The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-02-25 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

DOCK COMMITTEE, THURSDAY.—The Chairman inti-
mated
that the interest of the Corporation in Nova Scotia
bad been valued at £112,584. It was recommended that
Wm. Martin, master of the Liver tender, was too old
for service, and that another person be appointed in his
stead. It was recommended by the Harbour-Master's
Committee to appoint Mr. Garniss assistant-superinten-
dent of the timber-gates at the Harrington estate, at a
salary of £BO per annum. A letter was read from Capt.
Evans, applying for leave to have the lazaretto now in
the Sloyne admitted into one of the docks, as the anchor-
age was required for the American steamers. A commu-
nication was read from Mr. Rudd, superintendent of the
Woodside Ferry, requesting that the payment of £2 lls.
6d., for damage done by the Eliza Price at the landing-
stage, might not be demanded. An application was read
from Messrs. Fitzsimons and Appleby, for additional
berthing accommodation in the Trafalgar Dock, for the
Bristol and Swansea steamers.—Tenders were ordered to
be renewed with Messrs. Harris and Co. for stationery,
and Mr. M'Corquodale for printing.
SELECT VESTRY.—The Rev. Rector Campbell took
the chair at the usual vestry meeting on Tuesday. A
petition was signed by the board for the insertion of a
clause in the new dock bill in favour of the parochial
rating of the docks. A new arrangement for the better
administration of pecuniary and medical relief is about to
be put into operation ; a plan of the town, divided into
six districts for the relieving officers, and twelve for the
medical officers, having been approved. A memorial was
read, signed by the principal inhabitants of Brownlow-
hill, complaining of the nuisance and noise caused by
paupers coming for out-door relief to the new building,
and suggesting that a back entrance might easily be made
from Mount-pleasant. The memorial stated that the
failure of Mr. Casey, boot and shDe maker, was solely
owing to this cause. Mr. Earle showed, that when the
avenue to the Workhouse and the enclosed gates were
completed, the evil would be remedied.—Mr. Hodson
moved that 100 guineas a-year should be voted by the
parish to the Southern Hospital. He read a return,
showing that at present there are 32 patients in that hos-
pital who, if such an institution had not existed, must
have been chargeable to the parish. Some of these cases
Mr. Hodson referred to to show that they required prompt
attention, and that poor people might be dead before they
could be carried all the way from the docks to the Work-
house. Suppose that these 32 patients cost each 2s. 6d.
a-week, that was £220 per annum ; but when all the beds
at the hospital were filled, the average number charge-
able to the parish would vary from 60 to 70. At the sug-
gestion of Mr. Abraham, Mr. Hodson consented to reduce
the grant to 50 guineas, which, after considerable discus-
sion, was carried by a majority of 12 to 9.—Mr. Dover,
in the absence of Mr. Harhord, moved the adoption of
the report of the Committee for the Reduction of Assess li
-
ments, which recommended the appointment of a stipen-
diary valuer. Mr. Carne seconded the motion, which
was negatived by a majority of 14 to 6.—The board ad-
journed, after re-electing Mr. Wylie member of the Vestry.
HEALTH COMMITTEE.—On Thursday, at the weekly
meeting of this committee, Alderman Parker, the Chair-
man, presided;; Mr. Langsdale said he had been some
time ago summoned for having some manure carted out of
a back street in day time ; but Mr. Rushton, as be thought,
had very properly quashed the indictment. Now he was
to be summoned because his man exercised his horses.
Was that law ? (Loud laughter).—The Chairman : If
you tramp them about to sell them.—Mr. Langsdale : No,
but that is the best thing which I can do. The policeman
tells me that when the weather is bad, and the carriage is
not taken out, that my man cannot go out and exercise
the horses (laughter).—Mr. Hughes : There is no such
law as that.—The medical officer of health reported that
the deaths in the borough during the past week had been
212, of which 150 were in the parish, and 62 in the extra-
parochial wards. The deaths were 25 below the morta-
lity of the previous week, and nine above the average of
the same week for the three preceding years. Of the
total number of 212 deaths, 120 were children and 92
adults, 21 of the latter being above 60 years of age.—
Mr. Beckwith and Mr, Dover were on the motion of Mr.
Godfrey, added to the rating committee had had under
their consideration an application to put down flagging in
the neighbourhood of the Presbyterian Church, Canning-
street. The cost. it appeared, would be £lO7 ; and the
sub-committee recommended that the work should be
postponed.—The chairman : Tf they have a good minister,
he will bring them through the mud and all (laughter).—
The sewerage and repair of a great number of streets were
ordered.—A letter was read from Mr. North, the dock
solicitor, enclosing one from Mr. Simpson, stating that
there was a great obstruction to the carting of stones to
the new north docks owing to the delay in opening some
new streets. This led to some conversation relative to
the adoption of streets ; and it appeared that none had
been formally adopted since January, 1848. Mr. Johnson
said he believed that many parties laboured under the
supposition that streets had been adopted which were not
actually so.
DISTRICT PROVIDENT SOCIETY.—The annual meeting
cf this excellent society, on Tuesday, was presided over
by our worthy chief magistrate, J. Bent, Esq., and there
were present several clergymen and influential laymen.
The report showed the amount of subscriptions for the
past year to be £826 10s. 6d. ; donations, £BO4 6s. 7d.
A legacy of £lO had been received, and £3 2s. derived
from the sale of tickets. The total amount of receipts
had thus been £1,643 19s. ld., exceeding that of the
previous year by £389 16s. Id. The number of success-
fill applicants for relief has been 8,150 • 3,585 being
English, 3,983 Irish, 178 Scotch, 386 Welsh, and 18
whose country was not ascertained. These have been
relieved at an expenditure of £9OB Os. 10d. The total
amount of deposits received has been £8,592 3s. 4d. ;
exceeding that of the previous year by £1,462 7s. 104 d.
The amount returned during the past year has been
£8,571 17s. 10d., greater by £1,618 12s. bid. that that
of 1849. The greatest number of depositors in any one
month has been 3,073, whilst iu the previous year it only
reached 2,633. The following statement shows a con-
siderable increase in the deposit operations at the general
and the branch offices during the past year :

