reason for bringing forward the subject. With regard to those parts of the librough which were out of the parish, the inhabitants, he conceived, were unfairly treated. The only protection which they had against surcharges was the right of appeal; and he under stood that those who were in that position had, on the north side of the town, to go to Ormskirk, and, on the other side, to Prescot. This, if not a denial of the protection of appeal, was, at least, a mockery of it. Government were protected from fraudulent returns in various ways, but the persons who were surcharged had no protection except the appeal, and they were compelled to lose their time in going to Prescot and Ormskirk, with the possibility-that their case might not be heard on that day. He would call attention to another circumstance—namely, that in surcharging, a differ ent course was adopted than was taken with th. assessed taxes. For instance, as to the assessed taxes, if he made a return of twenty windows, and he was surcharged twenty-five, it was so stated ; but in the present case, a paper was merely handed in, saying " Property tax, —" so much ; so that you were put to the trouble of multiplying the num ber of sevenpences, in order to see whether you were sur charged or not. In the township within the borough, he had been told, the parties having control over the surcharges had behaved remarkably well—that very few instances of them had taken place, and those were being amicably settled ; whilst in the out-townships they 'were .or,liArcrin. -••••J mana.uaLg,tiig 116111,1111 U left. Now, as this was a matter likely to bring a good deal of odium upon the government through the fault of its officers, he thought the council would be justified in inter fering. He concluded by moving that a memorial be pre sented to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pointing out the inconveniences of this system, and recommending the subject to his favourable consideration. Mr. Alderman BRAMLEY-MOORE seconded the motion. The subject was one involving the interests of every indivi dual connected with the out-townships; for, in many in stances, the present system amounted to a denial of justice. Mr. Alderman EARLE.—A pleasing instance of the com forts of the income tax ! The motion, after a verbal alteration suggested by the TOWN -CLERK, was unanimously carried ; and the council adjourned shortly after one o'clock. CORRESPONDENCE, THE REGISTRATION ACT TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, SIR,—In consequence of public attention having been di rected a short time ago to the evils of the Registration Act, in an article which appeared in most of the London conser vative joarnals, and which subsequently found its way into many other periodicals and provincial papers, a petition on the subject has been forwarded from the Wirral Union, for presentation to both housei of parliament, of which the fol lowing is a copy. Should you favour me by giving it a place in your valuable and widely-circulated paper, other boards of guardians may be induced to follow the example set by the Wirral Union and may so strongly and simultaneously press the repeal of so iniquitous a measure upon the notice of the legislature, as to cause an erasure from the statute book of an act which is a disgrace to a Christian legislature ; which, by destroying the distinguishing ordinances of reli gion, is rapidly bringing the nation back to a state of hea thenism ; and which, while it robs, degrades, and insults the clergy, perpetrates an imposition and a palpable fraud upon all poor-rate payers, by extracting enormous sums of money out of their pockets, ostensibly " for the support and main tenance of the poor," which is appropriated to the payment of the registrars. I am, sir, your very obedient servant, JOSHUA KING. Woodchurch Rectory, Feb. 10th, 1843. (COPY.) To the Right Honourable and Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled, The humble Petition of the undersigned Guardians of the Poor of the Wirral Union, in the county of Chester, SHEWETII, That an act was passed in the sixth and seventh years of his late Majesty King William the Fourth entitled, "An Act for registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages," and amended in the first year of her present Majesty, Queen Victoria. That, in carrying the said act into operation, a large amount of expense is entailed upon the country in the shape of poor rates (to pay the registrars) ; from which the poor receive no benefit whatever, nor the community at large any adequate advantage. That the expense caused by it to this union alone, situated in a thinly-inhabited agricultural district, amounts to the sum of £139 13s. 6d. a-year. That, at a time when the country is labouring under in creased taxation, and agricultural produce far below a remu nerating price, it is but ill prepared to bear this apparently unnecessary burden. That the same results the legislature had in view when passing the said act, might be attained without expense to the country, if each officiating minister would, at the time of baptising a child, register its birth as well as its baptism ; and, at the interment of every corpse, would register the time of death as well as