The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-18 00:00:00

WooL.—We have again experienced a dulness in
the Wool market this week, and the trade gene-
rally is quite inanimate ; the imports, however,
from all quarters have been very light for some
weeks past, which will keep stocks from accumu-
lating to any great extent and holders from forcing
sales, so that prices cannot be expected to go lower
unless some unforeseen event transpires to create a
prolonged state of the present stagnation. Imports
for the week, 768 bales, viz., 286 Portugal, 470
Mediterranean Ports, 10 Buenos Ayres, and 20
Irish.

PRESENTATION of PLATE.—On Saturday evening, a
deputation waited upon Mr. Humphreys, late Collector of
Inland Revenue, at his house,l3, Everton Crescent, Liver-
pool, for the purpose of presenting to him a piece of plate
as a mark of their regard as a high official, and as a uni-
formly consistent man in the discharge of very difficult
duties, during the long period of 34 years, in which he
displayed fidelity to the crown, and secured the confidence
of the Board of Inland Revenue, dispensing justice to all,
and alike charitable and sympathetic for his fellow-crea-
ture in every time of need. The following is the inscrip-
tion :—"Presented to William Humphries, Esq., by his
friends and admirers in office, this memento of their re-
spect on his retirement from the Collectorship of Inland
Revenue at the port of Liverpool.' The plate, which was
executed by Mr. Dismore, of Bold-street, was of very
superior style.
THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS were specially opened on
Good Friday, to gratify a number of parties from various
localities who visited this town. In addition to the highly-
improved attractions, the spirited proprietor has engaged
those singular human curiosities, the Lilliputian Aztecs,
with the particulars of whose appearance our readers have
been made familiar by the lengthened descriptions.which
have appeared in our own and the metropolitan papers.
These extraordinary children have, during the past year,
excited the astonishment of Her Majesty and most of the
nobility, together with many of the learned men of the
empire. They are descended, it is said, rom an ancient
race, who were many centuries ago located in Mexico,
but whom the Spaniards endeavoured to exterminate in
1819„who destroyed their cities, and the few inhabitants
who escaped were compelled to fly to the interior of
central America, where they built the city of Iximaya—
a place unknown to the other portions of the earth until
very lately, and where these Aztecs have been, and are
still preserved as objects of adoration in the pagan tem-
ples. The Zoological Gardens will become more attractive
this season than formerly, in consequence of the various
improvements which Mr. Atkins has effected in every
department. The walks and shrubberies have been
carefully attended to, and a number of statues adorn
the different avenues, which will be brilliantly lighted
by a greatly increased number of lamps. The model of
the house in which Shakspeare was born is still preserved,
reminding those who have visited Stratford-on-Avon of
the careful exactness with which Alr. Atkins has followed
the resemblance of the birth-place of the immortal bard.
The pyrotechnic panorama of Mount Etna has been in-
creased in beauty, and whether viewed in the magnifi-
cence of volcanic eruption in the evening, or beneath the
sunny brightness of mid-day, the tout ensemble displays
the skill and taste of the artists, Messrs. Norie and Mat-
thews, as well as the pyrotechnic resources and lavish pre-
paration of Mr. Atkins. It is not, as yet, quite complete,
but when the whole machinery is finished, it will afford
the most gratifying spectacle ever exhibited at these gar-
dens. The menagerie has somewhat increased, and many
beautiful specimens have also been added in Ornithology,
the parrots and other birds displaying the m ost brilliant
plumage. The archery ground, gymnasium, and othet
attractions of the place have been carefully attended to,
. and will prove, this season, that the most vigilant and
spirited exertions have been used by Air, Atkins in cater-
W suit the taste of his vatroul.