The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-12 00:00:00

AN UNNATURIL FATHER.

At one of the London Police CJurts, on Tuesday, James
Beazley, an intelligent looking boy, 14 years of age, was
charged with having robbed his father, a cabinet maker, residing
in the neighbourhood of the court. A resoectably-dressed young
man, who described himself as the brother of the boy, stepped
forward, and earnestly requested perm,ssion to offer a few oh_
servations on behalf of the accusod. Witnus was the eldest of
eight children, who had been left under the care of the prose-
cutor, on the death of their mother, about two years since,
and before the expiration of the host month after her funeral
his father brought home an abandoned woman, with whom
ho had ever since cohabited. Witness immediately left the
house, but his brothers and sisters, who were too young to
provide for themselves, were compelled to remain there, and
he was sorry to say that his father had subsequently resorted
to the basest means in order to relieve himself from the
burden of their support. Amongst other infamous expedients
for that purpose, he had been in the habit of procuring
plated medals, resembling counterfeit coin, which ho had
placed in their way to appropria'e, with the apparent
hope that they would be taken into custody for attempting
to pass them as genuine money, but having failed in
that object, he turned the whole of them out of doors, and
told them that they must get their living a•
The witness, who exhibited Extreme emotion, added that

it was most repugnant to his feelings to expose his father
to such an extent, but ho felt bound to do so, in order to save
his brother from disgrace and ruin. Mr. Yeoman, a respecta-
ble tradesman in Finsbury, who had taken one of the children
into his service from motives of compassion, corroborated the
statement of the last witness, with regard to the conduct of the
father, which was a complete scandal to the neighbourhood.
Mr. D'Eyncourt said that he generally found those partmts who
were so anxious to prosecute their own childrenovero themselves
persons of very questionable character, and that the ntesent
case was a striking instance of it. The prosecutor : But they
have told a tissue of lies against me, and - Mr. D'Eyn-
court : You had better leave the court without further dis-
gracing yourself; the prisoner is discharged.

A STORY or HALF A-SOVEREIGN.—At the Southwark
Police court, on Monday, two young women of respectable
appearance, who were described to be ballet girls at one
of the principal theatres in the metropolis, were brought
up in custody, charged with uttering a counterfeit half
sovereign to a linen draper in Newington causeway. It ap-
peared, from the evidence, that on Tuesday evening the pri-
soners went into prosecutor's shop, and selected a silk dress,
in payment for which they handed to the shopman what
appeared to be a half sovereign. The shopman went to the
cashier, who examined it, and being soft, and of a whitish
appearande, he placed it in a detector, when it bent like
lead. The prisoners were at once detained and given into
the custody of a police constable for uttering a counterfeit
half sovereign. It was shown that the young women were
respectable, and not known as common utterers of base
coin, consequently the magistrate, with his usual discern-
ment, discharged them du their own recognizances to ap
pear yesterday. After they had left the court on Wednes-
day, Mr. Edwin, the chief clerk, examined the half
sovereign carefully, and had his suspicion- that it was a
genuine coin. He sent it to a goldsmith in the vicinity of
the court, where it was tested and found to be genuine.
The cause of its being so soft was in the coining, and the
whiteness was no doubt the result of a chemical powder
used by actors and others engaged at theatres, and there
was not the least doubt at all that the young girls when
they uttered it believed it to be genuine. As soon as the
linen draper ascertained that he had made an error in
mistaking :the (genuineness of the coin, he communicated
with the young women, and after apologising for taking
them up like felons, presented them with a sovereign,
which they took. Our reporter has seen the half sovereign,
and although it has a soft and whitish appearance, the
weight is good, and had the linen draper carefully
examined it, he would not have given these young women
into custody. The magistrate said it was a bad case,
but as :the :coin was genuine he~had nothing to do but
discharge them. He should, hewever, recommend trades-
men to be more particular before they they gave parties
into custody for passing counterfeit coin.

