The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-06-06 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DISGRACEFUL OUTRAGE.—On Sunday last some ruffians
effected an entrance into the church of Newtownlimavady,
Derry, and burned the Bible and Prayer-book, cut the
carpet in pieces, besmeared the walls which had been
recently painted, broke into the vestry and destroyed
everything there, and made an ineffectual attempt to get
into the organ loft, of course for the purpose of smashing
the instrument.—Saunders's New-Letter.
THUNDERSTORM IN DUBLIN.—On Tuesday, between
12 and 1 o'clock, Dublin was visited by a thunderstorm,
which lasted for upwards of half-an-hour, with scarcely
any intermission. It was followed by a heavy fall of rain
and hail. The flashes of lightning were extremely rapid
and brilliant. A man named White, residing in the
Liberty, and by trade a weaver, was struck dead by the
electric fluid.'
BRUTAL ATTEMPT AT MURDER.I.—A railway "navvy,"
named Doran, is in Cavan gaol awaiting his trial for
having wantonly attempted to murder Mr. Henry, the
engineer of the Mullingar Railway, by hitting him on the
head with a pickaxe, and also behaving violently in the
Police-station at CrosSdoney, where he struck at a police-
man with a pair of tongs, and severely wounded the
servant girl. The only cause that can be assigned for this
ruffianism is, that the fellow had been drinking heavily for
ten days previously.
DESTRUCTION OF A CONVENT.—The Loretto Convent,
Dollymount, near Dublin, has been completely destroyed
by fire. The priest was in the act of celebrating mass
when some of the gauzy substance used in the decoration
of the altar became ignited, and in a very short space of
time the entire building was enveloped in flames. For a
considerable period the fire had full play over the valuable
structure, and when assistance did arrive it was of little or
no value. The building and furniture, which were valued
at £7,000, were completely destroyed.
DEATH OF WILLIAMS THE SCRIPTURE READER.—The
following is from the Cork ConstitutiOn: —Poor Wiliams,
the Scripture reader, beaten some months ago at Aghada,
died on Saturday at Milltown, county of Kerry, his
medical attendant (a Romanist) stating, as we are
informed, that he died of the injuries then received. With
what feelings the intelligence will be read by those whose
consciences admonish them of the share they bore in the
assault, we know not ; but the man is dead—dead in con-
sequence, it is medically stated, of the cruelties inflicted by
their hands or at their instigation ; and if they deem
killing him a "service to God," if they like, they may exult
over the success of the means which they employed to
accomplish it.

THE WRECK OP THE STEAMER OLINDA, WhiCh was
lost during the last winter, near Holyhead, has been pur-
chased by Mr. James Levingston, of this town, for a sum
of £1,390, namely, the hull for £625, and the brasses,
copper, and machinery for £765. The hull will be taken
up piecemeal, but it is expected that the machinery will
suffer very little damage.
ISLE OF MAN.—In furtherance of a movement which
has been got up in the Isle of Man, to secure a harbour of
refuge, and to adopt means to prevent government from
unconstitutionally appropriating any portion of the
revenue of the island for the liquidation of the expenses of
collection, a meeting has been held at Douglas ; and
Messrs. Moore and Aikin, of Liverpool, have been ap-
pointed a deputation to proceed to London to represent
the matter to government.
HOW THE CHARTIST SIR TOM ERSKINE PERRY WOULD
MAKE HIS PEACE WITH THE INSULTED "PETTY" VOTERS.
—The morning after the dinner at which the over-elated
member for Devonport cleared off the premises of his
friends, by which his election was won, and when his
Dutch independence had evaporated, he was seen to make
his way to the office of the master shipwright, who never
meddles with politics, and paraded round the yard with
this officer, bestowing outwardly his smiles, and, it might
be readily supposed, inwardly his curses, on those whose
numbers made him thus swallow the leek.—Plyniouth
Mail.
UNFOUNDED ACCUSATION.—On Tuesday, a young man,
named Daniel Brannan, was brought up at the Police-
court; on remand, charged with the theft of some rice
bags, which he was seen carrying. When taken into
custody, he averred that he had bought the bags, although
he did not know the name of the party from whom they
were bought. The police-officer, 776, who apprehended
Brannan, refused to accompany the accused to the spot
where the alleged purchase took place, but lodged him
in bridewell in spite of his remonstrances. At the re-
manded hearing, the • party who had sold Brannan the
bags appeared, and testified to his having honestly acquired
the property, and prisoner was immediately discharged.
Mr. Sands, the magistrate, suspended the officer, observing
that he had acted very wrong in not complying with the
prisoner's request by accompanying him, in order that he
might fiud the person from whom he said he had pur-
chased the bags. Mr. Clough reminded the magistrate
that the officer had not been long in the force, and that
if he had acted improperly, it was evidently from a desire
to do his duty. It frequently happened that when a pri-
soner wished an officer to accompany him, as in this case,
and the officer complied, a rescue was effected. He hoped
the magistrate would reprimand him instead of suspending
him. The magistrate said he would suspend the officer
for one Ey only. He did not wish to discourage a zealous
officer ; but, in this case, he thought a great want of judg-
ment had been displayed.
