The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-09-18 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL INFIRMARY REPORT, SEPT. 15.

DISCHARGED: In-patients cured, 18; Relieved and at own
request, 8; Made Out-patients, 3; Irregular, 1; Dead. I.
ADM ITTE : In-patients, 40 ; Out-patients, 8; Casuals during
the week, 12; Remaining in the House, 166.
House Surgeon, Mr. C. B. Wilson; Apothecary, Mr. J.
Newton; Chaplain, Rev.W. Blundell; Treasurer, Alfred
North, lsaq. ; House Visitors, N. D. Bold and Harmood
Banner, Esqs.

NORTHERN HOSPITAL REPORT. SEPT. 15.
ADM ITTEn : Accidents, 35; Medical and Surgical Cases upon
recommendation, 22; Total, 57.—DiscitAttoEn : Cured, 22;
Relieved and at own request, 2; Attending as Out Patients, pa ;
Irregular, 0; Died, 2. Remaining in the Hospital, 93.
Consulting Surgeon, J. M. Banner, Esq. ; Physician and
Surgeon for the week, Dr. Scott and Mr. E. Stubbs;
House Visitors, E. J. Mozley and John Lighthody,
Esqrs.; House Surgeons, Mr. Tearne and Mr. Wall;
Treasurer, B. H. Jones, Esq. ; Chaplain, Rev. Wm.
Ilughes.

ERPOOL, SEPT. 16.

Direct., Indirect.

(Ur kiberpool &tanbari).

TUESDAY MORNING, SEPT. 18, 1849.

WE suspect that Mr. Disraeli is scarcely the
leader into whose bands the agriculturists of Great
Britain can safely commit their fortunes. Indeed,
we should be convinced of the fact, if we could
bring ourselves to believe that his plan of a new
agricultural agitation, put forward last week at
Aylesbury, was one adopted after serious delibera-
tion. There was solid ground for his movement of
last session, against the excessive taxation levied
upon the real property of the country. We con-
tended at the time that he had triumphantly proved
his case. There is truth also in the position which
be has now taken up that the land tax presses une-
qually upon different portions of the kingdom.
But further than this admission we cannot go with
the honourable member. Let us briefly examine
his proposition.
Mr. Disraeli states that the tax in the county of
Buckingham is Is. sd. in the pound, whereas in
Lancashire it is only 2d., and in Liverpool only Id.
in the pound. As thus levied it produces about a
million per annum ; whereas if the rest of England
were made to pay the same rate as Buckingham, a
sum of five millions per annum would be raised
from this source. We give Mr. Disraeli's disposal
of the amount, as stated by himself. He says :

" Now, gentlemen, if we carry out these ideas, and if
the land tax be fairly levied throughout the counties of
England, we shall have, instead of £1,000,000 of capital,
£5,009.000 in hand. . Well, then, what shall we do with
it ? Why, in the old days we should have bad some one
coming forward and proposing the abolition of a single
and paltry tax, which, while it would be a great blow to
the revenue, would individually give you scarcely any
relief. Is that the means by which to regenerate the
imperilled agriculture of England ? Certainly not. What
I propose as a remedy is this—that the five millions should
form a sinking fund, which, safely in hand, would, in less
than ten months raise consols above par, and thus enable
landlords to borrow money to apply to their land at 3 per
cent., instead of paying, as they now do, 4 and 4i per
cent. Then the farmer could go to his banker or neigh-
bour, and obtain from him at a reasormble rate the capital
he required for the improvement of the soil. (Hear,
hear.) There, gentlemen, is your remedy for equal tax-
ation and cheap capital. Mind, when I say cheap capital,
I am not recommending you to depreciate your coin, or
adopt a paper currency, which could not easily be con-
verted into gold. If my recommendation was adopted,
the public credit would be maintained—it would give to
the farmer independence, and remove from their present
state of depression the landlords of the country who could
then obtain all the capital they required for the improve-
ment of their estates at a light rate of interest. (Hear,
hear.) And, gentlemen, if you do not obtain that relief
which the country has a right to grant you, then we must
consider what we ought to do next."

