The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-01-05 00:00:00

POOL STANDARD.

' tants, deficiency in the harvest, and disease in the potato
crop. To-day we have to observe the influence of an
equally, though less durable, pernicious and speculative
movement which has for some time been in operation,
and which has artificially enhanced the value of cotton
fully 3d. per lb. Speculators are, however, not alto-
gether blameable for this ; they have been powerfully
aided by the operations of spinners and manufacturers,
who, from past experience, ought to have known better,
and who, instead of diminishing their production, have
continued to work full time nntil recently, when the im-
possibility of realizing prices correspondent with the ad-
vance upon cotton has compelled them generally to adopt
the only sensible alternative. So far there has been no
susceptible diminution of supply ; and producers are un-
questionably in a very awkward and profitless position."

IN some of our previous articles upon the sub-
ject of the proposed division of the magisterial
business of this borough, we have referred to the
great increase of business likely to take place, so
soon as the provisions of the Sanatory Bill are
fairly in operation. We believe that the extent of
this increase is scarcely appreciated even by the
Council itself, and very certain that it is. not so
appreciated by the public. We shall endeavour
here to make it plain to both ; and to show that
without some arrangement of the magisterial duties,
different from the present, and the appointment .of
some additional magistrate or magistrates, " learned
in the law," it is utterly impossible that such busi-
ness can be got through satisfactorily, or at all.
The Act in question imposes penalties upon
parties for some forty or fifty offences, of which
the bench has hitherto taken no cognizance; and
many of these are of a character requiring a strict
sifting of evidence for and against. Cases involv-
ing fines, which range from forty shillings to a
hundred pounds, and in which the fine continues
from day to day, until the provisions of the Act
are complied with, cannot be decided with the
same dispatch as the bulk of those which come
before the bench. Some of them are such as
have hitherto been adjudicated upon at Quarter
Sessions or Assizes; and many are of the class in
which it has been found necessary to retain the
first legal talent; to call hosts of professional wit-
nesses, and which has been considered worthy of
the attention of special juries. We shall take the
liberty
employed Clauseof lipointingn26 hoefwthe"oAti
rciogtnpeorfooervnitdgwei
nos
etoshf
abttyhaesust
eefur:mn, furnaces
all furnaces employed in any mill, factory, dye-
house, brewery, bake-house, gas-works, &c., or in
working the engines of steam-boats on the
river, shall "in all cases where it is practicable,"
consume their own smoke; and inflicts the penalty
of five pounds for every day on which any party
uses a furnace not so constructed as to effect this, or
who " shall carry on any trade or business which
shall occasion any noxious or offensive effluvia, or
otherwise annoy the neighbourhood or inhabitants,
without using the best practicable means of prevent-
!ng or counteracting such annoyance." Now here
is a fertile source of long and tedious litigation
before the magistrates. A steam-engine fails to
eat up all its own black vapours ; and the question
immediately arises, in the first instance whether,
in the particular case it is practicable to con-
sume the smoke, and in the next instance, whether
the means used are the best means. Engineers,
like doctors, differ. Witnesses as to fact may also
differ as to what may be fairly called smoke, as
contemplated by the Act. There will arise ques-
tions as to what are " noxious or offensive efflu-
via." In Mr. MuS'pratt's case, tried at the Autumn
Assizes, one set of witnesses deposed that the
alleged noxious gases, generated by his chimney,
killed Sir John Gerard's Woods. Another set
proved that the trees exposed to the action of the
gases were greenest on the side nearest the chim-
ney, and were, therefore, not killed at all. A third
set maintained that the gases did not come from
the chimney; and eminent scientific evidence was
adduced, to prove that the most efficacious means
were used to precipitate the gas; and that none
could escape from the chimney. Here would be a
nice case for Mr. Rushton's one police court ! Yet
it is certain similar cases will be continually recur-
ring ; and they are precisely the sort of cases,
which men are the most interested in rebutting.
We have dozens of trades in this town, by the car-
rying on of which annoying, if not actually noxious
effluvia are occasioned—for which premises have
been erected at a great cost, in convenient local-
ities, and where scientific devices to suppress such
effluvia may involve ruinous expense. In all such
cases lengthy evidence, pro. and con., must be
gone into; and such evidence is precisely of the
character which will call for the presence of a
shrewd and practised lawyer upon the bench.
Mere men of business, holding the office of magis-
trate as a kind of amateur employment, will not be
able to do justice where such complexity is certain
to arise

