The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-07-13 00:00:00

REOPENING OF TEE DOCKS.

Mr. LAIRD moved for the insertion in the newspapers
of an advertisement to the effect that the docks were open,
and ready for the reception of all vessels coming to them.
—Agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN then proceeded to notice the letter of
Mr. Laird, which appeared in the Mercury, and, taking it
passage after passage, denied the truth of the allegations
contained in it in the broadest and most unequivocal
manner ; after which

Mr. ,V. LAIRD rose to reply. He said he ex-
pected that the Chairman would have gone more into
the most serious charges which he had made:against him.
It was understood that Mr. Potter had concurred
in the resolution of the Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN.—I deny that.
Mr. LAIRD.—The Chairman must be aware of the serious
nature of such a charge as that of deserting his colleagues
in London, and coming to Birkenhead for the purpose of
passing the resolution of which they had all heard so much.
The Chairman might deny what he stated if he pleased ;
but if he referred to the published reports of the meeting,
he would find that that was the general impression of the
meeting. As far as regarded himself, he understood that
the Chairman had been sanctioned in what he did by the
other members of the deputation. Mr. Mallaby had de-
nied that the hour at which the appointment was to have
taken place was 9 o'clock; but that, in his opinion, was
not very important : the fact was, that he had an ap-
pointment for that morning which he did not keep.
The CHAIRMAN.—The allegation is, that it was nine
o'clock. Gentlemen may have expected me, but I made
no appointment with them.
Mr. LAIRD.—Even that is immaterial; what could not be
denied was that he went to London, and acted in conjunc-
tion with the other members of the deputation, and with
their concurrence up to Saturday, when he left them, and
on his own responsibility came to Birkenhead and passed
the resolution which Mr. Potter had so unequivocally con-
demned. He hoped he would read that part of Mr. Pot-
ter's letter.
The CHAIRMAN then read as follows :

" I saw your chairman on Saturday, when he made no allu-
sion to any intention of going to Birkenhead, and I fully ex-
pected to have met him on a consultation on Monday morning
before going into committee."

Mr. LAIRD then proceeded to state that he had written
to Mr. Lloyd on the subject, and that from that gentle-
man he received in reply the annexed :

" 25, Abingdon-street, London, sth July, 1847.
" Dear Sir,—l am in receipt of your letter of the 3d inst., stat-
ing that you had sent me the Liverpool Mail of that day, con-
taming your letter to the editor., with one from Mr. 31allaby.
You wish me to state whether I.expected to meet Mr. Potter
and Mr. Mallaby on the Monday.morning referred to in your
letter. It was certainly understood that the Chairman and Mr.
Potter were to see me before the meeting of the committee on
the Monday morning, and I was ignorant that the chairman
had left London until the . committee met. I was not aware
that there was a meeting of either Commissioners or the Deck
Committee on the Monday.—l remain, yours truly,
(Si
Egned) " JOHN B. LLOYD.
" William Laird, sq., Birkenhead."

After these facts, he thought that he was quite right in
what he had stated. Mr. Laird then proceeded to com-
ment in strong terms on the injury which the Dock had
received in consequence of the resolution of the chairman,
and concluded by reiterating his wish that the chairman
had gone more fully into the matter, as he (Mr. L.) be-
lieved that he had not said one word calculated to shake
the accusation made against him.
Mi. BENTaAm said, that in ordei to put 'an end to, all
further discussion on the subject, he would move, " I lint
the board have listened to the explanations of the ellam-

man, with respect to the imputations of Mr. Laird, and
are of opinion that they are wholly and altogether untrue."
This motion having been seconded, was put and carried
nenz. con.

Mr. LAIRD. then moved, as being nesessary to the ex-
planation, that the reporters should get a copy of Mr.
Potter's letter.—Refused.
Mr. THo-ivrsoll regretted that Mr. Mallaby did not pull
more cordially with his coadjutors in London.
The CHAIRMAN—I recognise no coadjutor in the light
in which you put it.
The board then adjourned.

ALLEGED FRAUDS BY SPECULATORS IN
CORN, &c.

Our generally well-informed contemporary, the Man-
chester Courier, on Saturday last, contains a paragraph
with respect to which we must set him right, inasmuch
as it is levelled, against parties quite as honourable in
their transactions as any Manchester manufacturer, and,
moreover, evinces an ignorance of custom-house details,
which is quite inexcusable in any party living in the
port " of Manchester, which, we presume, has a custom-
house :--

" Our statement on Wednesday, under this head, that it did
not follow, as a matter of course, that because an insurance
was opened for the exportation of a certain amount of bullion,
that therefore that amount would be shipped, seems, from re-
marks which have reached us, to have rather surprised some
people. Such, however, is the fact ; and if people would but
take the-trouble to inform themselves a little, on what is pass-
ing around them, they would know it to be so. It will be seen
from the leading columns of the Courier, that similar tricks,
it is suspected, are played off in the corn trade. A certain
amount of grain, being entered at the custom-house for ex-
portation by a certain vessel, on a certain day, and which
' entry' is duly published in the brokers' circulars •, but a day
or two previous to the sailing of the vessel, the entry is with-
drawn ; of which, however, the public are uninformed. The
motives, in these cases, are transparent enough. In the first
instance, the object being to make money dear, and reduce
the price of stocks, &c. ; in the latter to raise the price of
grain, &c. In short, the tricks to which unprincipled spFu-
lators will resort, none but the initiated have any idea of."
-

The first portion of the paragraph, plainly inferring that
the accounts of the amount of bullion exported are taken
from the insurance-offices, is quite wide of the mark.
Men are not obliged to insure gold ; and it is very proba-
ble that a great quantity is exported which is never in-
sured at all, inasmuch as it is only liable to the danger
of total wreck. Besides, the amount in each vessel is
received by the customs authorities from the agents of
the vessels themselves—not from speculators. There is
no necessity for a regular entry, gold not being a commo-
dity whose export is under their cognizance. There is
nothing to prevent any individual from sending as much
as he likes in a parcel, provided he chooses to run the
risk of its being lost.
The latter part of the paragraph, alleging that the pub-
lic are uninformed whenever a quantity of grain, or any
other commodity, is first entered and then withdrawn, is
not the fact. Our contemporary will find, on examining
the " Bill of Entry," published at the Liverpool Custom-
house and at other ports, that the quantities " short
shipped " are invariably given ; and brokers, in their cir-
culars, as invariably deduct these from the gross amount
of exports. These short shipments generally happen
when the whole of the goods entered have not arrived,
or the vessel will not hold them. They are, in the gene-
rality of cases, forwarded by other vessels and re-entered;
and the original entry is thus verified. If they are with-
drawn altogether, they must first be short-shipped to
enable the owners to recover the dock and town dues ;
and the short-shipped deducted from the original entry,
will make the real entry. These short shipments are
generally very trifling in amount.
It is certainly possible for a dozen or so of parties to
make entries, and never to ship at all. In this case,
however, they must pay us both dock and town dues ;
for the only way to get them back is to short-ship those
entries, which, appearing in the daily " Bill of Entry,"
will neutralise their attempted imposition by making it
rather expensive. Our contemporary may rest assured
that there is no need of any government return on this
subject. It is pretty well understood by all parties.
CO