The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-18 00:00:00

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FORBES M'KENZIE'S ACT

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.
Sir,—Allow me to ask, through the medium of your
columns, one question in reference to the case of extreme
hardship from the Forbes M'Kenzie Act, detailed in your
paper to-day.

Is it a real fact that the law absolutely forbids a pub-
lican to admit into his house, or to give liquor to, or to
sell other refreshments to, a person in the state described ?
If I understand the law aright he may do either of
these things, and, therefore, I would say the fault was
with the inhuman publican who refused to admit a ship-
wrecked mariner into his house because forsooth he could
not sell him drink !I The friends of the law should know
that the publicans have pledged themselves to get. it
repealed, "if possible." That it has diminished drunken-
ness one-sixth, and pr9duced a quiet Sabbath is nothing
to them ; it has emptied their pockets, and that is all-in-
all to a man who calculates upon Sunday debauchery as
;e•adesmen do upon a market day.—'V
s:rkr 'lead, Jan. 16, 1856_

other t

ours, &c.,
JOHN T. NOHILIS,

THE DONCASTER' PAWNBROKING CASE

---..----

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.
Sir,—l am surprised that you pass unnoticed the case
of Mr. Jackson, the pawnbroker in Doncaster.
It is dreadful to think that so respectable a man should
be dragged to jail at a moment's notice, merely because his
wife could not, in her conscience, lend more than five
shillings on a diamond ring, which might have been paste.
What could the poor do without pawnbrokers ? Do cot
they give to the poor what to them is :most valuable at
the time ? They are the poor man's banker, and if they
do charge a high rate of interest for their money, the
legislature is to blame. They certainly do no more than
bankers are doing at the present moment, when they ask
and receive high discounts in a time of pressure.
Pawnbroking was introduced before Peel abolished the
usury laws, thereby allowing the rich man's banker to ask
what interest he pleased; and it is too had that he should
have allowed pawnbrokers to remain under a usury law
which is the case at present. They can demand only
twenty-five per cent., whereas, in many instances where
the poor are hard pressed for money, they might demand
an extra five or ten per cent., as well as the Bank of
England. Private bill discounters, and bankers, have no
restrictions placed on them, and seeing that no merchant
or broker can obtain money without pledging his stock
when he gives his bill,'! do not see why pawnbroking,
which was meant. to help the poor man in his necessities,
should be held up to public odium.
Pawnbrokers are a highly respectable and wealthy
class of wen, and there are few trades in which a man
may loose money sooner than theirs, if great care is not
taken.

For instance, Mr. Jackson has been exposed to public
ignominy for doing that which any other pawnbroker
might have done in a moment of inadvertence.
You will probably say that it is the system which is
defective. This every pawnbroker will readily concede,
but until some other plan for relieving the wants of the
poorer classes be devised, their trade must be protected
from hasty magisterial decisions.

As pawhbroiing commenced with Esau's pledging bis
birthright for a mess of pottage, you will perhaps allow
me to sign myself, with all respect, JACOB.

REPRESENTATION OF TAmwonTrt.--On. Monday last
Viscount Raynham addressed the electors of Tamworth and
solicited their suffrages. The noble lord was well received,
and it is supposed that he will be elected without
opposition,

-J. W. Sharpe, the once celebrated comic vocalist died at the Dover Union on Thursday last. Re had beenwander-
ing about the town night and day for the last three weeks,
in a poor and destitute condition, dissipation having pro-
duced in him a most emaciated appearance.—South Eastern
Gazette.

fs'ESTATE Or LOCIISHIEL.—This fine estate, situate on the
banks of Lochshiel, in the district of Moidart, Inverness_
shire, and rich in historical associations with the '45, has
been sold by Mr. Macdonald, the late proprietor, to Mr.
Hope Scott, of AbbotAford, for £21,500. The property is
strictly Highland in its character ; has valuable fishing in
the river Shiel, with grouse and other game, and a large
tract of country susceptible of improvement.
BREAKING INTO A NUNNERY.--Three young men were
charged at Leeds Police Court, on Monday, with breaking
into the nunnery in York-road. Evidence baying been
given for the prosecution, proving the entry into the nunnery
by the defendants, and their arrest by the police, one of the
prisoners (Jennings) made the following statement :—On
Saturday night I and my two friends went down to the
Queen, on the Roundhay-road, to play at bagatelle, and had
About twelve o'clock at night we left,
,ere nearly drunk. We went straight

something to drinl
and I must say WE

from there d

, and n

.. .
vn into Kirkgate, and thought we should have
wgl,
got in.
one
We of
commenced
friendseneed
hing further, and we then agreed to go to the
foundnunnery. a
gotWe
eow
open,eikicking up a row in the place. We did not know what we
were doing, and threw several things not only about the
place, but also out of the window. We heard an alarm and
got out of the place. We made little or no effort to get
away. We were, however, seized and brought up. There
was a fourth person with ns, who is not in custody. Mr.
J. M. Barret, for the defence, said that the prisoners deepl
wiov ;n thde
we wall,
regretted the offence of which they were guilty. The pri-
soners were severely reprimanded, and fined £5 each,
1

