The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-16 00:00:00

TO ADVERTISERS.

We beg respectfully to call the attention of
_Merchants, Brokers, Auctioneers, and others,
to the important fact that the
LIVERPOOL STANDARD
IS NOW THE
ONLY NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHED WEEKLY ON TUESDAY,

which can be read on that day by the thousands
of Manufacturers and others attending
THE TUESDAY'S MARKET IN
MANCHESTER.

The STANDARD is taken at all the Newsrooms
and respectable Inns in that town and the
surrounding manufacturing district.
A SECOND .EDITION is published at Half-past
Two, in time for the North Mails, containing the
MARKETS, and any news of importance that
May arrive in the course of the morning.

Zig Ktlnrpooi gptanbarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 16, 1848.

A superficial observer, who had watched the
many changes which have occurred during the last
few weeks in the materiel of our Government, and
the positions of its various officers, would jump at
once to the conclusion that we are a marvellously
clever race—a people to whom legislatorial ability
comes by intuition, instead of having to be attained
by long and laborious experience. We have seen
noble lords and gentlemen drafted from office to
office, with a dexterity which a thimblerigger would
envy; the statesman who was yesterday immersed
in the details of the India Board, or in the manage-
ment of the buckhounds, equally immersed to day
in the business of the Board of Trade, whilst another,
to " make way" for him, is handed over to the
Board of Control. to the War-office, or to a seat at
the table of the Railway Commission; and each,
apparently quite as much at home in his new duties
as if he had been apprenticed to them. There is a
change of names and titles at each shuffle of the
political pack ; a new distribution of salaries ; but
the official machinery appears to work just as usual,
neither to have sustained damage nor to be driven
at a greater speed.
There is a growing feeling abroad, however,
amongst men who are accustomed to look below
the surface of things, which points to a very diffe-
rent conclusion, to be drawn from this apparent
universal aptitude of our legislators for every sort
of business. The public are asking the questions,
—what can be the value to the country of these
costly departments of the Government, which seem
to go on equally well whether a wise man or a
blockhead is at their nominal head ? How are they
constituted ? Whose are the real hands which pull
the wires ? These questions will, by and by, have
to be answered. We must know something more
of the actual working of these departments than
the mere fact that this or that ministerial suckling
is the ornamental Sir Oracle, upon whom deputa-
tions have to wait, and who attends in his place in
parliament to answer questions, and to be sponsor
for the doings of the unknown conclave inside the
mysterious bureau. We must know whom we have
to trust and through what channel, poisoned or
pure, the small amount of information—the reports
and representations, statistical or otherwise, with
which from time to time we are furnished—has had
to pass before it reaches the public.
For years past, in some of these departments, the
existence of an imperium in imperio has been most
palpable. The seals of the Colonial Office have
passed from hand to hand, from Whig to Coserva-
tive,.from the enemy to the staunch supporter of
colonial interests. Yet the policy of that office has
had invariably an anti-colonial leaning. The few
measures devised for the promotion of the welfare
of the colonist have been cunningly crippled before
they were permitted to see the light, and more effec-
tually disabled afterwards by the same hostile influ-
ence. Can it be believed that the legislature
would have been only at this moment informed,
through the agency of a committee, of the ruinous
consequences of our policy towards our Wcat
Indian fellow-countrymen, if the business of our
Colonial Office had been honestly conducted—if
the masses of evidence, accumulated and smothered
in the secret pigeon holes of that office, had been
fairly brought before its notice ? Would we have
now to hesitate between the retracing of our steps,
from free trade to protection, or a grant of com-
pensation to the ruined planters, if the country
had been allowed to contemplate the cost of its free
trade policybeforehand—if mawkish sentimentalists
and one-sided humanity mongers had not decreed
in their own hearts the ruin of these colonies, in-
stead of their regeneration ? We should not. For
years every fact, every missive from colonial autho-
rity, every representation from the public bodies
has had to filtrate through a poisoned channel,
before it has reached the ears of parliament and
the public; and the result has arrived. We open
our eyes at last when the vehicle, whose somnolent
influence has been carrying us along so comfortably,
has almost reached the bottom of the precipice.