General Office,
Marybone ....
Bevington....

_
11,915 £2,89410 7
. 1,661
5,558

Total in 1850 19,134 £3,562 3 9
Total in 1849 13,566 3,018 4 11

Increase in 1850 £543 18 10
•
One more pleasing fact remains to be stated with regard
to the deposits ; namely, that whilst in the previous year
the amount transferred to the Savings'-bank was only
£9B Gs., that for the past year has been £l74.—Mr.
Richard Rathbone said the subscriptions were frightfully
less than they ought to be in a town of 400,000 inhabi-
tants. The society prevented mendicity, and did a deal
of good which none but those acquainted with it could
know.—Mr. William Rathbone bore personal testimony
to the extent and ingenuity with which the begging-letter
impostures referred to in the report were carried on ; he
particularly dwelt upon the object of the society, being
not so much to give the poor food and money, as to in-
duce them to cultivate habits of thrift and economy.—
The Rev. Rector Campbell showed that injury rather
than good was generally done by the benevolent giving
alms to beggars in the street. It would be much better
for them to save what they would so give, and hand it
over to this society, who would employ it in relieving
cases of distress which had been strictly inquired into.
The resolutions will be found in our advertising columns.

GUARDIAN SOCIETY.—The dinner to celebrate the
twenty-eighth anniversary of the Liverpool Guardian
Society was held on Tuesday evening, at Mr. Ford's, Wel-
lington Hotel, Dale-street. Between seventy and eighty
gentlemen sat down. Mr. John Smith, the president
elect, (in the absence, through illness, of Mr. H. G. Ire-
land, president of the society,) occupied the chair. The
chairman was supported on the right by the Mayor, Mr.
Alderman Parker, and Mr. Councillor Gardner; and on
his left by the Earl of Sefton and Councillors Ferguson
and Thomson. The usual loyal toasts were given from
the chair. The Earl of Sefton's health was then proposed.
His lordship, in returning thanks, said,—" It may be a
question to persons like myself, to those not immediately
amongst you, and to the public at a distance, whether, in
assuming the power given under the Municipal Reform
Act, you have acted in a manner perfectly consistent with
the interests of your town. It may be a question whether
the erasion of the names of many tried friends—men of
eminence as merchants, men of high talent, men of know-
ledge of the business of the town and of the Council—
whether the erasure of these has been for the interest and
prosperity of this town ? It is not for me to say. Such
things have arisen, I believe, from various causes. At the
moment at which these changes were made, there were
one or two most interesting topics which tore men into
different factions—the question of the town's rates and
the water question. But there is another question in my
mind which I must honestly put to you—whether there
was not a question of self-love, and a wish for the intro-
duction of your own class into the Council, which has
been the cause of the erasion of the names to which I
allude. It is, perhaps, uncourteous for me, in return for
the hospitality shown me to-night, to make such allusions;
but I must say to you, were I to select to manage the
affairs of this country—not of the town only, mind you,
but of this country—men of my own class—were I to
select men, fox-hunters and hare-hunters, and men who
drive coaches and four, I perhaps should make a mistake."
(Hear, and applause.)—The Mayor's health, and that of
the Corporation, was then proposed, and warmly received,
being acknowledged by the Mayor, Alderman Parker,
Mr. Gardner, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Jeffreys, and Mr. Hod-
son.—Mr. Parker said he trusted his lordship would not
leave that evening, supposing that, as tradesmen, they
were misplaced in the Council, but rather that they did
their duty for the benefit of the town at large with as
much anxious zeal as was ever exhibited since the passing
of the Municipal Reform Act. (Hear.)—Mr. Gardner
stated that, through the information which he derived
from the society, he had been saved, during the period he