PATENT CASE —IMPORTANT TO WO',D TURNERS.—On
Monday S. Turner Greene, Esq.. judge of the Rochdale
County Court. held a special sitting, for the purpose of
hearing a case of dispute respecting a patent wood cutter,
for (forming circular mouldings. On Thursday last his
Honour heard the case for the plaintiff, which was con-
ducted by Mr. Harris, from which it appears that Mr.
John Robinson, turner of wood mouldings and extensive
timber merchant, had purchased the patent right
of a particular machine for cutting circular mouldings ;
and the machine was of such a construction that it
worked with the axis parallel to theplane of the wood which
it cut. It was then proved, that since the defendant,
Jacob Meyers, had left the employ of the plaintiff, fi om
whom the latter had purchased the right, Meyers had
sold to a Mr. Snowden. cabinet maker, of Rochdale, a
machine, constructed in segments. instead of out of the
solid, as the tool of the patent originally was. Both
machines effected the same object, and Meyers had pre.
pared a specification for a new patent, because he con.
tended that the principle of his tool constructed in
segments was different altogether from the one he had
sold to Mr. Robinson, and principally in this particular,
hat whereas the cutting edges of Mr. Robinson's
tool were formed from the same radius at which the
tool worked, Meyers's was segmental. Cutting edges
were formed upon a chuck, the radius of which was
larger than the body or block upon which it worked. Mr.
M'Naught, draughtsman for Messrs. Petrte, of Rochdale,
and Mr. Lewis, toolmaker, of Salford, both declared that
the principles of construction of the tools were the same.
Whereas for the defence, which was conducted by Mr.
Wm. Roberts, Mr. Richard Roberts, odfectliadeefimr
ymthoeryShwaerrie
Roberts, and Co., Manchester, said,
not made on the same principle. This also was confirmed
by Mr. B. Brown, patent agent for Messrs. Prince, Lon-
don, who said he was brought up a mechanic. He denied
that the segmental tool was made out of what the trade
called a conical plank. This was also confirmed by Messrs:
James Tomlinson, Samuel Barnish, Richard Ashworth,
and Alderman Tatham, all old machinists. John Shel-
merdine, employed as a foreman in the turning depart-
ment of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, went so
far as to say that Robinson's tool would not cut, it would
only scrape, whereas Meyers's would throw off shavings.
Shavings were handed to him on his saying he could
distinguish those produced by each machine, but he
made a wrong selection, and Mr. Snowden said his man
preferred Robinson's solid cutter. Mr. Harris replied on
the whole case, after which his honour said he should not
give judgment until Thursday week.

THE CURRENCY QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.

Sir,—As Parliament is now called upon by the
Government to decide whether the eharter of the
Bank of England shall be renewed, and, if renewed,
for how long, and on what terms, it seems a fitting
time to resume the discussion on the currency,
which was carried on a few months .ago with so
so much spirit in the columns of the NonTnEart
MIES.

Ou the present occasion I shall confine myself to
the enunciation of a principle, as level to the com-
prehension of the poor apple woman, with a capital
of ONE HUNDRED PENCE, as to that of the wealthy
merchant prince, with a capital of ONE HUNDRED
THOUSAND POUNDS. It is simply this, that an
increased trade can only be conducted, safely and
efficiently, by means of an increased capital.
Now, leaving altogether out of sight, the
revelations of those official tables which pro.
claim to the world the steady growth of our
great commerce, the long prevalence of a high
rate of interest establishes the fact, that the trade
of tie country has quite outgrown that portion of its
capital which is represented by money.
Such being the case, no one at all conversant
with monetary questions, can look for a speedy,
• return to the low rate of interest we have been
accustomed to for a long series of years, unless
some means can be devised for remedying so great
an evil as a short supply of money.
That, however, would be an imperfect remedy
which would only provide for such an increase of
our circulating medium, as should establish, for
the present, a just proportion between it and the
general commerce of the country; for, as the great
ocean of trade ebbs and flows, like its great proto-
type, if the amount of our money capital were
permanently increased, we should again, after
a season of prosperity, be as subject as now
to violent fluctuations in the rates of in.
terest and in the prices of commodities.
If, for example, the trade of the country to-day be
represented by 100, and the money required to
carry it on, successfully, by 20, and to-morrow, the
trade of the country should increase to 120, or,
decrease to SO, the money remaining at 20—in one
case, the rate of interest must rise in proportion
to the increase, and in the other, fall in proportion
to the decrease. It is, therefore clear that we
require a currency which shall contract with the
contraction, and expand with the expansion of
our trade—a currency that shall ebb and flow with
the receding and advancing tide of commerce ;
and any renewal of the Bank Charter, or any.
revision of our monetary laws that fails to supply.
the nation with such a currency as this, ought to;
.be resisted by our great commercial corporationB
especially by the LIVERPOOL CHAMBER or COM-
MERCE, and ought to be petitioned against by every
one who treads the flags of the Liverpool Exchanger
or rents a stall in any of our public markets.
Indeed, everybody is interested in this great
currency question, and, as what is everybody's
business is, by immemorial wage, mine, I have
adopted this mode of laying my views before the
public.—Yours, &c., NOBODY.
Liverpool, February 9, 1857.