The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-01-23 00:00:00

Jan. 23, Ma.

Esau Acknm, a young Chinaman, now employed hf
Labrey, Scholes, and Co., tea dealers, Manchester, lia
furnished the Manchester Guardian with an account of s
Chinese wedding. If (says he) during courtship any P 4
or earthen vessel is cracked or broken, it is considered a
bad omen, and one that is never disregarded. Should
the young gentleman, therefore, while in the house of the
lady's parents, hear or see anything of her that is not to
his mind, he generally manages (by accident, of course,)
to break his ta-cup—and so break off the match.
WILFUL MURDER.—A verdict of this nature has been
returned at Wigan, by the coroner's jury, against Bei':
nard Kay, accused of strangling his wife. The deceased,-
when Kay married her, about eight months ago, waS
maintaining herself in a respectable manner by letting
apartments. Kay was always considered a dissipated
man, and at the time of the marriage he left the party in
chapel, previous to the arrival of the priest, and was
absent for two or three hours. On his return, he was in'
toxicated, but the ceremony was proceeded with.
FESTIVITIES AT RUFFORD-HALL.-011 Tuesday 154
Sir Thomas G. Hesketh, Bart., high-sheriffof the county'',
celebrated the anniversary of his birth in a style of 014'
English hospitality, with some modern accompaniements.,
The hon. baronet, as a mark of respect to the javelin-
men who accompanied him in his official capacity as high
sheriff, invited them, along with a number of his other
tenantry and their sons and daughters, amounting to up.'
wards of one hundred, to join him on the happy occasion.
A spacious room at the hall was tastefully decorated for
the occasion with evergreens, interspersed with mottoes
appropriate to the interesting event. The company as.
sembled in the evening, and the worthy baronet and his.
amiable lady led off a country dance.
REMARKABLE DECEASE OF A MOTHER AND DAUG!V
TER.—On Friday, old Betty Clewes, who lives in Lover s•
lane, Atherton, had the misfortune to receive a fall while'
carrying a pail of water in her house. Having attained
the venerable age of ninety, this accident was felt by her-
very severely. She had at the time a daughter name
Nelly living with her, and suffering under an illness ev
long duration. On the day following the old lady's fair,
she said to Nelly, " Thou 'd better get foret and dee Wl.
me." Poor old Betty gave up the ghost the same doll
On Tuesday the interment took place, and sorrowing 84.'4
quaintance mourned over the ashes of the patriarc
Betty. The funeral procession had not proceeded moire"''
than a quarter of a mile towards the nearest church, he"
fore the earthly career of the daughter Nelly was also
an end, and she was buried beside her mother on th
Thursday following.—Preston
COTTON FROM PCRT NATAL..—On Monday, at the!
annual meeting of the Manchester Commercial Association',
two samples of cotton were exhibited, which had been
grown at Port Natal, by Mr. Sydney Peel. One of the
samples is of the indigenous cotton of the country ; it
'
of a yellow colour, almost amounting to " nankeen,
which could, however, be taken out by bleaching. The
staple is fair, but not very strong ; it would be worth
about 4id. per lb. The other sample is grown from Sea
Island seed ; the colour is good, and the staple long and
silky ; it is worth 6d. a lb. Both samples are hand-picked.
The capabilities of Port Natal for the growth of cotton
and otheragricultural produce, without the expenditure
of a heavy amount of capital and labour, may be judged
of from the fact that Mr. Peel had several hundred acres
(we believe, we might say thousands) of virgin land,
through which the plough could be run without removing
a stump ; and the whole is but thinly wooded.
CANINE ATTACHMENT.—The wife of Peter —, 5
coalheaver, in Moor-lane, being taken ill a short time ago,
a spaniel dog belonging to the husband manifested the
most extraordinary sympathy for the poor woman, bf
taking up his station at the foot of the bed, and occa-
sionally emitting a low melancholy howl. The wife died,
and the animal's grief redoubled. Taking by the coffin a
similar position to that be had occupied in the sink cham-
ber, he refused to quit his post, even for food, and would
have been hungered to death if his meals had not been
brought to the room where the deceased was laid prior
to the interment.. On the day of the funeral the dog fol-
lowed the mourners to church, and could not be ejected
without considerable difficulty. Nothing more was seen
or heard of him until the same evening, when he was
heard scratching foradmittance, about twelve o'clock, at
his old master's door. On ingress being afforded, the
faithful brute was found nearly covered with soil, and ap-
peared greatly fatigued. It transpired next morning that
he had visited the grave, and displaced a considerable
quantity of the earth in his attempts to reach the coffin-
He refuses food, and is literally falling a prey by inches
to his affectionate solicitude for his late mistress.—Pres-
ton Pilot:
MANCHESTER COMMERCIAL ASSOCIATION.—On Mon-
day, the annual general meeting of the members of this
association was held at their rooms, King-street, and was
very numerously attended. J. A. Turner, Esq., presi-
dent of the association took the chair. The report
entered at length into a statement of the various subjects
which had engaged the attention of the board, a consider-
able portion being devoted to the East India cotton
question, in which such an interest had been always
taken by the association. It was stated that during the
past year upwards of 1700 bales of cotton, of a greatly
improved quality, imported from various quarters of India'
had been consigned by the- company to the secretary of
the association for sale • that public attention had been'
carefully directed to each shipment as it arrived, and• in
every case satisfactory prices had been obtained. An ac-
count was also given of the cotton saw-gin constructed
under the direction of the board for introduction amongst„
the natives of India as an improved and cheap means a
cleaning cotton. A table of the results of the compara-
tive workings of the cottage gin, the hand-gin, and the
churka, from the pen of Mr.. J. Petrie, engineer in- the
company's service, was read, showing the results to be
greatly in favour of the former instrument, the cottage'
gin. It was also stated that the East India Company
had ordered 200 cottage gins to be furnished with all'
possible despatch, so as to be in readiness for the crop or
the next season.
THE PRESTON BOARD OF GUARDIANS.—EXTRAOUDI.
NARY PROCEEDINGS, AND CONSEQUENT RESIGNATION,
OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD.—The absorbing
topic of conversation in Preston is the resignation of the
chairman of the Board of Guardians of that town, namelya
T. Birchall, Esq., late mayor of the borough. On Tues-
day last, when that gentleman took his seat at the board,
he said that he had received a letter from Mr. W. Rees,
district auditor, by which lie was informed that that func-
tionary intended to surcharge him (the chairman) with
certain payments made out of the funds of the union,
which he conceived to be illegal, and he demanded
£ll7ls. sd. He thanked the board for the many, in-
etances of kindness he had received at their hands since he
held office, but it was a luxury too expensive for him at
the rate stated. He had, therefore, resolved to resign
office, and had written to the Poor-law Board in London
to that effect. The sum stated was, it appears, due for
repairs and alterations at Preston and Woodplumpton
Workhouses. A, long discussion ensued on this extraor-
dinary and unlooked-for notice from the auditor. Many
parties expressed a wish that the chairman would not re-
sign, but that the Poor-law Board (or as they are more
familiarly styled " The Kings of Somerset-house,") should
be memorialised respecting the matter.—The Vicar said
he did not know who would occupy the chair at any board
if they were to ba thus liable. He thought it would be the
best way, when a check was brought in to be signed or
any payment is proposed to be made, that they should all
take their hats and walk away. (Hear, hear.) He him"
self would take care not to be present.—Mr. Abbott :. We
had better all resign. (Laughter.)—Mr. Parker : It is a
strange thing that we cannot get £24 worth of timber
without going to London and getting the sanction of the
Poor-law Board for it.—The Clerk : It is the law.—Mr.
Taberner : Then it is an infamous law.—Mr. Parker :
The sooner such a law is repealed the better.—A resolu-
tion was agreed to, to the effect that extracts from the
minutes of the board, referring to the payments which the
auditor had surcharged to the chairman, should be laid
before the board at the next meeting. The chairman and
all the guardians refused to sign the several checks for the
tradesmens' bills. The letter of the chairman to the
board in London is spirited and decisive. The payments
were for timber, bricks, &c., and the writer states that he
had not, in any capacity but as chairman of the guardians,
ordered the payment of any sum whatever out of the
union funds. He concludes by saying that he cannot con-
sent longer to retain an office wherein his public acts ren-
der him personally responsible, and that his communica-
r ' tion must be receive(