We must turn to the Board of 'trade, however,
for the most glaring instance of the injurious work-
ing of these public departments. For years we
have been looking to that Board for returns to
guide us—for the basis, the facts and the figures
upon which we have grounded our estimates of the
national prosperity or adversity, and the working
of our commercial policy; and most astutely that
Board has been advancing all the time the progress
of the known opinions, not of this or that minis-
ter who happened to be at its head, but of two or
three of its subordinate and working officials.
These gentlemen astounded us from time to time
with their tabular statements. Did any member of
either house presume to doubt the excellent results
of an anti-national commercial policy, he was set-
tled at once by a report or a blue book. Or were
we urged by a minister to go a little further in the
work of pulling down, he invariably came ready
armed with statistical proof that pulling down was,
in reality, building up. Tables of figures and facts
were prepared, at a few days notice, and some were
on hand, ready cut and fashioned to prove any-
thing, and as much of it as he liked, provided its
tendency was in the right direction. We have it
confessed by Mr. M'Gregor that the schedules of
the new Tariff Bill itself were drawn up in the
Board of Trade, Sir Robert Peel, their reputed
father, being only permitted to officiate, as physi-
cian, in bringing them into the world ; and up to
the present moment, surrounded though we are
with suffering directly traceable to that measure,
we have offered to us once a month official proof
that it is succeeding to perfection
We have had our eyes, however, at length opened
to the fact, as indeed we suspected long ago, that
in not one of these carefully compiled documents
can we, or ought we, to place the sligthest confi-
dence ; that they are garbled and one sided
throughout. We referred last week to the able ex-
posure made by Mr. G. F. Young of the very un-
fair return, printed periodically, and purporting to
give the imports of foreign produce and manufac-
tures, in which, whilst such items as our import of
divi-divi are carefully furnished us, there is not a line
or figure to inform us of the amount of our imports
of foreign manufactured cottons, silks, woollens,
&c. Of course, it would not do to allow the gulled
and starving manufacturing operative to learn the
extent to which his labour was, day by day, being
supplanted by his foreign competitor. It would
not do to tell him that the free trade he had been
petitioning for meant only French gloves, French
lace, 'French silks, German linens and hosiery, and
luxuries cheap for the rich, and want of employ-
ment and poverty for himself. The gentlemen at
the board of trade knew that an honest and full
return would show the import of these articles to
be increasing ; and that the remnant of protection
which was to have kept them hack is utterly power-
less to effect that object. But such a full report,
we repeat, it was not desirable to furnish—for many
reasons. It might damage a few political reputa-
tions, whose owners, not having quite finished their
work of destruction cannot as yet spare them.
We have still left a shipping interest to be de-
stroyed; and the day of its attempted destruction
is near at hand. A hostile committee has already
sat for the purpose of collecting evidence to justify
puch an alteration of the Navigation laws as will

