Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-12-01 00:00:00

DAILY TIMES

THE SHIPPING INTEREST

tEAT MEETING AT THE LONDON TAVERN.
A. general meeting of shipoNiners, shipbuilders, ship=

masters, shipping tradesme

. . _
lipping, was, held on Tuesday afternoon, at the London

Aeration

ipping

and 'unsuitability of .the baths

and the tread-wheel being more humane.
of impartial gentlemcn is essential.
I take all the contempt and excess of tr

A. committee

to my-own action i

east wind

of women, and of paupers

generally, is the object I

The la

have in view

•ge room, platform, and gallery were denselSr
iy the most influential members Of, the classes

be founo

who wil

devote

interested the chair being ' occupied by Mr. Robext
Wigrant Crawford, M.P. for the City of London.
Amongst the gentlemen present we observed—Lerd
Valletort, M.P., Mr. Somes, M.P., Sir I. Duke, M.P.,
Mr. S. Cave, M.P., Mr. Hugh Taylor' M.P., Mr. W. S.
Lindsay, M.P., Colonel Sykes, M.P., Mr. D. Seymour,
M.P., Mr. Lever, M.P., Mr. James Beazley, Liver-
pool

some time to make this hous

as worthy of renown as

the town in many ways -is. It is not the work of a
stranger to work out the reform required: My-business
in Lancashire will conclude this week. Any letters in
reply, after Saturday, must be addressed to Post-offce,
Leeds.—l am, respectfully,

JOSEPH.

'ost-office

averpool

Mr. William Drew, Mr. "G-egige Marshall,
Mr: Duncan Dunbar, Mr. G. F. Young,. Vice Ad-.
Miral Collier, C. 8., Mr. Wigram, Mr. Barcroft
Carrol Cork ; Mr. John Allen, Mr. A. G. Robinson,
,

_+_

WEST DERBY BOARD OF GUARDIANS

Mr. F. Somes, Mr. G. Seymour Mr. Anthony
Ridley, Mr. W. H. Tindall, Captain Gilmour, R.N.:, Mr.
J. G: Holmes, Mr. J. Aleock, Mr. Y. Anderson, Mr.
Bramley-Moore, M.P., Mr.' F. Young, Mr. N. Gould,
Mr...H. Westmoreland, Mr. Goodliffe, Mr., C. A.

at the wor

Mill-lane, 'yesterday

Mr. Pitts presided ; and the other members present
were. Messrs. H. EdWards, Abrahams, Pilling, Whitby,
Roberts, Shaw, Ledger, Woods, T. Edwards,-Wareham,

Stewart, lir. W. Temp. erley,' Mr. W. PhillipS, Mr. H.
T. Wilson, Liverpool ; •Mr. M. Barwise, tirchitehaven ;
Mr. W. 0. young, Mr. Smurthwaite, Mr. M. D. Ruc-
ker, Mr. 0, Devine, Captain Doinett, Mr. M. Pratt,
Captain Shuttleworth, Captain Toiler, Mr. C. Magnay,
Captain, Were, Captain OuSlow, kr: G. Offer, Mr. J.
Rogers' Captain Trew, Mr.. Shepherd, Mr. Bonus.
The following gentlemen attended as deputations from
the undermentioned ports
H. J. Atkinson, - deputjr-chairman Ship-
owners' Committee.

Smith, and Parkir

Cheques to the following itinOubt were 'ordered to. be

—Mr. Potts

drawn for the purposes of out-door relief
£l2B, Mr. Olney, £4O, and Mr. Lythgoe, £2

Mr. Gough, the master of the
,workhouse, reported

that the number of paupers in the establishment last
week was 482 ; admitted since, 33 ; born, 1; discharged,
24 ; dead, 1. Number this week, 691, of whom 377
belonged, to ,Toxteth-park ; number in the corresponding
week of last year, 678. The master of the hospital
reported that the number of sick paupers in the de-
partment last week, was 104 ; admitted since, 14 ;
discharged, 12 ; dead, 3 ;''this week, 103, of whom 37
belonged, to Toxteth-park ; number in the cerresponding
week of last year was 117.

