The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-05-27 00:00:00

e case wr
"-di!

Instance,

have been of

lieve that the

Ice, or fifte-en years. I be.

leman in this r

3m who has been

served with a writ fora fine of -.C5,000, which has been out-
standing fora longtime. T think you will have his experience
upon this matter. There is another subject of importance
upon which you will also receive an explanation—that is
the establishment of Tribunals of Commerce. A meeting
has been held in furtherance of this object in London,
and which I have no doubt will be alluded to by the
speakers when bringing this matter before the Chamber.
Before sitting down, I would direct your attention to the
handsome present given to your Chamber—that of the
portrait of the late Mr. Canning, which is now before you.
It has been presented to the Chamber by Mr. J. Graham
Gilbert, artist, of Glasgow. T will now call upon the
secretary to read

THE REPORT

........ ......,....
Mr. TRONSON (secretary) then read the following
report :

The Council of the Chamber of Commerce have again called
the members together for the purpose of laying before them
some account of their proceedings, during the past quarter, as
well as to afford the opportunity to individual members of
bringing forward any subjects which may be deemed of com-
mercial interest to the community.

It will be remembered that at the last General Meeting of
the Chamber, a discussion took place on the subject of the
income Tax, when it was resolved to memorialise the Govern-
nicht for a modification of the Tax on Income derived from
trades, professions, &c., as well as with a view to obviate its
inquisitorial character. A memorial in this spirit was for-
warded, and subsequent events in Parliament show that, as an
enquiry into the matter is about to be made, it is probable
some modifications may be obtained.

The Council thought it right to appoint a special committee,
to whom the consideration of the evils arising out of the pre-
sent system of bonding has been referred. That committee
have given very full attention to the subject, and reports have
been presented relative to the various descriptions of bonds.
The matter being one of very great importance,•much time has
necessarily been devoted to it, and the committee, considering
that every available assistance should be obtained, requested
the services of Mr. Sherlock, the customs' agent, which were
cheerfully granted; and they beg to record their appreciation
of those services, which to them were most valuable.
The House of Commons having granted a committee of in-
quiry into the constitution and management of the Board of
Customs, the same committee, to whom the bonding system
was referred, were requested to consider this subject, and they
have submitted a series of suggestions for improvement in that
branch of public business. Copies of these suggestions were
forwarded to the various mercantile associations of the town,
and at a meeting of your Council and the representatives of
those associations, they were unanimously adopted.
The committee will he prepared with evidence in support of
their suggestions; and they will be happy to receive, from
members of the Chamber, instances of cases requiring revision
and improvement in the department of the Customs, the re-
cent appointment of a Committee of the House of Commons
presenting an opportunity of redress which may not occur
again for many years.

-In the last iefiori,reference was made to the diversion of a
large portion of a very important branch of business—the for-
warding trade, from this port to London—in consequence of
the rates of carriage from Manchester to London being, re-
latively, so much lower than to Liverpool. The subject being
one of great difficulty, and requiring much caution and deli-
cacy of procedure, the Special Committee charged with it have
not been able, as yet, to report much progress ; hut their best
efforts are given to it, and they trust they may have the pleasure
of announcing a favourable issue to the steps they are taking
towards retaining to Liverpool a trade of so much value.
Another important subject, which has occupied the attention
of the Council, is the anticipated removal of the North Ameri •
can mail-packet service from this port. The co-operation and
support of the principal towns throughout the manufacturing
districts and Scotland have been solicited against any such
removal ; and your directors hope that no change will be made,
though, in the absence of positive information upon the sub-
ject, it must necessarily remain one of some anxiety and
attention. _

The imperfect state of the law relating to absconding
debtors having beer- brought under the notice of the
council, by members of the chamber, a -special committee was
appointed to consider the subject ; and your directors, acting
upon the opinion of that committee, has decided to support
a bill now before parliament, which provides facilities for the
speedy arrest of such persons, by granting authority to local
judges to issue warrants for that purpose, thus obviating the
delay occasioned by the present state of the law.
Memorials have been forwarded to government upon many
subjects, which do not call for other than cursory notice,
among which_are--

The reduction of the Duties on Soap,
The reduction of the Sound Dues,
The appointment-of this Port as a Government
Emigration Depot.
Towards the latter the co-operation of the Town Council and
Dock Committee has been invited.

