The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-07-30 00:00:00

THE COUNTY RATES.

We have before had occasion to direct the attention of
the public—who are wholly interested in the subject—to
the enormous levies of money annually made upon the in-
habitants of Lancashire, under the name of poor rates,
but of which (though the fact is known to but very few)
by far the greater part is absorbed in the expenses of the
county, otherwise in the county rate, over the impartial
assessment and economical expenditure, of which they
possess not the slightest control ; for, though the magis-
trates of Preston and its vicinity sit in Annual General
Sessions to revise and pass the accounts, their conduct, as
a body, throughout a long series of years, sufficiently
shows that they are careless of expenditure that does not
affect their own comparatively little nook ; and that ap-
peals made to them by aggrieved townships against
unequal assessments are treated with disregard, if not with
contumely and insult. Of the latter fact we have a recent
prominent instance in their reception of a joint applica-
tion to them for justice and relief from a large number of
townships in our own locality, and from twenty others in
various parts of the shire.
The county rate is paid by the overseers of parishes and
townships out of what they collect as poor rates ; and the
guardians of the West Derby Union, which comprises no
fewer than twenty-three townships, with a population of
upwards of 90,000 persons, feeling the excessive and in-
creasing burthen imposed upon the rate-payers in the pay-
ment of the county rate,procured a statement to be recent-
ly made from the accounts of the union, showing the sums
that had been raised during the previous three years, and
the proportion thereof expended for the relief of the poor,
and paid for county rates respectively. It was found
that the total sum expended for the poor (including sala-
ries and every cost) was £5,552, while the amount paid
for county rate alone for the same period was £9,936, or
nearly double that expended in the maintnance of the
poor ! They very properly published the statement in
their union, for the information of the rate-payers, and
also drew the attention of other anions in the county to
the subject, with a view to a general effort being made to
bring the matter before the county magistrates, who alone
had the power in annual sessions to investigate it, and
afford redress. They sent a respectful memorial to these
gentlemen representing the facts, stating that in conse-
quence of the increased rates the overseers had to resort
to compulsoay and expensive means against the rate-
payers who resisted the burdensome exaction, and
sometimes against the overseers themselves, to recover
the respective proportions from the several townships;
and closed with requesting their worships to give the sub-
ject their consideration, and adopt such measures for the
alleviation of the burden as they might think meet.
Nineteen other unions communicated with, concurred in
the views and intentions of the West Derby Union,
each having for its chairman a county magiftrate. Only
two out of 21 withheld their concurrence, one of them the
Preston Union ; and when the subject was brought before
the guardians of that union, it was disposed of by the fol-
lowing resolution :—" That it being conceived the subject
was not within the power of a Board of Guardians : The
Chairman, (T. B. Addison, Esg.d explained that it was
his opinion the guardians ought not to interfere with the
matter; when the subject dropped." So that it would
appear no subject must be entertained or introduced by
that board, which is not quite agreeable to their chair-
man ; and it is difficult to define which most predomi-
nated in this "dropping of the subject," the servility of
the guardiani, or the assumptive dictation of their lord
and master. The rebuke conveyed by this resolution of
Mr. Addison, did not however deter the West Derby
Guardians from proceeding with their memorial; and on
the 27th ultimo it was presented to the magistrates as-
sembled in annual sessions, (comprising )8 magistrates)
at Preston, by, the only magistrate of West Derby (out of
30 behinging to the hundred) who could be present,
owing. to the distance of the court, and other causes.
About twenty other memorials, of the same nature, were
"presented from other parts of the county. The chairman
was again T. B. Addison, Esq., and not one of them had
they the condescension even to read, the only reception
they met with being (as justly reported) " a sneer or a
derisive laugh." Two of them, which had previously
been forwarded to the clerk of the peace, the chairman
had, it appeared, vouchsafed to peep into, and he availed
himself of the prayer of one of them for a reduction of
expenditure to ask the following significant question—
" Can they tell U 3 where we spend a shilling when we ought
to spend only sixpence?" We believe the memorialists
would not have the slightest difficulty in doing so,—in
fact, unless the averments made are grossly incorrect, it
is shown already.
But the best of the joke (for jokes seemed the order of
the day) was the reception of the well-grounded West
Derby memorial. Wben the magistrate who presented it
stated (adopting its but too true language) that the
amount paid towards the county rate was nearly double
that expended in the relief of the poor, the chairman
ejaculated " I dont believe it ; " and when the clerk of
the union assured the court that the statement was cor-
rect, he (the chairman) exclaimed " Absurd ! Absurd ! "
Now, what are the real facts? They are so well stated
by a contemporary, the Manchester Guardian, that,
though in politics opposed to us, we quote a portion of
his recent article on the subject :--
" The population of North Lancashire, in 1841, was
only 402,671: that of South Lancashire, 1,264,383 ; and
the valuation, in 1841, of the northern division was
£1,362,850; of the southern division, £4,828,217. It is
clear, then, that the southern division of the county is far
more populous and far more wealthy than the northern,
and it contributes a far larger amount of money to the
county rate. Yet, owing to the Annual County Session
being held at Preston, the whole funds of the county are
placed at the disposal of the magistrates, whose resi-
dences, connections, influence, and interests, are identified
with the northern division."
And he adds :

