The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-12-11 00:00:00

Central frliatilanp.

The bullion in the Bank of England is still increasing.
ounts now to £16,512,414.
linen factory of Messrs. Larking and Co., at Croy-
was destroyed by fire on Thursday.
Chancellor of the Exchequer has received from an
anonymous correspondent a bank note for £5OO.
Ebenezer Elliott, the " corn law rhymer," died on the
Ist instant, leaving a wife and large family.
A woman was shot at Rochester, a few days since, by a
fellow-servant, who carelessly took up a loaded gun.
BURIAL FEES.-At the Bishop Auckland County Court,
last week, a claim for an extra fee of £1 for the burial of a
non-parishioner was disallowed.
The Kent Herald announces the discovery of the re-
mains of a Roman amphitheatre, nearly two hundred feet
in diameter, at Richborougb.
On Thursday the lace warehouse of Messrs. Hill and
Swanwick was destroyed by fire. The damage was
£1,500.

It is proposed to lay down a glass culvert for the main
sewers of Rugby. It has been recommended on account
of its smoothness and economy.
Wheat is now, by last Friday's Gazette, at 40s. 4d. per
quarter, and it is still falling. Importations increase, and
prices fall. We see nothing to prevent its reaching 365.,
or even 345., before the month of March.

The house of Cotesworth and Co, which suspendedpay-
ment in 1847, with liabilities amounting to £350,000, has
just paid a final dividend of 7s. 6d., making 20s. in the
poun 1.

The ship Monarch sailed from Cowes on Monday week,
for New Zealand, with about sixty passengers, who pur-
pose forming a settlement in that island, and who carried
foxes, deer, rabbits, hares, &c., for the purpose of breeding.
Lord J. Russell has placed at the disposal of the Royal
Society, for scientific purposes, a government grant of
£lOOO for this year, and probably the same amount in
successive years,

A female, named Mrs. Jones, has died at Shrewsbury
from inhaling chloroform. The surgeon who administered
it said that he had given patients three times the quantity
which he administered to the deceased.
A HEAVY SENTENCE.—At the Lewes sessions, Samuel
Bartholomew, a labourer, aged 68, was sentenced to one
month's imprisonment and hard labour, for stealing one
hop-pole, value a halfpenny.
At the Thames police-office, on Friday, a half-starved
sempstress was charged with pawning three calico shirts.
It transpired that the price allowed for making a shirt is
only 3d., and but 82d. for three shirts.
The corporation of London have appointed a committee
to report as to the desirability of their erecting public
baths, and washhouses in London. The example of Li-
verpool was quoted as being well worthy of imitation.
Last week, James Heron, Esq., of Dalmore, while in
the act of striking a ball in the Ayr Subscription Billiard
Room, Sandgate-street, Ayr, fell backwards, and almost
instantaneously expired.
The new Roman Catholic church at Morpeth is fast
approaching to completion. The cost has been £2,000.
The Earl of Carlisle is among the subscribers. The style
is the early English, The building consists of a nave,
chancel, vestry, belfry, and spire.
Last week three vagabonds were apprehended at White-
haven, while carrying a sack of wool which it was found
they had clipped from the backs of the sheep of farmers in
the neighbourhood. They had sent the produce of simi-
lar robberies to Belfast.

On Tuesday, a splendid banquet was given to Earl de
Grey, in honour of the occasion of the presentation to
him of his portrait by the officers of the Yorkshire Hussar
Regiment, of which the noble earl is the commander. The
entertainment took place in the De Grey Rooms, York.
Mr. Newman (a brother to the notorious pervert) has
written a pamphlet, objecting to the obligation of the
National Debt, as resting on the present generation of
Englishmen, because the men of 1793 or of 1810 had no
right to burden the men of 1850 with the debts which
they then chose to incur. He will meet with as few sm.
pathisers as his brother.