that of the burial ; provided such registrations were made legal evidence in courts of law. That it subjects the clergy to a heavy penalty should they bury a corpse without the certificate of a lay registrar ; al though, through his neglect, they are frequently obliged to bury without such certificate, which is both unreasonable and unjust. That the operations of the said act in unchristianising the community, by doing away with the solemnity of a religious contract in marriage, and by superseding the sacrament of baptism, especially among the lower orders, are still more deeply to be lamented. That it has such effect to an immense extent, may be abun dantly proved from the great diminution of baptisms which has taken place under its operation, particularly in large towns and populous districts, while he number of inhabi tants has been very much increased. That your petitioners feel confident they only need call the attention of a Christian legislature to an act that thus tends to supersede a rite which the Divine Head of that re ligion appointed, and commanded to be observed, in order to bate such tendency, together with the other evils therein contained, entirely removed. Your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray your honourable house to take their great grievances into your serious consi deration, with a view to remove them by repealing the said act. ~._. EDUCATION AND RELIGION TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, SlR,—Will you have the kindness to give a place in your highly-respectable paper to the following remarks on the principles set forth in a report published by a school society in this town. One of the resolutions in the report is this— " That this meeting dissents from the opinion that knowledge is in itself a dangerous thing, being fully convinced that whatever tends to develope and exercise the intellectual fa culties facilitates the reception of moral and divine truth." Now, this principle seems to me to be quite contrary to the teaching of Scripture, to historical facts and daily experience. The Scriptures inform us that the cause why the Greeks (the then most learned nation in the world) would not , receive the Gospel was, that they " counted it foolishness." They said of Paul, " i , That will this babbler say ?" the fact evidently appears that when the mind gets stored with secular know ledge, without a knowledge of the Word of God, it becomes so self sufficient as to disperse the simplicity of the Gospel ; this is the knowledge that " puffeth up ;" and this fact has bean proved wherever the Gospel has been proclaimed. A striking instance of this truth has been, and is at this mo ment exhibited in Ireland, where so many hundreds of un educated persons have gladly embraced the Gospel, while it would be difficult to find one individual, who has received only secular education, who has embraced the Gospel. This I knew by experience, having resided in that country fur many years, and being perfectly acquainted with the state of it, both as respect' its education societies and the general state of religion. The same principle is inculcated through the whole report, enforced by such strong assertions as these—that to differ from their principle is " a most despi cable fallacy, repugnant alike to common sense and universal experience." In refutation of this it may be sufficient to state what effect secular learning had on the conduct and principles of the Greeks and Romans : its evident effects were to enable them to know that many surrounding nations could be easily conquered, robbed and made slaves ; and this they did to a very great extent, and just for the purpose of enabling themselves to indulge more largely in the most de spotic and abominable practices, thus rendering themselves more unhappy, and making thousands of others most raise rably so. ut there is another reason given why the lower orders should receive secular education, and it is this, that they may Ist qualified to use political power, or, in other words, become inflammeral rulers in the state ; now this object seems to me to be also contrary to Scripture teaching and experience, and, whenever adopted, has had most ru inotis consequences. In Scripture it is said, " Blessed art thou 0 Land when thy king is the son of nobles." King here evidently means the rulers of a state ; and as to its ru inous consequences, see the late revolution in France—yes, and see the present state of our own country, thousands of Chartists and other such politicia n s b o ldly threateningl to overturn the present constitution ; and there is every reason to fear that much blood must be shed before a stop can be put to what they avow as their object—viz., the overthrow of the present happy constitution, unless some ministry can be foetid with sufficient nerve to at once put a stop to all meetings and agitators of questions subversive of govern ment—and this could yet be done. It is a fact that, ever since our pusilanimous government submitted to the Bir mingham mob, in allowing them to appoint a ministry, government has been daily losing its strength, and mob legis lators daily gaining more political power. But, to return to the education question. Those who advocate secular