The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-06-07 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL TOWIN

The monthly meeting of the Council—also a special
Council—was held on Wednesday, the Mayor, Samuel
, Holme, Esq., in the chair.

TAE APPOINTMENT OF MAGISTRAIES

Mr. GLADSTONE recapitulaiedwlTarl7adtaken place
upon this matter, and said that the statement which he
had already made was essentially correct. The papers
were sent privately by Mr. Walpole to Mr. Macken-
zie, and, from that time to this, they had never been seen
at the Home-office. The whole thing rested entirely
between Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Walpole, as it wg
utterly impossible for the Government to know what had
taken place between these two gentlemen. It was, how-
ever, clear and indisputable that neither the papers, " the
strong expression of opinion," nor the " box" itself, to
which Mr. Walpole said he had placed the list for his suc-
cessor, were forthcoming at the present hour.

THE TOWN CLERK'S SALARY.
The proceedings embraced the following recommenda-
tions :

I.—To grant an increase to the salary of the Town-
clerk, of £5OO per annum, the consideration of
which
was postponed at the last monthly Council.
2.—ln consequence of the resignation by Mr. M. D•
Lowndes of the appointment of clerk to the justices for
parochial business, that the additional duties be performed
by the present clerks to the justices, at £lOO per annum
each, and that one of the clerks lately employed by Mr;..
Lowndes be engaged permanently in the magistrates
clerks-office, at the salary of £lOO per annum.
3.—To adopt the report of the surveyor on the ventila-
tion of the Council-chamber.
4.—To purchase, for the sum of £19,000, the freehold.
property of the United Gas Company, fronting Dale-
street, bounded by Hatton-garden and Cheapside, and'
containing in the whole 6,617 square yards of land, or
thereabouts, together with the messuages, shops, build-
ings, and erections thereon.
s.—To purchase freehold property in Shaw's-brow,
from the trustees and executers of the late Wm. Hughes,
for the sum of £645.
Mr. JOHN HOLMES moved the increase of salary to
the Town-clerk, remarking that, since the Highway Board
had been abolished, he bad been very much employed at
home in the evenings, in consequence of the increased
duties imposed upon him.
Mr. JAMES LAWRENCE seconded the motion.
The letter which the Town-clerk had previously sent to
to the Council having been read,
Mr. T. H. TURNER supported the advance, alluding
particularly to the admirable mode in which Mr. Shuttle-
worth managed the business of the Corporation in Lon-
don, and stating that, in many cases, he had disarmed
opposition where another person would not have been
so successful. The Council was mainly indebted to him,
also, for the Government allowance for the cost of prose-
cutions.

Mr. Moss opposed the advance as an extravagant,
ridiculous, and wasteful excess. He moved a negative.—•
Mr. GODFREY seconded the amendment of Mr. Moss.
Mr. DOVER thought that £2,000 a year—an income
not exceeded by our merchants, taking one with another
—was quite a sufficient remuneration, particulariy when
it was understood, at the time the salary was voted, that
it was to be a fixture. As to the Government allowance
for prosecutions, Mr. Cardwell claimed the credit of gain-
ing that.—Mr. PARKER supported the increase.
Mr. AVISON, who, after the most serious considera-
tion, felt bound to oppose the increase, reverted to the
first meeting of the council after the Municipal Reform
Bill, when the salary of £2,000 was fixed as a maximum.
Looking at the salary relatively, Mr. Avison deemed that
very few of the solicitors in Liverpool were individually
in receipt of £2,000 a year ; while the remuneration of
the other legal functionaries in the town did not amount
to that sum. Mr. Mansfield, the stipendiary magistrate,
for instance, received £l,OOO a year; the judges of the
Bankruptcy Court, barristers of high standing and great
ability, £l,BOO a year each; and Mr. Pollock, judge of
the County Court, £1,200 a year. Mr. Heron, the town-
clerk of the Manchester Corporation, received now £1,500,
but only recently he was paid but £l,OOO. The strongest
reason in favour of the increased salary was Mr. Shuttle-
worth's being overworked. He was overworked ; and
the Council was negligent of its duty in allowing this;
but it could not be cured, or his life extended, by addi-
tional salary to the Town-clerk himself. Let him have
additional help.
Mr. TYRER thought that there was no parallel between
Liverpool and Manchester in regard to the duties of the
Town-clerk : in the case of the latter town he believed
there were no corporate funds.
Mr. GODFREY said that, instead of increasing, the per-
sonal duties had positively decreased, and this had been
admitted by the Town-clerk himself. Why, at present
they had five deputy town-clerks, at an aggregate salary
of 1,850. He had been materially relieved, too, by the
appointment of a clerk of the peace, at a salary of £BOO
a year. Mr. Shuttleworth had (the speaker believed)
entered the Town.hall at £lOO or £l5O a year, and before
he was thirty-four he had arrived at the top dale tree, as
Town-clerk, with £2,000 a year. How many of his pro-
fessional compeers bad been so successful in Liverpool?
Mr. Godfrey opposed the advance.
Mr. Hour was favourable to the increase, since so
many different interests, which eighteen or twenty years
ago did not extat, had now become engrafted on the cor-
poration, each imposing more labour on the Town-clerk.
n_
Mr. VENNETT followed on the same side, advocating
the advance on public grounds. Mr. Shuttleworth W 4.
perfect slave to the corporation.
Mr. GLADSTONE was not prepared to vote SUMS of
£5OO at a time to any official, without the fullest conside-
ration and justification.
Family reasons were amongst
but, where B ANhNeEhRa had aa was the
of two clerks, the Chairman of the Finance Committee
would not recognise them.
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Mr. PicToN, under all the circumstances, was in favour
of the resolution, as the duties of the office had materially
increased since the salary of £2,000 was fixed, seventeen
years ago. The Town-clerk showed in his letter that, if
the remuneration of his department remained upon the
former footing of fees, it would amount now to £14,000 a
year. If the Town-clerk, who never shrunk from ad-
ditional labour imposed upon him, was still willing to
undertake the whole work, he (Mr. Picton) did not think
the Council ought to object to the arrangement; but that
it would be advisable, under all the circumstances, to
sanction the resolution of the Finance Committee.
Mr. BIGHAM recommended gentlemen to think of
their constituents. Ninety.nine out of every hundred in
the town were opposed to the increase. When Mr. Shut-
tleworth performed extra duties, the Council had voted him
a present of £5OO ; but don't let them saddle an additional
£5OO for ever upon the Corporation, when there was no
specific list of increased duties established by the Finnnce
Committeee.

