The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-23 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, AND GENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.

GENERAL INTELII-GENCE.

' AN ARTIST has just joined the Bitic fleet, for the pur-
pose of making drawings of all theships and their per-
formances, for the Queen's scrap-book.
Mr. STEPHENSON, the engineer of the Grand Trunk
Railway of Canada, proposes to construct a tubular bridge
over. the St. Lawrence, at Montreal, the "estimated" cost
of which is no less than £1,400,000.
Sls J. BROOKE.—Mr; C. R. Priisep, the East India
Company's Advocate-General at Cahutta, and the Hon.
H. B. Devereux, of the Bengal Civil Service, have been
appointed the commissioners for incuiring how far the
position which Sir J. Brooke-holds it Sarawak is advan-
tageous to the.commercial interests of 'Gre,at Britain.
THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. AND THE ORDER OF THE
GARTER.-The Emperor of Russia is aknight of the Order
of the Garter. Now, according to the statutes of
nothe-
oorrdienr,any w
knightay assistou anybodygh
takettoso to
up arms against
Em
p another,eror
do.Willth
of Russia be deprived of ill-deserved honours, or what is
the course now pursued? It was not unusual formerly for
kings to exchange orders, and to return them in case of
war.—/Votes and Queries.
Mr. BRIGHT!S SPEECH in the House of Commons on
the 31st of March last has the equivocal honour of a trans-
lation in extenso in recent numbers of the Petersburg
journals, And in certain Finnish ones, under the immediate
control of the Russian Government. • -
REGISTERING SHIPS DR Novo.—Application having
been made to the Treasury for permission to register a
vessel de novo, without endorsing thereon a mortgage
which remained undischarged on the previous certificate,
their lordships have been pleased, upon communication
with the law officers of the. Crown, to comply with the
request, and to direct that the practice which prevailed
prior to a general order issued in 1852 be restored, and
the order alluded to rescinded. The principal officers of
the Customs at the several ports throughout the kingdom
have been made acquainted with the order of the Treasury
for their future government.
BUSINESS OF 'rim HOUSE.—The select committee
which has been sitting upon the subject of the business of
the House of Commons has made a report, suggesting a
simplification of some of the forms at present observed
with respect to bills, and proposing the abolition of the
hebdomadal motion for adjournment to Monday. In the
Main, however, the committee seems to prefer trusting to
the good sense and right feeling of members, and the effect
of the evidence given by the Speaker, and others, respect-
ing impediments to the despatch of business. It may give
some idea of the multiplicity of forms observed in the
legislature to mention that there still 14 questions neces-
sarily put in the House of Commons upon every public
bill that is passed, exclusive of the proceedings in com-
mittee and of amendments.
To DESTROY VERMIN IN HousEs.—Take up your car-
pets, down your curtains. In a Pailful of water (cold)
mix well lib. of chloride of lime (having first diluted it
into a thin paste in a bowl of water, for facility of mix-
ture), with a mop wet and saturate well the floor, skirt-
ings, and any other woodwork that will not suffer injury,
then shut the doors and windows close. If there should
be a suspicion of other tenants in the bedstead, take that
down too. In three or four hours all will have disap-
peared or perished ; but to assure perfect immunity front
the plague, it might be well to repeat the lustration a
second time. i. e. the day or two after.—The Builder.
GOLD Ix INDIA.—A correspondent writing from Bom-
bay says :—" I am confident that the metamorphic rocks,
cropping Out in Goondwana between Hossungabad and
Baitool from under the eastern margin of the great basal-
tic formation of Western India, will be found to contain
gold. In, travelling in these districts some years ago I
observed that these rocks occurred in ranges running
north and south, and that they were frequently traversed
by veins of quartz of very great thickness. Where all
these indications are present gold is seldom absent.
Similar indications occur in the range which traverses
Rojpootana from north to south, and which, passing close
to Ajmeer and Oodypoor, forms the watershed separating
the rivers falling into the Gulf of Cutch from the affluents
of the Ganges."
THE BANKRUPTCY Comialssioar.—The report of the
Bankruptcy Commission has been presented to Parliament
and printed, and with it the minutes of evidence and
answers to the circular of questions. The Commissioners
niake a number of suggestions for reducing the costliness
and altogether bettering the condition of a tribunal which
hitherto has not been very successfully reformed. They
recommend that creditors be attracted by a revision Of the
fees and per centages, and greater contra over the official
assignees; and debtors, by a revision of the penal clauses,
and by allowing a trader to obtain an adjudication in his
own case if lie can show available assets to the extent of
£l5O, instead of (as at present) ss. in the pound. On the
question of a continuance of a system of classification of
certificates the Commissioners are divided in opinion ; but
those of them who approve of it are for having two classes
only—a certificate of approval of the bankrupt's conduct,
and a certificate merely of his conformity to the bankrupt
laws, leaving misconduct to be punished by suspension or
refusal of the certificate.
PERILOUS SITUATION.-011 the 16th of December
Captain Grant, of the ship Tay, recently arrived at Ade-
laide, discovered smoke ascending from the main hatch-
way, and upon making the closest examination of the
laden hold ascertained that the coal had become ignited
by spontaneous combustion. To attempt to -extinguish
the fire by removing any portion of the cargo, and so
giving the air free admission to the hold of the vessel,
would probably have proved a most destructive course.
