The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-25 00:00:00

" CAPTAIN ROBERTSON'S REPORT.

My Lords,—Referring to the 434th section of the
Merchant Shipping Act, which provides that an assessor
appointed by the Board of Trade to assist at an investi-
gation shall, upon the conclusion of the case, either sig-
nify his concurrence in the report by signing the same,
or, if he dissents therefrom, shall signity such dissent
and his reasons therefor to the Board of Trade,' I beg to
submit that I differ from Mr. Yariley in the conclusion
coma to him respecting the cause of collision between
the Josephine Willis and the Mangerton, and consider
that, so far from the chief officer of the Josephine Willis,
who was in charge of the deck at the time, being excus-
able, the collision was caused by his wrongful act and
default, and I submit the following reasons for forming
that opinion, viz.:-

" 1. That the cl ief mate of the Josephine Willis, at the
time of a light being reported ahead, rather on the star-
board bow, was in charge of the deck of that vessel, and
ought to have known, from the bearings and distance of
Folkestone, that the light on Dungeness was some 12 or
14 miles to the westward ; and if the night was suck as
is described it was impossible to see so far ; consequently
there could be no necessity for immediately altering the
course of the ship for the reason stated by him.
"2. That he should have carefully watched the light,
and upon seeing a led light ought then to have known
that it was the port bow of a steamer crossing or edgi❑g
to starboard ; that there was a risk of collision if they
continued their respective courses, and have ported his
helm in accordance with the 296th section of the Mer-
chant Shipping Act ; they would then have passed on
the port side of each other, and thus have avoided a
collision. The evidence of Mr. Ray, late chief officer
of the Josephine Willis, is confirmatory of this in a great
measure, as he admits that had the Josephine Willis
ported her helm no collision would have taken place.
"3. With respect to the chief mate's evidence as to
his seeing a green I cannot conceive that was pos-
sible until the vessels were so close that a collision was
inevitable,

"4. With respect to the curse pursued by the Man-
gerton, I think they did perfectly right in porting their
helm after losing sight of a light they had ju•t before
seen a point to a point and a half on their port bow, as
they could not po ably tell the way the ve,sel might be
standing, which they could have done if she had been a
steamer. It is to be regretted that the helm was not
put hard a•port at first.
" I ain also inclined to think that ha-I a bright light,
such as is required to be used by all sailing vessels, been
shown the co.linion might not have taken place. The
steamer Mangerton losing eight of the light of tke Jose-
phine Willis arose, in my opinion, from the latter star-
hoarding her helm, thereby presenting to the steamer a
green light, and that being a fainter light ace unts for
its not being again seen up to the time of the collision,
as stated by come of the witnesses. The lantern in
question was fixed at the bowsprit end of the Josephine
Willis, and showed a blight light ahead, a green light
on the starboard bow, and a red light on the port, cer-
tainly not such a light as is required to he shown by the
' Admiralty regulations. I consider, therefore, that there
is no blame to be attached to any person on beard the
j Mangerton as regards the collision.
" With regard to the conduct of the captain of the
Mangertm after the collision, f coincide in the opinion
expressed by Mr. Yardley, excepting that I consider him
to blame for having all his boats inboard on deck ; and
one of the boats which was got ont, and by which seven
persons were saved, had neither tholes nor even a plug to
keep the water from coming in. This is noticed in Mr.
Yardley's report.
" Tne conduct of the two mates and part of the crew
of the Josephine Willie, after getting on board the Man-
gerton, seems to hays bee❑ very reprehensible, no at-
tempt having been made by them to go to the assistance
of the persons lelt on the wreck of the Josephine Willis.
" There are four particulars elicited in this evidence
to which I would beg to call their lordships' attention :
" 1. The state of the boats and their being carried in-
board, which is said to be very common.
" 2. The particular kind of lantern carried by the
Josephine Willis, and which is said to be coming into
general use.
" 3. To the very unsatisfactory answers given by the
several witnesses as regards the lights and the rule of
the road.

"0. The creditable conduct of two young seamen,
passengers by the Mangerton, named James Newham
and Anderson, who went in the Mangerton's boat to
the wreck and saved Leven of the crew and passengers
when no one eke would go, and who are, I submit,
deserving of such a reward as their lordships may deem
fit.—l have the honour to be,

"Your Lordships' ob:dient servant,
"R. ROBERTSON, Commander, R.N.,
Survqur•Gentral.
"Board of Trade, Feb. 21."

