The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-12-15 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

UNIVERSITY 4- CLERICAL NEWS.

The Lord Bishop of Lichfield has given £lOOO to the
Lichfield Diocesan Church Building Society.
The Rev. W. D. Long, of this town, has been ap-
pointed perpetual curate of St. BartholomeW's district
Birmingham.
LAMENTABLE MORTALITY.—The Rev. Robt. Brown,
vicar of Kirk Bradden, Isle of Man, died on Saturday
week under melancholy circumstances : " For some
years past," says the Mona's Herald, " the 'Vicar has
been nervous, and inclined to epilepsy ; so that any ex-
citement, or sudden emotion, unfavourably affected him.
On the 7th of October last, a son of his, aged 26 years,
died abroad, at New Providence, of which event he got
intelligence in November. On the llth of November
another son, aged 14 years, sickened and died at home.
These severe domestic afflictions were keenly felt by the
sensitive and affectionate father, and were a terrible shock
to his infirm constitution. Another son of the deceased,
who has resided in England since August last, hearing of
the decease of his brother abroad, hastened home to sus-
tain and comfort his afflicted parents ;—but what was his
anguish of feeling on his arrival home, to find the corpse
of his younger brother lying in his father's house! This
son continued with his parents until last Saturday even-
ing, when at six o'clock he started, in company with a
younger brother, for Douglas, to take the steamer for
Liverpool. Within an hour atter the sons bad left, the
anxious father observed that the wind was rising, and he
started on foot for Douglas, to dissuade his son from
taking a passage that night. He had been gone about an
hour and a half, when his man-servant and a neighbour,
' returning from Douglas in a cart, found the deceased
[ling upon his back, in the highway, about 150 yards
from his own door. He was still warm, and breathed a
few times after the servant came up; but the weather
being extremely cold, the lamented pastor was a corpse
before he could be removed into the house."
PAROCHIAL ASSISTANT ASSOCIATION.— This iS the
designation of the projected Ecclesiastical Town Mission.
It is designed to extend not only throughout Liverpool,
but to West Derby, Birkenhead, and the neighbourhood.
Gentlemen are to be selected either by the Bishop or the
sub-committee; and, after examination and approval by
the Theological Professor, they are to be admitted as gra-
tuitous Agents. and, except in particular cases, are to
live together in an Institution near to, and under the eye
of, the Professor—under whom, in return, they are also
to be receiving, gratuitously, a course of preparation,
both theological and practical, as candidates for Holy
Orders. It is understood that the class of agents con-
templated, are young men of education, but not possessed
of pecuniary means for graduating at the Universities.
Archdeacon Manning affirmed, that it is now generally
admitted, that the Universites do not and cannot supply
enough candidates for orders,—so vastly increased, of
late, is the demand for working clergy. Hence, either
for lay assistants under clerical training, or for assistants
in minor orders, many—both low churchmen and high
char chmen—have long felt the expediency of such auxili-
ary Institutions as this. The Bishop of the diocese will
be the Visitor. The Rectors of Liverpool and Walton,
and the Incumbents of West Derby and Birkenhead, are
to be the Presidents. The committee will consist of all
Incumbents, within the specified districts, who join the
Association. The sub-committee, of twelve clergymen,
are to be annually selected from the general committee,
including the several presidents. The parochial services
to he rendered by each Agent will be, to assist the re-
spective Incumbents in visiting, their districts in such
a manner as each Incumbent may desire ; and in case of
difference of opinion arising, the Bishop is to decide. As
the success of this measure materially depends on general
and cordial co-operation, it augurs well for its accepta-
bility and usefulness that the Bishop has appointed the
Rev. Joseph Bavlee, the indefatigable Incumbent of Holy
Trinity, Birkenhead, to be the Theological Professor.

THE SALT MONOPOLY.

(From the Asiatic Journal.)

We already witness tie commencement of an earnest,
well-continned movement against the East India Com-
pany's salt monopoly. And with what potency of argu-
ment the cause is sustained ! Fifty millions of human
beings whose food is pulse, rice, or vegetables, and to
whom, consequently, salt is of the greatest moment, not
merely to render the insipid diet palatable, but to protect
the body from loathsome diseases, are compelled to pay
for the indispensable condiment the enormous price:of
twopence per pound ! Of the,e fifty millions, one fitth
or ten millions are kbourers whose several incomes do
not exceed fifty shillings per annum; and as each labourer
has, on an average, a family of five persons to maintain,
and each person requires at the lowest computation twelve
rounds of salt per annum, it follows that one fifth part of
the fruits of the poor man's industry must be applied to
the purchase of salt alone! Yes, upwards of ten weeks of
hard work under a burning sun only suffice to produce a
scanty portion of one of the commonest necessaries of
existence! _ _

