The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-21 00:00:00

THE WRONGS OF SHIP MAS rER S.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.
Sir,—ln reply to Mr. S. M. Saxby's fetter; I
deem it an ieringement upon your valuable sheet
to waste so much time in the imaginative %%1,e,,
the " argumentuni ad horninem" only
sideratum," and in reviewing his ehth,,rot,. o-ter»nt
at the wrongs of ship masters, he ha not 1. I% an,en
one single argument to promote or protect, thLir
interest; and, •as regards the close, he alludes to
their examination (which I have undergone), and
I ask him why does he close by the question,
" proved his what ?'' It seems to me he was feeling
for information. I cannot close these few remarks
without adverting to some of the passages alluded
to in his very descriptive letter :—" She strikes—
by eff,n'ts superhuman he hauls her off, but leaves
his bArd-earned all to mark the spot, and lives a
broken man." I could be uncharitable enough to
Put the above imagery into proper sense, but I
leive the cool dispassionate reader to judge for
himself, and ask him for his opinion. When he
has read it his reply will be, "all bosh."
Liverpool, May 20. " THE OLDEN.°

CiuncE ep FRIENDS —We should ever have it fixed in
our memories, that by the character of those whom we
) se for our friends our own is likely to be fotmed, and
will certainly be judged of by the world. We ought,
th"refore, to he slow and cautious in contracting intimacy ;
but when a virtuous friendship is estAlished, we must ever
c_naider it as a sacred engagement,—Dr. Blair.
We regret to announce the death of Mrs. Johnstone, at
her house in Eaton-plaes. She was the widow of Governor
lohnstone, a man distinguished in India, and brother to
.Sir John Lowther Johnstone, Bart., of Westerhall Castle,
in Scotland, and the Annandale estate. His son, Sir
Frederick, married the sister of Earl Craven, and his
s'sters are Mrs. Estcourt, of Gloucestershire, Mrs. H.
Buckley, and the Countess cf Verulem.
SINGULAR. CORR OF A DEFORMITY.—In June last,
when P. inc.?, Albert opened the new huil ling of the Royal
Orthop*lic Hospital, in Oxford street, a • patient was
admitted with his legs doubled up under him, awl his
bees in wards twisted towards the ancles. He was lifted
.tp before his royal highness, and an effort was made to
love the limbs, but the contraction was too firm and
The prince appeared to feel much interest in the
"Os and desired to be informed of the result of the treat-
ment of the hospital. On Saturday last the medical officers
were enabled to make the gratifying report that the case
,was a complete cure. The tightened tendons of the
nios. legs, and feet had been operated upon so successfully
that the‘ patient could not only stand but was walking
about the wards of the hospital without the aid of a stick
or crutch. A photograph of the patient in a standing
Position has been taken for his royal highness, and, as a
east of the original deformity is included in the picture,
at gives a very vivid idea of the cure effected.
The private view of the collections of works made by
Leopold Redpath, which are to be sold by auction, by
order aif the assignees of his estate, took place yesterday,
at the rooms of Messrs Christie and Manson, King street,
St. James' The first day's sale will comprise the first
128 lots in the catalogue, consisting of a very Excellent
collsction of specimens of Venetian glass, and Dresden.
Sevres, Chelsea, and Oriental china. The first part
cf the second day's sale will be devoted to the
dl‘Pasal of various articles of vertu, crystal cups, wood
and ivory carvings, ancient Italian bronzes, marbles,
414 e. The gems of the second dab's sale will consist of
fourteen beautiful specimens of the Limoges enamels. The
third day's sale will comprise the collection of drawings
and paintings by modern masters, of which there are about
100; The major portion are water-colour paintings,
Comprising works by nearly all the principal contributors
to the Old and New Societies' Exhibition, including one
beautiful drawing of an "Ancient Norman Church," by
Turner.

DISTRAINT FOR CHURCH RATEs.—In the county of
Durham seizure for church-rates is being pursued with
avidity, and opposition to their imposition is on tbeincrease.
Mr. Joseph Pease and his partners have a colliery at
Medley Hope, near Tow-Law, in that county, and as meta.
hers of the Society of Friends they object to the payment
of church-rates. On May 6h, a distraint on a warrant,
under the hands of Mr. Kearney and Mr. Robert Bellamy,
teas made on the Hedley Hope Colliery, tc satisfy a demand
for church-rates, made in the years 1854-55, amounting to
X 3 le. A horse, value from £35 to £4O, was seized, and
in a few days sold by auction at Davis's Castle Inn, for
dlB 103. The following is the bill of the particulars of
itraint at Hedley Hope Colliery :—" A horse, value
£35, was seized for the amount of £3 is demanded for
psshourch-rates made in the year 1854-55. After kee;•:incz
es!.iscn a fed days the animal was sold for £lB 10s."
The alt ,aint is excessive, and we understand that the
genderlnacing for the defendant in this case will not
allowee 1 't
to pass without questioning the legality of the
pr
ping'e inasmuch as there was property of sufficient
'value satisfy the demand independently of the animal
taken.