A letter was read from the Poor-law Board, in re-

ference to Mr. Allen, relieving officer, having been
suspended, in consequence of his imprisonment in Walton
Gaol as a prisoner for debt. The board directed the
guardians to inquire whether Mr. Allen had been pre-
viously absent from duty from a similar cause, and as
to what eireumstanceshad led tohis pecuniary difficulties.
Mr. LEDGER. advised that the board sllould defer
answering the letter for a week, in order that in the
meantime they might have an explanation of a bill just
sent in from William Shepherd, publican, of Mill-road,
for .EB6 /3s. for wine, spirits, and ale, purporting to
have been ordered by Mr. Allen. It required some
explanation from Mr. Allen, why those accounts were not
sent in longsince. They beganiu February,lBsB, and ended
in May, of the present year. It was a most extraordi-
nary and mysterious thing. He moved that Mr.
Cleaver be instructed to write to Mr. Shepherd request-
ing him to explain the matter to the board, at their next
meeting, and that Mr. Allen be written to for any
information he could give on the subject.

Mr. ABRAHAMS thought the letter of the Poor-law
Board might be answered irrespectively of the result of
the investigation in reference to Mr. Shepherd's bill.
He moved a resolution to that effect.
After some general conversation, it was decided to
reply to the communication from the Poor-law Board
to the effect that Mr. Allen's dissipated habits rendered
his dismissal imperative. It was also agreed that the
board should enquire, into the circumstances connected
with Mr. Shepherd's bill.

Some routine business having been transacted, the
board adjourned.

LANCASHIRE COURT OF CHANCERY

(Before W:M. JAMES, Esq., Vice-Chancellor.)
The business of this court commenced yesterday
morning, in the Chancery-Court, St. George's-hall. A
number of cases were disposed of during the day, of
-which the most important was Henderson v. Jeffery.
The plaintiff in this case was William Henderson, silk
mercer, of Church-street, and the action was brought to
obtain an order to stop the erection of a wall which the
defendant (also a silk mercer) was now erecting between his
premises and those of the plaintiff. Mr. Little appeared
for the plaintiff, and Mr. Robinson conducted the defence.
From the affidavits that were read, the main facts of
'the case would appear to be these -The defendant, Mr.
Jeffery, occupies a large building in Church-street, in
"which he carries on his business, To this building—
,Compton House—the premises of the plaintiff are im-
mediately adjoinincr, and between the back parts of the
two premises there had been, until about a month ago, a
wall twenty feet in height. On the side of the wall
nearest the plaintiff's house was a sky-light, by means
of which the external light came into his show room. A
few weeks ago, however, the defendant, among other
alterations,-began to raise this wall, and continued so
doing until it was at Present upwards of fifty feet high.
The plaintiff states that, in consequence of this extra
height to which the wall has been raised, the entrance of
Holt to his .shOw room'is entirely obstructed, and the
room, therefore, rendered useless for the purposes' of
exhibition. A plan of the premises, which was exhibited,
ielearly`!showed the relation in which the window stood
with regard to the walla Mr. Robinson, for the defence,
stated it might be true the light to the plaintiff's win-
dow was obstructed by the wall, but he could show by
the affidavits of his witnesses that they were obliged to
build the wall in order to preserve the privacy of their
own property. For the plaintiff' had so altered and
extended his premises that they quite overlooked those
of' the defendant. Further than this, in 1851, the
plaintiff made certain additions to his premises, which
placed the said windows in a very similar position to that
which it was now in. The plaintiff did this himself, .
and, therefore, it might be infeired that he did, not
greatly injure his own property. Why, then, should he
wish to stop the defendant from building a wall now,
which could not 'injure 'the property more than the
plaintiff's own improvements, in 1851. But whether
the wall injured the property or not, the learned
counsel contended that the defendant was still
entitled to build the wall, inasmuch as it was the Pro-.
tection or privacy, of his,ownproperty. This had been
decided 'by Lord Campbell, in the case of Renshaw v.
Bene ; also by Baron Pollock in another case. The
affidavits were then read, and set forth in detail 'the
facts of the case, and of which the above is merely a
brief extract. Ls honour, at the conclusion of the
pleadings, gave an order that the case stand over till the
neit-assizes, the plaintiffs, being bound to bring an
action then and the defendant to abide,by the decision,
as to.the pulling down so much of the wall as obscured
the light from the show-room of the adjoining premises.

