Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-14 00:00:00

PROVIDENT CARE OF THE POOR

To care for the poor is one of the most: impor-
tant of Christian duties ; and it is one which
cannot fail to secure its own reward, both to the
individual who performs it, and to the whole
community where it occurs. Because to care for
the poor is to do them good ; and in such a
process there is, almost of necessity, a happy re-

action. In a word, it is the exercise of that
mercy which is twice-blessed—
" It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."

The Liverpool Provident Society, which has
just made its annual Report, is one of those means
of manifesting care and concern for the poor
which contribute so materially to mitigate the
evils of their condition. Think of as many as fivq,
thousand poor persons having, during the past
year, been induced to deposit their little savings
for purposes of future urgency, when, but for such
resources in reserve, they would, from their very
destitution, experience so severe an aggravation of
their sufferings,—savings, little, it may be, in
their separate contributions, but yet amounting in
the aggregate to a large sum : those of the year's
operations recently closed having reached, it seems,
the formidable amount of nearly ten thousand
pounds,—" collected through the agency of the
Society," as the Report states, "in small sums, and
for the most part rescued- from the beer-shop, and
applied to useful domestic purposes," and not from
the beer-shop only, it may be taken for granted,
but from that still more mischievous source of pro-
fligacy and misery, the gin-shop. So that here,
at once, is society itself directly benefited by this
caring for the poor, in teaching them provident
habits, and withdrawing them from demoralising
indulgences.

But this, important though it be, is but a frac-
tion of the good that is done by such a proceeding.
It is the direct result ; and it is that which is most
palpable, and most prominent. But the indirect,
the almost unobserved effects of such visits to the
poor are incalculably more beneficial. As one of the
clergy present at the anniversary meeting (Mr.
WRAY) remarked, " he had been enabled, without
any credit to himself, to deposit upwards of £l,OOO
last year, and he could say that the great portion
of that was saved from the gin shops, and other
wasteful ways." Yet this, he went on to show,
was not all ; it was the act of visiting the poor,
of coming into personal and kindly intercourse
with them, that was the greatest good of all,—a
means of reaching them in their generally too
isolated condition which, as the reverend gentleman
well observed, might tend to solve one of the
great social problems of the day And he referred,
in confirmation of this, to some remarks of Lord
BROUGHAM, not long since, in which his lordship
had adduced, as an instance of the great impor-
tance of visiting the poor, the good that was done
by the Sisters of Charity, in France and elsewhere,
whose charitable work was found to be a most
powerful means of social reformation —practically
forwarding and fulfilling, as was further admitted,
the great objects of social science,—for, as it was
at the same time stated, it was found " that unless
they could come in contact with the souls of their
fellow creatures, they could do little good,"—a
remarkable admission, as Mr. WRAY observed,
"on the part of such a philosopher as Lord
BROUGHAM."

But this Provident Society does not send out its
visitors empty-handed. They go forth on their
mission- of mercy prepared to afford pritetioal 'and,
immediate relief to the poor, wherever it is needed.
And they do so, remembering the argument of th

postle,—" If a brother or, sister be naked, all-
Aes'
titute of daily food, and one of you say unto they'
depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled' 11:g;
withstanding ye give them not those things t';,l
are needful to the body, what doth it profitt
What, indeed ! Well, during the past Yea'r'
appears, they have actually administered 5791
relief at, different times to no less than
families, consisting of, on an average, four in
vidua7s in each. But to do this they require ic°,
siderable funds. And their funds, it is
find, are now in a very low state. Our w°ait
Mayor, therefore, who did himself so much ereo,
by kindly presiding at the Society's annicers
called upon the Press to publish this
ul)
f'l,;
that it might have its due effect
the town ; for, as he truly said, :,4

excellent Institution ought not to lag
ofe
hind for want of sufficient means." l're

thus, therefore, done our humble part. Let
hope that the MaYor'S appeal to his fellow-t°,
men will not be in vain.

THE AMERICAN MAIL.—At the hour of our g°7},gi
press nothing had been heard of the steamer Pl' ,
from New York, with the • American mails of the 0
inst., but it is expected she will enter the Morselb i 0
early hour this morning, and if so, we shall Pu
summary of her news in a second edition. AA

THE BOMBAY. MAIL—SOUTRA:InVIOIST, SATURDAY i
t
Orissa, Captain Joy, with the heavy portion

Bombay mails, arrived at eight o'clock.. She briilPo3

passengers, 4 packages of specie (value uukuovill),'
the following cargo :-996 bales of silk, 63 bales 01
997 boxes of oranges, 90 cases of shawls, 1 Case
horse teeth, 1 case of fish tusks, 5 cases of vermin.°
150 packages of sundries. Dates : Alexandria, ;a",

Malta, Jan. 31 ; and Gibraltar, Feb. 5. All epic
just been promulgated in Tangiers fixing the _i
figures five franc piece at 24 okheats, instead ofl9.
a source of sore grievance has been removed.
on Gibraltar, 90 days', 508 to 504.

-A Mil

DOCK ACCOMMODATION AT LIVERPOOL
the House of Commons, of which the followil
substance, will be placed in the Exchange -Sell
to-day :—" The trade of this port hath, for sever('
past, been greatly inconvenienced by reason of i 0
dock accommodation on the Lancashire side
Mersey. That, from the' vast increase in the tri;-;
population of the districts drawing their sIIPP'I,
cotton, wool, and other produce through Livorito
exporting their manufactures through the same C
there is every reason to expect an immediate end tui
demand for yet more docks in Liverpool ; that , r
_demand the. Mersey Docks and Harbour Board aff,

hibited from making any adequate provision ;3;
Mersey Docks and Harbour Act of 1858, svher,e
are restrained,from borrowing funds for exPellw
Liverpool without the permission of your 11'
House ; that to remedy, in some d(

gree, the el

and injustice of such piohibition, which is Ca.cal,
injure most seriously the interests of your Pcl
and the trade of the country at large, a bill bat;;
introduced into *your honourable House to CO
said Mersey Docks and Harbour Board to boll
sum of £300,000, to be expended in the comPle.,iti

construction of such dock works as are mos

required. Your petitioners, therefore, earnes`
your honourable House that the said bill nlaY be
with passed into a law."

