The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-03-09 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

tent ourselves with giving a sample from the
speech of the honourable member for Manchester,
Mr. Milner Gibson. That gentleman remarked,
that :

"To him it appeared most unacccountable that all the
sympathy of the Legislature should have been reserved
for the colliery and the factory operatives—that they could
not see any other : for example, there were the hospital
nurses ; one portion of them worked during 16 hours of
the night, the other 11 hours of the day.
An hon. MEMBER.—What ! 27 hours ?
Mr. M. GIBSON.—One set of nurses did not begin duty
at the exact time when the others left off ; but there
could be no doubt that they endured great privations and
laboured very hard, therefore he would say that the case of
the hospital nurses presented an excellent field for legis-
lation—they worked longer.than the factory operatives—
they worked in a worse atmosphere—their duties were
often laborious—and he could by no means comprehend
why their case should be neglected, while that of the cot-
ton spinners was thus taken up by the members of that
house. Their labours were excessive, and their situation
was calculated to excite the utmost compassion—why then
were they not included in the present bill ? He thought
that the hon member for Newark' need not give up the
melancholy case of the washerwOmen. If the principle of
the bill before them were a sound principle, they were bound
by every law of justice and humanity to give the full bene-
fit of that principle to every class of Her Majesty's sub-
jects. The workers in cotton, flax, and silk, were not en-
titled to its exclusive enjoyment. A society had been
formed for the protection of the needlewomen, but the
washerwomen worked a greater number of hours, and it
was a remarkable fact that those washerwomen formed a
large proportion of the out-patients of all the hospitals.
Owing to the great number of hours that they remained
standing, the washerwomen became subject to varicose
reins and ulcerated legs, and therefore he could repeat
that they ought to be as carefully protected from the
temptation of excessive labour as the factory operatives."
It is melancholy to think that from a mi-
nister of the crown, and a member for one of the
largest constituencies in the empire, such rubbish
should 'flow as the above. What earthly similarity
can there he between the factory worker of tender
years, who must toil as long as the engine toils, and
the hospital nurse or the washerwoman, who with
the fear of " varicose veins and ulcerated legs"
before her eyes, can make her own bargain as to
the time she washes or works ? Perhaps, how-
ever, this allusion to two such ill-used classes of

womankind as hospital nurses and washerwomen
is only intended by the' honourable member as a
display of wit. If so, the judgment which
prompted it is very bad. So sloppy a politician
ought neither to sneer at the Sairey Gamps, nor at
the varicose veins and ulcerated legs with which
other respectable and hard-working women are oc-
casionally afflicted.

Despite of Mr. Milner Gibson, or. Sir Robert
Peel and his allies, we expect to see this ten hours
bill passed by a considerable majority. Even Lord
John Russell must by this time perceive that the
public mind, like that of the factory workers, is
set upon its triumph.

IN our publication of the 25th of August last,
we presented to our readers, accompanied with a
few comments of our own, a letter from Dr. Har-
bord, urging the authorities of the town to flush
the sewers, and to afford a continuous supply of
water in certain districts of the town, in which
fever and dysentery had commenced their ravages.
So excellent a suggestion, coming from a gentle-
man whose efforts to bring about a proper sanitory
condition of our town, and to alleviate the condi-
tion of our ill-housed, and ill-cared for, poor, was
worthy the serious consideration of those to whom
it was offered ; and would that it had been listened
to, as it ought to have been !—many a valuable life
would have been saveiL-many a struggling widow
have at this moment by her side the partner of her
former days of comfort—many a houseless orphan
have a home, of which neglect of the great duty of
their more fortunately circumstanced fellow crea-
tures have deprived them.
We mention the subject at present because we
perceive that the Health Committee are, on the re-
commendation of Dr. Duncan, about to adopt the
very steps so long since recommended by Dr. Har-
bord ; and which, if then carried out, would, no
doubt, have been attended with more beneficial re-
sults than are likely to be derived from the present
rather tardy efforts.

SOUP INTERDICTED BY ROMAN CATHOLIC
PRIESTS IN LENT.

