Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-10-11 00:00:00

WAVERTREE BOARD OF HEALTH

The monthly meeting of the commissioners was held
last night at the Public-offices, Mr. J. A. Picton in the
chair. The other members of the board present were—
Messrs. O'Connor, Pennington, Carmoill Parkin, Swinden,
Rishton, Lewis, and Clarke.

The minutes of the last monthly meeting having been
read,

The CHAIRMAN Said that, before proceeding with the
business of the evening, he wished to call the attention
of the meeting to a letter which appeared in the .Daily
Post of.that day. [The Chairman read the letter, which.
was signed " A Ratepayer 'of Wavertree," and was to
the effect that the Chairman had opposed the appoint-
ment of a committee of investigation in reference to the
conduct of the official whose accounts showed a defi-
ciency. of £l,BOO, and that that official, who bad
refunded £1,400, with interest, was still in the
pay of the board, at an advanced salary.] Now,
so far as he was concerned, and he thought he
could answer for them all, there was every desire on
the part of the board that their affairs should be per-
fectly open; and any person who wished for information
had only to apply to the board for it. He did net,
however, think thit they should take any action on
anonymous communications. Still, it was only right
that they should give a flat contradiction to what was
stated in the 'letter. It was not true, as was stated,
that he (the chairman) had opposed the appointmeit of
a committee of investigation, neither was it true that
they had advanced the salaries of ally of their officers,
with the exception of that of Mr. Young. He could not
pretend to say . where the gentleman who wrote
this letter received his information, but he wished
it to go forth to the public that the board did
not wish to tonceal anything; and they would at
any time be glad to give any inioramtion to
the ratepayers as to what tout place at that board. If
the board agreed with him, perhaps they wmuldi signify
their assent to what lie had stated but, he thought, it
would be unworthy of the board to attempt arof formal
reply, or to take any action,. upon such a communica-
tion as that which he had read. If this gentleman. was
a ratepayer he had nothing. to do but to' apply to. the
board, and they would, give him every satisfaction.
More he had not a right; to expect.
The matter dropped after a few remarks agreeing'
with those of the chairman.

A letter was read from Mr. Rogers seeretaty to, the.
Water Committee of the Liverpool Corporation;, offering.

to supply thr fountain recently erecte4 in Witverti-ti;
with water, through a small meter. The charge fir
water would be at the ordiitary rate, meter rent int
addition.—lt was agreed that the boardi take the watiat
on the terms Proposed by the Water Committee of the,

• Corporation.
The attention of the board wens drawn tan old foot-
path in Cow-lane, which Mr. P. .W. Bfancker had'
closed, and the law!-clerk was oalered to tale the

•
of counsel upon it.
The monthly accounts were nrxt read and2passed.
Some other general business having beery fransacted;
the board adjourned.

+

EXTENSIOV. OF SAVINGS' BASKS

In a late numbercwe directed attention to the credi-
table fact of our respected townsman,: Mr..M'Corquodale,
had been the originator of the suggestion for extending
the savings' banks, system, throw* the ageuty of the
post-office money-order offices. Ongthe same subject we
find the .following i the IVaribregton deanGscol' -of
Saturday last

"Mr. APCorquodart,,- of Newton, hie the right nuslupon
the head,
-when, six months azo, h .suggested,i at the
working men's tea party, in Warriagten, that &merri-
ment should encourage and extend the savings backs
of the country by allowing the moner..;order
offices to become receivers of deposits. His-com-
munications with ths:.Postmaster-C-seneral, some:years
ago, on the subject dil not-produce any step mu'i the
direction indicated, probably owiugtto the money-
order system being for years an experintent. BAtt it is
so no longer. Having found faysun . everywhere, its
extension to every village post-o 'Fele •is now only a
question of time. With such a network of machinery,
pry should not advantage be tvIDT2-: of it to. afford
facilities to the industrious classeas to invest their
savings? Such was the question_ Mr. APCorqiiodale
asked on the oceasion.to which we athade, and sanh is
the question a lluddersfield bankez,..asked last- week.
through a London contemporary. Aft-.: 3PCorqpaddle,
as a large employer- of skilled tabour in 'London,
Liverpool, and Glasgow, knows the &eilities which such.
towns offer to worknuin to go almost. any day, diring.
their dinner hour?: to the Saving''.' Bank, andi de- •
posit their savings.„; he also knows, the extreruediffi--;
eulty of. doing so in a place like-Newton, where .the
Savings' Bank is only open one city.a week, and at-an:
houfinconvenientitethe many hundteds employedithere ,•;
and knowing these thinos he suggests that everrlocal
postmaster should,: become' a Savings' Bank offieial.
Some such plan as. this, subject to the superviSien.or
the usual post-oak* inspectors, would not be falt•to•her,
too complicated, and the advantages . which it.; woulli
afford to depositors would be incalculable. No *longer:-
would a man require to carry a shilling in his. poolt
until it burned a hole, or was wasted in the,taproeml..
The door of the post-of ice, ever-open, would:invite hila
to enter, to deposit his money, and receive his cheek.
We trust . that the subject will now be -*pronely
ventilated."

SMETHURST% CASE.

-Another, week has elapsed, says the StanAted, and
the officials of the gaol him received nofnrther infor-
mation ftom the Secretary of State as to,the intentions
of the government with regard to the iktimate disposal
of the prisoner, who still remains upon. the prison books
as a capital convict reprioved during her" Majesty's plea-
sure. The prisoner is evidently very much annoyed at the
delay, as there is no doubt that when, he was informed of
thoreprieve in the first: instance, he regarded it as an indi-
cation that he had succeeded in creating doubts of his
milt, and that the next step would be to grant him a free
pardon ; and it would seem that he made a statement to
that effect when the notification ofthe reprieve was made to
him. The long delay that has taken place, however, has
evidently shaken his confidence, and within the last few
days he .1-la3 hecome.more anxious as to the result ; and
as he is aware that his ease is still wider conSidera,
tion, he appears to entertain some dread that tb,e
original sentence may still be carried out; and althakvh
he still persists in. 'his declaration of innocence, those
about him can see that he is very uneasy, and awaits the
decision of the Government as to his fate with great
anxiety. There is no foundation whatever fox the state-
ment that appears in a Sunday paper, that the Lord Chief
Baron was still engaged in reading the evidence and the
other papers connected with the case, and that the final
decision of the Government with regard to the prisoner
would depend upon the report made by the learned judge.
The Lord Chief Baron was of course appealed to in the
first instance to state his opinion with regard to the
evidence, and whether he concurred in the verdict pro-
nounced by the jury ; and the rely he made was, that
in his opinion the jury were quite justified in returning
a verdict of guilty against the prisoner, and it may be
stated on ample authority that he has never changed
that opinion, nor indeed modified it in any manner ;
but he at the same time stated that if the advisers
of the Crown, upon a consideration of all the facts,
thought it was a case in which the capital punishment
might be commuted, he did not feel himself called upon
to oppose such a course, or to take upon himself the
responsibility of declaring his opinion that the law
ouniit to take its course. Since that time the Lord
Chief Baron has had nothing to do with the matter,
and it is believed that the delay' in finally disposing of
the prisoner, arises really from the difficulty in which
the government is placed to know what course to adopt
in such a peculiar and unprecedented case.