The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-11-16 00:00:00

Ebt 7Liberpool &tanbarb.

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TUESDAY MORNING, NOV. 16, 1847.

We think it our duty to call the attention of the
burgesses of the four wards for which elections are
to be held on Wednesday, for the purpose of filling
-op the places of the four members of the Council
recently chosen as aldermen, to the following para-
graph in the official notice issued by the Town-
derk

"Those burgesses who, being enrolled on the burgess
roll, as rated in respect of premises in Castle-street Ward,
- Great George Ward, Rodney-street Ward, and Abercromby
'Ward, and also in respect of premises in any other ward,
did, at the several ward elections, holden on the first day
. of November instant, select their wart by voting in any
other ward, other than Castle-street, Great George, Rod-
ney:street, or Abercromby Ward respectively, will not be
entitled to vote at any of the present elections."
Thus, a b.frgess having a double qualification;—
say, in Castle-street and Everton,—who, on the Ist
©f November, voted in Everton, cannot, on Wednes-
day, vote in Castle-street Ward, or, during the legal
existence of the preSent register, vote in any other
ward 'except EVertOn, the one selected. This inter-
pretation of Section 44 of the Municipal Act, which
regulates the right of parties having votes in two
or more wards, was laid down in an opinion given
by Sir Frederick Pollock, dated 28th October, 1840,
Upon a case furnished to him by the late Town-
clerk, and communicated by him to Mr. Penning-
ton, the solicitor for the Conservative Association,
and Mr. J. G. Snowball, solicitor for the Reformers.
It will have a considerable bearing upon the result
of the elections in two of the wards—George's
and Castle-street—on Wednesday, neither of them
having been contested on the Ist instant, and most
of the voters with double qualifications having
most probably voted in other wards.

Mr. Bramley-Moore having of necessity vacated
the chair of the Dock Committee, when his period
of service as an Alderman had expired, and the
Vice-Chairman, Mr. W. Nicol, being similarly
situated, it became doubtful whether these gen-
tlemen, if again elected, would choose to occupy
such onerous and troublesome situations as those
which they have so admirably occupied for the last
four years. The Council acted wisely in re-electing
both these gentlemen as Aldermen; and they will,
no doubt, be again elected to the same offices as
they have filled with so much credit to themselves
and advantage to the town at large. Fearing,
however, that the events of the last week might
render their acceptance of the Chair and Vice-Chair
of the Dock Committee somewhat doubtful, a re-
quisition to each of them was placed in the Ex-
change News-room, and in the course of a few
hours was signed by a great number of our most
influential mercantile firms, of all shades and politics.
We are happy to find, from the subjoined corres-
pondence, that we are not to lose the inestimable
services of either Mr. Mooie or Mr. Nicol, but
-that both gentlemen have, in a frank and cordial
manner, acceded to the wishes of so many of those
who are most competent to appreciate their services.
We subjoin the correspondence, which, we are sure,
will be perused with pleasure by every one who can
appreciate talent and Etegrity. and who desires to
see the Dock Estate of Liverpool wielded by masterly
bands.

(COPY.)

Liverpool, 11th Noverriber, 1847.

DEAR SIRS,—We have been 'desired to present to you
the enclosed requisition, signed in a very few hours by a
great number of the most respectable Merchants, Ship
Owners, and Brokers, in this town, and had time per-
mitted no doubt numbers more would have had great
pleasure in joining in the request.
We sincerely hope you will comply with their wishes,
snd beg to subscribe ourselves,
Dear Sirs, most truly yours,
(Signed) J. NELSON WOOD.
THOMAS CHILTON.
To S. Bramley-Moore Esq. and William Nicol, Esq.

(Copy.)
Liverpool, 12th November, 1847.
DEAR Stns,—l have to acknowledge your kind letter,
addressed to myself and Mr. Nicol, accompanied by a
requisition, signed by upwards of one hundred and fifty
firms, composed of merchants, shipowners, and brokers,
requesting that we would resume our respective positions
at the Dock Committee, in the event of our being re-
elected.

