The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-15 00:00:00

that guardians could do nothing without writing to the cleric
of the Poor-Law Board in London, which in his opinion was
of very little service, if any, to the country. (Hear, hear.)
They did a deal of mischief, and a deal of valuable time was
taken up in writing to them, which ought to be spent to better
purposes. (Hear.) The most trivial matter could not be
attended to by the guardians, without the sanction of the
board in London. That, he thought, was an indignity cast
upon the'guardians. He wished to move an amendment to
the following effect : That after the word parliament (in
the proposed resolution) the following be substituted for what
appears in the resolution :—" For the discontinuance of the
Poor-Law Commissioners, now called the Poor-Law Board."
Boards of Guardians could manage their business without the
assistance of the Poor-Law Board.
Mr. WOLSTENHOLME, of Oldham, seconded the amendment.
Mr. NEWTON, of Leeds, supported the amendment. If the
present law was to be continued, the best thing the government
could do, would be to appoint stipendiary guardians in order
that they might manage their business in their own way, and
• please them-elves. (Hear, hear.) If they did not alter the
recent general order, the Poor-Law Board would have to
come to Leeds themselves, to transact the business of the
board there. (Hear.)
The question was then put, when the amendment was
carried by a majority of fifteen to eight.
Both the mover (Mr. Butler) and seconder (Mr. Fielden)
of the original resolution, expressed themselves as extremely
glad with the decision of the meeting, as the amendment was
more agreeable to them than the original motion.
The Rev. Mr. FROST, of Bradford, moved the second reso-
lution :—" That this meeting is of opinion that the powers
possessed by the Poor-Law Board of making orders which
have the force of law, are most unconstitutional in principle
and mischievous in practice, and such as parliament has no
right to delegate; and, therefore, this meeting determines to
make every effort during next session to prevent the
renewal of such powers to. anybody." He said that for
parliament to delegate to three persons, the powers which
they themselves possessed, must be unconstitutional in principle
and mischievous in practice. The clerks of boards of guar-
dians and their assistants were wearied out by carrying on
correspondence with the Poor-Law Board in London, and
what good did the board do? (Hear, hear.) He must say
that upon no difficult question whatever, either in law or
practice, had the board of guardians with which he was con-
nected ever applied to the Poor Law Board in London, and
received even a scintilla of light on the subject. (Applause.)
They had always a clearer idea of the business before they
applied to the board, for after applying to them, and receiving
from them four long sheets of paper written and signed by
authority, they could not understand the business at all.
Mr. Alderman LITTLE, of Oldham, seconded the resolution.
He said, the centralisation of power in France was not worse
than that which had been palmed upon us under the present
poor-law system. (Hear.) He was willing to aid in waging
war against this system, from one end of the country to the
other. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. &Ant, of Manchester, asked whether it was understood
that ratepayers, not being guardians, should vote.
The CHAIRMAN answered in the affirmative.
The resolution was put and carried uuanimously.
Mr. DARK, of Leeds, moved the third resolution :
" That the boards of guardians, through their delegates and
other persons here present, pledge themselves to bring this sub-
ject before the public in their several localities, in order that
petitions may be sent, praying the legislature not to renew the
Poor-Law Board."
The Rev. B. HERPORD, of Todmorden, seconded the reso-
lution. He thought the Poor-Law Board should be abolished
altogether. (Hear.) The Poor-Law Board has been a com-
plete nuisance. Ho contended that the present struggle•was
one for the retention of our last local powers, which one by
one had been taken from us and given to the paid officials of
central commissioners. He hoped that at the next election
this would be made a hustings' question.
Mr. SHACKLETON, of Penistone, supported the resolution.
The resolution was carried unanimously.
Mr. SAMUEL FIELDEN, of Oldham, moved the next resole•
Lion

" That in order to meet the expenses which must be in-
curred, the several parties here present pledge themselves to
raise the necessary funds among themselves and friends."
Mr. FOSTER, of Blackburn, seconded the tesolution. •
The resolution was carried nem. eon.
Mr. GERMON, of Bradford, moved the next resolution :
" That a committee be appointed to carry out the resolutions
e
of this meeting, with full power to send a deputation to London,
and to take all such other measures as may appear to them im-
apnordtatnktatansudehneccoemssaturyittteoe adeococomnpsliissthotfhteh
e objectfol
lfollowing
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g gentlemen,
ft he tu eng
with power to add to their number :—[Here follow the names
of committee]—and that they be requested to meet at the close
of the present proceedings to appoint a secretary, and commence
proceedings."