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.
Sir,—Blackwood's Magazine, for January, opens with an
Bill. The Illustrated London News
article, entitled the Gold Screw, which gives a rapid
resume of the inflictions on trade, perpetrated by Peel's
gives a
page nearly
every week to the question of currency; and Tait's Maga-
ene has also devoted some pages to the same subject. The
Times. the Globe, the Sun, and 'Morning Post, carry on an
intermittent warfare. But we have no-where seen the
question openly mooted, what principle is to be recognised
as our future monetary basis? Are we to have, in short,
paper convertible into gold on demand, or inconvertible
paper—that is, paper ;which does not " promise to pay
gold ? " There are " three Richmonds in the field." First.
come the upholders of the bill of 1844, with " Mercator "
(of the Times), at their head, flanked by the advocates for
the old bill of 1819, who maintain that the note should be
convertible into gold, and that the fourteen millions of
additional paper, which has no base, is the very sum
that is needed (be it 1856, or 1847, or 1844,) to make the
bill practicable in working. The small section of
opinion, which would abolish all paper, and bring us
down in very truth to gold, and gold only, is so very
small, that it need not be raised to the dignity of classifi-
cation.

is a large and undisciplined force,
without fixity of idea, who would have
a superstructure of paper '• promises
to pay, I need not say, would falsify their
promises in an exact ratio to' their' preponderance over
their base—to their excess beyond the store of metal
which is to fulfil their promise.
The third party, who are not numerous, but mho
do not totally abnegate logic, and who recognise
Mr. John Taylor, (author of the Catechism on the
Currency,) as their head, advocate inconvertible paper
issued by government alone
for internal circulate

and of course only available

the colonies. These recog-
nise as a principle .._ Axation ought to be added to
price principle. denounced by their opponents as a
mere cloak for depreciation. This school recognises
labour, industry, skill, and intelligence as the source of
all wealth, and, therefore, as the spring and fountain-head
all money. They maintain that when governments

-astitute
al question—and when governments bin a fatal
moment fixed on a scarce, and sometimes unattainable
metal, thus losing sight of the very principle of symbolisa-
tion, they aggravated the load of taxation. This aggrava-
tion will appear obvious when it is considered that the
man who, under the old system, might easily enough give
up one ox of a herd consisting of a thousand head, might
not so easily be able to command silver or gold, and that
to meet the demands of the government in " legal tender,"
he might be under the necessity of giving three oxen for
the stipulated weight of gold or silver.

As io the form of note, it certainly would not be a
"promise to pay gold," for that would be to deny their
first principle. It would necessarily take the form of the
Exchequer Bill ; and this note would be endowed with all
the significance of "legal tender for debts and th.xes,"
by the mere fact of its being recognised by government
as an acquittance of taxes. This is only restoring to
government its old prerogative of issuing money.
As'to the fear of over-issue, this is a bugbear which
may soon be dispelled. Let parliament, by annual vote,
decide how many millions are to be issued for the year,
and how many are to be cancelled.
Paper money does not make wealth. No quantity of
paper money issued under unsettled governments amongst
an idle population could make wealth ; but the immense
accumulations, and the well-organised and effective indus-
try, aided by machinery, of England, would give a signi-
ficance and value to any instrument of exchange her
rulers might fix upon. It is idle to quote Buenos Ayres
and the French assignats.
Parliament is about to meet--right or wrong,_ the bill
of 1e.14 must come on. The present high price of money__
the threatened loans—the increasing taxation—will drive
our merchants and manufacturers from their attitude of
ensouciance. The voice of Liverpool will be listened to
with attention if she has anything to say to the purpose.
Are our Members prepared ? Are they "well up in the
controversy ? If they have the nerves of ordinary men,
their responsible position must weigh heavily upon them.
Mr. Macaulay in his study may eulogise the financiers of
William the Third's time, and hold their example up for
our guidance ; but Mr. Horsfall and Mr. Ewart must know
that questions of finance have since then assumed gigantic
proportions. Our national debt would have made Mon-
tague and Godolphin stand aghast. In their days the
United States had no existence. California and Australia
were terrce incognita. The Indian Empire was in its
infancy. Liverpool was a fishing hamlet. Manchester a
small town of weavers. There were no canals, no rail-
ways, and no electric telegraph ! Since then we have had
Baonaparte and his wars;—those wars necessitated Pitt's
fianancial measures. The keystone to those financial
measures was inconvertible paper. Will not the war with
Russia compel us to leave the timid counsels of our fore-
fathers, and drive us to the same expedient ? Time will
show.—l am, sir, yours, &c., J. H.
Liverpool,yan. 17, 1956. j