The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-02 00:00:00

- - -: - --- - ----- r-- -.

or two. The most probable of the reports to which
we allude is the prospect of the Government
being strengthened in tue higher offines before the
session has far advanced. Both Loi d Panmure and
the Earl of flarrowby will, it is said, retire, and,
in some quarters it is stated that the first Lord of
the Admiralty is likely to tender his resignation—
a peerage being the reward of his self-sacrifice. To
supply the place of the foregoing, several names
are put forward; including the Duke of Newcastle,
the Duke of Somerset, Mr. Sydney Herbert, Lord
Dalhousie, and some say Lord John Russell. If
we are to judge of recent events, we should say
that the appointment of the Duke of Newcastle
to the Lord Lieutenancy of Nottingham, and
the more recent one of the Earl of St. German's
to that of Cornwall, is an unmistakeable
proof of the existence of a good feeling between
the Premier and some of the leading Peelites.
But it is confidently stated that this cordial
understanding does not extend to Mr Gladstone
or Sir James Graham ; the former, it is said, is
regarded as belonging to the opposition ranks,
whilst no reliance can be placed in the Right Hon.
Baronet the member for Carlisle. A reference to

this subject reminds us that the new Attorney
General, Sir Richard Bethell, has been down to
Aylesbitry, for the purpose of inducing the electors of
that borough to re-elect him, Sir 11,Lhard promises
a variety of measures connected with Law Reform,
and if he can but bring to a successful issue one half
of what he stated, he will undoubtedly merit, and
justly too, the appelation of a great man. In his
speech on Saturday he told the electors of Ayles-
bury that the war with Russia had been waged for
the liberties. of mankind. We are sorry to see
that, although promising much in the way of Law
Reform, and the adoption of a remedy for great
commercial frauds, he was silent upon the question
of an extension of the suffrage, and other kindred
topics. This may be taken to mean that Lord
Palmerston is not yet prepared to propose a new
Reform Bill.

We see it bruited abroad that there is to be some
kind of change with regard to the conveyance of
the Australian Mails, to and froth Melbourne.
The sum total of the alteration being, that Messrs.
APlver and Comcany, are to carry passengers,
mails, and specie, between England and Alexan-
dria, and between Malta and Marseilles; placing
some of their transatlantic steamers on the route.
The steamers, it is said, are to sail from Liverpool,
and call at Southampton for the mails, specie, and
passengers ; from which port they are to proceed
to Alexandria direct, and, according to the- new
arrangement, the entire distance between South-
ampton and Melbourne is to be completed in 55
days. We believe that some of the reports in cir-
culation are as yet but mere conjectures. Be this
as it may, we cannot but regard the fact of the
Cunard steamers sailing from Liverpool, and call-
ing at Southampton for mails and passengers, as a
most unnecessary and unreasonable arrangement
Liverpool should be the port of departure and
arrival for the Australian malls ; besides, we con-
tend that, at the present moment, Messrs M'lver
and Co are in a position to carry the mails between
Liverpool and Melbourne, delivering them in both
places within forty-three days from the hour of
their embarkation, if they would only adopt the
Panama tonte-:—We shall Watch the final settle-
ment of the proposed change, as it is one of vital
importance to Liverpool and the manufacturing
districts, as well as to the commercial public of
Scotland and Ireland.

The King of Prussia has opened the Diet in
person, and delivered a short but significant speech,
which, from its tone and tenor on the disputed
question of Neufchatel, is satisfactory. He
desires the settlement of the matter, not by
force of arms, but by negotiation, through
the great powers, reserving to Prussia, in
case that desire is frustrated, the right
to have recourse to belligerent means.
The sentiments of the King were loudly cheered
by the Lantag. The Prussian Ambassador to
Switzerland has returned, and in consequence of
the decree of the Federal Council respecting the
release of the Neufchatel prisoners, there has been
an end, for the present, of any direct negotiation
between Prussia and Switzerland.

Our advises from the East represent Russian
troops as being on the move :towards the Black
Sea, and which, if true, is a matter of some
importance under present circumstances. At the
same time, it is suisfactory to know that Admiral
Lyons's fleet is in the Black Sea in full force.

