The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-01-11 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL PrkNBARD.

LOCAL MEETINGS.

WALLASEY COMMISSIONERS. —The usual monthly
meeting was held on Thursday, H. Winch, Esq., in the
chair. The only subject of interest which came before
the meeting was the announcement of the Law-clerk that
he had received a letter from the Commissioners of Woods
and Forests on the subject of a new ferry. It was to the
effect that they did not feel justified in recommending a
compliance with the application of the Improvement
Committee. and could not give their consent for an act of
parliament to construct a 'ferry at present.
LIVERPOOL MARINE SocfcrY.—The annual meeting
was held on Monday week, William Potter, Esq., in the
chair. The accounts showed that the honorary fund
amounted to £12,055, and with the other assets made up
a gross total of £12,392 19s. 2d. ; and the surplus balance
from the annuitant fund, with thiforthcoming interest and
probable receipts, would amount altogether to £790.
This would allow four captains to receive £3O a-year each,
being an increase of £2 10s. on the former annuities ; and
to seventeen widows £24 instead of £22, as on former
years. After the liquidation of these claims there would
remain a surplus of £212 to.meet any contingent annuities
that might be required in the current year. There was
one applicant to be placed on the annuity list.
BIRKENHEAD' DOCK. COMMISSIONERS.—At the usual
meeting of this body, on Wednesday, Mr. Mallaby occu-
pied the chair. A communication was read from the
Dock and Warehouse Company, to the effect that they
really had no money. The propriety of commencing legal
proceedings against the body was freely canvassed. The
chairman, however, expressed his disinclination to such a
measure, and to meet several immediate pressing demands
on the commissioners suggested the sale of a portion of
the plant. He thought that as the appointment of the
new trustees had given an overwhelming influence to the
parties who were responsible for the payment of the
money, it would be better for the present commissioners
to leave the question of legal proceedings till the power
fell into the hands of those to whom he had referred. The
matter was ultimately left to the discretion of the pre-
viously appointed committee.
At the weekly meeting of the West Derby Guardians,
on Wednesday, it was resolved that an allowance, after
the rate of £BO per annum, be made to the clerk, to enable
him to employ an assistant for the next three months;
and also, that a temporary assistant relieving officer be
appointed for the township of Toxteth-park, with a salary
of £BO per annum. Mr. Austin, the poor-law inspector,
who was present, promised his eforts to procure a pension
for the widow of Mr. Fell, the surgeon, who died of fever,
caught in the service of the township. The Rev. Mr.
Badnall brought before the board a distressing case of de-
privation and suffering, in the person of an aged woman,
named Mary Perry, who had lately died in poverty and
neglect, although nearly related to a family in Liverpool
in opulent circumstances. A vote of congratulation was
given to Alfred Austin, Esq., on the renewal of his con-
nexion with the union, as poor-law inspector, with the
cordial acknowledgments of the guardians of the very
courteous and gentlemanly conduct which has uniformly
marked his previous intercourse with the board. Notice
was given for the appointment of an assistant to the
master of the workhouse, at a salary to be hereafter
named.

DOCK CommiTTEE, THURSDAY.—The surveyor re-
ported that the masonry of the branch forming the con-
nexion between the new North Docks, and the Leeds and
Liverpool Canal, was finished so far as could be, till the
communication was made, and that the gates were also in
a forward state.—The plans of the new life-boat house on
Hilbre Island were again passed over.—The committee re-
ported on the complaint

of Richard Woolley. jun., who
aid he had been discharged from the Albert Docks in
consequence of having turned Roman Catholic, that the
complainant was an extra man, that he was not discharged,
but did not answer to his name when called on, and that
at the time mentioned a considerable reduction in the
number of hands taken on was made from day to day,
amongst whom was Woolley.—The Chairman said he had
the Birkenhead petition, which it would not be necessary
to read to the committee. Mr. Robinson : What is the
object of the Birkenhead bill ? The Chairman : They are
going for powers to amend and alter a great number of
your acts and dues.—A communication was read from the
Pilots' Committee, as to the collision of the barque Enter-
prise with the Crosby light-ship. The fouling of the ves-
sels was attributed to the steamer having left the barque
before she was in a manageable condition.—lt was agreed,
in consequence of alterations about to be made at the Co-
burg Dock, that the screw-steamer Blarney should be al-
lowed to go into the Prince's Dock as a sailing vessel, and
subject to all the dues and regulations of sailing vessels.
—A letter from Mr. Robert Talbot, offering to submit a
plan for improving the North Graving Docks, was re-
to the Sub-committee of Works.