TOWN DUES--MEETING IN LIVERPOOL.

On Friday a public meeting, convened by the Mayor,
in compliance with a requisition signed by nearly 2,000
of the bankers, merchants, brokers, and general traders
of Liverpool, was held in St. George's-hall ; John Stew-
art, Esq., the Mayor, presiding. The meeting was con-
vened in opposition to the bill introduced into tne House
of Commons by the Vice-Presideut of the Board of Trade,
by which it is proposed to deprive the corporation of the
borough of the properties of the town dues and anchor-
age. The meeting was exceedingly crowded, and theme
were present on the platform most of the members of the
corporation, dock committee, and the leading gentlemen
of the town. _ .

__
The CHAIRMAN in opening the proceedings, said that
the property sought to be wrested from the corporation
bad been secured to them by conveyance, and those who
were fur abstracting it forgot that they were losing one
of the great strongholds of society by which the property
of the country was held, not only by municipalities, but
by individuals. (Cheers.) He had it from unquestionable
authority—that there was property held to an enormous
amount by municipalities, noble lords, dukes, and others
derived from that very title of which their town dues
formed only a small part. (Cheers.)
Mr. J. P. HEYWOOD, late high sheriff of the sounty,
moved the first resolution, as follows : "That this meet-
ing has learnt with astonishment that a bill has beeu in-
troduced law Parliament by the Vice President of the
Board of Trade, by which it is proposed to deprive the
burgesses and corporation of this and many other sea
Potts in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, of the
revenue which they now lawfully derive from dues on
goods and shipping." LI the measure of the Govern-
ment, he could see neither reason nor justice. The
town dues were not devoted to lecel proposes only,
but the greater part of them were expended in matters
connected with the welfare i I the nation at large, and
more particularly of the manufacturing districts
around Liverpool, which benefitted largely by the facili-
ties afforded by the corporation of Liverpool to the
commerce of the town. The jealousy with which some
of their neighbours regarded the town clues was, in fact,
foolish and unbounded. Those dues were obtained by
the Corporation as the result of a fair and free bargain
and sale, and consequently there could be no justice in
taking them from the Corporation, except upon the
principle of an ample cornpeneatiou. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. GEORGE DOLT seconded the resolution. They
had seen how legally the foundation of their rights rested
in a court of law, when it bad been decided that the
town dues were their property ; and who of them would
not be satisfied that their claim was good after such an
assertion as the courts of law gave ? (Hear, hear.) The
dues had mainly been devoted to purposes of a national
character. For the purpose of having better access to
the docks from the town, and from the former to the
railways, the Corporation bad granted land of their es.
tate, at almost nominal prices, for the benefit of the
docks, and for the promotion of the commerce of the
country. Look at the conservancy of the river, the
landing stage, &c., paid for out. of the funds of the Co-
rporation ; and if the dues were taken from them, did
they think they would have a remission of those rates ?
Did they imagine that the Vice• President of the Board
of Trade would administer far better than the Corpora•
tion of Liverpool had done ? (Cries of "No, no.") He
was properly reminded of St. George's Hall, which bad
been a very sore subject. Was it not built as much iQr

, 7/7/7'

