The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-28 00:00:00

the part of this district in sapport of her Majesty's Govern-
ment, in order to insure the speedy adoption by Parlia-
ment of a bill for carrying into effect the recommendation
of her Majesty's Shipping Dues Commission."
Mr. MASON, of Ashton, seconded the resolution, and
it was agreed to.
Mr. T. FAIRBIIRIT moved, and Mr. J. A. TURNER se-
conded, the.following resolution, which was supported
by Mr. HEELTS, Mayor of Salford :--
"That this meeting is irepressed'with the valuable sor-
vices which the corporation of the city of Manchester has
rendered to tbo manufacturing district by its energetic op-
position to the levying of these dues ; and, in recording
its obligations to that body for the activity and ability
which it has put forth on this question, that it is the duty
of the whole of the manufacturing district energetically to
co-operate with the corporation of Manchester, in order to
secure with as little delay as possible the abolition or due
appropriation of these unjust'exactiens."
Mr. M. Ross said he could not forbear, when he
heard Sir F. Thesiger's -speech on the Local Dues Bill,
contrasting some of its arguments with those of Sir C.
Wetherall's on the Reform Bill 25 years ago. Accord-
ing to him, the fall of the vested interests of Gatton and
Old Sarum would he the destruction of thteconstitution ;
and so, according to Sir Frederick, would be the right,
appropriation of the Liverpool town due. (" Hear,'
and laughter.) Mr. Ross said that it must not be sup-
posed that Liverpool gentlemen were all so blind as to
the jaetice of this question, and he read the folowing
extract of a letter from a Liverpool merchant on the
neglect of the Liverpool authorities of their duties and
the maladministration of their funds; as an instance :
"That the corporation have notappropriated thereceipts
from town dues or expended them in a way to promote the
facilities of shipping. That the Liverpool Town-clerk
distinctly wishes it to .he impressee..npon the -public that
they are not called upon to do so. That, on the con-
trary, the Liverpool corporation have neglected to afford
facilities for shipping, and protection to ships, which it
Was their duty to provide, as stated by Mr. S. Helms in the
town-council. The Wallasey embankment, under charge
of the corporation, is in a most disgraceful state of !ne-
glect, the tea penetrating into it, and the sand washed
away, threatening in a short time, if not immediately at-
tended to, to close up the most important channel to the
entrance of the river. That the corporation, who look
after the weights and scales of petty hucksters, and fine
scores of them weekly, provide no means for the correct
measurement of goods shipped abroad, the freight of
which by measure must amount to thousands of pounds
weekly, and is a-subject of constant fraud and deception.
That traffic from the interior for goods shipped through
Liverpool do not use any streets except those on the mar-
gin of the quays ; and, in answer to Mr. Norsfall, it may
be shown that the corporation have preferred to widen
purely shop streets, and have refused when they had the
opportunity of widening those leading from the docks to
the centre of the wholesale trade. That an immense
amount of town dues is collected by no tariff, printed, cir-
culated, or known, but is left to the discretion of the
clerks receiving the same, who frequently differ in their
views ; and this uncertainty of what has to be paid offers
temptation to pilfering on the part of young men, chiefly
apprentices, who pay these dues. That the Government
Customs' officers are the chief provedores of these dues, as
they refuse to pass an export entry until the payment of
town dues is marked upon it. That the revenue from dock
dues is amply sufficient to provide for the required facili-
ties and accommodation of commerce. That the arrange-
ments for paying dues at Liverpool is lumbering, cumber-
some, and unnecessarily expensive. There is a receiver of
town dues, with a staff of clerks, who must be furnished
with a copy of each entry on which is marked the town
dues paid. There is also a receiver of dock dues, with
a staff of clerks, which must also be furnished with
a copy of the entry iu the same manner. The most
simple import or export entry has thus to be taken
to four persons for the local rates alone. That the en-
tries for payment of dues for a whole cargo, inwards
or outwards, might be passed in 10 minutes, and two
clerks would thus bo able to do all the work con-
nected with the receipt of dues in a twentieth part of the
time at present occupied. But at present, if there are 53
different interests on board a ship, they require 50 different
entries for town dues and r:0 more for dock dues. For-
merly the shipbroker passed all these in one entry, and
charged each shipper his proportion when rendering the
freight bill. Every shipper or merchant, in his entries,
wishes to use terms as used in the Customs, dock, or town

