The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-01-12 00:00:00

saying,

fit to many ; but we enjoy ourselves at home, and do not
stand in need of the many advantages you set forth." I
meet this statement by telling them they are decidedly
wrong. Suppose them endowed with natural abilities
beyond their fellows ; these they are bound not to con-
ceal under a bushel. Society demands that they impart

them at the re-unions of the " Roscoe." Suppose, on
the othel• hand, that nature has not been too lavish of
her intellectual endowments ; they are equally called

upon to court society, and, in imitation of the humble
bee, gather information from every available source.
The 4: Atheneum" will supply many.

ability to become members. Now, the most of these, in
a few weeks, throw away, on frivolous amusements, a sum
fully equal to the annual expense of membership, without
any permanent benefit ; whereas their investment in this
self-supporting institution will bring them sure returns
in the advantages I have been detailing.

Let me then impress upon all, that, the more who come
forward, at once, to give their support to the " Roscoe
Club and Liverpool Atheneum," the surer will be the
basis of its establishment, and the sooner will all its de-
partments be put into full operation. Let their watch-
word be, " Action, action, action."

I am, yours, &c.
CLUB-LAVI?

PUBLIC NUISANCES

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

Sut,—Your correspondent " Argus," in the STANDARD
of last week, though fabled to be gifted with one hundred
eyes, seems to have been a little at fault in his enumera-
tion of the nuisances we Dicky Sams have daily to en-
counter in our peregrinations. I will, therefore, with your
kind permission, add a few more to the catalogue of
grievances, in the hope it may attract the attention of our
active Police Commissioner. In the first place, we have
our optics obscured by the shaking of rugs and carpets at
the hall doors of houses, which I believe is prohibited by
our local acts. Whether our policemen overlook this
offence in a spirit of gallantry towards the maid servants,
I shall not at present inquire. Another and a greater
nuisance is the setting fire to chimneys, generally amongst
the humbler classes of inhabitants, and frequently after
dusk, so as to escape observation. lam often annoyed by
the stifling fumes alluded to. And lastly, is there no
clause in any of our local acts to forbid the distribution
of obscene quack papers at the street corners, to the de-
triment of the morals of the rising generation, who thereby
cannot fail to be contaminated.—l am, sir, &c.

DELTA

Liverpool, Bth January, 1847

Atstrrt Atizs,

The increase of the Customs at Manchester for the past
year over the previous one is £117,600. The receipts in
1845 were, however, only £70,000.
DEAR SPORT.—Near Lancaster, the other day, a
Cockney sportsman shot at a snipe, missed it, of course,
but killed seven unfortunate geese, for which he had to
pay_.

kELIEF OF THE POOR IN IRELAND.—The members of
the Society of Friends, resident in Warrington and neigh-
bourhOod, have subscribed the liberal amount of £153 in
aid of a fund for the relief of the distressed poor in
land.

One of the workmen employed at the London and
North Western Railway Company's works, Crewe, gave a
vocal entertainment in the girls' school-room, on New-
year's evening, which, though not numerously, was very
respectably attended.
A BRIDEWELL TO BE LET.—On Tuesday, the magis-
trates at the Town-hall, Preston, had the satisfaction of
leaving the bench without transacting any business.
There was not a case for investigation of any decsription,
neither was there a prisoner in bridewell during any part
of the preceding evening.
THE CONTEST FOR MANCHESTER.—Mr. Bright's re-
turn for Manchester is not so secure as his partisans af-
fected to believe. The Manchester Guardian says, not-
withstanding an early start and a powerful committee,
Mr. Bright can only calculate on 3487 promises out of a
constituency of 8000 voters ; while Lord Lincoln's can-
vass progresses most favourably in quarters where his
friends believed that Mr. Bright would have a majority.
IMMIGRATION OF IRlsn.—The unparalleled number
of Irish paupers continually pouring into Warrington, and
their distressed and destitute condition, has occupied the
most anxious consideration of the sipierseers, guardians,
constables, and other authorities of the town ; and several
meetings lave been held, at which the matter has been

aiscussed. At a meeting on Thursday evening, a memo-
rial to the Secretary of State, similar to the one from the
Liverpool Select Vestry, was agreed to, and ordered to be
forwarded forthwith.