From Belgium we learn that the oppositiol
party had been defeated on their amendment t,

the ad-tress, by a majority of nearly two to one.
The result of this &feat, which had reference to
the Education question, will, it is said, preclude

the professors of Belgian Universities from attack-
ing existing and acknowledged creeds.
We give in other columns a variety of the latest

intelligence f

other parts of

rom France, Austria, Prussia, and
' the Continent of Europe, to which

er our readers

The West India mail brings but little news of
importance, but among her letters are some from
Mexico, which place continues in an unsettled and
disturbed state, almost bordering upon a revolu-
tionary condition. There is not any intelligence
respecting the British expedition to that Republic.
From Chili we learn that the attention of the
Government and the people was occupied with the
religious question previously noticed, and having
its origin in a dispute between the Vicar and the
Prelates Menses and. Soles. The Government had
determined to repeal the duties on the exportation
of copper should the fall in prices in England prove
permanent, and effect that important branch of
industry. The harvest proved to be an abundant
one. In Peru revolutionary movements continued,
and the Government did not•feel itself secure. All
was quiet at Bolivia. The difficulties respecting
the Quina contract with Huize & Case had been
satisfactorily arranged.

The intelligence by the Overland Mail is given
elsewhere.- It does not appear that the Persian
expedition finds much favour with the people of
India. Matters in China are in a rather unsatis.•
factory state; and it is said that Sir John Bowring
must so arrange as to compel the citizens of Canton
to open their gates and give free accese to the
British residents

A telegraphic despatch, dated Naples, December
1, has just reached us It informs us that Baron
Bentrenga was at the head of the insurrection in
Sicily, at Cefalta, near Palermo, and that the emute
had not been effectually quelled. The Paris Funds
closed last evening at 65f. 25c.' for the Three per
Cents, and 92f. 50c. for the Four mid a Half per
Cents. •

The local news of the day is rather varied and
interesting The monthly-meeting of the Chamber
of Commerce was held
.yesterday, and also a meet-
ing of the Liverpool shareholders of the Luxem
bourg Railway, when Mr. B loe, the agent of :the
line, laid before the shareholders a very gratifying
statement of the present state • and future pros•
pects of the undertaking, which gave much satis.
faction.

Io yesterday's NORTHERN TIMES we alluded to
the loss of the steamer Lyonnais, froin New York to
Havre, and the probable destructiOn of a large
number of human lives. It will be in the recollec-
tion of our readers that, on the arrival of the
Neptune, from New York,
.on the 25th ult, the
captain, Peabody, of that ship, reported falling in
with a boat, out of which he took the chronometers,
spy-glass, &c., on the Bth ult., in lat. 41, lon. 65.
These, it is said, mere belonging to the Lyonnais;
if so, the unfortunate beings who were in the boat
must have perished. Still, it is somewhat singular
that the articles in question were in the boat, as
set forth in Captain Peabod,N's report.
The shareholders of the Eastern Counties Rail-
way held a meeting at the London TaYern, yester-
day afternoon, to receive the result of the poll
for the election of a director, in the room of Mr.
Waddington, M.P , resigned. The. numbers were
—For Mr. Love, 28,473 votes, representing stock
to the amount of £1,686,810; for Mr. Malins,
26,498 votes, representing stock worth £1,297,670,
tints placing Mr. Love in a majority of 2,375
votes. Mr. Love *as then declared duly elected,
after which the meeting separated.

LAST week's reports of the proceedings in the
Superior Courts of Law supply us with two very
remarkable illustrations—first, with regard to the

