The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-31 00:00:00

THE DEFICIENT HARVEST IN FRANCE.

We read in the Mon iteur,—
"As soon as the insufficiency of the last harvest became
known, the administration of the city of Paris occupied itself
with the means of providing for the exigencies of the situa-
tion. Was it to have recourse to bread tickets as in 1847,
and on previous occasions under similar circumstances ?
In 1847 this measure cost more than 9,000,000 f. to the
city of Paris. Without counting the exnense, the adminis-
tration ascertained that grave and numerous abuses arose
from the difficulty of control in a population of 1,000,000.
Many persons whose position did not justify them in having
recourse to the munificence of the city, procured tickets,
while other really necessitous, but resrained by a sentiment
easily understood, dared not ask for any. The fear of
seeing these abuses renewed caused the municipal adminis-
tration to adopt another system. The price of bread has
been paid at a rate which does not exceed the re,souces
of the labouring classes • and, as all will be called on to
compensate gradually the advances which the measure
renders necessary, it has been extended to all without
distinction, so that no person has, in any respect, the right
to complain. However,. the bakers who sell bread at less than
it costs them must be indemnified for the loss they sustain.
Hitherto, the municipal treasury alone has been charged with
that ; but such a state of things cannot be prolonged without
inconvenience to the finances of the city, and to the services
in view of which they have been calculated. It has accord-
ingly been found necessary either to provide means for pay-
ing an expense which could not enter into the estimates of
the budget, or to interrupt the great works which the city
has so wisely undertaken in order to restore manufactures,
arts, commerce, and labour. As for the resources of the
State, they belong to all France ; it would not have been
just to cause all to contribute to the exclusive advantage of
a few. To avoid this difficulty, the municipal administra-
tion has had recourse to a system of compensation which
satisfies all the conditions of justice and economy. It is to
regularise this system that the Caisse de Service de la Bou-
langerie has been instituted. This will be the intermediary
between the bakers and the town. By means of special ac-
counts, it will pay every fortnight to the bakers of Paris
the difference between the price of 80c., the present rate of
the loaf of two kilogrammes, and the price established by
the market lists. At a later period, when abundance
shall have returned, the Caisse will be reimbursed for its
advances, by levying on the public, by the instrumentality
of the bakers, a slight difference between the selling price
and the cost price. By this arrangement not only will the
bakers be exactly and immediately paid for their advances,
but the municipal treasury will be relieved from a charge
which weighed exclusively on it. Nor are those the sole
advantages of the new institution. The flour which the
bakers were obliged to have in deposit in the stores was,
so to speak, an unproductive investment. It will hence-
forth cease to be the basis of their credit at the Caisse, arid,
consequently, of their independence. Certain to find there,
at moderate rates, the money which they require for their
business, they can lower the price of bread for the advan-
tage of the consumer. On the other hand, while leaving
to each baker the right of obtaining his supplies as he
pleases, the decree obliges him to declare the amount and
the price of his purchases, and thereby affords the authori-
ties new means of assuring themselves of the sincerity of
the market quotations. Placed under the surveillance of
the Prefect of the Seine, guranteed by the city of Paris,
and by the depots of flour, of which the value amounts to
several millions, the Caisse de la Boulangerie will easily
procure the sums necessary for its operations ; it can even,
at a later period, form a reserve fund destined to provide
for necessities similar to those which have caused it to be
established. After having enjoyed a notable reduction in
the price of bread, the population cannot complain at being
obliged to reimburse the advances made to it, by paying a
slight addition when the price of corn shall have consider-
ably fallen. Thus limited, this measure, which is both
practical and simple,
.provides for all the necessities of the
situation ; it maintains good order in the finances of the
city; it permits it to continue the great works which,
with the resources of charity, are the sole •efficacious relief
for a necessitous population in difficult times. The resolution
taken by the municipal administration of Paris is, then,
dictated at the same time by prudence and foresight.
Other municipalities, which may find themselves in a simi-
lar situation, can employ the same system. In towns in
which the population is less dense, and in w-hich the re-
sources of each person are more easily known, bread tickets
could, without causing the same inconvenience as at Paris,
be employed. The government can only applaud all the
measures which have for their object the alleviation of suf-
fering; what it in particular desires is, to behold the re-
sources of employment increasing, because that is the most
efficient means of preventing distress. Such is the object
of the decrees which have recently accorded 4,000,000 f. as
subventions to useful works, principally in the rural com-
munes. The circumstances which we R 7,1" C:.73:::,,,"' Er'r^"",
'are diffletett,•but^they ought not cause any &ftfloss.„
If prices are still high, the ascensional movement appears
to bo stopping. The severity of the season has permitted
the farmers to thrash their corn, and to carry it to market ;
in that they have acted wisely. The arrivals from foreign
countries to the ports of our two seas continue with abun-
dance and regularity. The Afoniteur of Nov. 17th announced
that the quantity received amounted at that period to
3,600,000 hectolitres ; at present they exceed 6,200,000
hectolitres. Iu comparing the present situation with the
crisis of 1846-7, the following results are arrived at :—To
the end of January, 1847, the sliding case was acted on,
and, in consequence, during the last five months of 1846
only 2,380,946 hectolitres of foreign corn had entered ;
whereas this year in the corresponding. five months, nearly
double the quantity arrived. The arrivals which are still
going on will not allow any return to the elevated prices
which were seen in February, March, April, and May of
1847, and which far exceeded those of the present day.
The government will thus reap the bexefit of its active fore-
sight, and of the security and liberty which it accords to
commercial transactions."