REOPENING OF MR. FITZGERALD'S COALPITS.—On
Saturday, there was a procession of a somewhat novel
character through the streets of Manchester and Salford,
to celebrate the reopening of two of the coalpits at the
Pendleton Colliery, which have for upwards of three years
been inundated with water. In the month of August,
1843, the working of coal at both the Albert and the six-
foot mine, was totally stopped by their being flooded.

gine and pump, in order to endeavour to clear the-pits
and succeeded.—Manchester Guardian.

On Tuesday, a poor old man, named Ralph Morris, aged
82, who lived at Warrington, and who, since the death of
his wife, about three weeks since, has been living alone,
was discovered in his bed-room quite dead. The police-
officer who entered the dwelling after the old man had not

head jammed between one of the -bedposts, the'wall, and
a large box ; it was so fast that he could not remove him
until he had-removed the articles. Dr. Steele said he had
examined the body externally, and found several bruises
on his knees, arms, and face, and it was his opinion that
he had fallen in the place where he was found, and had
died from old age and decay of body.

Runcorn and the Northwich salt proprietors, Runcorn
has been constituted an independent port, as an experi-
ment for three years. A new officer of collector and con-
troller have been created, each of which officers will also
fill so' " It is

..tDordinate othces. approve` Aso as a bond-
ing port, and the collector of Manchester is directed by
the commissioners to repair thither and report as to the
suitability of premises offered by the memorialists for a
custom-house, a watch-house, and bonded warehouses ;
and to ascertain what should be the natural limits of each
port as between Runcorn and Liverpool, and then confer
with the principal officers here. The memorialists are
themselves to pay for the entire cost of new officers and
premises—as paid for by Manchester.

OPENING or THE PORTS.—The Manchester Commer—
cial Association, a body when first organised opposing the
free-trade movement, have forwarded a memorial to the
Premier, calling his lordship's attention to the limited
supply of food in the kingdom, and the consequent injury
to trade, and to the desirability of opening the ports, and
a revision of the navigation laws.

THE RIVER PLATi.—A memorial to Lord Palmerston
was in course of signature at Manchester, on Saturday,
by the merchants of the town, calling the attention of
his lordship to the still suffering state of trade and the
losses to which merchants are subjected by the continued
hostilities between the Republics of Buenos Ayres and.
3;3lite Video. The memorialists say they are not in-
formed of the reasons which prevent the carrying out of
the conditions to which both republics were understood
to have assented ; and beg his lordship's earnest attention
to the restoring of peace and undisturbed commerce to
all parties. The Manchester Association forwarded a

memorial on the same subject on Thursday.
COUNTY SESSION.—An adjourned annual session was
held at the Court-house, in Preston, on Wednesday last.

on which occasion about forty magistrates were present:
The Rev. Jonathan Brooks, senior rector of Liverpool,
occupied the chair. The first business of the meeting
was the appointment of a committee of visitors to the
County Lunatic Asylums,. including the two new asylums
"pit to be e•-- 'L. Salford and West Derl•

noun, erected in tne _ay Hun-
dreds. Mr. Greg submitted to the meeting the plans for
the proposed new offices in connexion with the asylum at
Lancaster, which, after some discussion, the committee
were empowered to have carried out. A communication
was read from the Secretary of State to the Chairman of
the Quarter Sessions, relative to the payment by govern-
ment of the expense of maintaining prisoners under sen-
tence of felony or misdemeanor. A lengthy discussion
took place on the subject, which ended in Mr. Addison

moving that the county treasurer make out a return of the
expense incurred per head, in the maintenance of pri-
soners, and that the same be transmitted to the Secretary
of State. The motion was carried unanimously. The
Chairman submitted a recommendation from the consta-
bulary committee for the future payment of the entire
force. The following is the scale :—Chief consta-
ble £5OO per annum ; assistant, £2oo—after three years'
service, £2so—after seven years' service £3OO ; superin-
tendent, £lOO, £l3O, £lso—together with an allowance
not exceeding £BO per annum for a horse and two-wheeled
carriage, which he is to have and to, keep for the per-
formance of his duty, to include feeding, taxes, and every
contingent expense ; chief clerk, £l6O, £l3O, £l5O ; in-
spector, 45., 4s. 6d., ss. per diem ; assistant clerk, 4s
4s. 6d., ss. - 35., 3s. 3d..

