The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-04-12 00:00:00

or fivepence

this there may be much to approve; but, consider-
ing the suspicious source whence it emanates, it
should be received with caution ; though it may be
that age has. brought experience, and that Lord

JOHN, in his declining years, has forgotten some
of his' former Whiggery, and sobered down into

something of a reasonable being.

An announcement was also made that a more
searching enquiry would be instituted into the
administration of Charity Trusts for the purpose of
Education, for which a Bill would shortly be intro-
duced by the LORD PRESIDENT of the Council. He

proposed that in cases where the income was under
£3O a year, the question would be decided in the
County Court, and those of larger amount would
be referred to the MASTER OF THE ROLLS or a
VICE-CHANCELLOR.

Lord JOHN also announced that it was intended
to consolidate a department of Art, for the establish-
ment of Museums, and to encourage the Schools of
Design already established in the country, by sup-
he best drawings at half price.

plying them with i

The fourth and last department of the Minister's
speech was in reference to the Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge. He expressed approval
of the changes which had taken place at Cambridge,
and intimated a kind of threat to the authorities of
Oxford University, that if they did not avail them-
selves of the opportunity afforded by the respite of
another year, the Government would perform the

ungracious task.

THE

MAGISTRATES AND THE
TOWN COUNCIL.

WE alluded a short time since to the evident un-
fairness and injustice with which a Committee of
Magistrates had published a charge of disgraceful
conduct against certain members of the Town
Co uncil, upon the ex parte statement of an Inspector
of Police. In condemning this course, we were
altogether uninfluenced by any political bias, as
those whose conduct was impugned were mostly
opposed to us in political opinions. At the meeting
of the Council, on Wednesday, the question was
entered upon, and justice was done to the accused,
though at the expense of those who made the
Alderman PARKER stated that the

accusation

charge against himself referred to a circumstance
alleged to have taken place so far back as 1842 ;

rers, that, notwithstanding

the Magistrates' reiterated confidence in the in-
tearitv of th

it subordin;

te, that

very official had
isly, on a charge

cvniilrl }

a gentleman

n the po

n of Alderman PARKER to call upon

n to re

made, and so

uPPor

.er Councillor

denial of a

ons upon their character. It

confirmed the justice of our previous remark, that
the charge ought never to have been so publicly made,

or, if made, it should have been accompanied with
such details as would have given the public an

opportunity of testing the worthlessness of it, which
the case had it been stated in
The report of the Finance Com-
mittee on the subject of the alleged inter

definite terms.

erence in

granting licenses to marine-store dealers, which

was presented to the Council, amply proved the
absurdity of the charge to which the Magistrates
had lent a too-willing ear; and this was further
corroborated by the report of Mr. SHUTTLE-WORTH,
the Town

-Clerk, who entered into the details of
very case which had been alluded to. One fact
spoke volumes, and that was, that, notwithstanding
as many as 530 Licenses had -been applied for in
one year, the Committee of Magistrates could only
point to five instances of alleged mal-administration
during the number of years over which •their
charges extended. We may presume that the
Magistrates were sincerely anxious for the public
good when they undertook the inquiry, but they
seem to have been unfortunate in placing too great
reliance on their informer, and injudicious in pro-
claiming their discoveries before they had better
evidence of their truth. Mr. ROBERTSON GLAD.

his defence of his magisterial colleagues,
enlarged upon the beauties of repentance_; but it
would appear that his sympathies were more with
the Police Inspector than his brother Councillors,
or perhaps he could not forget the mortification of

STONE, in

a political defeat.

THE NEW PILOTAGE BILL.

THE proposal of Mr. CARDWELL to centralise in
his own department of the Government the control
over all the Pilotage authorities in the kingdom,
has excited much anxious discussion and difference
of opinion in this Port, which is perhaps the most
affected by the measure. The Shipowners, par-
ticularly those engaged in the foreign trade, are
naturally and properly anxious that nothing should
Eciency of the Mersey pilots, while, on
and, the owners of steam•boats and
other vessels in the coasting trade feel the hardship
of having to contribute to the maintenance of Pilots
from whose services they derive a less proportion of
advantage

impair ti

the other 1

In the first place, it must be conceded
that it is of the greatest importance the Pilot Service
of Liverpool should be preserved as fully and ncom-
pletely as possible, not only on account of the
immense amount both of lives and property which
are constantly in jeopardy, but also from the
dangerous nature of the entrance to the Port,
arising from shifting sands, which renders a con-
stant familiarity with its navigation indispensable
to safety. In this respect it differs from many
other Ports, where the frequency of visits by
masters of steam-boats and coasting vessels render
Pilot service in such cases almost unnecessary, and
consequently it has been usual to license such
masters as Pilots. This has not been done at
Liverpool, and, according to the statement of Mr.
CARDWELL, the refusal arose from the Pilotage
authorities here being doubtful whether they had
legal power to issue such licenses without contra-
vening the local act. The doubt he proposed to
remedy by giving the Board of Trade power to
over-ride the local act; but the bill goes further,
and instead of confining the authority to the local
Pilotage Board, proposes to supersede its functions,
by investing the Board of Trade with power to
grant licenses to masters and mates. The parties
interested in foreign shipping complain that such
an alteration would mar the efficiency of the Pilot
service here by diminishing its source of income,
while those proposed to be benefited are naturally
in favour of its adoption. It will har.lly be disputed
that the local authorities are far better judges of
the requirements of the Port than the hoard in
London can by possibility be, though it may have