The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-08-30 00:00:00

Ocrioil'ktaitharV.

'TUESDAY

XD.RiviNG-,.AUGUST 30, 1853

THE

WEEK

TICE weather has been more unsettled during
the week : bright sunny days alternating with brisk
showers and high winds ; but the quantity of rain
fallen has not been very great, and, should we have
more bright warm days, no harm will have been
done even to the wheat still out in the fields. The
reports of the crops generally throughout the
country are of a very favourable character, the chief
drawback being the diminished breadth of land in
wheat tillage. The reports of disease in the potato
crop appear to have been considerably exaggerated ;
for although this mysterious scourge has undoubt-
edly re-appeared, and in some places with much
virulence, there are very large supplies of excellent
quality available for consumption. The spirit of
speculation has, however, been active in this staple
commodity, and prices have, in consequence, gone
up, a circumstance of not unusual occurrence at
this season of the year.

We are now beginning to experience some of
the ill effects of enhancing too much the value of
labour. It would appear that when wages are be-
yond the limit of sufficiency for necessaries, the
working classes reduce their earnings themselves
by refusing to do so much work, and the evil is
becoming evident in the collieries, particularly in
the neighbourhood of Wigan. It is said that the
quantity now obtained is insufficient for the de-
mand; that the boatmen, who are paid by the trip,
are suffering from detention, and that ships in the
docks are kept waiting, from the inability of obtain-
ing the requisite supply, while the price is en-
hanced to the consumer, and must be more so.
We have abundance of this valuable fuel within
convenient reach of Liverpool ; circumstances have
combined to give additional remuneration for labour

to procure it ; and yet, so perverse is human nature,
that the labourers have combined to hinder them-
selves from taking advantage of the improvement,
and by so doing deprive the consumer of all the
benefits which might be obtained from the proxi-
mity of the coal-fields. It is difficult to devise a

remedy under such circumstances, for men cannot
.be • compelled to work, if they choose to be idle ;
but, perhaps, if they persist too far, they may find
themselves superseded, either by additional sup-
plies of coal from other pits, or by the employment
of fresh hands. It is to be hoped, however, that
they will see the folly of their proceedings, and
render a resort to such expedients unnecessary ; as
they may depend upon it that, if the masters are
driven to such a remedy, they will not return to
the old wages upon mere submission. An instance
of this was afforded in the recent strike of the dock
labourers in London, who turned out for higher
wages. The masters refused to submit, but ob-
tained a fresh supply of hands, and the old ones
lost their employment altogether.
The Dock Committee have prudently resolved

to take the opportunity of purchasing some
eligible freehold land near the canal, at a cost of
03,103 155., in order to provide beforehand for
increased accommodation in connection with the
docks. As such a purchase involves a nominal
illegality, until the requisite powers can be in-
cluded in an act of Parliament, Mr. BIGHAM has
displayed a sudden fit of squeamishness which
might well have been spared, considering that a
prudent bargain for the benefit of the Dock estate,
if not exactly en regle, will tell better on the Ist
of November than an opposition to it.
The same Committee, at their meeting on
Thursaay, expressed their ~..vvrovta of the new
Customs Act, as giving greater facilities to the
Dock Trust in the collection of their dues and the
prevention of frauds. They avowed their obliga-
tion to the Chairman of the Board of Customs
and the Secretary to the Treasury, for the great
courtesy with which their representations had
been received and acted upon, and passed a resolu-
tion of thanks to those gentlemen and the Solicitor
to the Customs. Considering the neglect which
Liverpool has often experienced at the hands of
the authorities, it is gratifying to be able to refer
to an instance to the contrary.

The Health Committee have resolved to meet in
future at half-past two, instead of eleven o'clock,
notwithstanding an objection raised that the later
hour would be inconvenient to the representatives
of the press, and perhaps prevent such full reports
of their proceedings being published. It will, per-
haps, be better for the transaction of public busi-
ness, as those who raise the objection are strongly
suspected of indulging in long speeches in order
to see themselves in print. _ _

The screw-steamer Brazileira started on Thurs-
day, on her first trip to the Brazils, and from her
qualities as a sea-boat, the reputation of her builder,
Mr. JOHN LAIRD, of Birkenhead, and the liberality
of her enterprising owners, she is expected to make
a rapid voyage. There is no surer way of extend-
ing the operations of commerce than by the estab-
lishment of a line of swift and powerful steamers
between distant ports. It secures a speedy inter-
change of communications, and while providing for
the transit of passengers, and the more valuable
commodities, increases instead of diminishes the
amount of freight by sailing vessels. In thus act-
ing as a pioneer to commerce, Liverpool has out-
stripped all her competitors ; and with her mag-
nificent steamers to Australia, Canada, the United
States, Panama,
the Coast of Africa, and other
places, must shortly see her commercial operations
extend far more rapidly than even her recent great