The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-11-01 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS.

There is now growing in the garden of Mr. Bentley, of
Aston, near Oswestry, a splendid dahlia (" the Countess of
Liverpool,") which is nearly ten feet high, and has thirty-
five blooms!

The Lord Bishop of Salisbury's two brothers, Henry
Denison, Esq., of All Souls College, Oxford, and Alfred
Denison, Esq., of Christ Church, are on the eve of quitting
this country to settle in South Australia.
The Dutch journals announce the death of the Baron Van
Brienen, leaving an only son, the inheritor of property to the
amount of 65,000,000 of francs (£2,600,000), with the ex-
ception of portions bequeathed to several charitable in-
stitutions.

THE RIGHT KIND OF PRESSURE.—The Germantown
Telegraph says, " There is a tremendous pressure through-
out Pennsylvania just now. The poor barns groan under the
loads which they are obliged to bear, and some fears are en-
tertained of their breaking."
A CuniosiTY,—On Monday, a very fine and extraordi-
nary large sized root of parsley was gathered in the garden
of Mr. Henry Stainforth, file-cutter, Spring-hill, Crookes-
moor side, Sheffield, which weighed 71b. 40z., and measured
four feet in diameter !

The chemists and druggists of Leeds intend closing their
shops at eight o'clock in the evening during the winter
months, commencing on the first of November ; a com-
mendable proceeding, and one that may be adopted with ad-
vantage by all shopkeepers.

A FINE LEAP.—A few days ago, a fat heifer, the property
of Mr. George Taylor, butcher of Newark, that had been
put into the yard of the Robin Hood Inn, for security,
made her escape by leaping the gates, a height of 6 feet 4
inches, which she performed in the most gallant style--
Leeds Intelligencer.
NORTH MIDLAND RAILWAY. Great exertions are
making in the neighbourhood of Clay Cross, to complete
one line of rails, so as to allow of the line between Whit-
tington and Derby being opened in January next, for the
conveyance of cokes to the latter place.

Mr. Henry Tufnell, private secretary of Lord Minto, is
to be the new Lord of the Treasury. Mr. Tufnell has an-
nounced himself as a candidate for Devonport, as successor
to Sir Edward Codrington, whose appointment to the com-
mand of Portsmouth has caused a vacancy in the represen-
tation of that borough.
A curious prohibition was annexed to the leave most libe-
rally given to Mr. D. Roberts, the artist, by Mehemet Ali,
to enter all the mosques, and make drawings of their interiors.
He was accompanied by a Janissary, (being also himself in
the Arab dress,) and forbidden to use pencils of the bristles
of the unclean beasts. They must be of camel's hair, nothing
piggish being admissible.
On Monday a solicitor called at the house of a merchant
in London, pursuant to the request of the latter, to settle an
account. On knocking at the door, he asked the cockney
servant if his master were at home. The servant answered—
" No, sir, master is just stept out to fetch a walk." The
lawyer observed hastily, " You should have fetched it for
him, and then he would have remained at home to keep his
appointment."

The celebrated stallion, President, died at Waitwith, near
Richmond, Yorkshire, on the 31st Sept. at the advanced age
of 29 years. President was own brother in blood to Prime
Minister, and was bred by the late Sir Mark M. Sykes, Bart.,
his sire being the celebrated Sancho, his dam, Miss Teazle
Hornpipe, by St. Peter; grandam, Hornpipe, by Trumpeter.
—Leeds Intelligencer.

CENTENARY MEDALS.—Messrs. James Heeley and Sons,
of Biimingham, the authorised agents and mrnufacturers of
the centenary medals, have already struck off nearly 200,000
of their very beautiful designs, for the supply of the society
in various parts of the kingdom. They have orders in hand
for as many more, in addition to the supply for the foreign
stations, which are as yet to be completed.
Richard Le Noir, the Arkwright of France, the first cotton
manufacturer of the country—who, after having at one time
from the station of a labourer, raised himself to a fortune of
nearly a million sterling—died in Paris on Saturday a poor
matt, having been ruined at the restoration by the competi-
tion which English goods brought into the markets of the
continent.

