The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-03-12 00:00:00

AGRICLITURE AND MANUFACTURES-THEIR
COMPARATIVE VALUE.

The capital invested in land amounts to the enormous
sum of £1,700,000,000; farmers' capital, fixed and float-
ing, amounts to £340,000,000. The united sums are
represented by the following figures—X2,o4o,ooo,ooo.
Against these figures we have to place the fixed and float-
ing capital invested in cotton manufacture, and which,
according to the estimate of Mr. M'Culloch, amounts to
something under £40,000,000. If we compare agricul-
ture and the cotton manufacture, in respect of the value
of annual produce, the disparity is equally glaring—the
annual produce of the former exceeding £300,000,000,
that of the latter below £53,000,000. In other words,
" the very manure applied every year to the soil of the
three kingdoms is worth at least as much as the whole
capital invested in the cotton manufacture, and nearly as
much as its whole annual produce. If by any circum-
stance all the manure of this country should be destroyed,
the loss would be nearly as great as if every yard of cotton
goods manufactured in that year should be destroyed."

Total number of persons engaged in agriculture

in the three kingdoms —
Total number of persons engaged in the cotton

a,353,419

manufacture,

300,000

Difference in favour of agriculture .... 3,053,419

Total number of persons engaged in agriculture 3,353,419
Total number of persons engaged in all the ma-
nufactures of the country

Difference in favour of agriculture over
all manufactures.
The comparison has only to be pursued in order to
yield the same unmistakable results. Appeal to sanitary
and criminal statistics, and the healthfulness and moral
tendency of the one occupation over the other are as ma-
nifest as the superiority already indicated in the figures
we have quoted. It is ascertained, beyond doubt, that in
the cotton districts crime is far above the average in all
England, whilst in purely agricultural districts it is con-
siderably below. If it become a question, then, of de-
struction and maintenance—if the struggle commenced by
the mill-owners is to be carried on in the spirit in which
rapacity and selfishness have begun it, can there be a
question as to the ultimate choice of the people of Eng-
land ? or is it to be supposed that with the enormous
amount of capital invested in the soil, with the immea-
surably superior numerical force that it boasts, the agri-
cultural interest will quietly submit to ruin ? Is it li►cely
that the millions will give way before the thousands ?

ST. MATTHEW'S CHURCH,

HILL-STREET,

TOXTETH - PARK,

In October last we gave a brief description of this
building, which is in the early English style of Gothic,
designed by our townsman, Mr. Hay, who has been
highly successful as an ecclesiastical architect in this and

,
many other counties, in producing neat and appropriate
specimens; though often (as in this instance) restricted
both in expenditure and site. St. Matthew's, which is
the first of three churches to be erected in the district,
which comprises a population of 8000, is plain but sub-
stantial in outward structure, yet pleasing and charac-
teristic in appearance; and though at the south end
(owing to a want of sufficient laud) it is lineable with the
street, it will form, when the spire of the steeple is
erected—the lower tower only being now built and covered
in—a conspicuous object amongst the prominent build-
ings of the town. The style is geometrical, decorated,
and all the windows are excellent specimens of that period ;
the grouping of the nave, aisle, and chancel, and stair-
case gables. to Hill-street. along with the steeple, is ex-
cellent. It is built of free-stone, well put together. There
is a good communion window, with rather rich mullions,
and fortified by corner and lateral butresses. The in-
terior, comprising nave, aisles, and chancel, though
simple in design, is spacious and commanding, and will
accommodate about 1200 persons, including 400 free
sittings. There are schools for above 500 male and
female children in the sunk story below, but these and
the yard attached to them are not yet finished, the funds
having been scanty. The incumbent, the Rev. Mr.
Brewster, has, since the opening, used every exertion to
improve and finish the interior. A great improvement has
been effected in the north or organ gallery, in which a
handsome well-toned organ has been fixed, and pews
constructed for the accommodation of the choir. In front
of the communion table the pavement is tesselated : and
this portion is bounded on each side by a neat Gothic
screen, in pointed open lancet arches, which, though not
elaborate in carving, have a pleasing effect, being in per-
fect accordance with the general style. The roof is an
open one, without decoration, and will admit of con-
siderable improvement, when the funds justify an outlay.
The whole of the wood-work represents old English oak,
varnished, and the ends of the pews are carved in the
form of fleurs-de-lis.

