The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-06-23 00:00:00

arisen

The CHAIRMAN said it probably arose from the Surveyor
having made use of the term " square," when he was under-
stood to mean the square yard. Instead of £3i, it should
have been something short of a third of it.

The SURVEYOR having repeated that he could not tell how
the mistake had occurred, and made some explanations to
Mr. BRAisLEY MOORED which could not be heard by the re-

porters, the subject dropped

We must confess that all this is not very clear to us.
The estimate, including piling and'.vaulting, is here
given us as £ll 11s. per square yard. How it ever
came to be given as £36 as., is quite as mysterious to
us as it appears to. have been to the surveyor. Nor
does the explanation of the chairman, that for " square
yard" must have been meant the " term square," throw
any great light upon the subject. A " square," in en-
gineering phrase, is, we believe, 100 square feet, or
11 1-9 square yards; and it never can have been
meant by the surveyor that this space could be covered
by building, such as that of the dock warehouses,
for an amount so very much below • the mark as
£36 ss. The remark of the chairman, that "he did
not press the question last week because he thought
Mr. Hartly seemed hardly certain," al•.hough that gen-
tleman declares that last week " he had the memo-
randa to answer the questions in his pocket," suggests
the possibility that he may be scarcely certain
even yet! In the meantime, however, even taking the
surveyor's present estimate—(how Many have we had ?)
—to be his last, let us see bow the case stands. We
stated on Tuesday that the cost of erection of a pile of
eight-story fire-proof warehouses in the town, was £9
per square yard. Mr. Hartley's estimate of the cost
of the dock warehouses (five stories) is £ll. 1 Is.

The cost, therefore, per square foot of superficial
flooring in the first-named warehouses will be—
El 2s. per square yard.

And in dock warehouses . £2 6s,
or more than double.

LOCAL NEWS

We believe the apprehension entertained that the Rev.
Hugh 111`Neile was about to leave this town for Belfast is
unfounded, though it is true that the offer of the vicarage was
made to him.

Mr. Henry Lawrence, one of the representativea of Rod-
ney-street Ward in the Town Council, was presented to His
Royal Highness Prince Albert by Lord Sandon at the levee
held on Wednesday, held by the Prince at the desire of Her
Majesty.

Sir. CHARLES 13A.00T.—The remains of this lamented
gentleman arrived at this port yesterday in her Majesty's
steamer Monkey, from Falmouth, where they were taken
from the Warspite. We understand that the remains of Sir
Charles are to be deposited in the family vault in Stafford-
shire.

LADY PEEL'S ASSEMBLY.—On Wednesday Lady Peel
held an assembly at the family mansion in Whitehall-gar-
dens. when her ladyship was honoured with the company of
the King of Hanover, and other members of the royal family.
At least 800 of the nobility and gentry ascembled at her lady-
ship's reunion, comprising most of the leading aristocracy.
Amongst the names of the company present, we observe the
names of Lord Sandon and Sir Howard Douglas.
FIRE IN TOXTETH-PARK.—On Wednesday morning,
about nine o'clock, a tire broke out in the work shop of Messrs.
Roberts and Parry, joiners, Lodge-lane, Toxteth-park. It
flamed very fiercely for some time, and communicated to the
cottage adjoining. There were numbers of workmen on the
spot who exerted themselves manfully to reduce the flames.
They succeeded before the arrival of the engines, which had
been sent for on the first alarm, in completely extinguishing
the tire, Mr. Hewitt soon arrived with fire engines, but his
services were not required.
INEQUALITY OF THE BUSINESS IN THE POLICE-COURT.
—A great inequality in the daily weight of business in the
Police-court frequently occurs. On two days of the present
week the cases were not got through with until nearly six
o'clock. Yesterday the whole of the cases, including assaults
and applications to the magistrate, were concluded shortly
after one o'clock. The average duration of the public busi-
ness is, we should think, from about half-past ten to half-
past two, or towards three o'clock. But there are frequently
cases of minor delinquency--the parties being remanded with
a view to their parents or friends being brought, so that they
may, if possible, reclaim them—which are heard in the
magistrate's room from ten o'clock until the opening of the
court.

THE LATE FIRES IN THIS TOWN.—The magistrates of
this borough had another meeting on Tuesday at the Ses-
sions-house, where some highly important evidence was
brought forward. The investigation was again private, it
being considered unwise in the present state of the inquiry
to make public the information which has been elicited.
There is now, we may observe, direct evidence that ince',
diaries have been at work. Certainly an attempt has been
made in a recent instance to set file to a warehouse, and the
presumption is, that all the recent fires have had a similar
origin.—On th morning of Tuesday last, as the locker of a
warehouse, situated in Dundee-street,-was proceeding, ac-
cording to his usual custom, to open the concern, he dis-
covered inside the front or main entrance a piece of cotton
with some lucifer matches in the centre. The cotton bore
evident marks of having been ignited, for it was partially
burnt round the edges; and as it was placed about the length
of a man's arm inside the hole in the doorway, which is
called the cat-hole, and which has been made for the purpose
of affording ingress and egress for cats and also for rats,
there cannot exist any doubt but that it was so placed by
sonic wickedly-disposed villain or villains, for the purpose of
setting fire to the premises. The attempt was, however,
most providentially defeated,-owing to the cotton not having
continued to burn after it had become ignited. The ware-
house which has thus been preserved from destruction is one
of a pile of several magnificent structures of the same de-
scription recently erected, at very considerable cost, in
Dundee-street. At present they contain some thousands of
bales of cotton, and a large quantity of palm oil—materials
of such a combustible nature, that had the diabolical attempt
het n successful, the probability is that the whole pile would
have been destroyed.

