The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-07-05 00:00:00

BILLS OF EXCHANGE.

A Bill to amend and extend the Provisions of an Act of the
First Year of her present Majesty, for exempting certain
Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes from the Opera-
tion of the Laws relating to Usury.—[Note.—The words
printed in Italics are proposed to be inserted in the Com-
mittee.]
Whereas by an act passed in the reign of her present.
Majesty, intituled, " an act to exempt certain bills of ex-
change and promissory notes from the operation of the laws
relating to usury," it was enacted, that bills of exchange
payable at or within twelve months should not be liable for a
limited time to the laws for the prevention of usury : and
whereas the duration of the said act was limited to the first
day of January, One thousand eight hundred and Forty, and
it is expedient that the provisions of the said act should be
extended ; be it therefore enacted, by the Queen's most ex-
cellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the
lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present
parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that •
from and after the passing of this act, no bill of exchange or
promissory note made payable at or within twelve months
after the date thereof, or not having more than twelvemonths
to run, nor any contract for the loan or forbearance of money
above the sum of ten ponnds sterling, shall, by reason of any
interest taken thereon or secured thereby, or any agreement
to pay or receive or allow interest in discounting, negoci-
sting or transferring any such bill of exchange or promissory
note, be void, nor shall the liability of any party to any such
bill of exchange or promissory note, nor the liability of any
person borrowing any sum of money as aforesaid, be affected
by reason of any statute or law in farce for the prevention of
usury ; nor shall any person or persons, or body corporate,
drawing, accepting, endorsing or signing any such bill or
note, or lending or advancing or forbearing any money as
aforesaid, or taking more than the present rate of legal in-
terest in Great Britain and Ireland respectively • for the loan
or forbearance of money as aforesaid, be subject to any
penalties under any statute or law relating to usury, or any
other penalty or forfeiture ; any thing in any law or statute
relating to usury, or any other law whatsoever in force in
any part of the united kingdom to the contrary notwith-
standing : provided always, that nothing herein contained
shall extend to the loan or forbearance of any money upon
security of any lands, tenements or hereditameuts, or any
or interest therein.

Vy
Provided always, and be it enacted, that nothing herein
contained shill extend, or be construed to extend, to repeal
or affect any statute relating to pawnbrokers, but that all laws
touching and concerning pawnbrokers shall remain in full
force and effect to all intents and purposes whatsoever as if
this act had not been passed.
And be it enacted, that this act shall continue in force
until the First day of January, One thousand eight hundred
and Forty-two. . .

And be it enacted, that this act may be amended or re-
pealed by any act to be passed in this session of parliament.

DUTIES ON GLASS.

A Bill to remove doubts as to the charging certain of the
Duties of Excise on Glass.

Whereas by an act passed in the first and second years of
her Majesty's reign, intituled, " An act to consolidate and
amend the laws for collecting and securing the duties of ex-
cise on glass," the several acts previously in force imposing
the duties of excise on glass, and containing the regulations
for collecting the. said duties, were repealed :
And whereas the several duties on glass imposed by the
said acts so repealed were re-enacted and continued by the
said recited act, and, amongst others, a duty of one pound
ten shillings for every hundred weight of spread window glass,
commonly called or known as broad glass, and so in propor-
tion for any greater or less quantity ; and also another duty
of three pounds thirteen shillings and sixpence for every hun-
dred weight of crown glass and German sheet glass, and so
in proportion for any greater or less quantity :
And whereas doubts have arisen whether the said duty of
one pound ten shillings should be charged on any other glass
than such as was commonly known as broad glass before the
passing of the said recited act, and itis expedient to remove
such doubts, in order to prevent other than such broad glass
being charged at th,c4l.4l..tluty,,und exported when cut up at
a higher rate of drawback than the same would be entitled to
according to the duty paid :

Be it therefore declared and enacted, by the Queen's most
excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent.of the,
lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present
parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that
the said duty of one pound ten shillings per hundred weight
shall apply to and be charged and payable only on broad or
spread glass, and that no glass shall be deemed or taken to be
broad or spread glass which Shall not be blown in Cones, and
opened and spread on sand, and in all respects be made and'
manufactured in the manner practised, and be such glass as
was commonly known as broad or spread glass before the_
passing of the said recited act of her Majesty's reign ; and,
that all other window glass, or glass capable of being used its
window glass, not being such broad or spread glass, or plate;
glass, in whatever way made, whether flashed or blown•and
opened, or otherwise manufactured, shall be charged and pay:
the said duty of three pounds thirteen shillings and sixpence
per hundred weight as crown or German sheet glass, aocord-i
ing to the denomination which shall seem most appropriate
to the same.

ROMANIST TOLERATION.—In Austria it is unlawful to
build Protestant churches with towers, bells, or an entrance
from the street ; in fact, with any appearance of a church.
Protestants are obliged to pay the Roman priests not only
the tithes but the dues for baptism, marriage, and burial,
and it is the Roman prieSt who keeps the official register of
births, deaths," and marriages. The Roman clergy have the
right of intruding into the chamber of the sick Protestant,
but Protestants are not allowed to converse with their Popish
fellow subjects upon religious subjects. Unless there be •101)
Protestant families, or 500 souls, the erection of a congrega.
tion is unlawful. Such is the Austrian law, bid even this
niggardly measure of religious liberty was most unjustly with-
holden from the Protestants of Zillerdale. The known and
written and public law of Austria was basely violated, not by
a tumultuous mob or a fanatic priesthood only, but by the
hereditary and official guardians of the law.—Quarterly
Review.

