The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-11-09 00:00:00

THE MERCURY AND BREWERS.

• The Mercury on Friday was rather angry upon the
question, whether or not brewers are fit persons to be
upon the Watch Committee. Our contemporary says
that these obnoxious people are most of them owners of
public-houses ; and, hence, police-officers cannot inter-
fere with the occupants of houses, thus owned, without
drawing upon themselves a hostile feeling from their pro-
prietors. One would naturally imagine that such a purist
would set his face against the election of a brewer or a
spirit-merchant to a seat in the Council at all. Yet what
is the fact as exemplified by the course taken by our con-
temporary at the election just past. Of course it will be
concluded that the re-election of Mr. Preston, the re-
spected Whig candidate for Vauxhall Ward, was opposed
by the Mercury, on the ground that being a spirit-mer-
chant, and hence an ineligible person to be upon the
Watch Committee, a gentleman might have been chosen
against whom no such ineligibility could be urged—one
whose honesty could be confided in, of whatever commit-
tee he might be chosen as a member. Not so, however.
It would seem that the fact of a spirit-merchant being a
Liberal does away with the bar which would exist were
the same man Conservative in his views. The case of
Mr. Preston. however, we may be told, is an exception,
that gentleman possessing deservedly the confidence of
both parties in the Council and in the borough. Well,
then, let us examine the new candidates.

What is the business of the gentleman—Mr. Mellor—
pitched upon as an opponent to Mr. Parker in St. Anne's
Ward ? A spirit-merchant. Yet we look in vain for the
Mercury's reprobation of the fitness of such a choice.
What is Mr. Thompson, the Liberal candidate for Scot-
land Ward ? A brewer, and, we are informed, the owner
of several public-houses. We look equally in vain for
the Mercury's repudiation of Mr. Thompson's claim for
corporate honours ; and we do not think that, had these
gentlemen been returned, and placed upon the Watch
Committee, we should have heard any very strenuous
protest from the Mercury against their appointment.
It is preposterous nonsense to urge objections against
this particular class of tradesmen, as especially unfitted
to be upon the Watch or any other Committee. The
Mercury says that a member of the police force dare not
lay an information against the tenant of a public-house.
whose owner is a brewer and a member of the Watch
Committee. May not the same fear prevent an officer
from laying an information against a shipowner or a mer-
chant,;ortd:
deftoetrhr epoepf.firemr period
allowed dockos n same
such qcchuoam.yasmfbleteatyreoend,
from laying informations against builders for permitting
materials to encroach too much upon the footway, or
taiiogwgedaonbddsy taloamw lie member
71ubpmeorn, fht htt he
against manufacturers for permitting their chimneys to
smoke ? Might not any member of the Council be thus
let off scot free for furious riding or driving, assault and
battery, or other offence of which it is the duty of an
officer to take cognizance ? Of course the argument of
the Mercury applies equally to all these cases. The only
mode in which our contemporary's scruples as to the ho-
nesty of his neighbours can be set at rest is, by returning
as members of the Council only such parties as are un-
connected alike with business and with property within
the borough. But then such a course would deprive our
venerable friend of the opportunity of a periodical fling
against the unfortunate brewers and spirit merchants.

The Bank of England has consented to assist the two
Scotch banks which applied for its aid.
SINGULAR SUICIDE.—The Rev. T. B. Charnock, who for
some years past ;has been residing at Cullingworth, near
Halifax, in independent circumstances, committed sui
tide on Friday night, the 29th ult. The unfortunate gen-
tleman had been visited in the course of the evening by
the Vicar of Bingley and the Incumbent of Cullingworth ;
and during the visit of his friends, the conversation turned
upon the death of a clergyman who had committed suicide
in a similar way. On their departure, he appears to have
gone up stairs, and was found next morning quite dead,
suspended to a beam by his pocket-handkerchief.
ABATEMENT OF THE RAILWAY MANIA.—The period
of the year having come round when it is required that
notices should be given of all applications to Parliament
for new railway bills, &c., it will be remarked, by the in-
significant announcements in our columns this week, that
the ruinous mania has received an effectual check. Not
one new railway scheme is to be applied for, while last
year the Mercury contained fifty Parliamentary notices
from railway companies, and six of other projects ; in
1845, we published seventy-eight Parliamentary notices
of new railway undertakings, and eight of other pro-
jects.—Leeds Mercury. _ .

