The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-10-29 00:00:00

CORONER FOR CHESTER DIVISION OF CHESHIRE.—We
draw the attention of the electors to Mr. Massey's address,
which appears elsewhere. Mr. Massey is highly recom-
mended by Mr. Faithful Thomas, the present coroner.
THE SOIREES FOR THE SEASON.—It gives us great plea-
sure to learn that those delightful meetings, the Royal Insti-
tution Soirees, which have for several seasons contributed so
much to the instruction and gratification of the elite of the
town, are to be continued, and that there will be four during
the ensuing winter. The committee, we are informed, are
making strenuous exertions to secure the services of eminent
lecturers, and to adopt such measures as will add considera-
bly to the interest of the meetings.
DEATH BY BURNING.—CAUTION TO PARENTS.—On
Wednesday, a boy of four years of age, residing with his
parents, at No. 3, Standish-street, was left in the house,
yesterday week, by himself a short time by his mother.
During her absence his clothes caught fire, and on her return
she found him in flames, which were soon extinguished, and
he was carried to the North Dispensary, where he was at-
tended to, but he was so much burnt that he died on Wed-
nesday last. The inquest was held this day.
ROBBING A CHlLD.—Yesterday a girl named Mary Kelly
was placed at the bar of the Police-court, on a charge of
having taken the shoes from the feet of an interesting female
child, who was produced. A female stated that she had
seen the prisoner with the child in an entry in Chesterfield-
street, and heard the former say, " My dear, I'll take you to
our door." She suspected something wrong, and followed,
when she found the child without hr shoes, and saw the
prisoner run off. She pursued, crying, "Stop, thief!" A
young man came up, but as the prisoner also cried, " Stop,
thief," he was puzzled at first which of the two to seize.
He, however saw the prisoner throw something over a rail-
ing in Rathbone-street, and secured her. The shoes were
afterwards found on the ground behind the spot. It ap-
peared the prisoner had before been committed for stealing a
necklace from a child in a similar way. She was committed
to gaol for three months.

AN ALLEGED DESERTER.—At the police-court yesterday,
a tall, stout, and rather good-looking man, named Edward
Riley, was placed at the bar on a charge of having acknow-
ledged himself to be a deserter. Three privates of the Rifle
corps appeared, and stated that they had gone into a public-
house to get a glass of beer, and there met the prisoner, who
stated to them that he was a deserter from the 4th Dragoons.
The prisoner, who treated his accusers with great apparent
nonchallance, denied the charge in toto. "Is it likely," he
said, " if I were a deserter, that I would tell it to such chaps
as these,—that I would throw myself into the hands of my
worst enemies? I never wore the cloth for a day or an hour,
and never shall. They have missed the fish this time any -
how. They have:made a bad job of it." (Laughter.) The
••ourt, however, were not quite satisfied with this disclaimer,
and ordered that he should be examined. Mr. Dowling ac-
cordingly procured the " Hue and Cry," and the prisoner was
put down, and his dimensions, complexion, &c., &c., ac-
curately scrutinised, with a view to prove him to be one of
the numerous military runaways in that periodical, but it ap-
peared that he could not be identified, though Mr. Dowling ex-
pressed his conviction that he had been a soldier. He was
accordingly dismissed, Mr. Rushton remarking that he would
probably, after what had happened, not again represent him-
self as a deserter. The prisoner left the bar, muttering nothing
complimentary to his accusers, who had certainly " missed
the fish" they expected they had hooked.
DOCK COMMITTEE MEETING YESTERDAY.—Members
p►:esent :—Messrs. Benn, Horsfall, Barclay, Holmes, Evans,
T. Holt, Sands, Booth, Bulley, Tobin, Chapman, Middle-
ton, G. Holt, and Aikin. The Sub-committee of Works
recommended that a gas lamp should be placed at the head
of the Clarence Graving Dock, for the better protection of
property during night. The Dock Surveyor reported that
he intended finally to close the entrance to the Canning Dock
on the 4th November, which would, of course, block up the
Salthouse Dock and the Canning Graving Docks, notice of
which had been given to the Corporation. A letter was read
from Captain Murdoch, of the sloop Pilot, complaining that
the master of the George's Dock had allowed a vessel just
come in from sea to go into a berth before the Pilot, although
the latter had been waiting three or four days ; and, accord-
ing to the captain's statement, there was room in the dock at
the time he was prevented from going into a berth. The par-
ties were called in, and a long examination took place, the
master of the dock justifying himself by saying, that there
was not room for the Pilot, but the other vessel being a
smaller one, he was enabled to let her go into a berth sooner.
The captain also stated that the dock master did not use
proper respectful language towards him. The parties were
then ordered to withdraw, and after the committee duly
considering the case, they resolved to admonish the Dock
Master, and to inform him to afford coasting vessels every
facility ; and also to endeavour to keep his temper. Mr.
Evans said they ought to discourage direct appeals to the
Committee, for all of them ought to be made, in the first
place, to the Harbour Master of the respective district, and
afterwards there was an appeal there. They had been occu-
pied nearly an hour, with all the disadvantages of distance
and time, and want of all the circumstances which the Har-
bour Master would have had at the instant presented to him.

