The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-12-31 00:00:00

Dec. 31, 1844.

MERCHANT SEAMEN'S FUND.

On Friday, a meeting of the masters and owners of
vessels belonging to this port was held at the Under-
writers'the Committee-room, pursuant to the act regulating
_Merchant Seamen's Fund, for the purpose of appoint-
ing fifteen persons as trustees of the monthly money pay-
able at this port, and for the management of the Scaman's
Hospital.
Pital. There was a considerable attendance, and W.
s,,le
Potter, Esq., was called to the chair.
CHAIRMAN stated the object of the meeting, and
ya the account, from which it appeared that on the Ist
thatsti the
January, 1844 there was a balance in hand of £6-12, and
total receipts for the past year were £9,237. The
Su
in of £7,750 had been paid in pensions, and the other
lihayements amuonted to £527, leaving a balance of £960.
admission of seamen, widows, and orphans, during
tli..e..Past year, h p
thenstated
ad ausd an increased exe of
were 18s. He that thirteen of thenditure trustees
.0 e eligible for re-election, but two had to be appointed
3 the place sof Mr. Lyon and Mr. Willis.
The thirteen were re-appointed, and Mr. W. R.
c,a
Liclbach and Mr. Bulley in place of the two named.
The CHAIRMAN then called attention to other matters,
A bill had at the close of last session of parliament been
brought in for altering materially the administration of
the fund for the future, and the adoption of which would
Seriously affect the shipping interest of this port. The
fund here was larger than that of any other port in pro-
Portion to its extent. Liverpool, in fact, had 2-7ths of
the whole capital, while its shipping was in the proportion
of that of the whole kingdom. This accumulation
had arisen from economical management, some casual
revenue, and chiefly from the better collection made, and
to a great extent derived from ships errployed in long fo-
reign voyages. It was right that the Liverpool seamen
who were exposed to the vicissitudes of foreign climates,
and became sooner worn out, should have a higher rate of
bili i
Pensitrs from their own accumulated contributions. The
parliament did not propose this, but the throwing
of the whole receipts and capital of all the trustees into
one, and to make a scale of pensions,—for seamen under
63 years of age when worn out, £4 a-year,—and exceed-
ing 63, £B. It also proposed so give a gratuity to widows
under and over 45 years, but children were entirely omit-
ted. He and Mr Atherton had made a calculation, and
found that if this scale prevailed (and had for the last
two years) the interest of their capital of £2,000 would be
Pfficient to meet all the pensioners admitted in that time,
leaving their large receipt of £6,387 during the past year
to answer all the previously granted pensions, which were
constantly dropping off. He believed that, supposing
that scale to be prevailing now, two-thirds of the money
distributed among the pensioners on the Liverpool list
Would have to be dispensed in various parts of the coun-
try. The ground for the alteration was that a seaman
sailed from various ports in his life, and that he probabiy
Paid to the port which had these accumulations during
the early part of his life—that he then went to ports which
were worse provided, and tnat his claim, being on the
Place where he last served, was made on a poor fund,
While he had been contributing to a rich one. He
believed the contrary was the fact, for men sailing
on foreign voyages, where they were proved to have
less wo k than on shorter oses, very seldom left
Liverpool to go into coasting ports, and that the re-
verse was rather the case; and therefore this particular
ground did not exist. Beside, there was no port in
which there was more employment for men disabled at
sea, but capable for other service on shore, than Liver-
Pool; for they all knew that the business of watching and
keeping ships was for the most part performed by dis-
abled seamen at this port. Now, the bill required thaQa
man, before he be a claimant, should have paid the merchant
seaman's duties for not less than fifteen years, of which
the last nine months should be within three years of the
date of his application for a pension, whereas, in the admi-
nistration of the Liverpool fund, no such restriction was
imposed, but if a man had been at sea and subsequently
'Worked on shore his claim was continued.
By a calculation made, in place of £5OO being paid in
two years to seamen admitted, under the new bill only
364 would have been paid, and the same results would
have taken place in the case of women and children.
The fund had been humanely administered, yet the fund
had admitted of all the claimants being provided for to
the extent of about £7OOO a. year. The increase of re-
ceipts this year was £6OO, and be thought the same rate
of Pensions might be continued, if they were allowed to
administer their own funds as hitherto. He suggested
that the shipowners and shipmasters of Liverpool should
not tacitly admit of the change, but make a remonstrance
is government to have the fund of this port preserved se-
parate. As the Liverpool shipping was equal to k of the
snipping of the whole kingdom, this would form a fair
ground for asking the government not to have the Li-
verpool fund mixed up with the funds of all the other
Places. It seemed to him that the bill was opposed to
rood policy, because a seaman, when abroad, knew that
there was a fund in Liverpool for his wife and children;
to fall upon in case of accident. This tended to keep the
Man steady, and attacbed him to the port and the ship
but the tendency of the bill would be to throw overboard
all these considerations, and to deprive him of all ground
'of preference.
Mr. RoTtrartnAst said, the difference in the expendi-
ture under the new bill (£5OOO. a year), would become a
tax on the parish of Liverpool. The mode of giving the
Pensions here tended to attach seamen to the port, and
the pension to his widow and children was a premium on
his morality.
After some further applications, Mr, J. N. Wood said
that if they were deprived of this fund, it would make a
difference of 2d. in the pound in the rates of Liverpool.
After a long conversation, a committee consisting of
Messrs. Potter, Rotherham, Kendall, Gibb, Tomlinson,
Ashley, Tyrer, Cotesworth, Chapman, and Dixon, was
appointed to place themselves in communication with the
Shipowners' Association, as well as the authorities of the
town respecting the provisions of the proposed bill, and
iLiaProbahle that a public meeting of the inhabitants will
tue result.

