The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-08-13 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The patron of St. David's Church is, we believe, George Earns-
den, Esq.
•We have noticed the remarks of the Time: on the alleged de-
crease of pauperism, but the government returns on the sub-
ect are so artfully "cooked" that no corre 3 deductions can
be made from them. A very intelligent correspondent in
London. who has devoted years to the examination of par-
liamentary tables says, "The returns of th poor-law reports
are so artfully drawn up, that the cost of the poor is mixed
with workhouse loans, salaries, and other expenses connected
with the establishments, and it is from these the decreiise has
arisen, and not from the actual cost of pannfirism."
We certainly cannot recomme ui " A Young Tory" to join the
society to which he refers, hut it is quite competent for the
Conservatives to organise a similar association, which w uid,
probably, outstrip its competitor. Would it not, however,
be more constitutional to effect the same ends by more
• private means?

Ebt Eiberpool gPtanbarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 13, 1850.

THE proceedings of the Town Council, on
Wednesday last, although, perhaps, a little too
lively in their tone, as often happens when men are
in earnest, manifest an awakening of that body to
a sense of its duties and its importance, ueou
which we cannot refrain from congratulating our
fellow-townsmen. We have on previous occasions
expressed our opinion that the Council deferred a
little too much to the recommendations of commit-
tees, and that it was most desirable that every
question affecting the great estate placed under its
management should be carefully weighed in all its
bearings by every individual member before it
receives the confirmation of he collective body. It
is for the want of this careful attention to the
details and merits of every question that gentlemen
are continually driven to deplore the effect of
measures, the initiation of which either received
their full sanction, or was passed over with in-
difference, arising from want of information. Thus
they have looked on for years, whilst the ship-
building trades have been driven from pillar to
post, and are only awakened at last to a sense of
the importance of those trades being located within
the parochial boundary when there is not an easily
available site left them, and we are threatened
with their removal from the town. For years we
have seen the coal trade of the port totally neglected.
notwithstanding the remonstrances which have
from time to time been addressed to the Dock
Committee. With the exception, however, of the
pamphlet published by Mr. Braithwaite Poole, a
couple of years ago, we question if any one of such
remonstrances have come before the Council, or
been noticed, save amongst the members of the
particular sub-committee to which they have been
referred. One great mischief of the practice of the
Council hitherto has been the meagreness of the in-
formation given in the reports of the various com-
Matees, and the fact that too many gentlemen have
been in the habit of voting anti affirming the
decisions of the committees upon important
questions without having had the opportunity to
make themselves acquainted with the grounds
upon which those decisions have been come to.
We had, on Wednesday last, the opinion of the
Town-Clerk that it is indispensible that important
written documents should he fully given in the
reports of the various committees, as furnished to
the Council ; and we trust that in future, when
this is done, the municipal representatives will he at
the trouble of reading them carefully over before
every meeting, in order to enable them to form
their judgments deliberately, instead of jumping
hastily at conclusions• during the excitement of
debate, to be repented of at leisure when the evil
result is accomplished and irreparable.
We have no wish to enter at length into any of the
questions upon which, on Wednesday, the Council
thought proper to overrule the decisions of com-
mittees, although we may have strong opinions with
respect to some of them. But that the course pur-
sued was a proper one is obvious from the circum-
stances. Take, as an instance, the proposal of the
Dock Committee to fill up the situation of superin-
tendent vacated by the appointment of Mr. Redin
to a situation in another town. It is well known
we were indebted for the introduction of Mr. Redin
into the force to a change in its management, which
was made when the present Head Constable was
appointed to his office. Before perpetuating the
system, laid down by Mr. Dowling, of a division of
responsibility, the question naturally suggested it-
self,—How has it worked ? and certainly, when Mr.
Superintendent Quick, Mr. Redin's colleague,
offered to undertake the whole duties; and affirmed
that he could perform them more efficiently by
himself than they would be by the responsibility
and authority being divided, it might very naturally
have suggested itself to the Watch Committee that
the opportunity was a favourable one for instituting
an inquiry into the relative merits of the two systems,
as proved by experience. We had before us the
condition and efficiency of the force under Mr.
Whitty, and under his successor; and here let us
guard ourselves against the imputation of being
actuated by any desire to weigh the individual abili-
ties of Mr. Whitty against those of Mr. Dowling.
We are canvassing only the respective merits of
systems. Under Mr. Whitty we had no division
of authority ; under Mr. Dowling we have had a
north division and a south division, the superin-
tendence of which has been separate. Until, then,
it was proved that the general efficiency of the force
under Mr. Dowling's system was superior to that
of his predecessor, no such appointment as that
recommended by the Watch Committee ought, in
our opinion, to have been confirmed by the Council.
The Council, moreover, was fully warranted in
the step which it adopted, by public opinion, which
loudly declares that the police force of Liverpool is
by.no means what it was. The wholesome dread
of being pounced upon at any hour of the day or
night no longer exists. Our present police have
more power to insult those who pay them than of
old; and do much less service for their increased
immunities. To a great extent we attribute this,
within the past few months at all events, to the ill-
ness of Mr. Dowling from which, however, we are
glad to observe that he is fast recovering. But
mainly we refer it to the division of authority and
superintendence which we have now established.
It is notorious that the system has been fertile in
creating jealousies and cross purposes amongst the
force; that the favour of one superintendent has
been pitted occasionally against the disfavour of
the other; and, as the result, that discipline has
been weakened, and by the almost universal con-
sent of the people of Liverpool, the police force of
the borough has seriously retrograded in its prestige.
The Council were not strong enough to carry Mr.
Dover's amendment against affirming the proceed-
ings of the Dock Committee, a majority of two-
thirds being required. It is perfectly clear, however,
that the Committee's report was informal, not con-
taining the letter of their solicitor by which they
had been guided in their refusal to buof the South-
port Channel. With respect to the justice of the
case itself we entertain a strong opinion in favour
of the claims of the Southport people. If it be the
fact, as represented by the Solicitor to the Dock
Committee, that Southport is not within the juris-
diction of the committee, we cannot perceive by
what right we levy dues there. In any event the
Channel ought to be buoyed by some authority as
a portion of the coast to which Liverpool-bound
ships are occasionally driven to resort by stress of
weather. It is comprised within the annual survey
of our pilot boats; and' we ranch question whether
government would not be glad of such a course as
the Dock Committee are now pursuing as an ex-
cuse for stepping in with a measure to control our
local jurisdiction. An unbuoyed channel ought
not' to exist between two such ports as Lancaster
and Liverpool.

