The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-23 00:00:00

SCENE IN A PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE-

ROOM.

The Chairman has taken his seat, and the bell has been
rung. Make way there for the cour,s ! And straightway
march in, the sharp-featured, quick-eyed Austen ; the tall
and gaunt but clever Talbot; and the pleasing, urbane,
and gentlemanly Henderson, the latter being the Recorder
of Liverpool. The chairman of the Dock Committee
(Mr. J. B. Moore) ; the Dock Solicitor, always attentive,
regular, and systematic, confident, but rather nervous at
the responsibility thrown upon him ; Mr. Hartley, the
Dock Surveyor, with a good humoured, round, and florid
countenance, indicative of contentment ; these all follow
close on the heels of their counsel. Behind them come a
shoal of dock masters, sailor-like looking fellows enough,—
Mr. Alderman Nicol, Mr. D. Gibb, Mr. M'lver, Mr.
Stewart, Mr. Weightman, and a dozen other well known
Liverpool men, and all take their places behind their
counsel. When we got into the room, which is plain
enough, and very scantily furnished, we saw fourteen
gentlemen seated round the upper side of a parallelo-
grammatic deal table covered with green baize, and
amongst them we discovered Captain Beresford in the
chair ; Lord Sandon in his spectacles; Wilson Patten,
as sharp and attentive as if he was out coursing; Peter
Greenall, with his hat on, nodding first to one, then ano-
ther; Sir Howard Douglas, as straight as an arrow ; Mr.
Tolletnache, looking as if he was puzzled what to do ; Mr.
Bernard, with his jolly red face, which had never been
painted so good a colour by imbibing buttermilk ; Captain
Trowbridge, easy and attentive; and Captain Plumridge,
black. sour, and curly-headed, seemingly dissatisfied with
himself, his pen, and every thing else. In addition, was
John Ireland Blackburne, and a pale. cadaverous, but at-
tentive man, Mr. Brotherton, whose character stands well
with all who know him. We had hardly looked round,
and pept at the stately pile of Westminster Cathedral
through the windows of the committee-room, when in
came a bustling, self-satisfied sort of barrister, who has
evidently a good opinion of his own ability, (much better
we apprehend than most other people have.) accompanied
by a learned brother with a round face, rotund form, and
not an unpleasing expression. The 'first we found to be
Mr. Hildyard ; the latter, Mr. Webster. Behind these
black gowns followed Mr. Mallaby, whose bag was top
full of papers, and who seined as well able to make
a pun, or let fly a joke, as to draw a brief. Close to Mr.
Mallaby was Mr. Bendel', the engineer of the Birkenhead
docks, and the merchants of Liverpool were represented by
William Jackson, Esq. and Brownrigg, Esq., who were
the opponents of the bill. The former seemed rather ill
at t ase ; and an occasional suffusion of colour in his face,
from its being so unusual in him, alarmed his friends, lest
the he:iltti of one so justly celebrated should suffer from ex-
_

citeraf a'. But, except for a little nervous twitching, and
its beg impossible for him to sit still, we did nct d'scover
any thing uery alarming about him. Mr. Potter, too,
was present on what we may call the opposition side of the
house, but he either did not take any part in prompting
the counsel, or his friends did not think fit to consult
him, for he stood amongst the crowd behind Mr. Brown.
rigg the greater part of the day.
Mr. Austen commenced by stating to the committee

the object of the promoters of the dock bill, and called
Mr. John Hartley as his first witness. This young engi-
neer gave his evidence in a very clear and satisfaCtory
manner, and underwent a long cross-examination from
Mr. Hildyard, who must have supposed all the witrwsses
were deaf, as he spoke with a hundred horse-power voice.
After Mr. Hartley, junior, came his father, the dock sur-
veyor, whose testimony was simple and straightforward.
He was cross-examined at some length respecting the
breakwater proposed at the entrance of the new
steam dock ; and during hi■ examination Captain
Evans, the conservator of the river, seemed to have
taken upon himself the office of chief prompter.
Indeed it became evident throughout the whole of the
subsequent proceedings that Captain Evans was the eider
and abettor of the opponents to the dock bill, and he
showed himself in the most open manner to be inimical to
it. Nobody could doubt. from his conduct, that he was
a complete partisan, for he was ear-wigging the opponents
of the bill throughout each day. One word to this gen-
tleman. You, Captain Evans, are certainly appointed by
the Crown, but your salary of £6OO a year is paid by the
Corporation and Dock Trustees jointly. Do not forget
from whom you derive your bread ; and if you are disposed
to foster the interests of Birkenhead, at the expense of
those of Liverpool, be manly enough to resign your salary,
and let them make you dock master of Birkenhead, where
salary will be no object,
The object of the opposition appeared to be this, liz.,
to establish the superiority of Birkenhead, and to prove
their case out of the cross-examination of the dock wit-
nesses. We could not help thinking, that if Mr. Mallaby
had put on Mr. Hillyard's wig and gown, and conducted
his own business, it would have been infinitely better
done, for Mr. Halyard is one of those noisy gentlemen
who cannot let well alone. His fervour might pass for
eloquence on the west side of Athlone bridge, but to us it
appeared _ _ _

_ .
" Full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
And his speech, when he wound up the affair! Ye Gods
what an oration. He so completely established the ne-
cessity of the docks getting their bill, that we hope our
good-humoured• friend George Withers will not fail to
send him a handsome fee out of the dock treasury, for
well he deserved it.

