The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-05-07 00:00:00

Liverpool to limit the prdelieeof burying in common graves
and pits by compelling the covering of coffins with this
depth of the soil. -The law is evaded in two instances in
an ingenious manner. At St. Anthony's chapel, Liver-
pool, a large box, capable of containing the requisite depth
of earth is suspended from a windlass over the mouth of
the pit, and this box is lowered till the surface of the earth
which it contains is on a level with the soil in the church-
yard. In another instance, a scaffolding is placed in the
grave at the depth of two and a half feet from the surface,
and the space is filled in with earth, which, however, is
removed for the next interments, and thrown on the sur-
face, The scaffolding is then lifted out, and the bodies
lowered, after which it is replaced and the earth filled in.
In some instances it is customary to allow the grave to
remain open till the whole day's burials have taken place,
and then a layer of earth is strewn over the coffins."
And again

" ST. PATR/CH'S CEMETERY, PARK-ROAD.—There are
two public graves open in this burial-ground, which are
covered on the top with planks. One of these graves is a
new one, the excavation of which is just completed ; its
depth is 26 feet 4 inches, its length 8 feet, and its breadth
10 feet 10 inches : it is estimated that this grave will hold
from 90 to 100 coffins, large and small. There is one side
of this grave cemented, in order to prevent any offensive
matter oozing into it from the adjoining pits, which are
filled with bodies, and which are only separated from it by
a narrow wall of rock about 9 inches thick."

The effect of these open graves upon the health of
the population in the neighbourhoods where they
exist is well known to be most injurious, and the
practice, one would imagine, might readily be put
down. But the Board of Health go much further
than for a removal of this and other admitted evils
of our present system, and propose a comprehen-
sive scheme certainly, but one which will be most
costly to the community, and press seriously upon
existing institutions and property, and upon public
feeling. The project may be briefly described as
follows :—ln London all interments in churches
and existing grave-yards are to be forbidden, except
under special license from a metropolitan interment
commission. A large cemetery is to be formed in
the eastern end of the town in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of the river, the existing cemetery at
Kensal-green being enlarged for the western end.
Reception houses are to be provided adjoining the
River Thames—five on the Middlesex side, and
three on the Surrey side, to which corpses are to be
brought, to be forwarded at regular stated periods
for interment. In the case of the poor it would
seem that this is to he made compulsory ; permis-
sion, however, being given to the friends and re-
latives of the dead to visit the reception house so
long as the body remains. The price of funerals is
to be " regulated according to a series of scales or
classes" (!) Thus, it is calculated that "a first class
tradesman will be charged £l6 105.," "second class
tradesmen £9 95.," " artizans £2 10s." A gentle-
mania to beburied more respectably, we presume, for
£3B 10s. Of course shrouds and coffins, plumes and
phlls, will be provided by Government, who will thus
become undertakers upon the most gigantic scale.
It is to be rendered unlawful to inter in any burial
ground more than one corpse in a grave. Of course
a wife cannot be laid beside her deceased husband.
The same system is to be extended to the country ;
and here we begin to have an idea of its cost, and
the army of officials which its working will require.
In the first place it is proposed that " all public
burial grounds, and the whole arrangement for
burial, be entrusted by commission to a small body,
not exceeding five, of whom not less than one shall
be paid, specially qualified and responsible." Again,
it is proposed that " inasmuch as the fees and vo-
luntary offerings paid to the clergy constitute one
of the least of the charges incident to interment,
and, at the same time, form, in some instances,
almost the whole, and, in many instances, the
greater part of the funds ►upon which they have been
accustomed to rely, provision be made for compen-
sation to the benefice on account of the receipt of
fees for interments on the average of three years
before the passing of the act." Compensation is
also to he made to the proprietors of private burial
grounds and public cemeteries, and, as well, to
owners of private graves. What all this will
amount to the report gives us no idea. The exist-
ing race of parish clerks and sextons is to be re-
tained as " intramural officers to receive orders (.9
to give instructions, to collect accounts," &c., in
order " to avoid the unnecessary creation of new
offices." The Board of Health is very considerate
in this particular.
We shall not speculate as to the degree of favor
with which this project will be received by the pub-
lic. To us, however, it appears the most outrageous
proposition by which a Christian people was ever
insulted. Admitting all the evils which flow from
the practice of intramural interment, to ask that
we should hand over our dead to the callous hands
of hired officials, as so much carrion that we had
ceased to love or to care for, is a little beyond ordi-
nary temper to submit to. A Whig Government
alone would have dared to entertain such a project.