There are two considerations which irresistibly
strike us here. In the first place we cannot see
bow the agricultural interest generally could be
benefitted by the other counties of England being
racked up to the excessive rates of Buckingham-
shire. Imposing an additional tax of four millions
per annum upon the real property of the country
is a singular mode of relieving the sufferings of its
owners. Neither can we see the justice of thus
imposing the burthen of paying off the national
debt, through the medium of a sinking fund, upon
landed interest exclusively. We think these objec-
tions to Mr. Disraeli's proposition will be admitted.
His views, as to the effect to be produced by the
adoption of his proposition, are based upon an utter
apparent unacquaintance with monetary science,
which is almost inconceivable in a gentleman of his
great talent, who must, in the course of his politi-
cal studies, have devoted some portion of his atten-
tion to this subject.
The hon. member assumes that the establish-
ment of his sinking fund would have the effect, in
less than a year, of raising the price of consols
above par, and thus enabling landlords to borrow
money at three per cent. for the improvement of
their land, instead of 4to 4,4 as at present. Un-
doubtedly, the fact of a surplus revenue would give
a buoyancy to the stock market, and perhaps to
some extent raise the price of consols, other circum-
stances being favourable. But the price of money—
the rate of interest—does not depend upon the price
of the national securities, but upon the supply of
money. At present, with consols at 93, if their
price were the regulator of the market for money
the rate of interest. ought to be 31 per cent. Yet
no landowner can borrow below from 41 to 5 per
cent. In October, 1847, consols could not have
been bought to pay much above 4 per cent.; yet in
that month from 15 to 20 per cent. was paid for
the discount of good commercial paper, whilst loans
on mortgage were not procurable at all.

An important element in monetary transactions,
under our present currency laws, is the facility, or
otherwise, with which the securities offered can be
reconverted into money to meet emergencies, created
by those very laws. Thus, money "at call" is often
to be had at 2 to 21 per cent., whilst the interest on
loans for fixed periods is as igh as 4to 41. In
any position of the nation's credit, the commercial
interest, who borrow at short dates, upon securities
(bills of exchange) which can themselves be used as
currency, will always be able to secure the prefer-
ence in the market over the landowner, whose
securities are not readily convertible. We have not
the slightest expectation, under any circumstanccs,
coincident with the maintenance of our present
system, that landowners will be able to borrow at
even 4 per cent. What capitalist will fasten up his
money at a low rate, when the occurrence of a
deficient harvest, or a drain of gold from the coun-
try, may in ,a few months raise the current rate of
interest to 10 or 12 per cent. The Jones Lloyds of
the world at all events know better.

For one important admission we have to thank
Mr. DiSraeli. It is at least a step in the right
path: The honourable member says, "There gen-
tle Men, you have your remedy—equal taxation and
cheap capital." Of course, the expression " cheap
capital," is an error in language. There is no such
thing ; and Mr. Disraeli obviously means cheap
money. Its cheapness, too, he measures by the
rate of interest, which is a further step in the right
path. Cheap money thus measured implies aban-
doned money—sufficient to serve for the ordinary
commerce and exchanges of the country, and little
to spare. But there must be more than this cheap-
ness, in order to effect what he contemplates.
There must be an absence of the violent fluctua-
tion to which money is subject under our present
system; or the landowner will get little of it by
way of loan. We must not have money one
month at 21, and the next at 71 or 12 per cent.;
and such freedom from fluctuation Mr. Disraeli's
plan does nothing to effect.
The honourable gentleman apparently has never
considered the important fact that such a plethora
of money, as he imagines would result from the
establishment of his sinking fund, is in reality
caused solely by an abundance of the precious
metals, giving increased expansion to the circula-
tion of the country, which is based upon gold. So
long as that gold is liable to be drawn from us, to
pay for suddenly increased imports of grain or any
other commodity, to furnish the means of warlike
operations, to be invested in • foreign stock and
otherwise in employment in foreign markets, so
long will every class of every interest in the coun-
try, the agriculturist as well as the man of com-
merce, be subject to ruinous alternations of pros-
perity and suffering ; to over speculation and its
reverse—a crisis; to cheap money with reckless in-
vestment, and dear money with ruinous sacrifice.
Until this wretched system is destroyed, we shall
never have a prosperous agriculture or a safe com-
merce. Mr. Disraeli may depend upon it, that it is
not " cheap money" so much which the landowner
and the community at large require, as an ample
supply of money. that ; iqt:.r,zst, as little
as possible subject to fluctuations.

