The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-06-09 00:00:00

ALLEGED DAMAGE

Captain Cushing, commander of the American ship George
Stephens, in a letter addressed to the committee, requested
the remission of a 'stun of £35, charged to him for damage
done by his vessel to the shed on the north side of Clarence
Dock basin on the 2(1 instant. It appeared that the vessel
was being removed from Trafalgar Dock into the graving
dock for the purpose of being coppered,• when a sudden
squall springing up, a hawser gave way, by which damage to
the amount above named was done. A report was read from
the North Harbour Master upon the subject, but as it was
not deemed sufficiently explicit, it was referred back to him
for a further report.

EXPENSE OF THE NEW WAREHOUSES

In reply to a question from Mr. HORSYALL,

The SURVEYOR stated that at the next meeting he would
be prepared to give information as to the estimated cost of
the dock warehouses.

THE FLOATING BATH

The CfrAIRMAN then introduced the subject of the floating
bath, mentioned at the last meeting by Mr. Brumley Moore,
and said he had received a letter on the subject from Mr.
Askew, the water-bailiff of the corporation.
The SECRETARY read the Water-bailiff's letter, which
stated that the subject having been brought under the notice
of the committee, and his name mentioned with it, be begged
'to say that a long discussion tor.k place before several mem-
bers of the corporation many years ago; and he then stated
as he-did now, that no profit would 'induce him (the Water-
bailiff) to place her where she was"now, particularly under
the agreement entered into by the late Mr. Coglan, which
was, that he would not only repair any damage the bath sus-
tained, but be answerable for any damage done by it to other
vessels. He had no doubt Mr. Okill would have a record of
the facts.

Mr. BOLD said this letter gave no opinion whether the
bath was moored in the proper' place or not, which was the
real point.
Mr. BRAMLEY-MOORE thought that the contents of the
letter had nothing to do with the question.
Mr. BOLD observed that the Water-bailiff appeared to look
at the bath as if it were a question whether it was a profitable
speculation ; or at the risk which the owner run of having to
make good any damage done by her to other vessels.
Mr. EvAxs considered that no risk could be done by her
to any vessel, because she was so flimsy and slight, that she
must give way. She never could damage any vessel. The
question really was, whether she was in the way of the navi-
gation.
MennAmtev-Moons also contended that the true ques-
tion was, whether the bath was an obstruction to the navi-
gation of the river.
Mr. HoLmus said it was an obstruction, but at the same
time it was a convenience to the public.

Mr. BRAAILEY-MOORX urged that if the bath was an ob-
struction to the navigation of the river, it was the first duty
of the committee to see that it was moved into some other
place, as convenient as possible to the public, but still where
it would not obstruct the highway of the river.

Mr. HOLT said the decision rested with the Town
Council.

The CIIAIRMAN admitted that, but added that the Coun-
cil would in all probability take some steps upon any recom-
mendation of the Dock Committee.

Three waster-pilots were then introduced, all of whom, in
answer to questions from several members of the Committee,
expressed.an opinion that in its present position, it was, more
or less, an obstruction and an impediment to the navigation
of the river. The pilots having retired,
Mr. EVANS said he recollected that one of the arguments
made use of many years ago for the bath being placed there
was that there were no public baths in the town. That ob-
jection was now removed. _ _

The CHAIRMAN observed that it was the corporation who
would have to consider whether they would remove it.
Mr. EVANS.—Yes ; we cannot remove it.
Mr. BRAMLEY-MOORS remarked that whateVer the in-
convenience was. to the navigation twenty years ago, it was
much increased now.
Mr. EvAsis said he had referred to one-and-thirty years
ago.

-Mr. BRAMLILY-MOOILE replied that for 20 vessels which
came into the river at that time there were sixty nuw. The
inconvenience, therefore, was trebled.

Mr. EVAN$.—The fact is, we look at it in a nautical point
of view, and the corpoiation in a sanitary way.

It was then resolved_that a communicatiou should be made
with the ToWn Council upon the subject, after which the
committee separated.

INDUSTRIOUS ENGLAND.—Not only is the proportion of
persons in the community who pass their lives in active in-
dustry, labouring with their hands or their heads, greater !n
this than in almost every other well-peopled country in
Europe, but the amount of skilled labour performed in a given
time by any given number of our countrymen is commonly
greater than that accomplished by the like number of any
other people in Europe. To this circumstance it is in great
part owing, that, with a higher rate of daily wages paid for
fewer hours of toil than are required in other countries, our
manufacturers have been able, under otherwise adverse cir-
cumstances, to maintain the superiority over their rivals.
Many of those rivals, both in France and in Germany, have
contrived to possess themselies of our best machines, not-
withstanding the legal prohibition to their exportation ; but,
having hitherto been unable to imbue their workman with the
degree of energy and skill by which the English artisan is
distinguished,, are in general unable to compete with us in
any but the commonest kind of fabrics. The proportion of
persons in the United Kingdom who pass their time without
applying to any gainful occupation is quite inconsiderable.
01 5,812,276 males, twenty years of age and upwards, living
at the time of the census of 1831, there were said to be ea-
gaged in some calling or profession 5,466,282, as follow :
In agriculture, 2,470,111; in trade and manufactures,
1,888,768 ; in labour, not agriculture, 698,588 ; in domestic
service, 132,811; as bankers, clergymen, professional men,.
eze., 275,904 ; thus leaving unemployed only 346,094, or rath-
er less than six per cent. of the whole, which, assuming that
the proportionate number at each age continued the same in
1831 that it was found to be in 1821, is not quite a quarter per
cent. beyond. the number living in 1831 v.dio were seventy
years of age and upwards. It is probable that this number
of unemployed persons is somewhat understated, and that
noblemen and gentlemen residing upon their estates, many
of whom entrust to agents everything connected with busi-
ness employment, are reckoned among the number of those
engaged in agriculture ; but, if it be the case, it cannot very
greatly alter the calculation.—porter's Progress of the
Nation.