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the county as for that borough l Was it not also built
for the Hundred of West Derby, and for Salford. as
much as for Liverpool ?—for the adMinistration of jes.
I too ; and if a tax were laid on the hundreds, the count 7
would greatly repine. (Cheers.) With regard. to the
meeting at Manchester, held the previous day, liSeeeee
surprised to see such inaccuracies ; he bad almost Paid
foolery--(laughter)—speakers agreeing in favour of the
bill, and supposing that they would be relieved by its
operation. They would not be relieved one farthing,
but they might go elsewhere were they successful.
Mr. S. IL GRAVES, chairman of the Shipowners' Asso-
ciation, moved the next resolution to the effect, that the
dues on anchorage tolls and on goods had been legally
acquired by the corporation, and were too trifling in
amount to be of serious importance to the shipping
interest, the right hevine been also ratified by the highest
law courts. The Vice-President of the Board of Trade,
in the speech which he delivered in introducing the hill
into the House of Commons, complained df the griev-
ances which the shipowners of hie country felt by the
operation of their towit dues. Now he (INIr. Gr.', ei)
denied that the shipowners of that town, or of the
country, had ever asked to be relieved from the town
dues. He felt convinced that the Government them-
selves were ignorant of the measure which they asked
the c iuntry to support. For himself, ho looked upon
the bill as nothing mere nor less than a mockery ; fp.,
instead of a boon, he conceived that it won d abeoletely
become a bit then to the shipowner. (Hear.) He felt
that he was justified in stating that the Ishii melon of
that pert bad unanimously exprtsied thei- eisapproval
of the measure, and were determined t i adopt every
means Ito oppose it. The association was prepared to
offer the m st vieorous opp ,sition to the bill in its pas.
saee t Hough Parliament. (Loud cheers.) [Here the
speaker read as extract from the proceedings of the
special meeting of the Shipowners' Atseciaticn, which
was to the effect that that b idy had never considered
the town dues as bearing injuriously on shippirg or the
commerce of the pert of the Mersey. That ape, bad
never made any stch complaints to Government or Par-
liament, and that any such representations which might
have been made to their honourable house had been
made in error and without inquiry. The speaker also
read an extract from a petition to Parliament against
the bill, which was agreed to at a meeting of the Asso-
ciation.] In continuation Mr. Graves proceeded to say
that he thought such a forcible appeal from the ship-
owners could not fail to attract the attention of the
members of :Par:iament and influence their conduct
when they were called npon to record their votes upon
this question, and asked to effect the confiscation of that
which was nothing less than an honest right.
0, Mr. ROBERT RANKIN seconded the resolution, and as
a shipowner, denied that from his 40 years' experience,
that the removal of the dues would benefit shipping.
Quite the contrary. lie instanced the fact of the surplus
funds of the Marine Board arid another association hav-
ing been applied to the benefit of other places than
Liverpool. (Cheers.)
Mr. JAMES AIKEN, the next speaker, entered at length
into the origin anti l. istory of the town dues, tracing
them from the earliest period to the time when they
were absolutely purchased from the Sefton family by the
corporation, and then reverted to the trial as to their
legality, which took place in the year IS3O. The trial,
ho said, took place before the Lord Chief Justice of
England, when most eminent counsel were engaged on
both sides. Eventually, the case went to the jury, and
the corporation obtained fa verdict. Their opponents
then availed themselves of a bill of exceptions, but on
their own counsel intimating to them that they had not
a leg to stand In se—that our right to them was clear
and complete, they gave up the contest, and submitted
to an adverse decision. Though entitled to those dues,
eithout performing any act, the corporation gave ground
for the making of docks, and, instead of seeking for
power to rate the dock estate, they were parties to an
alt being obtained by which the docks of Liverpool were
male national property, and freed froth being rated at
all. (Hear, hear.) It the Manchester gentlemen and
others would but read the statement made by the Vice-
President of the Board of Trade in the House of Com-
mons they will find the title to those dues indisputably
clear and complete. He felt confident the bill would be
rejected by a large majority. lie supposed the Vice-
President of the Board would not deny that if these
dues had still remained the property of the Earl of
Sefton, he would not have thought of touching them ;
but as they were no longer the property of an individual,
they were no longer to be held sacred. (Applause.)
Mr. J. H. Saurn, a shipowner, also argued at consi-
derable length that the shipping interest did net consider
the town dues as at present levied a burden, while
there was nothing in Mr. Lowe's to show them, that
when the dues were collected by the Board of Trade,
they would not be appropriated to matters unconneeted
with the port, such as the harbour of Holyhead, which
was not of the slightest use to the commerce of Liver.
pool.
The resolution was passed unanimously.
The third resolution, condemnatory of the proposed
bill as a measure of unjustifiable spoelietion, was moved
by Mr. AmintosE LACE, and seconded by Mr. I.
BEOCLEBANK,
Mr. Councillor PICTON, in supporting it, contended
that hitherto no acknowledged right or property bad
been taken from individuals or 'communities without
granting compensation. In reference to the Manchester
meeting, he deprecated the terms applied to the corpo-
retion of Liverpool, and strongly condemned the plea es
of plunder and plunderers applied to those dues and to
the corporation. It seemed to have been taken for
granted throughout the Manchester meeting, that if
Mr. Lowe's bill pea ed there would be no snore dues on
goods—than 2,1. per bale on a bale of goods would for
ever cease, and that halcyon days for the people of
Manchester wau'd begin. But he felt that Manchester
would not be quite in this happy state, for ho had looked
carefully over the bill brought in by the Vice-President
of the Board of Trade, and he did not Fee that the mown
dues were to be done away with at all—(heal)—neither
did he see the slightest reference to it in Mr. Lowe's
speech. lie warned the gentlemen of Manchester, that,
if successful in obtaining all that was proposed in the
bill, they would find that they bad got rid of the Liver-
pool town dues, but had merely been successful in trans-
ferring them to the hands of Government. Be eon.
derened the bill as one of the numerous attempts o the
G ivornment to carry out the reprehensible system of
centralisatier.

