The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-02-02 00:00:00

titude which may be supposed to c

breasts of her popula
efforts in their behalf, in the distress

)n:tOwards a ch

in which they are placed, have been so persevering-
ly assiduous. On the contrary the movement of
Mr. Bickersteth and his clerical friem

was en-

tirely unconnected with any temporal question ;
and related merely to the carrying out, with greater
energy, of a work, which has been long in progress,
and for the completion or advancement of which

the present movement, irrespective of any scarcity
or famine, bad been pointed out to them as most

auspicious

But putting asic

this true ye:
curnstanees, upon which Lord Bra

sion of the cir

bam has based

in their working, would have a more absolute tendency
than aught else that could be devised to mitigate the
general visitation."
Most cordially we assent to the recommendation
of the Times, that the clergy should bestow their
efforts in this direction. There can be no doubt

that much may be done by the exercise of economy
to increase the available supply of food fnr the
people.. We are ourselves under the impression,
however, that the scarcity is scarcely so great as it
is either represented or imagined to be ; and that
large stocks would be brought forward for con-
sumption if the public would resolutely set their
faces against the exactions of dealers and retailers.
One week's refusal to consume potatoes, for in-
stance, at the present exorbitant prices, and the
substitution for them of some other description of
food would startle those numerous parties through-
out the country, who are keeping their supplies
closed up in their pits in the expectation of still
higher prices, although at the risk of finding them
when opened, decayed and unfit for human food.
The dearest thing which the poor man can set be-
fore his family at the present moment is a meal of

potatoes; and if the Wealthy and the mic
would for a time abjure the use of this root, we
should very shortly see its price more closely ap-
proaching its small intrinsic value as human food.
There are abundance of substitutes to be found,
the use of which only require to be tried in order
to he appreciated by those who at present have
imbibed the notion that a dinner without potatoes
is only half a meal.

WORKING OF THE ALBERT DOCK FOR

JANUARY

The prevalence of adverse winds during the past month
has kept this, along with our other docks, bare of vessels;
and it was not until the 27th ult. that we had any material
business doing. Since that date, however, the dock has
been very actively at work, and a large amount of business

has been got through. An instance of amazing dispatch
occurred on Saturday last, in the case of the latherland,
305 tons register, from China. This vessel entered the

th the forenoon tic

By five o'clock she was finished
of tea, 650 bales silk, 100 do

Inded 3298 chest;

the short space of 54 hours, inclusive of lunch time.
Another instance of dispatch was the Chimera, 125 tons,
which commenced dischrrging on the 27th, and finished
on the 28th, occupying only 12 hours. The cargo' dis-
charged consisted of 88 butts, 87 carotels, and 40 brls.
of currants, and 286 pieces of fustic. The total tonnage
which has entered the dock during the month, is 30 vessels,
12,040 tons, the bulk of which has come in within the

WHAT WILL LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S NEW
POOR LAW n rOR IRELAND.

The objection which

urged against this proposed

owners of property in'lreland to support their own poor;
is forcibly illustrated by some recent proceedings in the
Castlebar Union. It will be remembered, as having been
stated in Parliament, that although the workhouse in this
Union is capable of holding 600 inmates, only 106 could
be admitted, owing to the want of sufficient funds to sup-
port its full complement. On Saturday week, we are told
the guardians met to take into consideration the bankrupt
state of the Union ; Mr. Otway, the assistant-commis-
sioner, was present, and in very f ►rcible language urged
the guard' t- " to raise -

_ _unis to s ~:e a rate by winch a sum,
sum to enable them to receive GOO paupers, the number
it was erected to contain. On a division it was found that
13 voted against, and only 3 tor the new rate. In the

and Sir Roger

Palmer

" After the guardians (says the Telegraph) had decided
on not striking a new rate, or to levy funds for the sup-
port of the poor, Mr. Otway pressed upon them the actual
necessity of arranging for the support of the 106 paupers
in the house. They, however, made no arrangement,
trusting, as they stated, that the collector would be ena-
bled to collect sufficient funds to procure food for the
weekly support of the pauper inmates. This, however,
is a very precarious provision, for the collector declared
he would not undertake to collect unless protected by the
military and civil power."
Conduct so heartless as this, persisted in, too, in the
face of very strong remonstrances addressed to the guar-
dians by the poor-law commissioners, ought to be proof
enough that a poor-law in Ireland. to be of any use, must
be compulsory in its provisions. These Castlebar gentry,
under Lord John's proposed measure, would be "per-
mitted" to give out-door as well as in-door relief to their
poor. The scope of their benevolence would be "per-
mitted" to extend itself. But the inclination to fulfil
even their present limited duties is clearly wanting. The

present awful destitution of the country is insufficient to
unlock their hearts ; and the ministerial permission to be
just, will, in their case, remain a dead letter.

On Sunday morning last, after a sermon by the Rev.
J. Martineau, the sum of £438 was collected at the Uni-
tarian Chapel, Paradise-street, for the relief of the dis-
tressed Irish. _ _