The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-04-29 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

By the Overland Mail we nave received the
Singapore Free Press of March 20, which announces
the arrival, by the steamship Hellespont, Captain
Keys, of intelligence from Melbourne to February
17th, and from Sydney and Adelaide to February
9th. All the colonies were busy with the elections
under the new constitutions, and there seems to
be little news of general importance.

FRANCE.

RATIFICATIONS OF THE TREATY OF

PEACE.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, SUNDAY EVENING.
As you have been informed by telegraph, the
exchange of the ratifications of the treaty of peace
has taken place to-day, at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. At ten o'clock the Secretaries of the
Embassies of the contracting Powers assembled,
and compared the several ratifications with each
other. Having found them in accord, the pleni-
potentiaries at three o'clock met in grand uniform,
as on the day of signing the treaty. These pleni-
potentiaries were, Count Walewski and Baron de
Bourqueney for France, Baron Hubner for Austria,
Lord Cowley for Great Britain, Count de Hatz-
feldt for Prussia, Count. Orloff and Baron de
Brunow for Russia, Count de Villamarina for
Sardinia, and Aali Pacha and Mehemed Djemel
Bey for Turkey. Count Walewski presided. The
exchange was duly effected ; it consists in each
contracting power giving to each a copy of the
treaty signed and ratified by the sovereign of the
power. Thus, there being seven contracting powers,
Queen Victoria had signed and declared ratified
seven copies of the treaty, six of which were given
to the other Powers, and one kept by herself. The
plenipotentiaries afterwards drew up, and severally
signed, a proces verbal of the exchange of rati-
fications.

The treaty will be communicated to morrow to
the Senate and Legislative body, and will, conse-
quently, not be published in the Moniteur until
Tuesday. The protocols, the publication of which
was confidently expected to-morrow, will, I am as-
sured, not take place till Wednesday. The Moniteur
will, to-morrow, announce the exchange of
the ratifications, and perhaps say something about
the treaty.

Count de Cavour arrived in Paris on Friday,
from London, and had yesterday an audience of
the Emperor. He left for Turin this morning.
His departure, just before the meeting for the
exchange of the ratifications, has occasioned some
remarks.

The ceremony of the exchange of ratifications
being a mere formality, has excited no attention.
Several of the Ministers, and even Count d'Morny,
found time to attend the horse races, which have
taken place in the Champ de Mars.
The Emperor has ordered that the same mili-
tary honours shall be paid to the Imperial Prince
as to himself and the Empress. Consequently
when the baby is carried near a guard-house, the
soldiers will have to turn out and present
arms, whilst the drums will be beat and the
trumpets will sound.

There is reason to believe that the Empress did
not go on so well after her confinement as was
officially announced, at least, until recently, she
was not able to receive even her most intimate
friends.

We have received to-day, by telegraph, via
Vienna, diplomatic news from Beyrouth. A Christ-
ian (one account says an English missionary),
having killed, whether designedly or accidentally
does not appear, a Mussulman, the fanatical
population, excited to fury, attacked the houses of
the Foreign Consuls, and killed the Prussian
Consul.

Accounts from Constantinople announce the
raising of the blockade of the Crimea, and the
departure of Sardinian, French, and English
troops. Fraternisation between French and
Russians was going on. At Alexandria there had
been enormous losses in corn transactions, and
bankruptcies were expected. The state of Greece
excited alarm.

PARIS, SATURDAY EVENING.
The M)niteur announces to-day in its boldest
type that in consequence of house rent being
greatly increased in Paris of late, and of the
measures adopted to reduce it not having had the
desired effect, the Emperor has purchased a large
site (upwards of 20,000 yards) in the Boulevard
Mazas, and has determined on building a number
of houses himself, in the cheapest and most com-
fortable manner possible, and on gelling them
afterwards. The object of his Majesty, no doubt,
is to give practical demonstration of the fact that
houses can be built much cheaper and more com-
modiously than at present. But, think of an Em-
peror turning builder ! Why, it is asked, should
he not take to the selling of groceries, or vegeta-
bles? However, an empire on the Bona-
partean line, is but a sort of socialism,
and so it is right that his Majesty should carry
out socialist measures ; besides, it is an admitted
fact, now-a-days, that the French people are
utterly incapable of governing themselves, or of
doing anything at all for themselves ; and so it is
well that their benign and sagacious ruler should
teach them how to build houses. It is doubted,
however, by the far seeing, that the speculation
will turn out profitable, inasmuch as people will
be very unwilling to become tenants of the Im-
perial houses, least they should be subject to the
constant surveillance of the police, It is the fear of
this surveillance which has prevented the workmen
of Paris from accepting the very excellent and very
cheap lodgings of the Cites Ouvrieres, or model
lodging houses.

