The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-03-28 00:00:00

LIABILITY OF INNKEEPERS•

BEVEBIDGE V. BROWN.—In this case, Alexander Beve-
ridge was the plaintiff, and William Brown the defendant,
and the declaration stated that the defendant keeps an inn
for travellers, that the plaintiff was received there with a
writing case, containing money and valuables, and that
the defendant did not keep it safely, but, on the contrary,
it was stolen by some person unknown. Mr. Atherton,
Q.C., with Mr. Henderson, appeared for the plaintiff, and
Mr. Attorney-General Knowles, with Mr. Millward, for
the defendant. Mr. Atherton stated the case. Alexander
Beveridge, the plaintiff, is a traveller in the employ of
Messrs. Robert Shiel and Co., wholesale confectioners, who
carry on business at Edinburgh ; and the defendant;Wm.
Brown, against whom the action was brought, is the land-
lord of an hotel in this town, which is called Brown's
Temperance Hotel, in Clayton-square. The action had
been brought to recover damages from the defendant in
respect of a loss which occurred to the plaintiff, whilst he
was a guest in the house of defendant, and whilst he had
property there, which entailed upon the defendant the
responsibility of making good to the plaintiff his loss.
The facts of the case, the counsel said, were few and
simple. For two years, till October last, the plaintiff had
been in the habit of putting up at the defendant's house,
and had been there he was instructed to say ten or twelve
times. On the first of October, last year, on Saturday,
the plaintiff arrived in Liverpool and went to the hotel of
the defendant. He had with him a writing-case, a part
of the contents of which formed the subject of action.
He took it into the defendant's house, and put it in the
place where he had been accustomed to put it on previous
journeys. He saw it on the Sunday following, and on the
evening. of the Monday following ; but on the morniifg
of Tuesday-, the 4th of October, upon coming down stairs
and inquiring for his writing-case, it was found to be
missing. Beyond all doubt the writing-case had been
stolen from the commercial-room of the defendant's
house, for information being given to the police it was
discovered. At half-past seven or eight o'clock on the
morning of the 4th of October, a person who, it appeared,
had been lodging at the house, went to the house of a
Mrs.'Swinnerton, who had lodgings to let in this town.
The person had with him a writing-case, which turned
out to be that of the plaintiff. He was left in the
-parlour, whilst Mrs. Swinnerton was engaged up stairs,
and when she came down after some little time she found
the person had departed, and he had left behind him a
writing-case which had been opened. Mrs. Swinnerton sup-
posing that it might be the intention of the person to
return took charge of the writing-case ; but in a short
time, feeling uneasy, she took counsel with friends, the
writing-case was examined, and the name of the maker was
found upon it. The matter was reported to the police ;
the desk was forwarded to the plaintiff in Edinburgh, and
when examined, it was found that a sum of £64 had been
abstracted from it. Immediately on missing the writing
desk, the plaintiff communicated his loss to the defendant.
The defendant appeared to be about to commence a jour-
ney, and he received the communication with anger. He
said he had often cautioned commercial gentlemen against
leaving their writing-cases in the commercial room; but
the plaintiff stated that no • such caution had been given
to him. The whole question, Mr. Atherton said, resolved
itself into a matter of law. 'With respect to carriers and
innkeepers, the law of the country was peculiar, and im-
posed obligations which were not imposed upon persons
who carry on other businesses. Neither of them, if they
had convenience, could decline a guest or refuse to carry
goods; and the measure of his responsibility did not de-
pend upon any private understanding or bargain, but de-
pended upon the common law of the country, which dictated
it in every case ; and the law with respect to innkeepers
was this, that the guest resorting to a house, and taking
goods with him, was entitled to look to the innkeeper in
the shape of an insurer ; and if the goods were lost, in the
absence of gross neglect, clearly proved and traced to the
guest, the innkeeper was liable, although it might turn
out that he himself, as in this case, had been the victim
of dishonesty or robbery.
The plaintiff was then examined, and Sullivan, detec-
tive officer. This closed the case for the plaintiff, and
rio Mr. Attorney-General Knowles addressed the jury for
the defendant. He said he could hardly conceive a posi-
tion more perilous in which an innkeeper could be placed
if he could be made responsible for the goods of a guest
under such circumstances, as he would be the victim of
plunder to any extent. No doubt, as a general proposi-
tion, an innkeeper was said to be an insurer ; but that
went on the supposition that the party coming to the inn
would use all reasonable care and vigilance, and that he
should not be guilty of gross negligence, but take that
care which a reasonable man should do He submitted
that the plaintiff, leaving his case where he had not proved
that any traveller had left his money before, deprived
him of all right to recover from the innkeeper.
His Lordship, in summing up, said, no doubt an inn-
keeper was bound to receive as guests all who applied for
whom he had accommodation. He was bound to protect
their property in his house, but, at the same time, the guest
must use ordinary and reasonable caution for the protec-
tion of his own goods. The question was, whether the
plaintiff had been guilty or not of gross negligence, in not
taking his money into his bed-room, after seeing, as it ap-
ptared from the evidence, that he had two suspicious per-
sons in the house.
The jury returned a verdict for the defendant, and
The court then adjourned till 9 o'clock this morning.

