The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-04-11 00:00:00

Otneral

Lard Brougham arrived in London on Sunday.
The soldier in the Isle of Man, for shooting his corn-
rade, has been sentenced to transportation for life.
The Royal West Indian Steam Packet Company has
declared a dividend of nine per cent.
The Town-council of Hull have resolved to raise
£12,000 for the erection of baths and wash-houses.
Sir H. Hardinge was entertained, by the Directors of
the East India Company, at a splendid banquet in the
London Tavern, on Wednesday evening.

Captain Thompson, master of the 'brig Medora, has
been sentenced to 14 years' transportation, for the gold
dust robbery.

The bill charging the Earl of Kingston, a peer of the
realm, with indecently assaulting George Cull, has been
ignored by the grand jury.
it is confidently asserted that the metropolis and the
hirirA x.rovineiat towns are at present swarming with
French Revolutionaryrropagamnst.:

It is confidently slid that Dr. Candlish is to be de-
prived of the leadership of the Free Church at the next
General Assembly.
A cargo of ice has arrived in London from Leer, in
Hanover, whence no importations of the kind had ever
before been made.
___....

At Gloucester assizes, William Smith, 20, was con-
victed of firing at an old woman, named Anne Farley,
with intent to murder her, and sentenced to be trans-
ported for twenty years.
HINT TO BAKERS.—Mr. Joseph Bent, of Rothley,
has been convicted in the mitigated penalty of 505., in-
cluding costs, for not carrying scales and weights with
him while carrying out bread for delivery.
At the Warwick Assizes, last week, Matthew Davies, a
drunken tradesman at Birmingham, was found guilty of
the wilful murder of his wife, by tutting her throat with a
table-knife, on the 13th of October last. He was sen-
tenced to death without hope of mitigation.
John Collins, a professional beggar, died at Blandford
last week, in utter destitution,—as was supposed. On
searching him, however, it was found that he had money
about him, and also securities for no less an amount than
£356 sterling.
The Morning Chronicle of Tuesday states, that there
is no truth in the report that Gentlemen-at-Arms, alias
the Gentlemen Pensioners, are henceforth to be called
the Queen's Royal Body Guard, or that all persons in
any way connected with trade or commerce are to be
excluded from the corps.
The Duke of Northumberland, who has this week been
at Alnwick Castle, has directed an additional number of
allotments of land to be laid out in different parts adjoin-
ing the town of Alnwick. Larger allotments, of four
acres each, have also been laid out for grazing purposes,
for the accommodation of the inhabitants.

Charles Mansfield, a boy, aged sixteen, was convicted
at Taunton, on Thursday, of murder, in having shot
John Wall, at Blackwell. He was sentenced to be
hanged. His two brothers, aged respectively thirteen
and fourteen, were indicted with him, but the grand jury
ignored the bills against them.
The present state of affairs throughout the kingdom has
induced the government to take possession of the electric
telegraph, and orders have been issued that no private
messages are to be transmitted on any pretence, or any
subject, or in any direction. The company will be allowed
to send the markets, but no other intelligence.
THE DUNDRY MURDER.—At 1 aunton assizes, on
Saturday, Benjamin Hazell, aged 18, and James Hazell,
were indicted for the murder of their uncle, Washington
Hazell, at Dundry, near Bristol, on the 17th January last.
The deceased was found in a well, and suspicion attached
to the prisoners. They were found not guilty.
LEGAL FRIPPERY. —ln the City of London Small
Debts Court, no little surprise was evinced at some of the
attorneys entering the court in black gowns, which, it is
said. they are entitled to wear. One also wore the white
bands similar to a barrister. The high bailiff also wore a
gown for the first thne. No order, however, had been
given for that purpose.
DEATH OF SIR THOMAS BARING, BART'.—This
baronet, whose name for years has been so well known in
commercial circles, expired on the 3d instant, at his seat
in Stratton-park, Winchester, after a lengthened and
severe illness. He was born in 1772, being the elder
brother of Lord Ashburton, and married in 1794, the
eldest daughter of Chrrles Sealy, Esq., a barrister in
practice at Calcutta.
ISLE OF MAN COMMERCIAL BANK.—The loss on the
paid up capital is not likely to exceed 10s. per share. It
is proposed to resume the business, on the promise of an
immediate loan from the City of Glasgow Bank, with the
ultimate intention of an union with that bank. The late
manager has resigned, and Mr. J. S. Jackson, formerly
general manager of the Manchester and Liverpool Dis-
trict Bank has been appointed in his place. _