amount to confiscation of the property of the Bri-
tish shipowner. We say for that purpose; for not
only was the selection of members of the committee
grossly unfair, the proceedings of its chairman and
the vice-president of the Board of Trade, those of
a partizan, but it closed its sittings, leaving the
bulk of the witnesses in favour of the. Navigation
Laws unheard. We are promised shortly a mea-
sure, as the result of that committee's (imcomplete)
inquiry; and again we have the astute staticians of
of the Board of Trade concocting, by a series of
returns, a case in favour of the enemies of British
industry. To the indefatigable exertions of Mr.
G. F. Young, the shipowners of the kingdom are
under the deepest obligation for drawing attention
to the glaring dishonesty of the returns in question.
The series of " statements" to which Mr. Young
points, as unfairly concocted to serve a purpose,
are contained in parliamentary paper No. 588, of
last session, presented to the late House of Com-
mons on the 30th June, 1847, "by her Majesty's
command, purporting to elucidate questionsrelating
to shipping, which had arisen out of the evidence
given before the select committee then sitting on the
Navigation Laws (Mr. Milner Gibson, vice-presi-
dent of the Board of Trade, chairman), and which
are evidently intended to support the testimony
just previously given by Mr. G. R. Porter, the then
head of the statistical department of that Board.
That, however, to which he now particularly directs
attention is marked number four in the series, and
is entitled "a statement of the tonnage of British
ships that entered the ports of the United King-
dom from different foreign countries and British
possessions in each of the years 1824 and 1846;
distinguishing the tonnage employed in the trade
with British possessions, and which is protected by
the Navigation Laws from the tonnage employed in
the trade with foreign countries, and which is un-
protected from competition with foreign ships."
We cannot give the whole document, but shall
briefly state the results at which the concoctors of
the statement arrive. In the " protected trade"
they place the tonnage from the Coast of Africa and
Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena and Ascension,
Mauritius, British India, British North America,
Australia, 'West Indies, Fisheries, Jersey, Guernsey,
&c. ; and the tonnage from all other countries they
refer to as "unprotected." The " protected" ton-
nage was in 1824, 893,097 tons, and in 1846,
1,735,924 tons, showing an increase of 842,827 tons,
or 94.37 per cent. The tonnage, asserted to be
"unprotected," was in 1824, 904,223 tons, and, in
1846, 2,558,809 tons, showing an increase of
1,654,586 tons, or 182.98 per cent—nearly double
that of our "protected" trade. The object here
was clearly apparent ; and it is not to be surprised
that the return in question was eagerly seized upon
and triumphantly quoted by every journal and par-
tizan opposed to the Navigation Laws. We now
turn to Mr. Young's crushing exposure of the dis-
honesty of the whole statement
" And now, Sir, to the disproof of this bold but un-
founded • statement.' Will it be believed that the ton-
nage employed in every one of the trades enumerated in
the column described as `unprotected trade' is actually
protected in a high degree, and in some cases to an extent
amounting to exclusion as absolute as that of the colonial
trade ; and this by the very laws which are invidiously
and, I must add, insidiously represented as applicable
alone to the ' protected trades,' enumerated in the oppo-
site column ? Yet such is the indisputable fact, as an
examination of the Act of Navigation will instantly con-
fi rm. I take the:trade with China as an illustration. It
is denominated an unprotected trade, and as such is de-
scribed as having increased from 28,270 tons in 1824 to
54,593 tons in 1846. Now did the compiler of this docu-
ment ever hear of a single foreign ship entering the ports
of the United Kingdom with;n the whole period from
China ? Was a single ounce of tea ever imported from
China for the consumption of this country except in
British ships ? Does he doubt that the owners of Ameri-
can ships would eagerly avail themselves of permission to
compete with British shipping in this valuable trade ?
What is it that prevents them ? The law—What law ?
Why the Navigation law ! How then, I ask, could the
compiler of this ' statement' have the effrontery to make
her Maje4y tell her Parliament and people, that the trade
with China is an unprotected trade, and that therefore it
flourishes ? Sir, he must know well that the case is the
same with many of the states of South America, and with
all that do not possess merchant shipping of their own.
Knowing that by the Navigation Laws, goods, the pro-
duce of foreign countries, are not permitted to be import-
ed into this country to be used therein, except in British
ships, or ships of the country of which such goods are the
growth or produce, or in which in some cases they may
be found, he cannot but be aware that this restriction,
varying, it is true, in effect, in proportion to the tonnage
possessed by each country, but acting as an exclusive pri-
vilege to British ships in some, and ensuring to them a
proportion of all, does constitute a great, an efficient, and
a valuable protection ; and I confess, that with this know-
ledge, notwithstanding my experience of the reckless as-
sertions .of political, economists, and of the successes they
often achieve by the matchless boldness of their assump-
tions, it does amaze me that any pnblic functionary of
station and information should have ventured to speculata
so largely on the credulity or carelessness of his oppo-
nents, as to have expected that such a misrepresentation
could possibly pass undetected or unrebuked. I repeat,
because I have proved, that the trades described as un-
protected for the purpose of depreciating the Navigation
Laws, are all really protected by those very laws ; and
having thus demolished the fact alleged, I leave the
worthless inference deduced to your discriminating judg-
ment and impartial conclusions."
This ought to be sufficient for ever to damn these
laboured statistics, as utterly unworthy of credit.
Mr. Young adds, however, another prostrating
blow :