MIDLAND COUNTIES RAILWAY.—The quantity of earth-
work removed, and the number of men, horses, and engines,
on the unfinished portion of this railway, namely, from
Rugby to the Trent, was 185,203 cubic yards, 3,505 men,
343 horFes, three locomotive and two stationary engines.
The whole of the earthwork between Leicester and Rugby
was three millions of cubic yards ; of this, 2,400,000 has been
removed, and the quantity done last month was 132,792
yards.—Leicester Chronicle.
POTATOES.—The Government have effected the ruin of
the fruit-growers, and, if what we have heard be correct, the
potatoe-growers are in some danger of receiving a similar
favour. We have reason to believe, having received infor-
mation from a source on which we can implicitly rely, that
an application is now under the consideration of the Lords

of the Treasury, to lower the present duty on foreign pota-
toes, and to alter the mode of estimating it. We warn the
potatoe-growing districts, which supply the London markets,
to lose no time in looking into this:matter.—Maidstone
Journal.

PAPER-CUTTING MACHINE.—At Loch Paper Mill, near
Linlithgow, an improved cutting machine has been at work
these four months past, constructed and fitted up by the
enterprising genius of Mr. John Brown, engineer, Ander-
ston, Glasgow. It is of a very simple construction, and will
certainly be a great benefit to paper-manufacturers in cutting
the sheets of a size to the greatest nicety, without broke ;
pot paper 240 sheets per minute, or 360 reams per twelve
hours; other sizes in proportion. It has been examined by
several gentlemen in the paper trade, and considered a supe-
rior invention.—Glasyow Courant.
LONGEVITY.—A numerous body of the tenantry of Capt.
Bryan, M.P., assembled at Jenkinstown, on Thursday even-
ing, to welcome his return to Ireland. Amongst those who
participated in the rejoicings on the occasion was Mrs. Whe-
lan, a hale old grandame, aged 105, who "tripped it on the
light fantastic toe" as merrily as the youngest. She danced
for a considerable period without any appearance of fatigue,
and seemed to enjoy the scene, as if the weight of three-
quarters of a century had been suddenly removed from her
shoulders.—Kilkenny Journal.
A CURIOSITY.--TwO men having quarrelled in a sugar-
refiner's at Valenciennes, one of them threw his comrade
into a copper of thick molasses. The latter scrambled out,
covered from head to foot with the sugary stuff, and, angry
at his adversary, rushed into the streets just as he was, to
make his way to the King's Procorpio-, to obtain bagai
dress. It was treezing very hard at the time, and the sugar
became so firm, that when he arrived at the house of the
magistrate he looked like a substantial stick of barley sugar.
His arms were candied to his side, and he was compelled to
ask a by-stander to ring the bell for him. This curious ex-
hibition attracted crowds of spectators, and excited much
merriment.

PIGEONS.—We are not aware whether pigeon fanciers have
ascertained the average duration of life of this bird, when old
age is permitted to terminate its existence ; but however this
may be we are in a situation to enlighten the curious on this
matter. James Garside, of Birkenshaw, has now in his pos-
session a male bird of this species, which he purchased 16
years ago, and which was at the time upwards of two years
of age, so that the bird is now in its 19th year. About two
years ago it began to manifest signs of physical decay ; the
female with which it was mated ceased to lay axy eggs, and
latterly its sight has failed to such a degree that it was with
difficulty it could steer its aerial flights, and its owner has
very considerately placed it in a large wicker cage.—Leeds
Intelligencer.

Lord Nugent has issued an address to the electors of
Aylesbury, declaring his intention to persevere in his obsti-
nate course of opposition to Mr. Cavendish,. our Liberal
candidate. His Lordship has not, however, left himself
without a loophole through which to escape the performance
of this his rash avowal. We would rather that his Lordship
had declined altogether; but we think it is a matter of but
little importance, as Nugent's power to do mischief is now so
curtailed that his presence as a candidate at any future elec-
tion will have no sensible effect. To talk of Nugent's chance
of being returned is the height of absurdity ; his Lordship
will not find a dozen of the " independent electors of the bo-
rough and hundreds of Aylesbury" ready to support him.—
Aylesbury News.
As the Socialists declare their willingness to have their
views freely examined, Mr. Brindley has always afforded
them an opportunity to reply to his statements ; he did this
at his late lectures in Manchester, and in order to accomo-
date their means, gave them free admission, whieh they abu-
sed by involving him in the expense of damage done to the
property in the room. If they are really anxious that their
system should be investigated, they will prefer the decisions
of a respectable and intelligent audience. Accordingly, he
now challenges Robert Owen, or his approved advocate, Mr.
Buchanan, to meet him at these lectures; offering either of
them equal time with himself, to vindicate their views.—
Should they refuse to do so, the public will then see that the
object of socialism is only to impose on the ignorant, and
pander to the vices of the dissolute and profane.—Manchester
Courier.

