The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-03-01 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF COMMOXS.—YEsTERDAT.

The house went into Committee on Ways and IVieM,
and, on the motion of the Chancellor of the E!cchttluer,
the following resolution was agreed to ;--" That,
towards raising the supply granted to her Majesty,
in addition to the duty now payable on spirits dis-
tilled in the United Kingdom, there shall be charged
on every gallon of such spirits, at proof, which on or
after the 29th February shall be distilled, or be in the
stock of any distiller, or in any duty free warehouse, or
in removing to such warehouse, the additional duty of
one penny."
The house then resumed.
The Qualification for Offices Abolition Bill was read
a second time.
Mr. MA.CKINNON moved the second re,ading of the
Masters and Operatives Bill. The object of the bill was
to provide a tribunal, before which disputes between
Inasters and workmen could be amicably settled. •
Mr. WALTER said he would not oppose the Okeiion, as,
he believed, it was intended to refet the bill to a select
committee ; but, he thought, it 'would have very little
effect in putting an end to strikes or to disputes between
masters and workmen.

Sir G. C. LEWIS obiAted to the bill on the grontattiat
it added nothing 'co the power which the ht- already
gave for the s:dttlement of disputes by nrhitration, and
moved that it be read a second time that day six months.
After F.:,ome further discussiVn,

Sir S. M. PETO suggested that the 'second reading
should be postponed for a month, and thatlhe Fill, in
the meantime, should be referred to a'selec't; committee.
Mr. MACiiISNON acceded 'to *ate sttggestion, and the
second reading was accerdirtgly postponed.
The Reuse then werititta committee on Adulteration
'of Food and Drink till, 'and the discussion of the various
Clauses occupied Vietemainder of the sitting. •
The Rouse tilysarned at fifty-five minutes past fire.

'tag -IPRENCH TREATY AND THE
SHIPPING INTEREST.

The following letter has bean aadressed to the
Globe by a Liverpool getinerban::•--
SlR,—Permit me to point 'Ott the error you in
Common with others have 'fallen into as to Article 3 in
the French 'Treaty, owing to the opinions expressed by
lir. Milner Gibson as to its meaning.
We have only to de&l with facts, and the litcial con-
struction 'of the wools in Article 3, It is under-
stood that the rates of duty mentioned in the preceding
Articles are independent of the Anterential duties in
favour of French shipping, lath which duties they
shall not interfere."

Articles 1 and 2 speti certain goods, in which, are
included iron and'Cd; these being the bona fide pro-
duction of Great tritain, have been and are now
admitted on ia,%. equal footing in British and French
ships intotbn orts of France under the clauses retained
in the preaty of 1826.
Whrn. Ve amended our navigation laws we gave up all
reservations, not only on goods but on foreign shipping.
In 1!:554 an Imperial decree annulled the prohibitory
efrw.use relating to the produce of Asia, Africa, and
America, and substituted protective duties in favour of
French shipping for prohibition.
A reference to the French tariff will at Once demon-
strate the fwct that all foreign ships are liable to diffe-
rential duties on goods imported in. other than French
24rIps, excepting those specially exempted by treaty.
'These exemptions France atends to all foreign ships
trading between England and France.
yhe French explanation of the meaning of Article
is
_more defined in the letter of M. Rouher, published
m the Ecoraim-ht of last Saturday.
,madit• 13'115.sish Could not better have proved the case
curt ma • the Liverpool petition than by stating the
"fact that a differential dutyof one farthing per lb. on
.cottdn imported in a British ship from America or Liver-
pool 'was tantamount. to exclusion, being no less than
£ 6s. Bd. per ton ; now the whole freight of cotton,
zfrom America to Europe, averages only one halfpenny
per lb., therefore the farthing per lb. is as much a pro-
hibition as the three-halfpence under the decree of 1854.
If Article 3 is not amended by negotiating additional
Articles, the effect will be that Havre will become a
bonding port for the produce of Asia, Africa, and
America for the supply of the Continent, and when it
suits France to abolish the differential duties on this
foreign produce imported from England in French ships,
the whole carrying* will be monopolised by French
steamers, and this trade will be turned into a nursery
for French steamers, to the exclusion of British.
It was only the other day that our Government
vetoed a Canadian bill enforcing reciFrocity in shipping,
and now the duties on foreign timber, to the extent of
S-400,000, are to be removed ostensibly to benefit the
British shipbuilders £30,000 a-year. This could have
been ruplished by allowing a drawback on foreign
tivilber used in shipbuilding, as has always been the case
building churches, but already the Baltic producers
have put up their prices equal to the reduction of duty,
es they did on all previous reductions ; and neither the
shipbuilder nor the consumer will receive any benefit,
while a serious loss in revenue must ensue.

These, Sir, I submit will be the effects of the treaty
and budget, as far as the shipping interest is concerned;
and as the subject is one so vitally affecting our
ttational defences, I venture io hope it will not be
allowed to pass unnoticed in Parliament when properly
und,rstood.—l remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
Liverpool, Feb. 28. 11. C. C.