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY VERSUS

WILLMER AND SMITH.

Yesterday, the Attorney-General moved the Court of
Queen's Bench to make absolute the rule against the de-
fendants charged with a libel on Mr. Ricardo, the chair-
man of the Electric Telegraph:Company. Sir F. Thesiger
showed cause against the rule, and the Court ordered it to
be discharged. The libel complained of insinuated that
the plaintiff had used the information obtained by the
Company for stock-jobbing purposes.

LATEST BETTING IN LIVERPOOL.-PROPHE-
CIES ON THE CHESTER CUP.

The betting on this popular race may now be considered
as brought to a conclusion, the only remaining influence
being the actual arrivals at the course. We have now
only the task left us of giving the prophecies as to the
winner, as furnished by the various well-intormed parties
contributing to the London sporting journals. First, we
place Bell's Life, in which we find " Pegasus" stating
that it would be prudent to keep on the winning side
Peep o'Day Boy, John Cosser, Ellerdale, Glauca, Miss
Anne, Fugleman, Westow, Roland, and Chantrey. Esse-
darius and Costerly are also in Day's lot; and Pegasus
considers them dangerous customers. Essidarius he
places first, and Fugleman or Glauca in the second rank.
We never, however, remember a race from whichit seemed
more difficult to pick out a winner. The Era .chooses
Essedarius'as the winner, and is rather absolute upon the
question, giving nothing else much chance. The Sunday
Times selects John Cosser and Miss Anne as first and
second. Where doctors thus differ we shall not attempt
to decide ; but our own information is, that Miss Anne will
be first, and Glauca or Ellerdale second. Of course we do
not ask any of our readers to believe our prediction of the
result of a race so difficult to judge of.

'tiVgliPOOL STANDAifi.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. •

•
The monthly meeting of the Council was held yester•
day in the offices No. 4, Exchange-buildings, lately occu-
pied by the Marine Assurance Company, where spacious
accommodation is afforded for the rapidly increasing library
of books and valuable documents presented to the chamber,
all of which are open daily to the examination and reading
of the members at large. After the usual routine business
had been disposed of, the report of the committee appointed
to consider the Customs' practice with regard to goods in
transit, under bond, through this country to other coun-
tries, was read. It pointed out the injury inflicted upon
our trade by the present Customs' regulations, whereby,
entries are required to be passed with minute and unne-
cessary particulars, involving great labour and loss of
time, sometimes causing shipments to miss the vessel and
the market for which they are intended ; and subjecting
goods to examinations, in many cases so objectionable,
especially with delicate manufactures, that the tendency
is to deprive us of a large portion of the forwarding trade
that would otherwise pass through the country, to the
advantage of our warehouseowners, shipowners, and other
classes. And whilst we thus discourage foreign goods
being sent through England, in British steamers and
ships, we encourage foreign nations to open up direct
communication for and between themselves.
It was determined therefore that a memorial, embody-
ing the leading points of the report, should be drawn up
and forwarded to the treasury. The report of the com-
mittee appointed to draw up regulations for enabling the
council to undertake the settlement of commercial ques-
tions and disputes, was brought forward and received,
when it was determined that a special meeting of the
council should be called to confirm the same. A propo-
sition, originating with the committee, on the County
Courts Bill; and referred to the foregoing committee, viz.,
that the opportunity afforded by the extension of the
jurisdiction of the county courts, should be availed of for
obtaining the introduction of arbitration powers into
their constitution, was also reported on, and its consider-
ation recommended to be renewed at a future period.
Read—A letter from Mr. L. Levi, requesting an inter-
view with the council, on the subject of arbitration.
Resolved, that the committee on this subject comply with
Mr. Levi's desire. A letter from Messrs. Campbell,
Arnott and Co., on the cultivation of cotton in the West
Indies, with a sample of cotton recently grown in the
neighbourhood of Kingston, Jamaica. Also, a letter
from Messrs. Thompson, Anderson and Co., with a
pamphlet on the " Black Acts" of India.
The committee on the matter complained of in Mr.
George Cram's letter of the 15th ultimo, reported that
they had brought the subject before the Shipowners'
Association, who would give it early consideration, and
communicate thereon to the Chamber.

