The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-12-12 00:00:00

NATIONAL CONFEDERATION—PITT-STREET WARD,—
On Wednesday evening last, the members of the Con-
federation in this ward held their first anniversary dinner
at Mr, Henderson's Commercial Inn, Cleveland-square,
and, from the spirit there evinced, there is little chance of
an anti-rater ever being again returned for the ward.
What added much to the pleasure of the evening was, the
news of their neighbour, Mr. R. S. Henderson, being
elected chairman of the Dock Committee, and also of Mr.
Poole, another inhabitant of the ward, being elected in
the place of Mr. B. Moore, the late chairman of the Dock
Committee. The chair was occupied by the chairmpu
of the ward, Mr. M`Millen ; End in the room we noticed
Messrs. Crossley, Reay, Callis, Whitty, Jeffreys, Renny,
M`Knight, and several other influential members of the
association. _ _

BIRKENHEAD FERRY.—It appears from the Council
proceedings, that the expenses of the ferry, up to the 25th
of November, were £2901 3s. 5d., and the receipts only
£1037 15s. 9d., leaving a loss of £1863 7s. Bd. up to the
date mentioned. If we add the loss of half a year's rent,
£489, and the cost of the purchase of the Fanny steamer,
£2lOO, we find the total expenditure as to the ferry was
£4452 7s. Bd. The following is a statement of the weekly
receipts from September 7 :—Sept. 7, £39 16s. 5d.; Sept.
14, £22 16s. 3d. ; Sept. 21, £29 4s. 10d. • Sept. 28, £l9
18s. 3d. ; Oct. 5, £l5 9s. 4.1.; Oct. 12, £2O 6s. sd. ; Oct.
19, £l2 15s. ; Oct. 26, £ll 6s. ' • Nov. 2, £l2 7s. sd. ;
' Nov. 9, £lO 12s. ld. • Nov. 16, £ll 2s. ; Nov. 23, £l2
6s. 4d. ; Nov. 30, £lO Bs. At Woodside Ferry the re-
ceipts were from April to November £10,280, and for the
month of November £l,OOO.

DEATH FROM A NARCOTIC.—A poor woman, named
M`Larkey, was confined a few days ago, her medical at-
tendant being Mr. Hyams, of Duke-street. Four days
after the accouchement, a female, who officiated as nurse,
was sent to Mr. Hyams' surgery for a dose of medicine
for the sick woman ; the dose, consisting of a mixture of
castor oil and laudanum, was given to the woman in a cup.
The mother administered a small quantity of this mixture
of castor oil and laudanum. The child sank under the
influence of the potent drug. An inquest was held on the
body on Friday. The coroner censured the ommission of
which the surgeon had been guilty, in not labelling the
vessel containing the medicine. This, however, was con-
sidered unnecessary, as the messenger was apprized of its
contents

GREAT GEORGE-STREET CHAPEL SCHOOLS.—On
Thursday evening, Mr. W. M. Fisher, of this town, de-
livered a popular lecture on astronomy, at the Music-
hall, Bold-street, in aid of the funds of the above-named
institution. The hail was filled by a highly respectable
auditory. The Rev. Dr. Raffles occupied the chair. The
lecture was explanatory of the solar system, and was
beautifully illustrated by a series of well-executed dia-
grams. During the evening a number of splendid views
were introduced, illustrative of scriptural and other sub-
jects. Many of the diagrams and views were entirely
new. It is worthy of notice that Mr. Fisher exhibited a
beautiful view of Neptune with his belt, and two satel-
lites, and seen by Mr. Lassen, of this town, the first dis-
coverer of the peculiar phenomena regarding this planet.
The lecture realised the handsome sum of £4O.
EARL HARROWBY AND THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
—The energies and aptitude for business of our late noble
representative are seemingly finding appropriate vent in
the promotion of the emigration movement in which the
Colonization Society are now engaged, and of which, we
observe, that our late quasi-candidate, Lord Mandeville,
is a member. A great meeting in support of the objects
of the society is to be held in the Town-hall of Birming-
ham, on Thursday next, Dec. 14th, Lord Lyttleton in the
chair • and on the following day, Lord Harrowby is to
preside at a similar meeting in the Town-hall of Stafford,
both chairmen being supported by the county and borough
representatives of the respective counties of Worcester,
Warwick, and Stafford, and many of the local nobility and
gentry. Chester, we believe, is the next place the society
purposes visiting, and immediately afterwards Liverpool.

SHORT WEIGTS.-Mr. G. H. Lawrence stated to the
Council on Wednesday, that a practice, which he consi-
dered a very unfair one—unfair towards the public, the
consumer, and the conrcientious shopkeeper—now pre-
vailed to a considerable extent—that was, the practice of
giving insufficient weight at certain provision shops. Mr.
Fell, in order to test this custom, sent to seven different
grocers' shops, obtained small parcels of sugar, rice, and
soap, and found that, without exception, every one of
these parcels was deficient—one to the extent of an ounce
and a quarter in half a pound. The defence or explana-
nation was, that the parties were obliged for the conveni-
ence of their customers to weigh the parcels at consider-
ably earlier periods than they were bought, and that the
soap, and sometimes sugar, diminished very much in
weight in the course of a few days.

ST. GEORGE'S HALL, LIVERPOOL.—Right proud may
Liverpcol be of St. George's Hall. It is one of the finest
works of modern times, and an honour to the country.
And while she is proud of it, let her watch carefully its
completion. There is yet time enough to spoil the in-
terior. It is simply in carcass, and the works appear to
progress very slowly. The centreing is ready for the
vaulting of the great hall; the vaulting is to be formed,
as we understand, of square earthen pots, which will be
found to facilitate ventilation. On each side of the hall
is a range of six polished Aberdeen granite columns, and
a podium all round the immense apartment, of the same
material. One of the courts has similar granite columns.
The concert-room is on a higher level, with a semi-circu-
lar end, and has a large central light. The completion of
the design is entrusted to Mr. Weightman. Short as was
poor Elme's life, he has earned for himself a prominent
niche in the gallery of English worthies.— The Builder.

