The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-08-07 00:00:00

THE DISINTERESTED DOCTOR

The following letter forms part of a correspondence which
took place between Dr. Lardner and Mr. Karslake, of
Regent-street, in reference to the late extraordinary affair.
It strikes us as savouring less of the steam-engine than of the
calculating machine :

" 4, Regent-street, April 6, 1840

"My Dear Sir,—l duly received youi letter of the 30th
ult., and will now, in the first place, reply to your questions.
With respect to the £20,000, I consider that, notwithstanding
the step taken, and her consequently marrying you, she will
be entitled to her life interest in this sum in the event of her
surviving Captain H. As you have stated the question as to
the £13,000, I consider that if Mrs. H. survived her father,
mother, and Captain H., she would be entitled to this sum ;
but that, if'her father and mother were to die in the lifetime
of Captain H. and Mrs. H., without being divorced, then
that Captain H. would be entitled. I think it most probable
however, that this sum of £13,000 was settled on the mar-
riage of Captain H. and Mrs. H. ; and if so, the chances are
that Captain H. has the first life estate, then Mrs. H. a life
estate, and on the death of the survivor that the property
will go to the children. In all cases of divorce, on the applica-
tion of the husband, parliament requires-the husband to
make some provision for the wife, but what that provision
may be depends altogether on the circumstances of each case,
and the fortune of the husband, and there is no settled rule,
and therefore it is generally a matter of treaty between the
agents on both sides, and if they cannot agree, Mr. Gordon
settles it. In order to look for precedents, the better
to enable me to write to you on this point, I this
morning sent down Mr. Gore to Parratt and Walmsley;
Walmsley asked Gore if the matter had any refer-
ence to your case, as if so, he expected to be em-
ployed on the other side. I had told Mr. Gore that if any
question was asked to say that I was concerned for you in this
matter; and Mr. Gore then asked who was concerned for
Mr. Walmsley said Mr. Beavan, of Sackville-
sC in H' ;
tarepetta. Fortunately I know Mr. Beavan very well, and after
some consideration I thought it a very good opportunity to
see him, and to impart to him as much as in prudence I
thought right with reference toyourfirst
einnsttionnicetdiotnhsetnob
jmeoet,
him and m
and accordingly 1 called upon
of my call, and bow I happened to
hhn know
Ithhaatd heardhewas
fcroonm-
cerned for Captain H. I then told
tyou,
defend was instructedany aoti
action,
nt appear o
throwr y o
anyu, a nt
obstaclesshou l should
in not
the w
attempta y ;
in short, that after what haaddtaktheant place,i
was
assured e oui dyohuarveownno
hesitation in advising you, and
feeling would be to do nothing
rßeavan appeared pleased at
whichmight be deemed an ag-
gravation of the calamity.
my calling on him, and said that if he was instructed to issue
a writ, he should call on me ; but I did not find that he had
as yet received any such instructions, but that he was pre-
paring to proceed in the Ecclesiastical Court. The two pro-
ceedings may be concurrent. In the Lords and Commons a
sentence of divorce in the Ecclesiastical Court, and the judg-
ment at law for damages must be proved, and the actual pay-
ment of the damages is sometimes required to be proved. I
collected that the other side are aware that you are now in
Paris. We shall not be able to procure you any advance on
the Shepherd's-bush property, without possessing the origi-
nal deeds to produce to the lender, and to be handed over to
him on the loan being advanced.-1 remain, dear sir, your's
faithfully, • " HY. KARSLAIZE.
" Dr. Lardner. No. 27, Rue Tronchet, Paris."

We are authorised to state, that Lord C. J.
ja.gF.nßbuecsosenille
having been earnestly solicited by the principal
liberal politics in this county, has consented 0 supporters o
again
a candidate for its representation, when a dissolution of par.
liament may take place.—Bedford Mercury.
ASSAM TEA.--We hear from undoubted authority that
the Hon. the East India Company have now. on the way to
England, per Andromeda from Calcutta. about 150 chests
Assam tea, a portion of which consists of green. This is an
entirely new article, never having been seen in this country.
The quality of this parcel is spoken of as being of a very fine
deucription, and sanguine hopes are entertained of the suc-
ces!s of the Assam tea speculation—London Journal of Cam-
stVite,