-
BIRKENHEAD COMMISSIONERS.—The usual monthly
meeting was held on Tuesday. Christopher Bentham,
Esq. was called to the chair. The proceedings of the
Finance Committee contained the minutes of a meeting
between Mr. North and other representatives of the bond-
holders and Messrs. Mallaby and Bryans, as a deputation
from the committee, in which the bondholders suggested

that the appointment of Mr. Wilcox should not be con-
firmed, but that a person should be named on their behalf
totally unconnected with Birkenhead, and that he should
perform no other duties except those named in Mr.
North's letter. The proceedings, however, recommended
that Mr. Wilcox should be appointed for general financial
purposes ; that all money beyond that necessary for the
working of the affairs of the township should be placed in
Heywood's bank, in the names of Mr. North and Mr.

Waln, °I-some other commissioner. Mr. Mallaby moved
that the proppecl;Tig. bo confirmed that Mr. Wilcox be
appointed, and that his salary and duties be fixed by the
Finance Committee, without reference to any duty_ the

bondholders might require. The Chairman expressed his
congratulation on the township's affairs. Mr. Thompson
seconded Mr. Mallaby's motion, which, after some dis-
cussion, was carried unanimously.—The
_proceedings of
the Ferry Committe

e contained -a, regulation to run the
boats throughout the day as frequently as they could be,
without reference to any particular periods. The receipts

for the last month were-'1',1129 18s.
7d.,
and for the car-
responding month of last year, £1369 17s. 6d. The re-
ceipts from the 23rd of April to the 31st of December,
1846, were £16,259 14s. 3d. ; for the same period in 1847,
£14,663 6s. 11d. ; the total expenditure for that period
was £17,770 2s. 3d. The proceeedings were then con-
firmed.

MEETING OF CANDIDATES FOR THE OFFICE OF Go-
VERNMENT TEACHERS.—On Saturday afternoon a num-
ber of persons of both sexes, desirous of becoming teach-
ers in the Government Schools, about to be established,
met at the Music-hall, Bold-street, to hear an address
from Dr. Hume on subjects in connexion with the duties
they are about to assume. The reverend Dr. spoke of
the low estimation in which instructors had hitherto been
regarded in this country. The estimate of the education
of the poor is as one in six, which in this town, with a
population of 300,000, would give 50,000 children under
scholastic training. The lecturer showed the fallacy of
instructing without teaching or training ; and this fallacy
he illustrated by indicating the case of an apprentice, who
was taught practically. The actual possession of know-
ledge and the zeal to impart it might be distinct, though,
formerly, they were taken for granted as synonymous.
Now we know that the latter quality is indespensible in
the teacher. He did not approve of the entire abrogation
of flogging, on the principle that a child, from the deve-
lopment of the animal propensities so much earlier than
the moral powers, is, in some respects, an inferior animal.

Alluding to the quackery of teachers, who profess to teach
a particular science on some new principle, and particu-
larizing arithmetic, he said it was impossible. Experi-
ment may exist in a thousand forms, science only in one.
The absurdity of parents interfering with the instructor
respecting the mode in which their children should be
educated was pointed out. In all these cases the judici-
ous teacher will quickly carry out his own plans. He will
bear in mind that for the good of all each must be sub-
jected to a general training. In Prussia and France, in
Switzerland, all over Germany, in America, and in Scot-
land increased attention was being paid to education, as
the only means of making good citizens. Referring to
the mode in which examinations are generally conducted
in the teachers' training schools at present in existence,
the fault was, that there was no arrangement made for
preparing the candidates, and this deficiency was to be
observed in the new Government scheme. It was to re-
medy this deficiency that the present lectures were com-
menced. Saturday had been fixed on as the most suit-
able day for the teachers themselves. The subjects would
embrace all that comes within the sphere of general edu-
cation, and the hearers would, under certain circum-
stances, be at liberty to ask questions. The object was
not only to instruct those who might be deficient in
scholastic attainments, but also to accustom the timid to
the catechetical mode of examination adopted at the pub-
lic examinations.