The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-10 00:00:00

DOCK COMMITTEE.

The weekly meeting of this committee was held at one
o'clock yesterday, Mr. Charles Turner in the chair. The other
members present were Messrs. Rankin, Palmer, Robinson,
Chaloner, Barber, Clint, Gladstone, Holden, Smith, Bold,
Hubback, Chilton, Rounthwaite, Holmes, and Mondel.
The following tenders were recommended and accepted :
Messrs. Haswell, iron railings, &c. ; Messrs. Thomas Pearson
and Co., cast iron columns; Messrs. John Matthews and Co.,
Venetia❑ red powder for paint ; Messrs. Adam Hayter and Co.,
pure dry lead for painters' use; Messrs. Richard Ashton and
Co., milled lead; Messrs. James Hunt and Co., half bleached
sail canvass ; Messrs. James Allottson and Co., best quality
dip candles ; Messrs. Travis and Wilde, olive oil ; Messrs.
James Matthews boiled linseed oil.
In the marine department the tender of John Davie was
recommended and accepted for the alterations in the Point of
Ayr lifeboat station.

A letter was read from Mr. Orford, agent to the Isle of Man
Steam Packet Company, asking to be allowed to embark and
disembark the mails and passengers to and from Douglas at the
end of the landing stage, whenever the small stage could not be
used, from tho Ist of June until the landing stage for sea
going steamers should be ready. The letter was referred to
the marine committee.

The following letters were read from Messrs. Vianna
Chappell, and Co., and ,Tames Adam and Son :
Liverpool, 7th April, 1857.
Sir,—We beg leave to address you on the subject of the
enormous charges imposed on goods discharged in the
Stanley Dock, which has placed us in a very invidious
position with our friends abroad ; and we trust you will
excuse us for troubling you upon it. Sir. the article of
green fruit, which has been very largely imported in
steamers this season from Sicily, we find that it costs some
4d to 51 per box more than it does in ether docks, a sum
that is considered so enormous that public attention has
been drawn to the circumstance in Palermo, in order to
prejudice shippers against sending their goods by the line
of steamers we are connected with. We have reason
to believe that the charges may be very nearly assimilated
in this dock to the others, provided that your superintendent
had sufficient authority to act, and we would beg the favour
of your enquiring into the subject at your early convenience.
—We remain, sir, your very obedient servants,
VIANNA, C HAPPLE, & .
The Chairman of the Liverpool Dock Committee.

"Liverpool, April 7, 1857.
" Sir,—We beg to enclose the accounts received from the
Stanley dock, on oranges and lemons, per Frankfort (ss),
and to state that these heavy charges press severely on the
fruit. The charge of landing, loading, and selecting on
the open quay, at Nelson dock transit sheds, is 141 per box,
but for the same work, done by our own men in the Stanley
dock, we pay id more, besides having the housing and
delivery rates to pay if the goods are not removed almost
immediately. We trust the committee will revise the rate
charged for oranges and lemons, as it is an object to make
these docks as cheap as possible. If we were allowed to take
the entire management of the receiving, selecting, and
delivering the oranges, it would not cost us more than lid.
We have had about 40,000 boxes of oranges and lemons in
Stanley docks this season, and the merchants complain very
much of the extra charges.—We 'are, sir, your obedient
servants, " JAMES ADAM, SON, and Co.
'• To the Chairman of the Liverpool Dock Committee."
The letters were referred to the warehouse committee.
The following letter was read from the Liverpool Committee
of the Association for the Protection of Commercial Interests,
in respect to damaged and wrecked property :

Underwriters' Rooms, Liverpool, April 8, 1857.
Sir,—l am directed by the above committee to inform
you that its members have this morning conferred with the
managers of the different Steam Tuo. Companies as to the
practicability of communicating with tug boats when at sea
in cases of wreck or danger, or whenever their services may
be required, it having frequently happened that both life
and property have been exposed to unnecessary risk from
want of some organised mode of communication. It
appears to this committee that if each of the semaphore
stations and lightships were to exhibit a distinguishing
flag, and the number of the square on the chart (also by
flags) in which assistance is required, in addition to com-
municating the intelligence to Liverpool, the masters of the
steam tugs would at once see the signals and proceed to the
indicated square. This committee have therefore to request
the co-operation of the dock committee in reference to this
suggestion, and will feel obliged by your bringing it before
them at the meeting to-morrow.—l am sir, your obedient
servant, HUGH GAMELL SUTTON, Chairman.
To Charles Turner, Esq., Chairman of Dock
Committee, &c.
The Chairman said the present mode was to telegraph to
Liverpool direct when assistance was required. The gentlemen
of the association conceived that, as there were a great many
tug boats usually harbouring about the port, that assistance
could be obtained in much less time by having a flig hoisted,
distinguished as the flag to be used when assistance was
required, and another flag showing the square on the chart
where the assistance was required. Any tug boat near the
spot could at once, on seeing these flags, proceed to where li
the assistance was required.