Standard,

The Swansea Herald says that, last week, a hare, pur-
sued by some greyhounds, and hardly pressed, jumped on
the back of a young horse, where she fixed herself astride.
The affrighted animal, not being accustomed to such a
rider, bounded off at full speed, kicking and plunging, ac-
companied by the dogs. This continued from four to five
minutes, when choosing a favourable situation, the hare
hopped off, and made her escape.
HOSPITAL IN GItEENOCK.-£38,000 Three per Cent.
Consols have been handed by the legatees of the late Sir
Gabriel Wood, to trustees, to carry out the wish of the
deceased gentleman, in the erection and endowment of an
hospital for the residence and maintenance of decayed
shipmasters of this his native town and neighbourhood.
The building, which will cost about £lO,OOO, is to be a
very handsome edifice.

An ironstone miner, named Baker, went shooting near
Sutton, Derbyshire, on Wednesday morning, and was
ftcrwards found weltering in his blood, and quite dead, in
. An old gun was found in the pocket of his shoot-
ing coat, and the contents of the piece had been discharged
into the back of his thigh, probably while he was climbing
over a gate, so that he bled to death before assistance
arrived.

a ditch

VALUE OF A SURGEON IN CALIPORNIA.—A gentleman
of the medical profession, named Gibson, in practice at
the Tsle of Axeholme, has been tempted to emigrate to
California. He writes home that his first professional
employment there was to amputate a limb. Five guineas
would probably have been thought a fair remuneration for
this service in England, but in California his payment was
thirty ounces of gold.---Sheffield paper.
The estate of Cockerill, Larpent and Co., which failed
in 1847, has just paid a dividend of 6d. in the pound.
Their liabilities were very heavy. The small dividend is
owing to the fact that the London house believed that the
house in India had large quantities of produce free ; but it
turned out that advances had been made upon it, and the
former proved on the India house for £500,000, for which
only £5OOO was received.

The report of it being the determination of ministers to
reduce the rate of interest on the three per cent. stock
gains ground, their great reliance for success being the
large amount of trust property known to be invested in
the three per cents. Many persons, however, remain
sceptical respecting the practicability of the reduction.
The fundholder will, however, have the option of having
his money returned him should he decline the reduced
rate"of interest offered.

A female servant in a highly respectable family in Lon-
don has been remanded on a serious charge—that of
murdering her child, two years old. She hung the poor
thing and then packed it in a box, which she sent by a
fellow-servant to the railway station, directed to her sister,
who she expected would bury it. She said that a woman
who had bad the child to nurse, and to whom she owed
a good deal of money, brought it to her, and she was
afraid of losing her place. She did it (alluding to the
hanging) in a moment, no one else being present.
While a horse was drawing a cart laden with manure
down a steep street at Newcastle-on-Tyne, on Monday
week, part of the harness broke and frightened the animal,
which started at full speed, and after a short course dashed
into a cheesemonger's shop. The horse was killed on the
spot, and the cart broken to pieces, while a great quantity
of manure was thrown on the cheeses, bacon, &c., lying
near the counter ; and a phaeton, with which the cart had
previously come in contact, was also upset and broken into

SHIPWRECKS AT WHITBY.—On Sunday and Monday
last a very severe storm arose along the north-east cost,
and tne following vessels have been wrecked or stranded :
—The Victoria, of Newcastle, 115 tons, on shore near
Upgang ; crew saved in their own boat, but in a very ex-
hausted state, The schooner Sisters, of Ramsgate, drove
on the sands and became a wreck ; crew saved in their
own boat. The brig White, of Sunderland, 205 tons, a
total wreck ; crew saved by the life-boat. The whole of
the vessels were coal laden.

