The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-10-22 00:00:00

VnE iiirEaPotit STANblitb.

ing Transatlantic steamers. Referred.—The chairman
said, the regular business had closed; but there was a
matter which arose from an interview which he had had
that morning with Mr. Hayter, of the Treasury, and
other gentlemen, as to whether further accommodation
for the postoffice could be given in that building. Mr.
Hayter had no doubt but that arrangements could be
made so that the postoffice might remain in its present
site. Government wished to have possession of the ma-
rine surveyor's general office and of the secretary's office,
with the corresponding rooms above. The question was
one simply of expense and inconvenience. Mr. Hayter
thought the Dock Committee might give up the rooms
required for no rent at all; or at a weeli
and government would, at its own ex

pense, ma

requisite alterations.—Mr. Tobin : No rent at all ? I
suppose they are very poor (laughter).—Mr. Harbord
thought the best way would be to have the premises va-

lued, and charge government for what they took at t

rate of four per-ceni. Mr. Tobin asked where the marine
surveyor was to be put; and Mr. Nicol remarked that a
difficulty might arise from the removal of the strong room
in the secretary's office, which is used for the safe custody
of the various muniments of the trust. The chairman
answered that these were mere matters of detail. It was
agreed that the rooms required should be valued and
given up.

3 MUNICIPAL ELECTION,

The following is a list of the retiring members and the
candidates, so far as at present ascertained :
RETIRING MEMBERS. CANDIDATES.
William Walthew.
William Walthew {S. M. Mellor.
JJ John Woodruff.
' IRaymild.Houghton
... William Preston.
f Thomas Savage.
' 1 John Games.
.. Charles Turner.
f George Holt.
' 'John Smith.
/iii'im llieas Hmiollemnederson
.. W. P. Jeffreys.
.. Richard Harbord.
J. A. Tobin.
f T. Fleming.
. R. C. Gardner.
J.B. Lloyd.
.. James Parker.
f Eyre Evans.
IJ. Marke NVood.
Samuel Holtne.
Matthew Gregson.

WA RD

Evertor

Scotland

Vauxhall
St. Paul's

Exchange

John Woodruff

William Preston

R. B. Hill

G. H. Horsfall

Castle-street George Holt

St. Peter's.

Pitt-street...
Great George

Daniel Bell

.. Thomas Rimmer
.. Richard Harbord
f T. A. Tobin
1 George Booker

Rodney

Abercromby
Lime-street
St. Anne's .

R. C 'dardner,
J. B. Lloyd..
James Parker

West Derby

dosias Booker

South Toxteth .... R. L. Jones ..
North Toxteth .... William Mann

WRECK OF THE PROVIDENCE :• IMPUTATION
ON THE CREW OF THE LIVERPOOL LIFE-
BOAT.

On Tuesday an inquest was held before the borough
coroner, on view of the body of Hugh Williams, a cooper
on board the Providence, bound hence for the coast of
Africa, and which was wrecked during the late gale off
Burbo Bank. The body of the deceased had been found
on Sunday last, under some powder casks in the between-
decks, by a fisherman named John Bird, who had been
employed in discharging the cargo from on board the
Providence. The body, on being brought to Liverpool
and placed in the dead-house, was identified by the wife
of the deceased.

The facts of the case were exceedingly simple, and there
was nothing to create difficulty in arriving at a verdict;
but the coroner remarked to the jury that, as he had be
fore intimated, he had received some important informa-
tion from Mr, Cooke, superintendent of pilots, which in-
duced him to think that the inquiry ought to be adjourned,
not that it might affect their verdict, but that it might
lead to a grave investigation as to how the loss of life on
board the unfortunate vessel was attributable to cul-
pability on the part of the crew of the lifeboat. If the
Dock Committee provided lifeboats to render assistance
in cases of shipwreck, and men were paid to perform
certain duties on board such lifeboats, it ought to be as-
certained whether they did their utmost, consistent with
their own safety of life, to perform fully such duties. It
appeared that the Albert Steam-tug was towing the life-
boat to the wreck. and that when they had arrived within
a certain distance from the ship, the parties on board the
lifeboat cut the rope by which she was in tow with the
tug. This, on the part of the lifeboat crew, was said to
have been done under well-grounded apprehension for
their own safety ; but the parties on board the steamer
said there had been no foundation for such apprehension,
and that had the boat remained in tow, and arrived at the
vessel, there would not, in all probability, have been a
single life lost. An inquiry into these circumstances, if
it was attended with no other benefit, might have the ef-
fect of causing better men to be provided to man our
lifeboats, and that those boats should be better equipped,
if they were now unfit for service. With this view he
(the coroner) should adjourn the case until 12 o'clock on
Friday, when the master and mate of the Providence,
a pilot named Parry, and Lieutenant Lord, who had in
some measure the control of these boats, would be pro-
duced before them. The matter had to some extent un-
dergone inquiry by the Pilots' Committee, and Mr. Cooke,
superintendent of pilots, who had furnished him with the
information, was then present, if they would wish to hear
him.

Mr. COOKE said that previously to the matter being
brought before the Pilots' Committee, he had commu-
nicated with Lieut. Lord on the subject, in consequence of
having heard that the boat had been cast loose on account
of a few rolling seas, at a time when she had passed the
place where the mos:- danger was to be apprehended, the
sea on the flats, and when she was within sight of the
wrecked vessel, thus raising a buoyant hope of safety in
the heyast of the distressed people on board, who cheered
each other up by saying there was a life-boat approaching-,
when they had the mortification of witnessing the rope
cut, the boat leave the tug, and change her course, thus
dissipating their hope of safety and chance of life ; and
this had been done, as was alleged by the crew of the life-
boat, in consequence of the tempestuous sea. He (Mr.
Cooke) dare say that lie should get much blame in
consequence of bringing the matter before the public, but
he considered it his duty to do so notwithstanding, as it
was only by such means as those which he bad adopted,
that they could arrive at the real facts of the case. It
might have been thought, too, that the boat would have
turned back on the following morning. The men on
board the Albert had said that some would surely be left
on the wreck, if they had not been washed overboard ;
but the crew of the life-boat (Liverpool) said, " Wait
until daylight, and then we will start for the wreck." In
the meantime the Magazine boat was picked up with, and
where did they succeed in saving some of the sufferers ?
At a place where no risk was incurred : they were taken
on board in the Crosby Channel. Parry described the
situation of the poor wretches as the most horrifying lie
bad ever witnessed. " Now, if life-boats are to be life-
boats," said Mr. Cooke, " tl.ey were never intended to go
out only in mackarel-fishing weather," and entered into
a statement made by a pilot, relative to the loss of the
Lockwood, some years ago, in reference to which it was
ascertained that the life-boat on that occasion had been
inefficiently manned.
The CORONER, after remarking that the inquiry would
be one in which the public had great interest, and thank-
ing Mr. Cooke for having brought the circumstances of
the case before him, adjourned the inquest until 12
o'clock on Friday, in order to receive evidence relative to
the allegations urged against the crew of the life-boat.
On the assembling of the court on Friday afternoon,
two of the crew of the life-boat were examined, who tes-
tified that it would have been dangerous to have pro-
ceeded to the Providence, inasmuch as the peculiar build
of the boat was unfitted to face so heavy a sea. In fact,
had they persevered, they might have been washed away.
After a brief consultation, the jury returned a verdict of
" Accidental death," at the same time expressing their
opinion, that the crew of the boat were not altogether
free from blame, and requested the Coroner to represent
to the Dock Committee the inefficient build of the boat.