dues tariffs (for all three are distinct and different) ; but, I
in the Customs bill of entry for yesterday, taking one day
of small average business, I find, in one day alone, the
following goods entered, for which there is no charge at •
tached in the published tariff of town dues, excluding
what may come under the general term of dry goods.'
Some of these articles may appear of small consequence,
but are really not so. . For instance, of nitrate of soda
1,203 bags are entered ; and of bicarbonate of soda, 220
kegs. Furniture, nitrate of soda, tin ore, Tonquie beaus,
tapioca, isnglass, jalap, bleaching powder, muriates, pros-
siates, hats, lead shot, kegs of nails, twine, paintings, ma-
chinery, saddlery, plated ware, hollow ware, tin ware,
hardware, guns, hair seating, chains, gas fittings, anvils,
vices, blue, ink, bicarbonate of soda, apothecaries' ware,
copper rollers, copper bottoms, fishing materials, printers'
and dyers' materials, varnish, fuze, flocks, vermilion,
seeds, anchors, carubooses, lead pipe, windlasses."
He proposed—
" That an association, to be called ' An Association to
obtain the right Appropriation of the Liverpool Town
Dues,' be now formed, for the purposes mentioned in the
preceding resolution ; and that the support of the leading
manufacturers and merchants of this district, by subscrip-
tion and otherwise, be solicited. That Mr. A.. Henry be
appointed president, Messrs. R. N. Philips, Thomas Baz-
ley, J. A. Turner, J. C. Harter, and Henry Houldswort
be the vice-presidents; Mr. John Platt, the treasurer; and
that the following gentlemen form the committee of council
of the association, out of which 15 members shall be
noini-
hated by the president, to be called the executive commit-
tee, for the purpose of conducting the bueinees of the asso-
ciation." (dens follow 82 names of influential gentlemen
of the town and district.)
Mr. HENRY AINSWORTH seconded the resolution, and
contended that if Charles IL had a right to deal with
these dues her Majesty Queen Victoria had an equal
right ; but they were, in fact, opposed to the spirit of the
times, as welt a-4 of the constitution, by which taxation
and representation went together, and no part of the cons-
' immunity could have a right to levy taxes upon another,
and apply them to other purposes than those for which
they were raised.
Mr. HEnoic, Town-clerk of Manchester, in an able
speech, exposed the fallacious arguments and dishonest
st stements of Sir Frederick Thesiger in this subject in the
House of Commons, and by which the house was led to
believe that Liverpool gave 374,000/. for this right of
levying town dues, while, in reality, that payment was
for 1,300 manors, of which Liverpool was one, the value
of Liverpool being fixed soon afterwards by its resale for
7001. In the same dexterous way it was made to appear
that Bristol was in the same position ; but., in fact,
Bristol had voluntarily reduced the 5,0001., dues raised
in this way by 2,000/. per annum, while she had got
Parliamentary powers, and had taxed her inhabitants to

the amount of 10,0001. for the benefit of shipping.
(Hear.) But what bad Liverpool done ? They spent the
whole 150,0001. per annum rAised as tow❑ dues upon
the tux!), and not on the docks, and raised besides
400,0001. a-year for the purpose of providing for the
acminnodation of shipping. (Ll.-r.)
The resolution was carried, and the meeting separated,
after a vote of thanks to the chairman.

TITE FRENCH TROOPS IN THE CRIMEA.

The Asscniblce National of Tuesday contains the
following article on the condition of the French
army in the Crimea, which will be read with inte-
rest after the remarks made on the same suliject by
the Moniteur

" The article of the Times, which the Monitcur, has
answered, did not escape our attention. The Times
is not the only English journal whose correspondents
have painted in the most • gloomy colours the situa.'
lion of our troops in the Crimea. Without. being"
entirely void of foundation, as we see by the reply
of the official journal, these accounts are evidently
exaggerated. We had no wish to reproduce them,
although we alluded to them on one or two occasions,
in expressing our wishes for a speedy peace. But,
allowing fur exaggeration, it is certain that our army has
been cruelly tried this winter, notwithstanding the soli-
citude of which it has been the object. Sickness has
been more frequent, more malignant than last year, and
everything proves that i❑ the hospitals the deaths have
been much more numerous. The Moniteur accounts fcr
this by the unhealthy situation of our present encamp-
ment. To this cause must be added the inclemency of the
season, which, in the Crimea, has been of the worst na-
ture. Finally, if in the past year the fatigues and dangers
of the siege were added to the rigours of winter, our sol-
diers found in those very perils an excitement which is
wanting to-day. The slightest event of the struggle in
which they were engaged resounded over the entire
world. Every arrival conveyed to them proofs of
sympathy and admiration. The grandeur of the task in
which they were engaged, =list so many difficulties,
and under the eyes of attentive Europe, doubled their
strength and energy. For three months past, matters
have changed, and it is not towards the Crimea that the
eyes of all are east. This new situation has naturally
had its influence on the sanitary condition of the army.
But if public attention is withdrawn from the theatre of
war, and has taken another direction, Fr ance has not
forgotten those of her children who are detained by the
requirements of politics on the shores of the Bosphorus
or the plains of the Crimea. The cruel trials of this ex-
ceptional winter have been supported by them with a
courage, a constancy above all praise. Never have the
sentiments of duty, discipline, the true military spirit,
been carried to a farther extent. In the struggle which
they sustain to-day against sickness, our soldiers are
not less admirable than at the assault, or on the field
of battle : and the country will make no distinction be-
tween those who served it with equal devotion and
heroism in circumstances so different. The Moniteur
informs us that their condition has improved. We re
joice sincerely at this, but we await still better news, for
we believe that it will soon be possible to terminate
those sufferings. Peace will give the signal of return to
our brave soldiers, and the month will not conclude, if
we believe in our hopes, without the telegraph convey-
ing to them orders to leave those inhospitable shores,
where the dead destroy the living. The day is not far
distant when France will prove to the soldiers of the
Crimea that she has not forgotten them,"

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