The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-08-16 00:00:00

VTELLE

ace to M. I

on commercial law of t
WEAR VALLEY RA ILWAV.—The half-yearly general
meeting of this company was held at Darlington on Wed-
nesday, when a dividend at the rate of 6 per cent. per

Levi for his work

he world

annum was carried unanimously.
A SOLDIER of the 2nd battalion Grenadier Guards has
just received fifty lashes for knocking down a lance cor-
poral. After the punishment had been inflicted he ex-
claimed " Bravo ! I have stood it like a man ?"
ANOTHER ENGLISH SINGER, totally unknown in her

own country, Miss Bywater, is said by the foreign papers
to have succeeded at the Opera of Berlin, in the revived
Cinderella of Isouard.
SHREWSBURY AND BIRHINGIIA.3I RAILWAY : A STRONG
Not only have the dissatisfied shareholders

MEASUB

b.ot a magistrate in possession of certain important books
of the company, but they have changed all the locks.—
Herepath.
SMOKE NUISANCE

ENT.—Froni tt

November next furnaces in the metropolis are to consume
their own smoke, as also steam vessels between London
and Richmond Bridges. Constables may he empowered
to enter and inspect furnaces and steam engines.
THE CHILLINGTON IRON COMPANY, at the Staflbrd-
shire assizes, obtained a verdict, by consent, for £75,000,
against the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton rail-
way company. The cause of the action was the repudia-
tion of a contract for rails.
BOWLING EXTRAORDINARY.—After a cricket match
lately at Holbeach, Mr. Rippin, a blind watchmaker, made
a bet with Mr. H. Ellis that he would bowl him out in
twenty balls. Mr. Ellis very confidently took the bat, but
the blind watchmaker soon " wound him up" .by knocking
down his stumps with the thirteenth ball.

IT WAS RUMOURED at Constantinople (says a letter
from Vienna) that the yellow flag was flying on board the
British fleet in Besika Bay, and that the French fleet had
retired to Vourla. Fortunately, there is no epidemic fever
among the crews of either squadron, though, owing to the
excessive heat, many of the wen are on the sick lis
fleets are in Besika Bay

