Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-05 00:00:00

TOXTETH PARK LOCAL BOARD OF HEALTH.

The usual monthly meeting of the members of this
Board was held yesterday morning, at the Public-offices
Park-place. The Commissioners present were Messrs.)
Hu ilheg, Urquhart, Briscoe, and Rogers.
Mr. Briscoe was elected Chairman pro tem, this being
the first meeting of the Board since the annual elecion.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed,
after which,
Mr. Urquhart, moved, and Mr. Briscoe seconded the re-
appointment of Mr. J. S. Alpass as the Chairman of the
Board for the ensuing year. That gentleman briefly
returned thanks for the honour conferred upon him.
The Board then proceeded to the appointment of the
Finance and Sewerage Cummitteas for the ensuing year.
The Finance Committee to consist of Messrs. Darsie,
Rogers, Briscoe, Hughes, nd Urquhart. The Sewerage
Committee to consist of Messrs. Jeffery, Rogers, Briscoe,
Boult, Currie, and Woodhead. The Chairman being an
ex-oilicio member of each Committee.

A.-repart was read from Mr Newlandg, giving his assent
to the erection of seats on the Aigburth•rcad, on suffer-
ance, the same as the Health Committee had given him
permission to do in another part of the Borough. He
also submitted the plan for the drainage of the house
belonging to Mr. Horafall, and a plan for the g:-neral
sewerage of the district. The report and the plans were
approved of, and the Clerk was instructed to forward the
plans to London, to the General Board, for their sanction.
After transacting some routine business, the Board
adjourned.

THE PEOPLE'S BLUE BOOK.

" TAXAT(ON AS IT TS, AND AS IC oiraTur TO pm."

We have been favoured with a short notice of this very
roma-k able work, which will, we understand, be published
in a few days, by G- Rontledge and C Falringdon-
street, London. It is a single volume, printed in a cheap
form, expressly for the people, to show them what they
are paying to Government for the protection of their per-
sons and property, and what they ought to pay. It's
object is to show how tea, for which they are now paying
4a. a pound, ought to be, and may be, sold for 6,1. a
pound ; how sugar ought to be, and may be, sold for 2d.
a pound ; how tobacco ought to be, and may be, sold for
3d. a pound; how the light, wholesome, and pleasant
wines of France and the Rhine ought to be, and may be
sold for 31 a bottle ; how all other wines, spirits, and all
articles of necessary consumption ought to be, and
may be. sold at prices reduced in the same proportion ;
how all customs and excise duties, all income tax, all
assessed taxes, and nearly all the stamp duties ought to be,
and may be, at once and for ever swept away; how every
industrious working man in the kingdom may have good
fuel and raiment free from taxation; how the manufac-
turer may be free from tho obnoxious visits, and often
insolent interference, of customs and excise officers ; and
how all who have no property bat the produce of their own
daily labour, may enjoy that property free from taxation.
It proves, by ficts and figures, beyond doubt or question,
the astounding fact that the present system of indirect
taxation, to realise one shilling for the government, takes
out of the pockets of the people, directly or indirectly, in
costs and losses, at the least, half a crown.

As we have not seen this work, we can express no
opinion upon it ; but if these facts be really proved—if
these results be shown to be really practicable—it must
be admitted that this is ,the most important discovery
ever made in financial science, and the most triumphant
announcement ever made by political economist.
We look with great interest to the publication of this
volume, which we shall take the earliest opportunity of
noticing. In the meantime we have thought it our duty
to call the attention of the public beforehand to this
striking exposition of the public finances of the country,
which, if well founded, must lead not only to a complete
change in our sFstem of taxation and finance, but to
the e‘tablishment of complete freedom of trade with all the
world.

In a circular to the Trade, just issued by Messrs.
Routledge and Co , the publishers, the following passage
occurs :—" It is a matter of regret to the publishers, and
to the author especially, that the working people of this
country cannot be enlightened on these subjects, which so
deeply concern them, under the high charge of five shil-
lings, which is less than the cost price of the taxed paper
on which this smsll volume is printed, including the other
taxed materials used, and the taxed labour of the working
men employed in printing it."