The investigation into the affair of the publica-
tion of the treaty of peace in Belgian and English
newspapers is proceeding. The government, I hear,
has ascertained that it was a M. Le Jollivet, a
person well known in connection with the French
press, who communicated the treaty to some of
the papers ; and I am told that he has confessed
that he received an incomplete proof of it, from
some one in the national printing office, several
days before he made use of it. _ _

The Constitutionne 1 having, in spite of the pro-
hibition of the government, published in its
departamental edition a protocol of the Congress,
copied from the Russian paper of Brussels, Le
Nord, that edition had yesterday been seized by
the police.

THE TOWN DUES,

SELECT COMMITTEE ON LOCAL

CHARGES ON SHIPPING

(FRO➢i OUR OWN REPORTER.)
HOUSE OF COMMONS, MONDAY.
The committee re-assembled this morning at twelve
o'clock. Mr. Lowe in the chair.
Mr. John Johnson, of the firm of John and Thomas
Johnson, import and export merch ants, of Runcorn and
Liverpool, was the first witness examined. He said he
attended OR behalf of the merchants and inhabitants gene-
rally, who complained of the heavy impost they had to pay
by way of dock dues, at Liverpool, on all grain, &c., coming
from Ireland, and on slates, from Wales. His firm pos-
sessed a coal estate, which produced about 150,000 tons
annually, and a salt mine, producing 50,000 tons annually,
on the carriage of which they had to pay passing tolls to
the Corporation of Liverpool. The dues the firm pa id
amounted to £9OO a year. The dues or tolls levied by the
Liverpool Corporation were laid out to a great extent in
lights and buoys for improving the navigation of the
Mersey, but Liverpool- did not contribute a shilling on the
improvement of the river towards Runcorn. With regard
to local taxes, at Runcorn, the total amount was about X 1,400,
as tfollows :—poor rate, is 9d; highway rate, 6d ; lighting
improvement rate, 6d : watching, 6d ; making together
3s •3d in the pound. The Town Dues would amount
to 10 per cent on the first value of salt imported ; that was
a fnanufactured article ; 6d a ton town dues saved by a
freemen was a very large profit—a larger profit he should
say than the manufacturer made by his manufactured
articles. He was not aware of any considerable competition
they had to encounter from America. The people of Run-
corn felt the dueo levied on articles used in the manufacture
of the Staffordshire Potteries, and the import of grain from
Ireland, of slates, &c., from Wales, and on the export of
coals, the more so as they considered they rt.ceived no
equivalent whatever for the money they paid in
dues. The Town Dues were collected by a collector
appointed by the Corporation of Liverpool, who had
an office at Runcorn. To him the dues were paid. His
name was Jones. He believed Mr. Jones gave a receipt for
all dies collected by him. He could not say that her
Majesty's Collector of Customs, at Runcorn, required to
see those receipts before he allowed vessels to clear out of
that port, but he believed it was so.
. By Mr. Horsfall : On the manufacture of all the salt he
made last year, his profit did not exceed £250.
How much salt did you make ? Witness : About
15,000 tons.
Mr. Moffat : Are you a freeman of Liverpool ? Witness :
Unfortunately, I am not—(laughter)—but many of my
competitors are.
By Mr. Watson : He thought that by purchase he could
now beconie a freeman of Liverpool.
Witness was proceeding to state that some firms, one
member of whom happened to be a freeman, and the others
were not, exported and imported all their goods in the
name of the one who was a freeman, and then divided the
amount of the dues thus saved among the whole firm.
Mr. Horsfall : Can you name any individual firm who
acted thus ?
Witness : I know several firms who do so, and was
prepared to name them if the committee thought fit.
The room was cleared, and when the public were re-
admitted,
The Chairman said the committee had ordered the latter
part of the witness's evidence to be struck out, as not bearing
upon the immediate object of the enquiry.
By Mr. Horsfall : He did not object to pay for lighting
and buoying.

