The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-03 00:00:00

EMBEZZLEMENT BY A CLERK.—A young man, named
Thomas Allen. was charged at the police court, yesterday,
by Messes. Jabez Rayner and Co., cotton-brokers, Ex-
change-alley North, with embezzling the sum of£lolos I I d,
the property of his employers. The prisoner had received
from 'Messrs. H. Farrer and Co., of York-buildings,
Sweeting-street, the several sums of £2 Be. 5d., £6 35.,
and £1 19s. 7d., for which he had not accounted. Mr.
Joseph Dickson, one of the prosecutors, said that the
prisoner had been in their employ between twelve and
fourteen years, as a bookkeeper. It was his duty to pay
and receive cash up to about six o'clock in the evening.
Some time ago witness found that the prisoner was ad-
dicted to drinking, and he avoided, as much as possible,
allowing any money to pass through his hands ; but he
never gave any positive orders that the prisoner should
not receive money. The three bills now produced were
in the prisoner's handwriting, and were due to their firm
by Messrs. H. Farrer and Co. Mr. 'Wm. Austin Code
said lie was cashier in the firm of Messrs. Farrer and Co.
On the 11th of April the prisoner came to the office, and
presented the bills tor payment. The money was given
to him, and he gave witness a receipt for them. Subse-
quently another person presented the bills, when witness
told him they had been paid. Police-officer Carlisle said
that on Sunday morning last he apprehended the prisoner
at his lodgings in Bixteth-street. He told him that he
was taking him on a charge of embezzling about £l2.
The prisoner replied, " It is all right ; I expected it be-
fore this. I did it to get transported." The prisoner,
on being asked if he had anything to say in answer to the
statement of the prosecutor, remarked, with careless in-
difference, " Oh, its not necessary to ask any questions
about it." On receiving the usual caution before com-
mittal, the prisoner said it was quite true he had commit-
ted the offence ' • but he should not have done it, had it
not been that he was much perplexed in consequence of
the small salary he had received from the prosecutors, and
the way in which they had used him during the last few
months. They had asked him, amongst other things, to
go• to the brokers' offices, and take samples of cotton,
which was a breach of principle, as sampling was the duty
of brokers. This had led him to drinking, and to doing
what was not right. The prisoner was fully committed
for trial.

EXPIOSION OF GUNPOWDER NEAR WIGAN : THREE
LIVES LOST.—On Friday night, an explosion of gun-
powder, which caused the death of three persons and
imperilled the lives of several others, occurred at New
Springs, near Wigan, in a small grocery shop, kept by
Hugh Smallshaw. Behind the shop counter was a par-
tially-filled cask of gunpowder, and, in a store-room up
stairs, there were three full casks. About half-past eight
o'clock, while Mr. Smallshaw was waiting upon Mrs.
Lever, a neighbour, the powder behind' the counter ex-
ploded, owing, it is thought, to a spark from a candle fall-
ing upon it. The shop and back-room fell in, burying
Mr. and Mrs. SMailshaw, the servant, and'three children,
and Mrs. Lever in the ruins; the room above was lifted
up and carried behind the house, an infect in the bed
being hurled to the margin of a small brook,. where it was
found unhurt; the store-room containing the three casks
of gunpowder also came down ; and the wall dividing the
shop from the adjoining cottage was blown through, but
the inmates were uninjured. A crowd speedilf collected ;
and, the flames having been subdued, a search was made
for the bodies. Mr. Stnallshaw and Mrs. Lever were
taken out dead, the latter being almost in a state of nudity,
her clothes having been torn away by the force of the
blast ; Mrs. Smallshaw was found horribly disfigured,
and just alive, but she died soon afterwards; and the ser-
vant and three children were rescued before they had sus-
tained serious injuries. The three full casks of gunpowder
were found among the ruins.- Had they exploded while
means were being used to rescue the bodies, a lamentable
sacrifice of life would no doubt have followed. An inquest
was held yesterday over the bodies, before Mr. Rutter, the
coroner for the district.

