The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-02-06 00:00:00

LONDON CORN MARKET.-YESTERDAY

The supply of English Wheat by land-carriage samples from
the near counties was but a moderate one, and was for the
most part cleared off at an early hour, at an advance of Is.,
to 2s. per qr. upon the quotations of last Monday. A similar
improvement was realised upon foreign, but the business
transacted was not extensive. There was no alteration in the
price of town-made Flour, but ship and country marks
were rather dearer. Choice malting Barley was saleable
at an improvement of Is. per qr.; other sorts unaltered,
Good fresh horse corn was the turn dearer, but other descrip-
tions of Oats were a heavy sale at last week's rates. Beans and
Peas fit for seed, were inqu red for, and being scarce, were Is.
to 2s. dearer, but there was no advance upon these articles
generally.

SMITHFIEUP CATTLE MARKET

-YESTERDAY

We have not quite so many Beasts as on Monday last; the
supply is, however, fully adequate to the demand. Trtde is
slow, owing to the mildpess of the weather, and late quotations
are with difficulty realised. The number of Sheep is again
small, but so few are wanted, that it is with great difficult

that a little more money is obtained for some—of the choice
descriptions, Calves meet with a dull sale, but the supply
being short, prices remain about the same.

ADELPHI THEATRE.—This theatre was opened for ti e
season last evening. The attendance was more numerous
than might have been expected, and the performances
went off with eclat. As the company has been selected
from various quarters, and to each other strangers, we
shall refrain from particularising—suffice it, however, to
say th t many of them exhibit extreme talent.

THEFT OF• MONEY.—Yesterday at the Police-court, a
woman named Mary O'Donnell was charged with robbing
a woman named Margaret Carlton of eight half-sow-x.o;ns,
which she had sewed up in the band of her peticoat. Tl e
complainant was in a state of insensibility, from the effects
of drinking at the time, and the prisoner carried her to
bed, and stripped her of the garment named, on the plea
that she would sleep more safely. On the person of the
prisoner the officer who apprehended her ound seven new
farthings, similar to those which she had put into the
band of the peacoat, in lieu of the half-sovereigns. She
was committed for trial.

THE WILL FOR THE DEED:—On opening the will ef a
gentleman who had expended an extremely handsome foe-
tune, amongst other articles it contained the following :
" If I had died possessed of a thousand pounds, I would
have left it to my dear friend Mr Thomas B—; but as I
have not sixpence, he must accept the will for the deed."
The illustration of Punch, last week, was capital, and
mcst apropos, namely, Mi. Cobder, in the character of
"the schoolmaster at home," addressing to Master Rus-

sell, Master Peel, Master Wellington, and the rest, this
s4nif.cant warning :—" Mind, young gentlemen, more
attention to arithmetic, this half !"

CORRESPONDENCE.

WOODSIDE FERRY,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SlR,—lnthe Liverpool Journal of Jan. 20th is an article
which professes to furnish the ratepayers of Birkenhead
with a detailed account of the present state and future
prospects of Woodside Ferry. The objects of the writer
appear to be—first, to prove that the penny fare will pro-
duce more than the twopenny fare ; and, second, that the
reduction of the fare to a penny has induced parties to
come over here to reside, thereby increasing the township
rates by about £lOOO a-year.

It may seem ungracious to look with a suspicious eye
upon that statement. merely because it seems to emanate
from some party mixed up with the ferry management ;
but it is no doubt fresh in the memory of many of your
readers, that the Commissioners of Birkenhead have in
times past mat forward statements which have subse-
quently turned out erroneous; for example, in the course
of the inquiry made by the Government Surveyors in
reference to the Gas and Water Bills promoted by the
Commissioners, a written valuation of the township assets
was produced, in which it was asserted that the annual
profit of the ferry was £ll,OOO, and its value £275,000,
being 25 years' purchase. Query :—Can the Commis-
sioners shew, taking the many years they have have had
the ferry, and putting all together, that they have handed
over to the credit of the general account, out of the clear
profits, a sum equal to what was stated to be one year's
profit ? I trow not.
The Woodside Ferry, if well managed, at prices that
will pay, is about the only remunerative thing which the
ratepayers have got for the half-million sterling they have
run in debt. But even in prosperous years, and at two-
penny fares, it has done little if anything more than pay
its own way, probably owing to gross mismanagement.
The corporation of Liverpool, some time ago, committed
the egregious blunder of lowering their fares by their
boats, from 2d. to Id. Their plea being that it would
pay better at Id. than 2d., a reduction which they pro-
bably would not have mae had they been proprietors
instead of trustees. The result has been ruinous in the
extreme, as they too well know. Bad as this policy was.
the Woodside ferry committee had no alternative but to
be guided by it as required by the laws of competition,
and with a similar result, as, I believe, time will show.
The Messrs. Willoughby have latterly made a proposition
to take Birkenhead ferry again, and raise the price of
both their ferries to 2d., provided the commissioners will
also raise theirs—now we should be just before we are
generous, lam one of a numerous class who believe it
cannot pay its way at one penny. Even in the year 1846,
when the receipts were more than £20,000 (the fare being
2d.), it did no great things—yet it would require that
five millions of persons should pass the gates annually to
produce the amount of that year's revenue at one penny
each—being at the rate of 15,000 per day ; and this is
moreover a very inopportune time to try an experiment,
the effects of which, should it not succeed, will be of a
serious character, inasmuch as we have no means of sup-
plying the deficiency, if one arises. This very committee
must be "hard up," whilst they cannot afford to pay
£3,000 to save £lOOO a-year. For they have allowed the
Admiralty to sell their new boat " Wirral' " for £3,000,
which a short time since cost £6,400. and have taken it on
hire for three years, at £lOOO per year (or £2l per week).
This very Ferry Committee must be rather pinched, that
they have paid no interest (which is equivalent to rent) for
the last eighteen months. The commissioners have power
by their acts of parliament to borrow on the ferry property
£150,000; the general impression is that they are charge-
able with interest upon that amount, say £7,500 a year.
They have a fleet of nine or ten sail to keep up ; a neces-
sarily expensive establishment ; an arrear of 11 years'
interest ; and yet it appears they imagine they can afford
to ferry people across the river, some at ld.' some at -d.,
son at Id., and some for nothing. 1 am of opinion that
the majority of your readers, who can look beyond their
qwn interest, will say that justice to the bondholders and
to the ratepayers forbids the attempt as highly impolitic.
They are only trustees of the township property, and
whilst the public have a right to expect all the accommo-
dation and convenience which they can consistently afford,
they are first and chiefly responsible to the bondholders
and ratepayers, that their interests shall not suffer from
crude and ill-dijested novelties. The notion that, even if
a little is lost to the ferry receipts, the township rates
have been increased by an additional number of persons
having been induced by the penny fare to come and reside
here—is not worth much. To persons residing in good
houses, the inducement held out by the reduction must
be very small, because, if such persons cross by the ferry
&ten, they contract, and then it does not at all affect
them, and if they go but seldon the difference in the fare
is not material. The class to whom the difference would
be material occupy houses which bring in little or nothing