The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-07-14 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARh.

It is becoming more and more clear every day

that there is some

king wrong in our present system

is called an improve

It is difficult to find any two committees
deciding upon the merits of rival schemes upon the
same principles ; laying down the same rules as to

vidence, or even determining, upon the sam

grounds, the question—what are rival schemes ?
Committee A has a prejudice in favour of lines

proposec

in con-

nexion with E

ng railway

Committee B. is in

princi,:le of separate managerner

Committee C

e with

supports projects which comp
Comtnittee D. thinks that cheapness
f locomotion is not secured to the public by the
formation of two lines where one, well worked,
_ isite accommodation. E. is
in favour of cheapness of construction, at the expense

Ina la

would provide the re

of directness of route and perfection of gradients.
F. would go as the crow flies, boring through hills
and filling up valleys. We have some impressed in
favour of lines which open out mineral deposits ;
some which look at the accommodation of passengers
as the only object to be cared for. We have the
friends of a broad guage and of a narrow guage,—
in short, the different views under which committees
legislate, may almost be called Legion, and their de-

the part of committees, as to what should be the re-
commendation of a railway scheme to the sanction
of Parliament, there have now crept in political and
even private influences which, at least, greatly
weaken the confidence of the public in the impar-
tiality of such tribunals. We see Members one day
giving evidence in favour of a line which passes con-
veniently through his property in some county, and
the next day, perhaps, deciding upon the merits of
a line in which a member of the committee, which
sate in judgment upon that evidence, is deeply in-

_
terested, or even directly mixed up. The bisas to
the merits of this or that local scheme is not unfre-
quently a material portion of the claim of a Member
to the support of his constituency. Lord Ebrington
we saw, the other day, called to account before the
electors of Plymouth, and threatened with an oppo-
sition, because of his advocacy of o e particular
local project, in preference to its rival. His Lord-
ship's "influence" had been used in favour of the
scheme less popular with his constituents ; and how
used ? This is one of the mysterious processes which
the public want to have expkined and got rid of.
There is no such thing can enter into the decision of
a question tried by any of the ordinary constitutional
tribunals of the land. What are the duties upon which
provisional committee-men, lawyers, and secretaries,
ordinarily employ themselves up to the moment of
presenting their schemes before a committee? In
securing this mysterious "influence "of noble Lords
and honourable Members. We hear of Comp vies

who have strong Parliamentary influences—who can
pass any kind of project, to the preferen,Fe of rival
schemes, however excellent, if brought forward by
parties who cannot hobnob with this Peer or that
Member, are unknown at Brookes's or the Reform
Club, and cannot chat familiarly with half the Mem-
bers they meet in the lobby of the House.
Of course we do not impute any malvetsation of
their important offices to the Members of the Legis-
lature, or any one of them. The character of an
English Peer, and of English Gentlemen, places them
above suspicion of being knowingly corrupt. Like
Caesar's wife, however, they ought to ovupy a posi-
tion above suspicion ; and to enable them to do this
they must be relieved from the great responsibility
imposed upon them individually as Members of
Railway Committees, with powers so large, and so
capable of being worked to the advantage of friends
or localities, as are wielded by these tribunals.
Diffused, as railway property is now, through every
part of the kingdom—held as it is by the nobleman,
the merchant, the trader, and the smallest shop-
keeper—there are few men of the class from which
our Legislators are chosen who have not either a
direct or a collateral interest in some line, which may
he presumed, unconsciously to themselves, no doubt,
to bias their views with respect to the relative merits
of co-operating or of rival lines. To extricate indi-
vidual membets from this, their unfair position, and
the difficulty into which it brings them, we should
suggest the appointment of some capable and inde-
pendent Tribunal, over whose decisions, however,
both Houses, in their collective capacity, might
have an over-riding power.

PRINCE ALBERT'S:VISIT-THE MAYOR AND
THE TWO ROMAN CATHOLIC B SHOPS.

It is really irksome to have continually imposed on us
the t►sk of correcting the errors or the inventions of our
contemporaries. We have in another column expressed
our opinion of the mode in which his worship the Mayor
has been recently attacked by the Whig-Radical press,
with respect to his alleged conduct in insisting noon the
right to 'nvite the Rev. Hugh M`Neile to the forth-com-
ing banquet at the Town Ha:l. Whilst writing the arti-
cle in question we were not informed of the facts of the
case; but presumed upon the Mayor's character as a
high-minded gentleman that the correct truth had not
bee:► conveyed to our contemporaries. We have since
been more fully informed, and proceed to give the genu-
ine version of the matter.