There was some sparring between the wigs whether Mr.
Eyre Evans and Mr. Aikin should be sent for by a
speaker's order, as those gentlemen had declined coming
at Mr. Jackson's solicitation. Lord Sandon put an end
to the discussion by stating, that as the promoters did not
want them, it would he time enough to make the applica-
tion to the speaker when the opponents tendered evidence ;
and if at that stage of the proceedings Mr. Evans and
Mr—Alkin's presence was necessary, the summons could
be issued at the proper time.
A laugh was caused by the mistake of Mr. Austin con-
. .

tinuallydesignating Mr. Jackson as Mr. Johnson. Several
persons cried out "Jackson," not "Johnson." " Poo,
poo," said Mr. Austin ; "it is only a more familiar way
of expressing the same word." Some amusement was
also caused when allusion was made by Mr. Hillyard to
jobbing in the Dock Committee ; Mr. Talbot adroitly
transferring the allusion to the jobbing which has been
going on in land at Wallasey Pool. We thought Mr.
Austin very severe on Mr. Evans and Mr. Aiken, because,
so far as the latter gentleman is concerned, we did not
think he deserved it all. Mr. Austin spoke in unmea-
sured terms of any gentleman who, being a member of a
committee, refused to be bound by the decision of the
majority, and made the information which he derived in
his official capacity the weapons with which to oppose his
colleagues. He declared that if Mr. Evans and Mr.
Aiken came before him in such a capacity, he should
know how to deal with the case.

After a small flare-up had taken place between Captain
Plumridge and Mr. Austin, in which the latter had, as
might be expected, the best of it—the speaker was said to
be at prayers; and from the celerity with which the room
was cleared, one should suppose the whole of the com-
mittee, as well as the barristers, were prodigiously devout.
On the following day, Mr. D. Gibb, and a few other
witnesses, were examined, and the speechifying having
come to an end, the room was cleared ; and friends and
foes, witnesses and lawyers, barristers and listeners, were
all bundled out into the lobby, while the legislators were
deliberating in solemn conclave : and when they will
make known their will, this deponeth sayeth not, but it is
certain that whatever may be the details, the principle of
dock extension will be fully recognised in its largest and
most extended form.

FEMALE EDUCATION IN INDIA.—The Rev. J.Wilsor,
D.D., of Bombay, Honorary President of the Bombay
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, is expected in Li-
verpool, to deliver an address on this interesting subject,
at a public meeting, to be held at seven o'clock this even-
ing, at the. Portico, Newington.
EXCISE INFORMATIONS.---At the police-court, yester-
day, excise informations were preferred against two
tobacconists of this town, for adulteration of the article
in which they dealt. The first called upon was Thomas
Neilson, of Byrom-street, against whom informations
were laid, first, for having in his possession, and mixing
with tobacco, saccharine matter and China flowers, &c.
Another charged him with using saccharine matter only.
Mr. Procter, principal clerk at the office of the solicitor
for the Board of Excise, appeared to explain and support
the informations. He stated (as did the informations,
which were read in brief by Mr. Ellis, clerk of the magis-
trates,) that the excise officers called at the defendant's
place of business on the 22d of January, and found 1081 b.
of tobacco, not spun or roll tobacco, ►nixed with saccharine,
China flowers, and a smaller portion of sand. He ex-
plained an act of Victoria, 3rd and 4th, which rendered
the party liable to heavy penalties for these adulterations,
but this act was not found sufficiently restrictive, and the
informations were laid under a subsequent one, that of
Victoria 5 and 6, chapter 93, by which saccharine and all
other matters, except water, were prohibited in making
sip, tobacco, or for roll tobacco water and oil only. (This
will be found more fully explained in a paragraph else-
where in our present paper, on the adulteration of ex-
ciseable articles.) There were also other counts in the
information,s and the whole of.the penalties involved fines
amounting to £lOOO. The defendant pleaded guilty to
the first count, the others being withdrawn on that under-
standing, saying he was obliged to do the act alleged in
self-defence. The other information was exhibited against
him for a similar breach of the law on the 23rd of January.
This charged him with having in his possession 841 b. of
adulterated tobacco ; another count charged him with
having 201 b. of China flowers. He denied that there was
so large a quantity of flowers as that stated, and it was
admitted that the quantity was nominal, but the offence
was made out by having any at all. There were also
other counts. To the tobacco he finally pleaded guilty—
the other counts being withheld, and he was adjudged to
forfeit two sums of £3OO in each case, or £6OO in all.—
George Brown, tobacconist, of Scotland-place, was next
called. He was defended by Mr. Snowball. He was
charged with having, on the 23rd of January, a quantity
of tobacco adulterated with saccharine—penalty £3OO ;
also with having sold adulterated tobacco to a Mr. Board-
man—£200 penalty. Mr. Snowball Said both the quan-
tities belonged to one lot; that it was bought at the
Customhouse, and that it was so bad that it could no be
used without the saccharine, and that that article in place
of deteriorating improved it. It was also his client's first
offence, and as he had a wife and five children he would
be ruined if the whole fine was pressed. Finally, it was
agreed by the solicitor to take the fine of £3OO on the first
information, and £2OO in the second. Mr. Rushton said
the magistrates would be willing to consider any cir-
cumstances that might make in mitigation, which they
had the power to do. They would consider the matter,
see the collector upon it, and decide in a day or two.
Meantime the fines must stand, as by the act, and he
advised Mr. Snowball to memorialize the board in London
without delay. The tobacco seized in both cases was, of
course, forfeited, and would itself involve a considerable
additional loss to the parties.