The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-01-15 00:00:00

as to consumer

Amongst these are the duties upon

dyewoods, upon a variety of drugs, foreign gums, &c.,
most of them the products of our colonial possessions,
and extensively used in the different processes of dye-

ing and printing, as applied both to cotton and to

woollen goods ; and we are confident that a reduction
of these might be so judiciously arranged Os, without

materially affecting the revenue, to give a very mate-
rial impetus to the foreign and domestic trade of the

country.
In advancing these few suggestions, it may be urged
that ours is not the source from whence they ought to
originate. The manufacturing interest, we may be told,
should be the first to speak out on matters which so
largely affect their immediate prosperity. We admit
that such ought to be t:l3 case, although we may re-
mark that Liverpool is also largely interested in any
question affecting the foreign trade of the country.
The towns of Manchester, Bolton, Preston, &c., should
undoubtedly take the lead in advocating, through their

representatives in parliament, these and similar mea-
sures of financial reform ; but the fact is undeniable,
that if even possessed of the will,—if ready to lay aside
the dishonest outcry against the corn-laws, which a
factious liberalism holds out to the deluded people as
the universal panacea for all the evils which its own
imbecility has created,—the large manufacturing towns
have no influence in the House of Commons. The race
of shallow and impertinent gabblers, who presume to
represent the opinions and wishes of the manufacturing
interest,—the Philipses, the Gregs, the Ainsworths, et
hoc genus omne,—are perfect ciphers in St. Stephen's;
and if the model of a spinning jenny or a power-loom
could be placed in a conspicuous position in front of
the Speaker's chair,' to remind the house that the ma-
nufacturing and commercial interests of the country
require occasionally the notice and the aid of the legis-
lature, we could well dispense with the whole brood of
them, for any benefit which their various constituen-
cies derive from their legislatorial wisdom.
'We were told indeed the other day that one of these
enlightened gentlemen—Mr. Mark Philips—had actu-
ally, on two different occasions, during the ten years
for which he has represented the borough of Man-
chester, done—what, reader ? Twice, this eminent
vender of tape and fringes had actually—placed a
notice of motion on the books to repeal the cotton
duty ! Actually written six or eight lines, in the
orthodox form of a notice, and signed his name or his
mark at the bottom ; and as deliberately withdrawn

the same, as a matter of course, on receiving a minis-
terial hint that the subject was inconvenient, accompa-
nied perhaps with an invitation to dine at Lansdowne
House, or the offer of a presentation at the next draw-
ing room. 'When the commercial interests of the
country are resigned to the guardianship of such legis-
lators—when this noodle race of statesmen are recog-
nised as the exclusive organs of the national industry,
we shall indeed have sorry hopes of witnessing much
change for the better in cur commercial or financial
policy.
We shall return to this subject again, in order to no-
tice the operation of one class of duties in particular
which more immediately concerns our own commu-
nity. "We allude to the stamp duties upon bills of lad-
ing and policies of marine insurance, which we believe
to press with very prejudicial effect upon our merchants
and shipowners; and we need scarcely remark upon
the importance, at the present moment, whilst menaced
with the prospect of a foreign war, of cultivating assi-
duously the interests of the latter class—the owners of
our commercial marine. Looking, as England must
look in every emergency, to her navy for protection, a
wise and paternal government ought undoubtedly to
value and to study the prosperity of the merchant ser-
vice as the nursery of the seamen who man oiir fleets
in the day of peril; and that prosperity, we trust, we
shall be able to show, on a future occasion, May be
materially advanced by a modification of the duties in
question.