in struction ever take for granted that Roman Catholics would not send their children to be taught in schools where the Scriptures were read and made the basis of their education ; but this is proves to be a most erroneous opinion, for, prior to the establishment of the national schools in Ireland, there were upwards of 100,000 Roman Catholic children at schools where the Bible was not only freely read in the schools, but the children had to commit to memory considerable portions of it ; and, if sufficient funds could have been obtained, five times the number of Roman Catholics would have attended the shools, and that in despite of all the denunciations of their clergy ; and even at this moment there are more than 100,000 Roman Catholics (including adults) receiving a truly religious education, and carefully reading the Word of God. Bnt the report on which I am observing, with other publica tions of the like import, is evidently intended to influence the government to adopt in Great Britain the mode of edu cation imposed on Ireland. Now the facts respecting the state of the parties for and against the establishing of the Irish system in Britain may, 1 think, be fairly stated at about one in every hundred of the inhabitants in favour of the Irish system ; then the case stands thus, that to gratify these few, who hate the Word of God, cannot bear to hear it even read, that precious Word, given by God for the guidance and com fort of man, is not only to be kept from the people, but be lowered in its inestimable value and importance in the eyes of all, it being made a matter of indifference whether it should be read or not. I may just observe that, although Ido not see the necessity of putting my name to this letter, should any one dispute the correctness of what I have stated, as far as regards Ireland, by his noticing it in the STANDARD I shall immediately give him my name, and I pledge myself to produce authentic documents to prove all I have stated. I am, Sir, yours, Ssc. A DISSENTER. Liverpool, 11th February, 1843. THE LIVERPOOL MERCURY AND THE NEW COPYRIG tIT LAM' TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD SIR,—I shall feel myself much indebted to you by your permitting me to make a few remarks on a paragraph which appeared in last Friday's Mercury, touchinc , the advantages of the new Copyright Bill, under the head of " 13eneticial Effects of the New Copyright Act" ; for, in this said not very lengthy paragraph, the Editor totally disavows the prin ciples of free trade, virtually recants all his previously pub lished sentiments, and, in principle and effect, becomes a rigorous and ancompromising advocate of restriction, mono poly, and comprehensive protection. (I take for granted that the Editor of the Mercury wrote the paragraph itt qual tion, or fully approved of its doctrines, sine* It. has not ac nowledged it as taken from any other newspaper.) And it is not a restriction of any thing immaterial tp the people, and by a restriction of which they will net be injured, that the Mercury here advocates : on the other hand, it, is a tnatter of the highest importance, it is the knowledge of lite 'people. The Editor of the Mercury pleads for a monopoly in know ledge! For dear reading, for high-priced literature; for monopoly of the most interesting books in the English language! I wish, Sir, to call your close attention to that part of the paragraph in question which leads thus :—" The legitimate sale of English books has, indeed, been contracted by the circulation of F renc h, Belgian, and American copies of works; and the English publisher, though, in many cases, giving considerable sums for manuscripts, and embarking his capital in other large outlays, for paper, print, advertise ments, (including duty to Government,) &c., could not hope for an entire possession even of the home market, where his energies were defeated, where he was not protected (!) from unfair rivalry, and where he was _greatly undersold by .fo reign 'speculators, who, not having to pay for convright. _ . could defy competition as to price." Now, sir, this quotation contains, in substance, the most powerful arguments that can be used against "free trade" DRBA.DrUL CASE,UP BURNING.---AU inquest was held of Wednesday, before Mr . Curry, the borough coroner, on view of the body of Elltn Maynagh, a married fernale,.aged 38, It appeared from , the evidence, that at one o'clock on the morning of Tuesday last, the deceased, who resided with family in Pall Mall, was found, by some persons who the house on hearing her cries, to be enveloped from head to foot. Her persc , i ,, tinctly seen through the blaze and smu.,. to extinguish the fire, the husband, who I bed, had his hands much burnt. ndeed, e came in to her assistance, had also his coat such assistance as he could ; but notwithst efforts her clothes were entirely co, dreadfully burnt over her whole pc ately conveyed to the Northern Ho: ing for abont six hours, she expired about nye] same morning. The body, on being viewed presented a shocking appearance, being intern nearly to a cinder. The deceased stated, so( accident, that she had been sitting on the fend fallen asleep. Her husband had gone to bed, child was lying on chairs close to her