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

CHESHIRE AND WALES.

THE COMING Oa AGE of Sir Philip Egerton's eldest
son, Mr. P. Le Belward Egerton, who is now on duty with
the rifle brigade in the British forces sent to the seat of
war, was celebrated on Tuesday by a series of festivities
at Chester, Oulton-park, and Tarporley.
DESERTION OR A. CHILD.—On Tuesday evening, about
nine o'clock, a man, named Thomas Parry, was proceed-
ing through Bridge-street, Birkenhead, when he heard a
slight scream, and discovered a fine male child, apparently
a fortnight old, with no covering except an apron in which
it was wrapped. The child is now under the charge of
Mr. M`Nierney, relieving-officer.
- - -

TRANMERE.—On Monday last week, Mr. Bally and Mr.
Charles Hill were appointed overseers of Tranmere for the
ensuing year. Mr. Bally filled the office for the past year.
Mr. DARKIN, late secretary to the Shrewsbury and
Chester Railway Company, has been appointed a sub-
inspector of factories for Ireland.
A DARING but unsuccessful attempt was made to break
into the Provincial Bank at Holywell, last week. The
burglar was observed removing bricks from the wall out-
side the safe of the bank.

THE " GREAT OYSTER QUESTION," aS it is described
by the local papers, was brought before the judge, at the
Carnarvonshire assizes, last week, when the whole of the
prisoners tried for stealing oysters in the straits of Menai
were acquitted, the jury being of opinion that the men
took the oysters under the impression that they had a
right to do so.
RAILWAY ACCIDENT. Yesterday week, on the ar-
rival of the 11.50 train at Chester, the guard was informed
that a woman had jumped out at Tattenhall station, the
train at the time going at the rate of twenty-five miles an
hour. An engine and carriage were immediately des-
patched, and she was found to have been picked up at the
station, very badly hurt. She was taken by the engine to
Chester, and placed in the infirmary, where she now lies.
COLLEGE Horiorms.—Mr. Henry Smith, son of the
mayor of Chester, has obtained one of the Bridgman Ex-
hibitions, value £5O per annum, at Queen's College,
Oxford. There were eleven candidates ; and, we trust,
that we may regard Mr. Smith's early success as a prelude
to his still greater and more important academic honours,
during his term at the university. He matriculated at
Oxford last October, and was educated by the Rev. R.
Wall, of Birkenhead Park School.—Chester Courant.
CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAILWAY.—The traffic for
the week ending 26th March, 1854, was as follows :
Passengers, parcels, &c., per railway, £2208 Bs. 10d.;
steam-boats, £326 14s. sd. ; total, £2534 3s. 3d.: goods
£1531 7s. 11d. total, including Carnarvon traffic, per
rail, £3739 16s. 9d. ; steam-boat, £325 14s. sd. Cor-
responding week last year, per rail, £3028 Bs. Od. ;
steam-boat, £202 7s. ld. Increase, £834 16s. ld.

SHREWSBURY AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY.-The
sixteenth half-yearly meeting was held at Shrewsbury on
Tuesday, Lord Bateman, the chairman, presiding. The
following is a summary of the report :—The capital ac-
count shows a receipt of £986,332 14s. 6d., calls on shares ;
£15,600 in anticipation of calls ; £407,000 on mortgages,
and profit on preference shares sold, £2,580 2s. 3d., making
a total receipt of £1,411,512 16s. 9d. The balance of
capital yet to be raised is stated at £159,067 ss. 6d. The
expenditure has been £1,474,137 4s. Bd., leaving a balance
of £62,624 7s. 11d. against capital. The revenue account
shows a total recept for the past half-year of £52,156 3s. ld.,
and a total expenditure of £28,533 18s. 7d., leaving a
balance of £23,622 4s. 6d., and which, with a balance of
£207 7s. ld. from last December account, gives a sum of
£23,829 lls. 7d. applicable to dividend and interest.
Against this are mortme interest, £10,043 4s. 4d. ;
bankers' interest and commission, £839 Bs. 3d. ; interest
to T. Brassey and Co., on balance of account, £1,063 17s. 7d. ;
interest on calls in advance, £132 lls. ; and railway clear-
ing-house, £49 9s. 2d., together £12,128 Os. 4d., leaving
£11,701 ls. 3d. applicable to dividend.—The report was
unanimously adopted.