Mr. John Hutchinson was next called. He said that he
belonged to a firm who weze alkali manufacturers at War-
rington, on the opposite side of the river to Runcorn. The
whole of the alkali district made 50,000 tons of
salt, 60,000 tons of barytes, and 60,000 tons
of limestone. These, together, produced about
30,000 tons of soda ash, 4,500 cons of bi-carbonate of soda,
and about 1,500 tons of bleaching powder. The first tax
levied on these articles was £2,500, Weaver Dues upon the
salt consumed—a large proportion of which dues went to
reduce the local rates of Cheshire. The value of the salt
was £20,000, upon which dues were paid. Some service
was rendered for these dues, bat not to half the amount.
The value of barytes consumed was £40,000, and the Town
Dues levied upon. it by the Corporation of Liverpool was
£5OO. The limestone was valued at £12,000, and the Town
Dues upon it were £250, making a total of £750 of dues
levied on the raw material. Four-fifths of the alkali made
was exported, and Town Dues were paid upon them. The
largest market for alkali was America. We pay a tax on
our raw materials, and also on manufactured articles.
There was also a duty of from ten to twenty per cent. levied
in America on manufactured articles. He considered they
had no benefit at all from the Town Dues. They paid
threepence per ton Town Dues, for which they got nothing,
and only twopence per ton Dock Dues, for which they got
very good service. For what alkali was consumed in
Liverpool there were no dues charged. The whole amount
of local and parochial taxation was less than the Town
Dues extorted from them, without giving any benefit in
return. The Newcastle and Clyde manufacturers who
competed with them pay much less for the raw material,
and also less dues.

By Mr. Vance : Our firm pay £2BO for Town Dues.
Our local rates amount to about 2s Gd in the pound.
Mr. William Hayes, merchant and shipowner at Runcorn,
was the next witness. He said the Town Dues and Dock
Dues at Liverpool had to be paid before the entry could be
obtained—that is, a ship was not allowed to pass until those
dues had being paid. There was no assistance rendered by
port officers to collect these dues at Runcorn, all was done by
the Liverpool Corporation: The freemen's property was
exempt from Town Dues. The freemen have to certify that
the property belongs to them, and the collector has no power
to refuse the exemption. He himself paid a total of £1,154
Town Dues last year to the Corporation of Liverpool.
Runcorn got no benefit whatever from Town Dues. Runcorn
would have a much larger trade in various articles
were it not for the dues. Some of the freemen are large
exporters. They have a great advantage over others,
shutting them entirely out. If he was a freeman, and
exported to his own order, he would save about £l,OOO
a year.

By Mr. Headlam : The town of Liverpool had been
greatly benefitted by the Dues; but it was impossible that
Runcorn could be benefitted by them. Neither the docks
nor shipping of Liverpool were improved by the Dues, but
only the town. The trade of Liverpool would have been
much greater, if there were no Dues.
By Mr. Moffat : Many of the large Liverpool firms were
freemen. They had a great advantage over others.
By the Chairman : Did not know how many freemen
there were.

Mr. Frederick Sheppard Hull said he was an attorney,
practising in Liverpool. He appeared on behalf of several
of the leading merchants and shipowners of Liverpool, and
manufacturers of the Valley of the Weaver, and he wished
particularly to draw the attention of the committee to the
burdens on salt.

Mr. Horsfall objected to thl evidence, and the room was
cleared.

The committee remained in deliberation for nearly half
an hour. On the re-admission of strangers,
Mr. Creed (the committee clerk) read a resolution which
the committee had come to, declining to hear the witness,
in his capacity of agent.
The Chairman : You may state anything which you
know of your own knowledge. Can you tell us how the
Weaver Dues are levied ? Witness : They are paid by the
Liverpool merchant, through the captain of the flat, on
board which his salt lies shipped.
The witness then retired.
Mr. William Worthington, a salt proprietor at North-
wich, was then called.

The Chairman : Can your give us any information as
to how the Weaver Dues are collected? Witness: They
are paid at Northwich, about h ill way up the Weaver.
The Chairman : They are not collected at Liverpool ?
Witness : No, at Northwich.
An honourable member objected that the Weaver
Navigation Dues had nothing to do with the enquiry ; at
least it did not come within the order of the reference to
the committee.

The Chairman : Then clear the room.
Strangers withdrew accordingly, and were absent five
minutes.

