The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-12-02 00:00:00

CHEMICAL CHECK ON IMPORTED GOODS,

A few weeks ago we published an article on the subject
of the adulteration of food, our observations being directed
more particularly to the adulteration of imports foreign-
Wise. We then showed that a recognized system of fraud
is being practised upon the public through the medium of
the Custom-houses, and that, so far from her Majesty's
Honourable Board of Customs seeking to put a check
upon this evil, they not only withhold preventive mea-
sures being taken, but, by their countenance of the fraud,
afford facilities for its wider spread. We showed that
articles are daily passing into our ports, and, through the
Customs' locks, into general consumption, which do not,
in many cases, contain one single particle of the real com-
modity for which_ they are specified. As a remedy for the

all his coarse sarcasm, to gainsay,—presiding over a col-
lege of practical chemistry second to none in existence,—
and this, we thought, coupled with his admitted talent,
pointed him out as the most conspicuous person
for such an appointment. Distinguished attainments gene-
rally lead to popular approbation, although there is a
notoriety which may be anything but enviable. Dr.
Muspratt may well submit to remain unruffled by the
vituperation of our contemporary, when he finds asso-
ciated in joint abuse with his own name that of his
world-famed preceptor Leibeg. When pigmies strike at
giants, the blows they give but recoil on themselves.
Arrogance and abuse are the sure indicators of a bad cause
and the want of argument. If the writer can point to a
more fitting local man than Professor Muspratt, let him
do so. Our object is, not to serve a man, but a cause.

GENERAL NEWS.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

A large Protectionist meeting is announced to be held
in London on the 12th December.

The French papers ;ttY;7l;;i'Lord Brougham, in his
retreat at Cannes, is preparing for publication a work en-
titled " France and England before Europe in 1851."
The steam-ship Demerara was safely removed, on Sa-
turday, into Cumberland Basin, at Bristol, preparatory to
being placed in the dry dock for the necessary repairs.
On Tuesday, at one of the metropolitan police-courts, a
girl, twelve years of age, was committed for working an
illicit still.

A supplementary charter has been granted to the royal
commissioners of the exhibition of 1851, authorising them
to dispose of the surplus in their hands.
The Duke of Northumberland has given orders for the
construction of no less than a thousand new and comfort-
able dwellings for the labourers on his grace's estates in
Northumberland.
At the rent-day of the Duke of Portland for his exten-
sive estates, held at Morpeth, on Thursday last, his grace's
agents were directed to return 32 per cent. of the rentals
of the tenantry.

Alfred Walker, a student at Cambridge, was in the In-
solvent Court last week. His debts were £4,100, of
which £3,500 arise from bets on horse-racing, billiards,
and from bills.

A middle-aged woman, of ladylike appearance, whose
husband is said to be one of the chief clerks in the Bank
of England, has been committed for trial for stealing five
squares of soap from a shop at Hoxton.
Nearly three quarters of a million sterling appear, ac-
cording to the advertisements in the London journals,
about to be raised for Californian and Australian Quartz
Rock-Crushing Companies.
A new dock, having an area of about ten acres, is to be
opened for general business at Southampton this week,
the preliminary step of gradually letting in the water hav-
ing commenced on Tuesday.
On Thursday evening the Earl of Shaftesbury addressed
a meeting of delegates from the factories of Ashton-under-
Lyne, Staleybridge, and the neighbourhood, in the town-
hall of Ashton-under-Lyne. The room was crowded.

One of the signs of a hard winter are the incendiary
fires, which are becoming very frequent in the country.
Three weeks have presented lists respectively of twenty,
fourteen, and eleven, or a total of forty-five recorded
within that short period.
The Duke of Newcastle has ordered his tenants on the
Clumber estates to kill the hares, and he only intends to
preserve the birds for his own use. Besides this boon,
the whole of the Clumber estates are being revalued, and
sundry repairs are progressing upon various farms.
The papers announce large flights of woodcocks and
other unusual signs, indicating a hard winter ; but a more
fatal one occurred in Norfolk last week, where a travelling
tea-dealer perished from cold on his way from Dorking to
Creake.

Notice was issued on Saturday, at St. Paul's Cathe-
dral, that the public will only be admitted on Sundays
during the morning and afternoon services, and on other
days from eight a.m. till four p.m. (gratis), the same as
Westminster Abbey.

Three grocers of Northampton have been fined for
having spurious tea in their possession ; the fines in one
case amount to hundreds of pounds, with the alternative
of a twelvemonth's imprisonment in default ; in the other
two cases the tradesmen will be sent to prison for six
months if they do not pay their fines.
On Saturday, an inquest was held at Leicester on the
body of Mrs. Caroline Vesey Gillden (daughter of Major
Dawson), who committed suicide by swallowing a large
quantity of essential oil of almonds.. She had formerly
held a high position in society, but was unable to face
destitution, to which she was reduced.