IT is impossible to read, attentively, the charges
of the Central Board of Health against the Select
Vestry of Liverpool, without detecting throughout
the evidences of a settled purpose to damage that
body. It is palpable that the very existence of a
system of parochial management, possessing the
slightest show of independent action, is annoying
to these admirers of the principle of centralization.
The Chadwick Tribunal is but an off-shoot of the
Somerset-house despotism,—an ambitious off-shoot
however, which would gladly inflate itself to the
bulk of the parent stem—and, hence, we see it
directing all the venom of its censures, against that
body, the Select Vestry, over whose proceedings its
officers hold the least control ; and seeking for fresh
powers to render itself supreme, although every
step taken must have been resolved upon with the
ull knowledge that the body in question is not

answerable for more than a share in the faults at-
tributed to it. For example :—when complaining
that no steps had been made for the removal of the
causes of cholera, preparatory to its approaching
visit to the town, the Vestry is the body arraigned
for the offence. Yet Doctor Duncan and Dr.
Grainger, by one of whom the facts, upon which
the charges of the Board must have been grounded,
cannot have been ignorant that there were two dis-
tinct bodies in the town charged with this duty.
Last year. through the Central Board attempting
to make the Vestry accountable for the cleansing
of certain streets, the subject, as to the respon-
sibility of each, was first mooted. It appeared to
the Vestry that the Health Committee, under our
local act, having a medical officer and inspector of
nuisances, a proper staff of surveyors, &c., with
funds and powers to carry out such sanatory
measures as were thought necessary, was the pro-
per body to be charged with any default in street
cleansing and other precautionary measures. It
was arranged that such precautionary measures
should be the particular charge of the Health Com-
mittee; and that the Medical Relief Committee
should be answerable only for the carrying out of
such remedial measures as might be called for upon
the actual appearance of cholera in the town.
This arrangement was expressly approved by the
Central Board, and to insure its proper working, a
joint committee composed of members of both
bodies was appointed, which, however, seems to
have been tolerably- well satisfied with the manner
in which matters were progressing to arrest disease;
for we find that it only met once between the 12th
December, 1848, and the 17th of May in this year.
The same anxiety to criminate the Vestry is
shewn in the representations made with respect to
the selection and locality of a house of refuge. On
the 9th of February premises were secured for the
purpose, which were subsequently converted into an
hospital, on the representation of one of the medi-
cal officers that its usefulness would thus be in-
creased. When exceptions were taken against its
distance from the district in which cholera was most
rife, the Vestry set themselves at once to the task
of procuring more central premises. They were
unsuccessful for some time. There were few suit-
able buildings in the district; and owners of such
buildings were almost universally opposed to their
appropriation for hospital purposes. Yet we find
the Central Board in the beginning of April
charging the Vestry that cholera was still ad-
vancing, without any steps being taken to provide
a house of refuge. Such steps were daily and per-
severingly taken. Again on the 30th of the same
month the Board remarks :—" Cholera still ad-
vancing and nothing having as yet been done," &c.
Let us see what were the facts.

