The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-10 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY,

it is inseparable from inequality and injustice; and
the Budget would therefore have been entitled to
more favour, had it made such a tangible provision
for its ultimate extinction as a present partial
reduction would have implied. In this respect Mr.
DISRAELI'S financial policy was far preferable,
inasmuch as it lowered the tax on Incomes derived
from Trades and Professions to 51d. in the pound,
whereas Mr. GLADSTONE retains the full seven-
pence, and comforts the afflicted by telling them
that the owners of realised property actually pay
ninepence; and in proof of his sympathy with the
latter class, thus taxed beyond the nominal levy of
the law, he adds to the burden by an additional
Two Millions in the shape of Legacy Duty on real
property. Who, then, are the classes benefited by
Mr. GLADSTONE'S Budget ? Not the higher, for
the reasons above stated. Not the middle classes,
because he retains the full sevenpence on present
incomes, and makes a new levy of fivepence on
others down to £lOO a-year. It can only be the
lower classes, who are exempt from both, and this
favour we have a right to attribute to motives which
point them out as the political supporters of the
Radical party, which, in spite of contrary profes-
sions, essentially constitute the present Government.

miralty, had a certain amount of influence in the
appointments to vacancies in the dockyards, and
this he executed without always taking the recom-
mendation of the Surveyor of the Navy and the
respective superintendents. This independence of
action, in the exercise of what he believed to be a
privilege belonging to his office, constitutes the
gravamen of the charge, as it was alleged that Mr.
STAFFORD was solely influenced by political mo-
tives. Admitting such to be the case, it amounts
to a very slight offence that a Conservative Minister
should bestow his patronage on those who enter-
tained the same opinions with himself, in preference
to those who were opposed to him ; but when it is
remembered that the men whose recommendations
he is accused of slighting had been themselves
appointed by a previous ministry of opposite opi-
nions, it would have been more a matter of surprise
had Mr. STAFFORD played into the enemy's hand
by endorsing their proceedings. It is, after all, a
mare's nest which these political purists have dis-
covered, and only proves the unscrupulous means
by which Liberalism seeks to maintain its ascen-
dancy.

THE BIRKENHEAD DOCK QUESTION.
WHATEVER may be the advantage of transferring
the Birkenhead Docks to the Liverpool Dock
Trust—and it is manifest that it would be great to
both interests—the terms which have been pro-
posed as the basis of the negotiation seem to evince
a determination to render any arrangement all but
impossible. The representatives of the Birkenhead
proprietors have not only demanded a return of all
the capital which they have embarked, including
the large portion unprofitably expended, but also
arrears of interest, making a total of more than
two millions; and for this they modestly propose
to accept bonds of the Liverpool Dock Trustees, to
bear interest at the rate of three per cent. for
twenty-five years, If nothing less than twenty
shillings in the pound will satisfy men who other-
wise could not obtain three shillings in the pound
for their property, we would suggest to them
a modification of their demand, which might
assist them in the realisation of it, They should
ascertain the actual cost of the property which
they have to convey, not including the expendi-
ture for which they have nothing to show,
nor any arrears of interest, and, at the same time,
not confining the estimate to the present actual
value, as would be returned by competent surveyors.
Having agreed as to this amount, which would be
considerably below their present claim, though much
beyond that which they would obtain if the property
was to be disposed of to the highest bidder, they
should make an offer to the Liverpool Dock Trustees
to accept bonds bearingtinterest at one per cent. for
the first five years, and increasing one per cent.
each succeeding five years, until it reaches four per
cent., and they may have a chance of their proposal
being listened to, and make a better bargain for
themselves than they will have the remotest possi-
'bility of making under any other circumstances.
We are (firmly of opinion that it is to-the advantage
of Liverpool to accept atransfer of the Birkenhead
Docks even at some sacrifice ; but the terms at
present proposed are so manifestly absurd, that the
offer betokens a foregone conclusion on the part of
the Birkenhead Dock 'Proprietors that either the
Liverpool Dock Trustees are insane enough to
accept -such extravagant terms, or the former are
in a state of similar obliviousness .to their own
interests.

CHARGES AGAINST THE HEAD
CONSTABLE.

