The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-10 00:00:00

THE POTA I OE DISEASE IN IRELAND

A report of the commissioners of inquiry into matters
connected with the failure of the potatoe crop in Ireland,
was laid on the table of the House of Commons on Friday
night, on the motion of Mr. O'Connell ; and certainly
contains some revelations of a startling character.

" It appears from undoubted authority," says the re-
port, " that of 32 counties in Ireland, not one has escaped
failure in the potatoe crop ; of 132 Poor-law unions, not
one is exempt; of 2,058 electoral divisions, above 1,400
are certainly reported as having suffered ; and we have no
certainty until the receipt of the more minute returns now
in progress of completion, that the remaining 600 have
altogether escaped."
Ilow this alarming state of things is to be met is not
very clearly indicated, or apprehended, by the Commis-
sioners. The poor-houses, at present far from full, appear
to be looked to as affording some promise of usefulness.
The employment of the people in public works, however,
is their main reliance to preserve the country from famine;
but the employment must be upon a most extensive scale,
and will require very complicated arrangements to regu-
late it. Sir John M'Neill, the celebrated engineer, who
has been consulted, expresses his opinion that the employ-
ment on such public works rarely extends its benefits
over a greater distance than five miles from the locality
of such employment. If this is the case something dif-
ferent from railway works will have to be provided ; ut
what that may be the Commissioners appear at a loss to
state. Draining or road making, we presume, must be
had recourse to; but the difficulty will be to provide the
requisite surveys in time, and to ascertain upon whom the
cost will have to fall. It is clear that we cannot support
the people of Ireland until n'xt harvest without some con-
tribution from the owner of the Irish soil ; and they do
not betray any great inclination to bear their portion of
the burthen. From the feeling which prevails, with res-
pect to the export of food from the country, it is not at all
unlikely that the peasantry will themselves cut the Gordian
knot, by taking the matter into their own hands. A.
starving people very readily get rid of their notions of the
difference between meant and taunt.

The subject of the lecture at Sc. Anlrew's Church, this
evening, is " The use and abuse of Forms."
THE MERCURY C ROTC Li ETS.—Our contemporary
makes but a lame eff .rt to get out of his blunder of last
week, as to the million sterling of taxation which would
be the effect of the duty of a shilling per quarter upon
foreig❑ wheat. The Mermen/ cmnot have read the poli-
cal economists, or he would have known that the position
he has taken refuge in is not tenable. Political econo-
mists almost unanimously agree in the doctrine, that small
duties for revenue do not come out of the pockets of the
consumer. We would recommend him to consult M'Cul-
loch.

THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.—The Rev. J. West,
chaplain to Dr. Whately, archbishop of Dublin, in the
course of a letter announcing the opposition of his grace
to the Alliance, says, " At a party of clergy recently as-
sembled, I called attention to the Rev. Mr. M'Neile's
valuable statement of his reasons for declining to join the
' Evangelical Alliance.' The archbishop quite agrees with
Mr. M'Neile in considering that the elements which are
to compose this a'liance, are such as to render unity in
any course of action impracticable, and that its progress
in the directiorrsupposed to be aimed at, must terminate
at the first step—the mere profession of union. For it is
not so much in general principles that men differ as in the
application of them."
RAILWAY DEPOSITS.—On Wednesday night the total
sum actually passed to the credit of the Accountant-Ge-
neral with the Bahk did not much exceed ;£5 000,000 ;
but as the bankers' deposits, which are generally a little
more or less than £1,000,000, were at that time full
£5,000,000, it was concluded that at least £4,000,000 was
waiting orders to be transferred to the railway deposit ac-
count, all parties in fast deferring them to the latest mo-
ment pos,ible, in the hope of receiving some light on the
policy of the Government from the report of the select
committees. On Thursday, there being no symptom of
its appearance, the paytnents went on with great rapidity,
and they had reached on the afternoon of that day to
nearly .£10,500,000. Ths receipts of Friday, the last
day, made up the amount to £11,492,000.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH SCHOOLS, GREAT CROSSHALL-
STREET.—The friends of scriptural education in this town
will be gratified to learn that these schools, which were
opened a fortnight since in a most densely-populated and
depraved part of the town, are now completely filled. At
present, 260 children, many of whom up to this time were
perishing for lack of knowledge, are there being instructed
in the wey which leadeth unto life eternal, and trained also
to do their duty in that state of life unto which it shall
please God to call them. But we are pained at being
compelled to add that the accommodation afforded by the
present rooms is by no means commensurate with the
wants of the district. Yesterday upwards of 40 parents
in the neighbourhood applied for admittance for their
children, but applied in vain. The schools are filled to
overflowing. Regard to the comfort and health of the
children compels the committee to close the doors against
all applicants. Further accommodation is loudly called
for, and we think the cry will not be unheeded in Liver-
pool. The present school-rooms are only rented, and
they must soon, we think, he exchanged for others more
spacious and commodious, in permanent connexion with
St. John's Church and district.
THE BRITISH SALT TRADE.—The proprietors of the
extensive salt works in Cheshire, Worcestershire, and
other counties where this most necessary article is pro-
duced, are doing all they possibly can to render it a most
important branch of British commercial industry. The
opening of the salt trade with China, via Hong Kong, and
the increasing dema d making for our presidencies in
India, has given an extraordinary impetus to the manu-
facture of the article. The constructing of railways will
have the most beneficial result to the mining interest, not
only in our copper. iron, tin, lead, and coal districts, but
the salt as well. The great commercial port of Liverpool
has hitherto had nearly the whole of the salt export trade;
but a rival is now starting up in the city of Gloucester.
The transmission of brine from the Worcestershire salt
works by rail to Gloucester for exportation has, for some
time past, been one of the grand projects of the manu-
facturers of that county. The quantity made in Worces-
tershire is, on an average, about 100,000 tons of white
salt, more than one-third of which is shipped even now at
Gloucester; and the trade is rapidly improving. The
expense of fuel, in consequence of the high price of con-
veyance, has been a great drawback to the counties of
Chester, Worcester. and Gloucester, although there is
plenty of coal. Vs hen the Dean Forest Railway is com-
pleted, the latter city will be most advantageously situated,
as it will possess an inexhaustible supply of cheap carbonic
mineral, which can be delivered direct from the tram to
the salt works.—Mining Journal.