The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-03 00:00:00

FRIDAY

NEWSPAPERS TO CA.NAD.A..—In reply to a question, Mr.
WILSON said, the recent act provided that a charge not ex-
ceeding 2d. might be plated upon all newspapers sent to the
British colonies, but the regulations which were about to come
into force imposed upon newspapers going direct to Canada a
charge of ld. instead of 2d. If, however, they were trans-
mitted through the United States, as ld. then had to be paid
to the United States' government, the charge was increased to
2d. The charge of transmission to other colonies was ld.
There would not be a charge of 2d, upon newspapers going
through Halifax, unless they were sent by way of Boston.
LORD RAGLA.N.—In answer to a question, Lord PALMER-
STON said the only information received by the government as
to the health of Lord Raglan was, that he had been labouring
under temporary indisposition for a week or ten days, which
had rendered it necessary that he should not take any active
part in the duties of his command, which had devolved during
the interval upon General Simpson, Sir G. Brown having
been at the time unwell. There was, he added, reason to hope
that a few days would restore Lord Raglan to his ordinary
health, the last accounts stating that he was considerably
better. _ _ _ _

Sir C. WOOD, in answer to Mr. French, said the govern-
ment were not prepared to carry into execution the scheme
proposed by Lord Dundonald.
TEE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA.—To a question by
Mr. Cayley, Lord PALMERSTON replied that the seleetion of the
individual to fill the office of Governor-General of India was
vested in the Court of Directors of the East India Company,
subject to the approval of the Crown. The chairman gave
notice of their intention to appoint, on Wednesday next, Lord
Canning as successor to Lord Dalhousie. That selection would
receive, Lord Palmerston said, the approbation and consent of
the Crown.
The Victoria Government Bill, the New South Wales
Government Bill, and the Waste Lands (Australia) Acts
Repeal Bill, were read a third time and passed, the two former,
with a few amendments, after a brief discussion.
LAW OP PARTNERSHIP.—Mr. BOIIVERIE, in moving the
second reading of the Partnership Amendment Bill, stated
the reasons which had induced the government to introduce it
and the Limited Liability Bill. He proceeded to explain the
law with relation to the subject, the objections to the law,
and the remedy proposed. In respect to private partnerships,
the criterion of a partner was the sharing in the profits of the
concern ; and the law held that a partner, as agent of his co-
partners, in a matter of common business, bound them by his
acts to the full extent of their means. To this state of the law
great, and, he believed, just objections were entertained, and he
read the resolution adopted by the house on the 22d June,lBsl,
declaring the law to be unsatisfactory and to require modifica-
tion. He adduced instances of the severe operation of the law,
which practically prohibited innocent and profitable undertak-
ings. Having stated the provisions of the bill, which would
authorize the loan of money, under agreement to share in the
profits of a concern, without rendering the lender liable be-
yond the amount of his share, he expressed his conviction that
the change would be productive of great social advantages ;
that the gentry would not be, as at present, indisposed to
advance money to be embarked in trade. With regard to
joint-stock companies, they were partnerships with a large
number of members, under a deed of settlement; but as the
shareholders, who were constantly fluctuating, had no voice
in the management of the concern, the bond of mutual trust
and confidence, which connected private partners, did not
exist ; yet the directors had the power of binding the
shareholders to the full extent of their fortunes. This
created a substantial distinction between private part-
nerships and joint-stock companies. He pointed out the
vicious principle upon which the existing law and prac-
tice with reference to these companies were founded, and
their injurious effects. The power exercised by the Board

