The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-05-14 00:00:00

MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.—On Fri-
day a interim, took place in the Great Room, Exeter Hall,
to receive the report of the Lay Association of the Church
of Scotland, on the state of its Home and Foreign Mis-
sions, together with an explanation of the causes of the
recent secession from the Established Church of Scotland.
The Rev. Dr. M*Leod, the Rev. Dr. Barr, the Rev. Dr.
Muir, and the R-v. J. Cumming, attended as a deputa-
tion. The Marquis of Bute was in the chair. The speech
of the Rev. Hugh M`Nelle was roost effective, and as the
arguments of the Rev. gentleman are of peculiar import-
^
N at the present moment, we shall give, in our next,
net
as, Dineb as possible of his clear and forcible address. It
a ppers that about £5OOO have been already subscribed
for the Irpo
se of tucse missions.
HONESTY i."
'—Many men there are who, for the world,
would not take a
nurse, yet who would steal what is of far
higher value and ipt;. ,•tance. An instance has just reached
m
us, where a firm of long st' "riding' Messrs. ROWLAND and
SONS have acquired a high rt_lnutation—a "good name,"
in short, for the value of those at ..`toles which they have
discovered and prepared for the toilet.
Learning the suc-
cess which Messrs. ROWLANDS had actjeved, and the
reputation which attached to their product:;.ms, other
parties by a new and despicable species of fraud, buve
concocted some trashy compounds, resembling those pre
pared by Messrs. ROWLANDS, and by adopting the very
same names, and closely copying the advertisements,
coolly en leavour to pass off their trash as "true MACAS-
SAR OIL," " real KALYDOR," &c., though a glance at
the signature, which is not that of essrs. ROWLANDS,
at once convinces the putchaser that he is buying not the
real products, but a spurious and trashy imitation, which
may he, and in fact is, of the most pernicious nartat.—
See advt.

THE WAVERTREE HALL DATE.—We regret to find
,hat a circumstance has arisen to pot, for the present, a
stop' to all further proceedings, prenaratory to commene-
ing (he erection of the new gaol on the site of Wavertree
Half. The corporation deposited the-money agreed upon
in Heywood's Bank, pulled down all the' buildings, and
disposed not only of the materials, hxt of the growing
timber, when suddenly a claimant, not previously heard
of, appeared in the form of a mortgagee, whose demand
is increased by a long arrear of unpaid interest., It seems
that the property was twice mortgaged, the first one not
appearing when the contract was made to purchase the
land. He is in a condition greatly to embarrass-the cur-
poration, but not to any final injury, for the lawn-clerk's
legal caution has obviated any loss except that which
must arise from delay. Mr. John Shaw Leigh,, we•be-
lieve, had from the first some suspicion of this &win-the
title, and the owners of property in the neighbourhood
will not be sorry if it put a final stop to the invended
erection. They are ready to become the purchaser's of
the property themselves, not only from a conviction omits
real value, but from an apprehension that the presence-of
a gaol would depreciate their property, by rendering ate
vicinity less eligible as a suburban residence.
COMMON INFORMERS.—Some curious disclosures
touching this class of persons were made on Wednesday
week, at Guildhall, before Alderman Kelly and Alderman
Copeland. A common informer, named Birch, has caus-
ed a Mrs. King to be summoned for selling brandy with-
out a license, whereby it was alleged she has forfeited: £2O.
It has been stated by the officers that the informers. were
in the habit of cornprom,sing cases in which sitnilar
charges were made, and of receiving regUlar annrasl: sti-
pends from pawnbrokers and others, to refrain from
harassing them with informations. Birch denied this-and
time was given for inquiry, but the informer now failed
to appear either to he:,r the result or to prosecute his
information. The case was therefore dismissed, and
Birch was adjudged to pay £2. 2s. cost. Eviderwe was
then produced to show that the gang ofinformerscompro-
mised cases of large sums, and that they received annual
payments or subscriptions as a sort of black mail, in
return for which the parties who paid ann-e. saved from
annoyance. A Mrs. Roberts put in a list of sums she has
paid to informers named Manning, Wyatt, Howell,
MCallan, Birch, and Brown, to the amount of £25.
The city solicitor was directed to indict the parties con-
cerned in this nefarious business. We ale requested to
caution the public against a set of men connected with the
same gang who are now in Liverpool.
COMPLAINT AGAINST INSPECTOR AND/MS.—Rohm
Chappel appeared to prefer a charge against Inspector
Anders. He said that passing along Exchange street
East, he saw a crowd. The inspector had a boy in cus-
tody, and when he (complainant) went to see what was.
doing he asked him to stand farther back. He did, obeli,
back, "but as he was doing so the inspector drew his night
protector and struck him on the arm.' telling him tom
and tell Mr. Rushton, for whom he said be did riot care a,
d—. Complainant added that the inspector called him a;_
thief. Mr. Anders said the bay he had in custody for.
stealing sugar, fastened his hands to- the railings, and he•
could not get him away. A crowd of about 150 persons
gathered round him, and he found it impussible. to get the'
prisoner away without assistance. He asked one wan to
assist him ; and he was about to take the boy's hands
from the rails when the prosecutor called out and asked
him what he had to do with it. The crowd then pressing
in upon him, he drew his staff and struck the prosecutor
to m.:ke him stand back. He added that he might,
whilst exasperated, have called the complainant a thief,
but he did not recollect doing so. Mr. Rtrshton said Mr.
Antlers was a very good officer, and he (Mr. R.), having
seen part of the transaction alluded to, approved of every
thing he bad done except using the language he did, which
he ought not to have done ; as to the other parts of his
conduct they were correct. Mr. Rushton then cautioned
the inspector not to use such language, which he de-
scribed as extremely improper, and dismissed the case.
SOUTH LANCASHIRE.—NTIMBER OF COUNTY ELEC.,-
TORS ON THE REGISTER.—We understand that the total
number of county electors on the register for South Lan-
cashire, at the close of the revision of last year, was
18;666; but, as there are many duplicates in this list, and
there have been many deaths, as well as removals, and
other dsqualifications from voting, is is not likely that
more than 15,000 electors will vote, in case of a contest.
There have been three contests, four elections, since the
county franchise was given to this division. At the first,
in 1832, 10,039 electors were on the register, and 9,850
voted. At the third, in 1837, 17,352 mere on the register,
and 13,967 voted. At the last election, in 1841, there
were 18,148 registered electors, but there was no contest.
The present register exceeds that of the last contested
election (1837) by 1,314 names. The numbers polled for-
each candidate at the three contested elections may be in-
teresting to our readers, at the present time, and we there-
fore subjoin them :

