The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-26 00:00:00

ble, the average age attained in these 329 cases, was only
thirteen years and nine months. The institution being
situated in so busy a part of Liverpool, the surgical practice
is of necessity very considerable. This has of late attracted
attention, in connection with the cases of fracture and dislo-
cation, which are so frequently brought to the Dispensary.
Within the last six months 96 cases of this kind have been
received at the establishment, and subsequently attended at
their own homes, giving rise to corresponding expenditure in
splints, bandages, straps; and other surgical materials

. .
required for injuries of the bones and joints. The cases
of rupture, one of the most serious maladies to which the
labouring class, but more particularly hardworking men,
are liable, have been very numerous. The trusses given
to 65 patients of this class would have been a source of
considerable expense • to the institution, - had it not been
defrayed by private contributions. The cases of stone in
.the bladder have gradually increased more and more
during the last seven years. A. number of patients of this
class, after recovery from the operation, were last year pre-
sented to the committee. Others might now be added.
The number of cases of this kind, which have lately been
brought to the institution, make the formation of a small
hospital in connection with it, more than ever desirable.
Cases of disease of the skin,.more especially treated by one
of the medical officers of the institution, have gradually
increased during the last five years, and now form one
important branch of its practice.. -In the eye and ear de-
partment 2,085 patients have been treated during the past
year ; of these, 78 were cases of cataract, a disease well
known to be so fatal to vision. The importance of the
institution, in connection with this disease, is more espe-
cially noticed in the summer months, when many patients
from distant places in England, Wales, and Ireland, as
well as those of the town and neighbourhood, seek relief
at this charity. The committee have to regret the loss
durine the past year of a valued friend to the institution,
the Venerable Archdeacon Brooks, whose name is connected
with the origin, and whose beneficence was constantly
associated with the progress of this important charity. The
duties of the house surgeon have gradually became more
and more arduous, and their amount is now so great, that
any one officer is no longer equal to the task; so that it is
found requisite, henceforth, if possible, to provide an
assistant house s urgeon, which will of necessity lead to an
additional outlay, to meet which a corresponding increase
in the annual income will be required. As the usefulness
of every institution of this nature must be measured, in
one point of view, by its pecuniary resources, the com-
mittee would recommend to their successors a continuance
of the rigorous economy to which they have constantly
adhered, as well as a systematic plan for increasing the
number of the supporters of this charity, by that personal
exertion which they have felt it their duty at all times to
make in its favour.

The treasurer's account showed that the expenditure of
the year had been £499 17s Id, and the balance against the
institution had been reduced from £59 53, last year, to £t 1
14s 10d this year.

INSOLVENT DEBTOR'S COURT, JAN. 23.—1 n the matter of
Frederick Johnston. This insolvent, who applied to be
discharged from prison, was opposed by Mr. Dowse for
Mrs. Lydia Howard, and supported by Mr. Reed. The
complaint was a concealment or making away of pro-
perty. In about six months of the insolvent going to
prison he had received nearly 8001., and had, he alleged,
got rid of it, spending a good deal at hotels. He was
foreman to an upholsterer, and the opposing creditor was
the widow and executrix of her late husband, who had
kept for a number of years the robing room at West-
minster Hall. He had borrowed money of the late Mr.
Howard, and the opposing creditor sued the insolvent and
issued a writ of capias, on which he was arrested. The
Chief Commissioner declared that he had never known so
bad a case in so small a compass, and pronounced judg-
ment of three years from the vesting order made on the
sth July last. The insolvent had during his examination,
treated the matter with perfect indifference. The longest
period is seldom given by the court.
DEATH FROM JOY.—A sad and affecting instance of sud-
den death occurred at Lowestoft on Tuesday night. Mr.
John Burgess, shoemaker, of this town, and formerly of
Southtown, was expecting his son home from the Crimea,
after an absence of between three and four years. He had,
we believe, been disappointed in meeting him two or three
nights, and on Tuesday was again on his way down to the
station -to meet the 10 p.m. train. It appears that the train
had arrived, and when against the C, ewn Tree,l. the son on
his way up met his lather, but neither appeared fully to
recognise each The son walked on, and the father
overtook him, looked at him, and passed ahead of him, not
even then, it appears, identifying his son, mill the other said,
" Hold hard, father, don't be in a hurry ;" when he stopped
and said, " Good God ! is that you, John ?" They walked
on together, when the son went into Waters' beershop, and
wished his father to go forward and break the news of his
arrival to his mother. Observing that he looked pale
and excited, the son would have him take something,
but he did not, and proceeded to inform his wife of
the arrival of their son, intending to go back to the son
and again return home. The son landing he did not come,
feared his mother had been upset, went home and found
his poor father a corpse on the floor, who, on returning,
had opened the door, and exclaimed, " Good Grid ! Maria,
John ," and fell down dead before finishing the
sentence. Mr. Burgess was in his 50th year, and much
respected in his native town.—Bury Post.
THE STORY OF THE WESTMINSTER IMPROVEMENT COM-
mrssioN.—Ten years back a corporate body called the
" Westminster Improvement Commission" was created
by Act of Parliament. Its object was the construction
of Victoria-street, to form a communication between
the neighbourhood of the Houses of Parliament and
Buckingham Palace, and it was endowed with advan-
tages which gave it much of the character of a govern.
went undertaking. These appear to have comprised an
unrestricted power of borrowing money, coupled with
grants, out of the London Bridge Approaches Fund and
the improved rates of the parishes in Westminster:
From 1845, when their Act was passed, until a year or
two back, little was publicly heard of their proceedings.
At length it was found that the commissioners had
been issuing bonds to builders and others to an enor-
mous extent, that these bonds were daily becoming adver-
tised by various holders for sale upon almost any
terms, and, finally, in January, 1855, that the com-
mission had become totally insolvent. Besides the
means thus raised, the commissioners are alleged to
have mortgaged the freehold property of the undertak-
ing for £271,500. This property has lately been valued,
and is stated to be worth but £167,200. Hence there
is not enough to cover the mortgages, and consequently
at present not a farthing for the bondholders. It seems,
however, to be considered that about .C 140,000 of these
mortgages would probably be ignored in a Court of
Equity, and also that, as two-thirds of the ground are
still unbuilt upon, the whole would come into greater
value if the street were completed. It likewise appears
that under the Act the builders on the estate have power
to redeem their houses by paving off their debts either
in money or bonds, and the bonds, therefore, may con-
tinue in some demand for that purpose. At present, it
is understood, they are selling at the rate of about £8
per £lOO, and, as owing to the activity with which they
have been spread among the public by agents who were
offered a large per centage for recommending them,
they are held to a very considerable extent by profes-
sional persons, clergymen, widows, and others ; the ruin
that has ensued is not only analagous to that caused by
the case of Strahan and Paul, but far more severe, since
the amount involved is £1,000,000 instead of £780,000,
and the prospect of recovery only 8 per cent., instead of,
as in the latter case, 4s. in the pound, or 20 per cent.
It does not appear, however, that any serious conse-
quences are likely to fall upon the commissioners or
their connexions, beyond the trouble of resisting in their
cc porate capacity a Chancery suit, the costs and delays
of which already promise to add heavily to the losses of
those individual bondholders who have had the public
spirit to risk the penalties of such a contest.