A present of parliamentary reports and returns was
announced from William Brown, Esq. M. P.

YESTERDAY'S POLICE.

STEALING FolvLs.—An able-bodied man, named Geo.
Birchall, was charged with stealing several domestic fowls.
Benjamin Berry, a labourer, living at the top of Great
Mersey-street, Kirkdale, between one and two o'clock on
Sunday morning, was disturbed while in bed. He went
out to a hen-house, where he kept twenty-one fowls. In
a short time prisoner bolted out of the hen-house, and
complainant, though in his shirt only, pursued him a
considerable way, and ultimately caught him. A police-
officer coming up, the prisoner was taken to the house,
and afterwards to bridewell. The officer found in the
hen-house a bag, and in it two hens, one dead and the
other alive. It appeared the prisoner endeavoured or in-
tended to knock the whole covey dead from their perches.
The prisoner, who bad last year undergone four months'
imprisonment for a like offence, was committed for trial,
and he continued to smile, laugh, and jeer at the wit-
nesses, and to make impertinent remarks during the time
the depositions were being taken.
THEFTS FROM SHOPS.—A little boy, named Thomas
Branaghan, an old offender, was charged by Mr. Smith,
shopkeeper, Whitechapel, with having, on Saturday
night, stolen, in the shop, three pairs of stockings, which
he hid in his trousers, but, on being detected, pulled out.
He was sent for trial.--A young man, John Powell, was
charged by Mr. James Kelly, of 76. London-road, with
having run off from his shop, on Saturday night, with
three pairs of boots. The prisoner was committed for
trial.

THEFT FROM A PASSENGER'S TRUNK.—Daniel Cul-
lens, an elderly man, was charged by a respectable lady
with robbing her trunk. The complainant had arrived
here by one of the steamers with a view to emigrate to
America. She entrusted one of her trunks with the pri-
soner who was directed to carry it to a lodging-house.
He did so, but when he got there (before the lady), ho
represented himself as the owner, and borrowed some
keys, with one of which he opened the package, and took
out of it a dress, which he went and pledged for 7s. The
sum of 6s. 11d. was found upon him when he was appre-
hended. The prisoner was fined 75., and xa for the of-
fence, and three months' imprisonment in default.

QUARTERLY RETURN OF THE MARRIAGES,
BIRTHS, AND DEATHS, IN ENGLAND.

We have just received the above return issued by the
Registrar-General of births, &c., registered in England
during the quarter ending the 31st March last. This do-
cument states that

" While the returns of the exports, imports, and re-
venue furnish good indications of the production, con-
sumption, and commerceof great classes in the country,—
the marriages, births, and deaths supply a surer test of
the condition of the whole population. It is gratifying
to find that the general results of both classes of returns
are-favourable. The marriages, which in 1847 were so
much depressed, and increased almost imperceptibly in
1848, rose to 141,599 in the year 1849 ; and in the autumn
quarter were 43,632; which is a higher number than
has ever before been celebrated, except in the autumn
quarter of 1845. The deaths have also declined ; they
were 98,607. The country, which, after the failure of the
potato crop in 1846, was covered with funerals—in the
train of a multitude of diseases and of two great epidemics,
the fatal influenza of 1847-8, and the more deadly cholera
of 1849—is now in health again. The deaths in the first
quarter of 1850 were less by 21,065, and 21,414 than the
deaths in the corresponding quarters of 1847 and 1848.
Fewer children have been left fatherless ; fewer parents
have been bereaved of their children. Sickness and suf-
fering—though perhaps not precisely in the same ratio as
the mortality—have diminished. The skilled and active
industry of the kingdom has been less interrupted by the
illness of workmen and the incapacity of masters; the
parishes have had fewer poor to relieve; the friendly so-
cieties fewer sick members to support ; insurance societies
less to pay on policies ; everything dependent on the
duration of human life has been relieved of pressure; the
minds of the people have not been irritated by hunger,
fever, and discontent." _

The Registrar-General must, it appears, have his "say"
on the all-important subject of the price of wheat. He
states .