THE FRIENDS' PROVIDRNT I NSTITUTTON. —The twenty-
'mirth report was presented to the general meeting of
hon wary members held at Anworth on the lte. July, and
has just been published, from which it appears that the
realised capital of the institution now exceeds half a
million,Totooo.
and A itsm annualat th e
these
e incomecaases amounts to
grtoatuulPat7o2nra;lthoef
directors deeply feel the loss which it has sustained by the
decease of Mr. Benjamin Ecroyd, which took place on the
23rd of 'May. The fillowing statement exhibits a sum-
mary of the transactions of the institution from its com-
mencement to the 20th of November, 1856, a period of 24
years:—Receipts.—Nett amount of single premiums,
£134,735 I.2s—Total from all scources, £903,841 5s 1 td.
Disbarsements.—Annuities, £99,161 16i 9J; life assuran-
ces, .E202,7e6, 14i ; printing and stationary, £1,252 04. 51
otb erexpensee (averaging£9l3 83 7d per annum), £23,602
53 'id—Total on all accouete, £903,841 5s I including
balance, being the amo int of property on the 20111 of
November, £500.270 6s 11d.
So ',lucre]) MURDER. NEAR Dr.IFYNOG, SOUTII WALES.—
Oa Friday la 4, a young woman, named Elizabeth
Evans, of Neuadd'-Vach, Laidilo-t:cau, near Defynog,
died suddenly under circumstances which have created a
deep sensation in the neighbourhood. She married, a
short time since, a carpenter in that vicinity, having
not long before succeeded to the farming stock and the
household goods of her father. She and her husband
lived very unhappily together, and latterly she had rea-
son to believe that he intended emigrating to Australia,
taking wi.h him a girl who was residing near them.
To guard against this, she called at the registry office at
Brecon to desire Mr. Williams not to grant him a pro-
bate of her late father's will, fearing that he would sell
everything off, and leave her destitute. She julged this
from having he trd the fact that he had offered to sell
her on several occasions (an opinion prevailing in same
parts of South Wales that a man can get ril of his
wife in that way), and from his having wrenched off the
ring from her finger in the dead of night, telling her
her that it was actually bought for another. Several of
the neighbours expressed to her their conviction that her
life was not safe, and on Friday morning she was found
a corpse, having been seen perfec ly well a short time
previous. The face presented a suspicious appearance.
This, and other circumstances connected with the death,
at once induced Mr. James Williams, surgeon, the coroner,
to institute an inquiry, and order a pose morton examina-
tion of the body.
Tile AMERICAN REV MYR DEPARTMENT.—
reforms in the New York Custam-bouse,th? ftp h
editorer oopfo sthe
Sunday Mercury, of that city, says :—lt has been the
custom of leading merchants and importers of this city to
obtain the services of entry clerks and deputy collectors in
ao dn ve a no cf e t
ho fe tmlroitr timportantlegitimate
officersbusiness,
connectedTh
hies
Customs, and has hard service to pert.rm. He has no
right to extend preference to any class of importers; and,
the rule of the collector is the rule of the miller, which,
years age, decided that he who presents himself to the
hopper first, is to be first served. This rule is carried on'
by the entry.clerk, as long as office hours last ; after that,
he has made it a custom to serve those who may think fit to
employ him. It is of the utmost importance' to a large
mercantile house, to get their goods through the Custom-
ohfo
iuts ewai
isl sgpeete
Id)
iisl aasp
eproassriebaldey; fao
rn d, t o
entry,t his
and
dtheg
thheeamd
to the clerk, will say to him, "Take these papers home
with you tc-night, estimate the euties, and prepare them
for their passage to-morrow morning, early, and I will pay
you fifty," or one hundred dollars, as the case may be.
The clerk without violating any law of propriety or honour,
accepts "the soft impeachment," takes the papers to his
residence, and often is engaged the whole night preparing
them. He does not, by thus acing, perpetrate anything
like malfeasance, or abandonment of duty. Nobody is
injured, and the government receives all the labour of the
clerk it demands of him. The operation is perfectly fair,
honourable, and manly. In the meantime, a small impor-
ter, and a mean man at that, ascertains that the papers of
his cotemporary and rival are prepared in advance—and
so his might be if be would employ the clerk out of office
hours--and he raises a terrible row about it. He com-
plains to the collector' or to the secretary of the' treasury,
and an order is forthwith issued, to the effect that there
must not be any favouritism practised in the department,
under penalty of removal. Orders of similar nature have
been issued ever since we have known aught of the Custom-
house. They last for a day, and then the evil, if it be one,
is reproduced with tenfold 'vengeance. It is utterly im-
possible to put an end to a practice which has existed the
last fifty years, and which will last as long as we obtain
the means of defraying the expenses of the government by
indirect taxation. One of the strong elements which
impel many to seek positions as entry-clerks, consists in
what is known as outside emoluments. An entry clerk
who is able and well acquainted with the ditties of his
station will easily derive from his position from 2,000
dots to 3.508 dots the year. We know of one who has
made his 5,000 the year, "easy ;" and yet the actual
salary paid by the government is fifteen hundred dollars.
It was originally 700 dols ; then it was advanced to 1,000
dole ; then to 1,250 dole; and tw) years ego it was put
up to 1,600 dole,