The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-05-05 00:00:00

THE WEATHER 4NP Con S.

All persons connected with agriculture concur in stating
that a season of greater promise than the present has not
opened upon the Cumberland fanner fur many years. With
the exception of twe or three slight showers we have now
been favoured with continued dry weather for two months,
and during the latter half of the period it has been nearly
as mild as in the middle of summer. Notwithstanding the
long continued drought, everyU ing, even grass, is growing
well. This is probably owing to the moist state of the ground
from the quantity of rain which fell in the course of last
year, and at the commencement of this. There is every rea-
son to expect that, by the blessing of Providence, crops of
every description, including fruit, will be most luxuriant.—
Carlisle Patriot.

Nothing can be more beautiful than the weather, but the
thirsty land begins to want rain. Such a spring we do not
remember. It is quite a season of the olden time, and if we
do not get nipped by one of our Lancashire May-winters, the
haiye;3t w,ll be uncommonly early. A friend who has been
in the gputh6rn Parts of the pounty informs us. that he has
heard the cuckoo, anal been sheep,:.theuring.—Lapcatpr
Gnzette.

The month of April, which has for years brought with it
its showers, sleet, and storms, and in some instances a re-
turn of winter, must be recorded as having commenced and
terminated with' but one •day's rain ; every other day pre,
sented all the lovely appearance of summer. The fruit trees
are all in full bloom or bud, and the vegetable world presents
the promise of abundant crops. There is still no great out-
cry for water, but to the numerous beautiful plants and
flowers it would be of great service. If the merry month of
May be as auspicious as its predecessor, the greatest abun-
dance may be fully anticipated.—Flull Times.
Mr. James Liley, of Bondgate Cottage, Ripon, has now
growing in his garden a tine crop of early peas and beans
*WA are in full blossom, and have been so above a week,
showing the iniOness of the season. Some of them are in
pod.—Leeds
There is a splendid shoW of Ohm, Fberryi and' pear blos-
soms this year. The damson tree's are finite Loaded. With
bloom. There is also a very good promise of appe blossom.
—lbid.

The fine weather which has prevailed since the rain which
tell on the and 12th instant has done wonders for agri-
culture, and for the last fourteen cr fifteen days there never
perhaps was known such uninterrupted sunshine in the
month of April. An immense additional surface of bare soil
has been exposed to the sun's rays, owing to the late-sown
heat not having yet covered the earth with its blade, and
the Lent gain being also later sown than is usually the case;
and the atmosphere, pop receiving its usual vegetable exha-
lation from these'locay cauies, 114 r, been unusually dry and
free from clouds, and most favouraWe for the ilcilyering Of
fruit trees, and for every crop except upland grass o poor
,
soils.— Worcester Journal.

It is impossible to imagine more propitious weather than
we have enjoyed during the past fortnight. An uniformly-
high temperature, and frequent bursts of powerful sunshine
have urged vegetation forward with forcing-house rapidity.
Forest, field, and garden, alike-attest the genial influence ;
and the grass lands exhibit a luxuriance of verdure quite un-
sgal at to early a period of the season. April—the opening
4104th—has never verified her title more fully than in the
year 1840. The greatest degree of heat in the sun in 1839
was upon.the lath of June, whpn the mecrury reached 111
degrees off Fahrenheit; but on Saturday last 114, being
degrees higher titan any one day last year.—Staffordanire
Gazette,

RAILROADS, POST-HORSES, AND COACHES.

(From the Sheffield Mercury.)

