The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-04-12 00:00:00

THE NEW PILOTAGE BILL.

Ti-t proposal of Mr. CARDWELL to centralise in
his own department of the Government the control
over all the Pilotage authorities in the kingdom,
has excited much anxious discussion -and difference
of opinion in this Port, which is perhaps the most
affected :by the measure. The Shipowners, par-
ticularly those engaged in the foreign trade, are
naturally andrproperly anxious that nothing should
impair the efficiency of the Mersey pilots, while, on
the other hand, the owners of steam-boats and
other vessels in the coasting trade feel the hardship
of having to contribute to the maintenance of Pilots
from whose services they derive a less proportion of
advantage. In the 6rst place, it must be conceded
that it is of the greatest importance the Pilot Service
of Liverpool should be preserved as fully and com-
pletely as possible, not only on account of the
immense amount both of lives and property which
are constantly in jeopardy, but also from the
dangerous nature of the entrance to the Port,
arising from shifting sands, which renders a con-
stant familiarity with its navigation indispensable
to safety. In this respect it differs from many
other Ports, where the frequency of visits by
masters of steam-boats and coasting vessels render
Pilot service in such cases almost unnecessary, and
consequently it has been usual to license such
masters as Pilots. This has not been done at

Liverpool, and, according to the statement of Mr.
CARDWELL, the refusal arose from the Pilotage
authorities here being doubtful whether they had
legal power to issue such licenses without contra-
vening the local act. The doubt he proposed to
remedy by giving the Board of Trade power to
over-ride the local act ; but the bill goes further,
and instead of confining the authority to the local
Pilotage Board, proposes to supersede its functions,
by investing the Board of Trade with power to
grant licenses to masters and mates. The parties
interested in foreign shipping complain that such
an alteration would mar the efficiency of the Pilot
service here by diminishing its source of income,
while those proposed to be benefited are naturally
in favour of its adoption. It will hardy be disputed
that the local authorities are far better judges of
the requirements of the Port than the board in
London can by possibility be, though it may have

all the advantage of Mr. CARDWELL'S great
experience; and it may be suggested whether the
difficulty could not be far better met by allowing
the former to exercise their own discretion in the
licensing of masters and mates of coasting steam
vessels, without reference to the doubts as to the
local act ; or, on the other hand, of fixing such
reduced rates of remuneration for Pilotage service
as will put the two parties more upon an equality.

THE RECEIVER OF TOWN DUES.
Tug question as to the choice of a successor to Sir
THOMAS BRANCRER, as Receiver of Town Dues, was
set at rest on Wednesday, at the meeting of the Town
Council, by the election of Mr. LITHERLAND. The
discussion which took place afforded the opportunity of
refuting the charges against the Finance Committee, made

by our Radical contemporaries. It was clearly shown that
the whole proceeding had been legitimately and honourably
conducted, and that no ground existed for the imputation
which had been levelled against some of the members of
the Finance Committee.

NEW MAGISTRATES FOR LIVERPOOL.
We understand that the following gentlemen have been
added to the Commission of the Peace for the Borough of
Liverpool:—

The Ven. Archdeacon Brooks.
The Rev. Rector Campbell.
Thomas Darnley Anderson, Esq.
Francis Alexander Hamilton, Esq.
Daniel Mather, Esq.
James Stitt, Esq.

IMPROVEMENTS OF LIVERPOOL.
THE Architectural and Archaeological Society have devoted
considerable care and attention to the important subject
of improving the streets of Liverpool, of facilitating the
communication, and adding to the comfort and conveni-
ence of the increasing population. They have published
an elaborate report, containing a lengthened series of
suggested improvements; and though the inevitable ex-

pense must necessarily postpone the execution of some of
them to a distant period, there are others which will, no
doubt, receive much earlier attention. The end of Dale-
street—near Shaw's-brow and the approaches to St.
Georges-hall and the Lime-street Railway Station—is a
locality which presses upon attention ; and the advantage
of an alteration in this quarter will be enhanced by the
removal of penny theatres, cheap concert-rooms, and
other haunts of vice which here abound, and to which
the police authorities would do well to apply their powers
of surveillance. Another of the suggested improvements
is for a better approach from the Landing-stage to the
Exchange, which it is proposed to accomplish by throw-
ing a bridge over the centre of George's Dock and
widening Water-street. The present road, it must be
confessed, is very inconvenient, and also dangerous, from
the number of passing vehicles in all directions, and the
great length of the crossing.

A CATHEDRAL FOR LIVERPOOL.
THE proposal of Mr. BANNER for the erection of a new

Church, or rather Cathedral, on the site of St. Peter's in
Church-street, was negatived at the meeting of the Select
Vestry, on Tuesday. This eras rather an ungracious recep-
tion, more particularly as 'the cost was to be raised by vo-
luntary contributions, and the scheme was in anticipation
of Liverpool being raised 'to the dignity of a eft % There
may be no immediate necessity for the re-erection of St.
Peter's Church ; but it, cannot be denied that Liverpool,
which is justly celebrated for the beauty of herpublic build-
ings, does not possess atChurch with any pretensions to ec-
clesiastical architecture. Indeed not one of the Liverpool
Churches can bear the -slightest comparison to the Unita-
rian Meeting-house in point of architectural beauty.