MANSLAUGHTER BY SOLDIERS.—Three soldiers, named
Thomas Smith, Christopher Armstrong, and Wm. George
Holmes, have been committed to Hereford gaol, charged
with the manslaughter of Maurice Bridgman, a broken
sergeant, who was going with them from Weedon bar-
racks to Monmouth, as witness in a case at the assizes.
The men, it appears, quarrelled on the way, and Bridg-
man was found dying on the road, and bleeding most
profusely from a sword stab in the side.

SIGNS OF THE TlMES.—During last week the com-
missioners in bankruptcy have disposed, in London alone,
of no less than 116 cases. Ot these 21 were brewers,
hotel keepers, or licensed -fictuallers ; 20 warehousemen,
drapers, or tailors ; 11 cheesemongers and grocers, 10
builders, two scriveners, two underwriters, a newspaper
proprietor and a newspaper editor, and lastly two under-
takers. The remaining 46. were composed of chemists,
straw plait dealers, hatters, tanners, butchers, coal mer-
chants, &c.
AIACREADY'S RETIREMENT FROM THE STAGE.—It
has been erroneously reported that this eminent tragedian
is on the point of quitting the stage immediately, and
that his present engagement in London is the last. In
this report there is not, we believe, even an approximation
to the truth. He will act again in London during the
present season, before he sail& for the United States.
Indeed, there is every reason to believe that he will not
leave the country till September. In America he will
remain but for a few months, and his visit there will be a
farewell to his numerous transatlantic admirers. When
he returns to England, it is his intention, after a few pro-
vincial engagements, to close his prafessional career by
acting a roloid of izharactcrs in Loam',

FURTHER DECLINE IN THE PRICE OF BARK.—At the
annual sale of bark, cordwood, and timber, held at the
Speech house, Forest of Dean, on Wednesday last, the
attendance was the smallest that has been remembered
for many years. About 1040 tons of bark were offered,
980 of which found buyers at prices averaging fully 20s.
per ton below those of last year; the whole of the cord-
wood, and nearly all the timber, was bought in at low
prices.