First, with respect to the extent of cholera,
represented to be rapidly advancing. We had
seventeen deaths in March ; we had eighteen in
April—an advance of one case. In the preceding
months the cases had been trivial. With respect
to the precautionary measures adopted, we shelved
last week that they had been very extensive and
costly. Three new dispensaries had been estab-
lished, to be kept open night and day for the
supply of medicine gratis to the poor, attacked
with premonitary symptoms. Handbills had been
extensively circulated, cautioning all parties to
avoid the causes of disease. Prompt interment,
in cases of deaths from cholera, had been ordered.
The house of refuge in Queen Anne-street had
been opened ; and the medical officers directed to
report all cases of destitution, and the names of
parties requiring to be removed there. Bedding,
blankets, hot water, and other remedial appliances
had been provided and were kept in readiness at all
the soup depots and district dispensaries, to be
conveyed to the houses of the poor, when applied
for. Cars were also engaged, to he available at all
hours for the conveyance of the sick to the various
hospitals throughout the town. So far the Vestry,
through the Medical Relief Committee, had per-
formed their part. We must not omit referring,
however, to what our local Health Committee had
done. A more:strict surveillance had been carried
out over nuisances of every description. The cess
pools throughout the town had been more fre-
quently emptied. Street cleansing had been actively
carried on. Courts had been directed to he washed
out from the pipes of the Waterworks three times
a week : and every effort bad been made to give a
more copious and unintermittent supply of water.
Yet, in the face of all this, we find the Central
' Board, in their criminatory report, asserting that,
" By this time the increase of cholera being very
alarming, and finding none (!) of the measures re-
commended by him were adopted, the medical
officer of health next (on the 30th of May) addressed
the joint committee, &e," the principal object of his
letter being to urge the necessity of opening
houses of refuge. Instead of " none" of the re-
commendations of the medical officer having been
adopted, the establishment of another house of
refuge was the only recommendation which had
not been carried out. Nurses had already been
provided, to be ready as soon as a suitable house
was found ; and the non-establishment of a system
of house to house visitation was attributable to the
representations of the medical officer of the Health
Committee. Dr. Sutherland, an official of the
Board, and well known and valued in Liverpool, had
stated that visitation of the dwellings of the poor
would only become desirable after the disease be-
came epidemic, and was preceded with the usual pro-
monitary symptoms, diarrrhcea, &c.; and Dr.
Duncan had already advised the board that the
cholera in this town-was of the more virulent de-
scription, unattended with premonitary symptoms.
When at length such visitation was ordered, it was
promptly attended to by the Medical Relief Com-
mittee, who directed that the duty should be done
by the parochial staff, reinforced in numbers for the
purpose. This regulation, adopted instead of the
course first suggested by the Central Board—the
appointment of a new and distinct visiting staff—
furnished, no doubt, the ground of that body's
complaint on the subject of visiting.
We,cannot, of course, divine what will be the
verdict of the corijnittee of the Council, at present
sitting to inquire Tilt° the subject. We feel well
assured, however, that it ought to be a complete
acquittal of the Vestry from the charges levelled
against it by the Central Board, accompanied by
a strong condemnation of the not over scrupulous
assertions of that body. No expenditure of time or
money has been begrudged in the effort to protect
this community from the ravages of disease. No
body was less likely to be apathetic in such a crisis,
than the representatives of the ratepayers of this
parish ; for none could be more vitally interested
in the prevention of fatal disease, and its conse-
quent increase of orphanage amongst the popula-
tion. By such a committee we trust that the
object of the Central Board will be readily under-
stood; and that by its report we shall be saved
from the arbitrary interference with which we are
threatened by its officials. We surely possess
amongst this community sufficient intellect and
honesty to qualify us for governing ourselves ; and
we cannot admit that the sanatory improvement of
Liverpool within the past few years has progressed
at all less satisfactorily than that of the metropolis,
which is happy in being placed under the personal
surveillance of Mr. Chadwick and his colleagues.