MILITARY MEN OF FIFE.—The following remarkable
anecdote was told by General Durham at the ordinary of the
late meeting of the Caledonian Hunt, in returning thanks
for the army :—" I have, on former occasions," said the gal-
lant veteran, now in his 70th year of service, " mentioned in
public, that at one period of the late war, there were no fewer
than 17 general officers in the army belonging to the county
of Fife, and that to this no county in Scotland could produce
a parallel. As the correctness of this statement has been
doubted, I shall now give you their names; they were—the
Earl of Hopetoun, the Earl of Balcarres, the Earl of Eglin,
Sir J. Oswald, Sir R. Ferguson, Gen. the Hon. J. Leslie,
Gen. the Hon. D. Leslie, Sir W. Erskine, Sir. D. Erskine,
Gen. Viemyss, Gen. Ramsay, Gen. Durham, Gen. Mon-
crieffe, Gen. Anstruther, Gen. Grahame Stirling, Gen. Nis-
bet Balfour, and Gen. Clephane—(great applause) and
having named these, I think I am safe in saying that no
county in Scotland but Fife could boast of the like."

AWFUL CIRCUMSTANCE.—The following awful instance
of the uncertainty of human life, occurred on Tuesday fore-
noon last, in the person of Mrs. Jenny Worthington, linen
draper,'"of Poulton. She left home in the morning, in good
health, intending to visit the new town of Fleetwood, but,
melancholy to relate, she was attacked by sudden illness, after
proceeding about two miles on the road, and being placed in
Mr. R. Lytham's house, medical assistance was procured as
soon as possible. A little blood was extracted, but the un-
fortunate woman remained insensible till about eleven o'clock
in the evening, when the vital spark became extinct. The
deceased was sixty-six years of age. It is a singular coinci-
dence, that Mr. Thomas Worthington, her late husband,
nine years ago, was seized with a stroke out of his house in
the afternoon, was brought home and died under similar
circumstances the same evening.—Preston Chronicle.
MR. SHARMAN CRAWFORD AND " REPEAL."—This
gentleman—who, if he be a wild politician, is unquestionably
one of Ireland's best landlords—has answered the address of
the Trades' Union, inviting him to join in the traitor cry of
" Repeal." He declines the honour of playing second fiddle
to Dan. The agitator held out to him the. hand of pardon—
it was refused—and now Mr. Sharman Crawford will never
be forgiven. He is weak enough, or sensible enough, to with-
hold hie assent to become a tool in the hands of the great
giver of Irish seats and English places, from the constabulary
to the privy council. He has done more—he has actually
given a blow to the public enemy ; and vehemently protests
against future attempts at humbug, by reference to the say
much and do nothing " associations," that " rest in the si-
lent oblivion of the grave," and are remembered only by
those who transferred money from their own pockets into
those of O'Connell. The tricks of the juggler have been thus
exposed by the party he summoned to his aid as an assistant.

A CASE FOR THE TEETOTALLERS.—A few days since, a
certain individual, of Manningham growth, took it into his
head to marry ; the event accordingly took place, as he was
announced in our last list of marriages ; the object of his
choice was a widow. The interesting ceremonies being
ended, and ritual demands settled, our hero and heroine be-
took themselves to the house of the farmer, where they in-
tended to carry on the execution of conjugal duties. Night
came, they retired to rest, and night passed away, when
morning came, lo ! the fair object of our hero's affections
was fled, unacountably, clandestinely, and most certainly.
Disconcerted at the loss of his better half, he rose, and by
virtue of an anxiously persevering inquiry, ascertained that
the reason of his wife's departure, was that he " kept no-
thing to drink." On learning this, our disconsolate "wor-
ser' -half summed up his finances—went to a gin shop, and
immediately entered to the dr. side of his budget, the item :
" gin for my wife." Whether after purchasing " gin for his
wife" he has succeeded in reclaiming her we have not heard,
but where are the teetotallers ?—Leeds Intelligencer.

