Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-01-19 00:00:00

ENGLISH PATENTS

The following patents, amongst others, were sealed
during the week ending January 12, 1858':—Lawrence
Hall, of Black Lane Mill, near Bury, manufacturer,
for certain improvements in looms for weaving.
Dated August, 5, 1858.—Christopher Penryhn Aston,
of London, gun maker, for improvements in breech
loading arms. Dated nly 15, 1858.—James Jones, of
the City Waterworks, Oxford, engineer, for improvements
in meters for measuring liquids ; dated July 14, 1858.
Charles de Bergue, of London and Manchester,
engineer, for improvements in electric telegraph cables
for submarine purposes, and in the machinery for manu-
facturing such cables, and also in the machinery to be
used in paying such cables out of ships at sea ; dated
July 16, 1858. Thomas Hart, of Glasgow, plumbei, for
improvements in taps or valves, and in apparatus for
regulating. the flow of fluids : dated July 17, 1858.
James Spence, of Liverpool, iron merchant, for
an improvement in the manufacture of tin plates,
and terne or leaded plates : dated July 17, 1858.
William Wildes, of Maidstone, Kent, paper maker,
for an improved arrangement or arranzements of
machinery for reducing vegetable matter to pulp : dated
July 17. 1858. Edmund Leopold Benzon, of Sheffield,
steel manufacturer, for improvements in the manufacture
of steel—a communication : dated September 27, 1853.
Thomas Preston, of Nottingham, -
for
manufacturer, im
_ _

provements in the manufacture of looped fabrics : dated
October 1, 1858. John Milnes, of Sutton Mill, near
Leeds, overlooker, for improvements in weaving fabrics,
where cross weaving is employed: dated October 5,
1858.---Froin Messrs. Hughes and Bloodworth's List.

Although it is the month of January, 1859, most
people admit we are living in hard times, hence
it should be the study of every one to ask themselves the
question, " How can I save my money ?" We reply,
without hesitation, buy your steel pens, and other sta-
tionery, at E. T. Hall's wholesale steel pen warehouse,
23, South John-street. Joseph Gillett's, Thomas Lowe's,
G. W. Hughes, and other maker's pens at is per gross.
Good Pen Holders 2d per dozen.
BURNING OF THE PORTO Novo.— We are glad to be
able to state that the ultimate loss on the cargo of this
vessel will not be so serious as was at first supposed, and
that it is now estimated that £3,000 will cover the entire
damage. It is found that nearly the whole of the palm
oil is uninjured, a great part of the ebony and ivory has
escaped destruction, and about 100 tons of barwood had
been unloaded before the accident took place. It should
have been stated that the bulk of the gunpowder was
transferred from the. Porto Novo to the powder-mills at
Shirebampton on her arrival at the port, and that the
quantity which exploded was comparatively small. One
of the men who were so seriously injured, and who was
taken to the British General Hospital, has suffered a
relapse, and his recovery is now doubtful ;.the other con-
tinues to go on hopefully.
CANADA AND BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. —The net
revenue of Canada in 1856 amounted to £1,114,800, and
the expenditure to £945,643. The gross revenue,
£1,497,385, was derived principally from the customs
duties, which amounted to £1,127,532. Of the sums ex-
pended, £225,224 was appropriated to the payment of
the interest on the debt, £56,030 to civil government,
£114,254 to the administration of justice, £117,445 to
legalisation, £97,514 to education, £38,757 to hospitals,
&c., £36,108 to the militia and enrolled force, £39,850
to the ocean and steam ri'ver service, £4,733 to police,
and £9.21f to the removal of the seat of government.
5,356,7.62 tons of shipping entered the ports of Canada in
1856 (2,731,296 British), and 5,620,247 tons cleared out-
wards. 148 vessels of 45, 339 were licensed in Canada in 1856,
and 171 registered. The value of the imports for consump-
tion was £9,806,487, and that of the exports £7,210,579.
The value of the imports from the United Kingdom was
£4,553,233; and the value of the exports thither from
Canada, £2,313,667.. The gross revenue received from
the several canals amounted to £95,395; 3,164,823
gallons of proof spirit were distilled in Canada in
'1856, yielding an excise duty of £17,278. The
revenue of New Brunswick, in 1856, was £119,305;
and the expenditure, £141,709 ; 3,225 vessels, of
648,756 tons, entered the ports of the colony; and 3,375,
of-704,149 tons, cleared out. The imports amounted
to £1,521,178, and the exports to £1,073,351.
The rate of wages for labour in New Brunswick was,
for domestic service, £2 lOs to £3 per month ' • for
predial service, £2 lOs to £4 per month ; and for
trades, 5s 6d to lOs per day. The value of the
imports into the ports of Nova Scotia in 1856
was £1,869,832, and that of the exports £1,372,958.
The population of P rince Edward's Island in
1856 was 71,496 souls (36,131 males and 35,365 females).
The revenue amounted to £27,108, and the expenditure
to £33,576. 619 vessels entered, tonnage 35,931 ; and
603 cleared, tonnage 42,865. 88 vessels of 14,910
tons were built there in the samo year. The im-
ports are valued at £237,126, and the exports
at £258,860. There were 941,905 acres of cultivated
and 346,880 of uncultivated land. Of Newfoundland the
income in 1856 was £118,832, and the expenditure
£105,846. 1,327 vessels, of 161,640 tons, entered, and
1,140, of 145,819 tons, cleared outwards. The imports
were £1,271,604, and the exports £1,338,797. Domestic
labour was remunerated at the rate 'of £2O to £3O per
annum, predial at £lB to £25, and trades at 7s 6d per
diem,