was a member of it, many a £loo.—The Mayor then rose
to propose the health of the president and the other
officers of the Liverpool Guardian Society, whose twenty-
eighth anniversary they were assembled to celebrate. It
had saved much of the property of the members from
falling into the hands of systematic plunderers. (Hear.)
When we considered how useful the society had been in
other respects, by boldly defending, from time to time,
the rights and privileges and the many interests of its nu-
merous members, by not only discovering, but successfully
resisting, both local as well as general measures of an
oppressive and injurious character; and also by prejudg-
ing and advocating, with the very best results, many of
an opposite and valuable tendeney—(cheers)—he be-
lieved they would all think with him, that a society which
was capabie of performing such invaluable services to its
supporters could not be too highly appreciated, nor too
greatly increased by their support.—The Chairman re-
turned thanks. In conclusion, he proposed, as a senti-
ment, " Promotion to the soeiety's object,—guarding the
industrious from spoliation, and' compelling even rogues
to see that honesty is the best policy." (Applause.)—The
Earl of Sefton proposed? the "Town and Trade of Liver-
pool,"----responded toby. Mr. Hastings.—The health of the
solicitor, secretary, the Lancashire Witches, and other
routine toasts were disposed, of.

MEETING OF SEAMEN--A public meeting of seamen,
&c. of this port was held in the Music-hall, on Friday.
The meeting was very numerously attended ; Capt. Palmer
took the chair. The assembly was addressed by Capt.
Fildes, Capt. Cook, Mr M'Quelan, and Mr. Smith, who,
it must be observed, advocated more the cause of the tailors
(he being one of that body) than that of the sailors.
Resolutions were moved to the effect, " That it was great
presumption in any Minister to legislate for the seamen
without their consent, and they were determined to resist
any measure of the kind." A letter was read by the
Chairman from a seaman, who called the Sailors' home
a " Sailor's Gaol and a Sailor's Market." During the
evening a telegraphic communication was received from
Shields, stating that the seamen there had determined to
go to sea, in consequence of Mr. Labouchere having con-
sented to repeal the 22 articles of the act ; but the
Liverpool seamen refused to proceed to sea unless the
whole of the act was repealed. Allusion was also made
to the answer of Mr. Labouchere to the deputation of
seamen who waited on him on Thursday. [Mr.
Labouchere's answer will be found in another column.]
The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to the
chairman, and three hearty cheers from the seamen as-
sembled.
UNITED GAS LIGHT COMPANY.—At the half-yearly
meeting on Tuesday, Mr. W. R. Sandbach presided, and
referred to the new offices in Newington as being very
convenient. The report was unanimously carried, and
the dividend recommended declared, viz. :—for the half-
year at the rate of £5 per cent., that is, £5 per share
on the £lOO shares : £1 ss. per share on the £25 shares
paid up previously to Ist January 1851. The following
embraces the chief features of the report :
" The directors have sold the 440 £25 shares, being the resi-
due of the 940 £25 shares issued by the proprietors at their
meeting on 21st August, 1849. These 440 shares have aug-
mented the share capital account by the sum of 1,000. The
premiums obtained on such sale realised .e 9,428.
"The subscription payable on these 440 £25 shares was
only called up on the 2nd January last, and, therefore, such
shares are not entitled to participate in the division of profits
for the half-year ending on the 31st December last.
" The above 940 shares having been sold, each holder of
the .elOO A shares is now entitled, under the provisions of the
company's act of parliament, to have offered to him a £25
share in respect of each .elOO A share, and the proprietors are
now called upon to issue 1,270 -e25 shares, which are to be
immediately offered to the holders of the .elOO A shares, under
the provisions of the company's act."

