The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-09-01 00:00:00

2reatly increased

e away from the town,
without the necessity arising from any central in-
termediate place of deposit, which would operate
to poison the atmosphere in its neighbourhood.
To effect the object here proposed is, however,
obviously beyond the means of any private
It is therefore Proposed to form a company

of persc

- - .
purpose, who shall contract with
rive such security as may be
tual performance of

t is conceived

which t

such a company, by the aid,
of scientific processes, can be rendered profitable to'
themselves and advantageous to the country, and
especially advantageous to the agricultural commu-
nity, by increasing the supply of the really valuable
fertilizing components which have hitherto been
allowed to escape or to be depreciated. Upon the
question of profit, however, we cannot be expected
to offer an opinion. That must be a consideration
for the shareholders in such a company. We are
satisfied, however, that science can do much to aid
the

that the oper

farmer i i the mode proposed. It has been
shown that even by improvements in the construc-
tion of his premises—his stables and farm yards—
the agriculturist can effect an infinite amount of
s'aving; and if this can be done with the fertilizing
matter produced in large towns, and at present
wasted, by any method which will not involire annoy-

1 iajar

,o health, the attempt ought to be

of the

uthoritie

Let it
not be scouted because it is a new one and a bold
one. Let as not set our faces against it because it
is pmposed to be carried out by a company. All
great scheme= in the present age are thus originated.
It is the co-operative system which has given us
gas, provided us with water, and is forming for us

railways ; and if the same system can give us im-
proved health and lengthen the duration of life in
our crowded marts of trade and industry, we should
bless it for the boon and accept its aid with thank-
fulness.

We are still not disposed to lose sight of the im-
portance of a better supply of water for cleansing
purposes—for street cleansing, for the promotion of
personal cleanliness, and for domestic purposes.
The want of this must be removed, as the cause of
half tIL.: sickness and mortality under which we
labour. Another cause of disease, also, to which
we have frequently directed attention, the collection
of water in stagnant pits in the outskirts of the town
and even in some which are becoming central locali-
ties, must be attended to. We ask of those ladies and
gentlemen who attended, on Saturday, the ceremony
of laying the foun lation stone of the viaduct in
Boundary-street, if the effluvia which met them on
ascending the plat-form, or the sight of dead dogs
and cats rotting in putrid water, were very provo-
cative of appetite, even for the splendid Dejetiner
which the liberality of the Directors had provided
for them. Is the sickly artizan passing such loath-
some places, on his way to or from his humble meal,
very likely to enjoy it ? Can his children, breathing
its poison daily, escape sickness ? Such places
affect the health of the entire neighbourhood in
which, by some extraordinary want of proper super-
vision by the authorities, they are permitted to
exist. Of the place in question, it may be said that
the water is required for brickmaking. Then com-
pel the parties owning the pits to make the bricks
at once. If they are not ready to do so, or the
bricks are not wanted just yet, discharge the water
until they are. There are localities, however, in
which such sources of pestilence exist, where no
such excuses offer—places where the foundations
have been got out for future buildings, and where the
water is permitted to remain, simply because the
owner of the land cares not to remove it until the
site is sold, or he is ready to build upon it. Such
places are generally in neighbourhoods of conside-
rable population ; and, when we know that in every
case they are surrounded with fever and other bale-
ful illnesses, we should promptly tell their owners-
that the health of the public shall not he permitted
to suffer for the gratification of their own sAtishness.

N.) one is more sensible than ourselves of the dif-
ficulties which, in a town like Liverpool, beset a
police magistrate in the discharge of his duties.
Those duties themselves are so extensive and so
complicated; the cases upon which such a magis-
trate has to decide are so varied in their character,
that he must occasionally appear to bestow upon
some too little consideration, to receive evidence
with too little scrutiny into its truth, and to err in
the judgment which he pronounces. One of the
greatest difficulties under which the chief magistrate
of this town labours, and which frequently brings
upon him odium, has been in part of his own cre-
ation. We refer to the difficulty which arises in the
case of informations where the police are the sole
witnesses on the one side, and their statements are
met by the counterstatements of disinterested parties.
Mr. Rushton appears to estimate, at too high a rate
the value of a policeman's oath. He regards every
man in the blue uniform as a miracle, impartially
promoting the ends of justice for itself alone, unde-
viatingly honest, and particularly candid. When
policeman A. or B. presents himself, to denounce
some unhappy carter, or to state his version of a
row, and has policeman C. or D. at his elbow, to
confirm his story, the Stipendiary, in regulating the
amount of credence to be given to them, does not
appear to us sufficiently to bear in mind that there
may be some motive in the background to stimulate
these officers to magnify the offence alleged to have
been committed, so as to stair' well on the police
books as vigilant officers. Hence, in some instances,
it happens that parties are convicted upon evidence
which, we suspect would, upon close examination,
prove utterly worthless, if not even such as would
entail upon themselves a reprimand as the slightest

