The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-05-04 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANP/D, TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1852.

SAFES

of the

sued for

the terms

)thitted to this Aleetit

o be empowered, a

I.avil service

ides from

Mr. GE•

t more

In Years

18421
1843
1844
1845 I
1846
1847
1848
18491
16501

MACFAALANE, AdVC

240,435

281,082

!, moved
and furtl

1 .e 6,551

404,734 I 11,654

410,933 I 12,411

THE SCOTTISH PROVIDENT INSTITUTION

Age 25 ...e1 18 0 I Age 35
„ 30 .. 2 1 6 „ 40

2 6 10 I Age 45
2_14 9 50

THE WEEK.

and much other similarly irritating slang

other Life Insbrance Offices. had under consideration how far,
sistently With safety and propriety, additional immunities
anted, with the view of increasing the commercial
s and the sense of security in the minds of
have resolved, with the sanction pre-
butors

Directors (ander certain
oplication, to

'y ground of forfei

id the Directors fee

s from the date

d, and the Repor

That tt

her approv
tides of th

East Lothian, second&
adopted.

of Trinity Colle

the fhanks of

ror their services

ted to the Local Boards, to the Audit
and the Managem
the Meet

on these

(Incorporated by Act of Parliament) is the only Scottish Office
in which the advantages of MUTUAL ASSURANCE can be ob-
tained at MODERATE PREMIUMS. The Assured are, at the
same time, specially exempt from personal liability.
While, as a Mutual Society, it secures the WHOLE PROFITS
to the Members, its Premiums are about as low as those of the
Non-Pat ticipating scale of the Proprietary Companies. •
The principle on which the Profits are divided is at once safe,
equitable, and favourable to good lives, the Surplus being re-
served for those Members who alone can have made Surplus
Payments; in other words, for those whose Premiums, with
accumulated Interest, amount to the sums in their Policies.

ANNUAL PREMIUMS TO INSURE .elOO AT DEATH

£3 5 C
4 1 1

The same Premium which at age 30, for example. is charged
in the other Scottish Mutual Offices for Assurance of .4'1,000,
will secure in this Society a Policy of 41,230.

Copies of the Annual Reports (the last is now ready), Forms
of Proposal, and every information, may be had on application.

AGENT FOR LIVERPOOL,—JOHN REID,
General Commission Merchant, 13, Oldhall-street.
MEDICAL OFFICER,—Dr. GEE, 10, Oxford-street.
Edinburgh, March, 1852.

Yibttpoeft

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 4, 1852.

THE statistical fever, which has of late afflicted
our local Whig Radical politicians, has continued
unabated during the past week ; and strings of
figures have been exhibited at the various ward.
meetings as plenteously as strings of onions or
'Plagildska alish§kooiesirje'stortaarie been
laid aside for the more pleasant reading of blue
books and Board-of-trade statistics; and philoso-
phical drapers, tailors, and greengrocers are run-
ning about our streets crammed up to the throat
with figures, which, unfortunately, come up at
times the wrong end first. Woe to the unhappy
individual who chances to be taken by the button
by any of the gentlemen in question, after having
imbibed a fresh dose of their unsavoury numerals!
An infliction from Hamlet's ghost, when he " can a
tale unfold ;" from a Chinese opium smoker, when
in the height of his delirium; or from some "Sairey
Gamp," excited by her pleasant remembrances of
" Mrs. Harris and her blessed babby," would be a
joke, compared with a compulsory tete-a-tete with
Mr. Councillor PICTON, Mr. JEFFERY, or any
other of the humble imitators of the arithmetical
Mr. CARDWELL.

Apropos of the first two gentlemen : the public
have a right to complain that the fruits of their
researches into their candidate's favourite books of
reference, as delivered by them before the unsym-
pathising. audience in Lime-street Ward on Monday
evening last, should have been cruelly bottled up by
the Mercury until Friday morning. Wicked people_
have suggested that some " cooking" of figures has
been going on ; and certainly we observe some
figures introduced into Mr. PICTON'S speech, which
are not at all like those which he delivered at the
meeting. Beyond this alteration, however, we dis-

cern little evidence of extensive culinary efforts.
The peculiar good taste, displayed by the speaker in
his attack upon Mr. BRAMLEY-MOORE, is pre-
served by the reporters of our contemporary; and
the printed evidence will remain of so very small a
politician as Mr. PICTON having ventured to fling
dirt and ribaldry against a gentleman as far above
him in intellect and information, as Mr. PICTON,
small as he is, is superior in the same qua-
lities to the carved portraiture of himself, in stone,
with which he has conceitedly adorned (!) the front
of that architectural jumble of his, known as Tower-
buildings. Mr. JEFFERY'S speech seems very
elaborately got up, with a rather silkier finish than
it had when it was first brought into the world.
Everybody who has read it is exclaiming —" Why

does a gentleman, possessed of such vast com-
mercial erudition, and such eloquence and poetic
fire, confine himself behind a counter ? Why does a
gentleman, so fitted

The applause of listening senates to command,'
waste his talents upon shopkeeping pursuits, when
he might wield the baton of the state ?" Fie, Mr.
JEFFERY ! You have much too humble an opinion
of yourself.