The subject of increased accommodation, by the Dock Com-
mittee, for the timber and shipbuilding trades of this town oc-
cupied the attention of the Council, but no further steps were
taken beyond the expression of opinion that additional accom-
modation was necessary, your directorsconsidering the subject
of the locality of such accommodation one en which it was un-
advisable for them to enter.

The bill promoted by the Dock Committee for the alteration
of bye-laws, as to the use of -fires and lights on shipboard, and
other purposes, was considered by a committee, but their re-
port recommending no interference on the part of this chamber,
no measures were taken upon the subject. To that brought
forward by the American Chamberof Commerce, for an altera-
tion in management, the co-operation of your council was
requested, but your directors thought it right to decline inter-
ference in this also. The two bills have now become amal-
gamated, the particelarsof which are already before the public.
The bill for the amendment of the law respecting letters
patent for inventories has been considered by the council, and
as it is a measure affecting the interests of some of the mem-
bers of the chamber, a special committee has been appointed
-to watch its progress.
Former reports have informed the members of the Chamber
of the steps taken by your council respecting the settlement of
commercial questions and disputes; and as there is at present
a movement in several towns, more especially in London, for
procuring the establishment of commercial tribunals in this
country, your council are anxiously watching the steps now
being taken, as the subject is one ofoginregawasheld importancein
n Londonto Mer-
cantile Committees. A recent me
the purpose of ascertaining the precise views entertained there
on the question It appears that mode of procedure
agreed upon for obtaining that- object 'we•a s to petition Parlia-
ment, praying for enquiry into the matter,
introduction of measures for the establisbnielnrteLlratory to the
tribu-
nals. In the meantime any suggesth
ns from members such of this
chamber, conversant with the subject, will be fully considered
by your council.
The Committee on Postal Communications are now occupied
in endeavouring to procure the despatch of a mail to the North •
and Scotland by the train leaving Liverpool at eight o'clock in
the evening. This, if accomplished, will be a great advantage
for the correspondence to that quarter ; and as a train is already
on the line at that hour, your Council hope their suggestion
may be adopted by the authorities. The same committee have
also had their attention directed, by Mr. Banning, the post-
master, to the present mode of delivering letters at the Post-
office, with a view, to greater security. Several plans have been
suggested, but one only appears deserving of attention, and
Which Mr. Banning has stated to be at present in partial use
here, viz., to provide each merchant, having a box, with a card
o such design as not to be easily imitated, containing the

number and letter of the box it represents, and signed by the
postmaster, without which no letters should be delivered. As
this matter is one of importance, the Council will be happy to
hear from members any propositions they may have to suggest
on the subject.
Communications from the Hull Chamber of Commerce have
been received, inviting the aid of this Council towards the
abolition of the Russia Company, and a special committee has,
therefore, been nominated, who will consider the subject; but
information as to the rights and privileges, and other particu-
lars relative to the company, is difficult to be obtained.
Your directors have much pleasure in callinr, the attention of

the members to a present. of a portrait of Canning, made to
the chamber by J. Graham Gilbert, Esq., of Glasgow, for which
the council have already, on behalf of the chamber, conveyed
their best thanks to Mr. Gilbert
Mr_ S

ITT in proposing the adoption of the report said,
that since the last quarterly report was presented to them
they had received an addition of 80 new members to their
chamber, making the total number of their chamber 140.
There had been one or two withdrawals during the quar-
ter, which he attributed to parties leaving town and chang-
-teir residence. He urged upon the meeting the ne-
y of all members endeavouring to extend the opera-
of the chamber, by inducing their friends to become
He begged leave to propose the adoption of

memb,

the report

Mr. ARNOTT was glad to have the opportunity of se-
conding its adoption. He was of opinion that the Charn-
hrr wnnlil hp nrnritirtivo of nrPrtt. good to the. mercantile

community ; an

he congralu

lated them upon its present

tic working, for since its formation no chamber of
commerce in the kingdom had done more than they had
propounded as the re-
moval of their American steamers from Liverpool to Holy-
head, it became their interest and their duty to stand for-
-,ect their trade against the encroachments of
(Hear, hear.) He had great pleasure
the adoption of the report.
the report was then formally adopted.