In such a state of things the purchase of clothing is
quite out of the question. Equally impossible is it for the
labourer to improve his circumstances by the application
of a few pence per annum to the growth of sugar, or of
any other article.which might he at once a source of do-
mestic comfort, and a means of sharing in the trade of the
country. Arid all this, that the East India Company may
enjoy a revenue of one million and a half sterling, to waste
on costly establishments and plunge into useless and un-
just wars!
We shudder at the picture, so startling in its general
effects, so frightful in its details, and we are filled with
loathing and disgust when it is demonstrated to us, that
by a simple act of justice to British trade the whole scene
might be converted into a picturesque grouping of pros-
perity and contentment, of fertile fields and smiling
peasants. All that is required to dissolve the present
hideous view is, that the monopoly of the manufacture of
salt by the East India Company should be abandoned,
and that the government should seek its equivalent reve-
nue (for its claim to revenue in some shape is incontesti-
ble) in an import duty upon salt sent out from Cheshire
and Worcestershire, and an excise duty upon salt that
may be manufactured by the natives themselves upon the
spot. The British salt can be laid down at Liverpool for
20s. the ton—the freight and other charges will cost 365.
more—making 565. for 2240 pounds, or one halfpenny per
pound on its arrival in India. The imposition of a duty
of one halfpenny a pound will reduce the price of salt to
the native of India exactly one half, giving him a surplus
of five weeks' labour, or ss. per annum, while upon the
rough computation that only salt enough for the fifty
millions of people at 12Ibs. per head finds its way to India,
the government will realise a revenue of one million and
a quarter sterling.
But this, though a pleasing, is after all, hut a contracted
view of the great advantages necessarily flowing from such
an alteration in the method of supplying Bengal and Be-
har with salt. On the universally recognised principle of
political economy that reduction of price invariably pro-
duces increase of demand, there is every reason to believe
that the consumption of salt instead of being limited to
twelve pounds per individual will be augmented to the ex-
tent of fifteen to twenty pounds for domestic purposes
alone ;*—that salt will be applied to agricultural and
scientific purposes; that the native farmer will give it his
cattle with their food when living, and cure their hides
fur exportation when their carcases have been sold to the
butcher. Freed from several weeks of extra labour for
the procuring salt alone, and provided with a surplus of
ss. per annum, the native, to whom clothing is the great-
est luxury, will, in all probability, apply his saving to the
purchase of British piece goods, which form the ordinary
materiel of his garments—and here we begin to perceive
how essentially England is commercially concerned in
relieving the wretched Indian of his present burthen.
Mr. Aylwin, to whose interesting work we have made fre-
quent reference in the course of our enquiry—shows that
even if each ryot in the salt monopoly districts became a
customer for only one yard of long cloth, an extra demand
would be created for nearly fifty millions of yards ; but
other writers who have examined the question in a more
sanguine spirit, go beyond Mr. Aylwin in their computa-
tion of results. Taking, however, the minimum estimate,
we have in prospect a clear demand for two millions and
a quarter sterling's worth of Manchester goods above the
present consumption!
For the conveyance of these goods to India, and for the
carriage of the salt from London, Liverpool, Bristol,
Gloucester, &c., a demand is created for one hundred
thousand extra tons of British shipping. The additional
production of sugar in the East Indies, the increased
value of the hides—both resulting from the reduction of
the price of salt—open the door to an augmentation of our
imports from India and the improvement of homeward
freights. Then the additional employment given to the
steam engines of our cotton factories and salt works in•
creases the demand for coal ; the operatives find occupa-
tion for all their working hours ; the sugar refiner, the
leather dresser, and so on down to the grocer and the
shoemaker, are supplied with an accession to their busi-
ness, and consequently their profits, and all the various
trades and occupations more or less connected with these
are indirectly made participators in the blessings of the
extended free trade. . .

* The East India Company ration their sepoys and other ser-
vants at these rates and the allowance in English workhouses
is framed upon a similar scale.

DUTCH RHENISH RAILWAY.

In the month of September last, a committee of inquiry
was appointed h y the shareholders in this important un-
dertaking, in order to ascertain its actual position, and
how far the flattering promises of its original prospectus
were likely to be realized. This committee has hitherto
calmly and quietly, but zealously, pursued their labours;
and having made themselves to a great extent masters of
their subject, they felt they were in a position to request
an audience with the London directors, in order to arrive
at a more perfect understanding on several matters both
of policy and practice, which bad become points of debate.
This audience was granted with the greatest courtesy by
the board, and W. Chaplin, Esq., Mr. Uzielli and Mr.
Walters, together with the secretary, Mr. Janson, ar.
rived in Liverpool on Tuesday evening last.
The committee, consisting of the chairman, Charles
Holland, Esq. and the • honorary secretary, Mr. Beloe,
together with Messrs. I3ouch, Harbord, Harrison, T.
Moss, B. Poole, Andrews, Unsworth and Forwood, (Mr.
E. Mayley and Mr. A. Maggregor being unavoidably
absent in London,) assembled at the Adelpbi Hotel at
twelve' o'clock on saturday, and were introduced to the
directors by Mr. Thomas Moss.
The points for discussion having been briefly mentioned
by Mr. Holland, Mr. Beloe was requested to read a series
of questions which had been prepared for the occasion ;
and it is gratifying to be enabled to state, that the answers
received were not only most ample and candid, but that
in most cases they were deemed highly satisfactory.
The Committee endeavoured to press upon the attention
of the Directors the propriety of using every effort for an
early completion of the line, the more frequent running of
trains on the part already opened, the impolicy of retleern-
ing at the present moment auy further amount of the bond