THE GOVERNMENT OFFICE Destests.—The number
and magnitude of the premiums, in this instance coesist-
ing of seventeen distinct awards, have induced an unused
number of professional men to embark in the competition,
fOr the premiums promise at least a fair return for time
and labour to the competitor who may succeed in gaining
a prize, even if he fail in standing first on the list. In
Allis tespect no previous competition offers any parallel
'When designs were solicited for the New Houses
of Parliament, " The Lords Committee, agreeing
With the resolutions of the House of Commons,
offered premiums of £6OO to be given to each of the
Parties whose plans should be recommended by
them, to be not less than three in number nor
In ire than five, and that the successful competitor shall
not be considered as having necessarily a claim to be
entrusted with the execution of the work, but if not so
employed he shall receive an additional reward of
41,000," In the present case no less than 16 premiums
are offered ; two of £800; three of £5OO ; two of £3OO ;
three of £2O ; and seven of £lOO ; making a total of
£5,000 as a stimulus to brine forth professional skill.
Considering, therefore, the increased number of architects
since 1836, it can scarcely cause surprise that so meal,
men have been found to enter the list of competitors.—The
Builder.
QUALIFICATIONS EMI A GOVERNMENT MAN.—We give
particulars of the hon. member for Dudley's property
qualification, from 'his declaration, made before Mr. Alder-
man 8 domons, at the London and Westminster Bank, on
the 21st of April. The particulars are as under :—.22.000
in my name on deposit in the Birmingham Banking Corn-
ParlY, and at the Dudley Old Bank, bearing interest at 3f
per cent. £2,000 in my name on deposit in the Dudley
and \Vest Bromwich Bank. bearing interest at 31 per cent.
£l,OOO in a debenture bond of the British Provident Fire
and Life Insurance Company, Chathain-place, Blackfriars,
bearing interest at 10 per cent. £5OO money lent by me
t 0 the Tithes, Life, Fire tisc , Insurance Company, bearing
interest'
at 10 per cent. £4,000 invested in my name,
amoney lent by me to the National Guaranteed Manure
n' pany (Limited), Moorgate-street, City, bearing interest
10 per cent., with a collateral security of certain direc-
Zora of the company, viz : Peter Carstairs, Walter Wynd-
nlm Burrell' J. J. Unwin Clarke, 'and William Starke.
2,000 invested in my name, in shares of the Times Life,
Fire, &e. Company, payinginterest at 6 per cent. £l,OOO
in shares in the State Life Office, Pall Mall. £5,000 in
shares of the National Guaranteed Manure Company
Lirn. tea), such shares being in my name. £315 invested
lit my name, in shares of the British Provident Insurance
Company, paying interest at 6 per cent. 'An annuity of
£3).5, payable half-yearly, granted by the Albert lostirance
Company, Waterloo-place, Regent-street, for the whole
term of my natural life. This qualification arises entirely
out of my personal effects ; there is no real estate whatever.
It is a curious specimen,
Tins COMET.—Mr. John Hartnup, the astronomer at the
tiVerpcml Observatory, has replied as follows to a gentle-
Men who wrote to aim on the subject of the comet, which
at present agitates the minds of timid people
Obser-
l'atory, Liverpool, May 14, 1857.—Dear Sir,—l have not
seen the newspaper paragraphs to which you allude
bsnecting the comet which appears to be so much dreaded
Y the timid : but I can assure the good ladies of whom
3-t)4 speak as being nervous on the subject, that, how-
Z°l' much they may be attached to life, they
may biu7b.- at the idea of so remote a danger as the
annihilation of our earth by contact with one of
those neysterions bodies. Of the physical constitution of
of comets astronomers do not know anything, except that
they appear to be gaseous. The effect produced by con-
tact of the earth with a comet would therefore, probably,
be nothing more than the mixture of the gaseous material
with our atmosphere. Should this take place, the effect
produced is just as likely to be good as bad ; but, for
anything that we know to the contrary, all the comets put
togpther would not be sufficient to produce any
sensible effect The chance of a collision is,
however, very remote. The late Professor Arago
made a calculation as to the probability of the nucleus
°I a comet, the form and position of whose orb t
was not known, coming in contact with the earth, and
'nand that the chances were 280,000;000 to 1 against
this taking place. it has been said by a very cele-
brated astronomer of the present day that we might as
well attempt to ascertain how far a c'oud Which is driven
Sagainst a mountain will tend to break off the top, as to
peculate upon any mechanical danger to the earth from
tout ontact with a comet.—l remain, dear sir, yours very
&e xx is 4/14Fr.—To George M. Sinclair, Esq..
e