A traveller, named Dowdeswell, for Mr. John Vernon,
a wine merchant at Towcester, shot his wife on Thursday
night with one pistol, and committed suicide with a second.
The house being closed the following morning an entrance
was effected, and the bodies found lying on the floor, and
a child of two years old crying upstairs. Mrs. Dowdes-
well was for some years a waitress at the Talbot, and was
greatly respected. Less than two years ago she was mar-
ried under circnmstances not calculated to promise a happy
wedded life, and it is said that her husband has frequently
treated her with great brutality.
GAs.—A meeting was held in London on Thursday, to
consider the proposal of the city gas companies to reduce
the price of gas to 4s, per 1,000 cubic feet, and a proposal
of a newly-formed company to supply it at a maximum
price of 45., with an obligation to reduce to 3s. 6d., and
ultimately to 35., so soon as an increased consumption will
justify them in doing hO. Mr. C. Pearson said that he
had ascertained that gas of the first brilliancy could be
manufactured in London (and if in London, certainly in
Liverpool) as 3s. per 1,000 feet. A unanimous resolution
was passed to support the new company.
IRISH ENCUMBERED ESTATES' COMMISSION.—The
commission, so far as its proceedings have gone, appears
to have given satisfaction to all parties concerned. To
show the increasing confidence in the court, as well as
the hard work in prospect for the commissioners, The
Freeman states that between the 16th and the 28th of
November, or during ten office days, 67 new petitions
were presented. Of these 19 refer to Connaught, one
embracing a very large property, that of Lord Oranmore,
owner, and Sir Moses Montefiore and Samuel Gurney,
petitioners. Another noble lord. long an Irish absentee,
is brought before the court by Mr. Grogan, M.P., and.
J. A. Wall. In the south, it is added, a very fine pro-
perty (Mr. Deane Freeman's) is likely to pass into market
overt.

THE SHIPWRIGHTS OF HULL. - Ship-carpenters'
wages at old work are 275. per week, when working six
days; but owing to the depressed state of the shipping
interest, arising from foreign competition, and the altera-
tion in the Navigation Laws, there is little or no employ-
ment for them, as the shipowner cannot afford to do such
repairs to his vessels as would be done in prosperous times.
We are assured by Messrs. Edward Gibson and Son, that
during the week ending 24th November. they had only
seven shipwrights employed for two and a quarter days
each,—and during last week only two for one and three-
quarter days each ; and yet, under these circumstances,
although a shipowner at this port has offered to repair
his vessel, which has received damage at the Greenland
Fishery—if they will work for 245. per week—they prefer
walking about idle. Why is this ?—Hull Packet.

HALSE'S PORTABLE GALVANIC APPARATUS.—(From
the Wesleyan.)—That Mr. Halse stands high as a medical
galvanist, and that he is generally considered as the head
of his profession, are facts which we have long known :
but we did not know until very recently that he had
brought the galvanic apparatus to such a high state of
perfection, that an invalid may galvanize himself with the
most perfect safety. We happen to know something of
galvanism ourselves, and we can truly say that his appara-
tus is far superior to anything of the kind we ever beheld.
To those of our invalid friends, therefore, who may feel
desirous of testing the remedial powers of galvanism, we
say apply at once to the fountain head. To secure bene-
ficial results, it is necessary, as we can from experience
assert, to be galvanized by an apparatus constructed on
the best principles ; for, although the sensation experi-
enced from the smallest machines of the common con-
struction during the operation is very similar to that ex-
perienced by Mr. Halse's machines, yet the effects after-
wards produced are vastly different, the one producing a
feeling of exhaustion, and the other a feeling of renewedvigour. Mr. Halse particularly recommends galvanism
for the restoration of muscular power in any part of the
body which may be deficient of it.