of Trade, of relaxing the law, he considered odious, and
that the limitation of the liability of joint-stock companies
ought to be general, care being taken that no one deing
with them should be liable to be deceived in his contracts ;
the bill, accordingly, provided that such companies as chose
to carry on their concerns upon the basis of a limited liability
should give ample notice that they did so. The measure ex-
empted from its operation banks and insurance companies.—
Mr. GLYN said that for all the purposes of commerce there
was no want of capital in this country. He believed that the
law, as regarded joint-stock companies, required alteration,
and should therefore vote for that .bill; but, as to the Part-
nership Bill, he thought it would open a door to fraud, since,
by means of the-registration, persons might carry on their
transactions long after their capital had been withdrawn.—Mr.
MALINS spoke strongly in favour of this change of the law.
—Mr. CARDWELL observed that it was rather late in the day
to be arguing at great length the principle of this bill, which,
if not settled by public opinion, had been settled by the prac-
tice of twenty years. But the leaving the exercise of this
power longer in the hands of the Board of Trade would not
bear examination : it was for parliament to place the law on
such a footing that it ought to be available to all persons. The
great difficulty was, to construct a system of notice, by which
any joint-stock company desirous of limiting its liability, in-
stead of being required to give special notice to each customer,
should give a general notice which should be undertood to ope-
rate as a several notice. The Partnership Bill he considered to
be a greatly improved application of the French law. The law of
Commandite, in its inception, was no law of partnership ; it
originated, as a mode of loan, in the time of the Crusades, and
acquired in France the character of a law of partnership. That
law was not a separate and distinct code, and could not be in-
corporated simpliciter into our law without confusion.—Mr.
LOWE observed that no one who had addressed the House had
followed up his principle to its logical consequences. With
respect to partnership, the question was, whether a man was to
be allowed to lend money on profits instead of interest ; if so, it
was a branch of the usury question, and if the usury laws
were wisely repealed, this restriction should follow. As to the
Limited Liability Bill, he took its principle to be freedom of
contract, provided security was taken that all the parties
had a perfect knowledge of the grounds of the contract.—
Mr. HORSFA.LL said, he was one of those who had taken excep-
tion to the abstract resolution adopted by the house on this
subject last session, and he had done so mainly because the
evidence taken before the commissioners and their report, by
which the house was expected to be guided, at least to some
extent, bad been only a few days in the hands of members.
These bills had been described as a concession to popular feel-
ing, but he believed that a majority of the commercial com-
munity of this country were opposed to this principle. For
his own part, he approved, to a great extent, the bills, but he
thought if the President of the Board of Trade would take
into consideration the views which had been propounded, he
would meet the wishes of all parties by adopting in the present
session the bill relating to limited liability, and allowing the
other bill to stand over until the next session. He must say,
in justice to the important commercial community he had the
honour to represent, that the general question of limited
liability had been fully, fairly, and openly discussed at a meet-
ing of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, which, after a
protracted discussion of several days, came to a decision adverse
to the principle of this bill, by a majority of 200 to 100.
The strongest protest against the principle of the bill that he
had seen was contained in a petition which hadbeen presented
to the house from the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.
These bills, therefore, were not to be regarded as
concessions to any clamour on the part of the commercial in-
terests of the country.—Mr. W. BROWN thought the house
should not legislate upon so important a subject without care-
ful and deliberate inquiry, and would, for his own part, feel
great regret if this country abandoned the vantage ground it
had so long occupied as compared with other commercial
states, and which was mainly attributable to the honourable
manner in which its commercial transactions had been con-
ducted. He hoped that if the bills were referred to a com-
mittee upstairs amendments would be introduced which
would render them less objectionable than he now considered
them.—Lord PALMERSTON said it was highly satisfactory to
find so general a concurrence of opinion as to the expediency
of the principle of these bills, which was in accordance with
the real principle of the existing law. Any improvements
suggested would receive the deliberate consideration of the
government. Unlimited liability impeded the application of
capital which might be employed to the benefit of the parties and
the improvement of thecountry, and he anticipated great advan-
tages, social and commercial, from the passing of the measure.
—Mr. J. EWA.RT said, there was a very strong feeling in Liver-
pool in favour of limited liability, and he hoped that these
measures would be carried through both Houses of Parliament
during the present session.—The Partnership Amendment Bill
and the Limited Liability Bill were then read a second time,
and fixed for committee on Monday, pro formal, for the purpose
of introducing amendments.
The order for the committal of the Lunatic Asylums (Ire-
land) Advances Bill provoked a long discussion, which, after
two hours' duration, was brought to a close by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer acceding to a proposition for the issue of a
commission If the debate were adjourned for a week.
The Idemuity Bill and the Haileybury College Bill were read
a third time and passed.—The Gold and Silver (Wares No. 2)
Bill, and the Dublin Carriage Acts Amendment Act passed
through committee.—The Christchurch (Todmorden) Mar-
riages Validity Bill was read a third time and passed.—The
Endowed Schools (Ireland) Bill was read a second time.—
The County Palatine of Lancaster Trials Bill, the Excise Duties
Bill, and the Duchy of Lancaster Lands Bill went through
committeee.

