The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-02-12 00:00:00

NORTI:[ WALES 'MIMING COLLEGE.—The annual meeting
of subscribers to this institution was held at the Chapel-rdom,.
Bangor, last week, the Bishop of Bangor presiding. The.
statement of accounts for the year 1855 showed a balance iii:
hand of £426 16s. 4d. The committee was instructed to
report upon the expediency of purchasing and adapting the-
two houses adjoining the Baths, at Carnarvon, for the purposes
of the Training College. The committee was appointed, and
a vote of thanks to the bishop closed the proceedings.

WALLASBY BOARD OB HEALTII.—The monthly meeting of
this board was held on Thursday. The Law-clerk submitted
a report of'a special committee appointed to inquire how the
interests of the parish would be affected by the Liverpool and
Birkenhead Dock Bill; and a special parliamentary committee
was appointed to petition the House of Commons, and take
such other steps as might be deemed necessary in the matter.
The subject of the ferries was afterwards discussed, and was
also ultimately referred to a committee.

HOLYHEAD HARBOUR WORKS.—On Wednesday, a monster
blast was exploded at the quarry belonging to these works.
A blast which had been formed with the labour of four or six
men for the last ten or eleven months, and which required no
less a quantity than six tons and a-half of powder to explode
it, was let off in the presence of J. M. Rendell, Esq., the chief
engineer; C. Rigby, Esq., the contractor, and a numerous
staff of gentlemen connected with the works. The blast went
off very satisfactorily, and it is calculated that the quantity of
stone loosened by the explosion will be no less than about
60,000 tons !—Carnarvon Herald.
A CHILD SCALDED TO DEATH.—An inquest was held on
Friday, at the Durham Ox public-house, Jackson-street,
Birkenhead, before Mr. Churton, coroner, on the body of
William Lowe, aged seven years, who died on Wednesday.
The deceased, who resided with his father, a labouring man,
in Wrexham-street, was left in an apartment by himself, and,
whilst attempting to reach something on the mantlepiece, he
came in contact with a kettle of water which was on the fire,
the result.being that he was severely scalded all over the body
by the boiling liquid.. The youthful sufferer lingered for a
few days, when death ensued. The jury found a verdict of
" Accidental death."
A TRW days ago, Mr. Charles Morgan, Cwrndwyfran, New-
church, Carmarthenshire, and Mr. James Hughes, of Treber-
sed, proceeded to Llanboidy, to enjoy the pleasures of a
coursing meeting, and after the termination of the day's
amusement got into a gig to return homewards. About eight
o'clock in the evening Mr. Morgan was found lying on the
road, in a state of insensibility, about a mile and a half from
Llanboidy, and Mr. Hughes was lying near him, quite dead
and cold. They had evidently been thrown out of .the gig,
which had been overturned, and the horse had detached itself
from the vehicle, and was quietly attempting to graze the
frost bitten grass at the road-side.
MELANCHOLY .DElTH.—Captain Maher, of the Glamor-
ganshire Light Infantry, who but recently succeeded Captain
Gompertz in the command of the recruiting staff at Swansea,
met his death on Thursday in a shocking manner. The captain
went to a party on Wednesday night, and returned to his
lodgings early on Thursday. About six o'clock a smell of
burning linen was perceptible in the house. A gentleman
nameeTomlinson, on entering Captain Maher's room, found
it full of smoke, and the bed furniture on fire. When the
flames were extinguished, the lifeless body- of Capt. Maher
was found on the floor, and close beside him his favourite dog,
also dead. It is supposed that while undressing himself on a
chair the deceased, fatigued, with being up all night, had
fallen asleep, and allowed the candle to fall against the bed
curtains. Deceased was partially dressed, and had evidently