per diem ; sergeant, 6d. per
diem ; constables-Ist class, 2s. 7d., 2s. Bd., 2s. 9d. per
diem ; 2nd class, 2s. sd. per diem ; 3rd. class, 2s. 4d. per
I diem. The salaries to pe raised to the respective suing
above named after three and seven years' service, as ex-
plained in the case of the assistant. After some discus-
^n the scale was agreed to. The Chairman submitted

the plans for the proposed erection of 120 new cells at
Kirkdale Gaol, in order to carry out the separate system,
which was agreed to at a previous meeting. The sum
which the magistrates of the Kirkdale division required to
carry out their object was £5OOO. After a warm discus•
sion, -

le money was voted, with only four dissentient
voices. A letter from the secretary of state, in reference
to the proposed new cells at Preston house of correction.
was taken into consideration. The home secretary dis-
approves of the plans, and they have in consequence been
referred to Mr. S. Holme, of Liverpool.

1 THE NEW LANDING STAGE FOR ST. GEORGE'S

Through the kindness of a member of the Dock Com-
mittee, we have been admitted to an inspection of the

new floating landing- stage adopted by the Corporation,
designed by Mr. Cubitt, C.E., and considered by them to
be more applicable for the intended purpose than any of
the three hundred and odd contrivances that were exhi-
bited (in models and drawings) the year before last.
In our paper of the 2nd of September last we gave s
cursory notice of the plans and sections, and we then
expressed some apprehensions of its stability during gales
of wind from the westward, which throw a considerable
seaway against our sea-walls,. alongside or parallel with

winch this new structure is destined to float. We still
entertain the same doubts, though not to the same degree,
on this point, for having seen the stage and its floats, we
would fain hope that it may be found to succeed to the
fullest extent ; and if so, it will undoubtedly prove to
be a great public accommodation.

The plan of the stage was given in a diagram in our

paper in

ry accura

IV W LIALVI-MIOI.IZ 'Laving iieen since aaoptee. it is now
being built in a hollow, or basin, within the now enclosed
area of the new North Docks, hereafter to be otherwise

apps Trial el,; auu lt, Has excirea mucn interest and curiosity
in all who have visited it. The whole forms an immense
deck of 512 feet in length, little short of 90 in breadth,
and sharp at both ends, each forming a bow. The frame-
work is of great strength, and, as a stage, well and

judiciously put together. It is built upon upright
posts, so that the water may be introduced, and the
pontoons, or boats, upon which it is to float may be
placed and secured wider it. The hollow, or dock; where
it stands (formed by the embankment of the made land)
on the north shore, will be opened out at the north end
to allow its being floated into the estuary of the river
when it is completed. The deck framing, as indeed all
the wood work, is of the best pitch pine, and put together
in bolting, oval iron plating at the buts, &c., with all due
regard to strength, but without either wooden or iron
knees, so far as we could discover. The beams of this
deck (for it is but a huge deck) are about one foot square,
and five feet from centre to centre, leaving about four feet
between ; and there are ten kelsons fornied of balks, one
on the top of the other. Two of these amidships, and
nine feet apart, are of three beams of sixteen inches thick,
and, in all, of three feet deep ; the other eight are of two
balks only, and, outwardly, these last are carried round
each bow. The tree-nails by which the deck planking is
fastened down are of English oak, steamed and compressed,
and being black-leaded, resemble rods of iron.