.Two hundred out of 300 discharged soldiers from
India have alieady rePenlisted.

1. TEE GSBA.T DiAUGHT MATCH.—The draught match
:between Mqierrow, -of Glasgow, and Martin, of London,
for MOO aside, was commenced. on Monday, in St.
Mary's Hall, Glasgow. Four games were played, all of
which were drawn, the last of which was a most ex-
citing one.
EDINBURGH lINTVERSITY COURT.—We understand
that Lord' Brougham, as chancellor of the university, has
appointed Sir John Melville, and that Mr. Gladstone, as
rector, 'has appointed John Brawl, Esq., M.D., assessors
in the University Court. The first duty of the court
will be to elect three curators to exercise the patronage
of several of the university chairs, along with four to be
chosen by the Town Council.
LORD CLYDE AT MEERUT.—L 9rd Clyde passed
through Meerut on the 11th inst., and inspected her
Majesty's 75th regiment.' In a stirring speech he com-
plimented the men on the high state of efficiency of the
corps, and the officers on the brotherly feeling which
existed among them :—" So much was I delighted with
this report of your brotherly concord, that I had intended
to ask myself to dinner with you, but am obliged to
forego that sincere pleasure on account of pressing
business carrying me from' Meerut to-day. God bless
you all,
and good bye." So saying he jumped into his
carriage and drove off,

Middlesborough-on-Tees.—Mr. Benjamb;s Holmes

Montrose.—Mr. W. Baglehole
Topsham.—Mr. John Holman and Mr. Alfred Hol-
man.

Searborough.T-Mr, T. B. Walker

JameA Smith and Mr. F. A. Clint,
chairman and deputy chairman of Shipowner' Society
West Hartlepool.—Mr. J. G. Wishart and Mr. B
Holmes.
Sunderland.—
and Mr. Wait(