been suffocated by the smoke.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCIEYARD,CIIESTER.—IIITuesday's Gazette,
amongst the orders in council, is the following :—As it seemed
fit that so much of an order in council of the Bth February,
1855, as directed burials to be discontinued in the churchyard
of. St. John the Baptist, Chester, from and after the Ist day of
May in that year, which period has since been extended to the
Ist of January instant, slmuld be varied ; it is ordered, instead
thereof, that interments be wholly discontinued within the
said churchyard, except in that part which is north of the
church, and not within three yards of its walls, in which part
the following regulations shall be observed, viz.; that no new
grave be made except in ground which has never previously
been buried in; that no new grave be made within half a yard
of any other grave, or except for the burial of a parishioner ;
that no grave be re-opened except to bury the husband, wife,
or unmarried child of those previously buried in it, nor unless
such grave can be opened to the depth of five feet without
exposing remains."
SHIPWRECKS AND GREAT Loss OF LIFE.—A dreadful
shipwreck occurred in the course of Thursday night or Friday
morning, during a violent hurricane from the S.S.W., under
St. Govan's Head, to the westward of Carmarthen Bay, by
which a large American ship, of nearly 2,000 tons burthen,
was totally lost, and bet Ween thirty and forty persons drowned.
The ship proved to be the Great Duke, of New York, Captain
Sampson, master, bound for Liverpool from New Orleans, and
was laden with a cargo of cotton, &c., valued at £30,000. For
some days previous, according to the statement of the sur-
vivors (only three in number, the chief mate and two seamen,)
they had been unable to make an observation, the weather
being so boisterous, when, on Thursday night, it came on a
terrific gale from the S.S.W., and, in the course of that night,
she was driven on the rocks, at the spot above named, when
she was almost immediately dashed to pieces, Captain Sampson
and upwards of thirty of his crew meeting with a watery
grave. The coast for miles is strewn with her cargo of cotton,
Indian corn, &c. In another part of the Bristol Channel
another ship was lost, with all hands, (except one man.) She
was the Catherine Jenkins, from Cuba, bound for Swansea,
laden with copper ore. She was driven on shore on Amlwch
Point, and when discovered on Friday morning was found a
complete wreck. At Stranraer, on the night of the 7th, the
brigantine Eugenia Widdicombe, of and from Liverpool, for
Dordt, was driven by the gale into the foundation of the old
pier. In a few minutes both masts fell over, and, the vessel
drifting off, was dashed against a reef of rocks at the top of
the harbour, and went to pieces. The whole of the crew, ex-
cepting one man, were drowned.

WIRRAL AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY.—The
monthly meeting of this society was held on Tuesday, at the
Monks' Ferry Hotel, J. T. Danson, Esq.,.in the chair. The
chairman, after a few introductory remarks, moved the follow-
ing proposition :—" That, as has already been recorded on the
minutes of this society, the landowner who grants a lease for a
term of years certainly has a right to ascertain previously that
the tenant is possessed of capital, and has skill and integrity
such as may warrant the trust reposed in him."—Mr. W. B.
Burnham, the secretary, seconded the proposition, which,
after some discussion, was carried. The chairman next moved
the folloiving proposition : —" That a lease of land for agricul-
tural purposes should be for such a term of years that the
lessee may apply to the soil all his capital required to develope
its fertility, according to the best system of husbandry, and
recover the whole of such capital, with a fair return for inte-
rest of money and for skill and labour, before the lease ex-
pires." This proposition was seconded by Mr. Lockhart, and
was carried. The chairman next proposed the following reso-
lution :—" That the condition of the soil ought, with due re-
ference to other circumstances, to decide the length of the
lease, and this scieiety is of opinion that in this district the
term of twenty-one years is the one generally and justly appli-
cable." The resolution was seconded by Mr. B. Case. To
this proposition Mr. Mills moved an amendment, to the effect,
" That the rotations of culture to be adopted on the farm should
regulate the length of time of the lease, and that a term suffi-
cient for three rotations should constitute the shortest term
of lease." On a division, the motion proposed by the chairman
was carried. The members then separated.