as a notice to resign his office.
RAVELS OF A £lOO BANK ON ENGLAND NOTE
last year, the 24th of April we believe, a gentle-
man residing in Hulme had the misfortune to lose £2OO
in Bank of England notes, but how, or in what way, We

THE
One d

ainformed. One fact, hi

;tate, namely

that he had no reason to suspect be had been robbed, but
rather that his loss was an accident. He, however, made
known his loss to the police, furnishing the numbers and
every particular of the notes, with a view to their reco-
very ; and, in consequence, Mr. Taylor, superintendent
of the D division of police, used every effort to find and
restore them, but not the smallest tidings could be heard
of the money, and after the lapse of two or three months,
the owner gave up all hopes of its recovery. Some five
months afterwards, early in September, Mr. Taylor re-
ceived information from the authorities of the Branch
Bank of England here that one of the lost notes had come
into their possession, and that officer succeeded, by dint
of inquiry, in tracing it to Glasgow, and thence to the
possession of Messrs. Harnden and Co., of Liverpool,
emigration agents. Without pursuing the note through
all its travels, as did Mr. Taylor, we may state that he
finally traced it to the possession of an Irish lodging-house
keeper in Liverpool, one Mrs. Daly, who, it appeared,
had paid it to Messrs. Harnden and Co. for the passage
of her brother, his wife, and three children to America, in
the ship Java, which sailed for New York on the 26th of
August. From Mrs. Daly he learned that her brother
had been living in Manchester, and that he was in posses-
sion of a considerable sum of money when he left this
country ; and from farther and subsequent inquiries, it
turned out that he bad lived in Emery-street, Little Ire-
land, under the assumed name of Anthony Handley. The
result was that Mr. Taylor got bills printed, giving the
numbers of the notes, viz., one for £lOO, and two for
£5O, giving also a description of Handley, his wife, and
three children, and offering a reward of £2O for the reco-
very of the lost notes. A number of these bills were des•
patched to various parts of the States, for distribution
amongst the police there, which led to the capture, in
New York, of Daly, alias Handley, by Captain Johnson,
of the New York police, shortly after his landing in that
city. He had in his possession a £lOO note, the identical
one missing, and stated that it had been found by hie
daughter in Manchester. After apprehending the man,
Captain Johnson wrote over to Manchester for instruc-
tions, when he was directed to sell the note for what it
would realise, and after deducting the expenses incurred
and the reward, (X 20,) to remit the balance to the right-
ful owner, These instructions were literally fulfilled,
Handley or Daly being deprived of the note and sent
about his business, and the end of the story is that a for
days ago £77, reached Mr. Taylor, from the British Con'
sul, and has been since paid over to the unfortunate (a
rather fortunate) loser.—Atonchester Courier.