The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-18 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL FINANCES.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, after laying
upon the table the balance-sheet, said it had been his in-
tention to make a statement respecting the revenue for the
year now closed, the condition of the public balances, and
that of the unfunded debt, but, Mr. Disraeli having moved
for further information in connexion with the subject, he
thought it better, as far as any matter of argument was
concerned, to postpone it, and he should confine him-
self to matters of fact. He then stated the amount
of the excess of revenue received up to the sth of
April, beyond the sum he had anticipated on the 6th of
March, and the amount of excess of income over expendi-
ture (as stated in the published account), which showed
the real surplus of income for the year to be about
£3,000,000, which he thought a satisfactory result, the
more so since the sum he had expected to receive from the
income-tax was less than he had anticipated. He then
detailed the state of the public balances, the amount in
1853, the reduction in 1854 (when it was returned at
£2,778,000), the manner in which the reduction had been
brought about, by the paying off public debt and advances,
and the probable amount of the deficiency bills required
to meet the quarter, namely, £5,852,000. In explaining
the deficiency bill system, and the extent of acco-mmoda-
tion which the goverment obtained from the Bank of
England, he observed that some of the best-informed per-
sons out of doors believed that the amount of deficiency
bills out on the sth of April represented the amount of
the accommodation given by the Bank, and this amount
had been estimated at from £4,000,000 to £6,000,000 ; but
the amount of deficiency bills chargeable to the public
yesterday was only £2,808,000, subject to a deduction for
cash unexhausted, which reduced the amount to 22,129,000,
and this, he remarked, in ordinary times, would not be an
extravagant amount to receive as accommodation from the
Bank. At the present time, however, he thought the
amount ought to be progressively reduced, and it would
be diminished without the least difficulty ; but this was
the actual extent of accommodation received from the
Bank. It was supposed, he added, that this unusual
demand reduced the capital in the market available for
commercial operations ; but this notion, 'he said, was not
only erroneous, but ludicrously so, inasmuch as the demand
withdrew from commercial purposes in the London money
market not any sum whatever. There was, he continued,
another point in connexion with the Bank, which was
supposed to be a matter of good faith. Some persons had
an idea that there had been a sort of compact (unwritten)
between the government and the Bank, under which
demands on deficiency bills ought net to be made on the
Bank. He was not aware of any such-compact ; but there
.had been an understanding in 1844 that, if there was a
diminution of the public balances beyond the usual sum,
the Bank would be entitled to a claim upon the govern-
ment, and vice versa if there was an increase. The pre-
sumption on which this understanding rested was, that
the amount of the public balances was to remain in future
as it was at that time. Now, in the two quarters imme-
diately preceding this agreement, namely, January 5, 1844,
and April 5, 18471, the amount of deficiency bills was, in
the former £5,462,000, and in the latter £3,967,000. On
the sth of .January, 1854, the amount was £3,711,000;
.and on the sth April, 1854, £5,472,000. The average amount
of the two quarters of 1854 wag 4591,000, and that of the
two quarters of 1844, £4,714,000, to that the amount
was nearly the same, or a little less, in 1854 than in
HA Mr. Gladstone then made a statement of the con-
.dition of the unfunded debt, whence it appeared that the
.present amount of Exchequer-bills was £1,174,000 short
of that which the government was authorised to issue,
and he had no reason, he said, to expect that he should
-have to make any further demand upon parliament for
more bills, or even to use the whole amount he was au-
thorised to issue. The present state of public credit was,
he added, highly satisfactory, as he showed by comparing
the present prices of our public securities with those of
foreign countries, and with those of this country at former
periods. The result of the whole was, that the demands
of the government upon the bank for accommodation
(though it was desirable to reduce the amount) were not
calculated to inspire any alarm ; that there had been no
contraction of the reapurces of commerce ; that the un-
funded debt was moderate, and likely tooontinue so; and
that public credit was in a satisfactory condition, when
the menacing circumstances of the times wore considered.
After a brief discussion, in which Mr. DISRAELI, Mr.
T. BARING, Mr. LAING, and Sir H. WILLOUGHBY made
some comments upon the statements of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, the paper was ordered to lie on the table.
The bills for the prevention of bribery in the boroughs
of Cambridge, Hull, Maldon, Barnstaple, and Canterbury,
were brought in and read a first time.

The house adjourned at ten minutes to eleven, until the
27th instant.

SHIPPING AND MERCANTILE

MISCELLANY.

FREIGHT MONEY AT GREENWICH HOSEITA.L.— A
return of freight money at Greenwich Hospital shows that
between February, 1852, and March last the amount was
£9,698 19s. 6d., ,of which £1,026 19s. 3d. was public
treasure, and £8,0:2 Os. 3d. private treasure.