" But I cannot, Sir, suffer the occasion to pass without
exposing briefly the distortion of facts for the purpose of
misleading and deluding the public, of which these state-
ments are also full. One illustration may suffice, but it
shall be a crushing one. The inward entries from France,
which in 1824 were 82,650, will be perceived to have in-
creased in 1846 to the enormous amount of 556,821 tons.
Well, indeed, if this were an unprotected trade, and gave
employment to such a.tonnage, might free traders cite it,
as the ' statistical department of the Board of Trade' has
done, as conclusive evidence of the tendency of their sys-
tem to develop and extend the naval resources of the
country. Sir, I have received, while I writer a return
laid before parliament, during the present session, on the
motion of Lord G. Bentinck, (Parliamentary Paper, No.
28,) and just printed, which tests the real value of this
monstrous statement, and must, I think, make the cheeks
of its concoctors tingle with confusion. By this return it
appears that the steam vessels entered inwards from
France, in 1846, were 47 in number; their tonnage, 7101:
and that they were manned by 698 men. These are all
included in the ' statement ;' while, can it be believed ?
they are absolutely made to figure as 228,189 tons of the
British shipping declared to be engaged in the trade with
France, and advanced to prove the inefficiency of protec-
tion, and the propriety of repealing the Navigation
Laws !! ! One vessel alone, the Magician, of 96 tons, is
actually made to represent 14,208 tons ; and another, the
Prince Ernest, of 445, to stand for 24,215 tons, the
astounding exaggeration being produced by the calculation
including the repeated voyages, which in the former of
these cases were 148 in number, and in the latter 167.
Sir, I will not comment on this discreditable and almost
incredible attempt to deceive the public on the
important Question on the Navigation Laws; but I en-
treat you not to forget, when you are examining these re-
turns, that if you find in the depreciated column 14,000
tons of British shipping engaged in the trade with India,
you look at the exponent of perhaps 14 magnificent ships
of 1,000 tons each, exhibitingin substantial truth the proved
results of our maritime commerce, raised and sustained
under the protective policy of our Navigation Laws;
while, if your eye should glance at an equal amount of
tonnage in the opposite and vaunted column, you may,
perchance, but be required to take as of equal value for
naval security, some beggerly steamer of less than 100
tons."

Have we, with this evidence before us, been one
iota too severe in denouncing this boasted " statis-
tical department" of the Board of Trade as an en-
gine ready prepared and constituted to mislead
statesmen and the country, with respect to the most
vital questions upon which they are called upon to
decide ? We have here an instance of a committee
sitting for the purpose of deciding the fate of one
of the greatest bulwarks of our country's greatness
—her merchant marine—the nursery from which
her fleets are manned—the source of the supremacy
of the British flag in every sea. The chairman of
that committee was the vice-president of the Board
of Trade, notoriously a hostile partizan ; the chief
witness was the head of the statistical department
of that Board, as notoriously an opponent of the
Navigation Laws; and to back up his evidence
comes, in the nick of time, this unfair and glaringly
incorrect document. Can it be tolerated that such
an agency, - capable of being thus used to pervert
and misrepresent facts so important, should be
kept up at the public expense ? Any impartial man
will unhesitatingly say " NO."

On Tuesday, a fire broke out at Upton Hall, Cheshire,
by which a shippon was destroyed, and damage done to
the extent of £l5O.