We hope that by the appointment of a committee to
examine fairly and candidly the merits and disadvan-
tages of the vexata questio of the Dock Warehouse
Scheme, some amicable compromise may be made
between the belligerent parties, so as to prevent the
unnecessary waste of public as well as private money
in a three months' fight btfore the House of Commons.
This subject ought to be settled in Liverpool, because,
if two parties go to London to quarrel there, the land-
holders of Cheshire and Lancashire will step in and
carry away the kernel, while the people of Liverpool
are wrangling about the husk. The question is one
of considerable difficulty. The town of Liverpool,
with its increasing trade, has an undoubted right to
adopt every improvement for facilitating commerce :
but it must not do so to the ruin, or even injury, of
those who have embarked their money during the last
century in giving those facilities which the public bo-
dies until within the last few years were unable to
bestow. If warehouses are necessary, they ought, in
justice to those who have so large an interest in that
description of property, as well as to the merchants
who do not want warehouses at all, or who have al-
ready warehouses of their own, to be built out of a
newly-created trust, and not out of the general dock
estate. They may, to secure uniformity of manage-
ment, he placed under the control of the Dock Com-
mittee; and they ought to be authorised to borrow
money on security of that property alone, and not on
the credit of' the whole estate. Many may say they
cannot mortgage the docks and warehouses for the
entire cost. Mr. Evans, however, says that they will
yield 15 per cent. ; and, if so, a great surplus revenue
will accrue, which may go to liquidate the bonded
debt. A change in the constitution of the Dock Trust
must also take place. It ought to consist of thirteen
ratepayers and eight councillors—not eight self-elected
aldermen, but eight popularly-elected councillors; and,
lest the mercantile interest should reduce rates too low,
the Town Council ought, as at present, to have a veto
on their proceedings. This question might have been
settled last year had anybody else than Mr. Evans
been entrusted with it ; but as this gentleman was
determined to run a-muck against every vested inte-
rest, and carry everything in his OWII way with a high
hand, the Dock Trustees were shamefully foiled—as
they will be again, unless they, as well as the ware-
house-owners, are disposed to concede a little. We
repeat that this question ought to be decided in Liver-
pool, not in London.

At the Council Meeting on Monday after considerable
discussion had taken place, as to the propriety of the
Mayor's attendance on the committee appointed on the
motion of Mr. Earle, his worship made the following
remark in reply to Mr. Bushell:—
" Mr. BUSHELL disapproved of the mayor's attendance on
that committee, because it would give a preponderance on
the side of warehouses. If the council had a pledge from the
mayor that he would not attend the committee, then it would
render unnecessary the addition of another member ; but,
unless he did that, it would be necessary to have another, in
order to equalize the numbers.

The MAYOR most readily met Mr. Bushell's suggestion,
and he hoped the council would excuse his attendance."

Why did his worship take a part in the proceedings
of the committee on Wednesday last ? Let him be-
ware how he interferes with the deliberations, from
which he has given a solemn pledge to abstain.

A body of insane individuals—we call them " in-
sane" on the authority of Lord Melbourne—who have
formed themselves into a society, 'under the designa-
tion of the " Liverpool Operative Anti-Corn-Law As-
sociation," held a public meeting on Wednesday even-
ing, at the Music-hall, for the purpose of petitioning
the legislature fQr a total and immediate repeal of the
corn-laws, and also to address the electors of Walsall
in favour of Mr. J. 13. Smith, the " insane" candidate
for the representation of that borough. The president
of this "insane" meeting was Sir Joshua Walmsley,
who has had the Quixotic hardihood to offer himself
as a candidate for the representation of Liverpool.
The proceedings at the meeting to which we refer are
scarcely worth anything like a serious remark. The
usual stock of declamatory abuse of the landed and
agricultural interests was expended on this occasion,
while the silly and fanciful dogmas of the self-conceit-
ed free-trade philosophers were duly uttered with most
oracular gravity. Sir Joshua spoke with a degree of
enthusiasm on the subject of the corn-laws, which
strongly reminded us of the emphatic declaration of
Lord Melbourne—that none but an insane person
could think of abolishing the corn-laws. The would-
be member for Liverpool congratulated the working
classes on their advocacy of the anti-corn-law nostrum;
that is to say, he congratulated them upon the prospect
of low wages and ruined trade—upon the discourage-
ment of British industry, the abstraction of British

capital, and the prosperity of foreign trade and manu-

chives. If the. operative classcii of Liverpool are such

madmen as to wish to brie

down these consequen

upon their own heads, it is not our fault : but we think
better of them as a class than to suppose that. they can
he so oblivious of their own interests.

