Star.
London, England, 1830-06-14 00:00:00

7112 STEAM-BOATS AND THE trATEEmEN.
~...

On Saturday morning the Navigation Committee of the t';it
London met for the purpose of viewing the rite of the propo•tio. new
pier, at the end of the Custom-house, for the embarkation nt.d
embarkarion of passages on board the steam-boats. It was, him.
ever, rumoured in the morning. that active and powerful interest
was made by various persons concerned in the St. Katharine awks
to secure to them a monopoly of the convenience of embarking
sengera at once from their wharf. A petition was presented to [Pe
committee from certain inhabitants of Gravesend settieg forth the t
the inhabitants of Gravesend and Milton, by grant of Richard t:,e
Second, and by virtue of divers acts of parliament, have t'.' exclu-
sive privilege of conveying passengers on the tiver Tnames limn
Gravesend to the city of London, and that the citizens of leo:Alin& MA
the like privilege of conveying passengers from the city to (:rays.
end. These privileges had been exercised for neatly five eefituries,
the Gravesend sailing boats having the right of taking passengers
direct from the wharf at Billingsgate, without the intervention or
small boats to put passengers on board. At length these szil.:•g
boats and passage boats were superseded by the use of ,testa
boats, which were at first introduced by strangers. The Pet:.
tioners had expended a sum of between 20,0001. and 30 0001. in
building steam vessels suitable to the passage, and those vessels
had ever been moored within the boundaries of the City, in pur-
suance of their Charters. They prayed that they might now be
allowed accommodation similar to that which had been obtained by
the rn;rictors of St. Katharine's Dock, and that permission might
be give,' them to drive piles into the bed of the river for the ere.-
dun of a temporary platform for the embarkation of passengers. Un-
less tl.is permission was given them, they would he obliged to step
short of the City boundaries, to the griercus injury of the property
of the Petitioners, to the great inconvenience of the citizens of Lon.
don and of the public in general, and also to the destruction of ti.e
ancient ferry.
At half-put one o'clock the Navigation Committee, attended by
the Nl'ater-bailif, the Harbour-master, and the City Surveyor, went
in their barge to the spot where it is proposed to erect a temporary
pier, opposite the east end of the Custom-house. Mr. Hall, the
proprietor of the adjacent wharf, waited upon the Committee an.i
asked of them permission to drive piles eleven feet beyond the pit, s
at present placed there, which would make a projection of 71 fi
from the side of the wharf.

The CuAißmAx said the Committee were disposed to grant tLat
space, but he wished to know how it could be mode use of. >:.,tr
that distance still left a considerable space between thr uuttr p .t,
and the vessels.

Mr. HALL endeavoured to show that a platform might br pr.).
jetted from a lighter or covered vessel, which was to be kept wit .1
the proposed piles, and that this platform might be made to rLAt ti
the steam vessels. The details of the plan were, however, not I!' a.
cured, and the Chairman professed his inability to understand it.
Mr. MATTHEWS, the town clerk of Gravesend, said he attended
on behalf of a body of freemen of that town, who were also citizens
of London. Ile submitted that for the preservation of their ancient
passage the corporation of London were bound to provide accom.
modation for the embarkation of passengers, with the same safety
and convenience that had always been insured in the case of the old
passage boats.
One of the committee observed, that the corporation had not the
means of effecting every proposed improvement or alter,
MT. MATTHEWS said, that rather titan allow pecuniary eon.
siderations to be interposed as an obstacle to the improvement, the
petitioners would undertake to make the erection at their own ex.
pence. He did not disguise from the committee that they considend
the improvement could not be effected, unless they were permitted
Ito drive piles to the extent of low water mark, or thirty feet beyuttel
the space usually occupied by vessels loading from the wharf.
The CHAIRMAN said, they could not be allowed to do that 11
say means.
Mr. MATTHEWS asked why they: were to be refused that per-
mission?

The CHAIRMANT have not time to go into that question 4t
present; we have an appointment on public business to which w..
must attend.

Mr. MATTI' Ewas.alut surely this bubinses is of no small 111.
portance to the public, as well as to the body of petitioners whom I
represent

The Clumsiest—We shall, at the next meeting of the corn.
mittee, take the petition into our grave consideration.
Mr. Maenrxws..—Considerable delay will then be cleated, and
further loss and mischief Le incurred, and the whole matter is now
before the committee.

