The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-02-18 00:00:00

MR. CARDWELL AND MESSRS. LITTLEDALE'S
CI RCULAR.

We observe that, in the debate on Mr. Disraeli's
motion, on Thursday night, Mr. Cardwell, in the course
of a prosperity speech, produced. as one of his most
portant pieces of evidence, a passage from the annual
circular of Messrs. T. and H. Littledale, the substance of
which was, that they had experienced a more than usually
good year, and that the profits of 1849 and 1850 would
make up for the losses of 1847 and 1848. We should not
have noticed the ingenious pleading of our honourable
member ; but the eminent standing of the house in every
part of the commercial world, whose circular he quotes,
requires that such quotation should be explained. Messrs.
Littledale obviously speak—to their own private friends
and connexions, be it remembered—of the profitable
nature of their own dealings, and, probably, of a few other
houses of great capital and resources. And under what
circumstances did this profitable business arise ? These
are, we believe, pretty near the facts. We commenced
the past and preceding years with very buoyant expecta-
tions of a revival in trade generally. Money was abundant,
and consumption was increasing. At an early period of
the year, however, a check came, and prices fell both in
this country and in foreign markets. Thus capitalists,
such as the firm in question, were enabled to buy low ;
and the consumption realizing the original expectations,
they have naturally profited largely. We deny most em-
phatically that such a fact argues anything for the increased
prosperity of the public generally ; and we do not believe
that Messrs. Littledale ever intended that it should be sa
understood.

CLIPPER SHIP

-THE UNDERWRITER

The first portion of the
to illustrate the national
cultivation of commercial it
coming half, every fla

sin century has done much

)rtance of our strenuous
;ourcourse ; but in the

being fre

,e to ou

ports, we are entering into a contest, whether t

otherwise to the inN
country, that is ahead)
shipbuilding ; and whether canvas, the screw, or the
paddle, be made available for propalsion, it is pretty
evident that the weight-carrying properties of the " good.
old models" are being superseded by what will be under-
stood as " clipper measurements." We are not aware
that America has as yet sent to England any official
challenge to test the comparative sailing qualities of their
vessels with our own, though such a statement has been
extensively circulated ; but we are perfectly satisfied,
from daily evidences, that our half-brother Jonathan is a
little anxious to get the start in building clipper craft.
The " liners" trading hence to the northern ports are
being succeeded, from time to time, by vessels that not
only excel their predecessors in all the properties for
rapid sailing, but exceed them in equipment, by adopting
all that past experience dictates. As an example, we may
mention The Underwriter, a new and splendid snip that
has just been completed for Messrs. Kermot and Carrow's
line of New York liners.
The Underwriter is about 1,400 tons register, (car-
penter's measurement), and her proport ions areso symme-
trical that it is unnecessary to enter into the minutiae of
measurement. With great space on each deck she is
more than fine; at the draught line she is sharp as a
wedge forward, with a keel clean as the uncaught sea ser-
serpent, while her rotundity of side shows she has not a
straight foot of planking ; in equipment for her trade, the
transit-passages, and general freight, she equals anything
afloat. A fact that would be expected when we state
that she is commanded by Captain Skiddy, under
whose personal superintendence she has been built; and
whose ability we doubt not has already gained a standing
that will place the ship as " a favourite A 1." The con-
signees of the Underwriter are Messrs. A. Taylor and Co.
As the latest specimen of American naval architecture,
she is admittedly one of the finest. In the river, she was
a complete picture. She sat lightly and gracefully on the
water ; her great height was diminished by her length ;
while her masts, extending to skysail-poles, raking hand-
somely, her yards and other minor spars equally slender
in appearance, with every particle of standing and running
rigging taught as a fiddle-band, produced a most fairy-
like effect, and gave her the appearance of anything but a
ship of so large a tonnage. She seems built but to
be admired.

,ritime interests of our

ution in

POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY.—The usual monthly meeting
of the members of the Polytechnic Society was held last
evening, in the theatre of the Royal Institution. The
feature of the evening was the exposition, by Mr.
Grantham and Mr. Milner, of a plan for storing gun-
powder so as to obviate the danger at present existing
from. our contiguity to the magazines at Liscard. The
meeting was consequently a full one. Among the gentle-
men present were W. ltathhone, Esq., Mr. Alderman
Bennett, Mr. Pitcher, Mr. N. Rayner, Mr. J. Jeffery,
&c., &c. Mr. Salt, the secretary of the association, read
a letter from Mr. Jasper W. Rogers, regretting his in-
ability to attend the meeting, but expressing a hope
shortly to have that pleasure. Mr. Bennett said the
letter removed all unfavourable impressions that might
have been formed on a late occasion relative to the absence
of Mr. Rogers. W. Milner, Esq., the president, rose to
address the meeting. He said he had had the pleasure of
laying before the Town Council, in October last, a plan
for submerging the whole of the powder at present stored
in the magazines, in air and water-tight tanks. A letter
had been received from Stafford, suggesting precisely
the same plan : the identity of the two plans was so
close that he was at a loss to account for it: he did not
know how it had happened. Mr. Milner went on to
explain that the fire-resisting principle on which his
safes were constructed had in some measure assisted him
in the development of the plan referred to. The prin-
ciple was that of isolation, by which, if explosion took
place, the effects would be confined to small portions of
gunpowder. The experiments he had made with this
object had been witnessed by Mr. Pilcher and Mr. Salt.
The flames were limited to circles of insignificant dia-
meter. He left the details of the project to be explained
by Mr. Grantham. Mr. Grantham, on rising to address
the meeting, complimented Mr. Milner on his paper,
which,. he said, had left him very little to do. In coupling
Ins name with his own, the president had given him more
credit than was his due, as he had, in fact, had very little
to do in carrying out the design. But he thought some
apology was due to the meeting on the present occasion.
Both the president and he were practical men, and, as
such; it might be expected that they were prepared to
furnish some details as to expense in reference to the
project. Hitherto that had been his (Mr. G's) course
but on the present occ

would be gone into ; they had nothir

y no suc
,g to b

fore the society but the crude notion whil would have to
be worked out. Mr Grantham then went on to illustrate the
plan by means of drawings, one of these represented a
ground plan for the reception of tanks ; its dimensions
would be 150 feet in length by 50 feet wide ; a landing

pier would be separated from this reservoir by a small
canal. The powder would be enclosed within a number
of cylinders, six feet in diameter, which would be kept in
positions of six feet asunder ; in this way the reservoir

•
might be expected to contain one hundred tons of gun-
powder. It had been once thought that a crane should
be used to raise these tanks from their bed, but that
would involve machinery of iron, which was objectionable,
and a boat was substituted, by means of wh!ch the cylin-
ders would be floated to the pier, where. by means of a
hole in the boat, each one could bedrawn through the 1,-
Mr.

. N. Atlyner observed that the 0.._.
storing the gunpowder but in removing
Grantham said that that was a consideratii

ger %vas not in
- Mr.

on for them
;er could be

to entertain ; and expl

apprehended of explosion, beyond that of the compara-
tively small quantity removed at the time. He also
showed that in case of explosion in the water, the effect
would be to repel rather than attract the cylinders round
the exploded one. Another plan was, by means of a float-
ing magazine—something of the same principle as the old

floating bath. This was suggested, be'cause, if a ground
site could not be obtained the river might be turned to
account.—Mr. Alderman Bennet said that, knowing the
practical talents of the originators of the plan, he ex-
pected to hear something excellent in the principle ; but
he confessed what he had heard far surpassed his most
sanguine expectation. Other gentlemen took part in
the discussion, but our space precludes a more extended