The annual dinner of the Early-closing Association took
place on Tuesday evening, at the house of Mr. Churchod,
Queen's Arms Hotel, Lime-street. There were about
forty gentlemen present. The chair was occupied by Mr.
Mirams, and the vice-chair by Mr. Nicholson. The din-
ner was excellent. The efforts of a glee party, consisting
of several members of the association, diversified the pro-
ceedings. The chairman,in proposing "The Early-closing
Association," said he looked with pleasure on these an-
nual reunions, not only as a gratification, but as an indi-
cation of increasing interest in the association and its
proceedings. After pointing out the evils arising from
the drudgery of long hours, he said that many of the
young men confined in shops came to the years of matu-
rity without possessing scarcely any of the social feelings
of -humanity. It had the effect of producing a principle
of selfishness, not only among shopmen but their em-
ployers. To a certain extent, the present system of
business promoted these evils of selfishness. Mr. Mirams
then at great length took a review of the rise and progress
of the Early-closing Association, and said he was only
sorry to find so few assistants recognised the association
as the legitimate mode of expressing their feelings and
opinions.

THE COLUMN OF
'rime aub L tirtiritlturt.

The scientific meetings of the past week were the Poly-
technic on Monday evening, the Architectural and Arche-
ological on Wednesday evening, and the Chemists Associa-
tion on Friday. At the Polytechnic, the president, Mr.
Milner, and Mr. Grantham brought forward, conjointly,
a plan for powder magazines, the principle of which was
submerged iron tanks coated with gutta percha. The
opinion of the society was in favour of the plan, which
was ably argued by the two gentlemen who proposed it,
At the Architectural Society a discussion took place upon
the quality of Bath stone, which convinced us fully of the
importance of the science of geology, a slight knowledge
of which would have assisted most materially in forming
a correct opinion. After this discussion a paper on the
manufacture of glass was read by Mr. Henry Deacon, of
the St. Helens crown and sheet glass works. It was pro-
fusely illustrated by splendid models, specimens, and dia-
grams, and we have seldom or ever listened to a more
interesting paper. We forbear to enter more fully upon
it,:as we are enabled, through the kindness of Mr. Dea-
con, to promise our readers a series of letters from Mr.
Henry Deacon, in which this the most interesting of all
manufacturing processes will be most fully described.
The series will be followed by others, giving a description
of the plate-glass, chemical, and other manufactures, for
which the town of St. Helens is remarkable. The Che-
mists' Association was occupied by a lecture on chemistry
by Mr. Evans, forming one of a valuable course with
which that gentleman is now favouring the society.

of air and light, were never disturbed in any way, and
bore magnificent flowers which produced a very fine effect.
I have never since seen so beautiful a plantation. The
ground intended for ponies must be well dug and loosen-
ed at least three feet deep, so that the roots, which spread
in every direction, may act freely and for a long time; for
these plants will continue to flourish for 40 or 50 years
without showing any symptoms of decay, provided always
they are never disturbed. The pmony is one of the few-
plants not attacked by grubs and insects; this is true of
all its varieties. The earwig alone is sometimes found
among the petals ; but they do not stay long, as the first
fall of rain or heavy dew causes them to decamp. What
we have said about the preparation of the earth is of
special importance when we are dealing with the Chinese
pmonies, for their roots are as long again as those of the
common variety, and their stems cannot acquire their
proper height ; nor can their flowers attain perfection
unless there is a plentiful supply of nourishment. Pmonia
edulis requires peculiar attention, for its steins naturally
grow 3,4, or4l feet high. Pmonies are extremely useful
for decorating gardens, as the quality of the soil is not of
great consequence, and the beauty and odour of the
flowers are of the highest degree of merit.—Duval; Fiore
des Serries.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

" J. M."—We have tried for two years past the Beech-
wood seedling potato advertised by Mr. Tynan, and are
satisfied that it is the earliest round potato yet raised in
this locality, coming at least a fortnight earlier than
early Kemps.
" Botanicus."—Sowerby's English Botany gives co-
loured figures of every British flowering plant.