at the time returned a verdict of " Accidental death." DOCK COMMITTEE, YESTERDAY. - Presen Sands, (chairman,) Horsfall, Bold, Aikin, Butte Evans, Holmes, Holt, Molvneux, Royden, Sha Martin, and Middleton. The sub committee of department reported that the anchors and cable to the North-west Light Ship, which were lost dni gale, had been picked up. They had been vale Logan, at £l2O, one-third of which was ordered to the person who found them and brought thee The committee also reported that the Steam Tu would. in future, always have one of their boat with the steam up, which _mighthe had for t 4 . , life-boats incase of need; she will be stationed off Pier-head, and, when a signal of distress is fly mediately take the first life-boat in tow. The veyor recommended that means should be taken the wreck of a schooner, lately sunk outside the ferred to the harbour master. relative to the duties of the pilots and the dog the entry of Vessels, in consequence of a recommet the sub-committee that the dock master should at pier-head, in place of the pier-head master, Mr. 1 of opinion that relative duties of each were not p fined. The ship Arlow having received some dam into the Graving Dock, an application was recei' the facts of the ease. but the committee did r them: elle responsible. A letter was also re Messrs. Rathbone Brothers, stating that the s) burgh not being worth repairing, after lvi- Grating Dock, they wished the dock t. but the committee cold not retain the matter the Birkenhead Cemetery Bill was sent in fop tl Me of the committee, who then proceeded to the c of financial matters, and soon afterwards adjourr Some conversati LIVERPOOL of AND LIPE INSURANCE C The annual meeting of the L iverpool Fire and Life I Company *as held, yesterday, in the Clarer ' South John-street, for the purpose of receiving t the directors, the declaration of a divider ment of seven directors, in the place of t by rotation. George Hall Lawrence, Esq., cha sided. In introducing the report, the chairman s the losses which the company. had sustained by t con fl a grations had been confined almost entireh , tc cantile districts of Liverpool. the company was excellent position, and he trusted, with the experi had gained, they would continue to go on flourishil had been driven to a painful experience, like all o ponies, that the mercantile premiunis formerly cha totally inadequate to protect them from the risk Vi ran, And though they regretted to place the commie port ender any additional burdens, they had been c in their own protection, to increase the premiums surance. After shewing the grounds on which prosperity might be expected, the chairman called on 1‘ Ewalt to read the directors' report. This document sheet that the losses during the year had been £46,528 16s. 8 leaving the reserved fund at £27,481 3s. 2d., after dischargi all liabilities; and it recommended a dividend of £5 per ce on the paid-up capital be declared. A long discussion follow principally with reference to the protection of warehouse pro perty against fire, at the end of which the report was unani mously adopted. The dividend proposed by the directors was ordered to be paid ; the thanks of the proprietors were given to the directors and auditors; the retiring directors and auditors were re-elected ; the usual sum of £420 was ordered In be placed at the disposal of the directors for distribution among the m selves; and after some discussion upon several matters of business, Mr. Lawrence was thanked for his con duct in the chair, and the meeting separated. CANDID.—" How is your husband ?" said a dispensar doctor to a middle-aged woman, who had come for medicin " Oh, sir," she replied, " 'flatter myself he's worse." It appears, from some statistics which have just been p lisbed, that notwithstanding the pressure upon trade am pufactnres experienced since 1839, there has been an an the value of property in the borough of Manche the last three years, of not less than £224,494. increase ;r within AFFECTION OF THE SPARROW FOR ITS YOUNG few years ago I was sitting in a cottage , w hen my att.- was attracted by an unusual screaming of a small L . immediately went to the back door, and saw that it from a house-sparrow that was fluttering ab at the base of Which was a duck with something in which it was endeavouring to swallow. Upon attent observing it, I found this to be a callow nestling, and the agonies of the poor sparrow there was no mistakin parent; the feathers of the latter were all erect, and in c tinued hopping and *uttering about, and uttering - distressing cries for the loss of one of its young, w pose had fallen out of the nest.—Letter in the Zc hich I st Da. SHELTON MACKENZIE'S NEW ROMANCE.—) Mr. Bentley's announcements for the coming sea "Titian a Romance of Venice." by Dr. Mackenzie we believe is editor of the Salopian Journal. This roi we hear, is the first specimen in our literature, of tli Novel—a species of fiction very popular on the Con The hero is the great Venetian painter Titian ; and the characters are his rival Giorgione, Ariosto.the the celebrated Cornelius Agrippa. There are gliml of Raphael and Michael Angelo. The scene is r at Venice, and the time is that of the League of There is a love story, o f cours e, but the object o'" to illustrate the romantic incidents of Titian's The subject, it must be confessed, h Literary Gazette Las great ear. THE WAR IN AFFGHANiSTAN.