The Chairman said the committee could not hear the
witness on the Weaver Dues, as they did not come within
the order of referenoe, but they would hear his Sugges-
tions or remarks relative to the port of Liverpool.
Mr. llorsfall : Do you know if the Weaver is within the

boundaries of the poi't of Liverpool? Witness Ido not
know the extent of the boundary.

The room.was cleared to consider this point. On the
re-admission of strangers,

•
The Chairman said the committee will hear Mr. Hull
as to the extent of the boundary.
Mr. Hull was therefore again put into the witness chair,
and he stated that the boundaries of the port of Liverpool
included a mile and a half of the waters of the Weaver.
Mr. Shuttleworth (Town-clerk of Liverpool), was
oalled at the request of Mr. Borstal' to speak to this
point. He stated that the port of Liverpool extended to
Frodsham Bridge, which was a bridge on the Weaver.
Northwich certainly was not within the boundary.
The Chairman : Then we will hear Mr. Worthington on
the other points.
Mr. Borstal' : In that case I must clear the room.
The Chairman : " Strangers must withdraw "—which
they did forthwith, wondering what it was for this time.
On their re-admission,
The Chairman said the committee decided not to go
into the Weaver Dues, not being within their reference.
The committee then adjourned until Thursday next.

LIyERVOOL :ROYAL INFIRMARY.—Week ending April 26,
1856.—Admitted : In-patients, 42 ; out-patients, 5 ;
casuals during week, 10. Discharged : In-patients cured,
14 ; relieved, and at own request, 16 ; made out-patients,
5 ; irregular, 4 ; dead, 2 ; remain in the house, 179.
House visitors : Charles Langton and Lawrence }'eel,
Esqrs. Physician and surgeon for ensuing week : Dr.
Turnbull and Mr. Long. House surgeon : Mr. G. B.
Halford. Junior house surgeon : Mr. Cecil Webster.
Chaplain : Rev. H. J. Garrod, B.A: Robert Hutchison,
treasurer

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—MONDAY,
Their Lordships met at five o'clock.

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE LAWS.
Lord BROUGHAM introduced a bill to remedy the evils
arising from the celebration of marriages between persons
who cross the border for that purpose, and to improve the
conflicting laws of divorce in operation in England and
Scotland.

THE TREATY OF PEACE.
The Earl of CLARENDON laid on the table the Treaty of
Peace, signed by England, France, Austria, Sardinia,
Prussia, Turkey, and 'Russia, and stated that the ratifica-
tions were exchanged yesterday. He presented with the
treaty three separate conventions, and also a declaration
respecting the maritime law, and the course to be pursued
in reference to neutrals during the time of war.

In reply to Lord BflouGua;i,
The Earl of CLARENDON said the object of this was to
do away with privateering.
The protocols were ordered to be taken into considera-
tion on Monday.

POSTAL COMMUNICATION WITH IRELAND.
The Duke of ARGYLL announced, in reply to Lord
Dungannon, that as soon as possible the new arrangeme's
for postal communication between London and Dublin
would be carried into effect. One of the conditions would
be that the passage between the London and Dublin
terminus should not exceed eleven hours, and it was also
required that the train should not leave London later
than 7 25 a.m.

STATE OF ITALY.
Lord LYNDHURST, at the request of the Earl of
Clarendon, agreed to postpone for the present his motion d
with respect to the affairs of Italy. In doing so, he s'he
that he observed with very considerable anxiety,
course that was intended to be pursued, to put an e,e'r
to the mismanagement and intolerant grievances and
which the people of Italy are now labouring.
Their Lordships rose at half-past six o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—MONDAY.
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
PRIVATE BILLg.

•
The Edinburgh Municipality Bill, and the Ulster Bail
way Bill, were read a third time and passed.
IRISH CONSTABULARY.

In reply to Lord CASTLEMORE,
Mr. HOESHAN stated that it was the intention of the
Government, if the business before the House would allow
of it, to introduce a bill in the present session for the
more equitable distribution of the constabulary' of Ireland'
THE PEACE PROTOCOLS,
Lord PAratEnsTorc laid on the table the protocols
kof
the Paris Conferences relative to the Treaty of Peace. T 1
noble Lord added, that the ratifications were exchange,
in the course of yesterday (Sunday), and he moved that
the papers be taken into consideration on Monday next"

GENERE L THANKSGIVING.
The Noble Lord then announced that next Sunday was
appointed as a day of thanksgiving for the restoration of
the blessings of peace.