—Mr. Taylor Potter, Mr. T. C. Simey,

Letters of apology, regretting inability to attend the
meeting, were received from Lord Stanley, 2.1. P., Baron
l'ireyer De Rothschild',. M.P., Mr. Fenwick, Mr.
Ayrton, M.P., and Sir Hugh M. Cairns, M.P:..
On the motion. of Mtn G. F. Young, seconded by Mr.
G. Marshall, Mr. Crawffird, M.P., was voted to.the chair
unanimously.
The Chairman then rose and said he had tense there
that clay as one of the representatives of the- City of
"London, at the request of many gentlemen in! the city
'for whom he entertained great personal respect. He
was much'gratified to find, from the explanations given
to him, that it would be perfectly consistent with his
own opinions, and every sentiment he had uttered' on the
subject, to attend there that day and render himself as
serviceable as he could; and to promise therm that,
whether in or out of Parliament, it would affbrd him
the greatest personal satisfaction to render to the shipping
interest every assistance in his power. (Cheers,.) It
was not only as a matterof duty that he had comethere.
He. was, himself in early life a shipowner. Ilh• could,
therefore, readily appreciate the proceedings of those
who complained of the difficulties under which that in-
terest laboured ; and, as a. merchant largely comeeted
with the East, could bear testimony to the distressed
state of that trade. (Cheers.)
Mr. Somes, M.P. for Mil, moved the first resolution
as follows :—" That in the month of December of the
past year, the shipping interest, with an unanimity
without precedent, declared by public resolution that
British shipping was in a state of deplorable and. ruinous
depression, and addressed the crown, praying for a specific
measure of relief. That the•executive government, while
admitting the fact of depression, declared it in, reply to
be 'temporary and accidental,' and that British navi-
gation was even then recovering' therefrom ; while
the shipowners insisted that, its principal cause being the
impolicy of the existing system of maritime commerce,
no permanent improvement could take place while that
system remained unaltered: That nearly twelve months
have submitted to the test of practical experience the
correctness of these respective opinions ; and' that at the
expiration of that time the shipping interest of the
country. now finds itself placed in a position of eantinued
depression, difficulty, and distress, threatening the ruin
of all who are engaged in the varied and extensive pur-
suits connected with navigation." Having read the re-
solution, Mr. Somes added that he was painfully aware
of the facts it set forth; that it received his hearty con-
currence, and that unless some remedy were speedily de-
vised for the relief of the shipowners an inquest would
have to be held upon that body. (Laughter and cheers.)
Mr. Bramley-Moore, who, on coming forward, was
loudly applauded, said he hid always felt a deep interest
in this question. , He was not ashamed that he took an
active part in opposing the repeal of the navigation laws
in 1845, and he saw no reason to change the opinions
he then entertained, after an experience of ten years.
(Cheers.) But he felt called upon to. say that he thought
the shipping interest had not been trneto themselves,
and that they had treated the question with too' great
delicaey, and not with that freedom of remark which
was required to enlighten the British community
in the provinces. He had always looked upon
the shipping interest as most important to the
general interests of the nation. He might, perhaps
be allowed to remind them that the parties who brought,
forward the repeal of the navigation laws raised the' cry
throughout the nation that they were to have' their goods
carried cheaply. What had been the result? His hon.
friend the member for Stoke (Mr. Ricardo) promised
the potters of Staffordshire, as an effect of the repeal of
'the navigation laws, that they should have cheap Car-
' riage "for their crates. But what was the result ? They
had now to pay More for freight% of rough carriage than'
before the repeal of the navigation laws. It might
appear to be an anomaly, and would appear to be to those
who aid not understand the question ; but the introdac-
tion of foreign shipping competing with ours, and not
haiing the same burdens, had enabled the foreigners
to run away with the ' freights, which they could
carry with low freights and still with large profits, and
that threw the rough freights on the'British, who must
of necessity have a higher freight than they would charge
under Other circumstances. Take, for example, our
carrying trade to any Spanish colony. The Spanishship
earned all the fine goods' at a freight, which. she conk'
command, higher than -lEe--11ritisfrship, (?n account of
the differential-duties- ,to betlaidien the goods on their'
arrival at their destination: The Spaniards were wide.'
awake, and would not carry rough freights. The'conse-
quence was that the British.must charge for ,them,more
than they did. before, when there was a combination of
rough and fine goods together. But ;there was not only.i
the carrying outward ; there was also the bringing
home sthe return cargo. Let him instance the carry-
ing trade, for example, to France. Coffee in a French
bottom paid 665. duty per kilogramme, but coffee,
"imported ins British ship paid 84s. Sugar imported ba-
r a Wen& bottom paid 685., but when imported in a
British bottom it paid 84s. (Hear,. hear.) Tobacco
paid 4s. in a French bottom, but imported in a British
Iship it paid Bs. Ire.did not coniplam of this provided
we looked to our own interests at home. Every country
had .a right `to impose any; duties it pleased; but in a
national point of view, and regarding the interests of
this great community, we should look to British'
interests in the first 'instance, and do that before we
promoted the interests of foreigners. (Cheers.) He-
was not afraid of any competition 'with British ships.
What he demanded was a clear stage and no favour.-
(Loud cheers.) Let him mention the blind thrown
out in the. recent treaty with Belgium. It was
trumpeted throughout the country that we made the
treaty with Belgium upon the reciprocity principle, and
that our shipping was placed upon an equal footin and
equal rights with the shipping of Belgium. lie had
read this in dozens of newspapers, but not one went
into the minutiae and particulars of the treaty ; and if
they read further than the preamble, which declared it
to be-one of reciprocity, they would find clause 5 ex-
cepting the important articles sugar, rice, -coffee, dye
stuffs, and almost every consumable article imported
into. Belgium. (Hear.) Yet this was the treaty which
was put forth as one of reciprocity, and reeeived as such
in. the provinces to this clay. (Hear.) We now wanted
to man our navy. How could we do it except
through the merchant marine ; and he was glad
to see the Board of Admiralty had taken a step
in the right direction by having a reserve for the navy,
for it was as necessary to have a' reserve for the navy

,tain that

......0 to adopt petitions to Parliament praying'
they
; anti when he put the question to individuals,
they expressed surprise. : He remembered when- thebill
was introduced for throwing open the coasting trade to
for a ' comprehensive, searching', "and inipartial inquiry
foreigners, that it was said it.was of no consequence, as
into the actual state of British navigation, and - the
statement, causes that have led to its'present depression, as well no foreigner, would avail himself of the privilege. He
iris affair; as the passing north as into the laws and regulations under which it is now said, why, Aen grant • the. privilege ? The thin end of
_ _
peg to .9 Trtnra hilmano trpntthon+ . , . ~.