races .t _a average at tiffs. per quarter
during the autumn and winter, that there will be ample
supply to serve till next harvest, without an advance of
price beyond 645. per quarter.
" The present alarm, I am confident, is unfounded, and
has been got up to induce farmers to hold back their sup-
plies, that prices may advance, to let out the bonded wheat
at a low duty, and thus unnecessarily inundate the country
with foreign wheat when it is not needed. I write in perfect
confidence that my anticipations will prove correct, for my
attention to the subject has been unremitting for more than
fifty years, and for nearly fifty years I never once was disap-
pointed in the expectations I formed of the crops at this
season of the year. On yourselves, therefore, farmers, de-
pend your future prospects. You have it yet in your power
to prevent wheat reaching 695. per qr. for six weeks together.
And when the importers of wheat and that under lock, see
that you are alive to your own interest, they will then see
that it is their interest to pay the duty of 16s. Bd. per qr., as
the duty will rise, while the prices go down to 645. per qr.
And thus the country will ‘he supplied through your instru-
mentality with bread at a reasonable price, and you will
prove yourselves to be, as you have ever been, the real
friends of the consumers of grain, and that high prices have
ever been owing to the combination of the importers, in not
bringing their grain upon the market when most needed.
" A check now given to importation is your best safeguard
for the future ; and when a kind Providence again sends
favourable seasons, your home supply, under improving cul-
tivation, will render a foreign supply unnecessary, even were
the population of the United Kingdom double what it now
is ; for there are no bounds to the improvement of the soil
under a judicious protection by law from a foreign supply,
which is always precarious, and has been ruinous to every
importing country in the world.
" With my best wishes for the prosperity of agriculture,
" I am, Farmers of England, your true friend,

" THOMAS BATES
" Kirkleavington, near Yarni, Yorkshire, July 28."

PORT OF CARDIFF-BUTE SHIP-CANAL DOCK

OR BASIN

(From a Correspondent of the Shipping and Mercantile

Gazette.)

The above undertaking being now completed and open
for all purposes of trade and navigation, it may not be unin-
teresting to the mercantile and shipping interests to be fur-
nished with some information on the subject of these docks,
and the advantages thus afforded to ships frequenting ,the
port, by the final perfecting of one of the most extensive
works—indeed 1 believe the most so, with the exception of
the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal—ever begun and brought
to a prosperous termination by any one individual ; nor are
there many national works of greater extent. The present
has been constructed by the Marquis of Bute, at his sole
cost, at an outlay of £250,000. It was commenced in the
year 1834, the site having been chosen under the advice of
those men most eminent in their day, Telford and Green, and
the situation of the docks was adopted with a view to forming
the safest and most direct communication with the sea; the
design and execution were entrusted to Mr. Cubitt, whose
high reputation must be still enhanced by this monument of
his skill. The work comprises a ship canal, 4,000 feet in
length, and 200 feet in breadth, with massive quay walls on
either side, coped with chiseled blocks of granite. There
are wooden fenders running the whole extent of the quay,
parallel with the water's edge, so that vessels cannot receive
injury by striking against the walls. The canal, to the extent
of 1,500 feet, is eighteen feet deep ; for 1,200 feet, is thirteen
feet deep ; and the remaining distance shallows to eight and
a half feet. The exit from this canal is through a lock 152
feet long by thirty-six feet wide (through which a vessel of
1200 tons burthen, laden with timber, was passed on the day
the docks were opened) into a tide basin, capaple of receiving
3,000 tons of shipping; for example, fifteen vessels of 200
tons each, where they are always afloat, shut in by a tide-
gate 45 feet wide, which is opened at three and a half hours'
flood, when the tide outside rises to the height of the water
within ; and vessels pass out into the sea through a channel
150 feet wide, and half a mile in length, lyirg from north to
south; so that the prevailing winds admit of ships hoisting
their canvas in the basin, and sailing direct to the sea, and in
like manner coming in, they sail straightinto the basin without
casting anchor or unfurling sails. The channel is marked by
buoys on either side, by which vessels can warp in or out,
and before high water and whilst navigable for vessels of any
burthen, it is protected by the banks formed by the excava-
tion, so that in boisterous weather vessels have only to enter
at half tide to be quite sheltered and sail up through still
water. If needed, there are steam-tugs always in attendanCe
for towing in or out at a moderate charge. The grand fea-
ture in these docks is, that they are always accessible, and to
vessels of any burthen, the tide always rising at the basin to
height of from eighteen to thirty-five feet, excepting six or
eight days in the year at the lowest neaps, when they may
not attain above sixteen feet. Another most important
feature is, that ships need never take the ground, for
the tide gate, at three-and-a-half hours' flood, is opened,
and continues so for five hours, during which vessels sail
right in or out of the tide basin direct to sea. At
two-and-a-half hours' ebb the gates are closed, the water
in the basin is raised to the level of the ship canal,
the dock gates are opened, and the whole fleet passed
in or out without locking ; this might be done twice every
tide, thus enabling the transit of 12,000 tons of shipping
every twenty-four hours—an extent of traffic beyond any-
thing that can ever be contemplated. In the completion of
this magnificent work, the, anxious desires of all classes con-
nected with the trade and port have been more than realised;
and that some such improvements have been for a long
time required, to meet the growing exigencies of this most
flourishing and largely increasing port, will be evident from a
review of the increase in the trade within the last few years,
and the inefficiency of the Glamorgan Canal to afford the re-
quisite accommodation. We will recur to a period of four-
teen years, and subsequent intervals, up to the present time,
and show the increase.