The pulpit is of octagonal form, and supported on a
pillar or pedestal also octagonal. The reading-desk is
square, and the design anything but tasteful; but, in
common with others, we strongly suggest that both
should be thrown into one structure; in fact, we may say
that there are now two pulpits, which merely serve to
block up the chancel from the view of the congregation.
As the pulpit is now placed, very few of the congregation
in the eastgallery of the church (and those only in the nearest
pews) can see the preacher. The same may be said with
regard to the opposite side as respects the reading-desk.
The church has not yet been consecrated, and therefore a
legal district has not been assigned to it. The fact is to
be lamented, inasmuch as the rev. incumbent is highly
appreciated by a numerous and increasing congregation,
and all the rites of the church cannot be administered
until that ceremony is performed. A comparatively small
sum would meet this exigency, as well as the wants before
alluded to ; and as the neighbourhood is densely popu-
lated, and chiefly by the industrial poor, we trust the
Christian public will come forward in the good work.
Better to have fewer churches than to have those already
built only half finished.
In consequence of the church window fronting the
south, the light is too powerful, and Mr. Hay, the
architect ; Mr. Royden, the shipbuilder ; and Mr.
Brewster, the incumbent, have ordered a stained
glass window, from Ballantine, of Edinburgh, at a cost cf
£150; the window, being divided into five lights, is to be
filled in with figures of our Saviour and the Evan-
gelists. Each of these gentlemen subscribe 30 guineas,
and other two subscriptions of £3O each are wanted,
'which will, no doubt, be obtained.
On Sunday last, two eloquent and impressive sermons
were preached in the church by the Rev. W. Pollock and
the Rev. W. Palloon, after which collections amounting
to £29 16s. were made towards defraying the current
expenses of the church. The congregations were large,
espenially in the evening, when, notwithstanding extra
seats arranged in the aisles, chancel, &c., many had to
return without obtaining admittance.
In the morning, we observed that Lord Sefton attended.
His Lordship has already been a benefactor to this
church, and the foundation stone was laid by his own
bands two years since.

EXAMINATION OF MASTERS AND MATES.-At a
meeting of the board held on the sth instant, Mr. Frede-
rick Thomas Parke, late mate of the Courier, of Liver-
pool, was found qualified for a second-class master's cer-
tificate.

Captain Bisset, late of Macduff, now Lloyd's surveyor
in Liverpool, has presented the fishermen of Macduff with
an excellent telescope, which will be of considerable ser-
vice to these hardy sons of the ocean. The fishermen
have transmitted to Captain Bisset a letter of thanks for
his valuable present. _

THE DIINGIVEN CRYSTAL.—This remarkable speci-
men of the minerals of Ireland is now in the possession of
Mr. Ilausburg, of Church-street, and may be seen at the
present time at his splendid estoblishment. It is remark-
able in many respects—for its natural brilliancy, for its
extraordinary magnitude, and for the singular circum-
stances attending its discovery, preservation, and final
destiny. These crystals generally weigh a few ounces,
sometimes they reach as many pounds, but they seldom
exceed this limit : the Dungiven specimen is of the enof-
mous weight of 771bs. It is named from a village in the
county of Londonderry, in the neighbourhood of which it
was found, about the year 1796, by a labourer, as ha was
returning from his work. When found it was embedded
in the little mountain stream of Finglen. From this man
it was purchased for a few pounds; since which time it
has remained in the possession either of the first pur-
chaser or his family, up to the present time. When not
worn by the action of water, these crystals present the
beautiful object of a hexagonal prism of six sides. The
hexagonal form of this one can be distinctly traced, al-
though it hal been broken. It is mentioned in Mr.
Shaw Mason's Collection of Parochial Surveys in 1814,
and is referred to in Lewis's Topographical Dictionary,
article Banagher, as well as by several other writers. We
have no doubt that many persons will avail themselves of
the courtesy of Mr. Ilausburg, to examine so interesting
an Irish diamond (if it may be so called without the com-
mission of a bull) as the " Dungiven Crystal."

EXTRAORDINARY NAUTICAL INCIDENT.—We under-
stand that an extraordinary case has occurred at Liver-
pool, under the new Navigation-law. A vessel, the Eli-
zabeth Hastings, has left the port, or, rather, been taken
from the port, by the mate, Elder, without being cleared,
also leaving behind the ship's register. Under the old
law the ship could have been detained by the authorities
as not being duly navigated. The circumstances are as
follow :—The late master was part owner and died at sea •
the mate then took charge, and, in absence of any other
owner in this country, took upon himself to charter the
vessel, and act as if possessed of full authority. In the
mean time a power of attorney is received by a house at
Liverpool to act for the absent owners, force is resorted to
to obtain possession of the vessel, but it was successfully
resisted by the mate ; and he has actually put to sea with-
out his name being on the register, without clearing, and
without a register, and has sailed for Tampico with a full
cargo of goods. We understand that thQ mate fought in
the Mexican war, and is a desperate character. The most
rabid freebooters could scarcely carry out their theorems
intends
to practically ! It is fully expected the mate
to proceed to San Francisco. We seriously warn mer-
chants and underwriters against acts of legalized barratry
and piracy under the new law.—(yapping Gazette.) On
Friday, in the House of Commons, Lord J. -Manners put
a question to the President of the Board of Trade respect-
ing the above seizure. He wished to know whether the
Government intended to introduce any measure to pre-
vent the repetition of such extraordinary proceedings ?
Also, whether foreign vessels were permitted to come into
the ports of this country to be registered without paying
the ten per cent chargeable:upon all unenumerated arti-
cles in the present tariff ? Mr. Labouchere replied, that
there was no doubt that the vessel mentioned had been
carried out of the port of Liverpool against the will of her
owners, and clearly in defiance of the law ; the Board of
Trade, therefore, lost nn time in communicating with the
Foreign-office on the subject, and instrv.ctions were
andiately sent to ger. mauls at Taatipi.oo and other Elam,