THE PICKET SERVICE OF THE POST-OFFICE.—ATeturn
to the House of Commons shows that in the year ended
January last the amount paid on account of the packet
service was £895,275. The amount chargeable to the
packet service was £801,455, and £Bl,lOO " otherwise
chargeable," in addition to which £12,720 was paid ..as
salaries of Admiralty. .agents on board the several contract
packets.
MAIL PACKETS.—By a return just presented to parlia-
ment, of the longest and Rhortest voyages from Southamp-
ton to Ushant, made by the contract packets on the routes
to the Peninsula, Mediterranean, and Brazils, for the years
1848 to 1852 inclusive, it appears that by the Peninsula
packets, the longest voyage was 84 hours, and the shortest
21 hours. Mean voyage, 31. Average voyage, 26 hours.
By the Mediterranean packets the longest voyage was 36
hours, shortest 21 hours ; mean voyage 26, and average
voyage 24 hours. By the Brazil packets the longest
voyage was 48 hours, shortest 21 hours; mean voyage 27,
and average voyage 25 hours.

LAUNCH OF THE PRINCE SCREW-STEAMER.—On Wed-
nesday, the General Steam Shipping Company's new iron
steamer Prince was launched from Messrs. Mare's ship-
building-yard, Blackwall. The principal dimensions of
the Prince are :—Length between the perpendiculars,
295 ft. ; length of the keel for tonnage, 268 101 ft.; breadth
for tonnage, 4.3 4ft.; depth in hold, 33 Bft.; burthen,
2,706 tons. She is to be fitted- with engines built by
Messrs. Maudsley and Co., of the power of 300 horses, and
upon the screw-propeller principle.
Oull SHIPPING IN 1853.—During the year there were
built and registered in the United Kingdom 635 sailing
vessels of timber, of the collective burden of 146,380 ton's,
and 10 of iron, of 8,576 tons ; the number of steamers
built was 36 of timber, with a tonnage amounting to 3,305
and 117 of iron, with a tonnage of 44,910; 32 colonial-
built vessels (20 of them from New Brunswick) were
registered here, and 102 foreign ; the tonnage of the
former was 26,443, of the latter 30,073. 69 of our sailing
vessels and 15 of our steamers, with a united tonnage of
.5,221, were broken up in the course of the year, and 569
of our sailing vessels, and 12 of our steamers, together of
120,714 tons, were wrecked.
SHIPPING BuLs.—The second reading of the "Merchant
Shipping Act, 1854," or what is better known as the Con-
solidated Mercantile Marine Bill, has peen postponed to
the 4th of May ; so that there will be ample time to ex-
amine and discuss the new provisions in the bill. We also
find that Mr. Cardwell has brought in a bill, which was
read a first time, for the amendment of the law relating to
wreck and salvage. This bill was also ordered to be read
a second time on May 4. Why this measure does not form
part of the Consolidated Bill we are at a loss to conceive ;
but we shall be better able to judge of the matter when the
bill is before us.—Shipping and Mercantile Gazelle.
- -

- - -
COMPOSITION OF THE SHEATHING OF SHIPS.—M.
Bobierre has paid considerable attention to this subject,
and has arrived at the following conclusions as to the cause
of the rapid destruction of some copper and bronze sheath-
ing :-1. When unalloyed copper is employed, the pre-
sence of arsenic appears to hasten its destruction. 2. All
bronzes which appear to have stood well, contained from
4k to 51 per cent. of tin, that quantity being necessary to
form an homogenous alloy. When the per tentage of tin
is only 2'5 to 3'5, which is very frequently the case, no
definite alloy is produced, and the mass is of unequal com-
position, and, being unequally acted upon is soon destroyed.
3. When impure copper is employed, the alloy is never
homogenous, and is unequally acted upon in consequence.
We thus see that the so frequent destruction of the sheath-
ing of copper-bottomed vessels arises from the tendency to
use inferior brittle copper, and by diminishing the propor-
tion of tin, to economise the difference between the price of
that metal and copper, at the same time that the cost of
rolling is also less, in consequence of the greater softness
of the poor alloy. Bobierre thinks that the addition of a
very small proportion of zinc very much improves the
bronze, by producing a more perfect and uniform distribu-
tion of the positive metals, and consequently a much more
definite alloy.—Comptes Renduc,

