The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-23 00:00:00

(a) denotes bags.

DOCK C.HARGES.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE NORTHERN TIMES.

Sir,—l observe that the following resolution is
to be submitted to-more,lw to the Cotton Brokers'
Association for their adoption :
That all merchants and others giving orders for American
cotton, do instruct their correspondents to stipulate with the
master at the time of shipment, that the following clause he
inserted in the bill of lading That the ship shall not be
placed in the Stanley, Albert, or Wapping Docks, or in any
other dock worked by the Dock Committee; or if the vessel
is placed there from any cause, all and every expense, beyond
the ordinary quay porterage of 91. per ton, is to be deducted
off the freight, and so paid by the master of the vessel."
This is a step in the right direction.
The difference ad per ton) between the rates of
quay delivery on cotton is apparently trifling, but,
with your kind permission, I would, through the
medium of your columns, earnestly and respect-
fully submit to the attention and consideration of
our general merchants, whether it would not be
advisable that they should come to a similar
determination, and direct their friends abroad to
make a stipulation to the same effect with the
masters of vessels.

So long ago as April 17, 1855, 1. published, in the
Mercury a comparative statement of the rates for
quay delivery on various articles, viz , cotton, sugar,
rice, molasses, nitrate of soda, and saltpetre. In
nearly all these cases the charge in the Albert, &e,
docks is double that of other docks. Why should
our merchants tolerate such extortion ? This
overcharge is attributable to the enormous
staff kept up, at all times, whether work
be pressing, or there is little work to be done.
And I would ask all whom it may concern, " Is
there any extra convenience, or superiority of man-
agement in return for the extra sum paid ?" I
affirm, from experience, that labour is more satis-
factorily performed in the Princes than in the
Albert dock, and the unnecessary expense through
putting the vessel in the latter dock, should justly,
as is maintained in the resolution, be borne by the
ship. It is somewhat surprising that the matter
of extra expenses, and routine delays peculiar to
the docks worked by the Dock Committee, has not
stirred up our merchants to seek a remedy.
Liverpool, January 22, 1857. ONLY A CLERK.

MELANCHOLY SLT:CIDE OF A SOLICTOR.—On Wednesday
morning it was rumoured in the neighbourhood of Sherrard
street, Golden square, that Mr. Mark Bernard, a solicitor,
residing at No. 18, in that street, had committed suicide by
cutting his throat, and which report on iuquiry was found
to ba too true. About twelve o'clock a foreign gentleman
named Traissaint, who occupied apartments in the house,
lE•aring groans proceed from the deceased's bedroom, pro-
ceeded thither, and on entering the room discovered
deceased divested of his coat, waistcoat, and neckerchief,
and who had apparently been in the act of shaving, lying
on the floor deluged in blood, which was flowing from a
frightful wound in his throat, that had no doubt been
inflicted with an open razor by his side.
EXTRAORDINARY EFFECT OF EXCITEMENT.—Many won-
derful instances are recorded of the human hair being
suddenly turned grey from the effects of grief and other
causer, but we doubt if a parallel can be found to a startling
fact that occurred at the soiree of the Mechanics' Institute,
on Wednesday evening. During the interval that trap_
spired after tea to the chair being taken, a carefully " got
up" exquisite in the body of the hall engaged the attention
of the company around him by his aristocratic deportment,
martial bearing, and severe criticism bestowed upon the
architectural points of the building, &c., embellishing the
dist vague drawl of his observations with that peculiar
fondling twirl apparently so essential to the beauty and pre.
servation of a fashionable moustache, Warming with his
subject, and probably excited to the " pitch" by the number
of his listeners, he was reaching the climax of declamation,
when the affected gravity of the assembly broke into roars
of laughter as the petted hirsute appendage suddenly fell
from the lip, and tumbled into the lap of a lady near bim.
The shouts of merriment occasioned by its re-adjustment
resounded through the hall, to the evident astonishment of
those not in the proximity of the " observed of all ob-
servers."—Halifax Guardian.