We feel surprised that Sir Joshua Wahnsle,

[lewd

have given utterance to the shallow sophism that " the
corn-laws had enhanced the price of food, and obliged
the community to pay almost double for the necessa-
ries of life; for the price of corn, instead of being as

it now was at 60s. and 70s. per quarter, would, with a
free trade, be down at 405." It is scarcely consistent
with Cocker to say that 60s. is nearly double 40s. ;
nor is it consistent with fact to assume that from 6os.
to 70s. is the average price of corn under the operation
of the corn-laws : from 50s. to 60s. would have been
much nearer the truth. Still less is it consistent with
reason to assert that corn would be absolutely cheaper
under the operation of the free-trade principle. Rela-
tively it would be so for a season; that is to say until
a monopoly of the supply could be secured by foreign
growers and English importers of grain. But even
supposing that the price of corn could be permanently
kept down—which could never be done unless an unre-
stricted supply could be secured—the working classes
would derive no benefit whatever from the relative
cheapness of that necessary of life. It should be re-
membered that the Anti Corn-Law league would never
have expended a farthing in agitating the question of a
free trade in corn, if they did not calculate upon such
a reduction of wages as would enable them to compete
with the foreign manufacturer. We intreat the work-
ing classes not to suffer themselves to be gulled on this
point. Let them reflect whether, with a reduction of
6s. Bd. in the pound in the amount of their wages, a
reduction to the same extent in the price of corn would
be any benefit to them. The thing is palpably prepos-

terous

We feel no surprise, however, when we find Sir
Joshua Wahnsley declaiming against the protection af-
forded to our colonial products. The free trade philo-
sophers are certainly consistent' in one thing:---they
profess the most ineffable hatred towards every thing
which is of essential advantage to Great Britain. They
would fling British agriculture to the dogs, and would
express no concern if all our colonial territories were
submerged in the depths of the ocean. " Success to
foreigners" seems to be their ruling maxim. They
say that "if we could take the productions of other
countries, duty free, in exchange for ours, we should
have more manufactured goods to return to them."
Indeed! How much more of our manufactures was
taken by the corn-growing countries of the continent
during the time that corn was introduced free of duty
into Great Britain ? Had we not to pay six or eight
millions of hard cash for foreign corn in the course of
1838 and 1839 ? If the productions of other countries
were introduced, free of duty, for home consumption,
what would be the inevitable consequence ? Foreign
manufacturers would immediately undersell us in our
own markets. It is utter nonsense to assert that with,
all the appliances of British skill and industry, and
with wages reduced to starvation point, we could com-
pete with foreign manufacturers. Labour must neces-
sarily be cheaper on the continent than in this country,
even supposing the trade in corn to be perfectly free.
The large amount of taxation neceitary to pay the
interest of the national debt renders it impossible that
we could compete with the lightly taxed manufactu-
rers of the continent. But this is not all. The mere
addition of the cost of freight and the importers' pro-
fits to the price of foreign corn must render corn dearer
in this country. The consequence of the free trade
principle would therefore be, that the cabinet-makers,
shoemakers, tailors, saddlers, coachmakers, and hatters
of Hamburg, Bremen, and other parts of Germany,
would supersede the same classes of British tradesmen ;
Belgium would obtain a monopoly in the iron market;
and France, Belgium, and Prussia would exclusively
supply this country with manufactured fabrics in silk,
wool, and cotton. That man must certainly be " in-
sane" who imagines that such a state of things would
be of any advantage to this country.

We cannot but admire the candour displayed by
Sir Joshua Walmsley in preventing any opposition to
the views which he propounded to the "insane" meet-
ing of Wednesday evening. The mild and gentle-
manly tones in which he threatened to eject Mr.
Palmer and another gentleman from the meeting ex-
hibited in a strong light the amenity of his disposition,
the urbanity of his manners, and the strict imparti-
ality of his conduct. It would scarcely have suited his
purpose to allow any one to undeceive the working
classes on the subject or the Anti-corn law humbug.
He acted most prudently in refusing a hearing to Mr.
Palmer. It would have been inconvenient to have
permitted that gentleman to demolish the flimsy and
shallow reasonings of our would-be representative.
His command over the police saved him from this
painful humiliation.