1832.. G. W. Wood, Esq. 5,694
Lord Molyneux..
Sir T. Hesketh 3 OB2

1835.. Lord F. Egerton 5 620
Hon. R. B. Wilbraham........ 4,729
Lora Molyneux . 4,62 g
G. W. Wool, ksq ... ... •• 4,394

1837.. Lord F. Egerton 7 822
Hon. R. B. Wilbraham. 7 645
Edward Stanley, E,q .. 6,576
Charles Townley, Esq . . 6,044

DESTRUCTION OF THE THEATRE - ROYAL,,
MANCHESTER, BY FIRE.

From our Fourth Edition of Tuesday last.
We regret to state that the Theatre Royal., Cooper-
street, Manchester, was this morning destroyed by fire;
but with, happily, no loss of life. We have been enabled
as yet to obtain but a very imperfect account, the parties
who arrived by the last railway train having learned little
more than the simple facts. It appears that last night " The
Christmas Carol" was presented, in the second actof which
a rocket is sent up from the stage. The inference is that part
of this combustible projectile had lodged in the canvas
of the scenes, or wood- work, above ; and remained, smoul-
dering and unnoticed during the night. Be this as it may,
smoke was seen to issue from the building at about six
o'clock this morning, and on a door being opened, the.
air rushed in, and the building was soon in a complete
blaze—defying all control. By seven o'clock it was
entirely burnt down. The firemen it is said directed their-
attention tothe saving of the valuable property, warehouses,
&c. adjoining, which however, suffered considerable
damage.

Half-past One o'clock p.m.
The fire, at the departure of the last train, was quit&
subdued, and all danger to the adjoining premises was at
an end. The walls of the 'Theatre were still standing-
As to the origin of the fire, nothing is known beyond
what has already been communicated. It is fortunate
that, owing, perhaps to the peculiar foimation of theatres,
i
in which there is little to burn beyond scenery and
benches, the conflagration was confined within the build..
ing, which is surrounded by a mass of the most valuable
property in the town. At one end of the Theatre, which
is situated in Fountain-street, is a calico warehouse,
which was formed a few years ago by taking away a
portion of the box lobby. At the back, divided from it
only by a narrow street, were several valuable warehouses,
the Assembly and Club Rooms, facing Mosley-street;
and at the front the Parish offices, and the extensive silk-
mills of Messrs. Occleston and of Messrs. Tootal, adjoin-
ing to which is a mass of buildings, very.elosely packed,
which, if ignited, must have resulted in a vast sacrifice of
property.
The Theatre itself belongs to a company of proprietors,
and, we understand, is, with the proprietors' scenery, &c.,
frilly insured ; and, not having been a paying concern of
late, will, in all probability, never be rebuilt. The site,
which is of great value, will most likely be in a short time
covered with warehouses.

The Manchester Guardian says :—" The loss which
this destructive fire will cause is not easily calculated.
We believe the building cost about £10,700. it was a
property held in shares; and besides the building, the
greatest part of the scenery, machinery, &c., belonged to
proprietary, who insured them to the extent of £7600, of
which £4OOO was in the Imperial, and £3600. in the
County Fire Office. We fear this insurance will not cover
the loss of the proprietors. We may mention that the
theatre has been insured in these offices since the year
1810, a period of thirty-four years. Mr. Roxby, the
lessee, was unfortunately uninsured. For the Christ-
mas Carol' considerable expense had been incurred in
preparing new scenery, dresses, and decorations ; and a
slider, for exhibiting the visions of Old Scrooge, alone
cost about £4O. All the new scenery has been consumed.
The foundation of the Theatre-royal was laid in 1806, and
it was opened on the 12th• of June, 1807, under the
management of the late Mr. Macready, (father of the
tragedian,) who agreed to give a rent of £l6OO a year,
increased, by taxes and parochial rates, to £2OOO. The
house was too large, and underwent reductions about 1814;
and it subsequently held upwards of 2600 persons, lone=
fortably seating about 2000,) at the usual priceoadlu4.-
ing to about £220 receipts. We believe the fecent-rent% , v
has been £BOO. The company will, for the pieshat,per—k ,
form in some other building, Cooke's Circus it Thev ;•1 .
get it. It is doubtful if the theatre will ever be rebiolt,l-
i- -1,4"
fr.
v .c