The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-09-10 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR 01' THE LIVERPOOL ST.IND,IRD,

Stu,—lt appears to
.me extraordinary that a body of men,
appointed under an• act of pariiatuent as a board of commis-
sioners for regulating the nightly police of this parish, should
excuse the improper conduct of one of their servants, .atid oni
too in the responsible situation of captain of such police, because
he was " a raw man from Cheshire."
As the matter will shortly come before the public in a differ-
ent form, I think it is now merely necessary to state, that the
parishioners at large have only themselves to 'blame for suffering
the special vestries at which the commissioners have heretofore
been appointed to be so partially attended, that frequently there
are not more than half-a-dozen present excepting the commis-
sioners, and thus a trust of such importance to the welfare and
respectability of the town may fail into the hands of persons
quite incompetent to meet the views contemplated by the act,
for so strictly jealous was the legislature iu granting toe power,
that it is expressly stated, that the persons to be appointed com-
missioners shall be " the principal" and " most substantial"
inhabitants of the parish of Liverpool.
September 9. T.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL ST.4NDARD.
Stn,—As you have not adverted to the Bill of Entry office
since the 13th of August, when you alluded to the three guineas
which were charged you for souse trifling information, I beg
leave to animadvert, in common with yourself, upon that irre-
sponsible and invidious office being permitted to exact such ex-
orbitant charges at their own pleasure and caprice, and the
more especially for such purposes as I shall explain.
The receipts of this Bill Of Entry here are about £3,000 per
annum; but it is a question well worth asking, who pockets
the pelf ? lam aware it is cunningly insinuated that it goes
towards the support of the Custom' Benevolent Fund. And
what is this Customs' Benevolent Fund? Why, truly, there
is no such fund in existence under. that title, or even answering
to the thirty signified thereby. - 'There is, doubtless;in London,
a fund styled " The Customs' Annuity and Benevolent Fund,"
which is nothing more than a snug insurance affair, monopolized
by a favoured few—trustees anedirectors, and a small number
of favourite and fortunate officers. These being constituted a
self-governing body, have fixed their rates of premium purposely
high, and, possessing a veto against further admissions, they
contrive to keep snugly to themselves, for their exclusive benefit,
in the shape of salaries, grants, and bonuses, the exactions
which accumulate to the fund from this and other sources—and,
of course, it is, par excellence, a London concern. I find that not
one Liverpool officer or clerk ever tasted the sweets of its be-
nevolence; but they are all, nevertheless, by law compelled—
most unwillingly—to contribute a penny in the pound out of
their salaries towards this nondescript fund. A Liverpool
officer who applied to insure was refused as being "a bad life,"
but they continue to exact his poundage. Surely, if they have
the effrontery to pretend that it goes towards a customs' bene-
volent fund, drawing, as they do, from.this port, about £3,000
annually, they ought to allow the Liverpool officers to benefit
in some degree, and not devote it exclusively to the aggran-
dizement of a few London officers.
Hence it appears that the sou-disant benevolence of this fund
is of the queerest and most novel kind, being nothing more than
a rich joke put forth under a fictitious title of universality, in
order to obtain for it the support of merchants generally, whilst
the gratuitous assumption of this benevolent title is a bitter
mockery and a standing insult to every individual employed in
the customs of Liverpool,—Yours, &c., It.
Liverpool, let September, 1833.