An edition of fifteen thousand copiesof the Samoan New TWICE-A.l(Eiiii PRODUCING PEAR.TREE.—To the
Testament bas been printed ; and, before this statement recent meeting of the Metropolitan Agricultural Society,
issues from the press, this bountiful supply of the word of W. S. Grey, Esq., sent a Jargonelle pear, ripe, and of a
Gad, from the Bible Society, will be on its way to the fair size, the produce of a second crop from the same tree
distant isles of the Pacific. this year. The tree was stated to grow eight miles north
The ship Pandora, recently returned from the northern of Norton, Stockton-on-Tees, against the side of a house :
regions in search of Sir John Franklin, has brought home it is about twenty-five years old, and was removed into
a Cherokee Indian youth, purchased by the clerk, for two its present place when it was about six or seven years
blankets, of his parents, who were desirous that he should old. After the fruit has well set in in summer, it flowers
have an English education. again on the young wood, and perfects a second crop, con-
A life-boat, containing twenty-four men, was swamped sisting this year of between two and three dozen fine
on Tuesday, at the mouth of the Tyne. Twenty of the pears spread all over the tree. These pears swell and
crew were lost before assistance could reach them. They ripen well, but are seedless—at least the one shown was
were in the act of succouring a ship in distress when the in that condition.
unhappy accident happened. MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR.—On Saturday a serious charge
The Newcastle Journal of Saturday contains advertise- was investigated before the magistrates, at the Town-
ments of twenty-seven farms to be let and entered upon hall, Pembroke. In the early part of last month the
at May-Day next. They all appear to be in Northum- daughter of an influential inhabitant of Pembroke was
berland, and represent an aggregate of 6,250 acres. The secretly delivered of an illegitimate male infant feeling
largest is 521 acres in extent, and the smallest 27. anxious to provide for the safety of her child, and to eon-
A labourer named Perkins, living at Lincoln, was tak- ceal her shame, she induced a man named John Walters,
ing the loaded barrels from the stock of his gun, on the for a valuable consideration, to adopt the child and bring
22d ult., when the barrels fell on the floor, and went off, it up as his own, and when the infant was a day old it was
lodging the shot in his son's foot, half of which has since delivered into his hands, with a sum of £4O. Soon after-
been amputated. wards the mother sought her child, when Walters stated
A young man, named Coggins, died on Saturday week that ho had given the child to two gipsy women, and £5
in the Sheffield Infirmary of lockjaw, resulting from a with it, to take it off his hands. The affair has created
wound inflicted on the ball of his left thumb by a ramrod, much excitement in Pembroke.
which he was using to load a small cannon on the Bth ult., GREAT FLOODS.—In consequence of the recent heavy
when the powder ignited, and discharged the ramrod rains the whole country from the source of the Trent to
against his hand. its junction with the Humber is one vast inland sea, more
The Right Hon. Sidney Herbert hag addressed a letter than one hundred and fifty miles in length, and occasion-
to the Morning Chronicle, intimating that a plan is to be ally spreading for miles on either side ; and on the banks
set on foot to assist the distreeeed needle-women of Lon- of the smaller streams in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and
don to emigrate. Emigration on a large scale is advocated Staffordshire, it is the same, but to a more limited extent.
by him as the sole measure that holds out any hope of Accounts reached Nottingham on Tuesday evening of the
relief. disruption of a series of culverts, and the breaking down
BURSTING OF A MILL-DAM.—On Monday the Cat-hole of about 20 yards of embankment on the Trent Valley
dam burst and washed away the gable end of the factory line of railway, and soon afterwards it was stated that a
belongin to Mr, William Helliwell, of Kitson Wood, similar catastrophe had occurred on the Lincoln line, near
near Tod orden, together with the goods and machinery, Thurgarton. By dint of great exertion, however, the
which were quite new and in good working order. The lines have been rendered capable of bearing the trains,
damage sustained is about £1,400. and locomotion over them has been but little interrupted.