The letter of the French Minister of Commerce,
to which our correspondent refers (says the
Globe) is on the subject of the entire removal of
the duties on wool and cotton, when imported by
French vessels in some cases—the imposition of
duties, even when imported by French vessels,
in other cases—and the establishment of diffe-
rential duties, in those cases, between French
and foreign shipping. "His (M. Rouher's) pro-
position,' says the weekly contemporary from
whom the citation is taken, " is this—
" Wool and Cotton.—Imported by French vessels from
countries out of Europe, or by land from countries
contiguous to France, to be exempt ; imported by
French vessels from entrepots in Europe, or by land
from countries not contiguous to France, to pay 3f.
the 100 kilogrammes ; imported by foreign vessels
from anywhere, of. the 100 kilns.
" "What the reasons are for imposing the 3f. duty for
imports by French vessels from •entrepots ' in Europe,
or for making in the imports by land a distinction
between those from countries contiguous to France and
from non-contiguous countries, the Minister does
not explain. As to the sf. duty, he says, of course,
that it is to be established for the benefit of
French shipping; and yet he admits that the mercantile
navy is ' powerless to co-operate in a large measure
in the conveyance of wool from Australia;' and that
`nine-tenths of the cotton' consumed in France are
brought in by American ships, which, under a treaty of
1822, are assimilated to French vessels. Surely, then,
for the wool which will be imported into France apart
from that of Australia, and for the small quantity of
cotton which the Americans do not bring, it was not
Werth while to impose the duty of sf. for the 100 kilogs.
That duty will, besides, affect England more than any
reign country, inasmuch as her shipping business with
ranee is greater than any other ; and surely, after the
concessions she has made in the treaty, some little con-
sideration should be shown her."
It appears to us that M. Rouher's proposition
oreaks new ground, apart from Article 3 of the
Treaty. But we can only at present recommend
the point to attention. It certainly requires
ft/a ireissement.

Dr. Gifford, Dean of Lincoln, is dead.
11 The Times has authority to state that, after some
t.sitation, Dr. Vaughan has finally declined the
teprie of Rochester.
I announced that the sketches and studies in oil
oe6 9' Wilkie, which have not yet been sold, are to be
in Led to competition by Messrs. Christie and Manson,
./,',`_ay next.
The Calcutta mail brings intelligence from Java, that
b Dutch steamer Onrust has been treacherously cut off
the natives of Banjemassing, and seven officers and
fifty-five men brutally murdered.
Mr. Thomas Fairbairn, of Manchester, has addressed
a letter to the Times, urging the formation of a battery
of Whitworth's field guris, and the arming of a ship-of-
War with his cannon, for the purpose of rigorously
testing their merits.
Mr. William Jewett, of Swansea, informs the British
iisnattrittat rtd that a dramatic performance has taken place
entitled 731' presided over by an Independent minister,
were dressed
with other collnou?sri
and his Brethren." The 'characters
such as Joseph, fur
rtasl
Incostume, that.is,.in
al
calico,
who coulde e of
b the principa characters,
The whole was in the clothed in " many colours."r
formers were members of (VIII language, and the pe
ceeds were to be devoted to th different chapels. The pro
hall. This brings e building of a temperance
us back to the days of the old
mysteries.

GREAT FIRE IN LONDON.—A fire broke out on Mon-
day morning, about half-past eleven o'clock, attended
with the destruction of some thousand pounds worth of
property, on the premises belonging to Messrs. Morley,
ikeen, and Rippon, wholesale lace and silk merchants,
situated at 122, Wood-street, Cheapside. The premises
were five floors high, and extended to the back of the
Warehouses in Gutter-lane, whilst the large warehouses
tf Messrs. Young and Rance, No. 123, and those of
Food-street.
Ed comb, No. 119, joining on either side in
ood-streetg. It appears that a number of men were
11 the house doing some repairs to the gas apparatus,
thei.,,
centre plate having become defective, and the Great
Upward
Company were putting in their service. Mr.
`'Pward, of the Chartered Works, was also on the premises,
and to his indomitable perseverance may be ascribed the
escape of over twenty persons. The gas by some means
escaped, and, becoming ignited, the flames shot up to the
,u,,gerent floors like sheets of lightning. At that time
ta various young men were in different rooms,
-`,'„at unable to descend through the flames, when Mr.
uPward ran and broke open the glass windows on the
roof, and by that expedient the men were enabled to
45:;aPe, most of them without sustaining any. personal
.1411 r. That such a vast amount of gas should have
escaped into the premises unknown will no doubt call for
an official inquiry. The brigade engines from nearly all
quarters of the metropolis were summoned to the spot,
and were attended by powerful bodies of firemen under
i",e direction of Mr. Superintendent Braidwood, and
.11,1. r. Foreman Bridges. A good supply of the New
~....4uver Company's water having been procured, the fire-
% went to work in their usual intrepid manner, and
by conveying the hose from the various engines on to the
roofs
t of the adjoining premises, the brigade were enabled
o throw some thousand tons weight of water into the
blazing premises, but in spite of which the flames con-
tinuedt their ravages, and the whole of the floor of the
nildin in which the fire commenced was burned out.
u
Unfortunately
the water from the engines made not the
jv
aqimpressi on upon the flaring gas, and about half-past
te o'clock a man named Branch was lowered into
basement through an immense sheet of flame, and
dgreat exertion he succeeded in cutting off the gas.
()Lie o'clock the fire was nearly extinguished, but the
in which
done is very extensive, not merely to the premises
"ch the fire began, but also to those adjoining.