The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-01-10 00:00:00

For these blessings we are sure the rea

dulinegi

of those brilliant luminaries

have cause to be thankfl

and we hope the dispensation will be received will

becoming gratitude
There are two bones at which our ex
temporaries have been gnawing ; and cc
them, they are not very acceptable morsels. One is, that
the Town-clerk should have to take the legal possession
of the deeds, muniments, and records of the Corpora-
tion, and so stumble over Mr. Okill, who, they would
wish to make it appear, must therefore be dismissed.
The trifling difficulty in the way of our contemporaries
is a clause in the Municipal Corporation Act, which
most stringently imposes the office of custodian upon
the Town-clerk ; and another stubborn ohstacle to the
truth of their representations is, that the idea. has never
suggested itself to the committee of superseding Mr.
Okill. The committee, as far as we have the means
of judging—and we are governed by the personal
character of the members—wish to retain the very
efficient services of Mr. Okill ; but they wish also to
see the law properly executed—a point, indeed, which
was settled by the Town-clerk, who insisted.in Council
upon the law being observed. The question, then, is,
is one object inconsistent with the other ?

nt con-

To this we

reply, emphatically, that they are -not inconsistent—
that Mr. Okill may, and will be, still retained in office,
whilst the law will be observed; but to effect this there
must be the modification of duties which the Town-
clerk explained in his speech last Wednesday. One
would•think that, in this arrangement, there was very
little to cause any discussion, but our cunning con-
temporaries have discovered in it the solution of some
mysterious feeling, on the part of the Chairman of the
committee, against Mr. Okill, because the latter,
almost before the former was born, was an excellent
servant of the Corporation—for which, by the way, he

has always been excellently paid. Truly, they are
sagacious critics, and profound politicians ; and the
public cannot fail to feel deeply indebted to their
ingenuity for• making such a very- probable st4„-
gcstiOn. The other- bone, at which • this worthy
pair of professing Liberals are worrying, is the resolu-

tion which was proposed, on the part of the committee,

that, on the Town-clerk assuming his proper office
with regard to the*Repository, Mr. Abbott would no
longer be required. The moment this was
.proposed,
it was discovered that Mr. Abbott pssesses nearly all
the virtues under the sun. Mr. Abbott, like other
men, has not the power of übiquity; but, unlike many
men, he combines two individuals in the same body.
The Town-hall has the honour of having within it "Mr.
Abbott, assistant committee clerk," and " Mr. Abbott,

law stationer, of South John-street." In the former
character he receives annually £270 ; in the latter, as

much as he can make, which has been no trifle; and
any confusion which might happen to occur between
the two has been sure toend in the pecuniary advantage
of " Mr. Abbott" proper. Besidesihis keeping " twelve
or fourteen " clerks in South John-street, he has
had the further advantage of having his clerks in
the Town-hall, to perform extra work ; and the
history of the poll-clerks is a strong illustration of
the extreme disinterestedness with which this valu-
able servant has promoted the welfare of the Cor-
poration. The Pai,l Officers' Committee, having
framed a scheme which was subsequently adopted by
the Town-clerk and confirmed by the Council, for the
more efficient management of the legal department, it
was at once obvious, that " the assistant committee
clerk," as such, would no longer be needed. Hence
the proposition which has been the means of publish-
ing Mr. Abbott's virtues to the world. That gentle-
man is not the clerk of the Town-clerk. Like Mr.
Okill, he derives his appointment directly from the
fountain of power, the council; and, of course, no
power but the Council could dismiss him

There i;

the justification► of the committee; but, as in the case
of Mr. Okill, he may be retained under the new ar-