The Commissioner of the Morning Chronicle states OLD WHEAT.—LEEDs, Dec. 7.—We have been fa-
that a favourite toast with the Cornish fishermen is, voured with the gift of a sample of English wheat, about
" Long life to the Pope and death to thousands." The 25 years old, which was grown in Yorkshire. The farmer
thousands apply to the Pilchards, and:as to the Pope one who grew it had £6 a quarter offered for it, but, thinking
of the fishers said :—" It would be a bad thing if some this too little, he vowed he would not sell it under £7.
wasn't to think fish necessary to salvation on a Friday." To this vow he has religiously adhered, and it may be an
EXTRAORDINARY SCENE.—At a late hour on Sunday instructive lesson to his neighbours to calculate how much
night last, a poor man was admitted into the hospital, at this man's avarice has cost him, reckoning depreciation in
Glasgow, in one of the worst stages of madness, caused by value of the grain and loss of interest in capital. The
his working at his trade in quicksilver for glasses, and the wheat has been locked up and run over by rats and mice
quicksilver having entered his nerves, he lost his reason. until it probably would not now be worth 20s. a quarter,
It took not less than seven police-officers to take him to if offered on the market. In hopes of a "good time corn-
the hospital, where he remains in a very hopeless state. ing," the wheat is yet held for a buyer at £7, which the
PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS.—No fewer than 3210 owner " trusts he may get ;" possibly he may realise his
geese, which had been feeding for seven weeks in the stub- hopes, but it is to be feared he must " wait a little
bles cn a farm at Withcall, Lincolnshire, are now fatten- longer."
ing at a farmstead at Monk's Dyke, for the London Christ- The monthly return of the Board of Trade for October
mas market ; and the weekly consumption of corn by this is encouraging : the external commerce of the kingdom
immense flock, which belongs to a single poulterer, is no during October, 1849, has exceeded in value the exports
less than 110 quarters. for the corresponding period of any other year. The
LIBERALITY OF THE DAY !—At the agricultural dinner exports of October, 1849, have amounted to about four
at Ardleigh, Essex, on the 27th of November, the Rev. and a half millions sterling—that is, above one million
G. Wilkins, incumbent of Wix, in returning thanks for more than 1848—above one and a quarter million more
the toast of " fox hunting," said—" He was for upholding than 1847—nearly as much above 1846, and three-fourths
the national amusements of the country, for he believed, of a million more than 1845. From the sth of January to
if they had more amusement and less preaching, they the sth of November, 1849, our exports have amounted to
whould be a much happier and more moral people !—Ese- forty-nine and a half millions sterline—a sum which is
nine and a half millions more than those of the same
period of last year; six millions more than those of 1846
or 1847 ; and four millions in excess of those of 1845.
These statistics are cheering as far as they go ; and,
though all that glitters in them is very far from being gold,
we rejoice to hail these as proofs of the blessings that
attend enterprise accompanied by loyalty and order.
FEMALE SLOP WORKERS.—A singular meeting took
place on Monday evening week, at the British School-
room, Sliadwell, London. From 1,000 to 1,200 poor
female slop-workers, some clad in the habiliments of re-
spectable poverty, but by far the greater part in clothing
in which the word "rags " was literally applicable in its
fullest meaning, assembled to hear addresses from Lord
Ashley and Mr. Sidney Herbert. After the departure of
the noble lord and Mr. Herbert, Mr. Shaw, army clothier,
with other philanthropic individuals, interrogated the poor
women as to their employment and rate of remuneration.
The following is a summary of the rate of wages obtained
by these unfortunate creatures :—On the question being
asked—how many had earned Bs. last week, not a hand
was held up throughout the whole assembly •, 7s. was next
tried, but with a like result; five had earned 65., twenty-
eight had earned 55., twelve had earned 4s, 6d., 142 had
earned 35., 150 had earned 2s, 6d., seventy-one had earned
25., eighty-two had earned ls. 6d., ninety-eight had earned
only ls., and of this last class eighty-eight stated they
were entirely dependent upon their own exertions for sup-
port ; ninety-two females had earned under ls., and 223
had had no work at all during the whole of the week.