—One word on our I affairs. How can impeachment be refused ? If the were justified in invading Affghanistan, the conservz were guilty of treachery when they evacuated the tong' country. If the conservatives were justified in relinqui: possession of Affghanistan, the Whigs were lawless plund in the attack. Either there m ust be impeachment, o sponsibility is a farce. If the treasure, blood, and oat honour which England has sacrificed in that invasion, quest, and retreat, do not call for the impeachment of guilty authors of so much loss and disgrace, every natio the world will ridicule our notion of England's respon governors, and despise the name of Britain's greatr Then it will be proved that the very kernel of the B institutions is rotten, and that the sun of Britain's set. —Well, we shall see.—Ostlers Fleet Papers. NEW SPECIES OF CURRENCY. —When the late 11 Buckhardt was travelling in Africa he took payment on occasion for exhibiting his head. His face and hands feet had become very dark from the effects of the broil sun ; hut his head, which he had shaved, and kept genes covered with a cap or turban, retained the whiteness ( northern skin. A tradition of this having got abroad, it intimated to Mr. Buckhardt, at in m a town where he had a, brief halt, that two of the ladies the vicinity were wil to pay for a sight of his bead. Not being rich at the mon the traveller consented , an d the price of the exhibition fixed at four onions each. At . the first glimpse of the v skin the ladies ran off screaming that !hey had look- the devil, and the traveller, putting his onions (which in those parts no oubts TFn . ables very m vision bag), went upon his way rejoicing. LONDON ROYAL GEOGRAYRICAL SOCIETY .--The nary meeting was held on Monday evening; Sir Chas. color, Y.P., in the chair. A letter was read from Mr. J son, of this town, stating that he . had received a l e tt er, some new, important, and interesting intelligence, fror Becroft, on the Niger river and the late expedition. chief paper for the evening was a very voluminous rep( the last expedition of Mr. Sehombirgek, in the inter Guiana, forwarded to the Society by Lord St an l ey, a , panied by a great variety of mineralogical and geol specimens, chiefly from the Tocatn and Roopoouverny The heat of the country was intense, and the fatigues expedition were great, but they made a great series of nometrical and astronomical observations, and ricer the heights of the varioss ranges of mountains. The nnation of the paper, which was replete with informati the nataral history of the country, as well as of the mi . of the natives, was deferred till tin next meeting. TURRET. —Letters have been received from Conatanti to the 28th alt. A few days before M. he Bouteniefi Russia' extraordinary envoy, had long conference Sarin% t ffeedi on the *fairs of Servia. The Govern confirmed to receive the most satisfactory- intelligence that country. Prince Alexander was to have left Bel to visit his mother, who was lying ill at Schahacz, bt absence would not interfere with the regular course of mess. A deputation from Albani a presented, on the a petition to the Sepreme C ounc il of Justice, dema the dismissal of the Govenor of that province. The Mr. Curzon, private Secretary to Sir. S. Canning, whc to act as the British Commissioner at the deliberati the Tarkishand Persian plenipotentiaries at Ezeroutn, for the Trebizond on the 27th. Captain Williams, a appointed to fill that mission, had been unable to undr it in consequence of indisposition. The vessels comini Smyrna were subjected to a quarantine of observati six days, of account of an infraction of the sanatory committed by the English steamer-of-war Hecate, arrived there from Cyprus and the coast of Syria on the in any ar isle whatever; and, as we shall presently see, these arguments will tell with fifty-fold effect against free trade in But, because the editor of the Mercury is not a landed proprietor, he cannot fe€l their force ; and, because he is a literary man, and may, for ought that we know, be preparing a volume for the press, he sees, as to literature and books, the'ruinous tendency of " unfair rivalry " and foreign speculation ; he may have literary property sometime or other by which, of course, he may expect to subsist; and if he should, he sees that he may be undone by "foreign specu lators," because the manuscript owner is " not protected !" But this vT.y_ same scribe should not forget that his fellow . labourer of the anti-monopoly club, Colonel Thompson, has said, that " all protection means robbery ; " a doctrine which, no doubt, is deemed by the editor of the Mercury as contain ing the quintessence of truth. Therefore, if this be so, he is placed in the enviable position of advocate for robbery. It is " unjust traffic," he says, to admit " French, Belgian, and American copies of works," because the English pub lisher is under greatee.expense than the foreign speculator." Indeed! and did the editor of the Mercury learn this doctrine in the anti-monopoly school? Not he. But let him carry his doctrine