penalty.
A. case of this sort came before Mr. Rushton on
Tuesday, in which a carman was summoned on two
inrormations, one for creating an obstruction in
Lime-street, and the other for furiously driving
down Roe-street. The circumstances were these.
The carman was waiting outside the station in
Lime-street, at about half-past eleven p.m., on Mon-
day fortnight, for two gentlemen, one of them from
this office, to convey them, with the express parcel
from London, which we usually receive at that
hour, when he was desired by a policeman to re-
move his car, as obstructing the road. Having a
fare, of course the carman refused ; and this was
the subject of information the first. When the car-
man had taken up his fare, he drove in the direc-
tion of Castle-street. In Roe-street he was met by
another policeman 111 with a charge of furious
driving ; and followed by that officer and another
nearly to our establishment, where he was stopped,
and the number of his car taken.

With respect to the first charge, it was proved, at
the hearing, that the car was in its proper place, as
an engaged vehicle, and the information was dis-
missed. In the hearing of the other information,
the second policeman mentioned deposed to the fu-
rious driving, and his following the car, which he
stated was going with such rapidity, that when he,
ONE HU.',DUED AND ELEVEN, had got to
the end of Basnett-street, he saw the car before him
at the top of Lord-street, above North John-street.
Now, just for a moment examine the story of this
singularly discerning individual. To see the car at
the top of Lord-street, from the position mentioned,
he would have to look through the whole range of
building, from Church-lane to the middle of Lord-,
street ! A person standing at the end of Basnett-
street, could not see a car more than a few yards
past the end of "Whitechapel, as Mr. Rushton may
satisfy himself any day that lie is passing the
locality. To substantiate his charge, which was de-
nied by one of the gentlemen who had been in the
car at the time, another policeman was produced to
depose to the rate of driving up Lord-street ; and
this individual, in reply to a question from the ma-
' gistrate, estimated the speed at twelve miles an
hour (.9 How far Mr. Rushton may be learned in
'tor: eflesh we do not know; but to those acquainted
with the ordinary speed of this quadruped, and how
much oftener we hear of trotting at the rate of twelve
miles an hour in harness, up hill, with a heavy four-
wheeled car, and three persons of respectable weight
to drag, than see the feat performed, it would be

the feat in the present case, the horse alleged to
have performed it has attained the venerable age
of twenty years, for the last seven of which he has

been knocked about in the shafts of a hack car, on
the stones of Liverpool, having previously been dis-
missed by an eminent surgeon as past service !
Notwithstanding these allegations, information the
second was dismissed.

But how ? Why just in the way, we conceive, to
encourage attempts, on the, part of the police, to
annoy individuals, and to impose upon the credulity
of the bench. Mr. Rushton intimated to our pro-
fession, that he was aware we were occasionally so
circumstanced as to render rapid transmission of
despatches desirable; but he could not allow us to
peril the limbs of her Majesty's lieges by driving
furiously, thus assuming us to have been guilty of
such an offence. With respect to the carman, he

said that he should not inflict a fine this time; but
if he was ever again brought up, similarly charged,
he should fine him
.forty shillings and costs, and the
Stinendiary wound up by saying, that he could
easily see bow the charge of furious driving had
arisen. An uneasy feeling had been created in the
minds of the police by the occurrence in Lime-street !
What a strange admission is here. Policeman A.
stops a man for some imagined offence, and dis-
covers that he has committed himself. An " uneasy
feeling" immediately prompts his brother policeman
B. to bring another charge. Preserve us from cre-
ating an " uneasy feeling" in the minds of police-

men.
It would suggest itself to most persons, that the
officials, thus admitted, to have been prompted to
bring a charge against an unoffending man by the
influence of an " uneasy feeling," would at least be
warned not again to allow such an influence to lead
themselves astray, and put other people to unde-
served trouble and expense. But not so on this
occasion. Not a word of warning or reproof was
uttered. On the contrary, their " uneasy feelings"
are gratified by the intimation, that the innocent