The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-18 00:00:00

animate his followers. We must now feel that, after all,
measures of this great national importance depend upon
something more solid that the word of any individual,
however sincere or however great.
Sir GEORGE GREY expressed his great gratification at
the unanimity of feeling exhibited on all sides of the house
at the course pursued by his noble friend. He denied that
any pledge had been given by him.
Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT defended the government in the
course they had pursued, and hoped at no distant period
to see his noble friend accomplish this object, and thus
complete the great work of parliamentary reform, with
which his name, his honour, and his fame were so indis-
solubly united.
Sir J. PAKINGTON entirely concurred in the tribute of
respect which his right hon. friend had offered to the
noble lord.. Even had any one for a moment entertained
a doubt as to the personal honour of the noble lord—a
doubt which he believed no one had ever felt—that doubt
would have been effectually dissipated by the speech which
the noble lord had that night addressed to them.

Lord J. RUSSELL.—I beg to express my grateful sense
of the manner in which the statement I have made has
been met by the house. (Cheers.)
PUBLIC BUSINESS.—Lord J. RUSSELL said he proposed
to take the second reading of the Oxford University Bill
on Thursday, the 27th instant, and to proceed with the
committee on that bill on the following day. On the Ist
of May, the President of the Board of Trade proposed to
go into committee on the Railways Bill. With regard to
the measure for the settlement and removal of paupers, it
was not proposed to go on with that measure during the
present session. His right hon. friend intended to move
the appointment of a select committee to consider the law
and practice respecting the removal of Irish paupers from
England and Scotland, and of English and Scotch paupers
from Ireland.

TUB PRESTON STRIKE.—Mr. T. DurtcomßE gave notice
that, on the 9th of May, he should move for a committee
to inquire into the complaints of the working classes of
Preston, as alleged in their petition which had been pre-
sented to the house.

THE PERIODICAL Pass.—Mr.mow gave notice
that, on the 16th day of May, he should call the attention
of the house to the unsatisfactory state of the law affect-
ing the periodical press, and should move the following
resolution :—" That, in the opinion of this house, the law
in .reference to the newspaper stamps is undefined, unequally
enforced, and is a subject that demands the early attention
of Parliament."
THE NATIONAL FINANCES.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, after laying
upon the table the balance-sheet, said it had been his in-
tention to make a statement respecting the revenue for the
year now closed, the condition of the public balances, and
that of the unfunded debt, but, Mr. Disraeli having moved
for further information in connexion with the subject, he
thought it better, as far as any matter of argument was
concerned, to postpone it, and he should confine him-
self to matters of fact. He then stated the amount
of the excess of revenue received up to the sth of
Ateril, beyond the sum he had anticipated on the 6th of
March, and the amount of excess of income over expendi-
tare (as stated in the published account), which showed
the real surplus of income for the year to be about
.£3,000,000, which he thought a satisfactory result, the
more so since the sum he had expected to receive from the
income-tax was less than he had anticipated. He then
detailed the state of the public balances, the amount in
1853, the reduction in 1854 (when it was returned at
£2,778,000), the manner in which the reduction had been
brought about, by the paying off public debt and advances,
and the probable amount of the deficiency bills required
to meet the quarter, namely, £5,852,000. In explaining
the deficiency bill system, and the extent of accommoda-
tion which the government obtained from the Bank of
England, he observed that some of the best-informed per-
sons out of doors believed that the amount of deficiency
bills out on the sth of April represented the amount of
the accommodation given by the Bank, and this amount
had been estimated at from £4,000,000 to £6,000;000 ; but
the amount of deficiency bills chargeable to the 'public
yesterday was only £2,808,000, subject to a deduction for
cash unexhausted,which reduced the amount to £2;129,000,
and this, he remarked, in ordinary times, would not be an
extravagant amount to receive as accommodation from the
Bank. At the present time, however, he thought the
amount ought to .be progressively reduced, and it would
be diminished without the least difficulty ; but this was
the actual extent of accommodation received from the
Bank. It was supposed, he added, that 'this unusual
demand reduced the capital in the market available for
commercial operations ; but this notion, he said, was not
only erroneous, but ludicrously so, inasmuch es'the demand
withdrew from commercial purposes in the London money
market not any sum whatever. There was, 'he continued,
another point in connexion with the Bank, which was
supposed to -be a matter of good faith. - Some persons had
an idea that there had been a sort of compact (unwritten)
between the government and the Bark under which
demands on deficiency bills ought not to be made on the
Bank. Hewas not aware of any such compact ; but there
had been an understanding in 1844 that, if there was a
diminution of the public balances beyond the usual sum,
the Bank would be entitled to a claim upon the govern-
ment, andrviee cored if there was an increase. The pre-
sumption on which this understanding rested was, that
the amount of the public balances wasrto remain in future
as it was at that time. Now, in the two quarters imme-
diately preceding this agreement, namely, January 6,1844,
and April' o, 1844, the amount of deficiency bills was, in
the former £5,462,000, and in the latter £3,967,000. On
the sth of January, 1854, the amount was £3,711,000,
and on the sth April, 1854, £5,472,000. The average amount
of the two quarters 0f1854 was £4,591,000, and that of the
two quarters of 1844, £4,714,000, so that the amount
was nearly the same, or a little less, in 1854 than in
1844. Mr. Gladstone then made a statement of the con-
dition of the unfunded debt, whence-it appeared that the
present amount of Exchequer-bills was £1,174,000 short
of that which the government was authorised to issue,
and he had no reason, he said, to expect that he should
have to make any further demand upon parliament for
more bills, or even to use the whole amount he was au-
thorised to issue. The present state-of public credit was,
be added, highly satisfactory, as he showed by comparing
the present prices of our public securities with those of
foreign countries, and with those of this country at former
periods. The result of the whole was, that the demands
of the government upon the bank for accommodation
(though it was desirable to reduce the amount) were not
calculated to inspire any alarm ; that there had been no
contraction of the resources of commerce ; that the un-
funded debt was moderate, and likely to continue so ; and
that public credit was in -a satisfactory condition, when
the menacing circumstances of the times were considered.
After a tbrief discussion, in which Mr. DISRAELI, Mr.
T. BARING, Mr. LAING, and Sir H. WILLOUGHBY made
some comments upon the statements of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, the paper was ordered.to lie on the table.
The bills for the prevention of bribery in the boroughs
of Cambridge, Hull, Maldon, Barnstaple, and Canterbury,
were brought in and read a first time.
The house.adjourned at ten minutes to eleven, until the
27th instant.

