The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-07-01 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

WEST DERBY BOARD OF GUARDIANS.—This body
met on Tuesday last. The motion of Mr. Thos. Smith,
seconded by Mr. Mould, that reporters be admitted, was
negatived by a small majority. Mr. Mould brought for-
ward his motion for an advance of £5O to the salary of
Mr. Dolling, but, after some discussion, the following re-
solution, moved by Mr. Thomas Smith, was adopted with-
out a division :—"That a committee of this board be ap-
pointed to look into the accounts of the overseers of West
Derby, and especially into those of the chief or senior
assistant overseer; and for the purpose, more particularly,
of inquiring into his disbursements of the rates, and to
scrutinize the various vouchers and other accounts of the
last seven or eight years; such committee to have all the
powers possessed by this board of calling for books and
papers, and for witnesses. And that the committee be
required to report to the board the whole result of their
inquiries."

INCREASE OF THE LIVERPOOL DOCKS.—On Wednes-
day a comparative statement was published of the rates
and duties received at this port in the years ending the
24th of June, 1814-5. This statement exhibits a gratifying
increase of £42,350 16s. 9d. in the rates received in 1845
over and above those received in 1844. It also exhibits
an increase this year of vessels to the number of 2110, and
of tonnage to the extent of 383,819 above the last year.
The particulars are as follow :—the duties on tonnage, in
1845, were £118,046, in 1844. £99,044 ; on goods, in 1815,
£105.200, in 1844, £86,119; on lighthouses, in 1815,
£8,632, in 1844, £7,357; on floating lights, in 1845,
£3,897, in 1844, £3,367 ; on graving docks, in 1845,
£11,660, in 1844, £8499; on graving blocks, in 1845,
£2239 ; in 1844, £1,671 ; extra dock rent, in 1845, £865,
in 1844, £2,131. The only decrease during the year has
been in the last item, extra dock rent, and that decrease
has amounted to £1266. The totals on all the items have
been, in 1845, £250,540, in 1844, £208,190, showing, as
we have already said, an increase this year to the amount
of £42,350. The number of vessels, in 1845, was 20,521,
tonnage 3,016,531 ; the number, in 1844, was, vessels
18,411, tonnage 2,632,712, showing, as we have already
said, an increase this year of 2110 vessels, 383,819 ton-
nage.

DOCK COMMITTEE, THURSDAY.—The sub-committee
presented a report on the subject of central graving docks
at the Prince's dock basin. They submitted three plans,
the cost of the Ist, including the land, was estimated at
£116,000, the second at £256,000, and the third at
£134,000. The unanimous recommendation of the sub-
committee was, that the objections to the site were in-
superable. After some conversation, on the motion of
Mr. Nicol, a resolution to the effect that the report should
be adopted, and that it was inexpedient to construct
docks on the site of the Prince's basin, and the land east-
ward of it, was carried by a majority of 12 to 4, Messrs.
Henderson, Houghton, Royden, and Kendall, being the
only parties who voted against it. The site of the slate-
yards, it was stated, would be required as a deli& for
goods when the railway along the line of the docks is
completed. An opening three feet wide was ordered to be
made in the plrapet-wall of the Prince's Dock, for the
accommodation of the passengers landing or embarking
from the Princess Royal, Glasgow steamer. Mr. Moly-
neux, in reply to a question from Mr. Sandbach said that
in the course of a few weeks the sub-committee would be
able to report on the applications for the situation of
superintendent of Albert Dock warehouses. A letter
from the surveyor employed by the Committee of Woods
and Forests, as to an improved mode of discharging ves-
sels, and raising goods into warehouses, was referred to
the warehouse sub-committee.—The receipts of dock and
light duties on vessels entering the port of Runcorn, for
the month ending the 25th instant, were stated as follow :
—On 293 vessels, of 15,706 tons, £B5 lls., being an in-
crease over the corresponding month of last year of
£l6 17s 10d. Mr. Bold gave notice that he would at the
next meeting move that a bridge similar to the one at the
north end of the George's Dock, be placed at the south
end of the Prince's Dock.

MERCHANT SEAMEN'S FUND.—On Thursday a pub-
lic meeting of the seamen of the port of London, was
held in a field near Stepney, to consider the bills before
Parliament, for the management of this fund. About
3000 sailors were present. Admiral Codrington took the
the chair, and Sir C. Napier and Capt. Berkeley addres-
sed the meeting. The chairman said the government
ought to take the management of the fund (£52,000) into
its own hands, as it was now lent out to parries who might
fail. At Liverpool £45,000 was thus lent out. Sir C.
Napier congratulated the seamen present that Sir G.
Cockburn was about to introduce a bill to control the
crimps, and to establish seamen's homes, where their
clotbes and money would be secured. The following is
the substance of the resolutions proposed :

.
" That in any legislative measure that may be proposed, all the
contributors and subscribers to the fund should not only have a

3r the port of

,ut for every other port in the United

indi'v'idual good, it should be administered under government su-
perintendence; that the management has been hitherto defective,
unproductive of the anticipated good, and without any prospect of
improvement; that the proposed mode of sick relief is objectiona-
ble, and open to fraud ; that if, as proposed by the new bill, the
port of Glasgow should be permitted to distribute its own receipts,
the whole measure would be nugatory; that retired seamen should
be allowed to contribute and receive the same advantages as if in

actual service; that widows, whether bereaved by natural cm acci-
dental causes, should be placed on the same footing; that all mo-

neya should be paid to a general treasurer; thaliny proceeding
relating to the act should be exempted from stamp duties; and that
the measure itself should not be considered final."
On Friday, a meeting of delegates from the outrorts of
Great Britain was held at the Guildhall Coffee-house,
when there were present the representatives of many sea-

ports, including Liverpool. Mr. Potter, of Liverpool took
the chair. He complained of the stringent nature of Mr.
Gladstone's bill. It sets out that small pensions were no
use to widows, and vet the government measure ended by
fixing the maximum at £4 a-year, which was the mini-
mum at present given by the outports. Under the pre-
sent bill no pension was to be given to a widow of the age
of 30, and yet she might have six children, all that was to
be given was a gratuity not to exc ed £4, and that when it
Was convenient. Should the female be of the age of 45,
she was to secure a pension only for one year. It was
stated that at a meeting at Hull, the sailors considered
the bill a direct robbery on them, especially the clause
relating to widows and children. Two resolutions were
agreed to—the first consideredlthe bill as:unnecessary, un-

just, and impolitic, and the second claimed to have the
funds of those ports and the trustees of them untouched,
whose moneys were and bad been properly and honestly
managed. A committee was then appointed to sit daily.
and a deputation was appointed to wait on the Board of
Trade and Sir George Clerk, to ascertain whether they
could influence the withdrawal of the bill, or get the ob-
jectionable clauses modified, especially the one which took
away all relief to the widow and the children of the sailor.

HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION AT THE
BOTANIC GARDEN.

On Thursday, the second show of the season, of plants,
flowers, and fruits, took place in the tents and green-
house. The day was fine, and the company very nume-
rous, including a splendid array of the beauty and fashion
of the town and neighbourhood. The show, though not
comprising so many kinds of plants as we have sometimes
seen brought up, was the best we have yet witnessed, as
regards the excellence of the specimens. The ericas were
peculiarly beautiful, varied, and rich in blossom. Mr.
Cunningham's Cavendishia, with a large yellow flower,
his Odorato, with white blossom, and his

delicate pink and white, were adffiirablet Messrs