FATAL TERMINATION OF A FIGHT.—OR the evening
of Wednesday, a fight took place at Murton Colliery,
Durham, between two pitmen named William Graham
and William Gilroy. From the effects of the severe
punishment which he received, Graham died in about five
minutes after the termination of the fight, and Gilroy is at
present lying in such a precarious state that little hopes
are entertained of his recovery. The two seconds are now
in custody.
In the London Bankruptcy Court, on Saturday, the
Commissioner granted to Messrs. Leslie, Alexander and
Co. their certificates amidst considerable approbation.
His Honour said the bankrupts left the court without the
slightest reproach of any kind, and carried with them his
sincere sympathy and the sympathy, the kind feeling, and
the good wishes of the whole body of their creditors. It
will be remembered that the house had been extensively
engaged in the corn trade, and failed in August last, with
liabilities amounting to half a million.
GUINEA GRAINS.—A paragraph in the Times of Wed-
nesday, under the head of " specie," purporting to be an
account of the bullion and specie recently imported by
several vessels, created no small entertainment in Minc-
ing-lane, among the frequenters of the drug market more
especially, by the notice that the Royalist, from Cape
Palmas, had " brought four tons and three cwt. of Guinea
grains." The Times might as well register Guinea pigs
as specie, for Guinea grains are not the golden coin ground
into powder, but a drug very well known in trade.
TERRIFIC COLLIERY EXPLOSION !—NINETEEN LIVES
LOST !—On Thursday morning the neighbourhood of
Neath was the scene of another of those frightful colliery
explosions which have proved from time to time, in the
Principality, so destructive to human life. The sad event,
which has resulted in the loss of nineteen lives, took place
at the Eagle's Bush Colliery, in the immediate vicinity of
Neath, on Wednesday evening last. At the time of the
explosion, it was thought there were from twenty-five to
thirty colliers at work in the pit.
The ultimate fate of the Waratah, the ship which was
encountered by the Norwegian bark in a desperate condi-
tion on the 25th March has been ascertained. The wreck
was driven about for five days after the Norwegian was
compelled to leave her, and eventually went ashore on the
island of Molene, twenty miles from Brest. In a few
hours she was dashed to pieces. Eight only of the crew
reached the land, which they gained by swimming. Ship
and cargo are said to have been insured for £25,000. The
Waratah was bound for Sydney. The Norwegian only
saved two cabin passengers.
MRS. BUTLER'S READINGS.—The readings of Shak-
speare which attracted so much attention at Highgate, are
creating quiet a sensation at the West-end of the town.
The room at Willis's was literally crowded on Monday
afternoon with a most brilliant and fashionable audience.
Mrs. Butler read the " Merchant of Venice," rightly
taking the middle course between an impersonation of the
different characters and a mere cold elocution. The read-
ing displayed a fine intelligence throughout, and while all
was marked by a clearness and perspicuity, the forcible
passages were brought out with great though not exagge-
rated effect.—limes.
One of the most extensive fires that have occurred in or
near the metropolis for a considerable period broke out on
Tuesday, between the hours of eight and nine o'clock, in
the large manufacturing premises belonging to Messrs.
Robins and Co., weavers of patent hosiery, situate at
Phipps Bridge, Mitcham, Surrey. The premises in which
the disaster occurred were nearly 300 feet long, and were
fitted up with costly machinery, &c. In a very brief pe-
riod the greater portion of the factory became wrapped in
flames, and before midnight the whole premises, stock
and machinery, were destroyed, involving a loss of up-
wards of £15,000.
BANQUET TO VISCOUNT HARDINGE.—A magnificent
entertainment was given on Friday to Lieutenant-General
Viscount Hardinge, G.C.8., by the members of the Senior
United Service Club, at their club-house in Pall-mall, in
complimenf to the noble and gallant viscount on his return
from India. It was one of the most splendid banquets ever
given by the members of that distinguished club; upwards
of 200 noblemen and gentlemen assembled on the occasion.

Prince Albert honoured the banquet with his presence.—
There were also present the Duke of Wellington, the
Marquis of Anglesey, General Earl Shafford, Generals
Lords Combermere and Beresford, Sir Howard Douglas.
Prince Albert proposed Lord Hardinge's health.