WHILE the efficiency of the Police force •depends much
on the position which it occupies in public opinion, there
seems to be a disposition in certain quarters to throw its
authority into contempt, by charges of the most con-
temptible character, which could only have been dictated
by a mania-for manufacturing grievances. At the meet-
ing of the Town Council, on Wednesday, a member,
whose propensity to grumble is too notorious for his com-
plaints •to have the slightest weight, made a rambling
charge against Captain GREIG, the Head Constable, and
a Saturday contemporary has endorsed the charge. The
simplest answer to the accusation is, that it is not true.
If the policeman had any complaint to make, he should
have reported •it to the proper authorities; bat without
doing so, or even. confining his 'information to any mem-
ber of the Watch Committee, he appealed to the
grievance-mongers' Attorney/General, Mr. BIG .11104, a
selection which we can only attribute to the latter having
resigned his place on the committee to become a candi-
date for the office of Head Constable, and being defeated,
<has since endeavoured to appease his mortification by
'ingenious discoveries against his more successful competi-
tor, Captain GREW. Another charge was that Captain
GREIG had refused -to give the man a good character,
and had prevented his obtaining another situation, by
sittply writing on his-discharge the two complaints which
stood on the books against him , unqualified by any reference
to his good conduct in other respects. This charge is but a
colot:rable adherence -to the truth, as Captain GREIG
wrote on his discharge the length of time he had been in
the force, and that the complaints alluded-to were the only
ones that stood in the beaks against him. Another of
Mr..I3IGIIANf'S grievances-was, that the man was so per-
secuted-for the information he had given, that he was com-
pelled to leave the force a fortnight before•the,expiration of
his notice. This is simply untrue, as the man remained till
the last day. Another charge against Captain •GREIG is,
that the men are dispirited and disgusted by frequent and
fatiguing drills, the only ground for such 'an accusation
being, that the men are drilled for half an hoer twice
each week, their exercise comprising the simplest move-
ments. ConsiJering the source of •these complaints, we
should have deemed them unworthy of notice:; hut,
uncontradicted, they might tend to throw discredit on
a body of men, the best proof of whose afficient manage-
meat is shown ,in the diminution of crime, and like
generally peaceful state of the town.

NEWSPAPERS :SUPPLEMENTS & ADVE•R•
TISEMENT DUTY.

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proposal
judicious
Exchequer, to repeal the stamp duty on Newspaper Sup.
plements containing only advertisements. It is to be
hoped that every member of the House of Commons, not
under obligations to the Government, nor under fear of
The Times, will attend, and vote against this proposition,
so that the English Press, as well as the Government,
may be spared the degradation of such a manifest cause
for recent unscrupulous advocacy. Our contemporary
says :
" There is much being said about that part of the
budget of the Chancellor of the Exchequer which proposes
to repeal the stamp duty on newspaper supplements which
may contain advertisements only, with the view, as alleged
by Mr. Gladstone, of affording newspapers the means of
increasing their advertisements
on the reduction of the
duty thereon. The whole case lies in a nut-shell. If Mr.
Gladstone will repeal the law which limits the size of news.
papers to a certain number of superficial inches, he will
do that which he professes to do, and give a fair field to all
papers to enlarge as they may require increased space. As
to the placing advertisements in supplementts of news.
papers, we are only surprised that the public can be so
misled as to the advantage of such a questionable mode of
publicity. We believe we are within the mark when we
say that ninety-nine in every hundred who read The
Times newspaper never open the supplement. They are
frequently not delivered to the purchasers travelling in
railway carriages. We have been informed that the news_
venders at the several railway stations dispose of the un-
opened advertising sheet by the hundred weight,
to the
purchasers of waste paper. Repeal the silly superficial
inch ' law, and the advertisements can always appear--
as they should do, to be of any service—on the same sheet
with the news, for which the paper is purchased."
Our Representatives must also adhere to the resolution
for repealing THE WHOLE OF THE ADVERTISEMENT
DUTY a measure which will interfere very little with
Mr. GLADSTONE'S calculations, as the sixpence was only
retained in order to enable him to pay the boon to the
leading journal. By retaining, however, the stamp, and
abolishing the whole advertisement duty, justice will be
done to both parties, and the revenue secured from loss.

THE CONDEMNED CONVICTS, Terrell and Williamsnow lying at Kirkdale Gaol, are to be transported for life:
AN EFFORT is being made by some benevolent parties
in Liverpool to raise a sufficient sum of money to liberate
from slavery the wife of Charles Hill, a coloured man'
who was brought to Liverpool three weeks ago by the
ship Parliament, from Boston. Mrs. Hill, it is alleged'
is held in bondage by the Rev. Mr, J0'141013? rreebyterian
=alder, of Baltimore.

THE GOVERNMENT ADVERTISEMENTS.

WHEN the Earl of ABERDEEN published his political
manifesto, which was to reconcile the apparent inconsis-
tencies of a respectable Minister fraternising with Whigs,
Radicals, and Romanists, he declared his coalition with
Lord J. RUSSELL to be based upon the conviction that
the latter was a Conservative; and he stated, moreover,
that his policy would be that of Liberal Conservatism.
One of the proofs of his sincerity would have been an
impartial patronage of the newspaper press with reference
to the Government advertisements. But what do we see ?
Since this professing Liberal Conservative, with his Con.
servative Liberal allies, have been in office, the Govern-
ment patronage has been ALTOGETHER WITHDRAWN
FROM THE CONSERVATIVE PAPERS throughout the
country, and confined to the channels in which it flowed
when Liberalism and Radicalism was the avowed policy
of the Cabinet. As far as it affects ourselves, we care
little for this one •sided liberality ; but we have alluded to
the circumstance as an illustration of the fact that Lord
ABERDEEN'S professions of Conservatism are as baseless
as Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S patriotism.