SHIPPING AND MERCANTILE
MISCELLANY.

FREIGHT MONEY AT GREENWICH HOSPITAL, —A
return of freight money at Greenwich Hospital shows that
between February, 1852, and March last the amount was
£9,698 19s. 6d.., ,of which £1,026 19s. 3d. was public
treasure, and £8,(1.2 Os. 3d. private treasure.

TRE PACKET SERVICE OF THE POST-OFFICE.—A return
to the House of Commons shows that in the year ended
January last the amount paid on account of the packet
service was £895,275. The amount chargeable to the
packet service was £801,455, and £Bl,lOO "otherwise
chargeable," in addition' to which £12,720 was paid as
salaries of Admiralty agents on board the several contract
packets.
MAIL PACKETS.—By a return just presented to parlia-
ment, of the longest and shortest voyages from Southamp-
ton to Ushant, made by the contract packets on the iroutes
to the Peninsula, Mediterranean, and Brazils, for the years
1848 to 1862 inclusive, it appears that by the Peninsula
packets, the longest voyage was 84 hours, and the shortest
211 hours. Mean voyage, 3L Average voyage, 26 hours.
By the Mediterranean packets the longest voyage was 36
hours, shortest 21 hours ; mean voyage 20, and average
voyage 24 hours. By the Brazil packets the longed
;voyage was 48 hours, shortest 21 hours ; mean voyage 27,
and average voyage 25 hours.
LAUNCH Or TIIE PRINCE SCREW-STEAMER.—OR Wed-
nesday, the General Steam Shipping Company's new iron
steamer Prince was launched from Messrs. Mare's ship-
building-yard, Blackwall. The principal dimensions of
the Prince are :—Length between the perpendiculars,
295 ft. ; length of the keel for tonnage, 268 10 ft. ; breadth
for tonnage, 43 Oft. ; depth in hold, 33 6ft. ; burthen,
2,706 tons. She is to be fitted with engines built by
Messrs. Maudsley and Co., of the power of 300 horses, and
upon the screw-propeller principle.

Oun SHIPPING IN 1853.—During the year there were
built and registered in the United Kingdom 635 sailing
vessels of timber, of the collective burden of 146,380 tons,
and 10 of iron, of 8,676 tons ; the number of steamers
built was 36 of timber, with a tonnage amounting to 3,305
and 117 of iron, with a tonnage of 44,910 ; 32 colonial-
built vessels (20 of them from New Brunswie_P were
registered here, and 102 foreign ; the tonnage of the
former was 26,443, of the latter 30,073. 69 of our sailing
vessels and 15 of our steamers, with a united tonnage of
5,221, were broken up in the course of the year, and 569
of our sailing vessels, and 12 of our steamers, together of
120,714 tons, were wrecked.
SHIPPING Bms.—Thesecond reading of the "Merchant
Shipping Act, 1854," or what is better known as the Con-
solidated Mercantile Marine Bill, has peen postponed to
the 4th of May ; so that there will be ample time to ex-
amine and discuss the new provisions in the bill. We also
find that Mr. Cardwell has brought in a bill, which was
read a first time, for the amendment of the law relating to
wreck and salvage. This bill was also ordered to be read
a second time on May 4. Why this measnre does not form
part of the Consolidated Bill we are at a loss to conceive ;
but we shall be better able to judge of the matter when the
bill is before us.—Shipping and Mercantile Gazette.

COMPOSITION OF TILE SITICATIIING OP SMIPS.-31.
Bobierre has paid considerable attention to this subject,
and has arrived at the following. conclusions as to the cause
of the rapid destruction of some copper and bronze sheath-
ing :-1. When unalloyed copper is employed, the pre-
sence of arsenic appears to hasten its destruction. 2. All
bronzes which appear to have stood well, contained from
44 to 54 per cent. of tin, that quantity being necessary to
form an homogenous alloy. When the per tentage of tin
is only 2•5 to 3'5, which is very frequently the case, no
definite alloy is produced, and the mass is of unequal com-
position, and, being unequally acted upon is soon destroyed.
3. When impure copper is employed, the alloy is never
homogenous, and is unequally acted upon in consequence.
We thus see that the so frequent destruction of the sheath-
ing of copper-bottomed vessels arises from the tendency to
use inferior brittle copper, and by diminishing the propor-
tion of tin, to economise the difference between the price of
that metal and copper, at the same time that the cost of
rolling is also less, in consequence of the greater softness
of the poor alloy. Bobierre thinks that the addition of a
very proportion of zinc very much improves the
bro mnzse, 41 producing a more perfect and uniform distribu-
tion of the positive metals, and coriseciventl7 a much more
definite alloy,—compies IlenduS,