Mr. Hoi;sox supported the advance, as did also Mr.
STEWART, who dwelt upon the fact that the Town-clerk,
unlike some of the Government officials enumerated by
Mr. Avison, had no retiring pension to fall back upon,
should illness unfit him for duty. The fact cited by Mr.
Godfrey, that the Town-clerk had once been receiving but
£lOO in the same building, and that he was now receiving
£2,000, was all to the Town-clerk's honour. A man must

not stay at £lOO a-year forever.
Mr. J. HOLMES having very briefly replied, the motion
for or against the confirmation of the proceedings of the
committee, and the sanction of the additional £5OO, was
put, and the confirmation carried by 35 to 19. The
numbers were—

For—Councillors Mellor, Anderson, Tyrer, Holt,
James Holme, Fernihough, Jeffreys, J. Gladstone, jun.,
Toulmin, Clayton, Wagstaff, Tobin, Brancker, Gardner,
Picton, Hodson, Wood, Stewart, Horsfail, Gregeon,
Royden, Halhead, Alderman Bennett, Preston, John
Holmes, Lawrence, Parker, Robinson, Cooper, Wood,
Procter, Molyneux, Bent, Turner, and the Mayor.
Against—Councillors 'Woodruff, Thompson, Bighorn,
Nicholson, Bradley, Moss, Holden, M`Guffie, Godfrey,
Avison, Banner, M`Nicoll, Fleming, Robertson Glad-
stone, Nicholson, Beckwith, Henderson, Aldermen
Langsdale and Dover.

The TOWN-CLERK, who entered the room shortly after
wards, expressed his acknowledgments to the Council.
The second recommendation was not confirmed, the
Town-clerk being instructed to refer to the minutes of
the Council for 1847, in order to obtain further informa-
tion as to the case.

The other recommendations of the committee were
carried tthat relating to the surveyor's report excepted)►
as were those also of the Watch Committee, Dock Com-
mittee, Courts of Law and St. George's Hall Committee.
The Council then adjourned until to-morrow.

THE SHIP BLOOMER FROM LIVERPOOL
FOR AUSTRALIA.

--...0.---

The following letter has been received by Mr. John
aged
sesho dsipeici hospital of
also heart disease
Payne, Dumfries, from his brother, Mr. Charles Payne,
who sailed from Liverpool in the ship Bloomer, belonging
to Gibbs, Bright and Co. Liverpool, in March last :
ea
with decline,
Ship Bloomer, April 13th, 1953;
DEAR BROTHER,—I take this opportunity of letting
yon know how we are all getting on. Al
•je got well round
23rd ult., another died of decline on the 28th. There
isn Holyhead.
)yol euand. O
g man n One
laid man,up in h
who Ido not think will get better. The other nassen-
gers on board are all in good health. It blew a fearful
hurricane on the 28th and 29th ult., and carried away our
mainsail. There are six sea-captains on board as passen-
gers, who say they never saw a ship behave herself in the
manner before. The gale could not lay her down. We
are in very warm weather at present. In ten days We
passed Madeira with a fair wind, and are now got into the
trade winds. Though we are 19 days sailed, it seems CO
me as if it were only one. There is plenty of music on
board, singing, dancing, and all sorts of games. The
passengers are the finest sort of people that could be our
board of any ship. We have sacred music every day, and
sermons on Sundays. There are two clergymen on board,
one belonging to the English Church, and the other to
the Wesleyan body. There is also a doctor of medicine'
Captain Allen is one of the finest men I ever met, and 19,
continually with the passengers. There are plenty of
provisions on board, far more than we can ever use. Yo,u
can get ale, but no spirits, on board without the doctor !
order. I can get anything on board I wish, which makes
it very pleasant.
We are now passing the island of St. Antonio, and e%:.
pest to cross the line in eight days. You will percelYe
where we are when I am writing, but I will not date the
letter until I see a sail. Jane and the children are all
the
l'ir
well ; she was sick two days, but has recovered.
'
and Mrs. Ptingle are also both well. A great part of _
crew are from the neighbourhood of Dumfries, who are
very kind to us. A great many of the passengers cr''
from Ayr, Kilmarnock, and Glasgow, and various
in Ayrshire, There are 28 cabin passengers.
7th inst. a small yacht of about, 60 tons, with five men 0n450
board, passed us, hound for Geelong. We are now .15t ;t
miles from the line, and having a fair wind, will cross_;',„
on Wednesday. I got 10s. from the captain for clir'FirA
the sheep on boatd, 13 in number; so, you see, Aust7•the
wages are commenced with ine already. Many ° as
passengers have left their wives and families at home, pot
they intended to return in a few years ; and shoulda.,
spared and keep my health, T do not see why I
mother,!:o and
do the same.—Read this to my father and ath,
give my respects to all friends.— Your brother till
_.,...,.
CHARLES rAjr"ol„,
' P.S.—Ship in sight this day, 13th April ; tO' g
we cross the line.

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on the