. .
DREADFUL THUNDERSTORM.—The town of Hudders-
field and its neighbourhood were visited on Sunday week
by one of the severest thunderstorms. accompanied by hail
and rain, that has ever been recollected. In the vicinity
of Mold-green the ravages of the storm were terrific, da-
mage to the extent of several thousand pounds in value
having been inflicted on the property of a few individuals
there. Three young men were killed by the lightning, and
another was seriously injured. Several houses and works
were deluged with water, and the inhabitants had to seek
shelter in different dwellings in the neighbourhood. Many
were killed ; and sheep, pigs, and household furniture
were swept away by the flood.
THE COAL FIELDS IN ENGLAND AND WALES.—A
Ruabon correspondent to the Chester Chronicle, signing
himself " Asbestos," says that the North Wales coal field,
measuring from the point of Ayr, in Flintshire, to a few
miles beyond Oswestry, in Shropshire, covers an area of
200 square miles, of ten yards in thickness. The weight
of a cubic yard of compact coal is 19 cwt. 16th. The total
weight of the cow. in this extensive area will thus be 5,929,
ono, tons. '1 nese coals at Os. per ton at the
would produce £1,778,907,000. To exhaust this field it
would require that 2,000,000 tons be worked annually for
nearly 300 years. The extent of the other coal fields in
England and South Wales, estimated at the same thick-
ness as the North Wales fields, would yield 177,890,700,
000, which would furnish ua with 40,000,000 tons of coals
for nearly 4,000 years.
EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF SELF-DESTRUCTION.—On
Friday evening, as the Canterbury omnibus was proceed-
ing from Rochester to Canterbury with passengers, about
eight o'clock in the evening, and on its arrival between
Rainham and More-street, in descending a small hill the
reins broke, and the horses, finding themselves uncon-
trolled, started off full gallop, and the omnibus was cap-
sized, fortunately without injuring a passenger. Assis-
tance was procured, and the carriage was righted and
ready for starting. when the drive, Beck, suddenly left
the buss and took to his heels towards Otteram Creek,
when he cut his throat and plunged immediately into the
water. One of the passengers took charge of the carriage
and drove it to Canterbury, after having waited for some
time, anticipating the return of the coachman.—Sun.
MAHOGANY FOR SHIP-BUILDING.—Many of our rea-
ders are perhaps not aware that mahogany is used to a
considerable extent in ship-building. It is imported in
large quantities, and in long lengths, chiefly from Hon-
duras, and as it possesses many invaluable qualities for
that purpose, and is, besides, as cheap as oak, it enters
largely into the construction of our men•of-war and mer-
chant ships. The oldest steamer in the navy is the Comet,
built of mahogany, and the highest naval authority states
of her, in 1845, " she has had very hard and constant
work in very heavy gales of wind, frequently towing, &c.,
during the last twenty-three years, and she has not yet
come under repair." The fastest vessel, perhaps, in the
world, is the new and beautiful government steamer Ban-
shee. She is built of mahogany, which is remarkably
buoyant, and at the same time possesses great strength—
these qualifications combined are scarcely obtainable in
any other wood. Mahogany has a varied range of excel-
lence, and by adapting the heavy or hard pieces to the
main parts of a vessel, namely, the frame and outside
planking, and the lighter kinds to the upper works and
inside planking, &c., the greatest perfection, as far as
material goes, may be obtained in naval architecture.
The importance of these facts and considerations, in re-
ference both to our naval and commercial marine, can
hardly be over-estimated.

NEWSPAPER STAMPS AND ADVERTISEMENT DUTY.
—lt is reported by a London contemporary that it is the
intention of the Government to reduce the newspaper
stamp to the price of one farthing, and also to bring down
the advertisement duty from eighteenpence to sixpence.
The plan, if correctly stated, is not one fitted to work well
for the public. It would be much better, in the case of
the stamp, to bring it utterly out of the range of a tax,
and convert it into a mere postage on papers sent by the
mails. In the case of copies delivered by hand, stamps
would therefore be unnecessary, and those transmitted to
other parts•could be allowed to pass free by stamped co-
vers- -the stamp being paid for at the rate of one penny.
The remission of a shilling from the duty on each adver-
tisement is some advantage, but it would be vastly more
honourable to the government to give up the impost alto-
gether. It is a paltry, shabby exaction, and tells against
industry, enterprise, and genius, not always able to lay
out money. Strange it is that while taxes have been re-
mitted which nobody ever felt nor complained of, or
while taxes have been remitted, the public reaping no ad-
vantage from the change, that this irritating, pitiful bur-
den has been allowed to remain. The class of advertisers
is certainly not numerous, or we should have some agita-
tion on the subject ; but there would be a vastly augmented
number of advertisers were the duty altogether abolished.
The trading classes, authors, artists, and numerous per-
sons requiring to advertise, should, in this case, endea-
vour to procure the remission of what, in practical opera-
tion, is a penalty on industrial exertion.

