Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-10-22 00:00:00

PUBLIC MEETING ON CHURCH RATES.

Last night apublie meet ince on the question of Church
Rates was held in St, Paul's Church school-room, Tox,
teth-park, for the purpose of taking into t.onsideration
the Bill now before Parliament for the abolition of
chUrch rates.
The Rev. Dr. M‘NErin, incumbent of St. Paul's, pre-
sided ; and amongst those present were the Revs. Dr.
Hume, J. Bardsley, and other gentlemen.
The proceedings were opened by an impressive prayer,
appropriate to the object of the meeting, which was
offered up by the rev. chairman.
The CiikinuliN then came forward, and stated that
the buildings which composed the fabric of the Church
were, like all other buildings, liable to the influence of
time, and subject to decay. There was no reason why
any of the churches should be exempt from . decay, in
any greater degree than their own houses. They knew
very well, in their own in', ividual cases, that their houses
required constant repairs, and if these repairs were
taken in time, a comparatively small sum would
be necessary, whereas if it were delayed a large
sum would be obligatory. (Hear, hear.) It seemed
to that their forefathers, in connection with
the established religion of :,this country, were far-
seeing and excellent men, when they sanctioned
the principle that, in anticipation of the fabric of the
churches in the country 'being in danger, a certain
charge on the property of tl7e country should be levied
for the purpose of keeping those edifices in repair. Up
to the present time, thousands and tens of thousands of
our churches had been kept in repair by this small
charge on the property of the country ; and until a com-
paratively recent period, the justice of it had never been
disputed. They all knew that there was a large body
of people in this country connected with those who
were knoWn as Dissenters, and not members of the
Established Church. Included in this body there were
those whom, he believed, upon conscientious grounds,
would not oppose themselves to the principle of
church rates; but there were also others amongst them
who were resolutely determined to set themselves in
opposition to it. Athonze;st these was a society in
London, called the Church Liberation Society,—a
society, he presumed, formed to keep the Church in
tontrol; and one of the aims of this society was to
put an end to ' this charge upon property, one
of the principal objects of which was to keep the fabric
of the Church in repair. Their argument was, "we
have no right whatever to do it. We are not called
upon to do it." Well, supposing that he was addressing
Dissenters in that room who wished to purchase pro-
perty which, irrespective of the charge of church rates,
was worth £5OO. But there was a small charge upon
that property, the interest of which, at four per cent.,
amounted to £5O in principal. Well, in consideration
of this, the value of this proerty, it was agreed, was
reduced to £450, and under these circumstances
he purchases the property for £450, and in so doing he
makes himself hat le to the annual charge of the amount,
which, in church rates, reduces it to a value in principal
of £450, This party gets possession of this property
upon these terms, and for a number of years he pays,
accordingly, the church rates , subject to which he pur-
chased the property. Was it not, under these circum-
stances, obviously unjust for that party to seek to
rid himself of the liability because in after years
a number of agitators sought to abolish that
charge under which he knew he had obtained
the property at a lower rate than lie otherwise would
have been enabled to do ? The rev. doctor next adverted
to the conscientious part of the question on the part of
those who objected to the church-rates, and endeavoured
to show, from a number of instances which he adduced,
that the objections of Dissenters to pay church-rates
were unfounded, both in a religious and secular point
of view. After some further remarks, the rev. chairman
called upon Mr. Hume.
The Rev, Dr. HuME next addressed the meeting, and
in the course of an eloquent speech, showed, by the sta-
tistical tables which he adduced, that it would be detri-
mental to the interests of the Church of England, and
of the education of the working classes, if church-rates
were unconditionally abolished.,
The ReV. JAMES BARDSLEY, incumbent of St. Silas's,
next came forward and addressed the meeting. He con-
tended that, inasmuch as the Dissenters consisted of not
more than one-tenth of those who paid church rates, it
Was obviously unfair on'the part of the dissenting body
to agitate the entire abolition of church rates, when
nine-tenths of those who paid them were members of the
Church, and who, on principle, were, willing.to continue
to pay them.
The Rev. Dr. Huaiu submitted a memorial to the
effect that, inasmuch as a bill for the abolition of church
rates was before the House during the last cession tf Par-
' liament, it was undesirable that such bill should become
law without provision being made for some compensa-
tion to the Church for the abrogation of church rates.
The motion having been seconded, was carried unani-
mously; anti, after sonic other addresses from the chair-
man and other gentlemen, the proceedings terminated.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