A CLASSIFICATION OF THE POPULATION OF
~ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DISTRICT, LIVER-
POOL.-1844.

The following classification was made in the present
Year, by the curate of St. Bartholomew's district, with
the view to direct the attention of the public to the
wretched and destitute condition of the population of that
Portion of the town of Liverpool. The district comprises
between ten and eleven thousand inhabitants, half of whom
are Roman Catholics. The wretchedness and poverty,
especially of those that dwell in the courts and cellars,
are indescribable. It is only by actual inspection that
any adequate notion can be formed of their real state and
circumstances. If, as all must acknowledge, it is a dis-
grace to any civilised community to allow human beings
to drag out their existence in such filth and misery, surely
it is much mole so to a community like Liverpool, where
such immense resources, arising from its corporate pro-
perty, are appropriated and expressly intended for the
general good and improvement of the town. The phy-
aleal and moral deterioration of the population inhabiting
St. Bartholomew's district, caused principally by the want
of proper sewerage, drainage, and effectual cleansing of
the streets and courts, as well as by the over-crowded
state of their dwelling-houses, no fewer, in many
iyinstances,
than three or four distinct families living in the same
house, surpasses anything of the kind that the writer has
ever witnessed in any other part of Europe except Italy.
However deplorable their condition is, still a great deal
of good might be done among them even in a religious
Point of view, were the clergymen of the district supplied
With pecuniary means to relieve their bodily wants and
necessities. They very much regret to be compelled to
Say, that they have not at present any funds at their dis-
Posal to meet the numerous cases of distress that con-
stantly apply to them for relief, as spiritual pastors of the
district. No religious impressions can be expected to be
Produced on the minds of a people living in such a state
Of moral degradation, except their bodily wants be first
attended to. The present appeal, therefore, to the
Wealthier classes of the community in behalf of their
Poorer brethren, will not, it is to be hoped, be made in
vain. But especially is this appeal made to those wealthy
individuals that carry on very extensive works in the irn-
toediate neighbourhood of the church, as soap-boilers,
tanners, ironfounders, and starch-manufacturers, and who
have not hitherto. with one honourable exception, done
anything to assist the ministers in their strenuous exer-
tions to alleviate the crying distresses of the poor.
The compiler has drawn up his report with great mi-
nuteness, giving the returns under a separate head for
each street in the district ; but as by this method it occu-
pies considerable space, we have taken the liberty to throw
it into the following form, which shows the re-sult more
clearly, and, we believe, with equal correctness :