; ri-1 T tot,
Li, ._

cruel sham of unlimited liability in Joint-Stock
Banks ; and, secondlyTwith respeet to the extraordi-
nary powers which the Bar claim for themselves
in dealing with the property of their clients. In
a struggle of creditors to obtain justice, a conten-
tion takes place between the officers of the Courts
of Chancery and Bankruptcy, and of this fierce
battle the Vice-Chancellor does not hesitate to
speak before the world in the most candid manner.
" The practical struggle was " said the learned
judge, " who should get the per centage on this
" vast fund." The large sum alluded to is the
amount paid into court for the benefit of creditors,
and, strange to say, that the expenses of the litiga-
tion carried on between the Court of Chancery and
the officials of the Court of Bankruptcy were made
costs in the cause ! The creditors are made to
pay the whole of the expenses attending on the
effDrts of the officers of two rival courts, to get their
hands on the per centage of the wreck left after
the failure of a bank, which has, in all likelihood,
brought hundreds to beggary. The mercantile
world should weigh these disclosures with more
than ordinary seriousness, They should ask
themselves a few simple questions. " 'What is
" the use of driving an insolvent concern into the
" Court of Bankruptcy ? Why prosecute share-
" holders and debtors, and make them pay up at
" any sacrifice-?" It is only supplying vast funds
to be swallowed up by placemen and lawyers.
When the debtor and creditor have settled all
their differences, the courts to whom you fly for
succour, can squabble about their jurisdiction and
sweep away the money of the needy creditors.
The man of business who resorts to such a sys-
tem barely deserves the paltry d vidend left, after
the great legal farce has been enacted. He goes
forth to crush all who come before him as debtors,
to put money into the pockets of those who will be
paid as no other class of men are. He works, in
fact, for the courts and their servants, and not for
creditors, and we cannot be surprised when we
learn that the VICE-CHANCELLOR'S candid con-
fession produced " great laughter" at the expense
of the few who are silly enough to suppose that
they will receive a respectable dividend from the
" vast fund " paid into court in the case of the
Royal British Bank. The innocent contributors
to that fund may have been left houseless in
making good the calls made upon them. The
creditors must have advanced money to carry on
the proceedings against the shareholders and other
debtors. NVhat will it all end in ? Some re-
ceiver or official assignee will make a fortune.
But what will the bona fide creditor get for the
money advanced, and his original claim ? We
are a law-loving people. Our fine sense of jus-
tice often over-rides our necessities, and makes us
embark in what our experience shows us
promises only a doubtful return to the principals
in a cause. Still, we rush into it. We see that
our courts were designed to inflict the utmost
amount of '.njury on both debtor and creditor, and
yet we go on cutting and thrusting with their
two-edged swords without looking at what we are
really about.

Economising the means of those who owe money
is the first duty of those who hope to get
their own. Creditors go to Courts of Equity for
this purpose, and when they have been so fortun-
ate as to raise a " vast fund," those very tribunals
go to law among themselves, and the " practical
struggle" is all about large per centages ; and the
result is, that the creditor is laughed at when the
thoughts of the parties, really interested in the
estate, flashes across the mind of the crowd who
hear the judge's remarks. There is some reform
needed here. The jurisprudence of the country is
but very little adapted to the present time ; nor
can we expect much from the patronaff °e-creating
spirit of the Legislature of the day. The com-
mercial public must find within themselves some
practical remedy for the injustice to which both the
debtor and creditor interest are exposed in the
superior courts. Law should secure all parties
justice, and cannot much longer be suffered to
remain the engine of injustice that it is. The
cost of obtaining the protection of the statutes of
the realm must be cut down, and the Bar must
not be suffered to exercise the power of judges,
juries, advocates, attornies, and clients. The
case of SWINFEN v. SWINFEN, which was recently
heard in the Court of Common Pleas, must have
amazed our readers. This action was heard at
Stafford, and was an issue out of Chancery to try
the validity of a will. At the trial a compromise,
it was alleged, was come to, and the plaintiff
refused to fulfil the terms proposed. The court
had held that counsel had a right to compro-
mise his client's case, and an attachment had
actually been obtained against the plaintiff—a
woman—for not carrying out the terms said to
have been agreed upon. The property at stake
was worth £65,000, and the compromise was to
give the plaintiff an annuity worth only £lO,OOO.
Sir F. THESIGER, Mr. ALEXANDER, Q.C., Mr.
WHITMORE, and Mr. GRAY, were the counsel
for the defendant in the former suit, and the three
last-named gentlemen were, according to their
affidavits, present when the compromise took
place. We need not travel into the whole cause,
however, to show the danger to the public from
the system which the courts uphold.

Sir F. THESIGER conducted this case for the
defendant, Mrs. SWINFEN, and the reasons he
as'igns for entering into the compromise are,
that he could do no better for her—that he had
heard something " in a high quarter," and that the
case was likely to go against her. Now, the
queStion to be considered is—had counsel a
right, knowing all this to be true, to entertain an
offer of a compromise at all ? When a plaintiff
begins to shake, in any degree, the natural conclu-
sion men come to is—that he has no case.
Any such exhibition of weakness on the opposite
side ought .to have inspired Sir F. THESIGER with
increased courage. But it did not; for he accepted
an annuity, in his client's name, and in direct
opposition to her desire, as she and her witnesses
aver. " Mrs. SWINFEN declined," said her coun-
sel, " to make the bargain urged upon her, because
" if the will were invalid, as suggested by Sir F.
" THESIGER, it would be a conspiracy to defraud
" Captain SWINFEN. She only wanted her own,
"and would not accept a bargain on any such
" terms. Having said this, Sir F. THESIGER
" treacherously went and made a bargain behind
" her back, and now they sought to commit her,
" and not the man who had betrayed her. It
" would be a shock to the public sentiment of the
" whole country to do so. It could not be done.
" The ATTORNEY-GENERAL had said, on moving
" for the rule, that it was reasonable and conve-
" nient that counsel should be able to make such
" arrangements ; but it could not be done. Such
" an agreement might be good at Constantinople,
" but not in this country, where we proceeded by
" forms of law." It is to be hoped the decision
of the Bench will prove that the learned counsel
is right, and that such things cannot be done in
England.