'hen such schemes were

ward and pr,

)owning

CUSTOMS REGULATIONS

Mr. PRESTON, chairman of the Wine and Spirit lkler-
chants' Association, then entered into some very interest-,

ing details relative to the working of the present customs
regulations, in regard to the trade in which he was en-
gaged. He said he was the person alluded to by the
chairman as having been served with a writ, for £5OOO
penalty, at the suit of the solicitor for the customs. There
were many oppressive cases which originated in the work-
ing of the customs board, and which became doubly
oppressive from the fact that the parties sued had no
means of meeting them. The law itself was oppressive;
butthe t- tl -hich t'--- - 1

aoard, from the course wk.. .ney pursued, had the
power within themselves of making it more so. He did not
say that they did so ; but in order to carry out the ends of
the law under which they acted, they were obliged to
put it in force, in cases where it had better be left alone.
He held in his hand a writ for £5,000 penalty on a bond
given in 1839. He had, however, cases in which he had
to account for after a lapse of 22 years; and he was
threatened with two more writs—one for £2, and one for
£2 103: or 12s. So that he would have, supposing he

he suit, the cos

of defending

wo wri

The trade to which he belonged was subject more imme-
diately to the cognizance of customs than any other.
They sometimes placed large parcels of wines and spirits in
bond, and they were often obliged, in the course of trade,
to reduce these into smaller parcels, and thereby incurring
great loss ; but so far from that loss being all allowed they
had to account for the original hulk. The case out of which
this writ arose was a parcel of wines which were placed
in bond in 1839, Subsequently the parties became bank-
rupt, and their affairs were placed in the hands of an
assignee. The wine remained, or it ought to have re-
mained, in bond till this time; but recently, after taking
stock, the Customs found that the wine was not there—it
The cask was there, but no wine. They said

was away

that was not " the cask." He (Mr. R.) said it was ; and
so issue was joined. But the whole contest was for only 16
gallons of refuse wine. For that he had been served with
a writ for £5OOO the cost of which:he would have to pay
in any case.

BOULT.—Is that the first application

Mr. PRESTON.—No : they applied before. We replied,
and made a case that should have satisfied any person,
and the only reply we afterwards got from the board was
this.
The PRESIDENT.—A writ

Mr. PRESTON urged upon the Chamber that they were
all liable for their bonds ; for they had no knowledge whe-
ther they were cancelled or not. He had no doubt but
that if the recommendation of the committee was not
adopted out, the law would be carried out against them
with a capriciousness which they would all feel. lie
could tell them so ; for the board were not amenable to
them. They would give no reason whatever for the
course which they took in any case. He would instance this
fact :—He had by this very vessel a cask of wine which was
allowed, and for the sixteen gallons refuse he got a writ.
The Customs exercised a capricious judgment in all
matters, to which the public were compelled to bend. If
gentlemen did not come out and put their shoulders to the
wheel they might depend upon it the hoard would exercise
the whole of that authority which was vested in them.
He did not say they would exercise it arbitrarily, but they
were at a distance and might easily be led
astray. If however, they could get a local board
of men, who were constantly on the spot, it would save a
great deal of trouble and expense, for with such a body
they could get redress at their own doors; instead of
having to appeal to London for it. He would ask, why
should they be subjected to the decisions of a board at a
distance, when the whole of the cases occur, and should
be adjudicated upon at Liverpool. There wasanother point
to which he would allude—that of delay. In the wine
and spirit trade, from the character of it, they were sub-
ject to appeal to the Board of Customs repeatedly. and in
the exercise of their judgments the trade were often com-
pelled to lay cases before them which should never have ad-
mitted of even a doubt. He (Mr. Reston) had made enqui-
ries upon this point, and had got from one house, R. Paes-
ton and Co.—a list of 13 cases which had been submitted,
from which itappeared that eleven wereallowed and two were
disallowed—timefof delay seven days. In all these cases
there was but one in which the-quantity was over one gal-
lon. Now, in cases like these, they all knew that a local
board would decide them in twice thirteen minutes. Be-
sides the boards in London were compelled to take the
reports of the local officers. He hoped that if the shoe
did not now pinch gentlemen in Liverpool that it would
hereafter, and then he bad no doubt that they would come
out and assist as far as they could in having this abuse reme-
died. Under these circumstances he thought they ought to
have some alteration in the system of bonding in future.
He had made inquiries, and he found that the number of
memorials sent in one year from Liverpool was about
3,000. He knew that in the article of brandy alone there
had been about 200. He had not ascertained how many
were allowed ; but he believed that they were principally
allowed. He could not help asking, if they were such
insignificant and common-place matters that their allow-
ance was a matter of course—why, in the name of com-
mon sense, was not the Collector of Liverpool allowed to
decide on them. In conclusion, he trusted that the mat-
ter would he taken into the most serious consideration of
the Council.