WHEN Mr. Lahouchere, in introducing his
pilotage bill, informed the shipping interest that
the Trinity Board had been induced to remodel its
management of the coast lights, with a view to li
effect a reduction of clues to the extent of some
£lOO,OOO per annum,7a very general feeling of satis-
faction was evinced at the tardy concession. The
shipping interest, deprived of all protection, im-
peratively required the utmost possible economiza-
tion of every charge which pressed upon it; and an
assault against this irresponsible body, with its vast
patronage and its extravagant management, was a
fair beginning. It was, however, but a beginning.
It was well known that many other similar bodies
existed, on a minor scale it is true, whose exactions
upon our shipping, and especially upon the coast-
ing trade, were most severely felt; and it was
almost universally believed that government would
shortly be called upon to interfere, not solely with
a view to bring the lights of the whole kingdom
under some comprehensive and more economical
management—by purchase and extinction of ex-
isting rights—but to afford relief, eepecially to the
coasting trade of the united kingdom, upon which,
since the extensive introduction of steam vessels,
the dues pressed most injuriously, and unfairly.
This important subject has just been brought
before the public in two able letters, published in
the Morning Herald, and written by Mr. Andrew
Taylor, of Dublin, secretary to the Dublin, Glas-
gow, and Cork Steam-packet Company. That
company, next to the City of Dublin Company,
carries on the most extensive traffic between Great
Britain and Lela ul ; and hence Mr. Taylor's state-

ments are entitled to implicit credit, as based upon
a large experience. Amongst those bodies, by
whom, along with the Trinity Board, our coasting
trade is taxed, is the Ballast Board of Dublin ; a
corporation for preserving and improving that port,
incorporated by the 26, Geo. 3rd, chapter 19. It
is composed of the Lord Mayor and Sheriff for the
time being, with twenty members, three of whom
are aldermen, elected by the Lord Mayor and Town
Council. Mr. Taylor informs us that, of these
twenty, nine are merchants and bankers, one is a
linen factor, one an admiral, one a captain in the
royal navy, and one Mr. Hamilton, the member for
Dublin University. Practically, however, he thinks
that it is managed by officials, styled the ballast
master, the clerk of the check, the examiner of
light dues, the inspector of works and lighthouses,
and the law agent. Where its large revenues are
spent appears to he a mystery. They are certainly
not expended in providing accommodation for the
trade of the port; for it is stated that Dublin is at
present without a single slip capable of accom-
modating one of the existing large steamers.
I,lr. Taylor remarks in his second letter:—

" my letter of the 6th inst., respecting the
grievances under which our coasting trade labours, I gave
a statement of the amount payable for light dues on
one of our steam-vessels, the Viceroy, for one voyage per
week to and from Glasgow, being £617 18s. Bd. per
annum.

" I now beg to call your attention to the port charges
and pilotage, still more oppressive on our trade. The
amount levied by the corporation for preserving and im-
proving the Port of Dublin for the same ves el, for tonnage
duty, quay wall duty, and pilotage, averages £l3 6s. 10i.
per voyage, or £693 15s. 4d. British currency per annum,
for one voyage per week.
" These charges are collected under an act of parlia-
ment, passed before the introduction of steam-vessels,
when the trade between Dublin and Glasgow was carried
on by a few trading sloops of about 70 tons register each.
At present there are two steam-vessels per week, register-
ing collectively 724 tons, paying upwards of fifteen times
the amount of dues formerly paid by all the regular traders
between the two ports before the introduction of steam.
" The exessive taxation, always oppressive and much too
high on steam-vessels, sailing, full or not full, on stated
days, bears much more heavily on the trade at present
than a few years since. The class of vessels then em-
ployed were much inferior to those of the present day.
Increased speed and accommodation were demanded by
the public, and, keeping pace with the spirit of the age,
the smaller and inferior vessels were discarded, and larger
and more powerful ones substituted. The register ton-
na-e being much more than doubled, the light cues end
port charges are of course increased in proportion, and
have become so oppressive now that the general trade of
the country is so depressed, and all freights and passage
monies have been so much reduced by the competition of
railways and oth' r causes, that unless some remedial
measures are shortly introduced it will be impossible to
continue sailing large and powerful steam-vessels, and the
trade between the two countries must be seriously injured
by the substitution of an inferior class of vessels.
" The following is a summary of the amount of light
dues, pilotage, and port charges, payable by the
Viceroy :