beyond the province of " copyright " and " manuscript ; " let him apply it to the landowner and farmer and it will turn out to be " unjust" to admit, duty free, " French, Belgian, and American" corn, because the English producer is under greater expense than the "foreign speculator." The case of the two is precisely similar; yet, with prodigious consistency, the editor contends that one should be protected and the other not protected ! If there be any argument in the above quotation that is worth a straw it may be translated in favour of the agriculturist, thus : "The legitimate sale of English corn has been contracted by the sale of French, Belgian, and American corn ; and the English landowner, though in many cases paying considerable sums for land, and embarking his capital in other large out lays for farm-houses, barns, shippons, stables, carts, ploughs, gearing, horses, cows, seed, plants (including tithes, poor rates, and various other taxes), &c, could not hope for an entire possession even of the home market, where his ener gies are defeated, where he is not protected from unfair rivalry, and where he is greatly undersold by foreign specu lators, who, not having so expensive an outlay nor so many taxes, can defy competition as to price." If the editor will be just, he must now see, if he never saw before, that the landowner has at least equal claim to protection with copyright owners. But the paragraph in question asserts that which is not true, when it asserts that the English publisher was not protected previously to the " new" copyright act ; he was protected, and that amply, from the native invasion of his rights. And, as far as the " foreign speculator" was concerned, the editor ought to have known that there was an import duty on books from abroad of £2 10s. per cwt.; a duty, in itself almost equal to pro hibition ; especially, if it be considered that besides this the " foreign speculator" would be saddled with many additional expenses for freight, &c. Of the " beneficial effects of the new copyright act," of which the Meacury speaks I shall not say much. Some of its clauses may possibly be beneficial to a few ; but not one of these clauses contemplate the advantage of the public, or the dissemination of knowledge among the people : and how a more rigorous exclusion of competition can have the effect of reducing the price of books, as the paragraph pretends, is unfathomable. A very different doctrine is taught by the Mercury's friends of the League, who invariably contend that monopoly increases price: One of the " beneficial effects" of the new Copyright Act is, that the public must pay double, at least, for all those works which would soon have fallen out of copyright during the next seven years; and it ought to be borne in mind that but for the new Copyright Act, the "immortal Waverley" would have dropped into the hands of the cheap publishers in July last ; but the " beneficial effects" of the new act ex tend the monopoly of this work several years further, and the public now pay double what they otherwise would have had to pay for it ; although, previously, it had been the instru ment of a princely fortune to its owners. So far from the new Copyright Act presenting any " beneficial effects" to the public, I defy the editor of the Mercury to show a single clause even pointing that way. It ought to be regarded as a job, and nothing but a job —a robbery of the British public, and an iniquitous proscription of cheap literature; and justice to the reading public demands that most of the new clauses be at once repealed. Hoping th . at these remarks may find insertion in your useful paper, I am, sir, yours respectfully, A BOOKSELLER February 16, 1843 JOINT STOCK BANKS. — During the past week or ten days there have been several meetings in the country of joint stock bank proprietaries. The Dudley and West Bromwich Bank at the annual meeting declared the usual dividend of 10 per cent. with £4,000 added to the guarantee fund mak ing the reserve £38,000, notwithstanding, as stated, that a " considerable diminution of profits had taken place for the last year." At the meeting of the Bilston district Bank a dividend was declared of 7 per cent. out of profits, but only leaving less than £203 to be added to the guarantee fund, which would then amount to £4,680. It must be observed however that the dividend was clear of income tax, whilst a fair allowance was made for bad debts. It was noticed pro perly as a singular circumstance that, notwithstanding the " trying nature" of the times during the year not, " a single bad debt had been incurred." At the eleventh annual meet fng of the Wolverhampton and Staffordshire Banking Com pany a dividend was declared of 10 percent.. clear of income tax, for the half-year ending march Ist, the dividend of the previous half-year ending with September having been 7 per cent. A surplus of profits remained of £4,528, of which it was calculated that one-half would be required to meet bad debts sustained during the past year. The guarantee fond of £25,000 was untouched, and the directors conceived that the resolution at a former meeting, for appropriating all the future profits beyond 17 per cent, to the establishment of a second