THE SAILORS' HOM.E.-THE REV.
CARTER AND BOARDING-HOUSES

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.

Sir, attention which. I, along with the
public, have always received at your hands,
induces me again to trespass on your space; but
I shall be as brief as possible. Permit me,
however, to premise that your former kindness, in
publishing my letters, has done some service, and
that you are duly appreciated, for the indepen-
dence shown by you—ready always to open your
paper to the redress of wrong, come that wrong
from high or other quarter. So far as lam person-
ally concerned, I could afford to bear -up against
any calumny ; but when an entire body of
industrious tradesmen are attacked and falsely
accused of very serious offences, it is time
that some one, however feeble in abilityc
or unwilling to come before the public, should
stand up for truth sake, and dispel the slander.
If we had not an honest and independent journal
like the NORTHERN TIMES, the task would be
hopeless ; but, sir, with your assistance, we can at
least meet our enemies on open ground, and let the
public judge if our accusers are good men and
true." In my former letters I challenged Mr.,
Murphy, and all the authorities of the Sailors
Home, to contradict any particle of the arguments,
I put forward. I gave facts and figures,. and not a
single word has been since offered, either in reply
or attempted contradiction ; and I am convinced If
the parties alluded to could have done either they
would have been but too glad to get the. oppor-
tunity. I see lately by the. papers, that the
Sailors' Home authorities have cast Mr.f Murphy
on the Local! Marine Board—but I shall deal with
that part ofthe subject just now. I first come to
a statement made by the Rev.. Thomas Garter,
M.A., chaplain of the gaol. In a paper read at
the " Social Science" meeting, at Liverpool, the
Rev. Gentleman made the following statement in
regard to sailors and boarding-house keepers. He
said :

These men (sailors) are often victimised to a fearful
extent. The number of men.before the mast, shipped in
British vessels in. Liverpool during last year, was
45,723; the number discharged or paid-off during the
same period, was 40,696.. Of foreign seamen of all
nations, it is estiinsted that there were about the same
number, or, at all events, the• two together, at the lowest
computation, may safely be set down at not less than
80,000, who passed in and out of the port during. the
period of twelve months. Now, I will detail, as briefly
as I can, the process of systematic robbery to which
know numbers of those poor•fellows to. be exposed, by
certain boarding-house keepers, outfitters, and prostitutes.
Many of the two former have boats on the river of their
own. A vessel is signalled as having "passed the head"
(Holyhead) ; she may be expected up with the flowing
tide; the boarding-master is on the alert; he proceeds,
with a number of riggers, in his boat, to meet
the vessel as she comes up the river ; he is
prepared with liquor, often drugged for the par'
pose of producing partial insensibility:. Should it be
at the period of neap tides, or during a scarcity of dock
room, the vessel must come, to anchor in the river, and
wait a longer or a shorter period, till there shalt be
sufficient water and space to admit of her being docked.
The vessel is boarded ; the sailors, after the 'tedium--
may be the hardships of w long voyage—are anxious for
the shore. A man agrees with a rigger to supply his-
place on board, and he is brought on shore by the.
boading-house him, keeper, who snpplies in transitU,
freely, -from the bottle previously provided and prepared,.
and which, ere he sets his foot on share has half done its
work, producing that state of stupefaction which renders
the man ignorant—at all events, regardless, of what he is
doing. On landincg he is soon taken to the tailor or
outfitter, and provided with a' new "rig" throughout,
for which he is charged most enormous prices. I knot
of one instance, wherein the sailor was supplied with four
pounds worth of clothing, for which he paid ten pounds.
The boarding master receives a commission on these
transactions.