IMPORTANT TO ASSIGNEES.—A case came before Mr.
Commissioner Skirrow lately, at the Liverpool District
Bankrupt Court, in which a d;vidend had been ordered in
October last by the old Commissioners, and there remained
in the hands of the assignees, at the time the file of proceed-
ings was transferred into the new Bankrupt Court, a sum of
£2l odd, being dividends unpaid to several creditors, and
which sum the assignee had paid over to the official assignee.
The learned Commissioner ruled that this money vested' by
the new Bankrupt Act in the official assignee as part of the
assets belonging to the bankrupt's estate, and that the soli-
citor to the fiat was bound, by the 24th of the new orders,
to make out three lists of the unpaid creditors, in alphabe-
tical order, &c., sign them, and then deliver them to the
official assignee. The solicitor refused to do this, on the
ground that the unpaid dividends did not vest in the official
assignee, being no part of the bankrupt's estate, but money
belonging to A, B, &c., the unpaid creditors, who could call
upon-the assignee for payment at any time within twelve
months from the date of the order of dividend, after which
he must pay the money into the Unclaimed Dividend Fund :
and further, the 24th order did not apply to dividends made
by the old Commissioners, but only to dividends to be made
by the new Commissioners, which appeared from the general
tenor of the new rules, and from the form of schedule given
in which the lists of debts were to be made out (namely,
" Dividend made this day by Mr. Commissioner —") ;
and that, supposing he (the solicitor) must make out the list
of debts, there was nothing in the rules which said he was to
make out a list of unpaid dividends, the knowledge as to
which he did not possess, and which the assignee or ac-
countant should be asked to give information upon. The
learned Commissioner said be was quite clear upon the point,
and that his course would be to make an order for the soli-
citor to sign the lists, who must bear the consequences of
disobeying the same. We understand that the opinion of a
barrister in the Court of Review has been taken, which is
directly opposed to the law as laid down by Mr. Commis-
sioner Skirrow.

REGISTRATION OF PORTERS, &C.—The registration of,
and granting of certificates of the same to, porters, ware-
housemen, lurnpers, and stevidores, still continues in the
grand jury-room of the Court-house, in Chapel-street. Up
to yesterday afternoon, Mr. Thomas Tyson, who is appointed
by the council of the borough to keep the registry, had
registered nearly 4,000 persons, who had made application to
have their names entered ; and as those whose surnames
. commence with L, M, or N were not then concluded, it is
probable that from eight to ten thousand men in all will
receive certificates. The clauses of the local act by which
these are granted arc to the
.effect, that any person register-
ing under a false name or
.incorrect description, or being
guilty of felony, indictable misdemeanour, habitual drunken-
ness or disorderly conduct, shall have his name expunged
from the registry, and publicly exhibited in a list fixed up
for the space of three months,—that any person whose name
is so expunged, and who shall thereafter represent himself as
still registered, shall for each offence forfeit- a sum not ex-
ceeding 40s.,—and that persons plying as porters without
being registered shall be amenable to a like fine. The act
does not, however, extend to porters and others employed by
the dock trustees, under the recent act relating to the transit
sheds and other new works at the docks. The charge made
for the certificates wal.at first one shilling each, but this has
since been reduced to sixpence, including a small tin case
given to each person, in which to hold his certificate; and
those who paid a shilling have sixpence returned to them on
producing their certificate before the registrar.
THE WEATHER.—Since our last the weather in this dis-
trict, and thrise surrounding it, has, for the most part, been
sunny and delightful, and consequently highly favourable
for the growing crops. On the afternoon of Wednesday—
the longest day—the sky became overcast, portending rain,
and the temperature inclined to cold, with a breeze from the
north-west quarter; but the barometer suffered little or no
depression, and it again became fine. In the evening the
wind having died away, a gentle downfall took place, merely
sufficient to moisten the surface of the ground, and to lay
the dust in the highways. A refreshing shower also fell yes-
terday morning, and was succeeded by a bright summer's
day, agreeably warm, without being sultry. The whole
country even in this, in some parts, comparatively unpro-
ductive county, presents a flush of verdure which it has
rarely been our happiness to witness. The crops generally,
with the exception of patches of potatoes here and there on the low grounds, that had partially suffered from the long_
continued rains, are well forward and highly promising. The
wheats, id particular, (of which there isino very great breadth
in this immediate neighbourhood,) are unusually strong and
thick on the ground. The plants have already shot into ear
in kindly soils; and we have seen many fields in Walton,
West Derby, Gateacre, and Wool'on, where they have
attained a height of four-and.a-half to live feet. The harvest
of " the golden crop" may, therefore, should the season con-
tinue favourable, be anticipated a fortnight or three weeks
earlier than last year. We can scarcely say so much for the
generality of the spring corn, though we have seen some
promising specimens. Culinary vegetables are abundant and
fine, and it is expected that new potatoes will to-morrow
(our market-day) be down to Id. and IN. per pound, ac-
cording to size. The mowers and hay-makers, availing
themselves of the sun shining, are busily employed in the
fields. The yield in this valuable article far exceeds the
usual average, amounting, indeed, in some places, to nearly
three-fold that of last year. A considerable quantity has
already been stacked in prime condition from forward
grounds. The gardens look beautiful. Fruit, however, and
particularly apples, will probably fall rather short, much of
the blossom having been destroyed by the long rains and cold
winds in May and during the first part of the present month.
The same cause .lies operated slightly to raise the price of
bread; but this, with the favourable change in the weather,
together with the fine appearance of the wheat fields, cannot,
we should think, long be maintained.