Lord Ashburton has laid out upwards of £lOO,OOO in the
purchase of land in Devon within the last year.
A woman died lately in Italy, at the advanced age of 143
years, after having eight husbands, the last of whom survived
her.

That noted place of resort for wild fowl, " Romney Hey,'
has within these few days been visited by flocks of wild ducks
and other wild fowl.

Lord Lynedoch is the senior peer of the house of lords
being in his eighty ninth year. His lordship is in full enjoy.
ment of all his faculties, and very active considering his ad-
vanced years.

IRISH TRANQUILLITY.-It costs £12,000 a-year more to
maintain the peace in the counties of Cork, Tipperary, and
Limerick, each of which is under Popish influence, than is
expended for the same purpose in the nine counties of Pro-
testant Ulster, although their population exceeds that of
Cork, Tipperary, and Limerick, by a million souls.—Dublin
Evening Mail.

AN IRISH DIVISION.—The new number of the Quarterly
Review informs us with great gravity (see page 415) that "in
the Congress of the United States (as a recent traveller
remarks) one half of a speech is addressed to electors a thou-
sand miles off, another half to the ladies in the galleries, and
the remainder to the Congress itself." The reviewer should
have mentioned the name of this ingenious traveller,
EXTRAORDINARY FECUNDITY. -- Captain Minchin, of
Bellville, near Dundram, county of Dublin, planted in Janu-
ary last two red•nose kidney potatoes, weight half a pound,
in stable manure and coal-ashes. As the, stems-advanud he
had the plant earthed up like a celery, and the produce was
eighteen pounds and a half, being thirty-seven times the
original quantity. A slice was taken from the root end of
each, and they were planted on that end.

An immense-sized eagle, of a dark colour, and spotted,
was observed on Saturday last hovering over Romney Warren.
When first seen it was near the earth, but soon soared to a
great height. A heron was also observed at the same time,
and heard to make a croaking noise, as if in terror at the
winged monster. And whilst our correspondent was in
conversation with the Looker, whose house is situate near
the spot, a fine large woodcock flew past, and settled in a
field about a hundred rods from them.

The Gazette de Commerce of St. Petersburg states, that
the minister of finance receives regularly every month from
Paris, London, Berlin, and Vienna, models and drawings. of
all the new discoveries in machinery, tools, implements, &c.;
specimens and drawings of all silk, cotton, and woollen staffs;
of porcelain and glass ; and that all the native manufacturers
are invited to see and examine them at the ministry of finance
on the 15th of every month.

ULVERSTONE.—A good deal of excitement existed on
Monday and Tuesday week, in consequence of a poll being
taken on the subject of a rate for the purpose of lighting the
town. After two days' poll the pro-rate party obtained a
majority of 27 in favour of the rate. The rate was opposed
on the ground that the law expenses incurred in defending
the former rates were to be paid out of it. The town will
now be lighted during the coming winter.
DANCING IS POWER.--A country newspaper, having
given an account of a chartist meeting, at which plumb-cake
and dancing were the chief entertainments, observes,—" Such
congregations as these must convince both the dissembling
wbigs, and the ultra church-and-state tories, that the work-
ing classes are alive to their own interests, and that a poli-
tical change is inevitable." Who could object to a political
change produced by dancing and plumb-cake ?
THE WEATHER.—Since our last, the weather has been
all that the husbandman could wish, and the potatoe harvest
progresses with rapidity. A gentleman who has visited,
within the last fifteen days, several of the northern counties
of England and much of Scotland, confirms our former state-
ment, that the crops have been well saved in every quarter
in which he has journeyed, with the exception of the bleak-
est uplands, and even there the last wains will have per-
formed their work by this time.—Scottish Guardian.