CUSTOMS ORDERS.—The Board of Customs have, with
reference to the 356th section of the Customs' Consolida-
tion Act of the last session of parliament, 16 and 17 Vic.,
cap. 107, caused the general orders and minutes issued by
them in the year 1853 for the regulation of trade, &c., to
be printed in collective form. Copies of these orders can
be had by merchants and others interested and concerned,
on application to the collectors and comptrollers of the
Customs, at the several outports throughout the United
Kingdom.
BILLS OF EXCHANGE BILL.—Lord Brougham's Bill for
the registration of dishonoured bills of exchange, and for
speedy execution thereon, proposes to provide that bills of
exchange and promissory notes may be protested by any
attorney or solicitor, and that the holder of any protested
bill or note, which is duly stamped and free from erasures
or alterations, may at any time within six mouths after
its becoming due, register it with the master of one of the
three superior courts of law, and shall thereupon be en-
titled to judgment and execution against the parties to the
bill or note, within six days after service of an order of the
court to that effect, to be given to him upon such registra-
tion ; and power is left with the judge to direct execution with-
out personal service of the order, if it shall appear to him
that the order has come to the knowledge of the party, or
that he wilfully evades service of it. Such an order may
be served out of thejurisdiction, but the period for obtain-
ing execution is then to be extended beyond six days. The
party served with the order may apply to the court to stay
execution, the application to be supported by an affidavit
disclosing what would constitute a legal defence, and the
court may then • stay execution, and direct a trial or a
special case for the opinion of the court ; but execution is
not to be stayed unless the party seeking to stay it give
security for the payment of the bill and costs, or satisfy
the court that his signature has been forged, or that the
title of the holder is affected with fraud, or that other cir-
cumstances exist to induce the court to dispense with such
security. Whe e the amount of the bill or note does not
exceed £5O it m: y '.)e registered in the County Court with-
in the jurisdiction of which the acceptor or maker resides,
and the proceedings may ,be in that court. A judgment
order or a bill or note accepted, made, or endorsed, within
two months of bankruptcy is to be void.
THE FALKLAND ISLES.—The following is the copy of
a letter from the commander of the steam-ship Great
Britain to the owners, on the advantages of the Falkland
Islands as a coaling station ;—" Liverpool, Ist April, 1854.
Gentlemen,—l have much pleasure in complying with
your request that I should lay before you a brief state-
ment of the advantages afforded by the Falkland
Islands as a place of call for ocean steamers. Captain
Grant, of the Sea Bird, in the very interesting letter
which he wrote to you from Stanley relative to the depo-
sit of coal for the Great Britain, has already made you
aware of the excellence of that harbour, and of its easy
access. lam able, from my own experience, to confirm,
in every particular, Captain Grant's remarks. The
Government charts are exceedingly correct ; the land, as
you approach it, is made out without any difficulty ; and
we saw Pembroke Point and its beacon (now to be super-
seded by a light-house) at the distance of seven miles. The
harbour itself is like a large dock, secure from all winds,
and with an entrance wide enough for a smart sailing vessel
to beat through with ease. All the dangerous points are
distinctly marked by the kelp, or sea-weed. The anchor-
age is excellent, varying from four to five fathoms at low
water, so that the Great Britain is everywhere in perfect
safety; and, even were she to touch the ground, she
would not receive any injury, as the bottom is all soft
mud. The facility for watering ships is good ; a reser-
voir, holding about two hundred tons of water, communi-
cates by means of pipes with the end of a jetty, where,
even when the tide is out, there is always about three feet
of water, which is sufficient for a fiat boat to float off ten
tons at a time. The casks in the boat are filled by fasten-
ing a short hose to the pipes, and thus one ship can be
watered as rapidly as if she were in Liverpool. The
Governor, of whose courteous and obliging conduct I can-
not speak too highly, promised that, should Stanley
become a port of call for steamers, a floating tank shall be
built, so that water could be alongside the ship imme-
diately on her arrival, and pumped into the tanks or
casks, as the case may be. There are considerable herds
of cattle on the islands, and when put up to feed (as was '
the case with the great Britain) their beef is very good;
vegetables of the more ordinary kind, such as potatoes,
cabbages, and turnips,• can be had when in season. Ship
chandlery and grocery stores can also be purchased to a
limited extent. Labour is scarce, as the population of
Stanley (the only settlement) is only about four hundred.
But every year, as the islands become better known, this
want will, no doubt, be less felt. I should add that the
hulk for coaling the 'Great Britain was placed in the most
convenient situation. I experienced not the slightest
difficulty in this or any other matter during the detention
of four days in these islands, owing chiefly to tie good
management of Mr. Dale, the agent for the Falkland
Islands' Company, who was immediately in attendance on
arrival of the ship, and continued until the hulk with coals
was alongside. The zealous attention and kindness of
this gentleman to my passengers and myself, whenever
his services were required, will always be remembered by
us. I remain, gentlemen, your obedient servant, (Signed,)
BANNARD R. M.ATTHEWS.—Messrs. Gibbs, Bright and Co."