GREAT SALE AT THE BIEKENUEA.D DOCK WORKS.—
Messrs. Brassey and M'Cormick, having fulfilled their great
contract at the 'Birkenhead Docks, by the completion of the
embankment inclosing the south reserve, and the whole of the
dock property having been purchased by the corporation of
Liverpool, the immense stock of plant and materials with
which the work has been carried on has been offered by public
auction. The sale occupied the whole of last week, and the
auctioneers were Messrs. Thomas Winstanley and Sons. The
property comprised about a dozen valuable steam-engines,
pile-driving and other machinery, railway plant, (including
several hundred tons of rails,) wrought iron, engineering and
surveying instruments, &c., divided into 770 lots. The auc-
tion was chiefly conducted in the Birkenhead Dock-yard, Can-
ning-street, and adjacent, but occasionally the auctioneer and
bidders had to tratel a considerable distance to some of the
lots. Among the conditions of sale were a deposit of five
per cent. on the purchase, and clearance within fourteen
days of the last day of sale. On Monday, the sale em-
braced property in the yard and smithy ; on Tuesday,
the materials in the iron store, fitting shop, and pattern-
thorn were disposed of ; on Wednesday, a large quantity
of wood and small tools were disposed of ; on Thursday,
railway plant, travelling cranes, and steam engines in
the dockyard and south reserve; on Friday, large quanti-
ties of timber in balks, more machinery, office fittings, and
about eight or ten miles of railway (laid) extending round the
works and up to the quarry at Flaybrick-hill, near Bidston ;
and Saturday's sale consisted of the stock in the masons' yard,
near Woodside Ferry, the surveying and engineering instru-
ments at the dock warehouses, and the railway waggons and
machinery at Flaybrick-hill Quarry. The sale has been
attended by dealers from all parts of the country, and the
lots have generally brought good prices. Thursday's sale
alone produced between £6OOO and £7OOO, and the whole pro-
perty realised about £14,000 or £15,000. The following were
some of the most valuable lots : —440, a 40-horse power hori-
zontal engine, brought £llOO, or about £2B per horse; 447,
three boilers, £210; 449, four pair mortar mills, £850; 517,
thirty-horse high-pressure beam engine, £945; 518, a set of
14-inch iron pumps, £3lO. All these were knocked down to
one party. It is believed that a considerable portion of the
property has been bought for the corporation, and will remain
on the ground.
BIRKENHEAD COMMISSIONEII9.-At the monthly meeting
of the Commissioners, on Tuesday, the Ferry Committee pre-
sented the following accounts :—Receipts for the month of
January, 1855, £2,281 10s.; 1856, £2,231 Os. 11d. Receipts
from 24th April to 31st January, 1855, £22,472 18s.; 1856,
£21,459 13s. 4d. Expenditure, namely, working expenses and
rents, from 24th April to 31st January, £16,455 6s. 9d. ;
1856, £17,771 Os. Gd. The manager had been instructed to
provide an assistant manager, he having represented that the
increasing duties of his situation were more than he could
fulfil alone. it was reported that the Woodside and Monks'
Ferries Sick and Friendly Club was now in full operation,
and that Mr. J. M. Craig had been appointed surgeon at a
salary of thirty guineas annually, to be paid by the com-
missioners. Mr. Laird having sold the new steamer Em-
press Eugenie to government, it had been resolved that,
when another new boat was required, she should be built
of a lighter hull, and the engines of the Kingfisher put
into her. The special sub-committee appointed to con-
sider the proposed amalgamation with Liverpool, presented
the following report :—" 1. That the interest now due on the
bonds, and to become due, up to the 31st December, 1857, be
capitalized, and that no interest be paid in the meantime. 2.
That the present bonds be called in, and new bonds bearing
date the Ist January, 1858, be issued in sums of £lOO each,
bearing interest at the rate of £3 10s. per cent. per annum,
payable half-yearly—the principal to be payable on the Ist
January, 1865. That, in default of punctual payment of any
half-year's interest, the interest for that half-year to be at the
rate of £5 per cent. ; and.that when such arrears in any case
shall amount to £25 or more, a new bond be issued for the
same. 3. That the restriction imposed by the act of 1850, as
to the price at which the commissioners are authorised to sell
the land belonging to the township be removed, so as to en-
able them to sell or lease upon such terms as may be deemed
advantageous. 4. That the commissioners (after providing
for the payment of their present open liabilities, amounting
to about £17,000) shall set apart and maintain a fund of
£lO,OOO, to be raised out of the present assets, the surplus
receipts of the ferry and rates, or by sale of an adequate
quantity of laud. That any moneys arising from further sales
of land be added to the same fund ; and, so soon as it shall
thereby amount to £lO,OOO beyond the original fund of
£lO,OOO, the same shall be applied in paying off bonds, by