The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-10-03 00:00:00

LOCAL MEETINGS,

EVERTON AND KIRKDALE WARD.—A meeting of the
electors was held on Friday evening, at the Everton
Coffee-honse, to adopt measures to secure the election of
Francis Shand, Esq., as a representative of this ward.
There were present Messrs. G. H. and W. J. Horsfall,
Mr. Councillor Bennett, Mr. Kerford, and other gentle-
men of influence in the neighbourhood. Mr. Maddock
occupied the chair. Mr. Bennett, in a brief compli-
mentary address, proposed Mr. Shand, whose past ser-
vices entitled him to the renewed confidence of the
electors. Mr. Kerford warmly seconded the motion, and
it was unanimously carried. After some conversation on
other points, irrelevant to the meeting, a committee was
appointed to take measures to secure :Mr. Shand's elec-
tion. A vote of thanks was passed to the chairman, who
feelingly replied, stating that, in the cause of old toryism,
he should always be at his post.

RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.—The thirty-fourth an-
nual meeting of the Liverpool Auxiliary to the London
Religious Tract Society was held on Tuesday evening
last, in the Portico, Newington, the Rev. H. Hampton,
the incumbent of St. James's, occupying the chair.
After the Rev. Mr. Kirkus, of the Necropolis, had im-
plored the Divine blessing upon the meeting, and a state-
ment of the accounts to the end of the society's year
had been read, the Rev. W. W. Ewbank, the Minister of
St. George's, Everton, moved the first resolution, which
was seconded by Mr. William Jones, the esteemed super-
intendent of the parent society's operations, who gave a
brief but exceedingly interesting statement of the trans-
actions both at home and abroad. His address was lis-
tened to with great attention. Subsequently, the meting
was addressed by the Rev. Mr. Carpenter, of St. Jude's,
and the Rev. Mr. Brown, a missionary from Africa, who
urged the claims of the society, on the ground of the va-
luable assistance rendered to the missionary in his benevo-
lent endeavour to elevate the character of the degraded
and swarthy sons of that long-injured continent. The
Revds. Messrs. Kirkus and Graham briefly addressed the
meeting, after which a collection was made for the Lon-
don Religious Tract Society, which, we fear, would be
but trifling, in comparison with its claims upon this large
community.

MEETING OF THE SELECT VESTRY.—A special meet-
ing of the select vestry was held at the Parish-offices,
Lime-street, for the purpose of electing a registrar of
births, deaths, and marriages, for the district of Great
Howard-street, in the room of Mr. Charles Chubb, dis-
missed. The chair was occupied by the Rev. Rector
Campbell. It appeared from the proceedings of the
Finance Committee, that there had been thirty-nine
candidates for the vacant registrarship; and the commit-
tee, after having inspected the various applications and
testimonials, recommended one of the three following
candidates, namely, Mr. Henry Schroeder, Mr. William
Salmon, and Mr. Thomas Parr, to be appointed to the
office
_of Registrar of St. George's district ; and they
further recommended that Mr. George Gurdon, the
present Registrar for St. George's district, be promoted
to the more lucrative district of Great Howard-street or
Vauxhall. Mr. Seward moved that Mr. Gurdon be ap-
pointed to the district of Great Howard-street. Mr.
Avison moved, as an amendment, that Mr. James Board-
man, who was an old and deserving officer of the parish,
be elected to the Great Howard-street district. Mr.
Woodruff, seconded by Mr. Shakeshaft, proposed Mr.
Henry Schroeder to the vacant office ; but shortly after
Mr. Woodruff withdrew this amendment. The voting
was then taken, when there appeared :—For Mr. Gurdon,
19; for Mr. Boardman, 5. Mr. Gurdon was accordingly
elected to the Registrarship of Great Howard-street ; and
the filling up of the vacancy for St. George's district was
postponed until official notice of that vacancy had been
first declared.