Clause 133, in a similar way, provides that the
escape of effluvia from soap-boilers or candle-
makers' yards, and other places, shall be punished
by a fine, if certified to be a nuisance, provided,
however, that it is not shown to the justices " that
the best means, then known to be available for
mitigating the injurious effects of such business,
have been adopted." Here, moreover, the justices
may " suspend their final determination, upon con-
dition that the person so complained against shall
undertake to adopt, within a reasonable time, such
means as the said justices shall find to be practica-
ble, and order to be carried into effect ' for the
abatement of the nuisance. How are the justices
to find out what means are practicable, without
calling in scientific evidence ? Or will the offending
parties fail to call rebutting evidence of the same
description ? A few such cases every week would
pretty ftilly occupy the time of our court.
Yet a whole host of similar inquiries, in which
evidence is certain to be called on the part both
of the Council and of defendants, must arise under
the operation of the Act; and we submit that it
will be most onerous to the public, if the witnesses
in such cases are exposed to unnecessary loss of
time, by having to come from remote quarters of
the town to a central court, and to wait whilst the
ordinary police and dock business is being gone
through. We feel convinced that from this Sana-

tory Act alone will be created business sufficient
for one court ; and when we consider that in most
of the cases which are likely to arise—especially

those of nuisances—the evidence oWoth sides
will be that of residents in the neishWourhood of
the nuisance, the only sensible and just course is to

render the diving of such evidence as inexpensive
and convenient as possible. This can only be

,
done by appointing an aditional court or courts, to
be held in different parts of the town.

Before leaving the subject to the consideration
of the Council at its next sitting, we have a word
to offer with respect to one matter, which ought to
weigh with them in arriving at a decision. We
refer to the present state of the main bridewell.

In previous articles we have remarked upon'the

almost total want of the means of classifying illi-

soners in that establishment, and dividing the
habitually-vile and criminal from the chance of-
fender. We were not aware, however, that the
justice of our complaint Tram dcmtined. to be so soon

iind so awfully verified. A fortnight ago a poor
wretch, upon the verge of dissolution, was taken to
that bridewell, as the only available place of sl
He was, we believe, as well treated as circumstances
would allow ; but the only place in which he could
be put for the night was a cell in which a drunken
man was confined. It is clear
.that such things
ought not to be : and

vaawv au cOltirg COMM Or Inis
establishment must take place, if the courts are to
continue to be held in this locality, and the present
is to be a main bridewell. But can the Council
justify any serious outlay here, with the now ad-
mitted fact before them, that the question as to a
division of the magisterial business and the es-
tablishment of district courts is only one of time ?

We understand that on Sunday two sermons will be
preached in the Irish Presbyterian Church, Islington, by
the Rev. V. M. White ; after which, collections will be
made for the starving Irish.

The Observer says on the subject of the quarter's re-
venue, that " the Customs' duties will not exhibit the fall-
ing off which had been so confidently predicted, and that
the excise will show no evidences of being influenced by
the partial destitution which so unhappily prevails."
SELECT VESTRY.—We believe the Select Vestry have
received a reply from the Secretary of State to their late
memorial. The right hon. gentleman says that govern-
ment cannot adopt any measure to prevent the Irish emi-
grating to this country, and that no amount can be af-
forded from the consolidated fund towards meeting the
enormous outlay made by the parish for the relief of the
Irish poor.

EXAMINATION OF MASTERS AND MATES. —At a
Board of Examiners, held on Tuesday last, Mr. James
Stone, chief officer of the British and North American
Royal! Mail Steam-packet Hibernia, was examined and
found duly qualified for a first-class extra certificate as
master. Mr. John Johnson, a native of London, was
also found duly qualified for a first-class certificate as
mate, he being the first that has passed the board in this
capacity.