guarantee fund not to exceed the first in amount, was judicious and would be rendered available. At the annual meeting of the Leicestershire Banking company at Leicester a dividend was declared of 12 per cent., free of income tax. The capital of the company was stated at £64,950, whilst the guarantee fund amounted to £32,829. At the meeting of the York Union Bank a dividend was declared of 10 per cent., leaving a surplus to be added to the guarantee fund which the❑ amounted to £16,922. At the meeting of the Yorkshire District Banking Company a dividend at the rate of 3s. 9d. on the old and 5s 3d on the new shares. The sum of £47,416 had been written off the bad bebt account during the past half-year as loss, so that there remained a " balance of £72,273 at the credit of that account." At 'the meeting of the Leeds Banking Company a dividend of 6 per cent. was declared, and a " handsome" sum carried to the reserve fund. At the meeting of the Barnsley Banking Company a dividend was declared of 8 per cent., and £6OO carried to the reserve fund. At the meeting of the Leeds Commercial Banking Company a dividend was declared for the half-year at the rate of six per cent. with a " satisfactory" report of progress. STOCK EXCHANGE PRACTlCE. — Circumstances have oc curred from time to time which have led to a feeling among the members of the Stock Exchange against business in the securities of any character whatever being transacted out of the house. At length, a difference between two of the mem bers, arising out of a dealing of this sort, has brought the subject before the committee, who have been deliberating upon it for the last two days. It appears that a broker who had some Great Western Railway shares to sell met, as he was leaving the market, another broker, and their conversa tion turned upon the business. The consequence was, that the second broker bought the shares. The partner of the first broker, in the meantime, not being aware of this trans action, and hearing that the firm was empowered by a prin cipal to sell Great Western shares, concluded a sale with ano ther broker in a public market. The number of shares sold in both these transactions was the same. When the first broker, who had sold his shares out of doors, returned to his countinghouse, he found that a similar sale had been effected by his partner in the house, at a lower price. The conse quence was, that an endeavour was made by the firm to set aside the bargain concluded in the house in favour of the one concluded out of doors, a priority of sale being the reason al leged. The broker, however, who had bought the shares in the public market, would not consent that the sale to hill should be annulled, inasmuch as he had operated against his purchase in the course of his subsequent transactions. As a discussion involving the principle of the strict fairness of doing business out of doors was raised among the members of the house, it was thought expedient to refer the matter to the committee, the feeling generally being that the transac tion of business out of doors was injurious to the members of the establishment. The committee, after consideration, have declared the sale in the market to be an absolute sale, in spite of the priority of the other, and that it cannot be set aside. The consequence of this decision has been, that the seller has been obliged to re-purchase the shares at a higher price than that at which he sold them. The committee, in the notice which is posted in the house on the subject, recom mend that in future all business for the benefit of the public shall be transacted within the walls. This recommendation will apply most forcibly to a course of business which is very prevalent, and which consists in some of the members carry ing on extensive transactions in their coanting-houses, or otherwise privately, instead of coming iota the open market. It will also prevent the recurrence of such differences as that just recorded, arising more from the defect of a system, than from any fault of the parties immediately concerned.-- Times. IMPORTANT CASE.—A trial of considerable interest to merchants, occurred in Dublin last week, before the Court of Common Pleas. It was an action brought by a merchant, named Rish, against the Messrs. Scovell—who are the lessees of the crown of the Custorh-honse stores, where bonded goods are placed—under the following circumstances :—lt appeared that in the month of May last there were between two and three thousand chests of tea in bond in the stores of the de fendants, and on the ground floor, under the lofts where they were, a cargo of oranges had been placed. Amongst the tea thus stored, the plaintiff Rish had 159 chests. Some of the merchants, upon taking parcels of their tea out for sale to their customers, found that it had imbided a strong flavour of the oranges, and in some instances it was sent back to them as unsaleable. Amongst those so circumstanced was the plaintiff's in the present action. Inquiry was at once set en foot about the matter, and tea tasters from London anti Liver pool were brought over to ascertain if the complaints were well founded. The oranges were removed in the mean time, and, upon an examination of the teas, it was found that the