THE. CHARTISTS. Government commissioners of
police in London issued on Thursday a public notice cau-
tioning all persons not to attend or take part in the
Chartist assemblage announced to be held on Kenning-
ton Common, on Monday, (yesterday,) or in the intended
illegal procession to the House of Commons upon pre-
tence of presenting a petition to parliament for the enact-
ment of the charter. Copies of this notice have been
posted on the walls of this and other large towns. Not-
withstanding this caution the chartist have determined to
hold the meeting. The convention met on Friday when
Mr. Wheeler, a member of the Executive Council, pro-
posed that a proclamation should be issued, calling upon
the people to meet on Kennington Common, on Monday
next, and proceed in procession to the House of Commons,
to present the people's petition, notwithstanding the pro-
clamation of government. The resolution was carried
unanimously. All the speakers, who figured on the oc-
casion, declared their intention of being present on Ken-
nington Common, on Monday, be the consequences what
they might. They were determined to sacrifice life rather
than liberty. On the motion of a Mr. Harney, it was
resolved that a deputation should wait on Sir Geo. Gray,
to represent to the government that, in spite of the pro-
clamation that had been issued, the procession would take
place. It was also resolved that circulars be sent to the
different towns in England and Scotland, calling annul-
tnneous meetings on Monday, in order that in case a col-
lision with the top should take place in London, the
myrmidons of the law would be kept in their respective
districts.

SINGULAR OCCURRENCE IN LONDON.—On Thursday
morning one of those extraordinary beings who gain a
precarious subsistence by penetrating into the sewers is
search of coin or other valuables that may be washed into
them from the drains was taken out of the main sewer ix
Broad-street, Golden-square, in a very exhausted state,
having been thirty-six hours and upwards endeavouring
to find his way out, which, from having advanced further
than was his custom to recover some silver that had been
accidentally dropped down a grating near the Seven Dials,
he was unable to accomplish. Fortunately, the poor fel-
low's cries were heard by Mr. Tickle, cheesemonger, at the
corner of Berwick-street, Broad-street, opposite whose
door there is a man-hole, which he had contrived to as-
cend, and, assistance being procured, he was liberated.
Some compassionate persons supplied him with soup, &e.
which speedily restored him.—Morning Chronicle.
CHLOROFORM.--A most awful operation was performed
upon a female patient under the influence of Chloroform,
at the Infirmary, Newcastle-on-Tyne, by, H. G. Potter,
Esq., one of the superior operative surgeons of that insti-
tution. The dangerous and difficult operation to which
we refer will be known to our medical readers as "the re-
moval of both ovaria :" and some idea may be formed of
the extent and importance of the responsibility attached
to the operator when we mention that his first incision or
cut was two feet long, laying open the whole cavity of the
bowels, which were received in warns cloths, and the re-
moval of two large tumours took place with the greatest
precision and self-possession, and in the profound silence
of a chamber crowded by nerly 200 medical men and stu-
dents. What may appear surprising, even in these times
is, that the patient during this fearful and gigantic opera-
tion never felt pain or knew anything of it until after be-
ing put to bed, and that consciousness returned again.
The last account is that the patient is going on well.
THE ENGLISH WORKMEN EXPELLED FROM FRANCE.--
A meeting of engineers, engine-drivers, and fitters em-
ployed on lines of railway in England, was held on Mon-
day, in London, for the purpose of giving expression to
their sympathy with the unfortunate position of their
fellow-workmen recently employed on lines of railway in.
France.—The chairman opened the business of the meet-
ing by calling the attention of the intelligent men present
to the fact that a previous meeting had been held at the
same place, which had resulted in its being made known
amongst English workmen, that most of the men who
were then supported in their just indignation by their
felow-workmen had been seduced from this country, to
undertake various works on the railways in France, for
fixed periods, and at salaries according to their skill; that
most of them had only partially completed their en age-
ments, many were unpaid for the work completed and
that all had sustained heavy losses by the sacrifice of their
household furniture, implements, &c. It would be use-
less to detail the violence—in many instances the bru-
tality—nay, even threats of murder—which these men
represented themselves to have sastained at the hands of
the populace ; and, in most instances, the authorities had
no control over the ferocity of the common rabble, who
plundered and maltreated them in the most savage and
brutal manner. The loss sustained by these men
amounted to about £3OOO. They claim from 136 to 1235
francs each.