The annual meeting of the Birkenhead branch of the
above society was held last night in the Argyle-rooms.
The Rev. A. Knox occupied the chair, and there were
also present on the platform the Rev. S. 11. Booth,
Mann, Lundy, Simpson, Linton, &c. There was a very
numerous attendance of the friends of the society, the
large room in which they were assembled being com-
pletely full.
After prayer had been offered up on behalf of the
society,
The CHAIRMAN opened the proceedings by remarking
that it was with great pleasure he met them once more
on this deeply interesting occasion—the annual meeting
of their branch association. They had met together for
the noblest purpose in existence, that of promoting the
circulation of God's Word through the uttermost parts of
the earth. Ile would repeat, their object was anoble one
for other reasons,—there was a machinery connected with
the society which showed in an unmistakeable manner
the great success which, by God's help, had attended
the efforts of the society. He would not enter upon the
particulars of the society's operations, as there were
several gentlemen present who would speak on that
subject; and it was the duty of a chairman, above all
things, not to make a speech. He had no doubt it would
be interesting to them to know what the society had
been doing during the last twelve months in and around
their litee world of Birkenhead. Their population was
a very large and a rapidly-rising one; but Birkenhead,
like many other rising places, found itself the habitation
of a people coming from ungodly places, and therefore
without the fear of God in their hearts; among these
people it was necessary the Bible should be circulated,
and this was one of the principal objects of the society.
But its sphere was not confined to Birkenhead ; it was
eminently a missionary society, as it extended its opera-
tions
to foreign counesntsgihtattiretniwte:h 1
nsa
the humbler
s they being blessed so far with
the greatest success. lie concluded by calling upon
Mr. Simpson for the annual report.
Mr. SIMPSON then proceeded with his report, which
showed that the free contributions during the past year
amounted to £147 Os. ld. ; payment for bills, &c.,
£49 ls. ld, which was an increase of £l6 16s. Id. over
leaving the result in the hmaienhialtisuomarnimnooobsdffalteGteaiirnhbootrnedcroe.
the preceding year. The remainder of the report was
also very satisfactory, and it was received with evident
marks of approbation by the audience. At its close,
The Rev. Mr. LINTON rose to move the first resolu-
tion, namely, that the report just read be adopted by
this meeting. In a lengthy speech he advocated the
claims of the society, at the same time calling attention
to the wonderful success with which God had blessed
their efforts. But, he added, even supposing the Bible
Society was ignorant of these successes, it would not
detract from the necessity of their continued labour,
inasmuch as it was their duty to work as instruments,
I a:
introducing
relative teniouvgfec
Speakingtuthhmt oee s
Bta I
ritnbihscol
heeef
The resolution having been seconded, was unanimously
adopted. '
Mr. SWALLOW next addressed the meeting, and fur-
nishedloiaet
fruitstho
revivals,
efys
extensivelyto
people. hmheaei rdli eei
beenanffs tldt•
Brief addresses were then delivered by the other gen-
tlemen present, and the proceedings closed with prayer.

Count Della Minerva, ex-charge d'affaires of Sardinia
at Rome, has arrived at Tarin. M. Della Croce, secre-
tary of the legation, had preceded him by a few days,
so that the whole of the Sardinian legation have now
left the Papal city. The Sardinian consulate alone
remains there.

it:marriage is on the kepis (says .the Limerick Chro-
nicle} between a worthy resident magistrate of a ntigh-
bou ing county and an accomplished lady, who tin' IP en
subjected to persecution and annoyance at R:ithronm
e/ieTher:, the
.ri3c,t3 of which are fiat in puTc
ricollection.