A list of names of parties thought most eligible for in-
vitation was placed before the committee assembled, in.
strict privacy and confidence, to make a selection. Of
court-e, tone of these gentlemen anticipated that their re-
marks, upon the fitness of this or that individual, would
be conveyed to the public through the press. After going
through a portion of the list, including the two rectors,
the Rev. Mr. Bold and othera, the committee came to the
name of the Rev. Hugh M'Neile. The Mayor did not
at all, as represented, use anything like dictation as to the

rev. gentleman. He stated that he did not see how his
name could be omitted after his services to the
charity, and left the matter entirely in the hands
of the committee by whom his invitation was unat)i-
mously agreed upon. A number of the names were
subsequently gone through, after which Mr. Rathbone

astonished the majority of the committee by proposing
that the two Roman Catholic Bishops of the district
should be invited. The attempt to fasten on the Mayor
alone the disinclination to invite these gentlemen, is
shamefully untrue. A large majority of the committee
ojected to their invitation as Bishops; and his Worship
frequently remarked, that he wished AM thing which fell

from hini to be viewed only as a suggestvon: as he was
desirous of merely carrying out the wishes of the com-
mittee. Mr. Rathbone was reminded that many members
of the Roman Catholic church were already invited, in-
cluding Mr. \Veld, Mr. Blundell, Mr. Chaloner, and
others. Subsequently Mr. RAthbone attempted to mo-
dity his motion, by proposing their invitation as Doctors ;
hut, eventually, finding himself in so small a minority
upon the point, he withdrew his motion. Mr. Evrle's
proposal of Dr. Rates was dismissed, without anything
like the feeling alleged being displayed by the Mayor,
who remarked that he had entertained the rev. doctor at
his own tai.le, and was always ready to receive him there.
The rest of the statements promulgated with respect to
this matter are mere absurdities, got up app irently by

inventive brother of the quill, who,
having perhaps got a wind of what had occurred, was
good enough to supply the imaginative portion. One
part of these statements, as to the immense number of
returned cards and refusals to dine with the Mayor,

which are said to be lying on his worship's table, is
downright absurd. The invitatons are not yet issued.
The cards, we believe, are not yet p'-inted
Really, our contemporaries ought not to:degrade the

poearance of "being intended to persecute a gentleman
whose chief offence is that he is opposed to them in poli-

Surely, if even his wor,hip were

nclineti to

hospitalitiei of the Town-ball. ec in the performance of
his public duties, the Whig- lio&cal party are not the men
who ought to complain. The Ow Whig-Radical Mayors
we have had in this town have not shown such very sensitive

have brfore us an address of congratulation, issued hY the
Whig-liadical Mayor of Manchester to the people of
England, upon the successful carrying of the late free

Mayor of Liverpool just now, we should have little of
delicacy used in following the same, or even a more ob-

jec tic !table course,

VISITORS AT CitoxTETiL—The following noblemen
and gentlemen are at prvbent staying at Croateth, and will
remain during the week :—Hon. Mr. Balfour, lion. Mr.
Forester, Mr. Glynn, Sir W. W. Wynn, Prince George
. 1". - LI" pro i-ttr n t

hglington, lion. Mr. Leslie, Lord Glamis, Mr. and
Mrs. J. Townley, Hon. E. G. Mostyn, Miss Hornby,
Sir" it. Pigot, Bart.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge will honour
the Earl of Sefton with a visit at Croxteth this weak. His
Royal Highness will arrive, we believe, on Friday.
ELECTION OF COMMISSIONERS OF WALLASEY.--
The promoters of the Wallasey Improvement Act have
taken a very unusual and, as it appears to us, a very fair
and impartial course, in omitting from such act any no-
mination of the existing commissioners to art under it,
wing them to be elected by the ratepayers. The follow_
id h"- de-

ing gentlemen therefore retire, as they woulc. nave done
had no improvement act been past—viz., Mr. T. B.
Hughi.s, Mr. J. North, Mr. K. Edwards, Mr. Edwards,
Mr. H. Meadows, Mr. J. Mawdsley, Mr. Thomas
Dean and Mr. J. Bewley. The promoters, nevertheless,
think it their duty to recommend a list, of which the
folkwing are the names:—Messrs. J. D. Maddock,
Miles Barton, Thomas Dean, Thomas Lester, Liscard ;
and Messrs. John Mawdsley. Seaccmbe; Henry Mea-
dows. Poulton ; and Evan Jones, Liscard. The re-
spectability of these gentlemen will ensure them. we
should suppose, the support of the ratepayers. The elec.
tinn is to be held on Thursday next, at the Queen's Arms
Hotel, Liscard village.