To such a requisition there can only be one answer :
that of cheerful and ready compliance with a request
signed by so many influential parties and kind friends.
Permit me, through you, to thank the requisitors for
this expression of confidence, and to assure them of my
best endeavours to discharge the onerous duties of Dock
' Chairman to the best of my ability, with impartiality, and
for the general benefit of the commerce of this great port.
I beg also to thank you personally for your very friendly
and kind conduct on this and many other occasions.

—My friend, Mr. Nicol, speaks for himself, and I have
the pleasure herewith to transmit you his answer.
I have the honor to be, dear sirs,
Your obliged and faithful servant,
(Signed) J. BRAMLEY-MOORE.
To John Nelson Wood and Thos. Chilton, Esqrs.

COPY.
Liverpool. 12th November, 1847.
DEAR SIRE3,—The requisition which you have conveyed
to Mr. Bramley-Moore and myself, bearing, as it does,
the signatures of nearly all the most eminent merchants
and shipowners of Liverpool, could not fail to be very
;ratifying to me.
Any hesitation that I may have felt in resuming my seat
ill the Dock Committee, has arisen entirely from a belief
that recent events, connected with the Council of the
Borough, implied a want of confidence, in the minds of
the trustees, of my capability to perform longer the duties
of the trust to the satisfaction of the town. Such impres-
sion may have been erroneous, and it is, at all events, re-
moved by the very flattering communication which you
have presented to me. I shall, in consequence, willingly
place myself again at the disposal of the trustees for re-
election, if they see fit, to a seat in the Dock Committee ;
*lid I am,
Dear sirs, yours very faithfully,
(Signed) WILLIAM IsitcoL.
To John Nelson Wood and Thomas Chilton, Esqrs.

For some years past we have laboured in the
columns of the Liverpool Standard to impress upon
the attention of successive administrations the in-
justice and the tyranny of the coercive policy which
has been adopted towards the West Indian body,
and again and again we have reiterated the warn-
ing that, without some large modifications of that
policy, the ruin of that body and the abandonment
of our colonies were inevitable. The former of
these results has been already, in a great measure,
accomplished. The West Indian proprietary have
year by year been drawing nearer and nearer to the
state of bankruptcy predicted. Plantations, once
productive of large profits to the cultivators, have
ceased to give even the cost of the labour em-
ployed ; and many are already abandoned, or
parcelled out as squatting grounds for the emanci-
pated and naturally indolent negro. _
A correspondent of the Daily News, in illustra-
tion of this fact—no very great friend certainly to
colonial interests—after referring to an article on
the West India interest, furnishes the following
statement :
" An account of sales of six hogsheads .and two tierces
of sugar, handed me by a merchant a few days ago, gave
ale the following results :
Duty to government
Nett proceeds
A. similar sale of one hogshead gave—
For the government duty
Nett proceeds l2 18 10
giving a proportion in each instance of two-fifths to the
government, and of three to the proprietor of the estate ;
with this difference only, that the government receives the
cash : the proprietor has immediately to hand it over to
others, to defray the cost of production. The balance
sheet, therefore, of a West Indian estate, of £5OOO per
annum, will be as follows :
Proceeds of estate .. ,
Duty to government.
Cost of production

£5OOO 0 0
£2OOO 0 0
3000 0 0

------ 5000 0 0

Balance for the proprietor
0 0 0
From which it appears that government derives a revenue
of £2OOO per annum from an estate which gives its owner
nothing."
The coming of the latter result is now evident to,
and admitted by, even that party, the carrying out
of whose arrogantly dictated measures has pro-
duced the evil by which it is being caused. The
last pound weight which breaks the camel's back
has been laid on by the policy which withdrew
• from the West Indian planter the small remnant
of protection which he possessed, in the exclusion
from our markets, of sugar, the production of slave
labour; and without some prompt interference of
the home government to neutralise or to balance
That-step, the fate of these valuable colonies is now

We ksk on behalf of the West India body, for