Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-04 00:00:00

1858. The vessel having retnrned thus early, the plaintiffs 1
proposed to cancel the policy, and accordingly, upon the
15th" of April, they wrote to the defendants a letter as
follows : " Dear sir,—The_ James Baines having arrived
here, we will thank you to render us a credit note for unex-
pired time, say from the 12th inst., to the date of the ex-
piration of the policy." The policy was handed over to
the defendants for the purpose of carrying that proposal,
if they should accede to it, into effect. No reply, however,
was received up to the 22nd April, and on that day, the
vessel being still in dock, took fire and was burnt.On
that .Iday—end it was admitted that after the plaintiff
had heard that the vessel was on fire—they :addressed to
the defendants the following note : "Not havpig received
any reply to the note of the 15th, requesting a credit
note for unexpired time, we hereby withdraw our
said note, and the request therein contained." A proposal
-of a similar kind had been made by the plaintiff to tho
defendants, in regard to another vessel, the David Mclver,
and, on the 22nd of April, two credit notes were sent back
to the plaintiffs; one for the David Mclver, and the other
for the James Baines, with the following note : "In reply
to your note, received this morning, we beg to say that,
in accordance with your request of the 15th instant,
we have cancelled the policy for the James
Baines, in the usual course, and we cannot therefore
recognise any withdrawal upon your part." Some
further correspondence took place; but the issue was that,
the defendants declined to recognise- the demand for the
withdrawal of the plaintiff's original request, and under
these circumstances the action was brought to recover the
amount of the policy. The only witness examined was
Mr. Greaves, the managing clerk of the plaintiffs, who
deposed to the facts as mentioned. Mr. Wilde, Q.C., who
conducted the defence, addressed the jury on the part of the
underwriters, contending that the proposal of the plaintiff's
to cancel the policy had been accepted ; that the necessary
steps had been taken to carry it into effect ; that the
defendants had for that purpose applied for and received
the policies, and that under these circumstances the request
was irrevocable, and that the plaintiffs had no right to hark
back when they found that the vessel was on fire, and
endeavoured to restore their former position with regard to
the policy. Mr. Perrin, clerk to the defendants, was ex-
amined to show, that the request to cancel the policy had
been accepted by them, and that the necessary steps were
taken to carry it into effect. The witness also deposed that
it was the regular custom in such cases only to retnrn the
premium, calculated upon unbroken months. Mr. James
argued upon this evidence, that if the premium was to be
calculated upon the whole of the month, the risk must cover
the whole of the month also. Mr. Wilde, on the other hand,
maintained that the policy was clearly cancelled on the day
when the proposal was accepted, but that the return of the
premium was to be calculated for the month. Mr. James
urged that the proposal of the plaintiffs was for the cancel-
' latibn of the policy upon certain terms, referring to a certain
day, and that, unless these terms were agreed upon and
accepted, it was not a cancellation according to the proposal
made. His Lordship finally directed a verdict for the
defence, with leave to move.

LIVERPOOL POLICE INTELLIGENCE.-SATURDAY,

BEFORE MR. MANSFIELD.
DISHONEST WORKMEN. —Two respectable looking
tradesmen, named George Connell and Thomas Wharton,
who were in the employment of Mr. Caruthers, ironmonger,
&cc., Scotland-road, were charged for having Stolen a quantity
of goods, consisting of tea-pots, coffee-pots, brushes, and the
like. Mr. Bluck appeared for Wharton, and Mr. Cobb for
Connell. The evidence went to show that, the prosecutor
had missed a variety of property, such as mentioned, and
enquiry was set on foot, as the prisoners were the persons
suspected. The place of Wharton was searched, and a por-
tion of the property was found there. In Connell's house, there
was also a portion of the property found. Both advocates
said that after such evidence as that given they could not
overcome it. The prosecutor wished for a remand, as there
was other property missing, and he wished to have further
search made. The prisoners were remanded to Tuesday.
SHOP LIFTING. —A young woman, named Ellen Mitchell,
was charged with having stolen a piece of printed calico,
value 15s, from the shop of Mr. Duncan, draper, Dale-
street. It appeared.that on Friday a police officer found the
prisoner sitting on some steps in a street, off Dale-
street. She was drunk at the time, and had
the print in her possession. On being asked where she got
it. She stated that she purchased it, but it subseqently tran-
spired that she had stolen it from Mr. Duncan's door. The
prisoner, in reply to the charge, said she was drunk, and
did not know what she was doing. She was sent for trial
at the sessions.