Rittrature.

POETRY

LOVE THAT DIETH NOT
BY T. J. OUSELEY.
Love not alone the gay,
The beautiful, the bright;
For youth will melt away,
As daybeams into night :
But love the heart that's pure,
How plain soe'er the face;
Such love will long endure,
Such love cannot deface.
Love not alone on earth,
Those transient things of life,
Who, like the rainbow's birth,
Soon fade 'midst shadowy strife:
But love the Power that made
All that to man is given,
Whose spirit cloth pervade
The universal heaven.
Love all things, great and small,
From man to tiny flower ;
Created they were all
By an all-seeing Power :
For God is love, ,' we know,
Whate'er may be our lot;
Then in life let us sow
The love that dieth not.
December, 1849.

NOTICE

Poems, by Fritz and Liolett. London : Sherwood & Co.
This a very pretty little volume of very pretty poems, of
which we shall very shortly give a specimen to our readers.
The poems are thirty-four in number, and embrace a
variety of subjects, moral and sentimental. The authors
will evidently win their way to fame, for the rythm is very
correct, and the lines run smoothly on perusal.

-lib--

WHAT IS THE GOOD OF THE COLONIES ?

(From Sophisms of Free Trade.)
What is the good of the colonies ? So say the ultra
Free-traders. " Give me ships, colonies, and commerce,"
said the greatest administrative genius of modern times.
Well does it behove the rulers of the British Empire to
see to it that they commit no mistake in this matter. A
mistake here is irreparable. The world is now occupied.
No more colonies are to be had. Repentance and a
change of public opinion, however soon it may arrive,
may yet come too late,

Steam has transformed the little peddling manufactur-
ing villages of the last century into Manchesters and Bir-
minghams. On towns, and on a small scale, such are its
effects ; on empires, and on a large scale, its effects will
be proportionate, Uniformity in language, manners,
opinion, law, government—simultaneous and concerted
action over enormous portions of the earth's surface,
hitherto impossible, are now suddenly rendered not only
possible, but perfectly easy. Time and distance are anni-
hilated. We already see the approaching shadows of
those gigantic confederations which a coming age will wit-
ness. The two colossal empires that even now loom in
the distance, are the United States and Russia. Pos-
sibly a third may be descried, and a greater than either of
the other two, unless it pleases Providence only to show
us the mighty possible future of Great Britain, and then
to dash our insipient greatness, by allowing us to perse-
vere in a disintegrating policy, in spite of the plainest
warnings. _

Let is consider for a moment what our colonial empire
consists of, and what it can do for us.

Our noblest dependency is the Indian empire. It has
been lately increased, and to an enlightened policy ren-
dered more valuable than ever, by the acquisition of the
Punjaub. Two of the greatest rivers in Asia are now
ours, and may easily be made available, not only for in-
ternal communication, but for the fertilisation of vast
districts. A new field for British skill and science, and in
a healthy and temperate climate, has just been opened up.
The revenues of the new province are already so large
that it need be no expense. Within our own borders,
India now presents us with the productions of all lands,
and all climates—cotton, silk, fine wool, sugar, spices,
rice, and every other natural production that can be de-
sired, in inexhaustible profusion. And these immense
natural riches are India's means for the unlimited pur-
chase of Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield goods.
Her custom-houses are ours. Trade with India alone,
under proper regulations, is capable of soon becoming far
greater than the whole present foreign trade of Great
Britain. _ _

Turn to the west. We have Upper and Lower Canada,
with the magnificent St. Lawrence. Inexhnustible forests
and supplies of wood on our own soil.
We have New Brunswick, with its timber and ship-
building capabilities. Nova Scotia, with the most mag-
nificent and commodious harbours in the world. In the
harbour of Halifax alone 1,000 ships can ride safely, to
say nothing of the harbours of Margaret's Bay, St. Mary's
Bay, the Basin of Mines, the Annapolis Basin, Pictou
Harbour, and Cumberland Basin. There is a neighbour-
ing power that forms a juster estimate than we do of
these means of maritime greatness and imperial wealth.
We have, in the same part of the world, Cape Breton,
Prince Edward's Island, and the Hudson Bay territory.
The West India Islands, so cruelly treated, might,
since the introduction of steam, be just as valuable to us
as new counties, with a tropical climate, in the English
Channel, or, as sugar plantations with a congenial cli-
mate, in Suffolk or Yorkshire, if such things were as pos-
sible as they are imaginable. We actually have, within a
run of a few days, almost of a few hours, several pro-
vinces adapted by nature to supply us with tropical pro-
ductions. First, there is the noble island of Jamaica, the
aggregate imports and exports of which island alone used
to be about five millions sterling a-year ; and which, if it
were treated like an English county, as it ought to be,
might be, and would soon be, much more. We have
then the long list of Antigua, Barbadoes, Dominica, Gre-
nada, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Christopher, St. Luci, St.
Vincent, Tobago, Tortola, Trinidad, the Bahamas, and
the settlements of Demerara and Berbice ; all once most
flourishing and loyal dependencies, now fast sinking to
decay, alienated by a policy unexpected, because incredi-

