The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-06-16 00:00:00

MEETING OF MERCANTILE ASSOCIATIONS

A meeting of the associated bodies of this town was held
on Monday afternoon, in the office of the East India and
China Association, for the purpose of taking measures for
the future protection of property from tire. There was a
large attendance of gentlemen. William Brown, Esq. was
called to the chair.

The CHAIRMAN having briefly explained the object of the

meeting

Mr. TODD said that they had met to take a retrospect of
the past, nor to indulge in regrets as to the immense loss
which had been recently sustained in this town by fire, for
that would be an useless expenditure of time ; but they had
met to provide for the future, by the adoption of remedies
which were now indispensably called for. One remedy
which, at the outset, suggested itself, was the support of the
bill which the Council were applying for in Parliament. The
Fire Bill was introduced into the House of Commons ; but,
notwithstanding that, the warehouse-owners were deter-
mined that it should not pass until they had tried an experi-
ment. " Let another fire take place," say they. " and we
will try if we cannot extinguish it." Well, another fire did
take place, before any experiment could be tried under the
Water Bill, and then the warehouse-owners in their mag-
nanimity, said, " Oh, let us go on with the Fire Bill again."
The advice was complied with, thus showing that the ware-
house•owners were the masters of the council, and that they
(the merchants) were completely at their disposal. It was
time for them to free themselves from this servitude. The
warehouse property of this town was no doubt large; but the
property that was stored in those warehouses was much more
valuable. He should estimate it at £20,000,000, and if any
given period could be fixed upon when the warehouses were
emptied and refilled, he should say that property of the value
of £60,000,000 passed through them ; and yet a mere sec-
tion were to dictate what regulations were to be in farce, and,
in fact, to have the whole of the owners of that property at
their mercy. It was time that they should free themselves
from this dictation ; and the first step towards it should be
the sending up of a petition from that meeting which repre-
sented the commercial bodies of Liverpool, begging of the
legislature to pass without delay, not the bill of the council,
but a bill emanating from that body. He therefore said,
that in any bill which the council went for, and which re-
ceived the support of the associated bodies, the classification
of goods, and the removal of the buildings in which hazar-
dous trades were carried on, should be provided for. They
asked for power to remove from the neighbourhood of a
warehouse, containing, perhaps, £lOO,OOO worth of property,
a small building not worth more, probably, than £lOO, and
the returns of the occupier of which were not more than £2OO
a year, giving him compensation for the loss sustained by re-
moval, and that only. As to the necessity for classification,
he thought it was needless to enlarge upon that, after the ex-
perieOce they had had. (Hear, hear.) The speaker then
pointed out the present position of the Fire Bill, and pro-
posed, that the meeting should agree to petition the House
of Commons, sewonding and enforcing the prayer of the pe-
tition from the Council, sent on Saturday.
Mr. JAMES RILEY seconded the motion, which was
agreed to.

Mr. Tonn said, that he had had a conference with the
Town• Clerk and Deputy Town-Clerk, and it was proposed
that several new clauses should be introduced into the bill.
One of these suggested clauses was to the effect, that every
porter should, as the condition on which he was employed,
submit to be searched before entering a warehouse, it that
should be thought necessary. It might be said that this was
an infringement on the liberty of the subject; but it was not,
if it was done with the porter's consent.
The CHAIRMAN.-1 have it done now.

Mr. W. RATmuoNE thought it would be better to avoid
going into details then, and to appoint a committee of that
body to see what the new provisions were, and what the bill
would be in its complete torm.
The CHAIRMAN said that he had that day seen the Mayor,
told him of the meeting he was about to attend, and asked
him for a copy of the bill. The Mayor's reply was, that it
had been so altered and mutilated that it would perhaps mis-
lead them, and suggested the propriety of their appointing a
committee to co-operate with the Council Fire Committee,
by which means they could suggest anything which, in their
oponion, was requisite or desirable. If such a committee
was appointed, they might probably get some useful clauses
introduced, and some obnoxious ones removed.

Mr. RATHBONE seconded the motion for the adoption of
the petition, which was agreed to.

On the motion of Mr. JAMES FOWLER, seconded by Mr.
J. B. BRANCKER, a committee. consisting of the following
gentlemen, was appointed :—Messrs. Brown, Todd, Pitcher,
Wrigley, Gladstone, C. S. Parker, Tobin, Healing, and
Naylor. jun.
"-- T 'I

r. ODD then said. that at the suggestion of a gentleman
well known to them all, he should propose, as the delay in
parliamentary proceedings was very great, and as immediate
remedies were requisite for this alarming conjuncture, that
they should, either by memorial or deputation, call upon the
Lords of the Treasury and the Commissioners of Customs to
adopt immediate measures for rendering warehouses, both in
their construction and management, more secure. lie should
therefore move the following resolution :—" That in the opi-
nion of this meeting a deputation of merchants should be
sent to London, in order to suggest to the Lords of her Ma-
jesty's Treasury, and the Commissioners of her Majesty's
Customs, the absolute necessity of enforcing, in all ware-
houses, sheds, &c. used for the depositing of bonded goods
within the port of Liverpool, such provisions as shall secure
the proper classification of merchandise, and such rules and
regulations for its receipt, delivery, and custody, in bond, as
shall, as far as possible, tend immediately to remove many of
the well-founded objections which are entertained by the di-
rectors of fire insurance companies to the present system of
warehousing in this port, and to provide as well for the effec-
tual security of the merchant as of the revenue."

After a long conversation Mr. Todd agreed to withdraw his
motion.

Several other propositions were brought forward ; but,
after a long discussion, the Chairman suggested an adjourn-
ment, to allow time for the East India Association to consi-
der the subject ; this was agreed to without opposition, and
thanks having been voted to the Chairman, the meeting ad-
journed.

Greenwich is described by the old Elizabethian chroniclers
as a " peerless place." The revolution of time has brought
it to its former state again ; for, since the late accident, it
has been as pierless as before. Greenwich may now be enu-
merated as one of the Sink-ports.—Punch.

LI:CIIES.—The following has been handed to us for
insertion :—" Well, my good woman, how is your hus-
band ? ' asked a chymist in a sea-port town in a remote
part of England of an ancient dame. "Oh, sir, we've had a
weary night with him, poor man !" Why, did you apply
the leeches, as 1 ordered ?" " Yes, sir, but oh ! my poor
husband, I thought he would have died a .taking, of 'em. You
see, sir, we couldn't get 'em down. He did try, and try, and
try, but they did stick all across his throat, and I made sure
he would 4 strangled. At last, he did manage to swallow
one; but will you believe me, sir, we couldn't get down
another. "rwere all of no use to go on in that way.; but I
knew he must take 'em, as you ordered, sir, and so I chop-
ped up t'otber five into nice small pieces—ant then 'twere
terrible job again—l were up with him nearly all the night,
and at last he got 'em all down but one, and so I fried that
there last 'un, and he took that 'un too. Ab, but sir, he had
a terrible night of it, poor man."—Bath Paper.