The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-09-14 00:00:00

MORE EXTENSIVE • FAILURES

(Rom yesterday's Times.)
Much excitement was occasioned this morning by the
announcement of-the failure of Gower, Nephews, and Co.
The liabilities on bills alone are alleged to amount to
£600,000, and it is considered probable that -the total
commitments ofthe firm. will be found to reach XBOO,OOO.
For two years past the position of the house has been from
time to time a- subject- of inquiry, and this in: so many
quarters as to lead irresistibly to the conclusion that no-
thing but the circumstance of one of the partners being a
Bank Director could have kept it in a degree of credit up
to this period sufficient to render possible the wide and
crushing consequences which must now be sustained.
The standing of; Mr. A.. L. Gower in the Bank direction
was such as to bring him very nearly in rotation for the
office of Deputy-Governor, and he was one of those passed
over, or by whom the office was declined, on the recent
occasion of the vacancy caused by the failure of Mr.
Robinson. In addition to the post of Bank Director, we
believe he also held that of Governor of the Mines Royal
Copper Company.
The immediate causes of the present suspension are said
to have consisted in the failure of Gemmell and Co., of
Glasgow, and of some of the other houses which have re-
cently been reported ; but it is apprehended that the real
difficulties of the firm will, be found of much more-distant
date, and that its liquidation will expose a long existing
state of unsoundness.. Railway speculations—the source
whence the public are destined to find the solution to a
deplorable succession of misfortunes yet to come—have
operated, it is expected,, in this instance to no small ex-
tent ; and although in some transactions, such as those
connected with .the Dutch Rhenish, and Canadian Com-
panies, which do not occupy a very favourable place in the
recollection of the community, the partners in the firm are
understood to have made large profits by the, peculiar
mode which was, adopted of introducing the shares upon
the market, there is every reason to believe that on the
whole the losses sustained by them have been extensive.
Consequent upon the failure of Gower, Nephews, we
have that of Alison, Cumberlege, and Co., a smaller firm,
in the South American trade, with which they were con-
nected. About a month back Mr. Alison sailed .for Val-
paraiso, and as Mr. Cumberlege is already resident there,
the junior partner, a Mr. Gower, is the only representa-
tive of the house now in London. The lia.bllitip_s in this
case have not. been stated.

,THEFT.—At the Police-court, yesterday,. a woman,
named Margaret Thompson, was committed for trial at
the sessions for stealing a pair of boots from .a shop in
Cheapside.
THEFT FROM A CHURCH.—Yesterday, at the Police-
court, a, youth named John Broom was charged with
stealing two religious hooks from a pew in Trinity church.
He was seen to take them, and was given into custody. It
appeared that he had on a former occasion been imprisoned.
for stealing books from St. Martin's church. The case
being clear, he was committed for trial at the sessions.
RAILWAY FILAITD.—On Saturday, a young man named
Rycn, was charged before Mr. Rushton, with having com-
mitted a fraud upon the London and Northwestern Rail-
wr.y Company, by representing that he • had paid his fare
from. Birmingham, when he had not The case was
made. good ; and as the prisoner had no goods upon which
distraint could be made, he was committed to gaol.

ASSAULT ON A LADY.—On Saturday) at the police-
court, William Dowling, a watchmaker, was fined f. 5 and
costs, for an unprovoked assault upon iirs. Jerrold) mo-
ther of Mr. Douglas
_Jerrold, and mother-in-law of Mr.

W. J. Hammon-a, the comedian. Mr. Hammond was
returning home from the theatre yesterday evening week,
when the assault took place in Commutation-row. The
fine not being paid the defendant was taken into custody.
Ac ciVENT TO THE N AuTiL VS STEAM SHIP.— The
Nautilus, auxiliary screw steamer, Captain Brown, which
sailed from Alexandria, on the 24th ult., for this port,
returned on the following evening, the cargo, consisting
of 250 bales of cotton, and 650 quarters of wheat, having
taken fire. The damage is considerable, the after part of
the ship, including the cabin, being completely gutted,
and it will require at least a month to repair the vessel,
and refit her for sea. The origin of the fire, which broke
out full 50 feet from the engine-room, is unknown. Her
masts, yards, bulwarks, decks, and rigging are nearly de-
stroyed. _ _

PROSTITUTE ROBBERlES.—Yesterday, at the Police-
court, Charlotte Gregory was charged by Frank Rooney
with robbing him of eleven sovereigns in a house of ill-
fame, where he had been. for some hours. His clothes,
which he placed for safety. under his head, had been ab-
stracted, but though the prisoner was detained, there was
no proof that she was the actual thief, and she was conse-
quently discharged. Another prisoner was charged in, a.
similar way with stealing a watch. Mr. Rushton said it
was impossible for the magistrates to do anything, at the
cost of the borough, for foolish men who went into. such
places with valuable property about them, and this pri-
soner was also discharged.
THE HARVEST.—The weather, since our last publica-
tion, has been very favourable for the conclusion of the
Harvest operations in this quarter. We regret to say
that the late Potatoes in this district are daily becoming
more affected by the disease, but in other quarters the
crop is fair. The turnips in Lancashire and Cheshire are
generally fine, being fed by the late rains. In the South
of England this crop and others have suffered much from
' the drought, which has parched up some of the grasses.
A turnip was grown by Mr. H. Littledale, at Liscard,

last week, measuring thirty-three inches in circumference.
Taking the whole country at large the crops may be said
to be a full average, especially of grain. The after-grasses
here are generally most promising.
CHARGE OF STEALIIG MONEY.—At the police-court,
on Saturday, an Irishman, named Jim Gilligan, charged
one of his own countrymen, Jack Shawn, with stealing
from him six sovereigns. It appeared that the complainant
and prisoner slept in the same bed, but before turning in
the former secured, as he thought, his money, by sewing
it up in the tail of his shirt, and thus keeping it near his
skin. In the night he missed his cash, and saw the prisoner
standing on the floor. The tail was cut from the com-
plainant's shirt, and the 'prisoner made off, the owner
running after him, nearly naked, in the street and had him
secured by a policeman who was at hand. None of the
money was, however, found. The details, as given by the
complainant in the Irish vernacular, were highly amusing.
The prisoner was remanded until yesterday, when no fur-
ther evidenee being procured, he was, of necessity, dbl.,
charged.