The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-24 00:00:00

COMBINATION OF WORKMEN BILL.-
' SPECIAL. MEETING OF JOINERS.

Last night a special general meeting of the members of
the Liverpool Ship Joiners' Society was held in the
Assembley-rooms, Circus-street, " for the purpose of pe-
titioning parliament relative to the Combination of
Workmen Bill, in order that the existing laws may be
so defined that there can be no possibility of uncertainty,
and thereby put an end to the disagreement between the
doctors of the law as to the distinction between the article
of labour in the market, and that of any other article of
merchandise."

Mr. JAMES FITZPATRICK, vice-president of the society,
was called to the chair, and opened the proceedings by
stating that they were met to adopt a petition in favour of
the bill that was brought into parliament by Messrs.
Drummond and Duncombe, for the purpose of defining
what working men should by law be permitted to do in
order to enable them to protect the only article of which
they were possessed—their labour. The bill had been
rendered necessary in consequence of two of the most
eminent judges of the present day—the present Lord High
Chancellor and Mr. Justice Erie—having given two op-
posite opinions with regard to the state of the law in re.
ference to the Combination of Workmen's Bill. Work-
ing men had hitherto thought that they were at liberty
peaceably to persuade their fellow-men to demand an
advance of wages ; but it now seemed, from the decision
of Mr. Justice Earle, that if a workman endeavoured so to
persuade his fellow-working man, he was liable to an in-
dictment. After some further remarks, the Chairman
called upon

Mr. S. DOWLING, who proposed the first resolution,
involving a petition to parliament to the effect " that the
house would pass an act to amend and explain the 6th
George 4, c. 129, to the intent that it shall not be unlawful
for workmen to agree among themselves at any time as to
what wages they will receive, or the hours or time they
will work in any manufacture, trade, or business, and that
it shall not he unlawful peaceably to carry out any resolu-
tion, regu:ation, or agreement, made in pursuance of the
statute, or unlawful to persuade, or endeavour to persuade,
any journeyman, or other person, to ask a certain rate of
wages for his labour." The speaker, at some length,
insisted that the effect of Mr. Justice Erle's decision, and
that of the Queen's Bench, would be to oppress the
working man, and deprive him of those privileges which
the capitalist enjoyed with regard to obtaining the best
price for his merchandise.

Mr. JAMES MAXWELL seconded the resolution, in an
energetic address.

Mr. JOHN TAYLOR, and some other speakers, sup-
ported the resolution, which, on being put to the meeting,
was carried unanimously.
Some other resolutions were proposed and carried, and
the meeting terminated about ten o'clock.

Tasmanian papers announce the escape of O'Donoughue,
the Irish convict.
The Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel has arrived in Aus-
tralia, and been appointed a magistrate of Victoria.
A COMMITTEE has been appointed by a body of sub-
scribers, in Glasgow, to construct public baths for the
use of the citizens.
THE POPE has ordered the Roman artist, Jacometti, to
execute in marble a statue representing " Judas giving the
kiss of treason to our Saviour," which is to be placed in
one of the upper halls of the Vatican.
ON Friday last the foundation of upwards of two
hundred dwellings was laid at Dumbarton, on the Clyde.
These houses have been called " The new town of Dum-
barton."

CONSIDERABLE DISSATISFACTION exists among the
public of Glasgow at the very meagre accommodation
which the government propose to assign at the new
general post-office, now in the course of erection in that
city.

A Suuscutrrros is being raised in Scotland for the
erection of a suitable monument to the memory of the
Covenanting hero, Captain Paton, who was executed at
the Grassmarket of Edinburgh. The monument is to be
built in the churchyard of Fenwick, in Ayrshire.
GOOD SHOT.—A few days ago, Mr. James Urquhart,
under keeper, Ardross Castle, killed, at the distance of 90
yards, and with a single ball, a large fox, measuring from
the nose to the tail four feet eleven inches.
THE STRATFORD, a small, fast-sailing vessek of about
400 tons, has been engaged by the Postoffice to take out
the mails for the Australian colonies on the 4th of June,
for which the sum of £l,OOO is granted.
FIGHT BETWEEN TWO PREACHERS.—At the cattle
fair, held at Dunford Bridge, two preachers of the Gospel
came to words, which led to a regular set-to at righting.
The one was a Baptist preacher, and the other a Metho-
dist. The spectators were very much shocked at the
sight.—Edinburgh Courant.