Mr. CHRISTOPHER BUSHELL confirmed all that Mr.
Preston had stated. He agreed with the resolutions, and
thought they were of great importance to the trade of the
town, So insignificant were the cases, and so great was
the difficulty and delay—writing memorials and applica-
tions—that he for one was rather inclined to submit to
the loss than to take the trouble of seeking redress. He
thought that something might be done to get rid of the
complicated machinery by which the business of the cus-
toms was carried on. Ho believed that it was the inten-
tion of the board rather to increase than to diminish these
cases, and the memorials in reference to them, in order
that the necessity for such a board, and the enormous
sums paid for its maintenance, might be established. He
hoped something would be done.
The PRESIDENT observed, that if even half the cases
only were allowed, it proved the necessity of establishing
local boards, and doing away with the enormous staff
which was in London.

The subject then dropped.
_
COMMERCIAL TRIBUNALS
_

Mr. HEATH rose and moved the following resolution :
"That, in the opinion of this meeting, the time is arrived
when steps should be taken by the Liverpool chamber of Com-
merce towards obtaining an improvement in the administration
of commercial law."

He said that the attention of the committee had ,been
repeatedly called to this subject; and he was glad to bear
the President, in his opening remarks, allude to its im-
portance. He had no doubt but that in the course of a
year or so it would become the most exciting mercantile
topic ofthe day. They wereall sensible of the great evil which
existed in the present mode of administering mercantile
law. He would enumerate three points in which they
felt the evil of the present mode. First, delay; second, ex-
pense ; and third, the facilities which it affored of being
cheated out of justice by the technicalities and legal sub-
leties of the law. From these remarks he had, how-
ever, to except cases under £5O, which came under the
county courts, where there was no delay. The
assize-courts, which were held twice a-year, were,
however, liable to the charge of delay ; and as they
were of ancient date in their constitution, he thought
they might be somewhat reformed wtth advantage.
With regard to expense, he would state a case. At the
last assizes he was indirectly concerned in a case where
the amount claimed was but £4l. There was no diffi-
culty in the case ; all the witnesses (few in number)
resided in town ' • there was no legal difficulty in the way ;
the case lasted but two hours,—and what was the cost ?
The taxed cost on one side was £lBl, and on the other
£7O. The third point was the loss sustained by parties who
were defeated by the technicalities of the law. They all
knew what a non suit was, and how unjust it was to compel
parties to begin a suit de novo because they might not
have complied with some petty formula which the law re-
quired. In reference to the establishment of voluntary
tribunals he regretted that no scheme which would render
them successful had yet been adopted.. When their.
Chamber was being established they consulted with all in-
stitutions of the kind which were then in existence,
and they found that the number of cases which had
been submitted to them for adjudication was nil ; and
since their establishment they had but two cases
brought before them. To remedy this evil there
were three distinct propositions before the Chamber,
—lst, to import here the tribunals of commerce which
were now on the Continent ; 2d, to adopt the courts of
conciliation now in Denmark, where the judges were all
commercial men, and where the civil tribunal refused to
entertain any suit that had not been previously brought be-
-fore the court of conciliation ; and 3d, to extend and en-
large the jurisdiction of local courts in this country. Mr.
H. detailed to the Chamber a considerable amount of
excellent information in reference to the operations of the
commercial tribunals of France, and the Court of Con-
ciliation in Denmark ; and also in reference to the va-
rious countries in Europe where such courts were
in operation, descanting, as he proceeded, upon their
merits.
In offering the resolution which he proposed, he
was of opinion that what they wanted was to have more
g equityu p o n t introducedh technicalities
intotlieierfceocutre of tsofplealiam, anednite.ss stand-
Mr. CuNrlagvingsecondedthe resolutioli, ftwas adopted
nem. dis.