CULTIVATION OF FLAX IN IRELAND.—Let US hear
no more of the inability of Ireland to produce flax that
will vie with the Belgian. What we want is neither soil nor
climate, but management and care. We received yesterday
a beautiful, we might almost call it a magnificent, specimen
grown by the Rev. Mr. Gildea, rector of Newport, in Mayo,
which any of our readers are at liberty to inspect. The crop
is valued at £7O a ton. The tow was sold for £3B a ton.
What would it not do for Ireland if encouraged and cul-
tivated as it deserves ? But then we must learn the way,
and do it rightly, if we mean to make by it.—Cork Con-
stitution.
THE FUNDS, SATURDAY EVENING. The English
funds have to-day recovered from their depression of yes-
terday. Consols for money opened at 824 to 834, and
after various slight fluctuations closed at 834 buyers.
For the account the range was from 83 to 834 4. Bank
Stock left oft 185 to 187 ; Reduced Three per Cents., 82
to 4 ; Three-and-a-Quarter per Cents., 834 to i; India
Stock, 227 to 280 ; India Bonds, 30s. to 20s. ; and Ex-
chequer-bills., 16s. to 13s. In the Stock-Exchange,
money was freely offered on loans for two or three days
at 4 per cent. The transactions in the foreign funds
comprised—Brazilian, at 77 ; Mexican, at 151 ; Portu-
guese Five per Cents., at 76 ; the Four per Cents., at 204 ;
Russian, at 1044 ; Spanish Five per Cents., at 161 :
Passive, at 34 ; the Three per Cents., at 261 for money,
and at 264 for the account ; Venezuela, at 341; Belgian
Four-and-a-Half per Cents., at 881 ; and Dutch Four
per Cent. Certificates, at 82.

Nov. 9, 1847.

SERIOUS AND FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE
LONDON & NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.

We greatly regret to announce the occurrence7of a fatal
accident yesterday morning, on the London and North-
western line of railway. The scene of the accident was
close to the Winsford station, within about four miles of
Hartford, and between Warrington and Crewe. The
facts—as near as we could ascertain them from the guard
of a down train that passed shortly after the occurrence►
and from Mr. Ilberry, to whose kind attention we are
indebted—are as follows :

A new six-wheeled engine, the construction of which
was somewhat peculiar, and which, during some late
trials, had attained an enormously high rate of speeds
was coming down the line to work from the Liverpool
station. To it was attached, in addition to a mer-
chandize train, a few empty waggons. On the maul
line of rail, at Winsford, there is a curve so acute►
that it is stated that an engine might probably not be
able to see any impediment should it be placed near
theoff line or siding, which, it appears, runs from the main
line to some collieries in the vicinity. A train, propelled
by an engine belonging to some private individual or
company was passing from the side into the down line►
when, at the same moment, the new engine, the driving
wheels of which are eight feet six inches in diameter,
came down the road, and before the breaks could be ',lit
on smashed into the coal waggons with a force so terrific
that a portion of the merchandise train following was, from
the force of the concussion, thrown completely over the
enormous engine; the driver was killed upon the spot,
and a portion of his head was afterwards found in his cap•
The carriages were thrown with great force over the whole
line, and some estimation of the collision may he formea
from the fact that one carriage was thrown behind a hedge
at the top of an embankment. The trains which came up
afterwards were detained for some time. The breaks'
man, it is said, jnmped off the train, and was thug
preserved. We must, however, be thankful that it rag
not a passenger train, as the loss of life in that ease would
have been lamentable. No doubt the directors, with their
usual promptitude, will cause due inquiry to be made into
the circumstances.