A more safe remedy—that of battening down the hatch-
ways—was adopted, and the captain, the first officer, and
a few of the crew, to whom alone the perilous accident
was known, watched with anxious solicitude for the
general safety, and, while the captain cracked on the
vessel with sedulous earnestness, the cause of his eager
efforts to terminate the passage was unknown to his pas-
sengers, whose ignorance, while it did not exaggerate
their danger, preserved them from unceasing and tor-
turing alarm. Above the coals were 1.50 barres of gun-
powder and a large quantity of spirits. The fire was sub-
dued, and there is little doubt but that she Will deliver
her cargo in good order.—Globe.
THE CABLE FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN ELECTRIC
TELEGRAPH.—The first portion of the great Mediterranean
cable, the largest ever made, and, in point of circumference
also, the Digest at present existing, is completed and ready
for shipment. The subterranean works on the island of
Corsicia, &c., will be connected to the cable on its being
laid down. The cable is about 110 miles in length, and
weighs somewhere about 800 tons. It contains 6 copper
wires or conductors for the fluid to traverse, protected by
a gutta percha covering, secured in a hempen rope, and
finally surrounded with 12 iron wires, of No. 1 gauge. As
now coiled in the yard, the cable occupies 75 feet, taking
its convex sides. The perpendicular height of the coil is
about five feet, and the width of one side of the coil from
convex to concave reaches 24 feet. The moment it is laid
London will be in immediate communication with Cagliari
through the cable, about 4430 miles of subterranean wire.
Extensions to Malta, Turkey, &c., would give us news
from the seat of war in an incredibly short space of time,
and might, in the matter of rapidity of proceedings, speedy
communications of orders, knowledge of wants, &c., be of
essential service to the country.
THR ABOLITION MANIA.—It is one of the minor evils
of a gross abuse that all sorts of ludicrous attempts are
constantly being made to abolish it. Everybody admits
that the abuse ought to be got rid of, but nobody can help
laughing at the lame and impotent measures that are taken
to bring about the desired conclusion. It has long been a
settled thing that the ecclesiastical courts are a nuisance
that must be swept away ; but we never can suppress a
smile when we pass a certain zinc plate on a certain door-
post, not very far from our own abode, inscribed with the
magnificent words, " Society for the Abolition of the Ec-
clesiastical Courts." The " Society" seems to occupy a
floor, or the portion of a floor, and we cannot help con-
trasting the insignificance of the premises with the grandeur
of the conchisiou which the society aims at. As there are
'several other equally ambitious associations that are just
as ill-lodged as the one we have named, we would propose
that they all unite their means for the purpose of taking
one good house, in which the various abolition societies
should have separate apartments—or, at all events
separate barss plates—assigned to them. There are
societies for the abolition of a State Church, for reform of
the law, for getting rid of the Court of Chancery, and a
variety of other more or less useful purposes. Should the
house become inconveniently crowded, it would be easy,
by a proper arrangement as to the knocker and the bells,
to keep the societies distinct from each other. For ex-
ample, we would have on the door-post such notices as the
following :—For the abolition of the Ecclesiastical Courts,
ring the top bell. For the Anti-State Church Association,
and for getting rid of the bishops, give a single knock..
For the reform of the Peerage, pull the lower bell twice,
and walk down the steps of the area. For the United
Brotherhood and Social Community for the Division of
Every-thing, knock and ring, and walk right up stairs to
the top of the house, when the door is opened by a check
string.—Punch.
SUNDAY TRADING IN FRANCE.—The efforts made of
late to check the universal desecration of the Sunday in
this country continue to be crowned with a very remark-
able success, and promise speedily to accomplish a refor-
mation in every part of France. How general and inve-
terate this scandal had become from one extremity of the
kingdom to the other, amongst the northern as well LAS
the southern population, may be judged of from the efforts
now making for its reformation ialmost uninterruptedly
between Boulogne and Marseilles. ,The subject is become
one of common conversation amongst the shop-keeping
community, who may be frequently heard on a Saturday
night, discussing the two sides of the question with their
neighbours, and debating whether the boutique is to be
open or not the next morning. Yesterday morning
(Sunday, the 14th), being desirous to know what visible
progress had been made in the cessation from Sunday
trading, I walked through those quarters of the town
where such a change was reported to have chiefly taken
place ; these are the wealthy commercial districts of the
Rue de la Paix, the Rues Vivienne and Richelieu, the
adjacent boulevards, &c.; here, where the shops only a
week or two. since were invariably and universally open
until at least two o'clock, and where, previous to that
hour, there was no perceptible difference between Sunday
and other dais, a very different state of things was mani-
fested. The rich quarter has certainly set the example ;
, in the Rue de la Paix, that great English thorouFhfares
scarcely a shop was open ; in the other streets it was •
evident that what had been formerly the rule was now
only the exception. Sunday trading has in a great de-
gree ceased in the Chaussee d'Autin, and it was only round
the Bourse, as might be perhaps expected, that the com-
mercial spirit seemed to be too strong as yet for the new
feeling. The streets had put on a Sunday aspect. The
great exception to the observance seems now to be in the
case of the builders and masons: their works are generally
in full activity,. and this both in private and public build-
ings. The government, or, rather, the Emperor, sets a
bad example. Indeed, in nothing that concerns his own
will or fancy does Louis Napoleon ever yield one jot,. as
may be seen in the most .trifling, as well as the most im-
portant matters. The demolition of the houses in front
of the Palais Royal or the Louvre was yesterday going on
. as usual, because the Emperor is impatient to have them
down. The Louvre itself was progressing, though not
quite so openly as on week-days. To indulge the same
fancy, hundreds of workmen laboured recently night and
day, through the Sunday, at the Elysee, to prepare it for
afile a few days sooner than it would have been other-
wise ready ; as though, forsooth, the advancing such an
event were one of those questions of " urgenee" for which
alone au exception is professed to be. made.—Correspon-
dent of the Guardian.