CELEBRATION OF THE TWELrTH OF JULY,

upon for the celebration of the

room w

VISIT OF PLUNGE ALBERT-ARRANGEMENTS
IrOR Tli i COM VAINIC AT THE ALBERr DOCK
WAREHOUSES.

magnificent warehouses, are now in progress ; and
completed, will be in every way worthy of the occa
and present to his Royal Highness and

walls or the Duck, one of the finest

eased in this or al

part for the thjeune

other 'tovvii

uite, and to the
she

es ever wit-

leribing the

shall commence with the roe

warehou

This apartment, a warel
situated at the south-east corner of t
is 99 feet long by 88 feet wide. To the eve it

perfect square

6.: ven mastl
h ample room bet

4rs,

tb!es Inn down from end
n eae'

for the i

Aid the

kt the head of the room, which is the south

end, is a table raised considerably higher than the rest,
designed for the acoommodation of Prince Albert, with
his suite and the officials and most distinguished guests.
At the north end are three short tables, and the sides are
to be filled up with seats for thosP of the company for
whom the tabks do not afford sufficient room. It was
originally suggested that a thousand persons might be ac-
cowinodated to partake of the refreshments standing. It
has been consid'red better, hovrever, that each party shall
be provided with seats, which will reduce the accommoda-
tion to that for about 600 at the tables and 120 at the side

The entertainment will be entirely cold, and will consist
of fruits of the most recherche kinds, pates, ice creams.
ices. &c., provided with his usual excellent taste and
liberality by Mr. Lynn, of the %Va.erloo Hotel. The
wines, provided by the same gentleman, we deed not say
will be the best of their kind. For the proper storing and
arrangement of these a must convenient apartment has
been fitted up adjoining the banquetting-room.
We have already given the dimensions of this apart-
ment ; and must bestow upon its decorations, &c., a few
words of description. Baring in mind its character as a
warehouse, designed solely for the stowage of mer-
chandize, &c., it is one of the finest, for the purpose of
any entertainment, to be found in the kingdom. To be
perfectly fire-proof- and there is not a room in the whole
of these spacious erections in which as much timber is
used as would make a box of lucifers—it is built with
brick arches running in compartments lengthwise from
north to south, each compartment tied with an iron rod,
and the bearings supported with iron beams. The lattt r
are painted for the occasion a stone-colour, with the
capitols picked out in gilt. The brick arch-work is
white, and the iron ties painted scarlet. The side-walls
are being draped in flutings of alternate blue, white, and
pink. The fluor is to be covered with crimson cloth, as
is the temporary staircase by which the Royal Guest and
his suite will ascend to the chamber.

The guests are to enter the room by the middle door.
at the north end, and will enter the building through the
granite-pillared g,te at the south end, near King's Vock.
The Prince will enter the room by a private staircase, as
we have already stated, aft'r landing from his yacht at the
south-east corner of the dock.

The accommodation for parties to witness the opening
of the dock by the Prince and his suite in the Fairy, royal
yacht, reflects the highest credit upon the liberality of
the chairman and the members of the Dock Committee.
The sheds of the whole of the stately pile of warehouses
on the south and west of the dock are being fitted up with
stages in an anr,phitheatrical form, eight stages in height,
and each stake a yard in bread,h. These are strong as
the warehouses themselves, each stage being floored by
timber six inches in thickness, and thoroughly rested and
secured. One entrance is at the east corner of the
south end ; another at the south end accommodates
as well a part or the west side. There is also an en-
trance on the west side and another at the north end of
the same side. To prevent confusion, the tickets for each
entrance, which we understand are the most finished
works art, as are those for the dejeuner, will be issued
in distinguishing colours. The seats for the dejeuner will
be numbered to correspond with each ticket. The plat-
forms round the dock, it is computed, will accommodate
easily about ten thousand persons, as may be conceived
when we state that the length of the south side of the
dock is about 150 yards ; that of the west side about 200
yards ; and that there are eight platforms in each, those]
platforms being a yard in width. In all, this will make
about a mile and a half of yard deep lineal standing space.

When the Fairy enters the dock by the gut at the north-
western end, the spectacle presented by this magnificent
mass of the elite of our fellow townsmen and town,-
women wilt be a sight such as few princes or kings can
boast of in their dominions. Tile yacht will, on entering,
proceed at hilf-speed along the quays thus lined with
spectators, and enter the breakfast-room at the south-east
corner.

We presume his Royal Highness, after the entertain-
ment, will be taken over the portion that is completed of
the warehouses themselves. Anything more calculated
to convey to his Royal Highness a sense of the energy of
Ws adopted fellow countrymen, and of the vast resources
of this great port, we can scarcely conceive than an in-
spection of these noble edifices. _

PREPARATI9NS AT THE SAILORS' ITOME.—A rapid
progress is being made with the preparations of laying the
foundation stone for this building. The sides of the ex-
cavation are being surrounded with galleries, affording an
excellent view of the proceedings. TLe bottom will be
appropriated for the reception of the members of the
Council and the Dock Committee, the Sailors' Home
Committee, the Blue Coat Boys, the Freemasons and Odd
Fellows, the nobility and gentry, and the borough magis-
trates. -