The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-06-12 00:00:00

11)15tritt Reivs.

During the last twelve months, there have been seized,
at Manchester, twenty-two thousand pounds' weight of
unsound meat, which would most probably have been sold
to the public for food.
The Manchest°r Guardian states that during Whit-
week one hundred and fifty thousand persons left that
town by railway; and during the corresponding week of
last year one hundred and sixteen thousand.
The Bishop of Chester consecrated the new church of
St. Nicholas, Sutton, in the county of Lancaster. Sutton
was formerly part of the parish of Prescot, which has, by
an Order in Council, under the Church Building Acts,
been constituted a distinct and separate vicarage and parish
for all ecclesiastical purposes, and St. Nicholas is the
church of the new parish. It has been endowed with a
portion of the tithes, dues, &c., belonging to Prescot.
The church, which contains 400 sittings, all free, has been
built by King's College, Cambridge, patrons of Prescot,
in whom the patronage of the new vicarage is also
vested.

FATAL ACCIDENT AT POULTON, NEAR FLEETWOOD.—
An inquest was held at this place on Wednesday, on view
of the body of four women, who lost their lives under
the following shocking circumstances. A widow, named
Kirkham, with four daughters and two nieces, occupied a
shop in Church-street, near the market place. Between
2 and 3 o'clock on Tuesday morning, one of the daugh-
ters (Agnes) perceiving a smell of burning, went down
stairs to ascertain the causer when she found that flames
were issuing from an unoccupied room on the second
story. She immediately alarmed the family, and some of
the neighbours were attracted to the spot by her cries.
Before a ladder could be raised to the house, she threw
herself from the window on the third story, and being
caught by a man below, happily escaped with but little
injury. The premises were entered with as little delay as
possible, when one of the daughters and two nieces were
found quite dead, having been suffocated whilst endeavour-
ing to escape from th flames. Another daughter ex-
pired in the course of the day. Mrs. Kirkham lies in an
insensible state, and fears are entertained that she will
not long survive. It would appear that the sufferers, on
being aroused, stayed to dress themselves, and thus
perished. The names of the deceased are as follows :
Elizabeth Kirkham, aged 47 ; Sarah Kirkham, 30 ;
Eleanor Ball, 14 ; and Margaret Ball, aged 6. The cause
of the fire is at present enveloped in mystery.
MANCHESTER UNITY OF ODD FELLOWS A.M.C.—The
annual meeting of delegates from the various districts of
this Unity was held during the Whitsun-week at Black-
burn, Lancashire, when the attendance was not so large
as upon former occasions, on 112 representatives being
present. The proceedings terminated on Saturday, and
were altogether of a very gratifying character.—The ques-
tion of obtaining legislation again occupied the attention
of the meeting, and elicited considerable discussion. It
was stated that the bill for that purpose, which was in-
troduced into the House of Lords in the last session by
Lord Beaumont, was so mutilated in its passage through
the house as to be totally unfit to meet the wants of the
society, and a resolution was ultimately adopted to the
effect that while it is highly desirable, to have better pro-
tection for the accumulated funds of the Order, which
the bill of Lord Beaumont would afford, yet, should the
legislature think proper to make such alterations as would
interfere with the present system of government, that
districts should be recommended to petition against it.—
A letter to the Chairman, from Lord Dudley Stuart, was
laid before the meeting, in which his lordship recom-
mended that as the select committee on the Friendly
Societies' Bill would meet on the Bth instaet, and were
desirous of hearing evidence on the subject of the Order,
its requirements, rules, &c., three witnesses with the
officers should be appointed to afford the necessary infer-
formation. The officers of the order wil h three of the
board of directors were accordingly authorised.—Some
new laws were passed and alterations made, and the
meeting proceeded to the election of officers for the en-
suing year, when D.G.M. Luff, of Liverpool, was chosen
G.M. without opposition, and Mr. Bradley, of Hyde, as
D.G.M., for which office there were six candidates; Mr.
Henry Ratcliffe, was reelected as G.S., and John Richard-.
son, Esq., of Cockermouth, was again appointed Trea-
surer, giving security to the amount of £looo.—The next
annual meeting will be held on Whit-Monday, 1850, at
Halifax.—A dinner in connexion with the meeting took
place on Wednesday, at which James Pilkington, Esq.,
M.P. for Blackburn presided, the Rev. Gilmour Robin-
son filling the vice-chair ; both gentlemen were sur-
rounded by many of the influential inhabitants of the
town and neighbourhood. Many excellent and edifying
speeches were delivered, and the whole proceedings of
the week will tend to place the Order upon a firmer basis
than it has hitherto attained.—The present number of
members is 134,000, whose annual contributions amount
to upwards of £150,000.
FARMING IN THE ORMSKIRIC DISTRICT.—The Orms-
kirk district is throughout very productive, and yields
good crops of both grain and roots. The land in the
vicinity of the Leeds and Liverpool canal is much enriched
with manure. The rents range from 40s. to 50s. per acre.
In some parts there is a greater proportional quality of
grass land, but fully three-fourths of the district within
eight or ten miles from Ormskirk are in an arable state. In
some of the townships, as Burscough, Scarisbrick, fully
nine-tenths of the land is under the plough. On the new