Mr. Charles Furnivall, professor of music in this town,
has written an opera, in three acts, entitled Minona, for
which also he composes the music, and intends bringing
it before a Liverpool audience the first opportunity.
FIRE IN YORK-STREET. --- Yesterday evening a fire
broke out in the cellar of a labouring man in York-street,
but the timely arrival of the fire-brigade soon put a stop
to the devouring element.
ROYAL MERSEY YACHT CLUB.—The opening cruize
has been fixed for Saturday, the 27th instant. The day
for the first sailing match of the season has been fixed for
Tuesday, the 13th of June.
At the monthly meeting of the Wallasey commissioners,
on Thursday, the by-laws which prohibit bathing on the
sea beach, in the township, were rescinded by a majority
of twelve to four.

THE OAK AND THE ASH.—The oak has opened its
leaves this spring earlier than the ash. This augurs the
approach of a hot and dry summer.
On Monday, Wm. Davies, of Upper Frederick-street,
was found dead in bed. The cause of death was aneurism
of the aorta.

Mr. George Hudson, who for some years has been a
resident in Liverpool, was sent for to London by the
Attorney-General, on Saturday, to give evidence as to his
alleged claim to the Devonshire estates, in consequence of
a memorial sent to her Majesty.
At the adjourned special meeting of the Birkenhead
commissioners, held on Monday night, the improvement
rate for Birkenhead and Claughton was fixed for ls. in
the pound, the lighting and watching rate Is, and the
sewerage rate 4d., for the township of Birkenhead only.
DEATH FROM BURNING.—A. few days since some
children, the eldest only eight, living in Lace-street, were
left alone in the house, when the clothes of one,
five years old, caught fire, and she was so much injured
that she died on Saturday.
On Sunday week, a prize fight took place at Cabbage=
hall, for a sovereign. The men fought for two hours and
forty minutes, and both having then their eyes closed up,
it was agreed to increase the stakes to £5, the men to
fight again when sufficiently recovered.
At a preliminary meeting of rate-payers in Toxteth-
park, on Tuesday, it was determined to call a meeting for
the purpose of having the docks rated. From the state-
ment of Mr. Sheppard (the chairman), it appeared that
the local rates of the township now amount to 10s. in the
pound !
HANDSOME DONATION.—Mrs. Brown, the widow of
the late Thomas Brown, Esq., of Clarence-street, has con-
tributed £lOO to the funds for the support of the schools
in connection with St. Silas Church, in this town, in con-
sequence of a wish expressed to that effect by her late
husband prior to his decease.
On Wednesday last, John Jones, a labourer employed
at the new tunnel now in course of excavation at
Edge-hill, was preparing a piece of rock for blasting,
when a poreion of it gave way, and fell upon him. He
was killed on the spot. The weight of rock which fell
upon the deceased was about two tons.
On Monday last, John Hope, aged 33, residing in Cop-
peras-hill, committed suicide by hanging himself. The
deceased had been for some time complaining of general
debility and sickness ; his mind had also been depressed
in consequence of the stagnation of trade and other.
matters.