SHREWSBURY AND CHESTER RAILWAY COMPANY.—
The half-yearly meeting of the Shrewsbury and Chester
Railway Company was held on Wednesday, at the Royal
Hotel, Chester. Mr% Williams, the chairman of the com-
pany, presided. The report, which was unusually lengthy,
entered into the details of the dispute between the com-
pany and the Chester and Birkenhead line, relative to the
sum of £9,000, due on award from the former to the latter,
and for which the Birkenhead company, without previous
notice, seized property worth £50,000, in four different
counties. This conduct, the report, in the words of the
Chester and Shrewsbury Company's solicitor, denounced
as "most improper and unjustifiable." The chairman,
after alluding to the different matters mentioned in the
report, regretted that although the receipts on the line
were increasing, they did not increase in the same propor-
tion as the actual increase of traffic. Their through
traffic was increasing, and he hoped the day was not far
distant when it would pay them. They had also great
hopes that the expenses of their rolling stock would be
diminished. Their engines now worked all through be-
tween Chester and Wolverhampton and Birmingham, and
from this the directors hoped to effect a considerable
saving. He congratulated the company in the Great
Western Company being about to complete the narrow
gauge, along with the broad gauge, from Oxford to Basing-
stoke. This was of vast importance to the Shrewsbury
Company, because, when the communication between Ox-
ford and Birmingham was completed, they would be
enabled to pass uninterruptedly over the line from Chester
to Southampton and London. After some further dis-
cussion the report was adopted. The following resolution
was nest passed :—`` That the dividend on the eight per
cent. and five per cent. preference stocks be made payable
on the 21st of April.' The meeting was then made
special, when new shares, amounting to the sum of
£105,000, were issued, and powers granted to the direc-
tors to borrow £lO,OOO in conformity with the acts of
1851 and 1852.

HOLYHEAD NEW HARBOUR.—The great or northern
breakwater, which is in a very advanced state, is to be
completed as speedily as possible, and in order to effect
this the contractors have put on more than 100 additional
men. The filling up is rapidly progressing, and with a
continuance of fine weather great progress will be made.
The men who were out on strike have all returned to
their labour, and everything is being pushed forward with
the greatest activity. The number of men now employed
is about 1,500, with a dozen locomotive engines, and about
4,000 tons of solid rock are deposited daily. The length
of the breakwater is 5,000 feet, and it runs out to the
Platters-buoy. About 500 feet remain to be completed,
and the contractors are under contract to finish this by
August next. The harbour, even in its present unfinished
state, has been much used by vessels this winter for
shelter.

