The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-01-30 00:00:00

and in a few years we may e.x

n abanclone

to the fol-

)N CROP

a benighted continent
the mock philanthrot

In the follov

when the crop was 2.030,000
ame period were 777,000, and
I and '45, when the crop was 2,394,000 bales—
. Regarding the supply likely to come forward
the next few months—though the receipts for the

fortnight had been 209,640 bales, we find the shipments
were only 33,000, and prices had advanced one cent per
lb. (equal to a halfpenny) with a very large business doing
on speculation, and no doubt when brother Jonathan
hears of the further rise in this market, and with the
healthy appearance of trade generally, he will be rampant,
Ind so throw up prices that we who have orders out there
ovill be entirely prevented from getting them executed.

ese circumstances, a pause will unavoidably
take place in shipments from the " States," and prices
will most assuredly rebound here, aided by parties who
will have been disappointed in their orders remaining un-
executed. In addition to the shortness of the supply,
which we will hope will be comparatively temporary, we
shall have an extensive demand for twist and manufac-

Won of causes, viz.,—the
mitinent, symptoms of which we
_ eived ; of India and our Colonies gene-
from the late advance in the price of coffee and
r; and also of the United States and South
ed by the gold mania in C-'
pwards of silt

arising from a con

,te of the

already per

kin erica,

have sailed ere now for this

s, not mentioning the number
shores, loaded with gcods of all

£6,000

prociuctive, appendages of the Bri

to the indol

icle at such a having been -withdrawn, relapse into their native
not clear to us ignorance and lawlessness. Yet who can forge
Istifiable under
the glorious mission which, at one t-
Fer the Courier

efomised us that these colonies were to accomplish ?
Here was to be solved the great problem, whose
difficulty had for centuries handed over a portion
e can assure of the human race to the lash and the branding
dof the most iron. Here was to be proved the practicability of
experience in raising the products of the tropics, by means of
free labour protected by British institutions.
)] From our West India colonies was to go forth the
OF ( JTTON
voice of mercy, which was to proclaim to the slave-
dealer that his accursed trade was at an end; and
,t Cotton, ad- here was to be established the fountain, whose waters
--tmer from were to carry the blessings of freedom, civilisation,
-I here, and Christianity through the. ienm-h

Can the free traders—can

of Great Britain

—can

e snoutu collect all the vizuse wno nave sonned and wept over the pictures
)ject of such permanent of sable woes, painted by the Thompons and other
Intry—for without our speakers of the same calibre, contemplate this dis-
to witness the produc- graceful result—this sacrifice of principle and feel-
shores. In the first •
mg at the shrine of their devil-idol, Cheapness—
ni, that it by no means
mat that the crop mustwithout a blush of shame mantling their cheeks ?
la though the receipts
____ a11M1501NC11......1
I •,e e

red with late years, cotton WE return to the subject of the levying and
a. a length of time ;—and, disposal of the county rate ; and, in so doing, we
e and extensive demand must confess that we have little new information to
Lst considerably advance,
lay before our readers, so far, at least, as regards
ptions of American,which
11 ere long become very the retails of the expenditure ; but we may direct
the last steamer were attention to a few of the heads under which we find
125,000. the largest increase. The first of these is the item
irs 1523 (the first large but you must not bof "prosecutions," under which we expended, last
20,000 bales at the same year, £18,282, an amount considerably exceeding
is more striking, a fort- the average of the preceding twelve years ; a little
season, the receipts for under that for the years 1831 to 1836 ; and above
mber were 125,000 bales, the average from 1824 to 1831. This increase has
e last week in February, been going on under circumstances which ought
),000 bales per week, and
to have contributed materially to lessen its pressure.
78.875 bales. We must
as been an unusu- Manchester, Liverpool, and the other large boroughs
een very full; and of the country, under their several municipal acts,
)n and consequent traffic pay for their own sessions prosecutions. Making
en greatly extended in allowance for this, it would appear that the present
increase of expenditure is almost solely to be set
down to prosecutions from the rural districts.
It is perfectly notorious that many of these pro-
secutions are for crimes of a very trivial character,
which might easily be dealt with by the magistrates
at petty sessions. For a theft to the amount of a
penny or twopence, for picking up a cob of coal
on the banks of a colliery, or any similar offence,
our rural magistracy forthwith commit to Kirkdale
prison, at a cost to the county of fifteen or sixteen
pounds, when, if they had the requisite powers, or
a little more discretion, substantial justice might be
administered at one-tenth the cost. Here, then,
we submit is one department in which a large
saving might be effected, if the rate-payers had any
control over the expenditure of their own money.
The increase from £4,895, in 1847, to £15,386,
under the head of " Preston House of Correction";
and from £8,745 to £23,401, under the head of
"Kirkdale House of Correction," is attributed in
a great measure to the alterations required to carry
out our new system of prison discipline, and at
Kirkdale to the erection of a new chapel for the
prisoners. It is more than hinted, however, that
more economy might have been shown in these
works. The chapel at Kirkdale, for instance, might
he required, but its ornamental tower might easily
have been dispensed with. The work, too, done
by the prisoners at both these places, appears to
have been of a most unremunerative desoriptiou.
A little infusion of popular influence and practical
business views into their management, would, we
venture to say, produce a much more satisfactory
state of things.
The increase shewn under the head of "coroners'
taking inquisitions," from £1,806, in 1824, to
£3,307, in 1848, appears to us a little unaccount-
able, when we bear in mind that, since the first
mentioned year, the large municipal boroughs have
taken upon themselves the burthen of this branch
of expenditure. Considering the comparatively
small number of rural casualties occurring, a county
inquest must be a rather costly affair. It would be
well if some patriotic member of the bench would
move for an enquiry as to the expenditure under
this head.

