The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-29 00:00:00

TIIE SCIIOOLMISTER ABROAD.—The following order was
sent to a tradesman in a town not twenty miles from Liver-
pool, a few days ago :—" Box lice oles, Two peneth cacocon
cold, once ounce of therad ;" which, being translated, is—One
box lace holes, twopennyworth cotton cord, one ox. thread.
TnE gas consumers in Manchester are complaining just
now of annoyance from an offensive and sickening smell- which
has been for some weeks emitted from the gas burners or

pipes, and the cause of, which no one has yet satisfactorily
accounted for.

AMONG the patents sealed during the week ending the 19th
instant, is one to Mr. William Henry Lancaster and M. James
Smith, both of Liverpool, for consuming smoke, and for gene-
rating and diffusing heat in furnaces, and in furnace and
other flues.

COIL IN VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.—Messrs. James Baines
and Co. have received intelligence from their agent in Hobart
Town, that coal as good as chitehaven coal has been found
by Williams, the celebrated chartist, near that place ; and he
advised that no more coal be sent to the antipodes.
AMERICAN COTTON TOR RUSSIA. —The Russian consul at
New Orleans, Mr. Jones, has forwarded to the ". Economic
Society," in St. Petersburg, various samples of American cot-
ton, and invites the society to endeavour to aim to avoid for
the future drawing the supplies of this needful material from
either London or Liverpool; but rather to obtain it through
American agency, This is mentioned in the Russian journals,
as a proof of the good intentions and friendly sympathies
manifested in the United States !

Pickirrei 1 LADY'S POCKET.—Mary and Jessie M'Gury
(mother and daughter), and Anne Johnson were charged at
the Police-court, on Friday, with picking Caroline Greeves'
pocket cif lelo. Mrs. Greaves, who keeps a cigar strop in
HonglitOn-street, stated that, on Wednesday last, the three
prisoners came into her shop and asked if she could tet them
have lodgings, and in the conversation the prisoner, Jessie
M`Gtiffy, picked her pocket. Jessie M`Guffy was sent to gaol
for tinee months, but the others were discharged, as there

was 'no evidence against them.
TUArrif COMMITTEE.—At the weekly meeting, on Thurs-
day, a deputation, including a number of ladies, had au
interview A'ith the committee relative to awallleged nuisance

Ifmn a slaughter-house kept I:ty- a person named Clarke, in
Plumbe-street. After some discussion, during which Mr.

-6-I;d—s-to-ne—reco—mmended_the.enfire remoVal.,of every slaughter-

house from within the borough to some :place at a moderato
distance from the town, MT. Haydock gave notice that, at the
next meeting, he would move that the -license of Mr. Clarke's
slaughter-house be withdrawn. lgr. Beckwith called 'the
attention of the menniittee to the letter of Mr. Alderman
Toulmin which appeared an the 'Welly Mercury resting
the reported proceedingsief the Health Committee. A klagth-
ened explanation ensued, in the 'course of which several gentle-
men affirmed the accuracy of last 'week's proceed.—The
Medical Officer reported an increase of mortality fore week
ending Saturday, the 19th inStarit, as a consequence of the
cold weather which :prevailed from the 9th to the nth inst.
The deaths from ail causes,-Whi-dh in the previous peek were
228, rose last week *o 262, the corrected average of the same
week of former years being'-24 less than the mortality is
accounted for by increasednumber of deaths from diseases
of the lungs, whidh were 98 against 66 in the preiiious week.
During the quarter ending 'the 29th December,'-3231 deaths
were registered intim borough, including 157 lin which in-
quests were :held. This, number is 100 less than the average
of the samequarter of the preceding eight years corrected for
increase cif pormlation. No death was registered from cholera,
being the second quarterir. which this has ,oecurred during
the last eight:years. 'Diseases of the lungs caused 871 deaths,
being 285 .more 'than 'in the preceding quarter, but rather
below the average of the corresponding periodof former years.
ALLIIGED MITEDEE' 171? THE HIGH SEA.E.—On Thursday,
an inquest was held -on the body of William Henry Barnes,
late an American seaman on board the ship !,Driver. The de-
ceased died in the Northern Hospital, on Wednesday, having
been stabbed in the ;ibdomen while tiac-khip was off Cape
Clear, by a boy named Peter Connolly, a native of Liverpool
In thelospital thedeceased made the folloWing declaration :