LIVERPOOL COLLEGIATE IN•STITITTION.—A most inte-
resting
meeting of the directors of this institution was
held, on Thursday, in their board-room, for the purpose ,
of taking leave of the Principal, the Rev. W. J. Conybeare,
and of receiving his successor, the Rev. J. S, Howson. i
The Chairman, (Rev. A. Campbell) on behalf of the
board of management, in handsome terms expressed thei
sense of Mr. Conybeare's services, their regret at his der
parture, and their sincere wishes for his future welfare.
Called upon (said Mr. Campbell) to execute an import-
tent, but hitherto, perhaps, untried experiment, an expe-
riment in which the board have endeavoured to aid your
efforts without restricting your discretion, you have evinced
not only a marked ability, but a conscientious zeal which
has deserved and met with their cordial approbation. In
the language of St. Paul you may say: I have fought
a good fight," and if our joint endeavours have not been
crowned with perfect success, the partial failure which has
only been a financial one, may be ascribed, not to any
want of zeal on your part, but to the commercial embar-
rassments of these most disastrous times. Mr. Conybeare,
in returning thanks, said the duties in which he had been
engaged for the last six years had been to him delightful,
and he owed the directors a deep obligation for the confi-
dence they had intrusted in him in the appointment of all
the masters. He concluded by introducing, in a compli-
mentary manner, his successor, the Rev. J. S. Howson,
to the meeting. Mr. Howson, who was received with
cheers, warmly acknowledged the confidencereposed in him.
He said " It is no slight encouragement, gentlemen, to be
trusted from the first by those whose confidence I might
have been glad to earn by continued exertion ; and it is
no slight encouragement that I shall find here a body of
fellow-masters in whom I have myself the utmost con-
fidence, some from a personal knowledge now of some
years' standing, and others from the opinion I have heard
expressed by my predecessor, who appointed them ; but
I find my highest encouragement and greatest advantage
in that excellent organization of the schools to which he
has, by his judghient, and energy, and patient toil, in the
six years (or nearly six years) during which he has pre-
sided here, successfully brought them.' Mr. Adam
Hodgson said, that, as a parent who had placed several
children in the upper school since the opening of the in-
sti:uton, he should not be doing justice te-the exertions
of the Principal, or his own feelings, if he did not express
the deep sense which he entertained of the care and at-
tention which the Principal had taken of them. The
Albion adds—Having had several of our own children in
the middle school for some time, we may state, with
Mr. Adam Hodgson, that we should not be doing justice
to our feelings if we did not join with that gentleman in
an expression of our thanks for the care taken of them by
the retiring Principal.
DocK COMMITTEE.—The sub-committee of Works
reported that they could not recommend the erection of
dwelling houses for the respective pier masters. Mr.
Tobin argued that the residences were as necessary
as- those for the dock masters. Mr. Nicol said that it
was not considered desirable to have the wives and fami-
lies of the men running about the pier-heads, and they
had huts sufficient to go into. Mr. Tobin :_ You and 1
would not like to live in a hut, and I would not ask them
to live in a hut. Mr. Aikin thought it was perhaps an
error in finding houses for the dock. masters, and be
would not go further. If any alterations were made at
all, he should like to see the principle adopted of having
a certain number of men appointed for each dock to
remove ships, and do away with the system of employing
shipkeepers. As it was now, he believed they were pay-
ing for a set of plunderers. Mr. Tobin moved that
houses be erected for the dock gatemen, but, finding no
seconder, the proposition fell to the ground.—The sub-
committee for the marine department reported that they
could see no reason to alter their recommendation to dis-
pense with the services of Mr. Cox, the-temporary as-
sistant to the marine surveyor. The same sub-committee
also reported that that they could not recommend any
increase in the salary of Lieutenant Lord, the marine
surveyor. Mr. Tobin said he was one who took the
lead in raising Mr. Lord's salary from £4OO to £6OO, and
that sum he considered a handsome emolument for the
services performed.—The arrangement with Mr. Bailey
to rent the top of Tower-buildings, for the telegraph, on
a lease of seven years, at £7O a-year, was confirmed. By
the removal of the telegraph, signals will be passed slang
the line to Formby—An application from Messrs. Vernon
and Co., for the use of the Clarence Graving-dock for
the Prince of Wales steamer, was granted, on conditions.
—The harbour-masters' sub-committee recommended
that Mr. William Foyle, aged 31, should be appointed
master of George's Dock, in the placo of Mr. William
Gerrard, resigned, at a salary of £250 a-year. Mr.
Tobin objected to the placing of new and untried hands
over the heads of old and deserving servants. He men-
tioned
Mr. Horsfall, master of the Canning Dock, who
had risen from the situation of gateman, as a man every
way qualified and entitled to the situation. It came out,
in the course of a lengthy conversation, that Mr. Hors-
fall had been before the sub-committee, and that the only
objection to him was that he was not quite so genteel in
his manners as some of the members desired, and this by
some was deemed sufficient to stand in the way of his
promotion to an increase of salary to the extent of £lOO
a year. Mr. Tobin admitted that if they expected a man
to make a long speech on a small matter Mr. Horsfall was
not the man. In reply to the argument that the master
at Georges Dock bad to come in contact with the public
in the frequent opening and shutting of the dock gates,
and therefore ought to be a little polished. Mr. Royden
said if a man dropped from the clouds, with a head on at
all, he was quite able to take charge of the bridge. It
was only like a man turning a grind-stone handle, and
required no great refinement of scientific skill. (Laughter.)
Mr. Tobin then proposed that Mr. Horsfall be appointed.
to George's Dock, and on a division the motion was car-
ried by a majority of 10 to 7, namely, for Mr. Irorsfall,
Messrs. Lockett, Kendall, Tobin, Mann, Horsfall, Shand,
Royden, Wood, Aikin, and Robinson ; against, Messrs.
Sanders, Bold, Gladstone, Molyneux, Chilton, Nicol, and
the chairman. A division then took place on the ques.
tion whether Mr. Foyle should be appointed to the Can-
ning Dock, or the subject referred back to the sub-com-
mittee, to see whether some other old servant could not
be promoted. Singularly enough, Mr. Kendall and Mr.
Tobin, who strongly advocated promotion in the one case,
opposed the reference back again, but the committee pre-
served its consistency by referring the subject again.—A
letter which created some little amusement was read from
a Dr. Trail, offering to lend the committee £72,000, to
which the applicant alleged he was entitled for services
in Greece and Portugal, the only condition being, that
the committee should get the money for him.