We observe that the corn. law repealers concluded
their proceedings on Wednesday by giving " three
cheers for the Repeal of the Union." This fact con-
vinces us that the operatives of Liverpool had nothing
to do with the meeting. It was evidently composed of
Mr. Rosson's Irish brigade. We can scarcely believe
that any decent English operative would venture among
such a set of vagabonds. Any resolutions emanating
from such a meeting, even with Sir Joshua Walmsley
as president, must be unutterably contemptible.

We understand that it is the intention of many in-
fluential natives of the Principality, resident in this
town, shortly to convene a public meeting, for the pur-
pose of petitioning the legislature against the proposed
scheme for uniting the dioceses of St. Asaph and Ban-
gor, and of abstracting from the amount of their sine-
cure incomes, for the support of a bishopric at Man-
chester, whilst so many livings in North Wales remain
so inadequately endowed. We are glad to hear that a
provisional committee has already been formed, and
that steps have been taken to insure the attendance of
several eloquent opponents of the above obnoxious
plan. We shall feel happy in rendering all the assist-
ance in our power to forward so praiseworthy an object
as that which our Welsh friends have in contemplation.
The inhabitants of several places in North Wales have
already taken the initiative in this matter ; and we have
no doubt that the exertions already commenced will be
followed up with becoming spirit by the Welsh inhabi-
tants of Liverpool.

We trust that one of the first topics that will engage
the attention of Parliament, during the approaching
session, will be the progress of the repeal agitation in
Ireland. A glance at any of the Irish papers of the
present week will convince even the most sceptical that
the spirit of disaffection is rapidly spreading, in every
direction, throughout Ireland. At the great meeting
which took place last week in the county of Westmeath,
upwards of 50,000 persons attended. When appealed
to by Mr. O'Connell, this vast multitude declared them-
selves unanimously in favour of repeal. It is now as
evident as daylight that the Popish hierarchy and priest-
hood are decidedly in favour of the repeal movement.
The dinner given the other day at Mullingar was at-
tended by great numbers of these reverend and right
reverend agitators, all of whom spoke, in the most un-
equivocal terms, in favour of separation from England.
For instance, Dr. Higgins, the titular Bishop of Ar•
dagh, declared that the Roman Catholic Bishops "would
never he found to stand aloof, when the cause of the
nation and the interests of their people were in ques-
tion ;" adding that " they had the example of some of
the Popes of Christendom, who boldly advocated the
rights of their people." But, as if these boasts were not
sufficiently explicit, he proceeded to say—" We look
upon the part which we are now taking in the struggle
as an imperative duty, and we have one and all arrived
at the determination of becoming repealers, because we
have ceased to place hope on any other efforts." Is
this language sufficiently strong to convince the Globe
and Morning Chronicle that the priests are at the bottom
of the repeal movement ? If it be not, we request the
attention of the ministerial scribes to the speech of
another titular, delivered at the same meeting. The
Right Rev. Titular, Dr. Cantwell, of Meath, said—" I
am convinced that the repeal is a holy cause, for I am
of opinion that it is the only means by which we can
hope to make our country prosperous—our people
happy—and the throne more secure. We will, then,
one and all, priests, bishops, and people, unite in a cause
that is to bring happiness to our native land." This
plain and intelligible language must surely dispel the
delusions of the ministerial press. It proves that the

Romish hierarchy are bent upon the disaernimment

of the empire. This is the great object linelkow
ever glibly they may cant about the security of th

At the meeting to which We have referred, the titular
of Ardagh boasted, that in his diocese alone, he couhi
number one hundred Clergymen repeaters, and ex-
pressed a hope, that before many months should pdss

away, he should be enabled, with the assistance of his
clergy, to enrol- four hundied thousand Fepealers.
When such boasts are thus openly made by the Rom-
ish prelates of Ireland, it is high time to draw the at-
tention of Parliament to the subject of this repeal
movement. We trust that a single week will not be
allowed to elapse before some spirited member of the
House of Commons will boldly take up the question,
with a view to the interference of the government. Let
the boasted loyalty of the Melbourne ministry be tested
upon this subject.