SHIPWRECK.—The New York papers contain accounts
of the wreck of the ship Omega, Captain Garrick, on her
passage from this port to New York. When she left the
Mersey she had on board, besides her crew, 327 passengers.
During a heavy gale the ship lost her rudder, spars, sails,
&c., and became very leaky. When in this dangerous
situation the British barque Aurora, from this port for
St. John's, N. 8., fell in with her, and took about 140 of
the passengers, chiefly women and children, from the
wreck, seventy of whom died from starvation on board
the Aurora, and the remainder were landed at Halifax.
Another vessel, the brig Barbara, of Halifax, from New
York for Cork, seeing the distressed situation of the
Omega, bore down to her assistance, and took of 163
passengers, with the surgeon and part of the crew. The
remainder of the passengers, twenty-four in number, with
the captain and chief-mate, and twenty of the crew, were
subsequently saved by the British barque Highland Mary,
from this port for New York, where they were landed.
The Omega was finally abandoned on the 12th February,
in lon. 53 24. The second mate and four seamen were
lost in the pinnace in transferring the passengers from one
vessel to the other. We learn from another source that
the Barbara, in endeavouring to reach St. John's, to land
the passengers, went on shore at Petty Harbour, when
only twenty of the passengers and crew were saved. The
Omega was a new ship, built in North America, and 1,300
ons burthen.

PRESERVATION OF LIFE IN CASES OF SHIPWRECK'
&C.—EXPERIMENTS WITH THE FLOATING CORK MAT-
TRESSES.—On Thursday, Sir Gordon Bremer, and a
large body of the principal officers of Woolwich Dock-
yard, attended at the Steam Basin to witness some expe-
riments which were made with the Patent Cork Stuffing,
in order to test the power of this material to afford
assistance in cases of shipwreck, casualties at sea, drown-
ing, &c. It has always been regretted that the bulk
and the peculiar intractability of cork rendered it inap-
plicable, to any general extent, to inventions for saving
human life in cases of emergency at sea. But this
objection has been entirely obviated by the process of
shredding it into filaments, so that it can be introduced
as stuffing into boat-cushions, bedding, couches, and
similar articles forming part of the equipment of all kinds
of vessels, and thus be made to serve the double purpose
of promoting comfort and affording ready assistance in the
event of shipwreck or casualty. The principal form in
which the articles are manufactured at present is that of
mattresses, bolsters, and pillows, articles which are in-
eluded within the requisites for seamen's bedding. These
cork mattresses and pillows are so constructed that they
may be used either separately or lashed together as a raft.
The object of the .exuertmepts was to test their efficacy
to a single individual when immersed in the
water, and their power of sustaining numbers when formed
into a raft. At two o'clock, Sir Gordon Bremer, and
several officers connected with the Dockyard, assembled
at the Steam Basin, where the materials for making the
experiment had been conveyed. The first experiment
was by lashing six of the mattresses together with boat
oars, a process which did not occupy a minute. The raft
was then thrown into the water, and Captain Stevens,
the swimming-master of the Royal Humane Society,
jumped on it from the pier, and floated about the dock for
some time. His son, a lad about seventeen, fell into the
water as if accidentally. Captain Stevens, on the raft,
went to the assistance of his son, pulled him on the raft,
which supported both with the utmost ease, and by this
means was enabled to land him on the pier in safety.
The next experiment consisted in throwing a bolster,
weighing about three and a-half pounds, into the water,
on which the lad placed himself, and demonstrated its
power to support him while in the water. A boat cushion
of the same weight was tried next, and was found to
answer the same object exactly. A single mattress,
weight 121b5., was then thrown into the water, and on
this Captain Stevens lay at full length. was supported
quite out of the water, and in this way he paddled, with-
out any difficulty, to any part of the dock he wished. Sir
Gordon Bremer, who witnessed the whole of the experi-
ments, expressed his entire :satisfaction at the result, and
ndeed all present were loud in their praise of the vast
improvement which had been made on all other inventions
devoted to the same object. The next experiment with
these mattresses is to ascertain their capability of re-
sisting musket balls, shells, &c.—Railway Gazette.