Considerable complaint has been made that at
this Lime-street meeting the proceedings were fre-
quently interrupted ; and it has even been asserted
that this was done by parties hired for the purpose.
The interruption, in question, however, can be
accounted for, much more naturally, by the insult-
ing tone displayed throughout by the speakers
towards their oppontnts. The chairman of the
meeting, NI r. PicToN, provoked, at the very outset
of his speech, the interruptions which subsequently
occurred. He must have seen at a glance that fully
half the meeting was composed of Conseivatives.
And those parties had a right to be there, from the
fact, known to the chairman, that the names of a
considerable r

number of Conservative gentlemen had
been published as members of the committee with-
out their knowledge. Again, Mr. JEFFERY'S allu-
sions to the Conservative candidates were calculated
to promote interruption. Speaking of Mr. MAC-
KENZIE, he said, "he is the whipper-in of the party.
The whipper-in in the House of Commons is what
a commercial traveller would call the upper waiter
of the lot.'": Again, "he does the dirty iccrk of the
party; he is literally the char-woman of the party.;"

the promoters of the meeting wished for a fair and
calm hearing, they took a course the very opposite
to that which would have procured it for them ; and

it is not a very forced conclusion to draw, that they
courted a display which they could turn to the
disadvantage of their opponents.

Throughout the whole prOceedings of the party

•
thus far, it has been remarked that poor

EWART is kept altogether in the 81

CARDWELL is the " Lord Abbot" of the Wh

Radical pilgrimage to Rome ; and Mr. EWART

only the sumpter mule to carr

the b

red hat and

stockings. He is a sort of "du

candidate

of his friends have the c

his withdrawal from his present useful, though un-
pretending, position of protector of the abused
donkeys of the Egremont and New Brighton
shores, and regulator of the bathing-machines of
that delightful marine locality. Mr. JAS. AIKEN,
however, on Monday night, did venture to put in a
word or two in behalf of his friend, and told the
meeting in Lime-street that " Mr. Ewart, of all
men living, perhaps, would be one of the most. fitting

to succeed that excellent and liberal man, Sir Thomas
Birch." But a word or two on this point with Mr.
AIKEN. The present contest, we are continually
assured by the Whig-Radical party, involves no
religious question. The matter at issue, they assert,
is purely the commercial policy of the country. It
is the " big loaf" against the little loaf." Why,
then, was it" necessary at all to provide a successor
to " that excellent and liberal man, Sir THOMAS
BIRCH ?" Because he had offended the Irish
Roman Catholics of Liverpool- upon a religious
question. And Mr. EWART is a candidate ON
RELIGIOUS GROUNDS. Mr. EWART iS willing to
prostrate the religious institutions of the country at
the feet of aggressive Romanism. Sir THOMAS
Ilrucx was not. All the protestations of all the
RATHBONES, the PICTONS, and the JEFFERYS,
cannot overcome this undoubted fact. The Whig-
Radicals of Liverpool may affect to be happy in
the ill-assorted team to which they are yoked ; but
they cannot get rid of the unpleasant consciousness
that the Pope has dictated the journey, and the
Cardinal sits on the driving-box. •
The week has been an eventful one, big with
great national results. It has witnessed the fall of
a great party leader, and seated a Constitutional
Government high above the reach of faction. It
opened amidst ebullitions of delight in every Whig-
Radical coterie at the- prospect—certain in their
opinion—that the Militia Bill would oVerthrow
Lord DERBY'S Government, and that Lord JOHN
RUSSELL and the family party were about to return
to Downing-street and the Treasury. Tuesday
morning dissipated the illusive vision, and the poli-
tical greatness of his lordship was extinguished for
ever.

" But yesterday he might have stood against the world :
Now none so poor as do him reverence."
The lumber closet holds him with other similar
castaways. The Times has pronounced him politi-
cally defunct.

" The little dogs all—
Tray, Czesar, Pompey—bark at him."

Beyond some such feat as getting up a tempest in a
tea-pot, he will never again achieve anything in
public life. Wednesday gave another victory to
the government of the Earl of DERBY, and inflicted
another blow on the head of Democracy, by the
triumphant majority against Mr. LocKE KING'S
motion. Alas for Sir JOSHUA WALMSLEY, and
the other small fry of peripatetic speakers I Their
"occupation's gone." Friday came on, big with
Whig-Radical hopes of the break-down of the new
Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. DISRAELI was
to stultify himself by the production of something
"wooden" in the shape of a budget—something
after the fashion of the late unlucky Chancellor,—
or to do something desperate, against which faction
in parliament, and out of doors, might raise an out-
cry. But,—disappointing fact !—the author of
Coningsby—" the novelist"—the merely "literary
man"—has proved himself a statesman, a master of
official figures; and his clear and lucid exposition
of the financial condition of the country drew down,
on Friday night, the applause and compliments of
even his most virulent and hungry political oppo-
nents, who have acknowledged unequivocally that
he is "strong enough for the place."