LOCAL NEWS

We are glad to perceive that the Rev. D. James and the
churchwardens of St. Mary's, Kirkdale, are collecting funds
to relieve the poor of that populous suburb, at this inclement
season. Mr. James is to preach on their behalf on Sunday
next. It would be well it church collections were to be ge-
nerally made,—the churchwardens distributing the funds so
raised to the many who are now sufferers ; and especially to
those whose necessities require to be sought out. It is in this
way that the Church of England would prove " a blessing to
those who are ready to perish."

TESTIMONIAL OF RESPECT TO JOHN DIXON, EsQ., EN-
GINEER TO THE BIRKENHEAD RAlLWAY.—Passing Mr.
Doke the silversmith's shop in Lor&street, yesterday, our
attention was drawn to a very hand Some silver salver ex-
hibited in the window. On inspecting it we found the fol-
lowing inscription neatly displayed in a circular shield in the
centre :—" This slight testimonial of affectionate regard pre-
sented to John Dixon, Esq., civil engineer, by his pupils, at
the close of the works on the Chester and Birkenhead Rail-
way, January, 1841." The salveris executed in Mr. Doke's
first style; it is costly and tasteful, and will form a useful
and ornamental appendage to a sideboard. The value is 30

guineas

CAUTION.—There appeared in the Guardian of Saturday
a paragraph, copied from the Birmingham Advertiser, re-
specting a robbery committed at the houge of Mr. Smith,
New Inn, BroMsgrove-street, Birmingham, by a person pro-
fessing to be a Frenchman, who had' been stopping there a
short time. A person exactly answering the description took
lodgings at No. 44; Dale-street, on Wednesday last, under
the name of Mr.- Charles, stating that he had just arrived by
the London train, and representing himself as a traveller in
the shawl trade. He left the house on Friday afternoon, and
returned in a rew.minutes, saying he was compelled by un-
foreseen circumstances to leave Manchester that day, paid
his lodgings very honourably, and wished the landlady (Mrs.
Barnes) to reserve his bed until his return, which would be
on Tuesday without tail, offering, at the same time, to pay a
week's board in advance ; but she, seeing the apparent honour

of her lodger, declined to receive the money. She had oc-
casion to go up stairs shortly afterwards, when she soon as-
certained that Mons. Charles had walked off with a black
single-breasted surtout and a black velvet waistcoat, the pro-
perty of a boarder—a Mr. Myddelton Jones. It has since
been learned, that he booked himself for Liverpool the same
evening. Mr. Jones was possessed of an accordion, which
he was playing on Thursday night, when Mr. Charles ex-
pressed his particular attachment to musique; and he proved
his attachment, by carrying off the instrument, along with
the coat and waistcoat. No doubt, before this time, some-
body in Liverpool has experienced the benefits of his pa-
tronage.—Manchester Guardian.

LAWTON'S GAME PIES..:—•" Mine host of the Rainbow,'
William Lawton, deserves a patent of nobility for manufac-
turing Christmas pies. They occu-py the attention of all
e-pi-cures. They are most pi- quant in flavour, and we pity
any body who wants a pi-lot to point the way to them, or a
pi-onecr to cut into their recesses. Such estimable works as
Law ton's cannot be pi-rated. There is no gam-mon in these
game pies, which, punning apart, ought to be placed on the
pi-nnacle of game.

DANCING.-Mr. flarwood's classes, we perceive, will
shortly be recommenced. There are few professors of the art
of dancing so well qualified as himself to impart graceful
deportment and that air of ease and propriety which, if taught
early in life, often in mature years proves a passport to good
society.

