The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-04-07 00:00:00

FAMINE AND FEVER.

The Irish papers of last week more strongly than
ever deny that there is any ground for the wide-spread
apprehensions of the desolating effects of famine and
fever. With respect to the former, the Dublin Mad—
an excellent authority—confidently asserts that the "cry
is conceived in faction and is attempted to be sustained
by fabrication." In the County Down the country in
general is free from fever, and the districts are much
more healthy than usual. In King's County there is
much less of sickness, and especially of fever, than
there has been for several years. The same accounts
are received from other quarters. As regards the fa-
mine cry, we give the following brief summary of facts,
premising that the Irish journals give long statistical
tables on the subject. In thirteen of the principal mar-
ket towns of Ireland, including Dublin, Cork, Wa-
terford, Limerick, and Belfast. potatoes are now
selling at the average price of 4d. per stone. Oat-
meal in the same towns is selling at the average
price of 14s. 9d.per cwt., and the L'elfast Mer-
cantile Journal—a purely commercial paper—in re-
cording the fact, adds this pregnant observation, " This
is far from the price in times of scarcity." The whole
county of Armagh, first by the resolution of its Grand
Jury, and then by the proceedings of a general meet-
ing convened on the subject, has rejected the idea of
scarcity or the necessity of having recourse to the pre-
cautions of Government, one of the resolutions stating
that there are sufficient provisions for the county and
ample employment for the people. The great counties
of Down and Antrim had already come to the' same
decision. In Cork county we find, on the authority of
the Cork Relief Committee, that the alarm is artificial.
At a meeting of the committee it was stated that there
was an abundance of potatoes in the neighbourhood,
but the people-were keeping them in the hope of get-
ting large prices, and one woman, who holds a large
quantity, has been heard to say she will keep them
until she gets a farthing a piece. The large arrivals of
Indian corn meal are, however, now driving the farmers
to market with their potatoes, and last week potatoes
were shipping at Cork for England. At Waterford the
price of potatoes is an average one, and last market-
day there was a supply equal to three weeks' consump-
tion, and on an average of good quality. At Dungannon
market there was a large supply. At Dublin there are
vessels now lying laden with potatoes sound and good
as ever were eaten. At Aberayon, Cardiganshire, North
Wales, placards are posted that a ship load of excellent
potatoes, from Ireland, are on sale at that town, and
it has been pertinently asked, " How is the exportation
of a ship load of potatoes from Ireland at this time of
the year reconcileable with the failure of more than
two-thirds of the crop ?" We do not, then, see any just
grounds of apprehending a famine in Ireland ; and had
we space for the insertion of the carefully compiled
statistics from which we have condensed these few par-
ticulars, they would absolutely negative the assertion
of even a scarcity.

TIIE ELEVEN HOURS' (FACTORY) EXPERI-

AI ENT.

Messrs. Horrockses, Miller, and Co., the highly re-
spectable mill-owners, of Preston, who have adopted the
eleven hours' experiment, have, in order to gratify the
public, published the following statistical account of the
result in one of their establishments (the Moss Factory),
for the month during which it has been in operation:—

Counts of Yarn Spun, 35's to 40's.
Quantity spun in 6i hours,l Hand Self-acting 'Fhros-
average of 4 weeks, ending M ules. M ties.
February 2n 317,523 draws. 714 lb. 721 lb.
Quantity spun in 64 hours,
average of 4 weeks, ending 287,016 do. 658 lb. 665 lb.
March 27
The proportionate quantity
for 64 hours, as against 6g } 285,240 do. 662 lb. 666 a lb.
hours, should be

Thus, it appears, there has been a slight proportional
gain in hand mules, to the amount of 24 minutes per
week, and a loss in the self-acting mules and throstles of
about 20 minutes per week. The latter, Messrs. Hor-
rockses and Co. say, arises from the machinery requiring
the same daily cleaning, whatever may be the hours of
working. During the time tite experiment has been going
on, the speeds have not beet, altered, nor any change
made in the quality or fineness of the yarns.
A contemporary remarks upon this statement :

" This result is more unfavourable to a reduction of time than
we should have expected, especially dpon hand mules, where, it
might reasonably have been supposed that the increased exer-
tions of the hands would have made up a much larger portion
of the loss. It seems to us quite clear that, subject to such
results, workperip!e in factories, who are paid accordi.,g to the
quantity which they produce, would not willingly consent to a
diminution of the hours of lalyiur, except under an augmented
rate of payment tor their work."