Need we -consider that whilst such events were
occurring to defeat their confident anticipations, the
"Whig-Radical party in Liverpool have shown duriniz
'Amin laialieituie argils cu. irritation arid
dismay ? Their canvassing books, it is said, look
badly; whilst those of their opponents afford a
pleasing surprise to every member of the party.
Discreet Whigs are now asking themselves why
they should submit to an unpleasant alliance, and
to' insulting dictation, with so sorry a chance
of success. The more violent, it is said, are
already resorting to coercion of their trades-
men and dependents. What is still more
pleasing for Conservatives to observe, is the
fact, that from the increased confidence in Lord
DERBY'S government, which the past week's events
have inspired throughout the country, the constitu-
tional party are preparing to contest even the strong-
holds of the enemy. From Manchester we learn
that the Conservatives "feel themselves fully war-
ranted in placing before the constituency the names of
Lord MORETON (eldest son of the Earl of DUCK),
and GRORCE Locx, Esq., of Worsley Old Hall, as
the gentlemen to whom a requisition, embodying
the principles above enumerated, will be presented
to the electors, for their signature, in the course of
the ensuing week." And, if we are rightly informed
with respect to the feelings of the constituency
there, Mr. JOHN BRIGHT may betake him to the
more congenial business of his own factory. The
county must be contested; and other important
places must be won from the miserable faction which
has so long ridden rough-shod over them. What
are Preston, Wigan, Warrington, Bolton, and
Blackburn doing? What are Ashton, Oldham,
_Stockport, and Macclesfield doing ? These places
ought to be contested on constitutional principles;
and many of them may be so contested with every
prospect of a successful result.

THE ADMINISTRATION IN LIVERPOOL
OF THE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES ACT.
THE INSPECTORS' ANNUAL REPORT.

Our advertising columns this day contain an address
from a Committee of Tradesmen to their Brethren in
Liverpool, complaining of the system upon which the
Act of Parliament for the regulation of Weights and
Measures is administered here. We have also before us a
" report of the chief inspector of weights and measures
for the borough of Liverpool for the year 1851-2," which
has just been printed, by order of the Finance Committee,
to be distributed amongst the members of the Council.
Upon both these documents we htfte a few observations
to make; but must first guard ourselves against the pos.
eibility of being misunderstood. We entirely approve of
the object which the legislature had in view in passing the
Act of Parliament, sth and 6th Wm. 4th, chap. 63.
There can be no doubt that one of the great desiderata
of a community, anxious to maintain a high character for
honesty and just dealing, is a uniform standard, and a
proper regulation of weights and measures. Actualfrauds
of every kind ought to meet with prompt punishment ;
and the facilities for the commission of frauds ought to be
lessened by every practicable means. It is possible, how.
ever, to strain the operation of such a measure of preven-
tion until it becomes not only intolerable but, to a certain
effect, inefficient. By adhering too strictly to the letter,
we violate sometimes the spirit of sueh a measure. We
think we shall be enabled to show that this error has been
committed by the authorities of Liverpool in their
administration of the provisions of the Weights and
Measures Act.

The tradesmen complain in substance, through their
advertisement, that the act in question is administered
with a degree of stringency which is unnecessary, and
against which no amount of care can fully protect the
most honest, who are made, for the most trivial and acci-
dental inaccuracies in their weights and balances, to figure

before the public side by side with the systematically d
honest. The great aim of those engaged in carrying

the act ought, we submit, to be to draw a markeddivis

batween these two classes. The very fact

of a man's
d to

name being found amongst the list of those subjE

the penalties of the act, oug
But this is no longer the case when

t to be a brand of infamy

leading merchants

we see continual!

grity fined at the monthly sessions before the chief ma

trate. It affords an encouragement to the knave thus to
find that, though he has had to suffer for his knavery, he
has suffered in good compan

Jai ned

. - -
of is attributed by the tradesmen to the circumstance that
the Corporation have constituted themselves, through
their offierrg_ g. n. .." inspectors" Of

scales, weights, and measures, contrary,
as they allege, to
the provisions of a clause, No. 23, in the Act of Parlia.
ment, which enacts that " no maker or seller of weights

and measures, or person employed in IT

.the legislaturenin2framinZthi

ntiyilto

provide against frivolous charges being made, and inaccu-
racies alleged, for the purpose of the inspector deriving
pecuniary advantage from his office. Mr. Fell's report
bears out fully the justice of this complaint of the trades-
men of the town. At page 7, he says :
" 17,695 shops, warehouses, and other premises, have
been visited by the out-door inspectors, and 135,984
weights and measures tested : of this number 92,799 were

to require adjusting, and 681

But, in a note, he adds :

Yet thislarge number of weights
rhaps only discoverable by the

adinsfr

being so

hair is indicated by the

needle a

n " ex

e inspector d

rc
) of £586 11

:ceeding

index (I)—must be

t to the Corporation-o
;luding

ment, t

adesmen

tenths

.ged 50 per cent
g new weights

tance ;