SOAP SUDS A SPECIFIC FOR NOURISHING FLOWERS.--
A fair correspondent writes to us from Newton Stewart, in
the following terms :—" Recently I happened to gather a
beautiful pansey, and when tired of admiring it, tossed the
toy aside, which partly by accident fell into a box-full of
soap suds. The said pansey had neither joint nor root, and
you may judge of my surprise when, at the end of a day or
two, I found it growing. From this time forward I watched
it narrowly, and now rind it, after the lapse of a fortnight, a
goodly plant with several buds on it. Thinking water might
produce the same effect, I placed a newly-cropped pansey in
an element, which, pure in itself is the medium of purity in
every thing else ; but it withered and died on so spare a diet.
By way of confirming the first experiment, I have since placed
a slip of a rose tree and a pink in suds, and both are flourish-
ing in great vigour in my dressing-room. Should this acci-
dental discovery prove useful to florists, it will afford sincere
pleasure to your correspondent."—Dumfries.Courier.

ANCIENT MARRIAGE CEREMONY IN, ENGLAND.—The
following formal words- used at marriage in the time of
Richard the Second, are copied from an old missal :—" Ich
M. take the N. to my weddid wyf, to haven and to holden,
for fayrere for fouler, for bettur for wors, for richer for porer,
in seknesse and in healthe, from thys tyls.-ie forwaYd, ''til
dethe us departe, zif hilli chirche will it ordeyn, and zerto
Iche plizhe the my treuthe." And on gitine the ring—
" With this ring I the wedde, and zis gold and silver Ich the
zee, and with my bodi it the worschepe, and with all my
worldly castelle I the honoii-re." The woman says—" Iche
N. take the ,M. to my weddid husband, to haven and to holden,
for frayer far fouler, for bettur for wors, for richer for parer,
in seknesse and in helthe, to be be bourn and human in bed
and at horde, tyl dethe us departe fro thys tyme forwarde,
and if Holi Churche it wol orden' and zerto Iche plizhe the
my tauthe." Until the time of Edward VI. the marriage
ceremony was performed in the church porch, and not in the
church. The wedding ring is said to be'worn on the fourth
finger of the left hand, because it was anciently believed that
a small artery ran from this finger to the heart.
NATURAL EXHALATION OF CARBURETTED HYDROGEN
Gas.—To the Editor of the Athenceuin.—Sir, in the Vale of
Cwmdare, near the village of Aberdare, Giamorganshire,
there is a waterfall, which has, latterly, become an object of
peculiar interest, in consequence of a phenomenon hitherto
unnoticed, and probably altogether new in character. It
consists of an extraordinary exhalation of gas, spontaneouily
issuing from the bed of the stream, and which being lighted
continues to burn without intermission, with a yellow co-
loured flame, interspersed with streams of vivid white, orange
pnrple, and ,blue. There are more than twelve apertures
through which the gas escapes beneath the water, (causing it
to rise and bubble); others on the dry banks, which increase
daily in size. One of the apertures is considerably larger than
the rest, the flame from which burns about two feet in length
and a foot and a half in width ; at times it burns consider-
ably larger. The soil consists chiefly of argillaceous schist,
or tire clay, sufficiently hot to burn the hand. Fish caught
in the stream have been boiled upon it; and the friends who
accompanied me to the spot prepared a good supper of broiled
bacon for ourselves and the spectators, My first impression
was, that this phenomenon was occasioned by an escape of
carburetted hydrogen from a coal level ; but from its distance
from a mine, and the occasional appeaiances in the flame, I
do not think the idea can be correct ; most probably it is a
mixture of gases. The water has been observed to bubble,
for many years by the peasantry, but not to any extent, until
within the last few months, when the attention of a Stafford-
shire miner was attracted by the noise and height of the
bubbles, and subsequently by the application of a fire. I
had an opportunity of witnessing this wonderful appearance
by night, and regret my inability to describe a sight so very
interesting. There were not less than twelve large bodies
of brilliant flame, of great illuminating power, issuing from
the bed of the stream, and underneath the rock which forms
the waterfall ; the rich glare of variegated light cast upon the
trees and surrounding objects, the noise of the waterfall of
the stream, and the reflection of the whole in the water,
afforded one of the most imposing sights I ever beheld. I
collected two quart bottles of the gas, and have given them
for analysis to my friend, Mr. Maugham, of the Gallery of
Practical Science, Adelaide-street, who will furnish you'with
a paper on the results. I may add for the information of
your readers who may visit the spot, that it is situate near
Thiwain Bommon, celebrated as the scene of a battle
fought in the reign of William Rufus, between the forces of
Rhys ab.Tewdwr, prince of South Wales,, and=those of Jes-
tyn ab..Gwrgan, aided by a body of
under the command of Robert Fitz
. Norman adventurers,
BraN-V, N, Montagu equate.