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.—The advent of the geatle
month, bringing with it flowers and leaves, and clothing
the hedgerows and the fields with the vernal livery of
summer, is by none welcomed-so heartily as the busy
dwelrer in the town, who has unfortunately the fewest
opportunities of enjoying the fragrance of the country. It
is-with pleasure we notice that Mr. Durandu, the pro-
prietor of the Zoological Gardenssis preparing many at-
tractions-for the approaching season ; knowing that, lack.
ing the opportunity of penetrating far into the country,-
manyofeur townsmen will be induced to spend a leisure
. hour these delightful recreation grounds, where music,
painting, and science combine with nature to charm and
instruct. From a visit paid to the gardens the other
evening, we are enabled to promise a rich treat to those
of our readers who visit them. Although the late spring
has retarded the progress of vegetation to a most unusual
etxent, still the buds and flowers are quickly bursting into
life, as if anxious to make amends for their delay, and al-
ready the grounds are assuming an attractive and winning
aspect. lb the mechanical, as well as the natural, world
of the Zoological Gardens progress is- perceptible. Over
the great lake rises the ancient temple of Janus in the
Eternal City, surrounded by statues,and backed by beau-
teous hills, which look surprisingly natural in the day-
time, and must be still more effective when lighted up
after dark. Then there are among the list of new, ex-
pensive, and notable things a transparent panorama of the
Wars of Wellington ; a maze or labyrinth, a fac simile of
that at Hampton Court ; a commodious gymnasium, at
which we hope to see young Liverpool exercising itself in
vigorous and manly fashion ; a mechanical contrivance for
the shooting gallery by the ingenious Mons. Voger ; fresh
and pleasing entertainments in the great hall; and a new
gallery from which the spectators may survey the fire-
works on the lake. Time, ingenuity, and capital have all
been expended by Mr. Durandu in prospect of the ap-
proaching season ; and we hope to see the public do him
and themselves justice by patronising adequately this de-
lightful rural retreat.
GALVANISISD laow TowNs.—Tha- establishment of
Mr. Hemming, at Woodside, Birkenhead, for the manu-
factory of a novel article, no less than portable towns of
galvanised iron, will render interesting the following
description of Mr. Hemming's works at Bedminster,
which we extract from a Bristol paper:—" When first we
were led by curiosity to pay a visit to the establishment,
the manufactured stock consisted of a single model cot-
tage—the first that had been made-. Its completeness,
its promising durability, its lightness, the facilities it pre-
sented for erection, dismemberment, package and removal,
and the evident care which had been taken to adapt it to
the climaterial and other peculiarities of its destination,
were apparent, and we feel no hesitation in recommend-
ing it as `What was wanted.' We were induced, a day or
two ago, uninvited, to give a seconehlook in at the manu-
factory, and it was impossible to fail being struck by the
extensiveness of the operations there going on. Not only
are there enough emigrants' cottages in progress towards
completion to form a little town, but there are stores,.
villas, a hotel, parsonage-houses for missionaries, and,
last of all, a church, which has been ordered by the right
rev. the Lord Bishop of Melbourne, and which it is be-
lieved is only the first of several, which will be sent out to
supply the means of public worship to the diggers. Ow-
ing to the eagerness with which every completed erection
is caught up, Mr. Hemming finds it impossible to retain
one for many days in a thoroughly finished state; but a
glance at those in progress cannot fail to be interesting.
The smallest house made is the " cottage for the millicn."
It comprises two neat rooms, measuring 16 feet by 12,
and can be purchased as low as 35 guineas. A house, in
course of completion for Mr. Brooks, the auditor of Mel-
bourne, is upon a more commodious scale. It comprises
four rooms. of 14 feet square, with an entrance-hall,closets,
and a detached kitchen, and will be fitted with Venetian
blinds to every window, and, a verandah running all round
the villa. A parsonage-house, making at a cost of 250
guineas, to the order of the Bishop of Melbourne, pro•
mises to afford a very comfortable dwelling. It will con-
tain a sitting-room 17 feet by 11 feet, a kitchen, 11 feet
square, a servants' room, store-room, pantry, and water-
closet, and four bedrooms, measuring each g•feet by 10
feet. One of the stores,, which had been contracted for at
170 guineas, consists of a shop or wareroom, 22 feet
square, fitted with safety-shutters, &c. ; a sitting-room,
kitchen, and bedroom- The hotel or lodging-house is
being erected with a view to the peculiar wants of the
colonists, and will comprise 14 bedrooms, so constructed
as to divide, almost at will, into four compartments.