This proposition being approved of, the Dock Master was
called in, and the Chairman said to him, that during the ex-
istence of the present press for room, all the Dock Masters
had been directed to give to all vessels every accommodation,
and the Committee had even dispensed with the standing
rules in some cases with a view to accommodate, and the
Committee thought that Captain Murdoch was not treated
with the civility and attention he was entitled to. There
appeared to have been room for this vessel, and the
reason why he was refused was not stated to him. In
point of fact, they both lost their tempars, but the Com-
mittee thought that the matter ought to have been stated to
the Harbour Master, and whenever a complaint was made,
he must give the Harbour Master an opportunity of inves-
tigating it, who would give a report of the case to the Com-
mittee ; that would exonerate him from much blame, and
save the committee much trouble. He must also endeavour
to keep his temper, for that was not the first time they had
had him up before them on a similar occasion. The Marine
Surveyor submitted a general report of his department, and
of its state of efficiency, which was read. A letter was read
from Messrs Rankin and Gilmore, requesting the return of
dock charges paid on the Lady Falconer, which vessel had
been unable to get into dock, and had proceeded to the Clyde.
The Committee were not satisfied that they had the power,
and the matter was referred to the Solicitor. The request of
J. and A. Walker to be allowed to dedicate a chart of the
coast from Liverpool to Holyhead to the Dock Committee
was granted. The reply of the South Harbour-master to a
letter sent to him by Mr. Mason, the Secretary, by direction
of the Sub-committee, was not considered a sufficient answer,
and he was directed to give the subjects in the letter his con-
sideration, and report thereon. His remarks about " gaol
delivery" and putting up with the inconvenience complained
of, were considered by the committee very improper. Sundry
other matters of minor import were disposed of, and the
committee adjourned.