THE result of the first half-year's experience of
the working of the Navigation Laws Repeal Act is
certainly not one which is likely to be very gratify-
ing to the British shipowners. The following is
the tabular statement :

TONNAGE ENTERED INWARDS,-6 MOS. ENDING JULY 5,
1848. 1849. 1850.
1,537,803 1,766,174 1,601,167
265,030 333,464 253.341
358,007 441,159 567,758

months of 1848. In the clearances outwards we
have an increase in British shipping of 139,066
tons, or about 71 per cent., a decrease in American
of 27,143 tons, or 15 per cent., and an increase in
other shipping of 122,272 tons, or 27 per cent., as
compared with 1849, and 176,651, or nearly 45
per cent. as compared with 1848.
We can readily account for the falling off in
American tonnage, by referring to the partial failure
of the cotton crop, and the diminution of our im-
ports of bread-stuffs from that country. A large
number of United States vessels have also been
taken up by fhe trade to the Pacific, California,
&c. A further portion has no doubt gone out to
seek freight for this country, in our Colonial and
other distant ports. But with respect to the ship-
ping of Europe, in which we find so amazing an
increase, the conclusion is irresistible, that it is
rapidly superseding our own marine. The grain
and timber of Europe are coming almost altogether
in foreign bottoms. It was doing so previously to
the repeal of the Navigation Laws; and it has
doubled its increase since. With respect to British
chirping, the decline would be still greater if we
were to exclude from the returns the frequent
passages inwards and outwards of our sea-going
steamers. As those returns are at present made
out, a Boulogne or Havre packet of 200 tons regis-
ter, going out and returning weekly, counts for
5000 tons in the half-year. A single Halifax
steamer making ten trips a-year, counts for from
5000 to 6000 tons in the half-year, inwards and
outwards.

Now does the coasting trade display any great
indications of progress? We find that the tonnage
entered inwards was 6,369,161 in the half-year
ending July 5. 1848, 5,801,571 in the same period
of 1849, and 6,106,635 in that of 1850. The clear-
ances outwards were 6,686.274 in the first half of
1848, 6,221.486 in that of 1849, and 6,632,458 in
that of 1850. There is a falling off here in the
past six months, as compared with 1848, in the
tonnage both inwards and outwards, although we
have a slight increase over that of 1849. To what
circumstance we are to attribute the apparent rally
made by the trade this year we know not; but the
fact of its being still below that of 1848 is not at
all consolatory.
Mere statistical returns, however, convey hut
a slight idea of the real • effect of the repeal
of the navigation laws upon our shipping
interest, or of any legislation affecting trade
and commerce. The true test is th.e profit or
loss at which it is carried on. If we had a state-
ment of the aggregate amount lost to our ship-
owners, both in the foreign and coasting trade, by
the fall in freights, and the depreciation in the
value of vessels, it would probably startle our free-
trade philosophers. The latter is estimated on
good authority at not less than 15 per cent. upon
every ship brought into the market for sale. A
reduction of a pound per ton has been compelled
to be submitted to by most of our shipbailders.
The reduction in freights is still more ruinous. In
fact it may be safely said that nine-tenths of the
foreign going shipping of the country has been
working during the past six months at a loss to
the owners. Shipping engaged in the coasting
trade has been doing even worse, and has become,
as property almost valueless. So much for free
trade !