AT FELL HEAD, near Silkstone, on Wednesday night,
some scoundrel introduced a quantity of ignited sulphu-
reous matter through an aperture in the greenhouse of
Joshua Ford, by which were killed or damaged 150 choice
plants.

THE ROYAL YACHT.---Orders have been given for the
immediate completion of the refit of the royal yacht Vic-
toria and Albert. It is reported that she will be required
to convey her Majesty to Plymouth at the approaching
opening of the new basin and docks there. According to
other reports, she will be required to convey her Mujesty
to Dublin to visit the Great Exhibition there.

A PATTERN FOR HAYTER.—James Goodwin, a Radi-
cal witness before the Canterbury Commission, on Thurs-
day last, stated that "he was exchequered in 1847-to the
amount of £1,900, and after twelve months the govern-
ment called upon him to pay £lOO, and his friends raised
the money for him. Lord Albert Conyngham agreed to
use his influence with the Excise on witness's behalf if
witness would use his power for him at the election. His
Lordship performed his part and witness performed his."
MELANCHOLY SUICIDE BY A CLERGYMAN.—The Rev.
J. T. Clark, Vicar of Horiacastle, has committed suicide.
He had been for some time past suffering from a de.
spending state of mind, and had left home for several
weeks to try the effects of air and scene. On Saturday
morning he returned home, and in the course of the af-
ternoon he shot himself. He was highly respected. not
only for his extensive learning and clerical abilities, but
also for his charitable and benevolent disposition. He
leaves a wife and large family to lament his sad end. He
had held the living for not more than five or six years.

THUNDER-STORM IN THE WEST.—A thunder-storm,
short in its duration but destructive in its consequences,
burst over Gloucestershire, on Monday, last week. It
first appeared In the east, and raged with considerable
violence over the Cotswold-hills, between Cirencester and
Broadway, and thence descending to the vale, it visited
Cheltenham, Gloucester, Newnham, &c., passing on into
Herefordshire. At about three o'clock, when the storm
was at its height, the lightning struck a rick and some
outhouses, near Cheltenham, which were burnt down,
and about the same time the spire of the church of St.
Mark, at Gloucester, was struck by the electric fluid,
and sustained some damage. There were two persons in
the tower at the time : both escaped unhurt.
CHINESE HOMOEOPATHY.—At a conversazione of the
Pharmaceutical Society, on Tuesday, in London,.among
the articles which excited most curiosity, was a collection
of Chinese medical preparations, containing, among other
things, the well known homoeopathic box, and thus prov-
ing that even in our newest quackeries we have been
obliged to borrow from the Celestial. Empire. Along
with the drugs were some Chinese medical books, and a
series of prints a la Hogarth, illustrating the Chinese
rake's progress from the first tiny pill of opium to his
final collapse and irredeemable idiotcy. The model of an
ancient pharmacien's shop, in another corner, proved how
faithful are the practitioners to their traditions, the model
being nice simile of a modern chemist's shop, with only
the addition of a staffed crocodile. Among the amateur
exhibitors were Dr. Edwards, of Liverpool, who has re-
cently been making some novel experiments with theielec-
tric light as applied to the purposes of the daguerreotype.
PIRACY AND ATTEMPTED MURDER.—The British ship
Samuel Boddington, chartered to convey 350 Chinese
emigrant Coolies from Amoy to Demerara, narrowly
escaped falling into the hands of these desperate ruf-
ffians on the oth of December. Fortunately the captain
got information of the piratical and murderous plans
entertained by the Coolie, and, arming his crew, dashed
suddenly in among them. They were all securel7
pinioned, except six, who leaped overboard and
perished. Arms were found secreted in different
places, enough to furnish 200 men. They did not deny
their diabolical purpose, which was to murder the officers
and crew, and to take possession of the ship. A great
many of the Coolies were notoriously bad characters ; a
number of them had no tails, and the laws of China arc
that when a Chinaman is found guilty of any bad offence.
he has his tail cut off as the first punishment. Many of
these wretches were on board the Robert Barrow, whose
captain and crew were murdered by Coolies r.bout four
months previously.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

MONDAY EVENING, MAY 23.

BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

THE ROTHERHITHE ROCKET CASE.—At the Surrey
Sessions the grand jury returned a true bill against the
two Hales and Boyle for making 1,000 rockets at Rother-
lithe. It is stated that the prosecution will be removed
to the Court of Queen's Bench.