Lights to and from Glasgow, as specified in
my first letter
_...

Tc linage dues, pilotage, and quay wall dues, in
Dublin, levied by the Dublin Ballast. Board 693 15 4
Corporation dues, levied by the City Corpo-
ration
Scotch harbour dues

£1746 13 6
per annum on one ship, making one voyage only per
week.

" Notwithstanding the enormous amount of dues levied
by the Ballast Board for many years, with, it is believed,
a large surplus fund on hand, when the Viceroy, or other
vessel, of much smaller tonnage, requires her bottom ex-
amined or painted, she must be sent to Liverpool or some
other port, at an actual outlay of from £lOO to £l5O, be-
sides probably double that amount in loss of ship's time,
in consequence of there being neither slip nor dock in
Dublin capable of receiving her."

There can, we think, be little doubt that the
management of this Ballast Board of Dublin pre-
sents a fair field for inquiry ; but we are afraid
there will be found a few more so in other ports.
The whole subject, however, must be gone into,
and some large modifications made in the charges
upon our coasting trade,—•carried on as it now is,
upon so much more extensive a scale than it was a
few years ago, and furnishing employment as it does,
to what has now become the most important
branch of our mercantile marine.

MAYORALTY.—We understand that as Mr. Alder-
man John Holmes has expressed his willingness to accept
the civic chair for the ensuing municipal year, Mr. Alder-
man Proctor will propose that gentleman as mayor in
November next.

Several of the clergy of this town have signified to their
congregations their intention to hold a special serviceduring
the present week, as an occasion of humiliation before
Almighty God under the afflictive dispensation with which
the country is at this time visited. The Rev. Mr. Lon-
gueville, incumbent of Hoylake, has issued a solemn and
instructive address to his congregation on the subject.
We understand that Mr. Hatfield, of the late firm of
McTear. Hatfield, and Co., has been appointed secretary
to the Birkenhead Do°lc Commissioners. There were
above a hundred applicants for the situation. who, after
one or two selections, were reduced to two, Mr. Hatfield
and Mr. R. N. Dale (of the late firm of Prichard and
Dale), and of these two the choice finally fell on the for-
mer gentleman.
LAMENTABLE ACCIDENT.—On the 7th instant, a boy
named Charles Geddes, aged 131 years, was with some
ether boys in South Hill-road. He had some gunpowder
in his pocket, and a small quantity in his hand. He
lighted a match and ignited the gunpowder in his hand.
He afterwards unwittingly put a piece of paper, which had
ignites, into his pocket, and the consequence was an ex-
plosion, from the effects of which he died on the 16th
instant, at the Southern Hospital.
INTERESTING PRESEN'IATION.—The Rev. Wm. Pol-
lock, M.A., incumbent of St. Mark's Church, received on
Tuesday evening a present from the confirmation class,
consisting of Milton's Poetical Works (illustrated), 1 vol. ,
Kitto's Biblical EncyclopEedia, 2 vols. ; Parkhurst's Greek
and Latin Lexicon, 1 vol. After a short address on be-
half of the class, the respected clergyman spoke in his
usual touching manner, when lie said the writing desk
which he daily used, and the silver pencil-case included
in it, which he always made use of, were presented to him
on a similar occasion.

