The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-04-04 00:00:00

TIE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

MEETING OF PORTERS LAST NIGHT,

Yesterday evening, a meeting of the porters and others
of Liverpool was held at the Music-hall, Bold-street, to
agree upon a petition to bring their grievances before
parliament. The meeting was called for half-past seven
o'clock, at which time the hall was filled by a most
orderly and respectable assembly—as different from the
rabble who took advantage of a recent occasion to crowd
the Exchange area in the character of porters as can be
conceived. We have seen many assemblages of the
working classes in that room, and we cannot call to mind
an occasion on which we observed one of a character more
worthy in appearance, as a mass, to have their complaints
and statements respectfully listened to by their superiors
in worldly station.
At the opening of the meeting it was proposed that Mr.
Richard Woolley take the chair, who very ably addressed
the meeting. directing their attend= to the grievances
under which they laboured. It was well known that for
years the work of loading, weighing, and discharging
vessels was wholly conducted by the servants of the
merchant, in whom he placed implicit confidence ; but
the Dock Committee, for some unaccountable cause,
took the power from the merchant, and invested it in the
hands of -a master porter, and the only advantage gained
was a decrease in the value of labour. But to the mer-
chant there was a corresponding loss from breakage and
carelessness—for excellence was now sacrificed to expedi-
tion. If there was any. additional speed now obtained, it
was owing to there being less delay in landing'-waiters,
and more punctuality in entering goods. The object of
the Dock Committee was not to advance trade, but to
carry out a few crotchetty ideas of their own. Mr.
Woolley, in the course of his speech. went very into
the anatomy of the question at issue between the advo-
cates of the old and the new systems, and concludettby
calling upon the next speakerto move the first resolutiOn.
Mr. JAMES RAY, then alluding to the hardships they
(the porters) had endured throughout the winter, from' a
system most tyrannical—that of Master Porterage—moved
.the following Resolutionc:—
, Resolved—" That the present system of weighing and load-
ing of goods from the Quay; by placfog the entire Cargo of
'Vessel under under the roanagemenrof one Master Porter, after hav-
ing had a fair trial, is found tb be most objectionable and a
,great grievance, as it has deprived porters of their former
employers, and placed them under the'ourveillance of a class of
middlemen, who neither study' the interests of merchants or
workmen, Inning but one desire—to get amount of work done,
no matter how great the destruction of property, life, or
limb ensuing upon such a mode of porterage."
Mr. Tames M'William seconded the- resolution.
We hail prepared a report of ;the speeches made by the
movers and seconders of the following and other resolu-
dons, but have been compelled to withdraw it.
Resolved-" That the only advantage time the greatest advo-
cate of Master Porterage is able to advance in favour of the
system is the speed with which vm,els-are discharged; and we
pledge ourselves to prove from numerous and indisputable
facts that this advantage is far more than counterbalanced by
the destruction of property through breakage and waste, and,
ahoy e all, frauds of the m ost b are-faced character, which are
nowdaily
occurring in the operation of this unhappy system as it
exists:".
Resolved—" That the dispatch with which the discharging
and loading cargoes can now he effected, is not at all attributa-
ble to the Blaster Porter System, but to-the change in Customs'
regulations, arising from the new Tariff, the farme dela,n
which have been unjustly ascribed to the old system, being i
reality attributable to the conduct of Custotu House officers."
Resolved—" That this meeting hereby pledge themselves to
persevere in the agitation of this question until the local
authorities aid them in the total and absolute Repeal of the
system altogether."
The fifth Resolution was for the appointment of a
Committee to draw up a Petition to ,Parliament.

A VALUABLE HINT TO THE WORKING CLASSES

At a period when our distressed labouring classes are
exposed to the seductions of demagogues and spouters of
sedition, anxious to lead them into disorder and outrage
as the remedies for want of employment, every exhortation
addressed to those classes, calling upon them to, weigh the
characters of the men who would first mislead and after-
wards betray them, is valuable. The following descrip-
tion by the London Times, of the sort of people who con-
stitute the executive department of agitation amongst our
working classes, is worthy of being studied :
" There exist everywhere amongst us men who have quar-
relled irreconcileably with their friends or their employers—
men who have only half learnt their trada •or 1 rofession—men
of desultory and useless abilities, with their heads full of
schemes.applicable to every other state but their own. Such
men are generally beaten in the race of life by steady and in-
dustrious worth. They are usually at the tail, while plodders
are at the head of their society. Therefore, their only chance
is a row. When labour is disorganized, when large populations
are committed to ruinous strikes, the same folly that causes
myriads to starve raises such persons as- we have been descri-
bing into wealthy and comfortable men. They are just the
sort of people to be the presidents and vice presidents of union
lodges, of course with the management of the funds, and with
no end of meetings and deputations. As long as there are many
such men, there is always the material for-sedition ; and there-
fore it is necessary in times like these for the working classes
to be put on their guard."
The intelligent portion of the working classes will rea-
dily recognise Cie above description,. as applicable to se-
veral of the gentry who are in the habit of declaiming
against aristocracies and the unequaldivision of property
—fellows who have through life had. an overpowering in-
disposition to work at any honest calling, and an equally
overpowering inclination W:iv.• ••,-,^ 4-I,..Parnings of their

ADJOURNE BMEIIG COMPANY OF THE LIVERPOOL
KIN.

