The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-23 00:00:00

by our esteemed northern friends but by hundreds who
admire all sorts of good living, are dail
highest perfection, and

1 up in th

-E7 • 1.,-,AV F. 0.101%; 11,1/1/
the gentlemen who so extensively patronise these houses.
Having said so much, there is one word more—in reference
to the "game pies'' of Mr. Wilkie, of Harrington-street;
and we believe, from the report of the best judges in these
matters, that the pies will be found (as we know they
will) the most admired and recherche things in that
peculiar line in Liverpool. For the present, we must take
our leave of the points we have been on, but not of the
festivities and other matters ; but our readers and the
public will permit us to say, and with all sincerity,

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS

LITT ERPOOT, PROTECTIVE BUR I A SOCIETI

PUBLIC MEETING YESIEBDAI

A public meeting was lie

1 in St. George's llall

for !he workinr; classes, to be called the Liverpool Pro-
tective Burial Society, under the superintendence of a
guardian committee, to be composed of some of the
leading merchants and gentlemen of the town. Owing
to the hour at which the meeting was held, twelve
o'clock noon, being inconvenient for the working
classes, there was a very small attendance. Only a few
of the seats immediately unr!er the platform were
occupied, the rest of the_hall being compLtely empty.

On the motion of Mr. Woodruff, -the chair was taken
by Mr. Frederick S. Hull.

The Chairman proceeded to explain the object of the
meeting. He said he had requested the Town Council
to grant the use of the hall for that occasion, and the
request having been complied with, advertisements were
issued calling the meeting for eight o'clock in the
evening, that being the most convenient hour fur the
working classes. But in so doing the promoters
of the meeting were not aware that they
were contravening a rule of the council for the
regulation of the building, that no public meet-
ing should be held there commencing later than
one o'clock in the day. It was only on Saturday morning
that the gentlemen organising the meeting found them-
selves under an obligation to change the hour. Either
from deficient instructions, nr front the ignorance of
the posters themselves, there were now standing on the
walls, notices for two meetings, the first for a meeting
to be heid at eight o'clock in the evening, and then a
notice for a meeting to 131 hell at twelve o'clock in the
day, which came after. He did not know whether the
posters wished persons to attend twice, or were anxious
to give persons an opportunity of selecting which they
would attend. However, he need scarcely inform his
hearers that theri was to be but the one meeting. Not
only was the hour for the meeting inconvenient fir the
working classes, but, unfortunately, it was very incon-
venient to many gentlemen who wished to attend ;
among the rest, the Mayor, Mr. Robertson Gladstone,
and Mr. J. R. Jeffery. The Chairman here read the
following letters of apology:—

Town-hall, 22nd December.
My Dear Sir,--I will be with you in good wishes to day
though I cannot attend in person.—Faithfully
F, Hull, &ti

'ours,
F. SHAND

Union Court, 16th Dec. 1856

My dear Sir,—l shall be glad to do any thing in my power
to aid the cause you have kindly undertaken ; but my hands
are so full of one kind of business and another, that I could
not take the chair at the public meeting; so you must bo so
good as excuse me.—Yours very truly,
Frcdk. S. Hull, Esq. ROBERTSON GLADSTONE.

22nd Dec., 1856.
My Dear Sir,—l regret exceedingly it will not be in my
power to attend the meeting at twelve to day, for promoting so
desirable an object as the Protective Burial Society appears to
contemplate, as I have to attend the Birkenhead Dock Com-
mittee of the Council at 11.30. Most cheerfully do I wish
you success, as there can be no doubt that such associations
must be productive of considerable good to our working classes.
—Sincerely yours, JAS. R. JEFFERY.
F. S. Hull, Esq:
The Chairman said, he believed that most of the gen-
tlemen who wished to attend, were prevented from the
same cause ; some committee meeting of the council.
He should now, although the meeting was not very nume-
rous, endeavour, as briefly as he could, to bring before
them the objects for which they had been called together.
They would observe, from the words of the advertise-
ment, (which the chairman read), that the object pro-
posed principally was a very important one, although
probably it was not one which would invite much
discussion. He would not enlarge upon the general
objects of friendly societies. They all knew that these
were societies which had originated from time to time
among the people themselves. They were not societies
which had been pressed upon them by any Government,
or by any set of legislators. They had always sprung
spontaneously from the people themselves. The nearest
approach they had to these friendly societies were the
parish boards. These boards had, however, emanated
from the legislature, and from time to time been kept
up and improved by it, and their object was to tax the
rich for the support of the poor. But the friendly
societies were vo!untary organizations, formed among
the middle and working classes by themselves, in order
that they might avoid coining for relief upon the public
funds, and might maintain that spirit of independence
to which such such societies owed their crigin. The