The deck is peculiarly constructed. Between the mid-
ship kelsons the planks run fore-and-aft over a width of
eight feet, and these planks are 5 inches thick. On each
side of these the planks are placed diagonally, and on
edge, over a width of eighteen feet, verging—all along from
the bow, which will be (when the vessel is moored) towards
Runcorn—to the other end. Outside`of these, and form-
ing the side portions of the deck, the planks of The same
thickness, are carried fore and aft. There will be stan-
cheons all round the deck, short and long alternately,—
the long ones rising about four feet as a protection, and
probably hung with chains, as a bulwark, where they can
conveniently be employed ; and the shorter ones for the
temporary moorings or hausers of the steamers.
It is scarcely possible, without a personal visit, to ap-
preciate the size and consequent magnificence of this
monster stage. Processions of great length might move
round it, leaving a large area in the centre, and one hun-
dred large country dances might certainly be footed upon
it, with room and scope enough. The spar deck of the
Great Britain was justly: considered to be a wonder, but
this immeasurably beats it. If it will only condescend to
lie quiescent, a bowling-green and a quoiting ground, as
well as a few parterres would be agreeable addenda, with-
out blocking up the required thoroughfares.
The whole of the stupendous structure is to be kept
afloat at all times of the tide by pontoons, or boats built
of iron, and fixed under it, athwart ships, or at right an-
gles with the deck. There will be thirty-six to thirty-
eight of these vessels in all. With the exception of a few
at each extremity, where the general "vessel' sharpens,
these are of about eighty? tons burthen each, and the
weight of each in material is about 1.7 tons. They are
flat decked, straight sided, and round at the bottom,
which forms an arch inverted. They resemble ordinary
steam-engine boilers, but of greater length, being about
80 feet. They were built by Messrs. Tayleure and Sanders,
of the Bank Quay Foundry, in Warrington, and are put
together with great fidelity. These are each divided inter-
nally by watertight bulk heads, 9 feet apart, for greater

strength, and for security in the event of elainagE

,
are entirely of iron,—deck, sides, and bottom ; and
air-tight. They were floated down by canal, and
afterwards by the river, in pieces, two or three for
each pontoon, as convenience offered. The pieces` are put
together on the margin of the basin where the stage is
being built, and thence they are launched down, side-
ways, on regular ways. They have all strong iron
hooks on each side, by which they are to be secured under
the stage by other hooks, terminating rods of iron with
screws and nuts. These pontoons will, with the seperin-
cumbent weight of the stage, probably draw from 2 feet 6
inches to 2 feet 10 inches, leaving the deck at a convenient
height for the steamers landing and embarking their pas-
sengers.
(The ends of the pontoons, which are perpendicular, will
not be exposed nakedly to the sea, as we learn there is to
be a sort of planking, or apron of boards all round, for the
purpose of fending off steamers or boats. and it is PX.

pected that any concussion will generally hit against the
end of the deck-beams, where the whole fabric presents
the greatest strength.

The stage will be moored opposite the George's Baths,
and will extend over the whole length of the quay, lying
parallel with it, and connected therewith by two chain
suspension bridges, one at either end. From the edge of
the pier to the outside of the stage, the distance will be
about 250 feet, so that about ten feet of water will be
available for the river steamers even at low water of spring
tides ; though in such cases, the incline of the bridges will,
we imagine, be rather steep. Round the stage, at high

water, eight river steamers may be accommo-daied at-a
time. As we noticed in September, there will be in the
centre a suite of waiting-rooms, of light workmanship,
and replete with various conveniences. How the stage is
to be moored, (and this is no small consideration,) we
have not yet learned ; but we may state that an ingenious
nautical friend has suggested a plan, which as regards the
set of the tide, appears to us to'be good, simple and prac-
iirallin

The landing-stage is, in fine, so far as the building goes,
unexceptionable, as are also the pontoons for its floata-
tion. A lingering doubt, however, still remains with us
whether some mischief to it might not arise on a strong
blow from the westward ; for, though from its immense
length and width, it may be supposed that a wave here
and there would have little effect in disturbing it, we have
witnessed such " seas" dashed over our river wall, as we

fear, did they recur, would put this floating deck to a
most straining trial.' Mr. Cubitt is undoubtedly a clever
engineer; but the main question here is not of mechani-
cal knowledge alone, as refers to a piece of machinery,
bined. We wish all
we

success to the plan, which will be very cos
should have had more confidence in it, had some of our
experienced master mariners, or dock engineers been con..
suited and expressed their approval. We know not
what opinion is entertained by. Mr. Hartley, the dock
surveyor, on the subject ; yet iti but justice to state,"
that from our own cursory observation, he has devoted
much attention to the firm and perfect construction of
Mr. Cubitt's stage, in order that it may have the fullest
and fairest chance for the projector and the public.