Fl HL AT THE DALE-STREET GA SWOAKS.—About noon,
on Thursday, a large volume of flame was observed to
issue from the gasometer-house, at the Gas-works in Dale-
street. The house stands on the right of the yard, and
the outside wall runs along Hatton-garden. The flames
spread with great rapidity. Hose having been attached
to the Green-lane mains, a copious supply of water was
early obtained. The firemen, by means of ladders raised
in Hatton-garden, were enabled to pour streams of water
into the burning building. There is little doubt, from
the fire on Mr. Hewitt's arrival, that an explosion orlarge
escape of gas must have taken place, and occasioned the
accident, for the roof and other parts of the interior of
the building were enveloped in one blaze. Efforts were
first directed towards extinguishing the fire at the roof of
the building, and this was accomplished principally by
means of the branches from Hattori-garden. In the yard,

the West of England engine was playing, and there were
one or two branches supplied from the Green-lane mains.
The house contained a large gasometer and two smaller
ones, called governors. Finding that the water had little
effect in extinguishing the fire in the immediate proximity
of the meters, where it is supposed the gas muat have
been burning, a large quantity of sand was thrown into
the building, and this, with the efforts of the firemen in

extinguishing the flames. The damage is estimal
from £3OO to £5OO. The premises were not insured

regret to find that one of the fire brigade la-id his face
scorched, and that No. 188 had his head cut by the falling
of the roof from the Hatton-garden side. He was on a
ladder at the time the accident occurred.
THE MERCURY ON ROMISH MIRACLES.—The Mer-
cury of yesterday contains an account of the opening of
the new Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis Xavier,
from which we learn that " solemn high mass" was cele-
brated by the " Right Rev. Dr. Brown, Vicar Apostolic
of the Lancashire district," and that upwards of forty
" Catholic" clergymen were present. The sermon, it
seems, was preached by the Rev. Wm. Cobb, S.J., who
delivered a panegyric upon the saint, whose name has been
given to the church, stating, amongst other things,
fact that he (the saint) had converted 500,000 souls
The Mercury thus describes the conclusion of the sermon
" He concluded this impressive discourse by recounting
the well-attested miracle of this extraordinary saint,
namely, that whilst at a distance from the place where an
amiable daughter of a wealthy gentleman had expired, he
assured that gentleman that his daughter was restored to
life. The man found the declaration of the saint verified
by the event. The history produced a thrilling sensation
upon the audience, especially as he appealed to well-au-
thenticated histories for the fact." We are not surprised
to find that the sensation of the audience was a " thrilling"
one, the occurrence of restoring the dead to life not being
of the description which saints are every day in the habit
of performing. We confess our ignorance frankly—that
we are not acquainted with " the well-authenticated histo-
ries of the fact" which our contemporary informs us Mr.
Cobb appealed to, but as the Mercury must, of course, be
credibly informed on the subject, or he would not write
so strongly of the attestation of the miracle and the au-
thentication of " the fact," we shall feel obliged to him
if he will tell us where they are to be found."—Courier.
[The Mercury of Friday declines to answer our contem-
porary's very proper appeal. He says that the report of
the sermon was furnished by a Roman Catholic priest,
and cleverly enough refers all objections to the preacher
himself.]
LIVERPOOLSTOCKExcEtANGE—WeIearn that Mr. Neil-
son, chairman; Mill, deputy-chairman; I'. Healey, Tinley,
J. H. Brancker, R. Horsfall, Reynolds, Geddes, Rawson,
and Ashton, have resigned their membership of the com•
mittee of this association, for the following reasons, as
stated by a contemporary Amongst several changes
in the rules of the society recently made, one of the most
important reforms was the power of appeal from the
decision of the committee to the public body ; and such
an appeal has now been successfully made by one of the
oldest members. It appears that, from a series of mis-
fortunes, the party in question was unable to meet his
engagements. A committee was consequently appointed
to investigate his affairs ; and, so far as honour and in-
tegrity were concerned, reported favourably. As usual,
the party in question applied for re-admittance, tendering
the usual guarantees, when, to the surprise of himself and
his friends, the committee negatived his application, on
the ground that his transactions were on a scale of magni-
tude inconsistent with his means. On appeal, however,
to the body, it was decided tore-admit the member, by a
large majority. The chairman, and committee, it is said,
considering this a vote of censure on themselves, have
resigned." The Albion appends to this the following re-
marks :—" We understand that the application of the ex-
member alluded to was not for re-admittance, but simply
for a test of his eligibility for re-admittance. The com-
mittee, we are informed, having decided that he was not
eligible, the appeal was made under the new rule to the
entire body of the association, aniajority of whom, after
much debate, reversed the decision of the committee.
We learn that in the course of the discussion one or two
influential members, who are desirous of raising the
character of the association, spoke strongly against the
system of jobbing that has obtained amongst some of the
members who act in the joint and incompatible capacities
of principals and agents. The result of the appeal was
the resignation of the above-named members of the com-
mittee, and so strong a feeling amongst those of the op-
' posing sections as is likely to lead to a permanent disc
union. It is said, indeed, that an entire separation of the
parties holding these respective opinions is seriously con-
templated, and that, ere long, a second stock exchange
will be established. Meanwhile, the secretary has called
a special meeting for Tuesday, at which the vacancies in
the committee are to be filled up."