A COMPANY is about to be formed for the purpose, as
the prospectus announces, of enabling the descendants of
Israel to obtain and to cultivate the Land of Palestine.
DESTRUCTIVE CONFLAGRATION.—On Saturday morn-
ing, between twelve and one o'clock, a very serious fire
broke out in Stockwell-street, Greenwich. It appears that
some of the police on duty discovered the fire raging on
the premises of Mr. G. Grove, wheelwright. Immediately
behind the house are the workshops, and the materials,
once ignited, blazed up with great rapidity, Illuminating
the surrounding neighbourhood. Several engines were
soon on the spot, but in spite of the utmost exertions the
flames communicated to Mr. B. Sufferin's, licensed
victualler, the roof of whose billiard-rooms was destroyed,
besides other damage. The house of Mrs. Hudson,
plumber, BnShy-court, London-street, was also consider-
ably damaged. The cause of the fire is unknown.
MARLBOROUGH-HOUSE.—There is at present submitted
to public inspection in the Museum of Art at Marlborough-
house a small hut exceedingly curious and interesting col-
lection of models in clay and wax which are believed to be
original studies by Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, Donatello,
and other celebrated Italian sculptors. The collection,
having been offered to the French Government and to the
trustees of the British Museum and the National Gallery
without finding a purchaser, is now exhibited at Marl-
borough-house, that it may undergo a careful examina-
tion by the best judges, and have its value ascertained.
Should the result be considered favourable, the Board of
Trade may, perhaps, be induced to buy the ,collection,
which undoubtedly would form an important addition to
the Museum. The specimens possessing the chief interest
are not more than half-a-dozen in number, and are such
as an uneducated eye would pass over with indifference;
yet persons the most competent to judge declare that one
object alone—said to be the original study in terracotta,
by Raffaelle, for his Jonah—is worth £1,500, and that
the value of the whole cannot be stated at less than £3OOO.
The collection, which was found in a house in Florence,
appears to be considered genuine by the cognoscenti, and
undoubtedly the best specimens contained in it have a
very highly instructive character stamped upon them. If
they serve no other purpose than to show the extraor-
dinary care with which the great Italian masters prepared
themselves for the execution of their chefs d'oeuvre, they
would be worth the price put upon them. The Bacchus
of Michael Angelo is seen, first brought out as a skeleton
figure, marvellously executed, and so also with his David,
the striking anatomical studies for the limbs of which are
included in the collection. There are also the studies for
his Apollo, his Marsyas, the Hercules and Cacus, which
was subsequently executed by inferior hands, and several
others of his greatest works, all possessing extrera3
interest to the lovers of art. Some of the specimens
ascribed to Donatello are worthy of attentive examination
—among them a cow in terracotta, which excited an
immense sensation in Florence when first discovered, and
which is said to have occupied Bartolini, an eminent pro-
fessor, three entire lectures in diseussinm' its merits. The
antiquarian interest of the collection is hardly inferior to
that which it possesses on the score -of art, and it may be
noted as a curious circumstance connected therewith that
a marvellously-executed human hand in terracotta by
Michael Angelo, casts from which are in almost every
studio in Europe, is now for the first time produced, and
pulzliely exhibited.