Making client's parties to " a conspiracy to
defraud" is not a desirable course to pursue, for,
as the counsel for Mrs. SwiNFEN observed, " If
" the principle were established that counsel were
" agents, it would be impossible for a client to
" trust counsel without being at his elbow, If
" counsel could so act, he did not hesitate to say
" they were the most powerful people in the
" country." He next asks, " was Sir F. THESI.

TBIES.---LIVERPOOL,

(}Res-conduct right ? He sent for the attorney,
" and-could - not prevail -on -him-, and he sent• for
" Mrs. SWINFEN, a lady, and urges her, in the

" presence of three counsel, who now came to make
" affidavits against her. Shame on them (said
" the learned counsel), I say ; and they don't
" deserve to have any briefs again." The country
will freely acknowledge the truth of Mr. KEN-
NEDY'S remarks on behalf of his client. We can-
not, however, pretend to do more at present, than
direct the earnest attention of the whole commu-
nity to this most remarkable affair, and the
course the bench may adopt when dealing with
what appears to be far more anomalous, if any-
thing, than the proceedings going on in chancery
and bankruptcy, in a case where irreparable mis-
chief has been done to a wide circle of society,
and where the creditors' interest is laughed at for
its love of law and extraordinary credulity.

Mr. JEFFEItY'S return to the Town Council was
a great Reform triumph, and we are not surprised
to find that the Electors of Lime-street Ward arc
about to celebrate their victory in a grand Reform
banquet. The grief of the discomtitted Phillis-
t nes, who weep over the defeat of their can-
didate, may be very seriously augmented by the
Joyfulness which they see iu the camp of the vic-
tors; but they must prepare themselves for still
more signal reverses, and far more gageous dis-
plays of Reform, earnestness. When we put down
corruption there will be no prodigal party—no ex-
treme faction. Once the Corporation has been
purified, the Borough will be liberal, but consistent.
We shall have a united popular voice, and the im-
portance of Liverpool will make itself felt in the
State. We shall no longer be a nullity in the le-
gislature, or classed among the dumb consti-
tuencies of the realm. We shall have men coming
forward to represent us in Parliament and the Coun-
cil Chamber who are, in every waY, qualified for
those important offices. We want men of integrity
and business in the Corporation, and statesmen to
look after our interests in the House of Commons.
For these men we must look to the Reform ranks ;
for where are they on the opposite side ?
The Tories or prodigals of the present day
are not what they were a few years back.
Their former leaders excited the admiration of
their most determined opponents, by the boldness
of their views; but those whom they now profess
to follow, draw down upon them the contempt of
the world, by their solemn mockery of statesman-
ship; and, to encourage the tag-rag of this party,
in a large commercial emporium like Liverpool, is
really most absurd.
There can be no party in this country without a
recognised policy and a leader, and we should like
very much to hear from those who are not
Reformers, what they really are—what their policy
is—and who are their statesmen. There is no use
in Mr. C. TURNER'S looking towards Knowsley, or
Mr. HoßsraLL's pointing to the parish church
steeple. Mr. S. HOLME, trembling fur the prestige
of both, looks to something more promising, and
will endeavour to keep the scattered tribe together
by the use of patronage, giving away good things,
and holding out still larger hopes. The Dock
Committee will do their best, the MAYOR will help
them, and Mr. JOHN BUCK LLOYD will exert
himself to the uttermost without. But all
this will not suffice. The Borough Accounts
will still tell the same tale. There will
be no lino of policy propounded—no leader on
the stage. The farce will lose its attraction, like
our coining Pantomime, as soon as the season is
:over, and it is rapidly thawing to a close with our
prodigals. They are up and doing already for
next November. They will win all next year.
Delusive hope ! They will have a banquet. Had
they not better go to the feast which is prepared
this year ? It does not do to be over sanguine,
particularly in these hard times. They would

rather rely on the great headless, voiceless,
peutrid remains of Toryism, and the fat offerings of
Corporate extravagance and corruption. Let them
have their choice ; but the Reformers should
remember that the Municipal Reform Act has
given them a power which must be removed before
any pratical relief can be obtained.