each, thus enabling the occupier to make up fifty-six
beds. There will also be a first and second class coffee-
room, each 20 feet square ; a housekeeper's room, the
requisite pantries and closets, a detached kitchen, and a
luggage-room, which is to be fitted with 56 numbered
compartments, each having a lock and a key, so as to en-
able every occupier of a bed to deposit and secure his
personal luggage. The church will comprise a nave and
two side aisles, with pulpit, reading-desk, baptistry,
vestry, and a tower ; it will cover an area of 70 feet by
48 feet, and will contain sittings for COO worshippers. An
interesting, and, indeed, most important part of Mr.
Hemming's manufactory is the seasoning stove, a large
building in which the doors, sashes, &c., are, before they
are fitted together, exposed until thoroughly seasoned to
a higher temperature than they will have to stand in the
colony, thus providing against futuresshrinkage, which
would otherwise inevitably take place. Some of the porta-
ble furniture for the houses is remarkable for its ingenuity."
COUNCIL MEETING.—At the usual monthly meeting
to-morrow the following proceedings, amongst others,
will be discussed :—The proceedings of the Finance Com-
mittee, comprising a recommendation to grant an increase
to the salary of the Town-clerk of £5OO per annum, &c. ;
a recommendation, in accordance with resolutions of the
borough justices in consequence of the resignation by Mr.
M. D. Lowndes of the appointment of clerk to the jus-
tices for parochial business, that the additional duties be
performed by the present clerks to the justices, and that
they respectively be paid the additional salary of £lOO
per annum, and that one of the clerks lately employed by
Mr. Lowndes, be engaged permanently in the magis-
trates' clerk's-office, at the salary of £lOO per annum ;
the whole arrangement effecting a saving of £lOO per
annum to the Borough Fund. The proceedings of the
Watch, Lighting, Fire-police, and Fire. prevention Com-
mittees, comprising a recommendation that the wages of
all the officers in the police force, under the rank of in-
spectors, be increased 2s. per week to each man, and
that the pay of inspectors be increased from 30s. to 335.
per week each man. The laying of the watch-rate for the
year 1853-4. The making of the fire-police rate, not ex-
ceeding one farthing in the pound, for defraying the costs,
charges, and expenses of maintaining the fire-police of the
borough. The proceedings of the Gaol and House of
Correction Committee, comprising a recommendation to
increase the salary of Mr. J. M. Wade, chief clerk,*from
£llO to £l3O per annum: The proceedings of the
Health Committee, comprising a resolution directing the
chairman to request the Council to lay the various rates
previous to an adjournment of the council meeting of the
4th of May next, in order to avoid the expense of fresh
advertisements,. and the loss likely to accrue in the
collection of the rates, in the event of the making thereof
being postponed ; a report on the rates under the sanitary
act for the ensuing year, and a recommendation to bor-
row the various amounts therein mentioned, on the credit
of the paving-rates for the several districts within the
borough; a report as to railways crossing highways on
the level; and a recommendation to increase the wages
of various workmen employed in the borough engineer's
department. The making of a sewer-rate, a paving-rate,
a water-rate, and a general rate for the parish of Liver-
pool and the townships of Everton, Kirkdale, West
Derby, and the extra-parochial place of Toxteth-park.
The proceedings of the Water Committee, comprising re-
commendations to increase the wages of several clerks,
&c. ; and a recommendation to accept the offer of Messrs.
Case and Morris, of land adjoining Audley-street, as a
site for the Everton Reservoir, and isle() the tender of
Messrs. A. and G. Holme, for the cgilstruction of tLe re-.
aerToir and welts connected therewith on thg site.