DINITER TO MR. CLAY.—A public dinner was given a
few days since, at Whitstable, Kent, to Mr. G. Clay, late
harbour-master of that port, on his departure for his new
appointment as superintendent of Woodside Ferry. A
considerable number of Mr. Clay's friends attended, and,
after ample justice had been done to the dinner, the
chairman proposed " The health of Mr. Clay," who, he
said, was now about to leave, after residing seven years
amongst them, to fill another appointment. The toast,
he knew, required no words from him to commend it to
them, as they had most of them enjoyed his personal
friendship, and could testify to his general kindness of
manner. He felt highly gratified that so many had
come forward to testify their esteem for him. He doubted
not, that however arduous his duties might be, he would
find at Birkenhead as many friends as he had found here.
In his late position of harbour master, he knew it was
impossible to please all, when all were struggling for their
own individual interests ; but notwithstanding the diffi-
cult position in which he had stood, he would carry with
him the best wishes of both shipowner and merchant,
and the esteem of many, very many who had enjoyed his
friendship and had experience of his kindness.—Mr. Clay,
in returning thanks, said it was, indeed, a pleasure that
he did not anticipate, to meet so many friends, and re-
ceive such marks of kindness and goodwill as he had met
with. He had certainly lived nearly seven years among
them, a short period in a man's life, but sufficiently long
to make him feel though his interests carried him away,
to regret the step which would remove him from friends
who had always treated him with the greatest kindness
and consideration.—The conviviality of the meeting was
kept up to a late hour. Mr. Clay left Whitstable for
Liverpool last week.
BIRKENHEA.DLITERA RY A.NDPHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
—The monthly meeting was held on Wednesday, in the
Concert-room, Hamilton-street, the president, Dr. Mac-
dougall in the chair. Several ladies were present. Mr.
J. M`Cann delivered a very able lecture on the " Philoso-
phy of War, particularly in reference to the Eastern
Question." War, he contended, was greatly belied, and
if it were killed, a friend would be crushed, as it had been
the means of increasing society, and tended to establish
permanent peace. He traced the wars of the Romans,
which carried with them civilisation and peace. Arts and
commerce had done much for civilised society, but they
were not essential to life, to our existence, as the savage
did without them all, and there were horrors of peace as
well as horrors of war. There was, he said, a greater loss
of blood by the arts of peace than by the progress of war ;
and in proof of the assertion, he said that during the 20
years of war a thousand men fell annually, whilst no
fewer than 6,000 lives were sacrificed annually by the arts
of peace, and, consequently, if we were to give up war on
account of the miseries and deaths attendant upon it, for
the same reason we ought to give up all the arts that
characterised civilised society. Although a friend of peace,
he considered it impolitic to abandon the profession of
arms as societies and nations were at present constituted.
If we disbanded our armies and navy, we should b.
to become subject to the arbitrary power of any armed
monarch, ho might make us a tributary power, and lay
us under grinding taxes, so that we should lose our money
and liberty at the same 'time. He then adverted to the
Eastern Question, and traced the cause of the present war
between Turkey and Russia, which arose from the du-
plicity and aggrandising spirit of the latter power. He
then showed that the object of Russia in preventing the
free navigation of the Danube was to cripple the commerce
and trade of England, and hitherto Russia had been suc-
cessful. He urged that Turkey was more Christian than
Russia, and concluded by hoping that the efforts of Eng-
land would be successful in frustrating the spoliation and
robbery attempted on the sultan by the czar. The chair-
man announced that it had been resolved that the meet-
ings of the society should in future be open to all descrip-
tions of papers on literary and philosophical subjects, and
the committee would be happy to receive papers from
ladies, to be either read by themselves or the secretary.
The subject for the next monthly meeting would be on
" Natural Magic." The proceedings then terminated.

Snip Le.uxcn.—A fine new barque, called the Esther,
270 tons register, old measurement, was launched from
the yard of Messrs. Rennie, Johnson, and Rankin, Bruns-
wick Dock, Liverpool, on Tuesday. The vessel is the pro-
perty of Messrs. James Moss and Co., and is intended for
the Mediterranean trade. She is 116 feet long, 22 feet 6
inches beam, and has 14 feet depth of hold. The ship,
when launched, drew 6 feet 9 inches aft, and 6 feet 2
inches forward. She was towed into the Brunswick
Dock, and in about three weeks it is_ expected she will be
ready for sea.
SIIIPBUILDING IN TILE UNITED STATES.—During 1853
there were built 269 ships, 95 brigs, 681 schooners, 394
sloops and clipper boats, 272 steamers ; total, 1,711; ton-
nage, 425,672,049. Of the ships, 132 were built in Maine,
and 73 in Massachusetts. Of the steamers, 74 were built
in Now York, 57 in Pennsylvania, 29 in Kentucky, 35 in
Ohio, 11 in Niksouri, and 14 in Michigan.

TO THE TRUSTEES AND SUBSCRIBERS OF THE
LIVERPOOL NORTHERN HOSPITAL.

"Enghind objects to disposing, by anticipation, of the suc-
cession of an• old friend and ally."—Sir G. El . Seymour's
Despatches.