Our advertising columns of this day contain the twenty
second report of the Directors of the Standard Life
Assurance Compary, which must be highly gratifying
to all connected with the Company. We also observe
that the directors have opened an office in South Castle-
street, under the charge of Messrs. J. and D. L. Murdoch.
On Thursday, Margaret Inglis, of Hunter-street, died
from injuries received from being burnt. It appeared
that so far back as the 19th of January last, she was in the
act of passing a table in the house on which there was a
lighted candle, that her gown caught fire, and that she
was severely burned all over her back.
Mr. Ross, F.A.S.S., who lectured, on the 26th of April,
at the Portico, on the Druids, has been solicited to deliver
an illustrated lecture, on the same subject, to the Arch
Chapter and Primitive Lodges of Druids, in this town, of
which notice will appear in future advertisements. Mr.
Ross' lectures are both instructive and pleasing, and well
illustrated by diagrams.
The Rev. W. J. Conybeare, A.M., Principal of the
Collegiate Institution, has been presented to a valuable
living in the South of England. He resigns his office at
the Collegiate at the termination of the current half-year.
The pupils of the institution, by whom the reverend gen-
tleman is highly esteemed, having spontaneously entered
into a subscription for the purpose of presenting him with
a memorial of their regard.
WATER.—We have already stated that the yield of
water at the wells of the late water companies has far ex-
ceeded the estimate of Mr. M`Donald, and therefore
egregiously that of Mr. Hawksley. Some of our con-
temporaries have published figures on the subject, but as
the accuracy of these has been called in question (though
we have no reason to Question it), we will postpone giving
any further statement on the subject, until the official
calculation appears.
TRANSATLANTIC STEAMERS.—The Hibernia, Captain
Shannon, took her departure from this port on Saturday.
for Halifax and New York, with the usual mails and fifty
passengers. The United States Capt. Hackstaff, will leave
for New York to-morrow, and the Niagara, Capt. e•yrie,
for Halifax and Boston, on Saturday. The Acadia, Capt.
Stone; which would leave Boston on the 3d instant and
Halifax on the sth, may be expected to arrive in the
Mersey to-day.
LECTURES ON ASTRONOMY.—Mr. C. Popham, the emi-
nent lecturer on astronomy, has engaged the Theatre
Royal for four nights in the present week, to give a series
of lectures on the sublime and interesting subject of astro-
nomy, during which he will make plain and comprehen-
sible a subject too often enveloped with technicalities.
From the collection of diagrams, views, and chromatropes,
alluded to in Mr. Popham's prospectus, we are led to ex-
pect that a rational and edifying combination of amuse-
ment and graphic instruction will be embodied in the lec-
tures and exhibitions announced in another column.
THE BRUNSWICK CLUB.—The rapid progression of
this useful tradesman's society, must be alike satisfactory
to its conductor and the public. Day by day there is an
accession to its number of members (n0w,500), and equally
proportionate are additional and increased advantages
announced. Whiteman is ever on the alert to the com-
fort of his patrons, and the late untollerably hot weather
having suggested a luxury, he has opened the baths in
connexion with the Hotel to the members of the club,
on terms most advantageous. Indeed, so numerous now
are the privileges of members, that, ere long we expect
to hear of all Liverpool being subscribers.
MR. PAGAN, OF DUTTON HALL, NEAR FRODSIIAM.—
This gentleman will be known to most of our readers as
the eminent cattle salesman, lately resident in Liverpool.
He has latterly become a Cheshire farmer, reposing upon
the well and honestly earned wealth of his long and active
life. The Dumfries Courier contains a full report of a
public dinner of 150 agriculturists in that town, for the
purpose of marking the respect they have long cherished
for Mr. Pagan's character, as an extensive purchaser of
cattle for the markets of the south, and latterly as the
first of the salesmen for Dumfries and Galloway, resident
in Liverpool, and of presenting him with an elegant silver
jug and cup, suitably inscribed. The proceedings were of
the most gratifying character.
INTERESTING SPECTACLE.—A few days ago there was
an assemblage of steamers in the Cobourg Dock which
could not be paralleled in a timilar space in any port of
the world. The following is the list of the vessels, with
an approximation to their tonnage and power :—The Great
Britain, 3,500 tons, 1,200 horse power; Niagara, 1,700
tons, 800 horse power; Hibernia, 1,400 tons, 600 horse
power ; Caledonia, 1,200 tons, 450 horse power • Hibernia,