" No attempt has been made to procure returns of the
breadth of land or the produce in England ; and the
Irish returns of 1849 have not yet been made up ; but
there can be little doubt that all over Europe the breadth
of land under potatoes, wheat, and the other cereals, in
that year, was sufficient to yield, on average crops,
enough food to supply the markets. The crops were ge-
nerally above the average ; the potato did not fail ; and
the supply of wheat was consequently superabundant, so
that prices fell lower than they have been since 1835.
The general advantages of abundance are unequivocal ;
but whether the part of the population which is engaged
in producing food for sale procure as much money for the
good crops of 1849 as they procured for the scanty bad
food with which the markets of many counties were sup-
plied in 1848, or for average crops, is uncertain, and must
always remain uncertain, until a comprehensive system of
agricultural statistics is organized. No one can imagine,
however, for a moment, because wheat was at 51s. a
quarter in 1848, and 445. a quarter in 1849, that the
value of the produce was in that ratio ; for, if 10 million
quarters of wheat at 51s. are worth 251 million pounds,
evidently 11590000 quarters at 445. will be worth the same
sum. This relation must hold if prices are in the inverse
ratio of the quantities in the market ; and if the price va-
ries more than the quantity, it is, nevertheless, clear that
the value of the produce will vary within a narrower limit
than the price. The returns from the agricultural dis-
tricts exhibit an improved state in the health of the great
body of the inhabitants : and there is nothing in the facts
which can justify us in refusing to ascribe a part of the
improvement to the comparatively abundant supply of the
necessaries of life."

The following are the returns published for the districts
mentioned, in this town :-
-

St. George.—Births 155 ; Deaths 97. The deaths in
this district have been only 97—less by 32 than in the
corresponding quarter of 1849. The diseases affecting the
respiratory organs have been the most fatal ; those from
phthisis being 14 ; from bronchitis 11 • from pneumonia
22 ; but from cholera and diarrhoea only one each.
St. Thomas.—Births 305 ; deaths 238. The deaths are
below the average. The district has been very healthy.
Mount Pleasant.—Births 361; deaths 390. The deaths
include 160 at the Workhouse and 29 at the Infirmary,
and are 31 more than in the last quarter. Bronchitis has
been very prevalent and fatal both in the Workhouse and
the district.

Islington.—Births 325 ; deaths 232. In the correspond-
ing quarter of 1849 the deaths were 270: in that of 1848
402. The district is particularly healthy.
A few cases of cholera have occurred during the quarter,
and amongst other places in the district of St. George,
Liverpool. 13 persons died of the disease at Bishop-
Auckland, Durham.

The Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society has
awarded a silver medal, of the first class, and £3O in
money to Captain Purdy, of the Infanta, who so nobly
rescued 169 persons from the Cushla Macree. They also
awarded £5 to the mate and £3 to the boatswain, the
officers in command of the Infanta's boats, and £l2 for
distribution among the rest of the crew.
SUICIDE.—On Sunday afternoon, a married woman,
named Eleanor Spinks, 35 years of age, residing with her
husband in Bolton-street, was found by her husband, a
publican, hanging by a cord in the tap-room of the house,
the cord being fixed to a nail in the wall. She was quite
dead. It appears that the deceased had been in the habit
of taking much intoxicating drink from period to period
of two or three weeks, when she would keep sober for
about a like time, and then resume her potations. After
recovering from one of these " bouts', she always ap-
peared to be ashamed of her conduct, and expressed her
determination to desist. There generally followed a great
lowness of spirits ; but she was not heard at any time to
threaten her own life. Three weeks ago she began to
drink again, and was drunk on Friday. She was better
on Saturday, and on Sunday seemed to have recovered ;
but declined to take any dinner. There was nothing
strange in her manner, and her husband left her at three
o'clock, and on his return, at half.past six, found her as
stated.,