THE'CIIIEF OFFICERS AGAIITST Itlyssre.—Of the five
who are to command divisions, all are of different birth,
a Scotehman, a Hanoverian, an Irishman, a Canadian, and
an Englishman—thus, Sir George Brown is a native of
Linkwood, near Elgin, the Duke of Cambridge was born
in Hanover, Sir De Lacy Evans in Ireland, Sir Richard
England in Upper Canada, the Earl of Lucan is the only
Englishman of that rank, and is a Londoner by birth,
though Irish by descent. With respect to the fleets, the
two highest in command are not Englishmen ; Sir Charles
Napier was born in Scotland, and Admiral Dundas at Cal-
cutta, though Scotch by descent. Among the eleven Bri-
gadiers-General, H. J. Bentinck (English ?) of Dutch
origin, Sir Colin and Sir John Campbell, Scotch, Colonel
Pennefather, a "Tipperary boy," Colonel Yorke Scarlett,
of Jamaica descent, while J. B. B. Estcourtis a Londoner,
born near Portman-square, and Lord Cardigan, a native of
Hambledon, leaving only four unaccounted for, and of these
H. W. Adams is probably a native of Warwickshire, Wil-
liam Eyr is, probably, of Nottinghamshire birth, and
George Buller a Cornishman. Among the six Assistants
Adjutant-General, we notice the two Irish names of Doyle
and Sullivan, and two Scotch, Maule and Gordon. The
mixed nature of our population is here shadowed forth,
but Englishmen have not secured " the lion's share" of
the staff appointments.— Civil Service Gazette.
ICEBERGS.—lcebergs have been moving from the north
for several months. On referring to our memoranda of
the drift of Polar ice, we find as follows ---Packet-ship
Yorkshire, from Liverpool, passed a large iceberg on the
14th of December, 1853, in lat. 46 30, N., lon. 48 21, W.
On the 21st of the same month the barqueMagnolia passed
an immense island of ice, one hundred feet high, in lat. '
44 35, N., lon. 48 30, W. On the 14th of February,' 1854,
ship Parliament, from Liverpool for Boston, lat. 46 50, N.,
lon. 48, W., saw three large islands of ice, and the same
day saw abundance of field ice. On the 15th of February,
1854, ship Nightingale, from London for Boston, in lat. 45
52, lon. 47 39, saw a great number of icebergs, and was
among the field ice twelve hours. On the 24th of Feb.,
1854, the clipper-ship Lightning, in lat. 49 15, N., lon. 43
20, W., passed a large iceberg. On the 7th of March,
1854, British ship Julia, from London, in lat. 44 14, lon.
49 20, saw a field of ice stretching north and south as far
as the eye could reach. On the 11th of March, 1854,
steam-ship Washington, from Bremen, lat. 43, log. 50 40,
passed Mir large icebergs and a field of ice. The vessels
now arriving report abundance of ice on the Atlantic. In"
1842, 1845, and 1847 icebergs were met on the Atlantic
in the month of March. In 1850 icebergs were abundant
in January, February, March, and April. In December,
1850, 'icebergs commenced moving on the Atlantic, and
continued unusually abundant till the Ist of August, 1851,
when they ceased running. During this time our-register
contains the names of one hundred vessels which reported
ice in crossing the Atlantic, and among these was a vessel
bound from Limerick to Quebec, which reported an im-
mense body of ice upon which they saw two ships housed
in, which were, no doubt, the Erebus and Terror, compos-
ing the expedition of Sir John Franklin. - In 1843 but
four vessels reported ice on the Atlantic, and in 1848 but
three vessels ; and in 1848 the Atlantic between the United
States and Europe was wholly free from ice. The atmos-
pheric changes converting fluids to solids, and in reducing
olids to fluids, are wonderful, but we have become so fami-
r with these wonders of nature that they almost pass
WA* a,—New York Journal of commerce,

SWEDISII METHOD or SWEARING.—The Swedes have
a very national method of swearing. Thus, if I were on a
Scandinavian highroad, and were in the way of a traveller,
he might possibly shout from his sledge, " A thousand
devils !" If I were to take no heed of so insignificant a
number of devils as one thousand, he might improve his
position by the exclamation, " Ten thousand devils !" Say
that I remained unmoved, even in the face of so fearful an
array, he would cap all by the exclamation, " Ten thousand
Pomeranian devils !" And then, of course, I must let the
excited gentleman pass me. This illustration will explain
my meaning, viz., that according to the intensity of anger
is the number of devils. A man must be in the paroxysm
of rage, however, before he commits himself with " Ten
thousand Pomeranian devils !" These specimens of
Swedish oaths may be of use to those gentlemen who have
a fancy for varying their swearing, picking out a pet oath,
as they pick out a hat, for each season.—A Brage-breaker
1 with the Swedes.

On the 11th inst., at Vey bridge, in her 78th year,
Frances Julia, relict of the late Thomas Martin, Esq., of
this town. . •

On the 12th inst., aged 56, James Smith, sexton of St.
Luke's Church, Great Crosby.
On the 12th inst., at the Northern Hospital, from an
injury received on the Ist inst., Sarah Mawdsley, aged 52,
wife of Mr. Edward Mawdsley, formerly of the Under-
writers'-rooms. _ _ .

On the 12th inst., at his residence, Almond-street,
Upper Parliament-street, aged 60, John Maxwell.
On the 12th inst., at his residence, Acre-terrace, Ever-
ton-brow, aged 60, Frederick Oxley, Esq.
On the 15th inst., aged 9 months, Richard, youngest
son of Mr. Robert Makin, jun., Everton-terrace.
On the 16th inst., at Aigburth Ash Cottages, aged 29,
Naomi, the wife of Mr. W. Neil Monies.
On the 16th inst., at Clare-terrace, Edge-hill, Fanny,
the infant daughter of Mr. Thos. R. Golding.