We are, however, not at all convinced that this state.
ment is conclusive, or that the workpeople or the public
will think thatthe only matters to be considered are the
amount of production and the relative amount of wages
earned. The comforts, the health, the increased oppor-
tunities for moral culture gained by the working classes
from this relaxation of an hour in taeir hours of labour,
are material considerations which our contemporary ap-
pears to leave entirely out of -ight. Nor are we told
whether it is not the fact, that the yarn spun has been
more equal, and the deductions for spoilt work less.
Besides, it is difficult to see how twelve hours' work is
to be got from either mules or thro,tles in eleven hours,
without some slight increase in the speed of the machi-
nery.

DIVINE SERVICE ON EASTER EVE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SIR,—I was glad to see a correspondent in your paper,
last week, pointing nut the propriety (in my opinion, the
duty) of having divine service in our churches on Satur-
day evening next (Easter Eve).
A strong argument i❑ is favour that in the Prayer
Book there is a speciA service for the day, namely, Col-
lect, Epistle, and Gospel—an argument which ought to
have much weight with many of our clergy.
I am glad to find that the hint was not altogether in
vain, as at the church I attend notice was yesterday given
of a service every evening this week.—Yours. &c.

April 6.
P.S.—lt is not too late for notice of a service on Satur-
day evening, as ihe sane can be given on Goad Friday.

COLLEGIATE iNsTITUTION.--;011 Friday last, C. Cragie
Halket, Esq., of Fifeshire, commenced a course of six
lectures on Landscape Gardening, Tne attendance was
not numerous, and before the close of the lecture it had
become extremely reduced, the greater part of the audience
having proved themselves equally deficient _in relish for
the subject, and knowledge of good breeding. We must
allow that the lecturer himself was not wholly free from
blame in the matter. An enthusiast in his art, he forgot
his audience ; and while his discourse evinced a perfect
knowledge of the subject, together with the most correct
principles, and the most cultivated taste, it could not
but prove anything but entertaining to persons having no
previous acquaintance with the study, and no inducement
to enter upon it beyond the immediate justification of
hearing it explained to them, and the advantage which a
knowledge of its general principles might afford. After a
plea for indulgence, which we do think ought to have been
more gerierous'y responded to, the lecturer made some
severe remarks upon country gentlemen who insist upon
being "their own landscape gardeners," and only afford
proof that wealth cannot confer taste, but that opulence
and ignorance may go hand in hand. He then showed
the distinction between landscape gardening, and land.
scape painting, which by some were thought to be
identical in their principles and requirements. A good
landscape painter, might make a good landscape gar-
dener, if the landscape were to be looked at only from
one point of view ; but this was not the case. The guiding
principles were the same, but there was a marked dif-
ference in the execution. The task of the gardener was
by far the most difficult. He was confined to certain
objects, and within a certain scope; he had only the rude
materials of nature to work with ; he mutt combine orna-
ment with utility, and his wet k must bear inspection
from every point of view. What he had chit fly to aim at
was, the judicious combination of the several parts of the
landscape into an effective, well-conneeted, congruous
whole. From these general observations the lecturer pro-
ceeded to an enumeration of the various objects to be
attended to in properly laying out a piece of ground. He
described the different styles of architecture, and the sort
of country to which they were respectively adapted, the
Grecian bring most suited to tame and level scenery, the
Gothic to the wild and rugged, &c. In determining the
position of the house, climate was entitled to consideration ;
the principal reams should front the south or southeast:
the worst exposure in this country was the southwest.
The retaining of much wood about a house was decidedly
objectionable, rendering the air damp and stagnant, and
consequently unwholesome. An artistical connexion
between the house and the grounds was indispensable, a
handsome house rising in naked grandeur from the middle
of a lawn resembling nothing so much as a pork steak
stuck upon spinage. An intermediate link of architec-
tural terraces, &c., should always be maintained. The
choice of plants, their arrangement and distances, next
occupied attention; after which, fountains and vases,
pleasure-grounds, gardens, rockeries, bridges, lakes. ap-
proaches, and lodges, were successively treated of, and
errors of taste in respect to them unsparingly lashed. In
speaking of rockeries, Mr. Halket observed, that they
were seldom beauties, and could only be allowed in pe-
culiar localities. Tjae celebrated roekery at Chatsworth,
however well-executed as a monstrosity, was egregiously
out of place between the mansion and the-conservatory,
and could only be regarded as a regular-built deformity.
EFFECT OF THE WEATHER ON CRIME IN A LARGE
TowDr.—We have frequently remarked that if the weather
be severe over night, the number of prisoners brought
before our stipendiary magistrate on the following day is
almost invariably below the average. This is to be ac-
counted for by the fact that in very bad weather parties
after the hours cf business keep as much as possible
within doors, and evil doers, street walkers, and pick-
pockets, so far follow their example, not only from
motives of comfort, but from being aware that their
chances of prey will be but scanty. This was exemplified
by the returns of.prisoners from the several police stations
yesterday and Sunday. It is not unusual for Mr. Rush-
ton to have from 150 to 160 cases of one kind or other to
dispose of on the Monday—the accumulation of two nights
and a day. It rained incessantly during Saturday night,
Sunday and Sunday night, and the total number of pri-
soners brought up )esterday was only 68 ! Sunday night
was extremely cold, wet, and windy, and it is an unpa-
ralleled fact that only four prisoners were taken on that
night to all the out police stations, to be brought up yes-
terday forenoon for examination.