TESTIMONIAL TO SIR JOSHUA WALMSLEY.—The prize
" Englynion " composed by " Penfelyn," in honour of Sir
Joshua Walinsley, for his kindness and hospitality shewn to
the Welsh bards, at the Eisteddvod last year, has been
printed in gold, and a copy may be seen in the window of the
STANDARD office. This elegant mark of respect was executed
at the STANDARD printing-office, and we think may fairly
lay claim to admiration for its richness and taste. The original
was presented to Sir Joshua last week, in an extremely hand-
some oak frame : and we believe he is very much gratified at
this acknowledgment from the Ancient Britons.

The Rev. W. Farley, curate of Mottram, having been
appointed to the curacy of Trinity Church, Salford, was pre-
sented, by the poor attending Mottram Church, with a purse
containing 25 sovereignss, accompanied with an address ex-
pressive of their regret at his removal, and of their gratitude
for his zealous and kind services among them. The teachers
of the Church Sunday School, at the same time, presented
him with an elegantly bound pocket bible as a small tribute
of their regard for his valuable assistance in the school.—
Manchester Guardian.

SQUINTING.—The removal of this disfigurement in the
personal appearance of individuals: is now beginning to be
generally appreciated. The success which attends the opera-
tion, and the high gratification it yields to the patient, are in
themselves a high recommendation. A fellow-citizen and
neighbour, who laboured under extreme obliquity of vision,
has, under the scientific operation of Mr. Bainbrigge, of
Liverpool, been entirely relieved of an intolerable squint,
suffering, as he expresses himself, more inconvenience than
pain during the operation. We understand that Mr. Peacock,
the skilful house surgeon of our infirmary, has provided
himself with the proper instruments, and is ready to perform
the desirable operation on any one that offers.—Chester
Chronicle.

PILOTAGE.—IMPORTANT SUGGESTION.—We have con-
versed with several captains of vessels, and particularly with
Captain John Gowan, of the Falcon steamer, running be-
tween this port and Belfast, on the subject of the charges for
pilotage out of and into this harbour. Captain G. states,
that at Belfast the charge for piloting steamers is reduced
one-third, in consideration of the pilots havinc, less trouble
in bringing them out of and into port, than they have with
other vessels. A sailing vessel, too, if the captain of her re-
quires a steam-tug, and obtains one, is charged only the
pilotage required from a steamer, one-third being deducted,
to go towards the cost of the steam-tug. In Belfast, too,
there is no charge of pilotage required, for a steamer, it she
does not take a pilot, but works her own way in and out.
_Here, if a steamer is once seen and recognised outside by a
pilot-boat, she is charged the full amount of pilotage, even if
she passes the boat and does not receive a pilot on board.
Captain G. is of opinion that the reduction of the pilotage
on steamers or ships towed by steamers is reasonable and
just, and ought to be adopted by the pilots committee of this
port. It would be an inducement to captains to employ
steam-tugs, and thus ensure the safer and speedier entrance
or departure of their vessels, when they might otherwise be
deterred by the heaviness of the expense. The time and
trouble saved by the pilots, by the employment of tugs, is
also a consideration in favour of the reduced expense. It is
somewhat remarkable that on Thursday night, while Cap-
tain Gowan was expressing to us a wish that his suggestion
might be thrown out, the captain of a barque from Bahia,
belonging to Messrs. Miller and Russell, came up, and
stated that while outside that day, he had refused to take a
steam-tug, under the impression that he would easily reach
the river with the same tide. Unfortunately, however, the
wind became south easterly, and the consequence was the
vessel got upon the East Wharf bank, where she then lay,
and as the tides are taking off, and will yet fall about two
feet, if she were not got off soon, there is no saying what may
be the damage she will sustain, or the cost the owners may
incur in the event of the weather becoming stormy. The
employment, indeed, of steam-tugs, ought, we think, for the
safety of shipping, and consequently for the general benefit
of the port, to be encouraged by all reasonable means, and
the charging of steamers, or of vessels towed with the same
pilotage as vessels worked out or in under sail, appears to be
so far an unjustifiable tax upon the proprietors. The saving
of a tide, and even sometimes of a single hour, may enable a
vessel to dock a day or half a day sooner; and may in some
cases save a vessel from loss or damage, should it come on
to blow, and bringing her cargo to an earlier and more pro-
fitable market. It should be considered, too, that the cap-
tains of our regular trading steamers are themselves nearly
all as well acquainted with the channel as the pilcits. We
shall probably hereafter revert to the subject of pilotage ge-
nerally. Meantime we submit Captain Gowan's suggestion
to the serious consideration of the committee.—From a Cor-
respondent.