680 tons, 370 horse power; Alphonzo (steam frigate), 600
tons, 300 horse power; United States, 2,000 tons, 1,000
horse power—Total 11,080 tons, 4,720 horse power. The
six steamers first named are British built, and the United
States was built in New York. These vessels . form a
navy in themselves, with capacity for carrying upwards of
11,000 tons, and with nearly b,OOO horse power.
NEW UNITARIAN CHAPEL, HOPE-STREET. —On
Tuesday, the foundation stone of the new chapel was
laid. The proceedings were opened by Mr. Swinton
Boulti the chairman of the congregation of Paradise-
street chapel. Mr. Barry, one of the architects, followed,
who presented the trowel to Mr. Thomas Bolton. After
some suitable observations, Mr. Bolton proceeded to lay
the stone with the usual formalities, and, when it was de-
posited, three cheers were given. The Rev. James
Martineau next delivered a long address, in the course of
which he alluded to the parallelisms and the contrasts in
the circumstances under which the foundation stone of
this chapel, and the one in Paradise-street, were laid.
Mr. J. B. Yates, Mr. William Rathbone, the Rev. Lewis
Lewis, severally delivered their sentiments. In the even-
ing the building committee, under the superintendence of
the builders, Messrs. Furness and Kilpin, entertained the
whole of the workmen at Mr. Whiteman's Brunswick
Hotel. Mr. Kilpin occupied the chair, and the vice-pre-
sident was Mr. Hornblower. The cost of the building
will be about £7500.
RECENT FAILURES.—The Courier says—" Observa-
tions calculated to mislead having been made in connexion
with the embarrasments of Sir Thomas Brancker, and
also of Mr. Tomkinson, the extensive builder, we have
been at some trouble to ascertain the facts, and the cor-
rectness of the information we are about to give may be
confidently relied upon. We learn that the difficulties of
Sir Thomas Brancker have been chiefly caused by depre-
ciation in railway shares, and the unfavourable issue of
some mining operations in which a considerable portion
of his property was invested. The stoppage of the Royal
Bank was likewise a source of great inconvenience to him;
and as much misrepresentation is afloat on this head,
owing to the position which he formerly held with the
bank, it is but justice both to Sir Thomas and the bank
to state, that his liabilities to the establishment are very
small, being under £1,500. And against this the directors
hold forty shares, on which £5OO each has been paid, and
which were quoted at the time the bank stopped, at £B5O.
With respect to Mr. Tomkinson, it was not, as stated by
a contemporary, his connexion with the Herculaneum
estate which caused his failure. From that he had been
deriving a large profit. An unfortunate railway contract
I in Yorkshire, heavy sacrifices arising out of his contract
I with the Birkenhead Dock Company, a considerable loss
with the assize courts, together with a large outlay upon
his Runcorn quarries, and the great difficulty of obtaining
money to meet such large engagements, are the causes
which have led to the embarrassment of one of our lead-
ing tradesmen, whose industry and benevolence had been
for so many years the subject of admiration, and whose
misfortunes every one deplores. Another failure which
has excited much sympathy is that of Mr. William Potter,
one of our most eminent merchants, a gentleman respected
wherever he his known for his high character, and beloved
for his amiable qualities. His embarrassments have been
caused exclusively by the depreciation of his immense
property at Birkenhead."
CHARGE OF CHILD MURDER.—On Saturday an inqui-
sition was held, before the deputy borough coroner, on
view of the body of a new-born female child. A woman,
named Jane Pearson, was in custody on ' suspicion.
Jane Roberts, who lives in Shannon-street, said the pri-
soner had been her servant. About seven months ago she
appeared bulky, and complained of swelled legs, which she
atttributed to dropsy, and witness entertained no suspicion
of her being pregnant. On Thursday evening witness
, went out, leaving Jane up. On her return home she
found the accused in .bed, and was told by her that she
had been very ill, but was much better, and would be
enabled to attend to her work in the morning. The accused
got up next morning as usual. Witness's suspicions were
roused by information she received from a friend, and she
went to Jane's room, and, on searching her bex, found the
body of a full-grown, new-born child, pinned in a piece of
rag. Witness taxed her with having delivered herself.
Prisoner did not deny it, and went on her knees, begging
that the circumstance might be kept secret. Mr. Burrows,
surgeon, who had examined the body, said that the child
was full grown. He found the, face and neck of a livid

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.