To those who.are in the frequent habit of travelling, rail-
roads will prove of immense advantage. They vastly econo-
mise time and money, and reduce to almost nothing the risk
of labour attendant upon long journies. They also possess
the power to run down all competition, and have not failed
to annihilate the last vestiges of rivalry through lines of coun-
try irhege common road coaches might, after all, be consi-
dered a public accommodation. Great, however, as may be
the superiority et rail:iv:ly travelling, it cannot be denied that
the new system acts most ruinopaly- upon the old one, not
only as having in its favour all the adimtages that practical
science could bring to its aid, but by a doss inequality in
taxation upon the two. We have snore than once adVerted
to the oppressive tendency of the post-horse duty, and the
assessed taxes upon innkeepers and others who let out to hire
carriages and horses. We have shown that in some cases
the taxes amount to more than the entire fare for the same
distance by railway. Competition'speedily disappears under
such disadvantages ; in fact, it is taxed out of existence, and
public convenience suffers in many cases by the destruction
brought upon the postmasters. To be subject to a tax of
threepence per mile in one case, and half a farthing in the
other, is disparity enough to create a mompily in favour of
railways ; and it requires but little experience in travelling
across the country, and of the means at present employed to
carry persons from one part to another, to see that the pre-
sent taxes and restrictions upon those whose only resource
is to hire vehicles on the common road must, ere long, de-
bswtairidol ytbbeta
there
esmre
oewas
when
esonuol rbne
ocashnui nso
bga r oao
unl en
t'fsltu destination.jttoisto oinuev gn yuap toyp. Itl
obi
fsurtot too
oit
.aonetownisb osowho
have t o thee
next.
:o
support, and heretofore kept post-horses and carriages
have depended
‘vhmeanitnhat mainly
partutheponof th
their
roga
trade
os frequentedtaken arwoaadysthfooyr
not as much employment left as will enable them to pay
the taxes.uuderstaSnede how
wat tohnistasot
risngtonsolitary iv eoropal
t 0
00
hAel asneeeloi e. s
If a mail
ao f has already begun to work.
line of
is r road
afrom
business' at Li•:erpool have business
at Prescot, he can get there by coach, and if he wishes to get
on toWarrington,
off at present,
ke.e but
since, and is proba-
blyebg no o
nbetterither horse nor vehicle in thetotnlri to walk, there
licensed to let out
to hire. The railways have destroyed
town, and the unequal pressure and foolish restrictions ofthe
travelling on the turnpike roads render it profitless for upon or any
one to have a post. horse or saddle-horse for public
accom-
modation. It cannot be denied that this is a state otn in a commercial country which should not exist, and which,
as they have the power, it is the duty of our legislators to re.
move.
We perceive Mr. Godson presented petitions from Staines
and other places on Wednesday evening, praying for a re-
mission of the duty on post-horses and on carriages let out
to hire. This must be done generally if the evil is to be re.
moved, an evil which very materially interferes with the
movement of commercial men, as well as with the agricul-
tural interests. The trade. to remain in existence must be
wholly unrestricted, so that any man in a small town may be
left at liberty to employ or let out his horse or carriage with-
outrd , filicense,ned. acid
rwo
oi without
ttihoen
or ifs k
theof breeis nt
beingsystem will be
informed against
a
auffioient to cOitect the OVll—it must be done sway with.
p

DREADFUL MURDER OF A POLICEMAN AT
HUDDERSFIELD.

The town of Huddersfield was thrown into a state of ex-
citement on Tuesday evening last, by the murder of the prin-
cipal police-officer, William Dukes, by a man whom he had
in custody. About four o'clock in the afternoon of that day
a man, usually known by the name of Sandy M`Keen, a
Scotchman, who has lately resided in Halifax, where he work-
ed as a daily gardener, went to the market stall of Mr. Le-
nard, of Huddersfield, and asked the price of a particular
plant, and was told it was is. 6d. Mq(een said to.
" Wilrtwopenee do ?." • Mr, I.enard said; " 'Yes ; but
not for the plant." Nl'Keen tlrea threw down twopence,
and was walking away with the plant, when the police-officer
No. 2 (Danson) was called, who asked M'Keen to lay the
plant down; brit he refused, Mr. Lenard then ordered the
policeman to take him into custody, which he did. After
being in custody in the station-house about an hour, Mr.
Dukes heard a great noise at the prison door, and went to
ascertain the cause. When he opened the door, M`Keen
rushed upon him, and struck him with a pruning knife, which
he had ready in his hand, and wounded him so dreadfully
that he died in about a quarter of an hour after the attack.
Danson hearing Dukes' cry of " murder," ran to his assist-
ance, and endeavoured to pinion M`Keen's arms. In the
struggle both fell ; and, while on the ground, Danson receiv-
ed several severe stabs in the back and hip, and now lies in
the infirmary in a dangerous state. The third offiCer (the
town having no other than these three), we believe belonging
to the metropolitan police, whose name is Dalton, having
come up; rushed upon the prisoner, and disarmed him with
a blow with his staff, which took effect upon the right hand,
and broke one of the fir gers, Some persons having by 014
tirne got admittance to the loch-opt 'ere disposed to inflict
Siimuiary chastisenient upon the proner. 4 scuffle ensued;
hilt 'Ultimately the 'manwas replaCed in confinement. 'An
inquest was 'held. the following day (Wednesday), at the
George Inn, on the body of Dukes, before the coroner for
the district and a respectable jury, consisting chiefly of the
principal manufacturers, and a verdict ot " wilful murder"
was returned. The prisoner, whose real name, it appeared
from letters found in his possession from his wife, who re-
sides at Stirling, is not M`Keen, but Alexander Strachan
Smith, was immediately committed, under the coroner's
warrant, to York Castle, for trial at the next assizes. Smith
manifested the greatest hardihood and recklessness. It 'is
said, that shortly after his murderous attack, he said, in the
lock-up, that he only wished he had done for some more of
them. While being conveyed, in an open car, from the lock- i
up to the George Inn, to be present at the inquest, he laugh-
ed, and manifested by his gestures and conduct the most
brutal indifference. The crowd displayed a strong feeling of
abitorrenoe of the crime, by hissing and hooting Smith as
the vehicle passed. The Unfortunate depeased • was about
fifty years of age •:' he had held the situation about fmir years,
and was esteemed an active and intelligent officer. lie leaVei
a widow, brit, we believe, no family.