PERFECTION OF STEAM.—Jonathan says—" To such per-
fection they have got steam in Kentucky, that a grocer there
has discharged all his shopmen, and actually has two engines
to serve in their places. A cunning Cilia observing this,
thought it a good opportunity to help himself. He accord-
ingly went in, secured a loaf of sugar, and was about to make
off ; but it was " no go," for one of the engines collared him,
gave him in charge, and when I left the office (continues Jo-
nathan) the engine was about to give its evidence."
DYEWOOD.—A method of extricating the colouring matter
from wood has been lately employed by a M. Besseyre with
much success. He first reduces the woods to very small
divisions, and then immediately places them in a closed ves-
sel, exposed to a current of steam. When the whole has at-
tained 80 degrees of heat, it is uncovered, and watered with
several pints of cold water. By means of a tap below, the
condensed liquid is drawn off, and thrown back upon the
chips, and this operation is repeated until the dye has acquir-
ed sufficient strength : it is then subjected to evaporation
over an open lire, and subsequently in a sand bath, and the
extract becomes a mass, which is soluble in warm water.
GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY.—The excess in the actual
cost of the Grand Junction Railway, in the items of land and
works from Birmingham to Warrington, as compared with
the parliamentary estimates, was £309,129 9s. 7d. ; the par-
liamentary estimates amounting to £1,040,000, and the ac-
tual cost to £1,349,129 9s. 7d. There was, moreover, an ad-
ditional excess of £351,703115: ld. ; of which £64,85315. 4d.
was applied to the purchase, from the Warrington and New-
ton Company, of their line, while the remainder was expend-
ed on stations, locomotives, &c., which, strange to say, were
not included in the parliamentary estimates. The total ex-
cess, therefore, upon the line, as now in operation, was
£660,833 Os. Bd.—Railway Times.
POUND WISE.—Mr. Rowland Hill, the ;projector of the
insane penny postage scheme, has been installed in a room
at the Treasury, Whitehall, hitherto occupied by one of the
secretaries, with a salary of either £l2OO or £l5OO a-year.
Some persons may think, perhaps, that St. Martin's-le-
Grand presented a more appropriate sphere for this gentle-
man's labours ; but to this rumour says that Lord Lichfield
objected, down to a threat of resigning if any attempt were
made to place this viceroy over him. At any rate, Mr. Hill
has managed pretty well for himself, and has illustrated the
proverb, which says, " If we look after the pence, the pounds
will take care of themselves." Taking Mr. Hill's salary at
the lowest alluded amount (X 1200), it will require the post-
age of 288,000 letters to pay it.—Argus.

ARTESIAN WELL AT GRENELLE.—At a late sitting of
the Academy of Sciences, M. Arago stated he had that morn-
ning been making some thermometrical experiments at the
Artesian well at Grenelle, in order to ascertain the tempe-
rature at the 'depth which had already been attained, viz.
483 metres, or 1,584 feet. When the workmen had reached
460 metres, the chalk was of a peen colour, indicating the
proximity of water. Since then the chalk had become mixed
with clay and of a dark colour, a still stronger indication that
the sheet of water which it is intended to meet is near. M.
Arago used the thermometer of M. Walferdin, and after hav-
ing taken all the necessary precautions in order that the
pressure, which at such a depth is equal to fifty atmospheres,
might not injure the bulb, six thermometers of the same
kind were successively let down to a depth of 481 metres,
care having been taken not to lower them until thirty-six
hours had elapsed since the boring, in order that the heat
which this work might have communicated should have sub-
sided. The thermometers were left in the well for thirty-six
hours. The heat at this depth was 27° of Reamur and 9240
of Fahrenheit; being about twenty-three metres for each de-
gree of temperature. M. Arago expressed a hope, that no
water might be found for 100 metres more, as in that case
there would be a permanent hot spring at the very gates of
Paris.—Mechanics' Magazine.