LATER PARTICULARS.
7
HALF-PAST ELEVEN, P. M.—We have just Learned
from a party who has visited the scene of the disaster,
that the Railway Company's engine was thrown directly
across the two lines ; the tender and all the following
carriages, from the velocity they had attained,
ran
directly over it, and thus the engineer met his
A
The r
deat h,—the stoker, and not the b
eaksinan, ,save"
him self by jumping off. latter is so seriously
injured, that when interrogated as to the cause,
could only state that they conceived they had, by the
breaks, sufficient command over the train, (which, be
says, was nol going over six miles per hour at the time
of the collision,) but unfortunately they could not arrest
its progress before the lamentable occurrence ha d taken
place.

The London express train last night did not bring s
single paper.

- - -
The Bank of Messrs. Roothaan, at Amsterdam, ha;
failed.
- -

-----
A new Roman Catholic chapel was opened on Wedeer,
day, at Wandsworth. It is built close to the parish chure ia
Mr. Watson's unfinished statues of Eldon, Stowell, an
Flaxman, together with his other partly executed works,
will be finished by Mr. Eastlake.
Her Majesty will not open the new Parliament in per-
son. It is expectedthat parliament will sit for about a
month, and be adjourned a few days before Christmas-
The Liberals of Sunderland intend to invite Mr. Mae'
aulay to offer himself as a candidate, in the event of fir'
Barclay retiring.
The overseers of Bolton have obtained the sanction. ,ef
the the borough magistrates to P new rate upon the townsuiP
of four shillings in the pound.
The line of steamers between New York and Broil':
will in all probability be discontinued, as the returns
not cover the expenses, and competition against the ga
and Liverpool lines is in vain.
The gambling shops called "wheels of fortune," it aPL
pears, cannot be put down, a recent alteration in the la",
rendering it necessary that proceedings in all such ease"
must be commenced by the Attorney-General.
A farmer, near Taunton, sold a lot of cattle to a dealer
on Saturday, for which he received £l2O in notes of the
Salisbury and Shaftesbury banks ; but after the dealer
was gone, the farmer learnt to his dismay that WO
banks bad stopped payment.
Mr. Patrick Fitzpatrick, who for many years was sect'
tary to the O'Connell tribute, has received an appoint'
ment in the registry of deeds office, Dublin, worth from
£6OO to £7OO.
The Marylebone (London) vestry have held severs/
meetings for the purpose of petitioning government to
prevent a further influx of destitute Irish into this country
The various speakers stated that they derived their statis-
tics from the Liverpool Standard.
GROCER-
DEATH FROM THE CARELESSNESS OF A
DRUGGIST.—WiIIiam Freeland, a labourer of Brightling.
has lost his life through the mistake of a grocer, who also
sells drugs, in giving him opium instead of assafcetid•
The inquest resulted in a verdict of " Accidentally poi-
soned. '—Brighton Gazette.
On Saturday the Vice-Chancellor dissolved, with costs,
the injunction granted to restrain the Chester and Holy-
head Railway Company from taking possession of pre-
mises belonging to a Mr. Crawford, near Chester. B
may be remembered that we last week gave the particu-
lars connected with the pulling down of the plaintifrS
house by the company, and his summary ejection there-
from, with his family, whilst they were at dinner.

ANTI-STATE CHURCH ASSOCIATION.-Mr. Miall, the.
editor of the Nonconformist, and itinerant advocate of
this newly-formed society, addressed a meeting In
Corn Exchange-Buildings, Wakefield, on Friday cne;
last. He had had it all his own way at York and
other
places where he had held forth, but at Wakefield 11,r,
found a strenuous opponent in the person of the Rev-
w i
Taylor, Head Master of the Free Grammar School, I "
showed the fallacy of the greater part of the arguments
employed by Mr. Miall.—Doncaster Gazette.