MEETING OF THE DOCK COMMITTEE.—The dock com-
mittee held their weekly meeting yesterday, at the office in
Revenue-buildings. Mr. Bean, the deputy-chairman pre-
sided, and the following members were also present :—Messrs.
Barclay, T. Holt, H. Holmes, Middleton, Smith, Booth,
Horsfall, Mellor, G. Holt, Evans, Martin, Ripley, and
Tobin. The usual routine business, such as the passing and
confirmation of accounts having been disposed of, a report
from the sub-committee of works was presented, recom-
mending certain alterations to be made on the quay of the
Queen's Dock. Mr. Evans, however, suggested that in con-
sequence of what had recentiy passed in the council, it
would be desirable to set aside all intended alterations on a e
dock quays, at least for the present. This suggestion was
adopted, and the report merely received. Several letters
and reports were read concerning the location of fire-engines
at some of the graving docks ; and also a proposition to
board up, on the west side, for the sake of protecting goods
against the weather, the shed on the west side of George's
dock. Both these subjects were referred to the sub-com-
mittee of works for their determination thereon. The sub-
committee, for the department of the harbour and dock
master, reported that they had investigated a complaint made
by Henry Hughes, a pilot, against the pier-master of
George's pier, and had dismissed it ; also that they had in-
vestigated a charge preferred against the pier-master of
Queen's pier, of having received 5s from the master of the
ship Newport, contrary to the bye-laws, and that the charge
had been proved. The penalty for this offence is instant
dismissal, but the sub-committee, in consideration of this
being the first offence of the pier-waster, during thirteen
years' service, recommended the general committee to
severely reprimand him, and admonish him, as to the conse-
quences of any similar offence in future. The pier-master
was accordingly called in, and reprimanded by the chairman.
On the recommendation of the same sub-committee, Richard
Williams, a dock-gateman was discharged for having been in-
toxicated at tide-time, on 31st of Dec. last, and on the Ist Jan.
inst. The sub-committee of works presented a report, from
which it appeared the master of Waterloo and Victoria docks,
having requested an advance of salary, the sub-committee
proposed that for the future he be remunerated as the master
of Prince's Dock, after the rate of a farthing per ton unon
the tonnage worked by the docks, with 440 a-year addi-
tional for house rent. It was stated that at present he re-
ceived £2-10 per annum, including a house. Mr. Evans
thought that the tendency of the system of paying so much
f,er ton was to overcrowd particular docks. Mr. Horsfall
said it certainly was attended with some inconvenience, but
in the whole it was found the best plan in practice. Mr.
Ripley disapproved of it. The Chairman objected to it on
the ground that it sometimes occasioned disputes, and that
much valuable time was necessarily consumed by the dock-
master in ascertaining the amount of tonnage to which he
was entitled. Mr. Evans said, unquestionably this was not
the best system, as the dockmaster by it was naturally agi-
tated by a sense of his own interest, and therefore could
not give his undivided attention to his strict duty. The re-
port was then referred back to the Sub-committee, with in-
structions to revise the whole system of paying dockmasters,
some of whom it appears are paid by a fixed salary and others
by a per centage on the tonnage. An application from the
master of the American ship Rob Roy for the return of some
graving dock dues paid by him under the circumstances de-
tailed in his letter, was referred to the Sub-committee for
the Harbour Masters' department. The committee then ,
adjourned.