xE Finsr PUBLICATION of the banns
3 Brabant with .the Arehduch(

;he Dula

ulster r

Inably to

of the Hotel de V

up, as well

marria

he prineti

place on Sunday, the 21st instant.
MIDLAND RS.ILIVAY.—Mr. Bell, the secretary of the
Midland Company, will, it is said, early in autumn, take
a seat at the board •, to be succeeded as secretary by Mr.
Sanders, the general manager. The office vacated by Mr.
Sanders will be filled by Mr. Allport, at present the ma-
nager of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire. These
changes, it is added, may be expected early in autumn.
LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.—The half-
yearly meeting of the London and South-Western Railway
Company was held on Wednesday.. The report of the
directors was agreed to, and resolutions declaring a divi-
dend of 3i per cent., and authorising the construction of
a double line from Dorchester to Exeter, and a double line
from Southampton to Exeter, were agreed to. The half-
yearly meeting of the New South-Western Steam Navi-
gation Company was held immediately afterwards, when a
dividend of 5 per cent. was declared.
FIRE IN LONDON.—One of the most extensive fires that
'has occurred in the metropolis for some time broke out on
Wednesday morning, a few minutes before one o'clock, in
the premises of Messrs. Itirkman, piano-forte manufac-
turers, Dufour's-place, Broad-etreet, Golden-square. Pro-
perty valued at several thousand pounds sterling was laid
in ruins, and between seventy and eighty workmen were
deprived of their tools and thrown out of employment.
The flames, which raged 'five hours, communicated to
several of the adjoining premises. The cause of the con-
flagration is not known.
Tins OMNIBUS TRADE.-.—Few who have not specially
considered the subject are aware of the importance of the
omnibus trade as a means of conveyance, of traffic, and .
even of revenue. In the London trade alone there are
1200 omnibuses, emPloying 12,000 horses and 6000 omni-
bus servants, including cads, ostlers, helpers, &c. The
yearly wages paid to these men amounts to no less a sum
than £436,800, and the yearly consumption of corn, hay,
and straw amounts to £501,800 per annum. The revenue
received by the government from the omnibuses is very
considerable. RAI omnibus pays a yearly license which
costs three guineas, and a mileage per omnibus which
amounts to :1320 per annum.—Morning Herald.
' TUB COMAUSSION OF INQUIRY into bribery at the
Canterbury election has closed its sittings. A curious
fact came out during the proceedings. Mr. Coppock, in
his examination, produced a brief, which he said was the
one preparedfor the defence of Sir F. Kelly, in 1843. He
produced it to show that it was intended to prove that the
expense Of the election was only £5OO, when it was in
reality much more. Sir Fitzroy Kelly said he believed
this paper to be the brief prepared for his defence, which
was place:lin-the hands of Mr. (now Sir Alexander) Cock-
burn. It was lost from the committee-room on the third
day of ' the sitting. How it came into the hands of Mr.
Coppock, the solicitor employed against him—how a
solicitor could come into possession of his opponent's brief,
and not; immediately return it to its proper owner, must,
he said, be explained hereafter.
`DIE CRYSTAL PALACE COMPANY.—The first ordinary
general meeting of this company took place on Monday
last, at the London Tavern, air. S. Laing, M.P., in the
chair. The secretary, Mr. Grove, read a report, which
stated that with regard to the state of the works and the
general progress of the, nuclei-biking, the directors had
only to repeat their conviction that everything was pro-
gressing towards a favourable result. The only operations
of any great Importance remaining to be accomplished in
the building -were those connected with the covering in of
the central transept, which had been already commenced,
and one 'of the ribs fixed in its place. The statement of
accounts to the 7th of July last showed that the receipts
amounted to £601,595 12s. ld., and the payments to
£440,550 e3sc 9d., leaving a balance of £61,045 ss. 4(1. The
chairman, in moving the adoption of the report, said there
was not the slightest doubt that the building would be
completed and ready for opening by the time specified. ,
Tun .Fniercu EMPEROR TUB POBT.—The poet
Jasmin dined on Saturday at-St. Cloud. In the evening
he was asked by the emperor and empress to recite some
verses. HC:improvised, as is his wont, in his native
Languedoc patois, then translated into French, and after-
wards repeated his composition in the original Languedoc.
The peculiar beauties of lasmin • were thus, in a great
measure, reticle intelligible to his audience, and made a
great impression upon their- majesties. When the poet
perceived that his august hesrers were in a melting mood,
he suddenly aisked the empemiefor the unconditional par-
don of his fellow-townsman the ex-quester*Baze, a native
of Agen. The emperor parsed for a few moments at this
unlooked for, end as it night, have been supposed (for
Napoleon 111. is not in the habit of improvising•
pardons)
ill-timed boldness, and thensaid--" Jasmin, I grant your
request, mid if M. Baze slnuld ever intrigue, against me,
I shall hold pnitand your poetry responsible.'
THE END SiircrrprEs Inn Maras.--One"J. Bonus,
Presbyter," the idol-priest of " Our Lady of Grace of
Acton," whose characteristic appeale to the "-charity" of
Ithe "keithfuL" have been occasionally noticed in our
leolumns, in a letter to the Catholic' Standard, adverting
to what he conceives to have been a 'quiet sneer" on the
„part of the editor • respecting
"our lotteries and raffles.'
.vAhich are a favourite method of "raising the wind'
the Papists, delivers himself of the 'following,: dictate of
;Jesuit morality :—"Wirith regard to the principle of suchaffears,
affears, I question if your condemnation of it would be
quite as strong as histwhose name is subscribed ; but if, is
qften highly legitimato, to orefit Lytle toleration cif:a
false principle, otherwise o'er wisest and holiest 'mm,
secukr and ecclesiatriical, arc as mistaken as my poor
little lumble self." The eater in a poetseript—evidently
in a prat fright lest hie orthodoxy shouldbe questioned—
declares that he has never "mid one word:against lotteries;
raffles, •or any other .sut.l2 mode of raining funds for
Catholic.-