ble, but in the near neighbourhood of a great and ri5114
I state, whose policy is altogether different.
Our European dependencies are chiefly valuable as eoei
Ascensionnswv aaoh vluaaatt
lhnypde power
military
ei
Atlanticst
ttlaalrulnyatdt
o.pey:stations,esewsrainbwelaytws hf.et
oehrneßcnuooo tum possesswtl
epoeon
have
outposts amyneedt,
tt sentinel
tiee es i
the
our vast possessions under the southern i-ese' the
Hope and South Africa ; the haiAwaY
on the road to our possession, in the East and in Ailerl7;
Ea. Then we have the Auuritius. Next comes the
island of Ceylon, weu ntted for every tropical production.
especially for r..eree cinnamon, and the cocoa-nut
The island, or rather the continent, of New Holland (uo
whop, of which is a British possession) is 28 times as large
.s Great Britain and Ireland put together. All the vege-
table production of the South of France and of EurriPe
flourish here. So well adapted are they for sheep pastur-
age, that the fine Australian wool is rapidly superseding
house, ed Cel
Cape
pus
as
and
yr-
_vi
foreign wool in the British market. The soil and climate
are well fitted for the growth of the vine.
The same general remarks apply to the island of Van
Dieman's Land.

PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF THE NAB•

Sir Charles Napier has published a long and able letter
in the London Times, addressed to Lord John Russell.
He begins his communication with these sentences :----
" Mr. Tierney said in the House of Commons, 'Give me s
.
wwoelrll-manned.' navy, and a full exchequer, and I will defy the

bee‘nCianpctuarmreßd oiunsbusailiddi,ng. Ash7pesaat
npdarptuol
ifintghenneamtiotnoapl
ideecbest2be
We had, at one time, he states, a prodigious fleet; we
have paid for rebuilding it twice ; and now we cannot find
even the fragments. In some cases, we have not even
,_
record of the original destruction. We have actually made
away with 13 three-deckers, 144 two-deckers, 21 first class
frigates, 155 second class frigates, 50 third class frigates'
and 334 vessels of rates still inferior. Total, 717 vessel.;
over and above 70 receiving ships. In the place thereo.
we have got 14 new three-deckers, 40 two-deckers, 94f
frigates, and 161 vessels of inferior rates, exclusive 0
steamers. The cost of the exchange may be estimated to
follows :—ln the last twenty-eight years the navy esti-
mates have amounted to a total of £160,169,146, ella
since the cost of the materiel is to the cost of the pers°ll;
net as about 25 to 20, it results that we must have spent
ninety millions sterling in the work described above. .1'
addition to the expense attending breaking up ships
and building new ones, thousands of pounds have
been spent in altering ships' sterns and magazine*
And all this, be it remembered, is since the Wit!:
The chief explanation of this curious result is to IN
found in the lordly regardlessness of ordinary considera-
tions with which new and crude systems were first Men
and then abandoned. The gallant admiral romarks 012
this first part of the subject :—" Here we have some sPe-
cimens—Of the 22 three-deckers borne on the navy list of
1815, nine are accounted for, and 13 have vanished ; of
159 two-deckers, 43 are reported, and 116 are missinK:'
of 27 50's and 44's there have disappeared 27, and remelt!
0 ; of 161 war frigates (i. e. frigates built during the war)
there remain, or we should rather say there can be se'
counted for, 37, and there have vanished 124; of t 136
' Donkeys ' there remain 10 specimens, and of the shiP
sloops but one."