tine weuge was put in, and they might depend
that from year .to year it would be driven hom ,
surely as that was the ease would British sailors diminish
in number, and conseqUently the supply of men for the
navy be diminished also. He found by the Baard of
Trade returns that, in 1851, there were 287 entries of
foreign vessels, comprising a tonnage of 47,000 employed
in the -coasting. trade. In the ten months of the present
year ending in October, between Great Britain and
Ireland, there were 68 foreign vessels entered, making an
aggregate tonnage of 9,000 tons. and the whole of the vessels
for the ten months round our shores were 367, comprising
a tonnage of 58,603 tons. This portion of the trade, then,
was increasing, and would increase, beca use- the foreigners
could navigate our-,Shores, and could live cheaper.than
the British sailor. Let him also point to the advantaee

the foreigner- enjoys from which we were excluded, ana
that was the trade with our own colonies. Would it be
too much to ask from France and Belgium that we should
carry produce to their colonies on the same terms as
they brought their produce to England—in other words,
to carry to France our sugar on those terms of equality
on which she brought sugar here ? At present we
were debarred from that, and we gave them the
bonus of competing with us in our colonial' trade, in-
volving £80,000,000 annually ; and he thought, wher
we had so much to give away, we might well ask _-
to give us something in return. (Hear, hear.) For urn
concessions- no foreign nation had yet given anything
in return. We were often told to look at the United
States as an example of liberty, free trade, and every-
thing. Let us- then imitate the example of the United
States, and just do what they had done, and we should
have nothing to complain of: (Cheers.) What did the
President of the 'United States say when Spain put
differential duties on the " stars and stripes ?" Why he
made short work of it, and said to Spain, " Very well ;
if you will put on those differential duties, we will do
the same." That; soon settled the matter. The unestion
of reciprocity was- at once met; and he believed they
were now on a reeiproeal footing with all the world.
Last year we imported from France £14,000,000 in value
of their manufacture, on which an enormous amount of
labour had been expended, and had yielded an immense
profit to the French nation. In the same time France
had taken from us, £4,000,000 in value, and this was
composed almost entirely of unmanufactured articles,
on which little or no labour had been expended. Our
exports consisted of only raw materials. taken from
the bowels of the• earth' and other sources, but in
which no manufacturing labour had been expended.
Surely it' would not be too much to ask France
to receive on some defined moderate duties our crockery,
woollens, and other manufactures. All this would tend
to increase and ensure the peace of the world, and that
prosperity of the shipping interest of both which they
had never known before. (Cheers.)
Mr. Lindsay here stepped-forward to address the meet-
ing, and his appearance was the signal for a perfect
hurricane of groans• and hisses, intermingled- with
cheers. The honourable gentleman proceeded to address
the meetin,, at some length, and with a considerable
display of physical energy; but throughout his speech
he was constantly interrupted by discordant shouts,
cries of " Traitor !"' "Off ! off !' and other equally
uncomplimentary terms. In the course of his remarks,
Mr. Lindsay said he did not rise from a spirit -of
hostility, for his object was to proclaim to England
and the legislature that the British shipping interests
for some time had suffered, and were still suffering, from
great. depression ; and he thought they were boundqo
consider the best mode by which the legislature could
relieve the shipowners from that depression. The
resolution stated " that the principal cause of the
depression had been the impolicy of the existing system
of maritime commerce." (Hear, hear.) Enforced
reciprocity, as asked for in the memorial, was protection
in its fullest force. (No, no, and fair play.) It was so,
because it was retaliation. (No,' no, and great confusion.)
It was a war of tari ; therefore it was protection-in its
most pernicious form: It was to go back, not merely to
what we had in the days of Huskisson, but to the state
Of protection 'that existed in the days of 'Cromwell.
(No, no.) Was it our interest to retrograde ? Our
course was onwards.
Mr. G. F. Young-4 rise to order. (Cheers.) •
The Chairman decided that Mr. Lindsay was not out
of order.

Mr. Lindsay continued—They had met to inquire
what was the best policy to be puisued—first, for the
nation at large ; anti secondly, for themselves as ship-
owners. (Cheers.); And the question before them was
whether the reversal of free-trade policy would be best
for the interests of the•-conn.try at large ?" - (Hisses and
confusion.)