" I believel 'am'dying. I think it was mi.last.Friday we ar-
rived here. Whew we were about twenty :-o days at sea, one
morning, about four o'clock, we made Cape Clear. The third!
roate.gve orders 'boloose the standing.sib. I went and loosed
it, .whiehl thou,i,ttrthis Peter ought to:have done. When I

came,on.deelofaiktd him if he nearit'to loaf on me. He

said, :4 None of youndamned business? q said, `lf you give
me ;may_ of:your -cheek, I will smash .Trir face for you.' I

slipped him baclAiEnded across the metal. He then stabbed
memith Inife,-Which he took from s. death by his side.
saw him-strike me'with the knife. I -staggered and went aft
to'the cabin door,,and called for the doctor. While thc.;'
.dattor wasdressing me the captain cam; out of the after part:
.of-therabinond.sald to me ' You Banta a bitch, have you go;'
another button-bale in you?' _I said;, 4ptain, have mercy cri.
'rut until .I.!get over this." Yessaid lie, 'for two pins Z..!.
7wmtld tie: you up. and flog you in two minutes.' The day we.
4c-eked:l sent for:Peter to come dow.mard see me, but be did

not tome. I. do 'not know what be ihipped as, but he is rnki
parable seaman. He belongs to liiveppool." The prisoner is
t.bout-sixteen years' old, round-faced,-stout-built, and pock-
ararked. His height is about 5 feet 14 inches. The prisoner,
after being,-cautioned in the usual sway, said the deceased
'slicked anda.bused him very much,and that he bad two Wit-
messes to prove it. He also said that the deceased had
"threatened to him before, and .he was afraid he would
s carry out that threat. The jury returned a verdict of " man-
,sdaughter"sagainst the prisoner, v.lnwes committed for trial.

EXTR.42OIt9TNAIZY POISONING ,ONSES AT MANCHESTER:—
'Con Wednesday, three men were Placid. at the bar of the Mau-
achester City Court-horse, before Mr..Rickards, Mr. Igoe,
Mr. J. A. :Turner, magistrates, on = a charge of poisoning,
'Which; in,some .of its main feabures,vresembles the Rugeby
cease. The piisoners were Thomas :Dull Holland, a surgeon,
.James Monaghan, and a man named Barry. A man. Dann*:
FAwarcl.Danu is implicated in the,sanne charge, but has been
,conricted.foranother offence,andisserving a period of imprisou-