As long as they can pitchfork any one they
please into the Council to tax the Burgesses,
they will always have an irresistable ma-
jority in favour of jobbery. It is the law then
that must be reformed. That portion of the
Municipal Reform Act which gives Corporations
the power of inflicting on the municipalities of
England taxation, without representation, must be
repealed. It is art outrage on the fundamental
principles of the Constitution, and to this subject
the Corporate Reformers of Liverpool must give
their immediate attention. There would be no
wholesale jobbery going on in this Borough, with
the sanction of a large majority of the Council, if it
were not for the defects of the Municipal Reform
Act. Attack that act, and remove from the statute
book the iniquity of which the Burgesses com-
plain, and there will be no more Liverpool Tories,
and, as a natural sequence, no more jobbery.
Architects, and other professional men, would not
be so anxious to obtain seats in a deliberative
assembly, which ought to be employed about the
current business of the town, and nothing
more. It is the province" "of the public
to suggest the imProvements and embellish_
manta they wish to bequeath to posterity
The Council are not elected for the purpose
of devising schemes and thrusting them down our
throats at their own prices and as they please.
What should we say to the Houses of Parliament
if they were to concoct railway, town improvement,
dock, water, and gas schemes, and force them on
the country? They very properly leave those mat-
ters to be brought before them by the parties
seeking to be benefitted. They are not conclaves
of originators and rate-makers at the same time,
and it was never intended that Municipal Councils
should be incessantly scheming.
There is no end to the inventive genius of a cor-
poration. Mr. S. HOLME, and a few others we
could name, could design irnpeovemen is for all
England. They have no modesty about waiting to
be asked for the blessings they would confer on
the public. " Lay down the idea and ask for the
money" is the course they recommend. But what
should we say if the Imperial Parliament proceeded
on that principle? The legislature never inter.
fere with what ought to be left to private judg-
ment and enterprise, and why should local bodies
be allowed to do so. Private enterprise has
provided the three kingdoms with railways and
every other port with docks except Liverpool. It
has carried out all the improvements which have
taken place in London, and every other large town
except this- jobbing Borough. It has supplied
water, canals, steamboats, and every thing else that
has been required, where there was money to pay
for the undertaking. The Town Council of Liver-
pool may, therefore, leavL all they volunteer to

rUESDA

Copy of Memorial to the Town Council.

And your Memorialists will ever sing,

do to the same active spirit. But the first evil
the Reformers have to grapple with is the election
of Aldermen. While the Corporation retain the
right of making Aldermen from the non-elected
mob, the Ratepayers will have no control over that
body; and, as the Borough expects much from the
Reform party, we hope to hear that they intend to
devise some practical remedy for that glaring evil.
Still, should the subject not be mooted at the
banquet, we do not despair of its being taken up by
some of the leading members of Lime-street Ward,
and in time to prevent the repetition of the scene
enacted in the Council Chamber on the 9th of
November last.

OUR attention has been called to
.the following
Memorial which was addressed to Ihe Council
some weeks ago by the Liverpool Festival Choral
Society, in reference to the charges at present
existing for the use of St. George's-hall

Showeth—That your Memorialists engaged St. George's
Hall in September last for a concert : That the amount
charged to your memorialists for the use of the Hall
for one night and for a rehearsal amounted to £33 15s :
That a charge of £5 5s was included in this sum for a
rehearsal, and a further sum of .E. 2 53 for gas, &

your memorialists, considering such a charge for a re-
hearsal to be very unusual, made enquiries from the Town
Clerk, Birmingham, as to the charge made for the Town
Hall there, and particularly as to whether any, and what
charge, was made for a rehearsal, and your memorialists
were informed in reply, that the sum charged to an inha-
bitant for the use of the Hall per night was Ten Pounds,
and that a further sum of about Three Pounds covered the
expenses of lighting, fires, and cleaning. And your memo-
rialists were further informed that the use of the Hall
might be had for a rehearsal (if disengaged) without any
extra charge. That the difference in favour of the Town
Hall, Birmingham, appears to be upwards of per
night. That your memorialists submitted these facts to
the Law Courts Committee, and requested them to con-
sider whether the charges here could not be revised, but
more• especially as to whether the charge made for a
rehearsal could not be abolished, but they were informed
that the committee had no power, as the charges were
fixed by the council. Your memorialists, therefore,
respectfully submit these premises for your consideration,
and pray that you will be pleased to give such instructions
to the Law Courts' Committee as will .enable them to
comply with your memorialists' request.)