Two 90's and nine 80's were built by the late surveyor,
but we are still without a regulation model for either class
of ships, having :abandoned that just set, without aol
good reason, and run headlong after a new one without
any better. A certain class of 28-gun brigs used to be
thought perfection, but the Admiralty of the day super-
seded them by a ` set' of corvettes, which, as bad an
unsafe,' were immediately discarded in their turn. Lord
Spencer's board built a whole lot' (it is said fifty-two)
of the same class, on a fresh principle, and called theo
after his lordship's hounds, but, as they were found
caple of either sailing or keeping to windward,' they are
now ' all gone.' When the war was over we continued
building, though without ostensible purpose, and we
launched no fewer than sixty four ! Of these, ten were
lost at sea wall 428 souls on board ; seven were
verted,' thirty-five 'broken up,' and twelve turned over
to the coast-guard or breakwaters. " From 1821 to 1849
(says Sir Charles) the estimates amount to £156,975,158;
of that the dockyards have absorbed £44'396,050, and the
half-pay and pensions £47.422,378. The navy estime,,,, tes
last year amounted to £7,063,730, of which only £2,079,w1
went for wages and victuals, while the dockyards and
materials cost no less than £2,568,877. It is in this
branch that we ought to economise, not in the effective of
the navy. Let us employ fewer men and expend fewer
materials." As to steamers, this department of the nor
deserves a gazette of its own. A hint was thrown out
about iron, and thirty iron steamers were instantly laid
down. It turns out that they will neither resist shot nor
carry weights, and are now about as useful as velocipedes.
Somebody suggested four pairs of engines in place of two,
so four steamers were built for this double load ; and then
new engines were built for the new steamers, which were
found incapable of carrying those originally design, ed.
The worst of it is, that we are " still blundering on, as
much in the dark as before. The particular vanity of, the
present board appears to be steam-frigates of 400-horse
power ; but Sir Charles's experience already leads him W
anticipate the ordinary fate for this batch also, as they
bid fair to be "too shallow for frigates," and have "neither
a clear deck nor steerage."

THIRD EDITION.

Standard-of ice, Half-past Two o'clock, p.m•

LIVERPOOL SHARE MARKET.—Tits DAY•

We have a quiet, steady Share Market this morning, without
change in prices. Business has been at the following quota-
tions :—Leeds fifths, 6 11/3 8- 11/3 d.; Do. pref., In ; London
stock, 113 ; Do. quarters, 13/9 p. ; Midland stock, 50 ; Do•
halves, 21 1/3, 21, 21 1/3 d. ; Dover No. 4, 68 ; South Stafford*
4 d. ; Belfast and Ballymena, 188 d.
There will be a considerable amount of stock taken on the
balance on the approaching settling-day—perhaps more t 135
on any during the year.

LIVERPOOL CORN MARKET-THIS DAY.

Of all kinds of produce, either coastwise or from Ireland, the
receipts into this port during the past week continne to de-
crease and prove indifferently. light; except Flour, of which vte
report a good supply; exclusive of about 10,689 brls. of Flour
from the United States and Canada, with a moderate quantitY
of Indian Corn, chiefly from the former source, the imports
from abroad are trivial, containing merely 500 qrs. of the latter
article, and 1,426 sacks of Flour from Europe.
In several of the agricultural districts and large consuming
towns of this country at the close of last week, the corn trade
on the part of holders appeared rather more steadfast ; in a
few solitary cases, however, Wheat alone realized a slight jar
provement, although a more general opinion seemed to preval,
that from the existing very low and unremunerating range °A
prices, any further decline of moment was- improbable.
At the same time the Irish markets, even with limited
plies from the growers, are in general reported to be languid'f
Influenced by accounts previously received from this side
the water the value of most kinds of native- grain, at several
of the shipping ports, are quoted rather lower.. By recent as
vices thence, potatoes are rarely alluded to, from which it may
be reasonably inferred that the crop has proved more favourable
than it indicated early in the season, at least some of our
friends express that opinion,
Influenced by the stand made in London yesterday, 111,,,e
Wheat trade at our market this morning was firm, to 01'1
the buyers did not freely respond, and a moderate extent of
business only was transacted in English and Foreign Wheats,
on the terms of this day week, whilst a few prime samples ol
Irish, being scarce, realised a slight amendment.
Choice marks of Flour were in some request, and remained
steady in value; but all inferior and doubtful kinds net"„
wholly unsaleable. _