red sand-stone ridge, in Aughton, there is a greater por-
tional quantity of grass land ; and though ten to twelve
miles distant from Liverpool, the land is let at £3 to
£3 ss. per acre—some small portions as high as £5. The
tithes are ss. to Bs. per acre, and the rates 9s. The profits
of the land, for a considerable number of miles around Li-
verpool, have been somewhat diminished since the opening
of the railways, in consequence of the abundant supply of
milk obtained by that means of conveyance, which has
tended to diminish the average price of that commodity,
and reduced very considerably the number of cows kept in
the town for milking purposes ; and hay and straw, &c.,
which formerly commanded a good price, and wer sold offe
the farms from all parts of the surrounding country, are
now very difficult to sell, and depreciated considerably in
value, and though the rents have remained unchanged, the
rate of farming profits is unquestionably diminished.
Throughout the greater part of this district, the cultiva-
tion is so complete that little remains to be desired in the
way of improvement on the generally established practices.
It may probably be thought a severe course of cropping is
pursued—potatoes and wheat being the principal crops—
oats, beans, and clover occasionally intervening, and
nearly the whole of the produce sold off the farms ; but it
must be remembered that a large quantity of town dung,
containing all the elements of fertility, is purchased an-
nually, which repairs the exhaustion of the crops. Drain-
ing is effected to a considerable extent; and may be ad-
vantageously extended. The fields, also, for an arable
district, are smaller than is desirable, and the hedges are
studded in many places with timber. The average size cf
the present enclosure are about five or six acres ; and if
the area was increased to ten acres on the smaller farms,
and twenty acres on those of larger extent, and the hedge-
row timber removed, the productiveness of the district
would be considerably increased. The value of the timber
which might be advantageously removed, would, in many
localities, be equivalent to the cost of the removal and re-
disposition of the boundaries of the enclosures.—Report
on the State of Agriculture in Lancashire, by G. Beesley.
THE BARD OF COLOUR.—Mr. Rose has probably writ- 1
ten as much verse as any man in Lancashire, although, as
yet, he has never contributed any very ponderous volume
to the world of letters. It pleases us, however, to record
the numerous little works that have emanated from his
vigorous and industrious pen at different periods. In the
first place we have a very pleasing " Collection of Son-
nets ; which are highly commendable, both in matter and
style. They exhibit much excellence of feeling, and oc-
casionally some free and flowing rythm. Here and there,
we probably have some slight defects of metre and inele-
gance of diction, but, upon the whole, they betray some
warm and noble emotions, boldness of conception, and
strength of expression. One or two of them have pleased
us exceedingly, both for their fervency of emotion and
melody of versification. Another poem, entitled " The
Coronation," is a pleasing production, and manifests a
goodly flow of poetic feeling and poetic utterance. We
have read it with much satisfaction, and can cordially
coincide with the Countess of Blessington when she so
approvingly called it " a very charming poem." In some
places, we must, impartially speaking, confess that he de-
scends a little to the common-place, although this may
probably have arisen from some haste or inadvertency in
composition. The poem has run through four editions,
has been very generally read, and reviewed by most of the
London and provincial papers in a laudatory strain. A
beautiful copy of it was presented, through the present
Earl of Carlisle, to her Majesty, the which she graciously
received. It is a good specimen of the author's powers.
Upon the occasion of the Manchester Mechanics' Institu-
tion Bazaar, Mr. Rose produced a very acceptable poem,
entitled " The Bazaar," which won the approval of the
committee, and went through two editions. It is a some-
what pleasing performance ; light and thrilling in versifica-
tion, and warmly enthusiastic in matter. It was a pretty
successful production and sold somewhat extensively. A
beautifully pathetic monody on the death of a young lady
formed the subject of another production under the title of
"The Cypress Wreath." Of this the Countess of Bless-
ington, who should be no mean authority, expressed her-
self as " very much pleased with the perusal," and
, prounced it as well expressed, and written with great
feeling and judgment." With this we most cordially
agree, and consider the poem to be one of the best pro-
ductions the author has brought before us. It is the
utterance of grief in the most fervent sentiment, and
there is a poetry of feeling and language infused into its
contents, that cannot but enlist the sympathies of every
reader. It is written with considerable ease of style and
versification, and manifests throughout much of real
poetry, both in the matter and the manner in which it is
rendered. Upon another local event, the Manchester
Fancy Ball in aid of the Public Baths and Wash-houses,
Mr. Rose again plied his pen in the production of a clever
and pleasing little poem, entitled The Fancy Ball."
This, although possessing some flowing and musical ver- I
sification' did not prove a very successful undertaking,
although the object it had in view, and the general merit
of the production itself, ought to have secured it a good
shere of public patronage. Upon the whole, Mr. Rose
has fully maintained his claims as " Laurent of the Isles."
His productions have been generally well received by the

