The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-16 00:00:00

THE GUANO TRADE.--A sailor coming from Liverpool
to Preston, who has been with a vessel for guano, states
it to be a most lucrative speculation. He said that the
vessel was ten weeks on its passage to Africa, nine weeks
returning, and seven lading—altogether a few weeks over
half a year. The article itself, he states, cost not a farth-
ing. The vessel carried 500 tons, which, at £8 per ton,
would make £4,000. The expenses, be thought, would
not exceed £500: but if we call them £l,OOO, the im-
portation of guano is not a bad speculation.—Lancaster
Guardian.

DEATH OF THE LAST OF THE HIGHLAND BARDS.—
Died lately, at Gairloch, Rossshire, the celebrated Gaelic
bard, Alasdair Buidhe Maclobhair, at the advanced age
of eighty-four. He was poet to the lairds of Gairloch,
from whom he bad a pension. Ile was a bard of great
merit, but very few of his pieces have been printed. He
may be considered the last of the Highland bards, with
the solitary exception of the author of " Loch-Aic,"
Mac Coll. Alasdair Buidhe was at a wedding, some years
ago, when a miserly gentleman observed that " the bards
were extinct." "No," said Alasdair, "but those who
rewarded them are gone l"—Scotlish Guardian.
SIR JAMES GRAHAM'S HULL REMINISCENCES.—We
have before us an electioneering squib of 1813, when Mr.
Graham was a candidate for Hull, on something more
than Whig principles. It was issued by the Tories, and
is in the form of a playbill, setting forth the performance
of the Road to Ruin, A grand miscellaneous piece, writ-
ten by Dr. Watson, and received with tumultuous ap-
plause last year at the Spa Fields." The principal cha-
racters—Guy Faux, Tom Paine, Despard, arid Jack Cade
—are personified by the friends of the candidate, who him-
' self enacts the part of General Ludd. Can a recollection
of this squib have been Hitting through the mind of the
Netherhy Baronet, when he spoke of Jack Cade in a re-
cent debate? He declared, on the hustings at Hull, that
he wished his right hand might forget its cunning when he
forgot the principles he then avowed. It seems that the
hon. baronet, if he fails to practise, bears in remembrance
that he once held them, and this so far is a redeeming
feature in his character.—Hull Rockingham.
EXECUTION AT EDINBURGH.—On Wednesday week,
the last sentence of the law was carried into execution in
the case of James Bryce, for the murder of John Giddes.
The wretched man was born in the p trish of Ratho, and
was about 44 years of age. He had been twice married,
and in defiance of all advice from his first and last wife
went on in a course of vice, profligacy, and drunkenness.
He bad been in 'he habit of borrowing small sums from
time to time from his victim. On the last occasion he
represented that he wanted the money to bury one of his
children who had died ; but this was not true. The loan
was refused. He stopped in the house all night, and
early in the morning got up, and while Giddes, who still
held back, was preparing some breakfast for him, he
struck him down with the tongs, repeated his blows when
he was down, and put a cord round his neck to strangle
him should he come to life again. He then robbed the
drawers of a purse containing £6 in silver. He con-
fessed the crime and admitted the justice of his sentence
on the day before his execution.
THE COLLIERS.—The Derbyshire colliers have turned
out generally for an advance of wages. Their demand is
four shillings per day, clear of all deductions. In Not-
tinghamshire also they are generally out, excepting where
their demand has been complied with. In the Pottery
district of Staffordshire little or no inconvenience is felt
by the manufacturers for want of coal, at Henley, Burs-
lem, and Longport, but at Stoke, Fenton, and Longton,
where the coal masters are firm in resisting the demands
of the unionists, the course of business is much impeded,
and both manufacturers and their worken are suffering in
a greater or less degree. The colliers in South Stafford-
shire have not turned out. Their complaint is principally
against the truck system, which was about to be investi-
gated before the magistrates. The colliers of Durham
and Cumberland, whose yearly contracts expired on the
sth instant, have struck work. Their complaints refer
chiefly to the amount of wages, and to the exceedingly
vexatious nature of the fines imposed upon them with the
view of inducing them to perform their work skilfully and
satisfactorily. From Leicester we learn, "No little sen-

sation has been created in this town and neighbourhood

by the expected strike of the work-people employed at the
Whitwick, Snibston, and other coal-pits in this county."

CHANGES BY THE DEkTH OF LORD ABINGER.—Sir
Frederick Pollock has been elevated to the post of Chief
Baron of the Exchequer, and Sir William Follet has been
appointed to Sir Frederick's late office of Attorney Gene-
rad Both these appointments have been approved of by
Her Majesty. The new Chief Baron is to take his seat
to-day, the first day of the term. The question now is
whq is to be Attorney General in room of Sir William
Follett, Mr. Fitzroy Kelly, Mr. Thesiger, Mr. Godson,
and Mr. Stuart Wortley are all named, The general opi-
nion is in favour of Mr. Kelly. Mr. Thesiger stands next;
while Mr. Wortley and Mr. Godson are scarcely named,
and it is believed they have no chance. Then come the
changes consequent on the demise of the late Chief Baron ?
—first a vacancy for Horsham, whose present representa-
tive becomes a peer. Then the elevation of Sir Frederick
Pollock has caused a vacancy for Huntingdon, while the
move in favour of Sir William Follett has left Exeter with-
out a representative. Lastly, the appointment. of Mr.
Thesiger to the office of Solicitor General, will make a va-
cancy either for Cambridge or Woodstock. Meanwhile,
Sir William Follett's state of health has been such as to
cause his friends considerable alarm. He has long been
subject to pulmanary attacks, and at the close of one of
his speeches on a recent occasion, it was discovered that
he had burst a blood-vessel, the blood issuing in consider-
able quantities from his mouth.—London paper.