The paper goes on a good deal further, but of
course could. not contain'more venom ; and I say it,
with respect to the Rev. Gentleman, a larger
amount of romance. I was about calling it by
another name, but that will suffice. The Rev.
Mr. Carter, being the. chaplain of the gaol, must,
I presume, from his position, be well acquainted
with the statistics of crime, and the class of people
who are committed for the various offences
incidental to a large seaport like Liverpool. There
are about 400 bonding-house keepers. in Liverpool,
and about double that number of policemen. Now,
will the Rev. Mr. Carter, knowing—as I have
already stated—the statistics of the gaol, be nod
enough to enlighten the public, by stating how
many boarding-house keepers have been prosecuted
during the last two years, for such crimes as the
following :—Robbery from the person ; robbery
from shops and shop-tills ; breaking into churches;
perjury ; violent and common assaults ? I should
like to see the amount he will give, and then I
will turn to the files of the NORTHERN TIMES,
and show him the number of policemen prosecuted
and convicted of these crimes, and I think the
return will stand about thus :—Boarding-
house keepers prosecuted and convicted, none ;
policemen, ditto, about 22 ; not to mention
those who have been dismissed summarily by the
magistrates and Major Greig. There are a few
persons in Liverpool who go by the name of
boarding-house keepers, who are in .reality and
fact not so, and there may be some civil- offences
charged against them, but I defy the Rev. Chap-
lain to show me an instance of a respectable and
professional boarding-house keeper in Liverpool
having been prosecuted either for a common-law
or statutable offence. I do not wish to compare
them with other classes of tradesmen, but I coin-
pare them with the police, who are supposed to be
the standard of morality and honesty—because our
lives and properties are left in their keeping—and
see how the contrast stands. In regard to what
the Rev. Gentleman says about the conspiracy
between boarding-house keepers, outfitters, and
prostitutes, I shall only make one observation:--it
is uncharitable, and therefore not in accordance
with our notions of Christianity. because unfounded
and untrue. If the boarding-house keepers were
the rogues that they are said to be, is it not very
wonderful how they escape punishment ? If I
purchase a shawl at the Compton House, or any
other respectable establishment, and pay £lO for
it, at the same time the article being worth only
£4, does the Rev. Mr. Carter think I have no
redress ? Yes, and he ought to have instituted a
prosecution against the person he speaks of, and
he would be sure to have got a conviction—that is, if
such a person exists, and that such a dishonest
transaction has taken place. He says many of the
boarding-house keepers and tailors have boats on
the river. Yes, and I can tell him that they
have more than boats : many of them have ships
on the river, and many more large shares in ships,
all realised by honest industry, integrity, and per-
severing straightforwardness—not by robbery, or
plunder, or conspiracy with lewd women. I
will give the Rev. Mr. Carter a piece of in-
formation, which, I am satisfied, will be new
to him, and which, if he had known before,
he would not have made such a calluranious state-
ment—because he bears too sacred a character.
No boarding-house keeper dare, under a heavy
penalty, enter an inward bound ship to solicit a
sailor to lodge at his house. His assertion, therefore,
is not correct. In one of my former letters I plainly
and elaborately pointed out to the authorities at the
Sailors' Home, the class of men who do such, and
who are tolerated to do it. These, as I have stated,
are called the forty thieves, and I can prove that
they are allowed by the out-door authorities of
the Sailor's Home, or Local Marine Board—
I care not which—to ply their unlawful
work, whilst if a respectable boarding-house
keeper attempted to do such an act, he would at
once (properly, I admit) be 'seized and punished ;
and yet the boarding-house keepers are charged
with enticing men away, making them intoxicated
with drugged liquor, and finally robbing them,
in conjunction with tailors and prostitutes
The d'harge that the Rev. Mr. Carter made in
October, against boarding-house keepers, I made
in your paper in August, against the "forty
thieves," anciyet the sins of the latter are laid +on
the former—is this fair play ? I shall show-by
facts and figures in the next, something interesting
to the Sailor's Home, but as I fear I have trespasssed
too far on your space to-day, I must again ask
your favour.—Remaining, sir, with gratitude,--
Yours, &c., THOS. CARPENTER.
31 Charlotte-place, Jan. 3, 1859.

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lilt be
ocked.

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