How TO PURIFY THE AIR OF STABLES.—Having been
invited by Mr. Evans, of Dean /louse, Edstone, to make
some experiments on his excellently-conducted farm Sand
stables, 1 trust the results of those upon the absorption of
ammonia may prove of sufficient interest to entitle them to
publication. As gypsum (crystallised sulphate of lime) had
been highly recommended for this purpose in some recent
works on agriculture, the stables were in the first instance
freely strewn with this salt coarsely powdered;. but though
the ammonia was evolved during the removal of the wetted
straw in sufficient quantity to affect even the eyes of the
grooms, I could not, after two days' exposure, detect the
sslightest trace of it in the gypsum when I examined it with
slaked lime. This result was the more surprising, as it is
known to every chemist that solutions of carbonate of ammo-
nia and of gypsum are incompatible ; the carbonic acid leaving
the ammonia to form the precipitate carbonate of lime, the
sulphuric acid passing to the ammonia; and I had previously
-ascertained that in an atmosphere:so highly charged with am-
monia as to be destructive to animal or veget ble life, a very
appreciable proportion was talign up by wetted gypsum The
following experiments appeared conclusive upon the point,
tha*z under less favourable circumstances not an atom was
absorbed —2OO grains wetted with distilled water were ex-
posed in a close stable for three days, precautions having
been taken to avoid any error from evaporation : it was again
weighed, no increase could be perceived, nor was any ammo-
nia evolved on the application of the usual tests ; while 200
grains wetted with diluted sulphuric acid, and exposed tl e
same time, were found to have gained 36 grains of ammonia.
The stables were then strewn with the gypsum moistened witlr
sulphuric acid, and examined the next morning; every por-
tion was found to have absorbed sufficient ammonia to evolve
its peculiar pungent odour when brought in contact w;Vi
slaked lime; the stables had also lost their close, unhealthy
smell. To use the words of the grooms, they appeared
sweetened. As it was evident the gypsum acted merely me-
chanically, affording a convenient absorbent surface for the
be •shown by. the,
acid, experiments were made substitu ing sawdust for gypsum
with even more favourable results. That the proportion of
free
simple
eammoniaexperiment
mine
nstt stables
placing
ray urge
nes tenay
d piece of
paper reddenedi with weak acid in a stable; in one badly
cleaned or ill- ventilated the effect is instantaneous ; but even
in those of Mr. Evans, where the greatest attention was paid
tolthese points, the paper was observed in a few minutes to
become blue ; even the water kept in the stable the over
night, as is the habit to take off the chill, becomes sufficiently
impregnated with ammonia to affect tests. As this alkali is
justly ranked among the most powerful stimulants, the,.cons
tinual breathing of an atmosphere vitiated by it can hardly

fait to have a prejudicial effect. tir.o.oma are observed to be
short-lived; and the rapid course of inflammatory diseases in
horses, and their distressing predisposition to colds and af-
fections of the chest are no doubt greatly aggravated b %ibis
cause. The increased salubrity and sweetness of the stable
if pointed out to the grooms would, therefore, soon reconcile
them to the slight additional trouble the adoption of this re-
medy would incur. At Dean House the acid gypsum was
first strewn amidst the straw ; but as this was considered
likely to injure the fret and clothing of the hunters, it was
afterwards spread on trays. One part of sawdust will be
the ammonia is evolved
found to absorb readily three times its weight of acid solu-
tnlfree weeks the acid pow-
der, which I made with one.-part, by measure, of sulphuric
acid to fifteen of vratz,r. If intended to be tried as a manure
it should be mixed in with the straw when removed from the
es
nta
freely,
y ,D thaturinagt thetbe
der, which should not remain more than three days in the
stable without changing, will be found completely neutralised,
and as the greatest benefit was derived. from covering up and
salting dung-heaps, by which I believe an additional absorp-
tion of ammonia could only have been gained, it may be rea-
to,coroottri
sonably hoped that an increased value would result from a
re7dceisifs
manure thus surcharged with aramoniacal salts.—Journal of
the Agricultural Society.