QUEEN VICTORIA AND HER. CONSORT.—The League
has a narrative by Adva,Brown," called a "Week in
Windsor Forest' which we find the following passage
—" Her Majesty attends personally to many affairs which
used to be managed or mismanaged by others : so the
report about Windsor says. There are people there, and
many of them, who regret the departure of the days of
George IV., when they could get more profitable jobs
than they can get now; when, as a bricklayer told me
they could get a pint of beer almost any how, any where,
at any time ; ' but even these people are constrained to
admit that the superior arrangement of everything under
Her M jesty does more good than a profuse but uncertain
expenditure would do. In every case where the Queen
has personally interfered to make an alteration in any old
usage, the change bas been directed by practical good
sense, which none deny, save those, perhaps, who have
been personally intefered with. Added to this, there is a
kind consideration of the Queen and the Prince for the
public who visit the Castle and the regal domain of the
park. It is rare that any nobleman's park or near any
private residence whatever, there is such fredom given to
visitors as about the residence of Her Majesty. It is
rarer still for strangers to be so kindly permitted to ap-
proach the head of the family, and to be bowed to, and
their presence taken as if conferring a favour, as is the
case with the Queen and the Prince. But rarest of all is
it, that exalted personages, who, like them, fill the eyes of
every body, should, by the force of virtue alone, compel
every evil speaking tongue to speak well ofthem. "

GREAT FOOT HURDLE RACE.—Jenkinson (the "Stag")
and Smith (" the Pet,") the two greatest runners of the
day, on Wednesday contended, in a race of 300 yards,
with 15 hurdles, but in consequence of the great assem-
blage of persons present, and the extreme closeness of the
race, a dispute unfortunately occurred. The contest was
for £4O, the ground selected being the Bee Hive, at Wal-
worth, and long before the appointed hour for the strug-
gle some hundreds of sporting men, with a mixture of
those who were finishing their holidays, congregated. At
a little after four o'clock the men came to the post,
Jenkinson winning the choice of ends and sides, and
taking the inside place of nearly a circle round which the
hurdles were arranged. They effected a good start, and
went off at a rattling pace, side by side, over the first three
or four hurdles. The " Stag" then jumped ahead, closely
waited upon by his opponent, who in turn took up the
running. It was a great race, in which neither party
could get away, end on coming to the last hurdle the men
took it together, or, if there was a shadow of difference,
the " Stag" having it, and both touched the ground after
the leap at the same instant. Both declared they had
won; but the referee, whose great experience in these
matters well qualified him for the post, declared that,
owing to the pressure around him, and the closeness of
the struggle, it was impossible for him to determine who
had touched the ground first, and that it must necessarily
be considered a dead heat. In this. opinion he was con-
firmed by the best judges and most unprejudiced persons
on the ground. The stakes will be accordingly drawn.
THE NEW FACTORY BlLL.—This bill, brought into the
House of Commons by Sir James Graham and Mr. H.
Manners Sutton, M.P. (the secretary and under secretary
of state-for the home department), has made its appear-
ance. It is entitled " A Bill to Amend the Laws relating
to Labour in factories. " and contains as many as 73
clauses, with schedules, &c. The act is to take effect on
the:lst day of October next ensuing. The factory inspec-
tors are authorised to appoint certifying surgeons for the
purpose of the act, and to fix the amount of their fees.
Full powers are conferred on inspectors of factories
for the purpose of ascertaining the real age of children to
be employed therein. Special provisions are enacted for
the annual lime-washing of factories, the protection of
the workers in wet spinning flax-mills, the due guarding
and boxing-off of machinery, and the gen:ral prevention
of accidents, as well as for their cure if any should unfor-
tunately occur. The hours of working for children and
young persons are to be observed with strict regularity.
Respecting the peculiar clause relative to the time of
working, we may safely state that children may be em-
ployed in factories at eight years of age ; and no child to
be emplo!ed more than six hours and a half per diem, ex-
cept in certain cases (hereinafter specified); that no wo-
man above eighteen years is to be employed in any factory,
save for the same time and in the same manner as "young
person?' may be employed in factories ; and that work is
to cease on Saturdays at half past four o'clock p.m., &c.
In any factories in which the labour of young persons is
restricted to ten hours a day, it will be lawful to employ
eny " child " ten hours in any one day, on three alternate
days of every week, provided that the child, shall not be
employed in the same or any other factory on two succes-
sive days, &c. Provision is made for recovering the time
lost by partial stoppages, and additional regulations made
with respect to meal times, hollidays and the attendance
of children at school. Silk mills are exempted from cer-
tain provisions of this bill, it beingenacted that any child
above eleven years old employed solely in the winding and
throwing raw silk may work without any proof of hiving
attended a school for ten hours a day, but not after half-
past four o'clock on Saturday afternoon. The 73d or "in-
terpertation" clause enacts that the factory act as amend-
ed by this act, and this act, shall be construed together as
one act; that the word " child" shall be taken to mean
a child under 13 years of age, and the words " young
person, " a person aged 13 and under 18 years of age, &c!
Thus it will be seen that the disputed question of " ten "
or " twelve " hours, which has already been so strongly
contested in the House of Commons, is, in the present or
new bill, tacitly consigned to the shelf. The bill will be
read a
secoild time after the forthcoming Easter recess,