SHIPPING AND MERCANTILE
MISCELLANY.

GENERAL AVERAGE IN TUE UNITED STATES.—In a
recent case before the Treasury department, where a
" general average" contribution was claimed of the United
States, it was held, that when property is thrown over-
board for the safety of the vessel, and it shall appear that
the vessel was overloaded by the owner's agent from im-
proper motives, the entire loss of the property is charge-
able upon the shipowner, even if it were shipped to be
carried on deck.—Boston Post.

TriE TELFAILA PEI IN AMERICA.—The length of the
telegraph lines in the United States exceeded 15,000 mile
in 1852, and has since considerably increased. The mos
distant points conBected by electric telegraph in North
America, are Quebec and New Orleans, which are 3,000
miles apart. When the contemplated lines, connecting
California with the Atlantic, and Newfoundland with the
main continent, are completed, San Francisco will be in
communication with St. John's, Newfoundland, which is
distant from Galway but five days' passage. It is there-
fore estimated that intelligence may be conveyed from the
Pacific to Europe, and vice versa, in about six days. The
cost of erecting telegraphs does not average more that £35
per mile throughout the United States. The charge for
transmission of messages from New York to Washington,
a distance of 270 miles, is 50c. (2e. ld.) for 10 words, and
and sc. (2id.) for every additional word. The charge to
the press is Ic. per word under 200 miles, 2c. between 200
and 500: and the New York papers, bearing the expense
jointly, publish every day as much matter received by
telegraph as would fill two columns of a London news-
paper. Commercial men use the electric telegraph in
their transactions to a very great extent, and it is used by
all classes of society as an ordinary method of transmitting
intelligence. Telegraph wires in towns are almost uni-
versally carried along the top of houses, or on poles
erected in the streets, instead of being conveyed in pipes
underground. So little difficulty is meet with, on the part
of proprietors of houses, that telegraph lines are in some
cases erected by private persons for their own particular
use. As an instance may be mentioned the case of a large
manufacturer in New York, who has an office in one part
of the city, while his works lie in a contrary direction. In
order to keep up a direct communication between both,
he has erected a telegraphic wire at his own expense, and
carried it over the tops of the houses intervening between
his office and emission, having obtained, without. any
trouble, the p of their various owners.—Mr,
Whitworth is Reprt (NeW York Industrial Exhibition),

