Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-28 00:00:00

WO LV MPTON.

The affairs of the -Wolverhampton and Staffordshire
Benk are now assuming an aspect which is affording some
hope to the inhabitants of the town and district that the
crisis between this time and Christmas will not be quite
so severely and extensively felt as was feared. ft is
expected that ba-iness will be resamed certainly with
the new year. The Chamber of Commerce held a
meeting on Wednesday night, with a view of determining
upon some steps whereby another bank might b
established in the towr, but they have adjonrae-
the further consideration of the subj.iet until the bank rei
opens. The district is not assuming a mnch more cheerfu
appearance. Everywhere portions of works are being
made to stand, and blast furnaces are being blown out. No
business could be transacted on 'Change on Wednesday,
sales, even at ruinous rater, being prevented either by want
of orders or by a capital that might be otherwise used in
profitable speculation being required for self-support
during a period of almost general inaction which has
begun. Some few offers were, however, made for small
quantities of pigs, bat the offers were at a figure that no
man who was not absolutely compelled to get money
would accept. During the day the stoppage of Messrs. T.
Morris and sone, pig iron waken, Tipton, was anzotinced.

The liabilities are set down at £40,000.----Birminghain
Daily Press. On Tuesday (says the Wolverhampton
Chronicle), a meeting of the creditors of Messrs. Motteram
a d Deeley, of Toll End, Tipton, was held at the Swan
Hotel, in this town ; Mr. Churchill in the chair. The
creditors of the firm were represented at the meeting to
the extent of £20,000. A statement of accounts showed
that the liabilities amounted to about £44,458, while
the assets were calculated at £20,050. Ultimately two
resolutions were adopted, the one that the creditors
should file a petition for adjudication under the
private arrangement clauses of the Bankruptcy Act, with
the view to the assignment of the estate for the benefit of
creditors; and the other that a committee of five gentle-
men be appointed to place an inspector over the workv, to
watch over the interests of the creditors. It was the
opinion of the meeting that if the concern were ss mind up
under bankruptcy there wouldb e nothing for the creditors ;
but under the present arrangements, it is anticipated that
from 5s to 7s 6d in the pound will be paid.

HOW TO FEED THE POOR AND HELP THE
UNEMPLOYED.

A former curatt of a manufacturing district writes to a
London cotemporary :—The tone of your articles on the
threatened and actual distress of the manufacturing popu-
lation so completely chim s in with my own feelings, that.
I venture to address you on the subject. I wish simply to
relate my own experience about fifteen years since, I was
then a curate in a large manufacturing district. Our poor
were fearfully destitute. Our rates had hien raised to such
a sum as to render many small properties untenable. On
these grounds we applied for and obtained a grant from the
sum of money which bad been collected throughout the
nation for the relief of the distressed operatives. We
determined to husband our resources. Aided b 7 the most
influential persons in the di.tict, I formed a committee of
persons of all persuasions, religious and political. We
obtained the use of the old poorhouse, procured a large iron
boiler or copper, as it was called, and set it up. We bought
g od wholesome meat ; our butchers obtained it for us at
wholesale prices. Our neighbours right and left gave us
garden vegetables, such as carrots, onions, celery, &e. ;
peas and berley were purchased. The ladi s of the
place organised themselves into a cooking coin-
mittee, and we forthwith manufactured good,
wholesome, first-rate soup, savoury and palatable,
the very odour of which would have inclined you to
taste it, the taste of which would induce you to taste again:
Then we bought potatoes who'esale. Thus prepared. we
announced that we were ready to receive applicants.
There we sat, the clergy and laity, with our overseers.
parish medical doctor, Quaker guardian, and prircipal
manufacturers. We were uni el in our object—the
relief of the distress of our poorer brethren, and the
relief of our own retea. Our rpolic ants came in;
was astonishing what we krew about them. 0 e was
a good, hard-working fellow, with a large family ;
gave him a couple of quarts of snip and a peck of po'a-
toes. Another was a ne'er do wee), but his wife w s
thrif y and his children hungry ; giving them a quart of
soup or two, and a supply of potatoes. Somehow or other,
parson, master, doctor, overseer, or constable, we could
give amongst us the history of every one. Well, our soup
was recd ; so good, the mothers blessed us, and told us
that they put a quart of water to two quarts of soup and
boiled it up, and so made two quarts three. But the mcst
remarkable thing was how our soup grew, it was
almost like the widow's cake and cruse of oil. Contact
with so much misery roused our two committees, male
and female; our pot received so many contributions it
kept boiling, with little money, all through the
dreary winter. Kind-hearted manufacturers said, "Nay,
ye shan't give our men soup for nought ; you make it, we
will send our men for it, and pay you. for all you give
them." Thus we relieved our rates, fed our poor, and
kept true-hearted brave men from the degradation of
parish pay till times grew better. And then, actually,
we had a sum in hand, which we distributed among
the poor mothers and children in warm cloths and good
shoes. I would not trouble you with this history of
our proceedings, it was so common-sense like, did I not
remember bow different was the fate of some of our
neighbouring districts, though they were not so distressed
as ourselves. They spent their money recklessly, like
charity money. They made had soup, cheap stuff; and
the poor, hungry as they were, poured it into the gutters,
grumbling and cursing. The secret of our success was,
that what we made and want we distributed was good.
We learnt, from following the rule of doing to others as we
would be clone by ourselves, that what was savoury and
tasteful was likely to be healthful and really helpful.
We thus learnt that dietical philosophers are only now just
beginning to discover. We uncovered the thousand rills
of charity among our neighbours which only required a.
a guide to direct them into a common stream, and we were
all astounded, when the dismal days passed over, at how
much was done with to little for, ign aid.