Signed on behalf of the Liverpool Festival Choral Society.
To the Mayor, Aldermen, and Couneil,}
of the Borough of Liverpool.

This memorial has been referred by the
Council to the St. George's ball Committee,
and there no doubt the matter ends for the present.
But it is beginning to be generally felt that the
Counc.il will have before long to revise the estab-
lished scale of charg( s. That scale was adopted
as an experiment, and now that the experiment
has palpably failed, at least as far as regards some
of the most important results it was expected to
p'roduee, it cannot reflect in the least upon
the wisdom, or touch the dignity of the
Committee to make a second trial upon a
different scale. We scarcely anticipate that
any one will deny the failure in a very great
degree of the original experiment. The Hall was
never opened as a merely mercantile speculation,
having for its sole object to draw the largest pos-
sible amount of money from any source that would
pay. One great and important, if not indeed the
greatest and most important, object with which
this Hall was founded, was that it should be a
popular institution to place the sources of
enjoyment and mental elevation within the reach
of that vast class who are wholly dependant upon
public institutions for such advantages. The
Council, however, determined wisely in the first
instance, not to become providers of public amuse-
ments, except in the instance of the ordinary organ
performances, but to kayo the arran4ement of
amusements to public enterprise. Accordingly
the capabilities of the Hall for great popular con
certs have been tested, and found eminently suc-
cessful. The people have shown that they appre-
ciated the value of the great institution thus thrown
open to them, and have crowded to take advantage
of it. But it has been also ascertained at the same
time, that popular concerts, at any reasonable
price, cannot possibly be continued in the Hall, for
the plain reason that the scale of charges for the
use of the building prevents any performances,
although attended by an audience crowding every
foot of space, from covering its own expenses
This, it is well known, was the cause which led to
the discontinuance of the spirited attempt recently
made to establish in" St. George's Hall, great
popular Saturday Evening Concerts. - This is the
cause which prevents any similar attempt from
being made by others, although the St. George's
Hall Committee are well aware that, when the first
of these concerts had taken place, Many competing
applications were made for the use of the Hall
for similar purposes. This cause, too, operates
even against performances of a more expen-
sive, and elaborate character, such as those
of the Festival Choral Society. We need

not dwell upon the arguments and examples to
which the Society, in their memorial, have alluded,

or the very many others to which—wisely confining
themselves to their own immediate portion of the
question—they have made no allusion This fact
is perfectly evident, that none but high-priced
concerts can take place in St. George's Hall, while
the charges continue as at present. In other words,
the great bulk of the people can have no share in
the enjoyment of as institution, in the cost of
whose erection and maintenance they have neces-
sarily to bear some share. The organ perform-
ances can hardly be termed popular entertainments.
Only ears having some scientific and cultivated
powers can be long kept attentive by organ s,los,
however skilfully executed. The Council may
remember the sensible and truthful remarks of Mr.
ROBERTSON GLADSTONE on this point, when the
question was under discussion, and the predictions
ho then uttered are becoming more evident),
realised day after day. It is not a rash affirmation
to declare that, after a time, even high-priced
concerts will became rare in St. George's
Hall. This, however, is scarcely material
to our present subj yet. We would only
call the attention of the Council at present to
the fact that, while the charges remain as at

present; no popular performances can be sustained
in the hall, and that this is a sufficient reason for a
revision and reduction of the charges. This insti-
tution is not to be dealt with as the Philharmonic,
for instance, where the benefit of the shareholders
to be derived from the rents obtained is the prin-
cipal object. It is an institution built by the
funds of the public, and of which the advantages
should be placed within the reach of all classes of
the public. That the original experiment has
unquestionably failed to attain this object, is a
sufficient argument for an attempt on an altered
scale It need scarcely be pointed out that by the
present organ performances, the profits on which
are calculated uithout -deducting the rent of the