THE CHOLERA.—We are glad to perceive that the
deaths from this fearful disease are decidedly on the de-
crease. In London, last week, the deaths were as
follow :—Monday, 454 ; Tuesday, 314 ; Wednesday, 213 ;
Thursday, 217 ; Friday, 234. In this and other towns,
there has also been a very sensible decrease in the fatality
during the past few days. This, however, is not the case
in every locality. In Bolton, the epidemic is extending
itself. In two days last week, there were 14 cases of
cholera, and 8 deaths ; and in Manchester, there has been
a great increase within the last two or three days.
THE BUTTER TRICK AGAIN. Although the public
have been so recently cautioned, the butter fraud has
been again successfully practised on several parties. On
Friday last, a tall, thin, clean-looking Irishwoman, who
was hawking butter for sale, called upon a shopkeeper in
Cable-street, with what appeared to be some good solid
butter, for which she asked 10d. per lb., but afterwards
came down to 7d. The shopkeeper purchased a lump
which weighed 5 lbs., and paid the cheat 3s. It was then
put upon a dish in the shop window, and, to her surprise,
in about ten minutes the dish was full of water. It may
not be amiss to mention that the seller, to show that it
was good and solid, actually cut it through, with a string
rather stronger than a thread, which, as it passed through,
nearly filled up the cavities that enclosed the water, and
accounted for it not immediately running out. After being
pressed, by which means upwards of a quart of water
was brought from it, the butter, which now proved to be
of very inferior quality, only weighed 5 lbs. The cheat,
however, had taken care to be far away before the trick
was discovered.

THE EXHIBITION OF THE LIVERPOOL ACADEMY.—A
more deliberate examination of the works comprised in
the present exhibition, enables us to confirm the opinion
which we expressed in our last, after the very hasty glance
through the rooms which had then been allowed us. It
contains a less number than usual of very great pictures,
or of ambitious efforts in pursuit of greatness ; but its
average merit is very high. There is an unusual number
of good paintings, and very few, indeed, which can be
styled bad ones. The hanging seems, except in a few—
perhaps unavoidable—instances, to have been impartially
performed. Of course, however, we expect to hear com-
plaints :—when were there not such ? But it can scarcely
be conceived possible that, in the classification of 648
paintings, of all sizes, and with little space to throw away,
there should not occur some defaults of judgment, and
occasional injustice. We had prepared the outlines of a
lengthened notice for this day's paper, but from a rather
unusual press of engagements, the arrival of the mail
steamer Canada yesterday evening, and the length of the
proceedings of the Gospel Propagation Society last night,
and the Select Vestry meeting yesterday, we are compel-
led to request the forbearance of our friends until next
week's publication.
UNIVERSITY OF BiaxxxitEAn.—Many of our readers
wiil probably be surprised to read such a title as this, but
if all we hear be true, ir, will not be long ere our neigh-
bours on the opposite shore will be privileged to attach to
their dwelling place a term so dignified and honoured. It
is, we believe, in contemplation to erect at Birkenhead,
with the highest sanction in church and state, an exten-
sive range of buildings as a collegiate establishment,—
similar in character to—possessed of the same amount of
talent in literature, theology, &c., and devoted to the
same high and holy purposes as the time-honoured uni-
versities of Oxford and Cambridge. It is stated that the
want of such an institution in the north of England has
long been felt, and that the heads of the church consider
this locality peculiarly adapted to promote the success of
the project. It is further stated that the Rev. Joseph
Baylee is the originator or furtherer, or both, of the
excellent design. Rumour informs us, in addition, that
the precise locus in quo will be a tract of land, about ten
acres in extent, situate between the new park and Mr.
Jackson's mansion, the property of Mr. Brassey, and
which it is hoped that enterprising and benevolent gen-
tleman will present for the purpose. It is added that the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Marquis of Westminster,
and Lord Robert Grosvenor, have each contributed £lOOO
for this magnificent scheme.