[As our reporter was not allowed to be, present at the meet-
ing yesterday, we are indebted to a gentleman there for the
following outline of what took place.]
The adjourned meeting of the shareholders of the Liverpool
Banking Company was held yesterday, at which Mr. Ward and
Mr. Coward, the two auditors appointed at the recent meeting
to investigate the accounts, presented their report. That do-
cument was extremely short, and will be found in our adver-
tising columns Thereupon a long and stormy discussion
ensued, and eventually a motion was submitted by the Rev. F.
Parry, to the cffect that the present directors (seven) continue
in office, and that it is inexpedient to increase their number.
This was met by an amendment, which was moved by Mr.
Ward, and seconded by Mr. Coward, " that the present direc-
tors be requested to resign." Mr. Ward entered into a long
detail of alleged mismanagement by the bank, and amongst
other things lie stated that shares to a considerable extent were
held by parties who had never paid a farthing up to the bank's
stoppage—that the great bulk of the capital of the bank had
been let to parties on securities which were at present unavail-
able—that discount had been effected with parties whose com-
mercial standing did not justify such advances being made, and
that the stoppage of the bank had been occasioned by discounts
being granted to parties wha were not regular customers, and
who, in some instances, had been introduced through channels
which ought reasonably to have excited suspicion. At length
the motion of Mr. Parry was carried, the directors voting with
the majority, and the meetinr, terminated. In the course of
the proceedings the t auditors offered their shares at £8
discount. We are informed that the auditors are about to pub-
lish a statement in elucidation of their report. This statement
will be looked to with considerable anxiety by the public as
well as the shareholders.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(BY EXPRESS.)

LONDON CORN MARKET.—Y ESTE It DAY.
Notwithstanding that our market was but moderately sup.
plied with English Wheat this morning, by land-carriage sam-
ples from the near counties, such was the indisposition to pur-
chase evinced by millers, that a reduction of fully Is. to 2s,
per qr. had to be submitted to before any progress could be
made with sales. A very limited amount of business was
transacted in foreign at a like decline. Barley was not quite
so free a sale as last week, but can scarcely be quoted cheaper.
The arrivals of Oats have been very considerable during the
week, and their value has again declined Gd. to is. per quarter.
Beans and Peas were in but little request, and their value was
nominally the same as last week.
iiIIIIMMOMMIZIPINMESSMONISMIO

THUNDERSTORM.—On Sunday afternoon, this town
was visited:by such a thunderstorm as we have not expe-
rienced for many years. The flashes of lightning suc-
ceeded each other with fearful rapidity, and with a vividness
majestic but truly awful, and the peals of thunder broke
immediately over the town like responding crashes of
artillery. After the cessation of the thunder and light-
ning, the rain came down in torrents, and so continued
for about half an hour, when a thick rain set in, which in
about an hour subsided, but throughout the night there
were occasional showers. The American ship Hindostan,
loading for New Orleans, lying at the south-east corner
ur the Viokosia IDools, was struck during the storm ou hev
top-gallantmast, and numerous small pieces were splin-
tered off, and the mast otherwise much injured. St.
Matthew's Church School was-also struck, but no mate-
rial damage was done.
A NOVEL SORT OF DEPUTATION.—We have had some
very queer sort of folks announced as having waited upon
the Provisional Government of France at the Hotel de
Ville ; and have sometimes wondered at the remarkable
versatility of the Minister, who could enter into and satisfy
their varied acquirements. The deputations of tailors,
cobblers, and sempstresses, must have taxed severely the
acquaintance of Mons. Lamartine with their several
trades ; but we read of a deputation which waited upon
him on Sunday last, which must have puzzled him. The
deputation, we are told by the Paris correspondent of the
London Times, consisted of " the wet nurses of Paris
and the faubourps I" What on earth could the wet
nurses have to demand of Mons. Lamartine and his
colleagues ? We should imagine that the young French
Republic itself was beyond requiring their services ; and
it is not easy to see how he could limit their hours of la-
bour, or guarantee them constant employment, as has
been done with respect to other deputations. Perhaps the
ladies called to protest against the Provision Govern-
ment monopolising the wetnursing of the various young
republics which every day brings forth in Europe.
MEETING OF THE UNEMPLOYED.—OH Saturday a re-
port was current in Manchester that two Chartist meetings
would be held that day, and considerable apprehension
was entertained. The magistrates swore in several thou-
sand special constables, but no breach of the peace was
committed. Early on Saturday a meeting of unemployed
operatives was held in Stephenson-square, to consider the
best means of getting food for those who were not in
receipt of parish relief and were in a starving condition.
It was suggested that they should go round the town with
a hand-cart and ask alms from the inhabitants personally,
but, in order to prevent a collision with the police, it was
determined that a deputation should wait on the authori-
, ties to ask permission to do so. The mayor and magis-
trates informed the deputation that they could not suffer
' the hand-cart to go round, because it would be in reality
demanding food by intimidation ; those however who were
in want of food had a right i
o relief, and f the ordinary
mode of granting it would not meet the case, the authorities
were prepared, if a list of persons really in want were
brought to them, to cause immediate enquiry to be made
into their cases, and relief to be afforded when required.
% This satisfied the deputation, and during the day the list
received a number of signatures.