LOCAL INTELLIGENC

Richard Cobden, Esq. was among the passersg
sailed from this port on Saturday, in the steamer
for Boston.

The Hon. William Ewart Gladstone, was on
re-elected a Member of Parliament, for the, Viti
of Oxford, without opposition.
The treasurer of the Liverpool Industria
Schools begs to acknowledge the receipt of 12
him by G. A. BlTenzie, Esq., being a portion
surplus fund raised on the occasion of thc
Centenary Celebration

FRAUDS UPON EMIGRANTS.—The New .1.1.,}101,,,
missioners of Emigration have been investiPtui,l''o:-c.
cases of fraud upon emigrants, by Liverpool 11,42,0,0 c;
Inland Brokers. The last case was that 01 tirebtei
senders in the ship Dreadnought, who had P ,04
tickets of a Liverpool broker, for passage fr°lfe)
York to Toronto. The tickets were spurioug,,,,sll,t
in possession of the name of the broker who f
committed the fraud. f 0

VACANCIES, APPOINTMENTS, AND Pi:Logos,-,N5
se,
CIVIL SERVICE.-CUStOMS : There will shortly lf4;
vacancies in the Custom-house for junior c,ler
mencing salary, £75 and £BO per annum. :ut.ool'fi
Gibson has been promoted from third to se:„ 10)",
landing surveyor. Mr. W. Every from first-ch':',.ett
waiter to be third-class landing surveyor at f,(f Ao
Mr. J. T. Barton, from second to first-class lag
at Liverpool.

ACCIDENTS. —Several serious accidents 00;01
Saturday, the following being the more Peet,
Thomas Thomas Whittal, a carter, residing in Sun-s,toa, "
teth-park, was engaged in unloading some e°"
,t 1 (13i
the rope round the waggon caught him UP A 0 111
him on the ground. lite sustained a severe se'"?
also a dislocation of the shoulder, and several c°
Elias Hughes, also a carter, residing in Croston'
ceived several severe contusions on the nee_
in consequence of a sack of corn falling ulf
Pothouse-lane. William Jones, of Gay-stree4„,,le
road, a labourer, and for some time a etrjrci d,obliged to. walk about on crutches, was knono oc
a cab in Scotland-road, and received a severe eboa
of the right leg. Henry Kelly, a seaman, Ide
steamer Foyle, lying in the Sandon-dock, fe`mat
hold of the vessel, and received several severer; rel
about the head and neck. The above cases wiln-ts
at the Northern-hospital, where all the Par'e-
present lying.
CORONER'S COURT.—The Cbroner held theros
inquests on Saturday. On the body of Ann reets
nor, three years of age, who lived with her 133,0011
court off, Blenheim-street. It appeared thst:„e
ago, the child was scalded by the fall of IT, she
'water upon her body, from the effects of whit ~gd
Verdict accordingly. On the body of Sanin°l: IY-/
the captain of the schooner Catherine Rossc,; big
ceased was 37 years of age, and, while gett'lcl beo
into the Harrington-dock, his hand was Jarn—rf
the ship and the dock wall. It was-found necese,,%b he
tate the injured member, from the effects of wul roe%
A verdict in accordance with the facts wag re t: 101;f
the body of Patrick Brown, aged 48 years
the Lime-street Railway station, who was ''"„estv-41
wheels of a carriage passing over him. It
,3;12;
the deceased, with some others, were Po',3"„'Zi "dif!
from one place to another, when, from his,"„e croi
caution, he was knocked down by one of rntsl_,"oo
and killed on the spot. Verdict, "Anciuc,.-priles
On the body of James Snowdon, who was 73 ae the
the borough gaol. He had been committed the too
January, in default of finding bail to ke,eP,t ifets,Bo
He died suddenly on Friday morning, a.nuat:t
that death was caused by disease of the ne" * 0
" Death from natural causes." Toptes9o
SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST A CHESHIRE Astrs. ete
—On Saturday afternoon, the Wallasey gin
engaged
for nearly two hours, in investigliPor4oo
of assault with intent to commit a rape, by t Ses''llj
grocer and flour dealer, who has a sh°P„,,,Avilel'i $ s
It would appear that one Mary Ann ',ea° bl'
handsome looking young woman, in the ser'ilt on' of t/0
residing in the township of Wallasey, W 3-5 Se
SWilf
mistress for a loaf. The girl went to there he 4
prisoner, to execute a commission entruste.",u her, did
going into the shop Hill began larking w," She bat,t)l4
her, and pntting his arm round her wais',ities, psolt,r
as given in evidence, resist these familiar' itto
beck „or bel
prisoner proceeding further she t oPr
and almost fainted. He took til°,39e
of her state, and committed a gross on`We cot-,
amounting to an attempt to commit rape. an' `7'
of the girl was not shaken, but it would sicalPj
and Hill had been on terms of friendsbiP'dnn
with one another with their arms elasP„ether
other's waists, and indulging in s' 1, Oits
recreations. Mr. Bluck, of LiverPO„d dater
for the prisoner, but, as the magistrates Idiez`fenae•
to commit for trial, lie reserved his trial v,
prisoner was accordingly commtted 11°,0 ifee;,
Knutsford sessions, which open on Taest..,;ties
being accepted for his appcarance—two sure
moll, and himself iu the sum of £lOO.

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