(From the Dublin Evening Packet.)
CONNEMAILA—ROUNDSTONE RELIEF' COMMITTEE,
FEB. 11.—A subject of a sectarian nature was introduced
this day in committee by the Roman Catholic priests of
this district. These rev. gentlemen insisted that soup
should not have been dispensed on this day week to the
poor, it being the first week of Lent', and imputed base
' and dishonourable motives to the Protestant clergymen
Y who issued tickets for that purpose. The sul,' it was in-

troduced by Mr. O'Malley, C.C., who was immediately
opposed by the Rev. IV. Crotty, Presbyterian minister,
who deprecated the introduction of such irrelevant and
sectarian matters in committee. It being ruled, however,
by the chairman that Mr. O'Malley should be heard, the
following scene took place :
Rev. Mr. O'MALLEY

Mr. Chairman, it is a fact that

soup has boon given this asy by members of this commit-
tee, for the purpose of casting a stigma on our holy reli-
gion, they taking advantage of the poverty of the people.
Mr. DALTON, treasurer and superintendent of the soup
kitchen.—lf these remarks are intended to apply to me, I
must exonerate myself. I believe the soup was dispensed
at the request of the Rev. Mr. Crotty.

Mr. Ciio-rTv.—Rather say at the're quest of the poor,
who are starving, and who were exceedingly anxious to
get it.

Mr. O'MALLEy, addressing. Mr. Crotty.—Did you not
know it was Ash Wednesday, and that the Roman Ca-
tholics are not permitted to partake of flesh meat ? and,
then, what could your object in giving it be but to insult
us?

Mr. Cnorm—Really I must again protest against this
discussion as altogether irregular; it will serve no purpose
to fight here about your laws and customs. What urn I
to know, as a Presbyterian clergyman, of your Ash Wed-
nesdays or Good Fridays ? My duty, as a member of this
committee, is to relieve the poor, as far as is in my power,
without reference to sect or party.
Mr. DUANg.—You ought to know the laws of our
church, for you once kept them yourself.

Rev. Mr: CURRAN; P.P,, 'and CHAIRMAN.-Mr.
O'Malley is right. The object was to insult our religion ;
it should not be tolerated.

The Rev. M. O'Malley we are informed, addressed his
people on the evening of the above day, in the chapel,
and denounced the soupers, as he termed them, also the
Protestant clergymen, as enemies to his religion. Does
not the conduct of this priest prove the wisdom of the
government regulation, excluding Roman Catholic curates
from relief committees ?

The collections at St. Bride's Church, after sermons
by the Rev. W. W. Ewbank, and the Rev. Hugh
M`Neile, in aid of the schools, amounted to £7B.
The weather here is extremely mild, but seasonable.
Yesterday was a lovely spring day. We have plenty of
March dust. '

BEISINGTON Cuuncn.—The collection for the destitute
poor of Scotland and Ireland, in this church, on the 28th
February, amounted to £4l 15s. •

The Rev. Benjamin Strettell Clarke, curate of Christ's
Church, was presented yesterday, with a pocket commu-
nion seryice of plate, by a member of the congregation,
as a birth-day gift.
The two Gas Companies, in this town have amalgama-
ted, but the Guardian Gas Company refuse to be in-
fluenced by this movement, and have resolved to persevere
with their bill. •

TESTIMONIAL

—There is now on view in Mr. Doke

window, in Lord-street, . splendid engraved silver tea
service, which is to be. presented to Captain finish, the
manager of the London and North Western Railway, by
his brother officers in the company, on the occasion of the
gallant captain's removal to London. The service, which
is in the Elizabethan. style, consists of coffee-pot, tea-pot,.
sugar-basin, and creani-jug, together with a dozen tea-
spoons and sour-tongs, of the king's pattern.
FEVER.—We have already stated that thtee officers of
the parish, viz : Rowlands, Mr. Smith, and Mr.
Robinson, had died Of. fever caught in
.the discharge of
their duty. On Saturday, one of the twenty-four police-
men employed to distribute relief in the twelve districts
of the town—William Higgins, No. 619—died of small-
pox communicated to hilt while discharging his duties.
Within the last week there has been a marked increase in

in the lower districts of the town are very numerous.
THE GREAT MADRAS RAILWAY COMPANY.—Under
this title, a prospectus of a project appears in our columns,
designed to open out h communication between the lead-
ins dictrirta lint] Mama .rif khn Mnriract nresideriCV. which

appears to us to be singularly deserving of the attention
of capitalists. The length of the line projected is 270

milesby the present Winaink ronte, and by this project it
will be reduced to 200 miles, the construction of which is
estimated at the cost= of £5,000 per mile. The popula-
tion of the presidency-of Madras, for which this must be
the main trunk line

is set down at 14,0

certain

`rom its ex