LIVERPOOL CUSTOMS ESTABLISIIMENT.—Estimates of
the sums required to defray the expenses of the several
departments engaged in the collection and management
of the public revenue of the United Kingdom for the year
ending the 31st of Mardi, 1855, have been printed by
order of the House of Commons. The departments com-
prised in tie document are customs, inland revenue, and
postoffice. The • charges in connexion with these have
hitherto been defrayed out of the revenue, in its progress
to the exchequer. A new act of parliament provides for
the payment of the gross revenue into the exchequer ; and
annual estimates will henceforward be submitted for the
charges of management, in the form now for the first time
laid before -parliament. The salaries of and allowances to
-the officers on the customs establishment of this port are
stated in detail, with the pay of extra and glut officers,
and incidental charges. The total of the .estimated ex-
penses of the establishment for the year 1854-5 is £111,409,
of which the sum of £94,409 is for salaries alone. This
sum is made up of the following particulars :—Collector'
salary, £2,200 ; comptroller, £7OO ; long-room clerks, 30
in number (the principal clerk having a salary of £600),
£6,680 ; warehousing department,. 53 officers, £7,770 ;
inspector-general of the out-door department, £6OO ; nine
landing-surveyors, £4,150 85 searchers and landing-
waiters, £19,800; gaugers' department, 15 officers, £3,225;
two timber measurers, £270 ; seven messengers, £420 ;
21 superintendent lockers and re-dipping officers, £5,768 ;
140 lockers, £11,4-55 ; 100 weighers, £6,500 ; two in-
spectors of the river, £615 ; 23 tide surveyors, £3,875 ;
18 inspectors of patrol, £1,700; 24.0 tidewaiters and patrol,
£19595 • 65 boatmen, £3,945 ; Runcorn, two officers,
3
£l6l ; Garston, one ditto, £BO. The entire number of
officers is 819. In addition to the salaries of these officers
the following. items of estimated expenditure are put
down :—Pay to extra and glut officers, and provision for
special services, and for any increase of business, £7,500 ;.
travelling charges, £l2O ; rents and repairs of buildings
£Bl6 rent of warehouse for the deposit of tobacco in
b0nd;£6,484 ; rates, taxes, and insurance, £l3O ; fuel and
light, £350 ; postage, £BO ; purchase and repair of boats,
including stores, £BO ; tradesmen's bills, £6OO -; miscel-
laneous expenses, £BlO. These items, with the salaries
It,
atoolint t0.E111,409,- the total aggregate eipenditure.
is stated, in a note appended to the return, that by the
provisions of the law the crown is- required to provide a
warehouse for the deposit of tobacco under bond. The
rent on tobacco so warehoused in Liverpool amounts to
about £1,200 per annum, and is brought to account as

customs revenue.
IMPORTANT TO SHIPOWNERS.—In the Court of Queen's
Bench, on Friday, Lord Campbell gave judgment in the
case of Brown v. Byrne. -He said the question for decision
was whether an action by a shipowner against the in-
dorsee of a bill of lading, to whom goods had been delivered
at Liverpool, and who has accepted them, the bill of lading
making them deliverable, "he paying freight for them
five
age of a penny per pound, with five per cent.
primage and average accustomed," the latter may lawfully
claim to retain for £133 lls. 3d., the amount of the.freight
at the rate specified, £1 16s 3d. ; on the ground that, by
the custom of Liverpool, he is entitled to a deduction of
three months' discount from the freight. It is admitted
that the custom exists, in fact, in regard of shipme;its
from New Orleans and some other ports in the southern
states of the American Union to Liverpool ; but it is
objected to as bad in law, because it is inconsistent with
the written document, the bill of lading. Five-eighths of
a penny on the weight of the cargo is, it is said, equal to
£l3B lls. 3d., the bill must be read as if that sum were
specified in it, and the custom, if allowed, will change it to
£136 15s. The principles on which this case is to be
decided are perfectly clear; the difficulty lies in the appli-
cation of them to the facts. Mercantile contracts are very
commonly framed in a language peculiar to merchants ;
.the intention of the parties, though perfectly well known
to themselves, would often be defeated if this language
were strictly construed according to its ordinary import
in the world at large.; evidence, therefore, of mercantile
custom and usage is admitted in order to expound it and
arrive at its true meaning. Again, in all contracts as to
the subject.matter in which known usages prevail, parties
are found to proceed with the tacit assumption of these
use
; they commonly reduce into writing the special
particulars of their agreement, but omit to specify these
known usages, which are included, however, as of course
by mutual widerstainling ; evidence, therefore, of such
incidents is receivable. The contract, in truth,
is partly
express and in writing, partly implied or understood an
unwritten. But in both these cases butsttn is
established on the soundest principle; the evidence
received must not be of a particular, which is repugnant
to, or inconsistent with, the written contract. Mereex-
eel
that it varies the apparent contract is not enough to
clude the evidence, for it is impossible to add any material
incident to the written terms of a contract without alter-
ing its effect more or less ; neither in the construction of
a 'contract among merchants, tradesmen, or others, will the
evidence be excluded, because the words are in their ordi-
nary meaning ambiguous, for the principle of admission
is, that words perfectly unambiguous in that ordinary
meaning are used by the contractors in a different sense
from that. The written contract expressly settles the rate
of payment; the custom does not set this aside, indeed it
adopts it, as that upon which it is to act,' by establishing
a claim for allowance of discount upon freight to be paid
after that rate. The consignee undertakes to pay freight
on delivery after that rate ; the shipownerundeexrptarekssesedto,
allow three months' discount on 'freight paid after that
rate ; the latter contract is dependent on the former, but
is not repugnant to it. If the bill of lading
had
or if from the language of it the intention of the parties
could have been collected that tall f
at the.specified
rate, should be paid free from all deductions customary
or otherwise, then it would have been repugnant to it to
set up the custom, and the ease would have been brought
cuallsotlned
non th
within the restriction. The contract settles the rate of
tothbee plisse
payment it leaves
freight; whether oorpenno,tadnidscotountthiast
We are of opinion that judgment should be entered for
the defendant.