FUEL FOR STEAM PURPOSES.—A new description of fuel
for steam purposes has lately been invented by Mr. Stirling,
of Limehouse : and an experiment, to prove its superiority
even over the best Welsh coals, was made last Saturday, at
the furnaces of Messrs. Fairburn, engineers, at Mill Wall,
Bankside, under a high pressure engine, during the long
period of eleven hours, with the most perfect success. The
saving in fuel alone was not less than twenty per cent. in
comparison with that description of the best coals usually
used in the works of these gentlemen ; and the space occupied
by Mr. Stirling's fuel was one-third less than that usually set
aside for coals. The Lords of the Admiralty have directed
another experiment to be made of the properties of the fuel,
at Deptford, where, should it be equally successful, a new
era will be speedily created in steam navigation, the supe-
riority of Mr. Stirling's invention being made manifest in a
considerable saving in expense, in the creation of a much
more powerful heat than can be raised from coals, and what
is still more important, is an immense saving of room on
board ship.

EXTRAORDINARY CHANGE OF FORTUNE.—MT. John
Mobbs, who died at Islington about the 1789, by his will be-
queathed a large and ,valuable estate, then known as the
Wenlock Farm, to executors upon trust for the benefit of his
two sons, then of the ages of three and four years, who
" were to have proper schoolmasters, to be qualified to be-
come ornaments to society and to be brought up to the
Church of England." The executers, in violation of the
trusts reposed in them, at a proper age apprenticed the boys
to shoemakers in the neighbourhood of Shoreditch, and they
have up to the present time undergone many vicissitudes,
totally ignorant of the splendid patrimony to which they
were entitled. The property, which, during the present
century has been considerably improved, comprised about
200 acres of land, now nearly all built upon, and several old-
established and first-rate public houses in Hoxton Old-town
and its vicinity, among which the following houses are par-
ticularly mentioned in the will :—The Old Ivy House, the
Queen's Head, the Cock and Greyhound, the Rosemary
Branch, the King of Prussia, the Britannia, the Bacchus,
the Plough, the Green Man, the College House, the Whit-
more's Head, the Robin flood, and the Noah's Ark. The
will of Mr. Mobbs, after having been secreted by the dif-
ferent parties in whose hands it has been until within the last
few weeks, having come into the possession of his sons, has
just been proved in Doctors' Commons. The property must
at the present time be worth at least £3oo,ooo.—Morning
Herald.

EXTRAORDINARY CURE (DISTORTION OF THE FOOT) AT
THE RADCLIFFE INFIRMARY.—IR an age when improve-
ments in all the arts of life are continually brought into use,
when the skill of the mechanician and the artizan pervades
the whole circle of society, and the enjoyments of every in-
dividual of the community are daily extended by fresh disco-
veries in art or science, it is gratifying to find that in medi-
cine and surgery, which have for their end the preservation
of life and the restoration of health, similar advances are
made. The discovery of vaccination, which affords the means
of extirpating a loathsome and fatal disease, will most ho-
nourably mark the present age to all future times. In sur-
gery, too, operations are now familiarly performed, for the
cure of injuries and diseases which, a few years ago, were
believed to be incapable of relief from human skill, and con-
demned the sufferer to a life of torture and despair. We
have heard lately of the successful treatment of one species
of inconvenience and deformity, that has usually been re-
garded.as incurable ; and we are desirous of giving that pub-
licity to this new exertion of skill which it so well deserves.
Distortion of the foot, by which the use of the limb is almost
wholly prevented, is at length found to be capable of remedy.
It was stated in some of the medical journals, that Mr. Lit-
tle had seen an operation for this disorder practised in Ger-
many, which he immediately adopted, and repeated in Berlin
and London with the greatest success. A few months since,
a boy named Charles Monday, from Charlton-on-Otmoor.
in this neighbourhood, of five years of age, who had a dis-
torted foot from his birth, was brought to our Infirmary :
the heel was drawn up to the calf of the leg, and be could not
touch the ground with that foot. The senior surgeon, Mr.
Hitchings, having considered the case, thought it favourable
for the new operation, which he accordingly performed. We
understand it to be the separation of the tendons that are
contracted, in this case of the tendo Achillis. This was no
sooner done than the foot, in an instant, assumed its natural
position; the boy rested the limb, properly bandaged, for a
few days, when, such is the wonderful provision made for the
restoration of our frame to healthful function, a deposition
of tendinous matter took place, which united the severed
parts, and lie was then enabled to walk without difficulty.
This deposit, we understand, is not, strictly speaking, ten-
don, but it is a secretion of a similar substance, strong, elas-
tic, and insensible, uniting the ends of the real tendon, and
enabling the muscle connected with it to act in its proper di-
rection. The patient was brought again to the Infirmary a
fortnight ago, for a slight ailment, not connected with his
former disorder, and shewed that he had the healthy use of
his limbs, with scarcely an appearance of lameness. We have
thought it right to notice this example of surgical skill, in
order to apprise those who may hitherto have regarded their
sufferings with despondency, that their case is not hopeless,
that art has yet large stores for the succour of misery, and
that science may still avail to the restoration and healthful
use of every part of our curiously compacted frame, even un-
der circumstances which, hitherto, have been regarded as
past cure, and without the possibility of alleviation.—Oxford
Herald.