The resolution passed non. con.
Mr. R. A. .MACFIE opposed the fourth resolution,
which condemned the drawing of any distinctions be-
tween the rights of property belonging to private indivi-
duals and that held by communities. Ja the course of a
lengthy speech, Mr. Macfie detailed the various public
purposes for which the corporation bad expended their
funds. They had built public baths and washhouses,
opened free public libri,ries, spent upwards of 1,000,000/.
in widening streets, principally for facilitating the com-
mercial business of the port ; 30,000/. had been laid ont
in the conAtrietion of a lighthouse, and upwards of 1201.
was now being expended in the construction of a large
landing stage for sea-going steamers. The very cotton
and timber brought to Liverpool for Manchester and the
surrounding towns involved the cerporation in a vast
annual expense in repairing the streets.
Mr. CHAS. SAUNDERS seconded the resolution, which
was urriniinni s y ad( ptei'.
Mr. W. RATHBONE moved the fifth resolution, which
protested against the attempts made in the bill t.) re-
move the control of the corporate fund, from municipat
to Government officials. Tile Government, if suo3essful
in their attacks on the right of corporations, might some
day take a fancy to confiscate railway property, for the
great and wealthy railway companies were also corpo-
rations, with no better legal title to their vast revenues
than that possessed by Liverpool to their town dues. As
to Manche:Aar, the corporation of that city devote the
profits of their gasworks to municipal pnrposes, and by
them they have paid for many town improvements.
Some day the Board of Trade might take a fancy to
manage that property, and he would like to know what
the Manchester people would say to that ?
The resolution was seconded by Mr. A. F. HAMILTON,
of the firm of Brows, Shipley, and Co., who said that
the mercantile community had always found the corpo-
ration ready and willing to do anything which would
facilitate the business of the port.
The resolution having been supported by Mr. CMS,
TornEn BUSHELL, was passed unanimously.
The adoption of a petition to Parliainent, embodying
the resolutions agreed to at the meeting, was moved by
Mr. 11. DANsoN(aczent for Messrs. Allsopp and Co.)
The resolution was seconded by 111 r. SruNsv, boot and
shoemaker, and having been passed Tura. con, the pro
ceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the Chair•
man, and three cheers for tbo Queen.

LAST YEAR'S IMPORTS OF GRAIN AND

A return bas just been published by the Board of
Trade of the grain and flour imported into this country
during the year 1855, distinguishing the relative propor-
tions front the various sources of supply. The total
taken of grain of all sorts appears to have been 5,729,241
quarters, and of flour 1,922,318 cwt. This presents a
considerable diminution from 1854, when the quantities
were of grain 6,850,49 S quarters, and of flour '3,705,161
cwt. The quantity ordinarily to have been looked for
from Russia, against which there is now a blank, easy
be estimated at about 1,500,000 quarters of grain. _

Of the total of grain the quantities of each-description
were :

Qrs.
... 2,667,702
.... 349,110
. 1,033,727
2,358
113,479
344,948
... 1,215,333
340
2,244

Wheat
Barley
Oata
Bye

Peas
Beans
Indisn Corn
Buckwheat
Bere or bigg

- . T•

Total .. ............................ 5,729,211
Of these the chief portion of the barley and oats came
from Denmark, Sweden, Hanover, and Holland. Of
peas the largest importation was from Denmark and the
Hanse Towns. The beans were principally from Egypt.
Of the Indian corn the United States supplied more than
half, and the remainder was mostly from Greece. and
Egypt.

ExrLosforr or ans.—During Friday night a chan-
delier in the head offices of the Manchester and Shef-
field Railway, at Manchester, fell from the ceiling, and
on Saturday morning, when the woman employed to
light fires entered for that purpose, so 'much gas had
escaped Itbat an immediate explosion occurred. The
woman was a good deal burnt, several windows were
blown out, and doors detached from their hinges ; ■oaie
fittings also, caught fire, but the porters and servants of
the company being speedily in attendance, tile ilvnes
were extinguished with very slight damage lasing ism
The loss will therefere be ineonsidertihis