The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-08-08 00:00:00

Distrirt PAM

The military camp at Kersall-moor, near Manchester,
has been broken up.
A drunken man, named Ryan, only 27 years old. was
killed a few days since at Manchester, through sitting on
two chisels, which perpetrated the femoral artery, and he
bled to death.
ANOTHER SWINGING-BOAT ACCIDENT.—At Manches-
ter, on Saturday evening, a young lad was killed by im-
prudently catching hold of a swing-boat whilst it was in
full motion. He was thrown six or seven yards into the
air, and alighted directly on his head.
On Monday great rejoicing took place at Haigh, near
Wigan, to celebrate the return of the Earl and Countess
Balcarres from abroad. A grand dinner was given to the
numerous tenantry and workmen, at which 1900 sat down
in a spacious tent.
On Monday, as the Fenella, steamer, from Douglas.
Isle of Man, was proceeding on her passage to Fleetwood,
she ran down a coasting flat, on board of which were two
men, and completely cut her in two. Fortunately both
the men were taken in safety on board the Fenella.
MANCHESTER.—A proclamation from the magistrates,
signed by the mayor, has been issued this morning, rela-
tive to the meetings of the Confederate Clubs. prohibit-
ing all such meetings, and pronouncing them illegal. The
meeting of the clubs, which it was believed would have
been held at three o'clock this morning did not take place.
IHE TEN HOURS FACTORY ACT.—The Manchester
Guardian, a staunch opponent of this act before it became
law, thus bears testimony to its successful operation :
" We believe there cannot be a doubt that, on the whole,
a portion of the two hours by which the labour in facto-
ries has been diminished, is made up by greater diligence
and punctuality on the part of the workpeople ; but,
taking the whole of the trade, it will probably not exceed
half-an-hour."
NEW RAILWAY STATION AT CHESTER.—ThiS beauti-
ful building was opened for general business on Tuesday
morning last. Upwards of 200 men were engaged during
the previous night in making preparations for the event.
The office, building, and the arrival and departure sheds
were brilliantly illuminated with gas during the night.
The new offices are all occupied, and the old station is
deserted. The opening commenced with the starting of
the London mail train, at seven o'clock in the morning.
DREADFUL PIT ACCIDENT.—On Tuesday eight pit-
men employed at a colliery near Kingswinford were pro-
ceeding with others along the gateway of the pit towards
the stations at which they usually followed their occupa-
tion, and while passing along bearing a light (whether a
safety-lamp or an ordinary lanthorn, is not yet ascer-
tained), a quantity of gas that had been generated during
the night ignited and caused an explosion. They were all
dreadfully burnt and two have since died.
EMPLOYMENT IN MANCHESTER.—The last week's re-
turn shows that, as compared with the previous week,
there are seven more mills working full time, with the
full complement of hands ; one less working full time,
with part only of the hands ; a decrease of four working
short time, and a decrease of five stopped. In the whole
number of hands employed there is a reduction of 314 ;
but there are 1,116 more on full time, and 470 less on
short time. There were last week 39,534 employed, this
week 39,220. Working full time last week, 35,800; this
week, 36,916. Working short time last week, 3,734 ;
this week, 4,204.
In the tables just issued, of the revenue, population,
commerce, &c., of the United Kingdom, prepared under
the direction of Mr. Albany Fonblanque, head of the
statistical department of the Board of Trade, there is an
account of the amount of postage collected during the
years 1846 and 1847, at Manchester, Liverpool, and other
principal towns. The following are the figures for those
places : 1846. 1847.
Manchester .... £45,618 18 0 .... £46,608 6 1

Liverpool
It will be observed that the rate of increase has been
about the same in both towns, namely, at the rate of
£lOOO per annum. The only town that exhibits a de-
crease is Leeds, for in 1846, the receipts there were
£15,712 ls. 5d., whilst, in 1847, they fell to £14,703 Os.
ld., or nearly at the rate of £2O per week.
FATAL BOILER EXPLOSION.—On Monday while the
hands were at work at one of the mills belonging to Mr.
J. Cooper at Lambert Bottoms, Preston, a loud report
was heard, and it was soon found that one of the boilers
had exploded, and that one life had been lost, with the
great probability that some other parties had been fatally
injured. A bricklayer, named W. Middleton, at work in
one of the flues, was killed upon the spot by the mass of
bricks and other materials thrown upon him ; the engine
tender was most dangerously injured by the steam ; and
a number of persons so seriously injured, that six addi-
tional persons died the same or the following day. They
were William Middleton, 38, bricksetter, found dead in
the flue ; Mary Hart, 20, reeler, died on Mondry night ;
Sarah Hesketh, 38, died on Tuesday afternoon ; Mary
Jackson, 24, died on Tuesday morning ; Jane Carr, 39,
died within a few hours of the accident ; Robert Wilkin-
son, 38, died on Monday evening ; and Thomas Hard-
man, 36, who was working in the boiler-house at the
time of the explosion, died on Monday afternoon. The
maker of the boiler, Mr. Joseph Clayton, deposed to hav-
ing warned the managers and others of the boiler being
defective. The coroner's jury, late at night, returned a
verdict of " Accidental death," accompanied with an ex-
pression of their opinion that blame attached to the
manager and the engine-tenter for working the boiler at
too great pressure. The jury sat nearly eight hours.
THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE MANCHESTER WATER
WORKS.—The contracts for parts of the works for sup-
plying Manchester with water, will be let in the course of
a few days, and it is expected that the works themselves
will be commenced before the close of the present month.
'I he first of the works to be immediately commenced is
the Woodhead reservoir, which is about twenty miles from
Manchester. It is the highest of the Longdendale reser-
voirs, is nearly a mile and a-half in length, and about a '
quarter of a mile in width, and 80 feet deep. It covers
about 132 acres of ground, and will contain 190 million
cubic feet of water, being the largest reservoir included in
the proposed works, with the exception of the Torside
reservoir, which is the next lowest of the Longdendale
reservoirs (the whole chain of which is four miles and
a half in length), and will contain 240 million cubic feet.
The Woodhead reservoir is principally intended for the
supply of the mills with water, and it is expected to be
completed in about 18 months. One of the heaviest
works in this reservoir is a viaduct of nine arches over a
part of the reservoir, and the river Etherow which runs
through it. The other portion of the works, which is
also to be immediately commenced, is the Mottram tun-
nel ; the water after being collected in the Rhodeswood
reservoir (the lowest of the Longdeudale reservoirs), the
Armfield and the Hollingworth reservoirs will be carried
by a covered watercourse behind the village of Holling-
worth up to the hill of Mottram. It then enters the
tunnel of which we have spoken, which is a mile and three
quarters in length, by which it will be conveyed to the
service reservoir at Godley, beyond the town of Hyde.
It will thence be taken in pipes to the reservoirs at Den-
ton and Gorton (the surface of the new reservoir at this
place being 70 feet higher than the present one) and from
these Manchester will be supplied. The Alottram tunnel
will, it is expected, occupy about two years in its comple-
tion.