Mr. Gladstone presumed that if the plan, of which he believed
Mr. Mondell was the proj,ctor, had been carried out, Liverpool
could have been communicated with, and the same object
answered, in the most satisfactory mode possible. He alluded
to the electric telegraphic comtmunication.
The Chairman said that would not do in case of communica-
tion at sea.

Mr. Mondell said it could be best done by an electric
telegraphic communication from Holyhead, and then they could
communicate with Bidston direct, and there hoist the flag.
Ho thought the people they had upon the line were not adapted
for communicating by signals in any complicated cases.
Mr. Palmer said Mr. Mondell's plan would add to the
efficiency of action. There was nothing new in the proposal.
Mr. Mondell said they exhibited a flag at present, but it did
not tell where the aid was required. If a flag were hoisted
with the number, it would require a very accurate telescope to
discern it three miles off.

The Chairman said he did not mean a flag with a cumber
on it, but a flag which should symbolise a certain number on
the chart.

Mr. Mondell expressed a doubt whether that would no'
involve too complicated a system of signals.
The letter was finally referred to the sub committee.

The following is a copy of Mr. Orford's letter, above
referred to :

Isle of Man Steam Packet Company,
24, James street, Liverpool, 7th April, 1857.
Sir,—On behalf of this company, I respectfully beg to
apply for permission to be allowed to embark and disem-
bark the mail and passengers for and from Douglas, Isle
of Man, at the end of the landing stage, whenever the
small stage cannot be used, from the Ist of June, until
the stage for sea going steamers is ready.
The closing up of the berths heretofore used by our
boats, at Prince's Pier head, is, I trust, a sufficient
reason to entitle us to the favour, apart from the fact
that, in addition to paying dockage twice, and oftener
three times, weekly, buoyage and lights are paid in
every trip, inward and outward, when the mail and pas-
sengers only are conveyed.
The space asked for is no more, if as much, as that
taken up by a ferry steamer.—l am, sir, your most
obedient servant, ThomAs ORFORD, Agent.
To the Chairman of the Dock Committee, Liverpool.
This closed the general business.

OVERSEERS OP TILE POOR OF BIRERWIEAD

Yesterday, at the Birkenhead weekly sessions, before the
magistrates, two lists of overseers of the poor were pre-
sented to the bench for selection—the names on one list
being nominated by the retiring overseers, and the gentle-
men on the second list having been nominated by
a majority of ratepayers at the annual vestry. Mr.
Bretherton appeared for the old overseers, and Mr. Dutton,
deputy law clerk to the commissioners represented,
appeared to support the list of the vestry. The latter
gentleman contended that the list carried at the vestry
was the only legitimate one from which the magistrates
ought to make their selection of overseers. The bench held
that any ratepayer might attend before the magistrates
and object to any list, and after some discussion, in which
Mr. Commissioner Bailiff urged the importance of re-ap-
pointing two of the old overseers, the following gentlemen
were selected to the office :—Messrs. J. M'Whirter, B.
Biker, N. Cameron, and H. Bristow. Mr. M'Whirter
and Mr. Baker were overseers last year.

POLISH REFUGEES AND DISTRESSED SPANIARDS,—The
stun of £3,380 is required from Parliament for the current
year. for Polish refugees, &c.
THE JESUITS.—A letter from Munich says :—" The
Pope's Nuncio has addressed a note to the Government,
affirming that the recent prohibition on Jesuits to engage in
religious missions in the country is in contradiction with
the Concordat : the Archbishop of Munich and other pre-
lates have sent in a protest against the interdiction."
A SUNDAY SCHOOL IN A RAILWAY CAR.—A corres
pendent of the New York Examiner s,ys :—" One of the
novelties in lowa ci y is a Sunday school in a railroad car.
It is of recent origin, and numbers about fifty scholars.
The car is usually lull. A good fire and a large basketful
of books are among the attravions of the place. The
railroad depot being three fourths of a mile from town.
and a new settlement having sprung up around it, the
school accommodates children who are remote from any
other school. An additional car, it is thought, will be
required for its use in the spring."