press, and among some of the higher authorities who have
been pleased to eulogize them, we may mention Lords
Brougham, Morpeth, Stanley, Russell, Lansdowne, Sy-
denham, with Charles Dickens, Moncton Milnes, Harrison
Ainsworth, William Ewart, Joseph Pease, and other emi-
nent literaryand political characters.—Siockport Mercury.
The Manchester Examiner gives full' particulars of the
number of Sunday-school children carried by the local
railways during Whitsun week. In three days 4302 were
carried over the line of the London and North-Western

Rai l wayl the Macclesfield branch,
10,529 • on the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire
line, about 12,000 in the course of the week ; and on the
Lancashire and Yorkshire, 15,260. How much innocent
amusement must these trips have produced.
A GRATIFYING FACT.—At the Rochdale petty sessions
on Monday. there was not a single prisoner; and it was
stated that there had not been a single individual put in
the lock-ups for drunkenness or any other crime during
the last eight days, althoual there are 231 licensed public
houses, 295 beer houses, 90 hush-shops, or houses where
ale and spirits are sold without license, and 43 brothels in
the division. There is not a similar record on the books
for the division, which comprises a population of about
150,000 persons.

. .
CLAIMS MADE UPON AND COMPENSATIONS ALLOWED
BY THE MANCHESTER CORPORATION.—At the time when
Manchester was treated a corporate borough, some heavy
claims were made by legal officials, and others, 'for com-
pensation for loss of emolument. The three principal
parties were, Mr. Oswald Milne, clerk to the county
justices, sitting at the New Bailey, Mr. Ratter, the coro-
ner, and Mr. R. J. Harper, clerk of the peace and the
gross amount claimed by them was upwards of £60,000.
After tedious litigation, the *hole of the claims have been
settkl as follows :—Mr. Rutter, instead of an annuity of
4434 tier life, and an additional sum of £2,031, which he
cla'rned, was awarded, and is now receiving, an annuity of
£277, without any additional amount. Mr. Milne, in-
sti :11 of receiving the amount which he claimed, of
£34.724, is compensated with " nil." The latest claim
for e.)qpperoation, that of Mr. R. J. Harper, has just been
disp,sed of in an equally satisfactory manner. instead
of receiving an annuity for life of £744, equivalent to one
gross sum of £19,351, he is allowed an annuity for life of
£683.
THE TEN HOURS' BlLL.—There is another movement
in the manufacturing districts in reference to the Ten
Hours' Bill. The operatives intimate an intention of ap-
plying for an eight hours bill, while the millowners and
manufacturers are desirous of extending the hours of
working to eleven hours. The latter, according to the
Manchester Guardian, have deliberated, and "the result
of their deliberations has been the almost unanimous
adoption of a memorial on the subject to Sir George Grey,
as the home secretary, setting forth their views, and in
effect praying for an amended act. Numerous and influ-
ential deputations from various towns are to have an inter-
view with Sir George Grey, on Monday next, in order to
present similar memorials, and by their statements and
arguments to enforce the substance of their prayer on the
consideration of the government. These memorials have
been signed by no fewer than 536 firms, employing 167,892
hands, and paying, according to the ascertained average
wages of 1844, more than £85,000 weekly in wages of
labour." The signatures to the memorial are so far
curious as indicating the number of hands employed in
the different towns, viz. :—Manchester, 25,045; Rochdale,
5,850; Hyde, 9,195; Bury, 6,338; Chorley, 2,718; Hey-
wood, 4,042;' Burnley, 2,348; Wigan, 3,051 ; Oldham,
8,310 ; various towns, 19,513 ; Preston, 14,659 ; Ashton-
under-Lyne, 15,244; Stockport, 11,880; Stalybridge,
6,580; Bolton, 5,557 ; Carlisle, 2,079.
THE CORN TRADE.—Mr. Levi, the celebrated chiro-
pedist, advertises in our paper to-day a reduction of his
charges for this his last week. The numerous and highly
respectable testimonials to his ability, which he has laid
before the public, constitute an ample guarantee of his
skill in eradicating those evils which the " toes are heirs
to." All who would profit by his acknowledged skill
should favour him with the opportunity of plucking the
sting from their sorrows, or else limp on through life,
martyrs to the excruciating tortures of the corn laws. Mr.
Levi will, we learn, leave in a week, his annual visit calling
him to London.