Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-12-20 00:00:00

rtertcan spinner
d activity for Great°l3

149,00 C

more is doing, t 1

agains

1y by a

ommand respect, both from their gene.
and the wide publicity they obtain. We
views of every' individual conversant
om we have had access
the past week or two, over the length and breadth of
be country, and we have'not found arty other authority
of so small an estimate as 4,000,000 bales;
some few name 4,100;000 'to 4,200,000, the majority
4,200,000 to 4.250,000, and others again as high as
4,400;000 to 4,500,00 d. .

with the subject to *I

in- favo

now
thorough research, and mature reflection, we
now give it as our own opinion, that the crop will not
be under 4,30%0.00,ba1e5, and this may be exceeded. It
is better that the truth should be *known early than late
—better that cotton should decline to its true value,
whatever that may be, before it /eaves the hands of the
planter than after it reaches those of the-merchant and

spinner

,
But, we are" told that there is a desire to' exaggerate
the'prospect of crop. This does not appear very,proba-
ble. Certainly it is not the interest of planters and
factors, froth whom' the largest estimates come, to over-
estimate it, as they have still some 3,000,000 bales to
sell ; and it:is proverbial •'" that the estimate selli the
crop." Nor would; it be to the advantage of shippers,
who have now some 50b,000 bald ailed for Great Bri-
tain, to depredate ,the value of their own, property or
,that of their'POicipals'itt 'England, by putting. forth
excessive crop views. Id4iet, the contrary is manifestly
the interest alike of planters,lfaCtors brokers commis-
sion,
merchants, and speculators.
We think it is not too much to say, that had more
Correct views of the crop been given, while all parties
would have done less business, prices vrbuld have been
le. per lb. lower, and Great Bri6iii would have paid
-000,000 less for the half million bales she had received.
Nor 'does the, damage stop here. The planters have
now sold 1,000,000 bale's, aid are' do strengthened by
the £11,000,000 they have received for it, that they are
better able to dictate terms for the !balance. It is,
therefore, we think, a moderate view, that the Crop
error and over-haste of buyers will. 'Cost Great Britain
£1,000,000 sterling.
It' now' aitemiited" iti'l'exPlain a flay' the etiorMous
receipts on the ground that planters are making an
early season, and' will-finish before the usual time.' We'
cannot find the slightest foundation for this theory, but,
plenty for the reverse of it ; the rivers having been so
notoriously. low everywhere as to retard business seriously,
and many important diitricts have hardly made a begin-
ning. The extent of receipts, therefOre, can only be
accounted for bY the largeileas of the crop; and they will
increase further and gontiime enormous for a long time
to come.

FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE AT A

DISTILLItY;

; ,
. Yesterday morninz, about seven o'clock, a destilic-
tive fire broke out in the extensive spirit distillery of
Messrs, Preston and Co., Vernon-street, off pale-street,
byAvhieh 'cup man has lost his life,:.and a secOndilas
been Serioigy,,biinied. Thp fire originit&lin the still-
house, .where g,lgge still ',Tas-Stl work, but it is not
known under iirliat circumstances the flames Were kindled.
It is, however,imPposed that onei,ef the pipes connected
with' the still burstin consequence Of the frost, and that
the fumes .of the boiling' sp'ifits
Issuilig' through the
aperture came in contact wit',i the. gas, ignited, and set
,thp roof on fire. Portunatd,y the vat in the cellar beneath
-,the still, although;charre4 , was, not so much burned as
to allow
,the wholesof tb.e spirits, about 800 galiohs, to
;beeoine .igriiteel, or thr., consevences would ~hate been
dceidfUl',l because in ti,ae adjoin* vtarpiiiiiihOTX! 11en
,_15',08, 6054414:g 171 F iy thousands of gap.Od.o.gsprits,:and
tiii,e4,iiFghbo'iOcor d of th,q, premises t,ping ;,„ %ft
I*lo-4, mass of, 'mall cottage property, occnrn, :4 e
P°o/eo,eloses 'of society;.*}kt 120r,,,b,18.12'del 'ed in
an hour or tire ~
~,Thiinks OA4 labours of Mr. eivitt,
igiv
and hue fire.Tiolic,einen, an 'lift:. Barrett and his 'kepi of
England ly Tilde, the flames were, confined to'the . stin-
house, wkigh. winsured,,iii the Atlas Test of England,
Royal, 1/.nd Phoenix Pire Ogees.' Had the flames ,con-
neeted. themselves with the warehouse, the lois would
have been, upwads, of , LIM
'.-md O() ; , (q.a it is, until
thd r ,till atiall 'have been eiannuect the excise Officers
°on' imunicated with,' it is finpossibli to say what is the
di .mage done. The -most melancholy part of the
/ catastrophe ''is,', that one 'poor fellow, the still-mihder,
Thomass-Jackson a married man, 'about 26 years of age,
has lost his life ; and that a second man, employed
about the still-house,
.was very severely, and-it is feared
dangerously,' hurried; He walked home, but -is pro-
hibited from stirring, out of the house, his arms being
literally roasted. Of 'poor Jackson it -is said that
he had earned the confidence and esteem of
his employers, and the best, wishes Of his fellow-
workmen. He had been, deservedly, proinoted from
the warehouse to the responsible situation which he
held at the time of his death. When the flames were
subdued he'was found in n tub of wash near the still,
into which it is supposed that he, rushed to relieve his
misery, when scorched' by the burning spirit, as his
arms, face, and breast are terribly: burned. ; He
was quite dead when discovered' by the firemen: The I
coroner will hold an inquest over the body to-day.