FINANCIAL REFORM ASSOCIATION

On Wednesday evening, a meeting of the Liverpool
Financial Reform Association was held in the Portico,
Newington ; Robertson Gladstone, Esq., in the chair.
Amongst the gentlemen present we noticed Sir Joshua
Walmsley, Lawrence Heyworth, Esq., M.P., Colonel
Williams, J. Ashton Yates, R. V. Yates, Chas. Holland,
Edward Brodribb, Francis Boult, J. Smith, Archibald
Shell, Richard Farrar, and James Thompson, Esqrs,
The CHAIRMAN, in opening the business of the meet-
ing, said that the first duty he had to discharge, was to
express the gratification which he felt in meeting such a
number of his fellow-townsmen for the purpose of discus-
sing subjects of far more vital importance to them than
any other that could be proposed. The second duty (and
it ought to have been the first) was to express his sense
of gratitude at being permitted to preside over that meet-
ing as chairman; inasmuch u he could not disguitio from

himself that the office belonged to some more consistent
friend of reform than himself. After some general re-
marks, which pressure of time will not permit us to re-
port, the chairman alluded to the fearful depression which
had pervaded every branch of trade, and the necessity for
a general revision of the taxation and expenditure of the
country. For the attainment of this end the Financial
Reform Association had been established, and its objects
were—

Ist.—To use all lawful and constitutional means of inducing
the most rigid economy in the expenditure of the Government,
consistent with due efficiency in the several departments of
the public service.

2nd.—To advocate the adoption of a simple and equitable
system of direct taxation, fairly levied upon property and in-
come, in lieu of the present unequ.;.l, complicated, and expen-
sively collected duties upon commodities.

Parliamentary documents showed that the people of this
country were robbed, and that it was the nature of the
Govern ment to encroach on the rights of the people. He
utterly denied that her Majesty the Queen exercised any
power or control in the matter, and threw the whole
blame on the aristocracy and the Times newspaper.
Now, with regard to the aristocracy, he thought it far
better that the people of this country should make a bar-
gain with them upon the birth of each of their children,
than that the children should be quartered upon the pub-
lic by holding situations in the army or navy. He next
alluded to the state of affairs in Ireland, and contended
that inasmuch as a few police were able to put down all
the disturbances that had taken place in that country,
there had been no occasion to send such an armament
into that country merely because Lord Lansdowne was a
large landed proprietor there. How could economy be
expected from a Government composed of men who had
never known what want was ? Lnrd John Russell and
the Government, in the Queen's Speech—for it was not
the speech of the Queen, but that of her Ministers—to
the House of Commons, said, " I shall avail myself of
every opportunity which the exigencies of the state may
allow for enforcing economy." And how had Lord John
Russell carried out this ? By appointing his own brother
to the office of sergeant-at-arms—a sinecure that any
police-officer could perform much better for £BO or £lOO
a-year. The sergeant-at-arms used tcr receive £2,300
salary, but, at the recommendation of a parliamentary
committee held in 1836, it was reduced to £1,500, which
is the present salary. There was also a deputy-sergeant,
salary £l,OOO a-year ; assistant-sergeant, £525 a-year ;
housekeeper. £5OO a-year ; three door-keepers, one at
£874, one at £4OO, and another at £2OO ; four messengers
at £3OO a-year each, and four extra messengers at £lO5
each. All these officers are appointed by the sergeant.
These messengers have no duties which require education ;
they merely stand in the galleries and lobbies, ready to
obey the sergeant-at-arms, and, if necessary, take per-
sons into custody. It was also stated in evidence, before
the Committee on Miscellaneous Expenditure, that " they
are obliged to appear in a clean shirt and white neckcloth
every day, and in a black dress. The messengers at the
bar must wear knee-breeches and black silk stockings."
(Laughter.) The chief- increase of expenditure has been
the navy, the expense of which has been nearly doubled.
Navy. Army. Ordinance.