tt With a population threefold greater than the northern
division, and an annual value of property three-and-a-
half times as great, the southern division has the unen-
viable distinction of paving (owing to the mode in which
the assessment is made) more than its fair proportion
to the rates, while the magistrates of the northern di-
• vision virtually possess the less disagreeable, and cer-
tainly to their own constituents, less costly privilege of
voting away the funds."
What we would suggest, to remedy the evils here com-
plained of, is, that the whole of the guardians in the
southern division should unite to force upon the magis-
trates the most rigorous economy in the county expendi-
ture, and, if they cannot succeed by such means, to join
in a representation of their grievances to parliament, and
endeavour to obtain some control over the immense sums
extorted from them, and, to a great extent, fool'shly
squandered in the support of a useless number of rural
police, and other modern hobbies. Why not let the
southern division have the management of their own
affairs in their own hands? A southern county court, to
be held for the convenience of the representatives of the
ratepayers. might be established, say at Newton, and the
Conservative Hall would be a fit place of meeting, and
could no doubt be readily obtained. At all events, the
evil is becoming too great to be much longer tolerated.

The Times of yesterday contains no less than nine trials
for arson at the assizes at Ipswich, and tbree at Exeter.
WORTHY or, EXAMPLE.—On Thursday, Mr. Sothern,
with a praiseworthy liberality, gave the children belonging
to Christ Church Sunday School a trip to Foghorn.
About twelve o'clock, the Egerton steamer left George's
Pier-head, with upwards of 360 children on board, accom-
panied by Mr. Sothern and family, the curate of Christ
Church, Mr. Councillor Birkett, and several ladies and
gentlemen. The children enjoyed themselves in the beau-
tiful gardens and ground attached to the hotel. About
three o'clock each child was supplied with a meat pie,
having previously partaken of buns, &c., on board the
steamer. A cold collation, provided by Mr. Nicholls, of
the hotel, was laid out in the large room, for Mr. Sothern
and his friends. About seven o'clock the whole party re-
turned to Liverpool, accompanied by a band of music,
highly delighted with the day's pleasure.

VENUS AND THE SUN—THE NEW COMET.—Mr.Moses
Holden, the astronomer, in a letter to the Preston Pilot,
states that on Tuesday, the 23d instant, at 4 h. 38m. 14s.
p.m. the inferior conjunction of Venus and the Sun took
"ace for the meridian of Preston; and that Venus having
nearly 6 deg. less declination than
the Sun, he felt cert.in that that
planet would remain a crescent
even while passing the Sun, al-
though at other times, in its con-
junction, the whole of the dark
side of the planet is turned to the
Earth. He saw Venus on the
day of the conjunction, at 11 h.
20 m. p.m.-4 h. 18 m. 14s. prior
to the event, and Lad the weather

been clear would hare seen it in

conjunction. The planet showed
as a beautiful thin crescent, with the horns pointing to
the Earth, and the convex side to the Sun, Venus being
magnified by the telescope. Mr. Holden adds that he
first saw the New Comet on the 19th, at 10h. 30 m. p.m. ; it
was very faint, and had the appearance of a small nebula.
It had left the constellation Hercules, and entered into
Bootes. He again saw it on Saturday night at 1111. 3m.,
making its way to the sun ; motion S.W., and retrogade.
He had another view on Monday, the 22nd ; its right
ascension was about 15h. 7m., and declination 37 deg'
23m. N.
AMERICAN HAY.—We recently noticed as uncommon,
owing to the partial failure of our hay harvest, large im-
portations of hay from Ireland ; but what is still more
rare, we see this day advertised for sale in another co-
lumn a quantity of American hay, that has arrived per
Patrick Henry from New York. We may really now ex-
claim " What next ?"—for if unusual importations con-
tinue to arrive as rapidly hereafter as they have latterly
poured in from America, Jonathan will consider crossing
the Atlantic nothing more than going to market.
FLEXIBLE HATS.—We had the pleasure a few days
ago, of inspecting some of these novel and ingeniously
manufactured bats, which must be excellently adapted for
summer wear, and especially by parties who, like our-
selves, have felt the pain and unpleasantness of the pre-
sure upon the forehead of the chapeaux in ordinary use.
These sit with perfect ease round the head, being made
flexible in the part next to the brim. We recommend
our readers to give a call to the house by whom they are
advertised for sale, where we know they will be politely
teceived and attended to.

THE LAKES.—There is no month in the year, at which
there are more visitors, or at which the lov-ely scenery of
the Lakes is in greater splendour than in August; and
now that there is a continual steam communication kept
up between this port and the Lakes, we know of no
sure
ex-
cursion that can be taken that will ensure more plea
at so trifling an expense. The Windermere, a boat that
has long ben a deserved favourite, is constantly on the
station, and having been redecorated and fitted with new
boilers this spring, presents not only a comfortable but a
safe conveyance.