THE BA.LTlC.—Nothwithstanding its extent, the Baltic
has all the characteristics of a great lake. No sea has, in
proportion to its size, so great an influx of fresh water ;
hence it contains but little salt. In proportion to the
North Sea, this is found to be as 194 to 373. The depth of
the Baltic on the west is not more than 15 fathoms, and
in general, it is only from 8 to 10 fathoms deep ; on the
south it is nowhere more than 50 fathoms ; but towards
the north it deepens to 100 fathoms. The Baltic receives
the waters of the Niemen, Vistula, and the Oder, besides
numerous lakes and small streams. The great amount of
sand and mud carried down by these rivers has considerably
raised the bottom of this sea, and closed the mouths of
many of its navigable streams, so that ships which formerly
entered these rivers must now be anchored at a considerable
distance from their mouths. This, together with the nu-
merous islands and sandbanks, and the gradual upward
movement of the bed of the sea at the rate of several feet
in a century, renders navigation on the Danish shores of
the Baltic troublesome and dangerous. It has no tides, or
rather the effect of the tide is so little felt as not to be ob-
servable ; but is subject to changes of level, depending on
the winds, retarting or accelerating the passage of the
water through the Sound and the Belts. During winter
this sea is usually frozen to a greater or less distance along
the coasts ; and in severe winters not only the Sound and
the Belts, but a7great part of its surface, is covered with ice.
The ancients were but slightly acquainted with the Baltic;
its shores, however, gave forth those hardy warriors
who overthrew in its decrepitude the Roman empire, and
laid the foundations of European States.
TRIAL FOR COLLISION.—In the Admiralty Court, on
Friday, the case of the Edward Johnston v. the Wansfell,
was heard before Dr. Lushington. The Edward Johnston,
of 997 tons, bound from Liverpool to Mobile with a light
cargo, and being in ballast trim, and the Wansfell, of about
the same tonnage, from Bombay to Liverpool, laden with
cotton, came into collision with each other near the Sker-
ries Lights at two .a.m. on the Ist of December last.
According to the statement of the Edward Johnston the
wind was S., inclining to W., and she was sailing close
hauled on the port tack, heading W.S.W., when she descried
the Wansfell right ahead. She immediately luffed until
her sails began to lift, and, perceiving that a collision
would occur, put her helm down to ease the blow. She
contended that the Wansfell had the wind free, well aft,
and ought to have given way. The Wansfell represented
the wind as being south-east, and alleged that she was
close hauled on the starboard tack, heading north-east-by-
east. On .the Edward Johnston being reported she
instantly luffed, and came up a point and a half, but the
Edward Johnston, instead of giving way, as she was bound
to do, suddenly starboarded her helm, and thus caused the
collision. Cross-actions were entered by the respective
parties. The Judge, after calling the attention of the
Elder Brethren by whom he was assisted to the principal
points in the case, and having conferred with them, said
they were of opinion, and he concurred with them, that
the collision was occasioned principally by the conduct of
the Edward Johnston, and that blame was also attributable
to the Wansfell. There being cross-actions, and neither
party having succeeded, each must pay their own costs.
FATAL CoLLISTON IN THE CHANNEL—The American
ship Ann Kemble, Capt. Pike, entered Plymouth Sound on
Friday afternoon, with five feet water in her hold, having
been in contact, at half-past one that morning, with the
barque Bonetta, belonging to Liverpool. The barque re-
gisters 267 tons, and was bound from Pernambuco (with
sugar) for Hamburgh. She had been towed into Fowey,
and left that port with the captain's wife on board on
Wednesday evening. At the time of the disaster the Start
bore S.S.E., distance 19 miles, wind N.E. by N., weather
hazy ; she was under all her canvas, and had her port tacks
on board.; -the helmsman mistook the Amer.can's light for
the Portland Light, and, when too late, ported his helm.
The barque was struck on the bend of the port bow, and,
being heavily laden, went down almost immediately head
foremost. The master, W. W. Taw, mate, Richard Colinas,
and second mate, John Border, were the only persons
saved. The American was of 1,000 tons burthen, and,
being in ballast, was high out of the water, so that the
barque's foreyard only reached the ship's bulwarks at the
time of contact. The Ann Kemble was bound from Lon-
don to Cadiz, and was under courses, topsails, topgallant-
sails, mainroyal, jib, spanker, maintopmast staysail, on
the starboard tack, steering west by north. Her stem is
split, and woodends started, and she has gone up Catwater
to repair. Eleven persons belonging to the Bonetta were
drowned, viz.: Mrs. Taw, the master's wife; James M`Do-
nogne, of Dublin, ship's carpenter ; Luke Kaney, of Wex-
ford ; Wm. Bird, of Newcastle ; Daniel Morris, of Fish-
guard ; and John Jones, of Liverpool, able seamen ; Wm.
Watkins, of Plymouth, steward ; _Daniel Lamb, an Irish-
man, ordinary seaman ; Edward Fergoe, of Liverpool; and
Michael Wallace, of Dublin, apprentices; and Frederick,
'the ship's cook, of Bristol.