THERE seems just now to be a disposition on
the part of her Majesty's Whig Government to
goad with insult and injury every portion of the
community ; and Liverpool is selected as an object
of especial disfavour. We are obnoxious in Down-
ing-street. Every petty interest is allowed to vent
its spite at us ; and every petty official can flout us
with impunity. A glaring instance of this fact is
to be found in the shameless proceedings of Go-
vernment with respect to the selection of a site for
a new postoffice. Two months ago, on the occa-
sion of a mere rumour that it was the intention of
Government to choose, as such site, the ground
upon which the Blind Asylum stood, a most in-
fluential meeting of the inhabitants of the town
was held, his worship the Mayor presiding, at which
it was resolved that such a site was most inconve-
nient. It was fully understood, that before coming
to any conclusion upon the subjects Government
would communicate with the Mayor; indeed, we
may say that a direct pledge was given to that
effect. Yet we are now told that the matter is
settled. The postoffice is to be erected on the site
of the Blind_Afiyluro, a most inconvenient one for
the mercantile interests of the town, however con-
venient for the postoffice authorities themselves
and the London and North-western Railway.
Central the locality is not. A postoffice in London-
road will entail immense inconvenience upon the
whole trading community. The access to it is
through some of the most dangerous parts of the
town ; and, in short, it does not possess one single
claim to be adopted for the purpose.
It will be seen from the report in another column,
that our mercantile and other classes have very
promptly and emphatically spoken .out in reproba-
tion of this monstrous proceeding. A more una-
nimous feeling of disgust than that which is felt
with respect to the proceedings of Government in
this matter we never remember to have observed
in our town. It is regarded as a studied insult to
the town, as well as an injury. At the least we
might have expected that faith would have been
kept with our chief magistrate; that the rules of
common courtesy would have been observed towards
us ; but neither good faith nor courtesy appear to
be amongst the attributes of the present minis-
terial clique. Hollowness, falsehood, and inso-
lence, appear rather to be the leading characteristics
of modern Whig Radicalism ; and the being—a
gentleman—an obsolete portion of the Whig sec-
tion of creation.

THE occurrence of the disaster recorded in our
last—the wreck of a pleasure steamer bound from
Preston to the Menai Straits—suggests strongly
the necessity of some sort of supervision being
exercised by a responsible authority over every
vessel which leaves a British port carrying pas-
sengers. We insist that the vessels which carry
out our emigrating population shall be strictly
surveyed and he of the best description, well found
in every necessary store, and provided with good
boats for any emergency which may arise. We
keep our hackney coaches and other public con-
veyances under strict surveillance. Can we then,
as a sensible people, permit those whom pleasure
or business induces to embark on a trip by steam,
upon an element acknowledged as most fickle, to
be exposed to the extra peril caused by unseaworthy
and ill-found boats? We limit the number of pas-
sengers in our land conveyances and in our emi-
grant ships, yet we allow steamers to carry as many
passengers as can he crowded into them, to the
hazard of upsetting, and often to the serious incon-
venience of the crews which have to work them.
We have often brought before us instances of this
practice, in which the slightest mischance—a sud-
den terror causing a rush to one side or the other—
would result in a serious calamity. Is the legisla-
ture doing its duty when it neglects to protect the
public from the consequences of their own folly,
and the unprincipled greed of men who regard the
safety of human life as nothing when set against
an opportunity of making money.
Another practice connected with our excursion
steamers is most disgraceful. The principal day
chosen for pleasure trips is the Sunday, a fact
objectionable enough in itself, and which we fear,
in the present temper of the public mind, must
continue to detract from our character as a religious
people. In Liverpool, we regret to learn, that this
abuse of the Sabbath is aggravated by the charterers
of excursion boats allowing, or providing, on board
hands of music, whose strains are much more pro-
vocative of the quadrille, than of that devotional
feeling which ought to exist in the mind of every
Christian on that sacred day. It is awful to con-
template the effect upon the giddy and the thought-
less, and humiliating to think of the opprobrium
which it is calculated to bring upon us as a nation.
We are not aware whether the unfortunate vessel
recently wrecked was thus provided with music on
board ; whether her passengers, whilst within a few
hours' prospect of eternity, were indulging in the
dance, or listening to strains never meant for the
Sabbath. But we may imagine such revelry cut
short by the hand of God ; and the lively music,
the laugh and the jest awfully succeeded by the i
call for help, the shrieks of the drowning,—
"The bubbling cry
Of some strong swimmer in his agony."
We can imagine, too, the shocked feelings of many
a crew, both foreign and British, as on entering
some of our channels on the Sabbath they are met
by such sad evidences of our decline from the paths
of our fathers. Surely such a practice might be
put dawn ; and on the Sabbath bands of music be
excluded from boats of every. description !