18261 No of vessels en-
' Reg. tonnage iTotal No
tering the port

ICoastwise.
lirish .....

778 61,469
220 - 16,949

Foreign.. . lll 11;592 1109
Coastwise 935 65,148
Irish 499 42,800
Foreign l6B 17,468 1602

Total tonnage

90,010 tons

125,416 tons

Coastwise 1925 126,573
Irish 661 57,894
Foreign 236 28,211 2822

212,678 tons

Coastwise 1982 106,080
Irish 709 62,516
Foreign 236 28,991 2927

197,587 tons

.e appears a falling off in the trade of 183'
no apprehension of its retrogading, the di

9, but that ex-
izninution hay-

ing been caused by circumstances not again likely to operate
to such an extent—namely, the Chartist outbreak on the hills
and the desertion of the collieries by the workmen for a long
continuance. We see that the trade has considerably more
than doubled in the last 14 years, end will no doubt continue
to increase to au immense extent. The new docks and the
Taff Vale Railway, connecting them with the mineral districts
and Merthyr, the seat of the iron manufacture, has already
induced the commencement of large collieries, and great ad-
ditions to the iron works. It is only surprising how the pre-
sent amount of trade has been carried on, in any way, in so
inefficient port as the old canal, the entrance lock to which
is only 97 feet long by 27 feet wide, and 13 feet deep over
the inner sill—dimensions that preclude most vessels exceed-
ing 300 tons burthen from entering at all, and those that do
enter can none of them load deeper than 123/4 feet; the larger
class have therefore to finish their lading outside the dock
gates. Nor can vessels of the ordinary class take but a small
portion of their cargoes at any wharf, there being only two,
and those private wharfs, abreast which there is twelve feet
of water. The canal above these is 10 feet, gradually shal-
lowing to 5 feet at the upper end ; so that from all wharfs,
excepting the two nearest the dock, vessels have to lighten
the greater part of their cargoes at ship's expense such
being the custom of the port. The expense is taking the
average of the vessels, and the average cost of lighterage,
gast r t
e:
slope
their i
xerpprewyei
nnitniosoatelharernei
no awcuhcargo.ticanalscarcely
aaparnanTegrdehtl
lei
eyclaucsatla.
datnmrhoa i
nadt on avgteloi
nt
gl vh
eens
osegl
su gates,ao quay
iv‘g6t\
wall,iecpc hhetahrainsnet ton ivedale.on-rwpe
nka
he
o
ccv
ere
ois
vswee
dl
their
hnteg
rt pi
ciaeas
rsl
go.
ov
le,
els
r',r oebnmr
do
utoghfhi
thecanal
caaftuesre
tha
forenmd ditnhepeltinigiumber of ships
tinw'olnloaakdi making
hotfewrsa, tseur
etho
orbe
their
t ifinngt o l
cr berthamplernp
ea
nisnst
dd ,e deep
though,dw aat ter,
perhaps,rtwil where
leatt
dhe
ene
ny
within ten or twenty tons. But this is not all the evil, as by
_
structions and delays arise, that vessels are frequently seven
norilleyigrhectedivaey
sth"e.
the next springs
tt
ihoi
ns do el 1
seven
e to h i g
ten
tdi da ey ss haveoccurs
in
waiting
on— a
an
rdr possibly
tthhaet I ivkees
sdeel
st eon
it. itohnemno ar
dy
nhaarvye bc el
ae
sns
,extpraecrliienigicetod
the port, are frequently detained by these casualties nearly
three weeks in addition to the tune expended in loading.
When it is likewise considered that nearly all the trade is.
carried on in vessels of above one hundred tons, it will be
obvious to what an extent these detentions by the tides may
occur, as there are about 58 days in the year during which
the tides do not rise at the canal gates to a height sufficient
for the admission of vessels of one hundred tons' burthen ;
so that for nearly one-sixth of the year there can be no tran-
sit through the locks for vessels of this size, and for those of
a larger class the detentions are greater in an increased ratio
above the level of the Butegates •, thus, when, as is the case
with their burthen. The sill of the canal gates is ten feet
attain above six feet, there are 16 feet at the latter. It is
some, days in the year, that the tides at the former do not
scarcely necessary to say more
canals ; though among the evils of in comparison of the two
the old one may be men.
tioned the intricate approach through a long winding gut,
requiring an entire tide to accomplish, and the channel so