Mr. J. BALL obtained leave to introduce a bill for the regu-
lation of Chinese passenger ships.—The house adjourned at
5 minutes past 2 o'clock.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

Russia.—lntelligence has been received of a severe loss by
fire on the 4th instant at the Neva Stearine Works, St. Peters-
burg. Insurances exist in English offices for £16,200.—viz.,
-in the Northern, £7,400 ; Royal, £3,3C0; Monarch, £3,300;
Anchor, £2,200; also in three offices at St. Petersburg, and at
A .-..44.,,,ptecl that, the lass .411
be nearly total.—On the 16th an Imperial ukase appeared at
St. Petersburg requiring the formation of a rifle corps from
the miners employed in the Altai.—Accounts received at
Odessa from the Sea of Azoff state that the quantity of wheat
destroyed by the Allied squadron at Taganrog was about
12,000 quarters, and that at Marioupol the total of grain of all
kinds destroyed was about 68,000 to 78,000 quarters.—The
cholera has broken out at Warsaw, in consequence of which
the Governor has issued a proclamation permitting smoking
in the streets, which was hitherto prohibited.
FBANCE.—There was a review by the Emperor, on Wed-
nesday, in the Place Caroussel, of troops going to the Crimea.
It is said that reinforcements to the extent of 50,000 men
will be sent out shortly.—Prince Napoleon Pierre Bonaparte,
who landed at Marseilles on the 25th from Corsica, has ar-
rived in Park—The King of Portugal took his departure from
Toulon for Civita Vecchia in the night of the 25th in the im-
perial yacht the Reine Hortense.—The Empress arrived at
Pau in perfect health, on Tuesday.—Matters are fast mending
with respect to the Paris Exhibition. On Sunday last the
Panorama building was thrown open to the public. It is
beautifully arranged, the walls being adorned with Gobelin
and D'Aubusson tapestries, while the central part displays the
china of Sevres, and the beautifully executed work of Chris-
tophe and others, with the crown diamonds under a canopy.
Around this building gardens are being laid out, where the
visitor may sit and refresh himself. The Queen of the South
—the great Mexican jewel of fabulous value—has been placed
in the nave of the palace : it is elegantly arranged in a light
case. Along the southern line of the northern gallery the
stalls of the French jewellers are being rapidly fille; already
there are diamonds, some exquisitely set, worth millions of
francs. In short, every day the Exhibition approaches com-
pletion by rapid strides, and the number of visitors increases.
CANADA.—The Toronto correspondent of the Guardian
says :—Canada has, I think,been placed in rather an embarrass-
ing position by the receipt of despatches from Sir G. Grey and
Mr. Frederick Peel, appealing to us on the ground of our
loyalty, patriotism. &c., and requesting that a million of acres
of land be transferred to Her Majesty for the purpose of giving
land-bounties to German volunteers for the Crimea. Lord
Panmure thinks it would prove a great advantage to us "as a
means of ultimately supplying the colony with a class of Ger-
man emigrants of a very valuable character." Our own ex-
perience, however, goes to
.prove that retired soldiers are the
very worst and most helpless class of settlers for a new country.
Then, again, the land asked for lies between the Georgian Bay
and the Ottawa, and is at present only inhabited by wandering
hordes of Indians, and here and there an adventurous white
trader. It is not at present worth sixpence an acre, and there
is very little prospect of its being worth more for ten or fifteen
years, as Canada is not at all advancing in that direction.
There are no roads, no settlements; it is a savage wilderness
in the most dreary sense of the expression, and the unhappy
soldiers would, I imagine, spend the residue of their lives in
vain efforts to discover where their fifty acre farms were situa-
ted, if they were mad enough to go in search of them. The
idea of the proposed settlements seems to us so impracticable,
and even ridiculous, that with every desire to show our patri-
otism and affectionate sympathy with our mother country, we
feel generally called upon not to sanction it. At present,
therefore, no Parliamentary action will be taken on these
despatches. They are to be made the subject of future con-
' sideration, and as several members of our Government are
going to England immediately, they will probably induce the
imperial authorities to change their views upon the whole
matter. _ .

NEW ZEALAND.—Letters give a flourishing account of
the young colony of Canterbury. The exports of agricultural
and pastoral produce are estimated for this year at £421,000
i.e., £lO per head of the population. The customs' revenue
alone produced last year upwards of £9,000 ; it is estimated
for this year at £12,000—i.e., £3 per head. The only want
that appears to be felt is that of labour, to supply which the
provincial government has sent an emigration agent to this
country, and three ships have been chartered for the convey-
ance of Canterbury emigrants, two of which have already
sailed. The provincial government has also contracted to
bring 200 labourers from Melbourne, and it is expected that a
large additional supply may be procured from the Australian
Colonies, where the labour market is now comparatively over-
stocked. Besides this expenditure on emigration, the pro-
vince has appropriated £lO,OOO to the completion of the toe
road from the port to the plains, which has been so long
talked of. It is contemplated to build four new churches this
year ; and a system of education has been established, to be
carried on at the public expense. It is not surprising that,
under these circumstances, the letters •to which we have
referred breathe a spirit of sanguine confidence in the future
progress of the settlement.