The CHAIRMAN said that they could not wait to discuss it now
Their time belonged to the public and was engaged.
We understood him to say, in answer to a further pressing in-
quiry from Mr. Matthews, as to the ground for stating that per-
mission could not be given to drive piles down at the low water-
mark, that an impediment to the navigation must be the result.
Mr. MATTHEws—But I trust that the convenience of a trw
craft (for it is but a few boatmen that would be obliged to alter
their course by about 30 feet) will not be put in competition w .01
the convenience and the peace and safety of the public.
The CHAIRMAN said the parties would be heard on their peti-
tion and he could not now discuss the matter.
Mr.MATTIIEWS said, those for whom he appeared had heard that
there were adverse Interests in operation with respect to the St. Kie-
therine's Dock. He did not know who the parties were, whether
they were citizens of London, or whether they were membets of the
Corporation ; but if they were members of the Corporation, be
'trusted that their duty to the public, and their sense ofjustiee., %%mild
prevail over any private or sinister interests.
The CHAIRMAN replied that the Committee would do their &icy.
The Petitioners then left the Committee-barge, and were put
ashore.

The watermen on shore having learned what bad taken place, wire
in high glee, end exclaimed, " they won't do us with their Pier.'
It would appnr, from what has occurred, that we arc to have 3
continuance of the existing nuisance, inconvenience, and danger.
At the late Meeting of the Burial Society, most of the
company evinced their fitness to perform the part of mutes, nor w.!l
there a word uttered calculated to disturb the decorum due to
grave a subject.
The late College of Physicians, in Nirarwick-lane, has
been converted into an immense brazier's manufictury, where many
hammers are constantly at work as are attributed to the fabled rare
of Vulcan.

A GOOD JUDGE.—The into Chief Baron Thottl,,o7.
being at an anise diner, where there was among the comp.olv
tippling Dignitary of the Church, remarked " that the wine e.,.t4
eery good." "Yes, my Lord, it is so," said the pastor of the
Christian flock, "and I think a certain quantity of such bevetar,e
cannot possibly do any man harm after a good dinner." "Oh, to,
Sir, by no means," replied the Baron, "it is the uncertain quantity
that does all the mischief."

NUPTIAL MONUMENTS.—At Rio de Janeiro, every
society of foreigners has erected some public monument in hont.iir
of the recent marriage of the Emperor with the Princess of Bavaria.
The English residents have raised a triumphal arch on the squate
of Acclamations ; the Portuguese, an obelisk on the square of co-
medy ; and the French, a pillar resembling that of the place Ven-
dome at Paris, though on a diminished scale, tun the squat, of St
Antony.

AN OmEx.—A fact is related in one of the Pa't
papers (without note or comment,) which, if true, may hereafter be
recalled to notice as " a cut ious coincidence"—at least, in the event
of any serious mischief happening to the Bourbon dynasty, in coo.
sequence of the present state of political affairs in France. It Is
this—tbat thejleur-ds./ii which formed the apex of theJleche which
surmounts the Pantheon, in Pais, has just been carried away by a
clap of thunder!

I
HE BITER. BITTEN.—LBt WCek, a poor lad, au
itinerant vendor °flues, braces, &c. was so:persevaingly labouring
in his vocation in the streets of Lincoln, as to incur the displeasure
of a man in office, who determined to put an end to his troublesome
importunities. For this purpose he purchased a shilling's-worth
of his braces, and immediately demanded the poor tr.:det's licence.
To his grew surprise, the lad was prepared for him. The man in
authority, who was prepared to punish, was chagrined at the disap-
pointment, and his braces being no longer of tr.e to him, he lifer, it
to re-sell them at :a trifling reduction. The ready witted trader
made the purchase, and hastened ton City 3lagisira c, before whew,
he lodged an information against his customer, for hawking sithont
a licence. The little officer was convicted in a penalty of 1111.
was heartily laughed at into the batgain.
INQUESTS BY AIR. CA IVES, OF LANG l'OßT.—.lt
ilontacute, on Charles Godfrey, aged 27, who, on Vire:driest, 1)
the 2d of June, was employed in quarrying stones for the use 01 Ott
turnpike, and having prepared and set tire to a charge of
powder for blowing a rock, and not having gone far enough
when the explosion took place, a piece of the rock, about In pounds
weight, fell upon his head, and he was killed on the spot, his
skull being severely fractured. Verdict, " Accidentally killed."—
At Crowcoltbe, on satutday last, on Sarah Reed, aged 17. De-
ceased had been living a few week with a farmer named Payne,
at Little Quantock, and on the preceding Wednesday, in the
morning, and up to dinner time, she appealed perfectly well ; at
about one she sat down to dinner with the family, but it was ob.
served she did not eat, and soon became sick, vomiting frequently ;
at about four o'clock she complained of pain in her head, and 01.
thirst. Mr. Payne_gaire her some mint tea, and also, in the e.turse
of the albumen, a 'Mk eider mixed with water, and sent her to
bed. The vomiting continued at intervals, and on Mrs. Pine
(who append Nbs my kind towards her), going fate h bed.
room between six and seven in the evening, having lab beg` few
moments only, the found her dead. It did not appear that the de-
ceased had Wilma" thing of a poisonous mum, and the Jury
returned a verdkt of •` Died by the vhdtatko et GoZu;,-1114
Herald.