LADIES A.IID GENTLEMEN,—Certain medical gentlemen
have, it appears, been recently soliciting the promise of
your votes for the appointment of surgeon to the Liver-
pool Northern• Hospital. This course has been adopted
upon the mere anticipation, founded upon unauthorised
rumour, of the resignation of one of the present surgeons
of that institution.

From communications imparted by my friends upon the
subject, I, it seems, am the surgeon whose resignation is
anticipated. _

I beg leave, ladies and gentlemen, to solicit your very
serious consideration to the effect involved in this mode
of procedure. The office is an honorary one ; and those
who, by your support, have been elevated to this high
position, have always esteemed it as conferring upon them
an honourable distinction. And it may, perhaps, be con-
fidently asserted that, in the exercise of your important
privilege, your judgment, and not your partialities, have
directed your decisions.. I presume such to have been
your principle in the selection of your medical officers ;
for the support which you vouchsafe to this noble institu-
tion proceeds from the very essence of Christian humanity;
and surely you must feel anxious that the trusts which
you confer should be discharged by men of honour and
acknowledged professional skill. I say honour and skill,
for it will be generally found that the possession of the
latter is accompanied by the former ; and, where this is
wanting, skill is rarely found to exist. I trust it is super-
fluous to remind you that this solicitation, or attempt to
pre-engage your interest, cannot possibly proceed from
any honourable reeling of rivalry or distinction ;—it seems
to imply a conscious distrust of merit ; and those who
adopt it fear lest a more open course should end in disap-
pointment.
Even in "
cases of actual vacancies, private solicitations
by candidates cannot, perhaps, be commended ; but what
defence can be set up in behalf of men who, prior even to
any announcement of resignation or possibly any contem-
plation of it, endeavour to forestal their more honourable
brethren in the attainment of their object. A skilful
general may vanquish his enemy by a midnight march ;
but to adopt surreptitious' schemes to obtain distinction
of this nature cannot but be condemned by men of
honourable sentiments; and I feel assured the subscribers
to the Liverpool Northern Hospital will consider it a
moral obligation to discountenance what may be esteemed
insidious attempts to acquire their support before it can
be legitimately solicited. I have never, to any individual,
disclosed an intention to resign my office as one of your
honorary surgeons, and for any reported intentions of this
nature lam not responsible. Inquiries as to my rumoured
intentions were made to me personally by several of my
medical brethren, and upon my assurance that I had made
no resolution upon the subject, no steps were taken by
these gentlemen in furtherance of their views. 'They felt
that it was premature, and inconsistent with their honour,
to proceed in the matter. Mr. Hakes has, however, adopted
a different course. To his inquiries I made a similar reply,
and conceiving, I presume, that I might, at some future
time, tender my resignation, he hastened to solicit the
" support and influence" of the subscribers. Mr. Lewis
never had the courtesy to communicate with me on the
subject ; yet he, the friend of Mr. Hakes, proceeds hand
in hand in a similar course. They announce my intention
to resign as an excuse for their own activity. In their
haste they are unwilling to await any public declaration ;
and, in fact, they do this in the face of a direct negative,
which I gave to the inquiry of Mr. Hakes as to my inten-
tions. I have no private interests to serve in this public
communication ; but I feel strongly for the honour of the
medical profession, and think that honorary offices in
public institutions should be open to fair and honourable
competition ; nay, so strongly is this felt in London and
elsewhere, by those who have the appointment of them,
that to solicit votes, directly or indirectly, before a resig-
nation has been announced or a vacancy occurred, is
esteemed to disqualify for election.
Conceiving, as I do, that the sentiments which I enter-
tain upon this subject are just, both to the public and my
medical brethren, I trust that the subscribers to the Li-
verpool Northern Hospital, coinciding with my views, will
uphold their own personal dignity, and demonstrate that '
the important responsibility which devolves upon them is
based upon a principle too honourable to be swayed by
any undue or indirect influence.—l have the honour to
be, ladies and gentlemen, most respectfully, your obedient
servant, W. H. BAINBRIGGE,
Senior Surgeon to the Liverpool Northern Hospital.
3, Islington-square.

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