The giant item, however, to be grappled with is
the expenditure of £42,666 upon the maintenance
of the constabulary force. There can be no satis-
factory reason,:we should think, why the expense
of maintaining a policeman in Lancashire should
be ten or twelve pounds more, per head, than in
other similar counties, or very materially greater
than in boroughs. We are afraid that some of
these gentlemen have rather too gOod situations ;
and that there are more inspectors and superinten-
dents amongst them than is absolutely necessary.
We gave, in our last, a statement of the amount
levied, under the head of " county rates," upon the
rural townships in the West Derby union, omitting
those portions of Kirkdale, West Derby, and other
parishes, which are comprised within the borough
of Liverpool, and for which the C
pounds. We have now before us the accounts for
the two years 1846 and 1848, which will shew our
readers the extent to which we are affected by the
increase of this rate. In 1846 the total amount
levied upon the rate-payers of West Derby was
£4,001 ; in 1847 there was a considerable increase,
but we have not the full accounts before us. In
1848 the amount had increased to £7,942, or nearly
doubled itself. The amount paid by the Corpora-
tion of Liverpool for that portion of the union
which is within the limits of the municipal boun-
dary, was, in 1846, £4,526, or, for the whole of the
union, £8,527 ; in 1848 it has been, we believe—
for the accounts of the municipal year are only
made up to July last—something over £6,700, or,
in all, £14,642, being an increase of upwards of
It is really hard that we should be

poration corn-

to our immensely large poor rates, when we con-
sider that, with the exception of the cost of assize
prosecutions, there is scarcely an item in the county
expenditure from which we derive the smallest
possible advantage, having most of them to pay for
our own locality.

It is clearly the duty of the rate-payers of Liver-
pool, and indeed of the community at large, to
take peremptory steps to procure for themselves a
proper supervision over this important branch of
our local expenditure; and we cannot see a more
fitting ground than it affords for the exertions of
such bodies as our national confederation. Indeed,
if the magnificent body, which calls itself the
Financial Association of Liverpool, would devote
itself to the work, more practical usefulness would
result than is likely to attend its labours, as at
present directed to the cheese-paring savings to he
achieved in the salaries and perquisites of royal
kitchen maids and ladies of the bedchamber. We
have no wish to insinuate that the magistracy, who
have at present the control of the county rate, are
wilfully extravagant, or are addicted to jobbing.
But the fact is notorious that all of them are not
men of business, and that they are too much led
away by surveyors and other officials. It is only
reasonable that they should be relieved from their
present position ; and we should think that they
would not themselves object to share their respon-
sibility with some other constitutionally appointed
body, such as that proposed at the Newton meet-
ing. A board, composed of guardians from the
various unions throughout the county, would bring
to the task of superintendence an amount of prac-
tical information, as to the necessities of their
various districts, which would be most valuable to
the community.

THE Chancellor of the Exchequer ought cer-
tainly not to labour under great difficulty in
framing his budget for the coining session. At all
events, he will have suggestions enough from se-
veral quarters, First, he has the luminous tracts