THE BELFAST STEAM-SHIP COMPANY 'VERSUS
28-B CORK STEAM SHIP COMPANY.

It is with great regret we learn that a difference has
arisen between these two respectable and enterprising steam
companies. The contest in which they are engaged would
appear to have resulted from the aggressive conduct of the
Cork company, and it is desirable that the facts of the case
should be laid before the public.

It will be in the recollection of oar readers that, in the
early part of last year the defective state of our
steam-carrying trade with Liverpool (at that time in the
hands of the Cork company and our townsmen, Messrs.
Lingtrys and C 0.,) was brought under the consideration of
our chamber of commerce by Mr. John Mulholland. That
'gentleman contended that the growing importance of oar
town, and our increasing relations with Liverpool, demanded
a daily sailing from either port—that the companies then
in possession of the line were unable or unwilling to
provide the requisite accommodation, it having frequently
happened ;that only one or two departures, and those of
an inferior class of vessels, had taken place in the week ;
and he strongly urged the formation of a local com-
panv, of adequate capital, to provide the additional ac-
commodation demanded by the trade. This public notice
subsequently led to the formation of the Belfast steam-ship
company, consisting of upwards of one hundred and twenty
of the most wealthy and enterprising of the merchants,
manufacturers, linen bleachers, and shopkeepers, of this
town and neighbourhood, and a first-class steamer was
forthwith contracted for. During the progress of- its fur -
mation, Mr. Pike, the managing director of the Cork
company, obtained an interview with some of the directors
of the new company, and voluntarily stated that he consi-
dered the Belfast people should supply additional steam
accommodation with Liverpool, if they considered it ne-
cessary ; and that he would not act with hostility against
the now company ; but, on the contrary, would carry on
the trade in an amicable spirit. When the Belfast com-
pany's new steamer, Telegraph: (confessedly the finest and
fastest channel steamer afloat) took up her station, her
owners adopted the scale of freights and passage-money
' previously charged on the line. The railings took place on
the unoccupied days :of the week, although unfavourable
for obtaining a fair share of the traffic ; and, in other
respects, .the new company- adopted a line-of policy which
showed an anxiety to reciprocate the friendly feelings professed
by the Cork company. For a few months all went on har-
moniously and satisfactorily; when, without any intimation
being given to the owners of the Telegraph, the Cork com-
pany suddenly dropped their freights and passage-money to
r rates of a.ruinous character. Against this proceeding the
owners of the Telegraph remonstrated, at the same time as-
suring the Cork company that the Belfast people did not
want exclusive possession of the line, their aim being to fur-
nish, at their own expense, the additional steam accommo-
dation which ,they conceived their trade required ; and they
made a proposition that the three companies should agree to
adopt a stale of moderate; but remunerative. charges, which
proposal was not acceded to. • Thin amicable proposition was
formally repeated to the Cork company, with an intimation
that, if' declined, the Belfast company would necessarily be
compelled in self-defence to adopt retaliatory measures on
one or more of the steam lines occupied by their rivals; but
no notice was • taken of this further communication. All
attempts to bring about a satisfactory arrangement having '
failed, the Belfast company have considered it their duty to
purchase the fine steamer Sea Nymph, to enable them to
carry out their intentions ; and the Telegraph is advertised
to sail from Liverpool to Cork, on Tuesday next. The pur-
chase of this additional steamer so promptly entered on will,
perhaps, convince the Cork company that they have under-
estimated the power and spirit of their Belfast rivals.—Nor-
them Whig.

WRECK YESTERDAY.—A schooner capsised on West
Hoyle Bank yesterday morning, and there is reason to sup-
pose all hands are drowned.