TOWN COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS

A special meeting of the Town Council was held on Wed-
nesday, at eleven o'clock, in the Council Chamber, Tower-hall.

EXTRAORDINARY EXPENDITURE.
In his report under the above head, the Town-clerk set
forth, that he considered the present time, the last day of
their meeting in the municipal year, as a fitting opportunity
to draw the attention of the Finance Committee to the fol-
lowing facts, bearing upon questions of great importance. On
careful investigation, it appeared that, after defraying the
obligatory expenditure, and the discretionary applications of
surplus in matters of annual recurrence, and -which (always
subject to annual revision) might be expected to be perma-
nent, a disposable annual surplus of greater amount than
about £lO,OOO could not be calculated upon—a fund which
ought not to be too much relied on, considering the various
contingencies to which it was subject. The following extra-
ordinary payments were made last year :-Ist, in the pur-
chase of land as follows, Magazines £2007 12s. 7d. ; New
Police Stations £6594 12s. 9d. ; Land, &c. New Haymarkets
£8955 95. 2d. ; Premises Benn's-garden £290. Total
£17,842 14s) 6d. Second) in Public Improvements of extra-
ordinary nature, (exclusive of improvements under the Im
provement Act,) St. James's Market £2517195. 7d. ; General
Improvements (extra) £4291 3s. 11d. ; Borough Gaol £3277
17s. Bd. • Baths £1917 2s. 11d. ; Slaughter Houses £l7OO
1s 4d. ; dustom-house £9135 13s.6d.—Total, £22,849185. 11d.
These it was obvious could not have been met by ordinary
income, and indeed were defrayed out of extraordinary re-
ceipts not likely often to recur in the same or any other
shape. In the improvement and increase of the Corporate
Estate, amounting to upwards of three millions nett or clear
of debt, and its administration for the public good, occasions
would arise, when it would be the interests of the town, that
investments in purchases, and for extraordinary purposes of
improvement should be directed to be made. If however,
such investments were made to any extent, the whole surplus
revenue would be entirely absorbed to the manifest injury of
the present claimants, on the benefit of its application. With
this impression on one hand, and on the other with the
opinion, that the interests of posterity ought to a fair extent
to have protection, the Town-clerk-submitted, that all such
extraordinary investments as might "hereafter be deemed by
Council proper for the public good, might be made, by means
of money raised on bond, subject to the following regulations
to be made obligatory by parliam-entary provision. First,
that the property to be acquired by the investment, shall
yield at the least a nett rental equal to the interest on any
money borrowed for its payment. Secondly, that for re-
placing the investment where there is no rental, or a proper
proportionate part of it, when there shall be rental less than
the required amount, a reduction fund of £2 per cent. per
annum shall be created, and set apart.
On calculation, it appeared that in twenty-eight ye, rsthis
fund of £2 per cent. per annum, at four per cent. compound
interest, would pay off the principal. After some further ex-
planations, the report stated that the Council had at present
before them, as prospeetive charge upon the current year.
the following extraordinary subject* :—Site of Old Fort and
land surrounding, £27,850 ; Haymaikets,,£47lo and £5OOO ;
Boundary-place, £lB5O ; Building Observatory, £l5OO ;
Schools, £3300 ; Land, Gill-street, for new Market, £6415 ;
Addition to St. James's Market, £2OOO. Total £52,625.