CAPTAIN TAYLER'S BREAKWATER

In another column will be found an advertisement for
.t 1

ormation of a company for the purpose of bringing in

more prominent notice the breakwater invented by Capta
Tayler. As we have not an opportunity of judging of the
merits of the invention for ourselves, we copy the following
article on the subject from the Times of yesterday.
On Wednesday an opportunity was afforded us of examin-
ing a model of the new wooden breakwater invented by Cap-
tain Tayler. It was about two feet long, and represented a
perfect prism. Through the centre runs a very strong beam
or keel, smaller beams cross and recross this in an almost
endless series, secured by bolts at both ends. These connect
it with the beams which form the sides of the prism, and
those again at the ends which form the angles are secured by
means of transverse pieces of timber. No correct idea, how-
ever, can be formed of the strength and beautiful arehitec-
tore which this model conveys to the mind of the invention,
without the assistance of a series of diagrams, we shall not
therefore attempt a laboured description, but proceed to men-
tion the manner in which it is proposed to be employed for
the security of harbours, and the method of mooring it.
The breakwater may be of any length, but it is divided
into sections of 60 feet. The timber employed is red
pine, so arranged that three-fourths of the breakwater will
be immersed. It will be always 18 feet below the level
of the immersion, and 6 feet out of the water. As the pre-
sent iron mooring chains. if of required strength, would not
only increase the weight but the expense of the breakwater,
without adding anything to its usefulness, the difficulty is
overcome by forming them of straight-grained timber—it
being admitted that this material will bear a much greater
strain than an equal weight of iron. The timber employed
for this purpose is red fir, larch, or American ash, in lengths
of 12 feet. Three of these form a section of the mooring.
The centre-piece is nine inches deep and 41 inches thick, and
those on either side 9 inches deep and 21 inches thick, making
the whole 9 inches square. These are bound together with
flat iron hoops put on red hot, in order that the contraction
of the metal when cold, shall more firmly embrace and clasp
together the three members of the section. At each end of
the centre-piece are three saw-cuts, about 2 feet long, and
into the centre cut an oak wedge is driven, which spreads the
timbers about 4 inches, thus forming a dove-tail. Before
driving these wedges in, the iron hoops, as well as:the staples
for connecting them with other sections of the mooring, must
be put on and made tight by the wedges. The specific gravity
of these moorings, exclusive of the connecting links, we were
informed, will not exceed by 20 per cent. that of the water.
The breakwater will be moored obliquely to the waves, and
will admit the sea to pass under, over, and through it, thus
breaking and dispersing the waves, and converting all within
its barrier into smooth water. The inefficiency of stone
breaks for the purposes intended was noticed in The Times
a few weeks back, and consequently a mere allusion to the
fact will be sufficient ; but we do not think that any notice
was taken of the circumstance that air more than water is
the enemy of stone breakwaters. This was proved some
time since at Plymouth, where the stones were dovetailed,
and a hole having been made by a breach in the wall, the air
was driven with such force into the cavity, that it actually
forced out one of the stones from the very centre of the
work ! The consequence was that the admiral, fearing a
repetition of the accident which happened some time ago—
namely, a direct rupture of the breakwater, no longer
sanctions the dovetailing. It is stated that upwards of 15,000
English vessels, 3,150 American and French, 1,000 Danes
and Swedes, 1.000 Prussian, Norwegian, Dutch, and Russian,
and 500 Spanish, Portuguese, and other vessels, pass the
Mount's Bay annually, amounting in the aggregate to 20,650
vessels, and with the average crew of 10 men to each ve: sel,
the entire number of seamen will be 206,500. The a nnua
loss of lives and the value of the ships and merchandise de
stroyed is immense ; and to prevent this it is said a break
water in the harbour of Penzance, costing only £52,400
would suffice. Under such circumstances, and suppos in
the calculations correct, and the invention all it is re p r
sented to be, it would appear that at no distant date suc h
desideratum will be supplied.

On 'Wednesday, two labourers madly attempted to cro s
the line of the Great Western Railway before an approaching
engine ; both were knocked down, and one was killed on the

spot.
The two " Church of England" clergy said to have been
at the Manchester Conference, are entered as " Bostock H.
Establishment, Aylesbury ;" and " Sencer Thomas,
Establishment, Hinton, near Bath." To name these two
Rev. Gentlemen is only due to the rest of the clergy.—Here-
ford Herald.
• • -

STRAWBERRIES.—On Wednesday morning last, a gentle-
man from the country brought to our office a small bunch of
strawberries, which had been grown in the open air, and not-
withstanding the extraordinary severity of the weather, had
grown perfectly ripe, possessing the customary flavour of
that delicious fruit.—Hull Rockingham.

SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS OF THE DANUBE.—After pass-
ing Grein, we approach " the most extraordinary scene on
the Long Danube, from its source in the Black Forest, to its
mouth in the Black Sea. As soon as a bend of the river has
shut out the view of Grein and its chateau, a mass of rock
and castle, scarcely distinguishable from each other, appears
to rise in the middle of the stream before you. The flood
roars and rushes round each side of it ; and, ere you can per-
ceive which way the boat will take, it dashes down a slight
fall to the left, struggles awhile with the waves, and then
sweeps round between two crags on which are the fragments
of old square towers, with crucifixes planted before them. It
has scarcely righted itself from this first shock, whpn it is
borne rapidly forward towards an immense block of stone, on
which stands a third tower, till now hidden by the others,
and having its
.at foot a dangerous eddy. The boat flashes
like lightning through the tossing wave?, within a few feet of
the vortex, and comes immediately into still water, leaving
the passenger who beholds the scene for the first time mute
with wonder and admiration. These are the Scylla and Cha-
rybdis of the Danube, the celebrated Strudel and Wirbel."—
Penny Magazine.