COUNTY COURT.---YESTERDAY.

(Before W. A. Itui.ToN, Esq., Judge.)

IMPORTANT TO SHIPOWNERS—DURAND V. BRICE.—
Mr. Wine appeared for the plaintiff in this case, and
stated that his client, who was captain of the ship St.
Ives, sought to recover the sum of £46 16s. from the •
defendants, Messrs. Brice and Co., shipowners, Water-
street,
for work done on account stated, for the hire,_
demurrage, or detention of a ship of the plaintiff's, let to
hire or detained by vie defendant, and for. that the
plaintiff would forego the demurrage due to him, under
a charter-party elite: e I into by the plaintiff with
Messrs. Hickie, Borman, and Co., of London, dated -
the 4th August, 1859. The defendants agreed to give
plaintiff sufficient coal to ballast him in Birkenhead
Dock, and to send him a further ouantity of 300 tons
alongside in the river ; and the defendants also under-
took that the ballast should be ready in Birkenhead
Dock notlater than the 24th September last. Although
plaintiff did all things on his part necessary, and although
defendants gave plaintiff sufficient coal in Birkenhead Dock
to ballast him, arid the plaintiff proceeded to the river; and
it. Was also afterwards agreed that the plaintiff should
proceed to the Stanley Dock to get the remainder of the
coal, the defendants had only sent 175 tons of coal along-
sijebywhicltthoec ptolbo, ienr, ntiaffldi had been
sustained a
from
thethe
sth to t iie 12th
amount claimed. The captain entered into a charter
party with Messrs. Hickie and Borman, and was to be•
loaded in fifteen days. The ship went into the Birken-
head Dock on the 28th of the month, and he gave notice
that the ship was lying in a berth on the 10th September,
and when the lay days were expired, notice was given. He
(Mr. Hime) wrote Messrs. Hickie and Borman, claiming
,t 5 17s. for one .day's demurrage, 'and he received in .
reply a reference to Messrs. Brice and Co., who had
undertaken the loading of the vessel. That letter was
handed to the captain of the ship, who afterwards en-
tered into an agreement with Messrs. Brice, that he
would forego any claim for demurrage, in consideration
of which the defendant was to*give the plaintiff as much,
coal in the dock as would ballast his vessel, the remain-
der was to beput on board in the river. The object of this
was to save dock dues. This was signed by the captain, at
the ship-broker's office, on the 21st September, and on the.
22nd and 23rd the defendant sent 165 tons to the ship
while she was in the dock, and on the 26th the ship
went into the river. , The weather was very tempestous,
and she broke her anchor, and it was after this accident
occurred that a mutual agreement was come to that the
residue of the coal should be shipped in the Stanley
Dock. 'On the 4th October 115 tons of coal were sent
alongside, whiCh still left the cargo incomplete, but,
since the action had been brought the coal was shipped.
It was clear that the defendants were liable, because
they had induced the captain, by representations, to
forego the demurrage against Trickle and Borman.
Witnesses were called to prove this statement. Mr.
Deighton, for the defence, said: First of all, the de-
fendants were only acting as agents for Hickie and Bor-
. man, who were the parties liable. There was a certain
quality of coal wanted, and a strike took place among
the pitmen, which prevented the coal being shipped ;
and as nothing had been said in the charter party about
any particular coal, the consequence was, that the de
fendants asked the complainant to sign the agreement, by
which he undertook to forego any claims for demurrage.
In the memorandum, the only date mentioned was the
24th, the day that the vessel was to leave the dock and go.
into the river. That agreement had been fulfilled, for the
coal had been alongside the ship, and she had proceeded to
the river on the day specified; and as regarded the ship-
ping of the remainder in the river, there was no time
mentioned. Several witnesses were examined, who said
that the ordinary time allowed for loading such a vessel
as the St. Ives was fifteen to twenty days ; his Honour
having previously said that the only question was whe-
ther there had been sufficient time allowed. The case
occupied four hours in hearing, and, at the end, his
Honour said he would deliver judgment on Wednesday
next. '