whole two or three thousand chests had more or less imbibed the orange flavour ; but that the finer qualities had been ef fected in a far greater degree than the coarser. It was then agreed between the Messrs. Scovells and some of the mer chants, that their teas should be sold by public auction, sub ject to the fault complained of, for whatever they might bring, and that the Messrs. Scovell should make good the difference between that and the London price of the day, on the first of June, which was the period when the alleged injury was din- h 13 the Minatarees wleon t ie p, covered. There were several other merchants, amongst whom u amon g tio ins siouprrio, EFFECTS d : te r ad k A gr N k E W 5 P A y P E 8 ; n::::::1::9—daTinll nut was the plaintiff, who did did not come in under this arrange- Missouri, by taking from p Comrarneracia Adoer lin e r, edited by n ber of the New went, nor did it clearly appear, in the course of the trial, why it was that they were excluded. The teas were sold in Sep- was ma d, when they saw tember last, when the prices were higher than in June pre- I‘4iunastatoregeether with my eyes fixed on its pages. They i.. ceding, and notwithstanding the injury complained of, they different r and various conjectures aboutmost currer generally brought within three-halfpence and twopence a kind and tsritehdofurgiehntdoCaotlolnel Stone, was extraornary . of which was, that I was looking at it to cure my sore eyes r a e z p i n i a t e i n r e p d r e ; t ed after pound of what those of similar characters, perfectly sound, and they called it the "medicine cloth for sore eyes"' I w brought then in the London market, and some jew parcels length put an end to this and several equally ignorant con of the coarser qualities brought just as much. Besides the novelty of the case, there was a very important legal question at issue, namely, how for the liability of warehousemen gene- which it was looked upon as a much greater mystery than rally, and storekeepers' holding as lessees under the crown, before, and several liberal offers were inad me for it which j; ehctemur,esa,ndbyttheeadsiungb j I was obliged to refsse, having already received a beautifully extends. It was alleged by counsel for the defendants, thatepcatssuogfesthineiptiipwehricAlwlye, the fact of their being lessees of the crown gave theman in- garnished robe for it from the hands of a young son o f n s t a e v, d , demnity not extending to common warehousemen ; but that Eseulnpias, who told me if he could.employ a good interpre was at once overruled by the Chief Justice, who, by consent " pt . t . es plain Emmy thing-in it, he coald travel shoat among the Ni ss t er ees, end Mandans, and Sioux, and exhibit it of counsel on both sides, submitted the four following ques tions to the jury :—First, did the plaintiff's teas receive any ow I was gone; getting rich with presents, and adding injury in th e defendants' stores ? Secondly, did that injury grosely to the list of bis medicines, as it would make him a result from the teas having been stored, as appeared in eoi- v eg. mar t : h i:le n - e m w a s n p . ape l r l ; el a t n w i it i b e s the b e p f o o o r r e f l el d lo e w pa h rt is ed pa l i his _mystery or medicine dence, upon lofts over where a large quantity of oranges had ro be sad been pl ace d ? Thirdly, were the defendants guilt► of 1107 him unfolding it to show to sonic of his friends, when negligen c e or culpable ignorance, beyond Moat Trait exist .' s took from around it some eight or ten folds ti) f birch bark the part of a reason a bly skilful and prudent owner , in "toting a nd dear skins ; all of which were carefully enclosed in a his own teas? And, fourthly, what was the amount of inierY, ' sock made of the skin of a pole-cat, and undoubtedly des_ if any, sustained by the plaintiff? The jury, after delibera- tined to become , and to be called, ting for about an hour and a half, returned a verdict for the b ag ,—Caillis on the Norab-A ' inertcan Indians. defendants, with costs, BnAzii..—Freneh diplomacy in Brazil has accompl the following arrangetnent :—The disputed boundar , between Brazil and French Guiana has to be settled i cession to France of 80 leagues of the Braziilan ter!. The marriage of the Prince de Joinville with the Pr Jenearia is resolved on ; and as by the law of Brazi princess cannel leave the empire until her imperial 13] shell have issue of his twit to the Crows, the Prince de /ills will be appointed Governor of Franck Guiana, to side in the province of Brazil nearest to that French c( It is proposed that a corps d'armie shall be station French Qaiena to give eclat to the Royal Government to aid to tick ether purpose.s as events may render Ovens It to French interests in South America. added that the French Minister at Rio has yet procured the Brazilian Government a promise of preferential duti, Preach fabrics; the result of the forthcoming debates of auger daties in the French Chambers will doubtless gr influence any decision On that otestion. The Print! Joinville had not at tile latest dates arrived at ktio ; ho royel highness was anxieesly expected there from Gambia, where he had been inspecting the insigniti settlement the French have its that river