)urposes.

esr TOLLS.—A leter froni

alucng

the Hon.. H. Manners

Sutton to the Home-office,_states the reasau3 which have
induced tlte Shipping DIM -Commissioners to defer their

report .on ,Passing TolLs. I.lr. sutton, after explaining
.that the commissioners hi/1.-visited Dover, Whitby, and
litridling,tou, and stated thatthey deemed it premature to
make Suggestions as to their future management, thus
proceeds :--'44'We are indeed of vpinion that, in .each of the
three cases wh:ch we have ineestigated, the " Passing Toll"
is a specialtax, levied, upon parties who do not receive from
the applicatiou of the tax any adequate benefit, These
tolls are, however, in each instance, burdened with heavy
Idebts, incurred ander-the imtbority of acts of parEginent,
and ,for these, 00i4ts, in two. rases!. cat of the • three, the
"Pafsin„.7 Tolls ',form practically the sole security_ But
the question as.to-the mode in which -unjust or imiNglitie
dues, thus burdened, should be dealt with, is one of great
'magnitude. .Wehelieve that there are elsewhere charges on
ships, or on
_goods oirrik. in ships, levied upon parties
who do aot receive from tic applicationof these taxes any
adequate benefit, but whim form a part, if-not the whole,
of the security for debts contracted under a statutable
authority, and it is prolable that the .amount of these
charges and debts is consiterable. We havenot, indeed,
as yet, had either time or opportunity- to obtain accurate
information upon this suliect, but it is clear that the
principle upon which any taggestions with regard to the
Passing Tolls" and the chbte secured upon them might
be founded, would be lilewise . applicable to the .other
charges to which we have Tferred. . Again, in two eases
-eut of the three, the future maintenance of the har-
%ours, no less than the rights of the creditors, depends on
the " Passing Tolls," and it wq'xld, in our judgment, be
premature to enunciate a principle of dealing with har-
bours thus situated, until we fir( mere accurately informed
with regard to the number and the nature of the cases to
which the application of such a principle would extend.
We:think, moreover, that it would be desirable to submit
to her Majesty at the same time and in the same report,
our recommendation with respect to all the charges on
Ships, or on goods carried in /hips, which are levied at
each of the harbours to which wi have referred, as well as
those which are collected elsewhre fontheir maintenance.
At Dover, both fees and duties ree levied on ships, and on
goods carried in ships, which firm part of the borough
fund ; and at both Dover and at Whitby a local coal duty
is collected in aid of the rates fir paving, watching, light-
ing, &c. Each •of these taxes brms part of the security
for the debts of the corporation, and lighting and paving
commissioners respectively. ' Islnv the system which town
dues, &c., are levied on ships; O 7 on goods carried in ships,
and applied to town or nnuahipal purposes, prevails in
many, if not the majority, of he principal ports of the
United Kingdom. The annual amount thus levied and
expended is not at present aceuately known to us, but it
,may probably be estimated at reproaching half a million
per annum; and the debts secirecl on these town dues,
&c., are undoubtedly large, prolably proportionate to the
revenue. This subject, then, is one of great importance,
not only to shipowners, but to the public ; and we feel
that at this early stage of our inquiry, and with the in-
complete information which ye at present possess, it
would be premature, and nigh prejudice the deliberate
consideration of the whole sublvt, if we were to submit
any specific recommendations w.th regard to the above-
mentioned chafes levied at Do-el 4 and Whitby, forming,
as they do, but a small branch d' an extensive and com-
plicated question?' The report toncludes by stating that
the commissioners are busy obtaning information on the
points referred to above, and thatthey were about to pro-
ceed on
a tour of inspection to tmsg outporN,—Sunzier.
laud Newt.