I
THE EASTER VESTRY-ATTEMPT TO BRING
THE PARISH UNDER THE DOMINATION OF
THE POOR LAW COMMISSIONERS.

The inhabitants and the unfortunate poor of our town
are already beginning to reap the fruits of the admission
of " liberalism" into the management of their affairs.
Amongst the forthcoming movements of the party who
have " fair play" for their motto, the most astounding is
announced in the following handbill :

PARISH OF LIVERPOOL,
April 4th, 1846.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN,
That at the Annual General Vestry to be held on Easter Tues-
day next, a Motion will be submitted to the Inhabitants to the
following effect :
That application be made to Parliament to Repeal the Act of
the sth and 6th Victoria, intituled, "An Act for the better
Administration of the Laws for the Relief and Management of
the Poor of the Parish of Liverpool."
WILLIAM EA RLE,
MOS. URQUHART, Overseers.

It will be seen that this announcement bears the stamp
of authority. The public would suppose that it expresses
the views of the parochial authorities. It is headed.
" Parish of Liverpool." It is printed by the tradesman
who, for some reason which we cannot divine, executes
nearly all the Select Vestry's printing; and, in every
respect bears, upon the face of it, the appearance of an
official document. Yet, the public who know nothing of
our local politics, will be surprised to learn that the two
gentlemen, who have thus usurped the authority of the body
to which they belong, are merely a miserable minority of
that body. The churchwardens refused to sanction the
project which Messrs. Earle and Urquhart have in view ;
and of the remaining overseers, one is unwell and the
other out of town—neither were consulted, we believe,
previously to the placard being issued. There is trickery
therefore in the announcement of this movement, in the
first instance.

And now let us see what is the benefit which these two
" liberal" gentlemen propose, by taking out of the hands
of the parishioners the management of their own aff.irs.
Can the central commissioners manage our affairs be ter
than we can ourselves ? We will give a little of our recent
experience in reply. Over and over again the reports of
our Vestry meetings show that letters requesting instruc-
tion upon particular matters of emergency, have been left
unanswered, until the emergency has passed. The whole
machinery has been shown to be utterly incapable of being
applied to the direction of poor-law matters in this town.
The most recent and flagrant case was connected with the
application of the Vestry to the commissioners, as to the
course to be taken for the purpose of making the ware-
houses round the new docks liable to the local rates. A
reply was received, virtually referring the matter to the
discretion of the local body ; but that reply was not re-
ceived, and, in fact, was not sent off until the whole affair
way settled in Parliament So much for centralization.

We are threatened, at the approaching Easter Vestry,
with a further infusion of that " liberal" material, of
which the movement above noticed is one of the first
fruits. What, however, has been the experience of last
year's " fair play ?" Why, of the gentlemen of " liberal"
politics placed upon the Vestry, three have forfeited their
seats for non-attendance to their duties. A party triumph
they might be willing enough to lend themselves to ; but
in the vulgar matter of pauper and parish registration,
such refined spirits refused to interfere! Mr. John Smith,
we suspect, will find little sympathy with his cry for " fair
play," if this year he proposes at the annual Vestry men
who won't work at all. With the Andover bone-crushing
affair fresh in the minds of our fellow townsmen. perhaps
even they may not be so enamoured of "liberal" vestry-
men, as he imagines.