Mr. HARTLEY, of Burnley, seconded the resolution.
Carried unanimously.
Mr. Alderman LITTLE, of Oldham, moved the sixth reso

lution:--

" That the thanks of the meeting be given to the members
of parliament who have honoured the meeting with their atten•
dance,"

•
Mr. SYKES, of Huddersfield, seconded the resolution, which
was carried by acclamation.
Mr. J. CHERTHAM, M.P., returned thanks. He thought
the committee, who prepared the original resolutions, were
more prudent than the meeting, which adopted the amendment
to the first resolution. They could not, he thought, abrogate
the Poor-Law Board; but, in his opinion, they might do much
in the way of limiting the powers which that board possessed;
and he thought that they could do so on several grounds of
expiTience. And in the accomplishment of the latter object
lie should be glad to do all he could to assist them. (Hear,
hear. )

Mr. J. W. COBBETT, M.P., likewise returned thanks.
He said he took a very great interest in this question, and had
very long done so. (Hear.) He thought that in point of
fact, they would find it rather a difficulty in practice, to limit
and define the powers of the Poor. Law Board, or to lay down
a set of rule under which the board should act. However,
he was not at all indisposed to the attempt to get a limitation
of that power, if it should be contrary to the feeling of parlia-
ment, to abrogate the Poor-Law Board altogether. But he
agreed in this, that the Poor-Law Board had been a very great
nuisance to the boards of guardians, and that if it cannot be
got rid of altogether, it was very necessary there should be
some attempt at all events, to bring about some limitation
of its powers, to make it more agreeable to the boards of
guardians. (Hear, hear.) And, therefore, he thoroughly
approved of the vote the meeting came to upon the first
resolution. (Hear, hear.) and he did not think that that
would be any obstacle in the way, in the event of their
afterwards determining to go only for a limitation of the
powers of the Poor-Law Board. (Hear.) He would be glad
to do all he could to further the objects the meeting had in
view. (Applause.)

After it vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting separated
a little after four o'clock.

Twenty-one tradesmen, of 'different pursuits, were fined
in Manchester on Friday.
The Rev. W. Luxmoor has been elected Fellow of Eton
College. He was one of the assistant masters.
The Rev. Richard Harrington, Principal of Brazenose
College, Oxford, died on Tuesday morning.
A STRIKE AT AN END.—The bottle makers of Newcastle-
on-Tyne have returned to their work. Some at an advance
of wages, some not.
A young man who had to pass over a portion of the Car-
marthen mountains last week during the fog, was found
dead from exhaustion in the morning.
THE Anaric SEARCH.—No letters or dispatches have yet
been received by the admiralty from her majesty's ship Am-
phitrite, on her return from Behring's Strait, and there is
consequently no foundation for the statement that there has
been news from the Enterprise and Investigator. The
latest intelligence from the latter ship has already reached
us by Captain Inglefield, and nothing more can be known of
her until the autumn of nAxt year. Of the Enterprise no
intelligence has been received. It is also untrue that the

' name M Sir John Franklin will be struck off the books of
the admiralty, in order to make room for that of Captain
Chads. It is not to be supposed that the admiralty would
contemplate such a step while the issue, even of their own
expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin, is unknown.
CHINA.—The Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown has been lee-
tiring in Manchester on the Chineiie Empire. Upon 'the
subject of Chinese education he says :—The educational
institutions of China had been much talked about, and it
was said that we ought to learn a lesson from the Chinese,
where the only way to public office, honour, and emolument
was by a liberal education. If, however, education was the
wily door to these, the door could only be opened by a
Olden key. Then the learning of a Chinaman was of a
stereotyped character. He had to learn the sacred classics,
blit he must not express a single idea that differed, in the
slightest degree, from the writings of the great philosopher
Confucius. He must have a tolerably correct notion about
the geography of China, and an incorrect notion about other
places. They wished their youth to be educated up to a
certain point, and not beyond it. It was the best illustration
he knew of Pope's words : " A little learning is a dangerous
thing." The real object•of government education in China
was, to restrain progress beyond a certain point, and God
forbid that we should take a lesson out of that book.

COLOSSAL ORGAN FOR THE NEW CHRYSTAL PALACK.—
The magnitude of this organ is necessarily very great.
The rough drawings which have been prepared for the guid-
ance of the committee show that it will occupy an area of
about 5,400 feet, so that, supposing it to be placed at the
end of the transept, and to extend from one gallery to the
other in width, its depth will be about 50 feet, and its
altitude may be about 140 feet from the ground. The in-
ternal structure of such an instrument is divided into stories,
like a house, for the convenient support of the sound-boards
and pipes. In the present case the feeders of the bellows
must be moved by a small steam-engine, and this, together
with the feeders, should be disposed in an underground ap-
pa;rtment beneath the organ. The space beneath the first
floor of the organ may thus be entirely disengaged, being
only occupied by the pillars required for the support of the
organ, and by the wind-trunks. This portion of the struc-
ture should be constructed substantially of stone, iron, or
brick, and open on all sides with arches, and will thus form
a part of the area of the transept. An organ of this ex-
tent will cost £25,000.