anent. Mr. Bradleugh appearedonbahalf of the Diadem In-
surance Company, as prosecutor. :It is understood that the
prisoner Hdiland, who is a surgeon,ihas made a confession or
statement to:Mr. Bradleugh, revediug, the whole of his tsar-is-
:actions "with the other prisoners, lvhich statement is to the
,•-effect that,' being surgeon to theMiaclem Insurance Oomyrany
for the4listriet, the prisoners had applied to him to pass John
Monaghan (the prisoner Monaghan's father) as a good aife,
rand thatnnbsequently they were inhis surgery when he was
mixing a solution of white lead Witk-water, and asked him if
b tould.nott be done without assuming a milky colour. lie
'then shewed them that it could 'be Mixed with whiskey so rag
to becolouriess. There was reason to believe that some sof
:this mixture was given to the odil ;man Monaghan, who died
some monthsago, when the prisoners ,and Dunn applied for
1300, the-sum for which Monaglaffelife had been insurid,
butweretrefused the money. His disclosures had also led to
the belief that two other persons hacbbeen similarly poisoned.
Mr. Bradleugh stated that the 'charge against the prisoners,
along with Dunn (who was in prison, for embezzling mangy
belongingta an insurance company;),:was for having dedroyed
the life of one John Monaghan, the' father of the prisoner
-James Monaghan, to obtain the sum of-X3OO from the Diadem
Life Insurance Company. His first application would be to
the bench to:liberate Holland from, the -dock, so that he might
the examined asa witness. There was.reason to believe, from
.the disclosuresiae had made, that 'lie -was willing to further
-.the ends of justice, and his evideneewac of great importanee
towards establishing the charge against the other prisoners.
'The magistrates having consentedio ths.application, Thomas
Bull Holland was removed from the cloth to the witness-box,
-and subjected' to:a long and painfal examination of some hours.
'Theexarnination was most painful to 'listen to, because Hol-
land,prevaricated to an extent which rendered it almost im-
possible to .get half-a-dozen consecutive ,sentences from him
without 'the grossest contradictions. -Probably this was to
some extent inconsequence of a warning from the bench that
he was not bound -to answer any question that might crimi-
nate himself. Eventually the magistrates determined on
granting, a remand.—A case was under• investigation on Wed-
nesday afternoon, at Manchester, in addition to the above, in
which two children in a burial club, andhose parents would
be entitled tof.i.',6 each on their death, are suspected to have
been poisoned.
Doug COUKETTEE.—The weekly ,meeting of the Dock
Committee was held on Thursday, Mr. Turner in the chair.
Mr. Mondel brought the subject of telegraphic communication
with Holyheadlormally before the committee in the following
resolution:.--." That it is now expedient thata system of electric
telgeraphic communication be established alarm the line of coast
to Holyhead, and that the same be tarried out under the
direction and at ,the cost of the Dock Trustees, and that a
sub-committeebeappointed to obtain estimates:" Mr. Mondel,
describing the origin of the present Semaphore,line, said that
the act was.obtained in 1825, and, in 182'Z-the:line (comprised
of eleven stations, including Liverpool) was in operation. In
the year 1849,thelline was re-organised and improved at con-
siderable expense. The system adopted was perhaps the most
perfect which was extant at that time, and itdid suffice very
well in clear weather, and during the day; butit was useless
in thick hazy weather and at night. If the tomniittee, thirty-
one years ago, felt themselves empowered to carry on a system
of telegraph which had been maintained at a-cost of £1,500
per annum, from a time when the tonnage entering this
port was only 1,200,0001.0ns per annum, surely they ought to
keep pace with the times, and at once improve their commu-
nication with Holyhead. The question had recently been re-
ferred by the general committee to the Marine ,Committee,
who endeavoured to make an arrangement with the Electric
Telegraph Company, which would answer the purposes of the
port; but the terms asked by the company were so high that
he was convinced that it world be much better and ,cheaper
for the dock trustees to establish a line of their own, along
the coast, to Holyhead. Such an accommodation was posi-
tively required by the commercial community of Liverpool, by
whom he did not mean the merchants and underwriters
merely, but included with them the mariners frequenting the
port, the pilots, and the passengers and emigrants sailinerom
Liverpool, who had really a greater interest in the matter 'than
even the merchant and the shipowner. It was of vital import-
ance in the case of vessels sailing from the port,to know the state
of the weather at Holyhead ; and yet, during the last year
there were more than sixty days, during which no tsemaphorej
telegraphic communication could 'be held in consequence of tire
fog. During the month of December, last year, no communi-
cation could be held for ten days; and, of the twenty-four
days of the present month, sixteen or eighteen days were days
upon which there was no communication. Now, it happened
that this very foggy weather was the most favourable to ves-
sels quitting the -port, as tthe wind which generally pre-
vailed then was from the 'south; but it also frequently hap-
pened that when' this description of weather prevailed near
Liverpool, a furious gale was blowing in the Channel, which
caused sad havoc amongst the ships which had been thus
tempted to quit the port, ignorant (on account of the useless-
ness of the semaphore during fog).of the state of the wind at
Holyhead. From this -cause several wrecks had occurred
within the last few days. It was under such circumstances
that the Tayleur sailed; and numerous other cases in 'point
might be cited. The dock trustees maintained a life-boat
establishment, at a cost of £2OOO per annum , but accidents
might occur at night or during fog, comparatively close to.
the port, and yet the men be unaware of them. The Ocean
Monarch was lost within sight of Ormshead ; but, if a tele-
graphic communication had existed along the coast, a fleet of
steamers might have been despatched from Liverpool, which
could have saved the whole of the 200 persons who perished
by that disaster. In conclusion, Mr. Mondel urged that his
proposition should be adopted, even upon economical grounds,
as a large number of "repeating stations" would be ob-
viated, and the expenses of the line greatly reduced by the
use which would be made of the electric line in conveying
private messages.—Mr. Smith seconded the motion.—The
Chairman did not see how, even were the telegraphic line
established, they could dispense with the semaphore for sig-
nalling purposes.—Mr Mondel thought the semaphore might
be dispensed with altogether.—The subject., the great import-
ance of which was admitted by nearly all the members of the
committee, was referred to the Marine Committee—After a
short conversation, it was arranged to add Mr. Gladstone and
Mr. Hubback to the committee; and the general business
thou terznivated.