The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-03 00:00:00

LOCAL NEWS

LIVERPOOL TRADE.—The number of vessels which
passed through the Rock Channel was, in 1844, 9226;
in 1845, 7910. There passed through the Victoria Chan-
nel, in 1845, 28,861, and in 1844, 26,760.
HIGHWAY BOARD, THURSDAY.—There were 14 mem-
bers present—Mr. J. Holmes in the chair. The business
generally was of but minor importance. On the bill being
read relative to the water carts, Mr. Procter observed that
these vehicles were miserably horsed.—Mr. Higgins com-
plained that no report had yet been brought up by the
Water Committee appointed to watch the progress of the
works. A large sum had been paid, and no notice had
been taken of it. He urged that a report should be pre-
sented by the commitee that day fortnight. Mr. Kaye
said that Mr. Simpson could supply as much information
as the committee by a formal report.—Mr. Gladstone
called attention to the dangerous state of Dale Street, by
parties not driving on the right side.—Mr. Lawrence said
the bye-law would be printed and enforced.—Mr. Walthew
hoped they would also enforce a penalty on persons
throwing orange peel on the footwalks.—lt was agreed
that the report handed in by Mr. Walthew, relative to the
the streets and sanitary condition of West Derby, should
be printed.
WEST DERBY UrsiioN.—The usual weekly meeting of
this body took place on Tuesday. It appeared that there
was in the treasurer's hands a balance in favour of the
union of £378 ss. 3d. The sum of £1233 2s. 9d. was
ordered to be paid to the county treasurer for county
rates, on or before the 22rd of February. A note from
the bailiff of the coroner of the borough, addressed to the
chief assistant overseer of West Derby, was read by that
officer to the board, stating that, on Thursday, 22nd
instant, the bodies of two newly born female infants were
found within that township. In the first case a verdict of
wilful murder had been returned against some person or
persons unknown, but in the second nothing could be
affirmed as to the cause of death. The report of the
visiting committee of the workhouse was read by the
chairman, from which it appeared that every department
of the establishment was in a very satisfactory condition.
On the motion of Mr. Smith, the clerk read the minutes
of the proceedings, and report of the committee of the
board on the subject of the two schemes proposed by the
Poor Law Comilassioners for the administration of relief
to out-door poor throughout the union. These schemes
proposed to divide the union into three several districts,
to each of which is to be appointed a relieving officer.
The committee, which was of the whole Board, after a
lengthened discussion, resolved in favour of the schemes
generally, proposing only to unite the two less populous
districts, and to place the relief of them under their expe-
rienced officer, Mr. Tristram, heretofore the sole relieving
officer of the whole union. Some discussion ensued, but
it was ultimately decided to adopt the scheme as it was
proposed by the commissioners, without alteration.

About ten o'clock, on Thursday night, Capt. M'Cor-
rigan, of the ship Thistle, lying in the Queen's Dock, fell
into the dock, and, notwithstanding he was got out in a
short time, life was extinct.
STEALING FROM AN EMPLOYER.—On Saturday Henry
Haugh, a boy about fifteen years of age, was committed
for trial for having stolen notes, bills, and gold to the
amount of 480 lOs., entrusted to him by his employer,
Mr. John Leslie, provision-dealer, Cleveland-square. to
convey to the Liverpool Bank. The prisoner. instead of
taking the money to the bank, absconded with it, but was
apprehended by Constable Toole at the railway-station,
Todinorden. On being searched, £4O was found upon
him, also a bundle of new clothes, and new clothes on his
person, purchased, no doubt, out of the proceeds of his
dishonesty. This is the second case against the prisoner.
BIRKENHEAD COMMISSIONERS.—At a special meet-
ing of the board, on Friday, the petition for the improve-
ment bill was signed, and the joint Committees of
Im-
provement and Finance were appointed a Parliamentary
Committee for Mr. Mallaby to communicate with during
the time their bill was before Parliament. Mr. Cole
stated that the Health Committee would not be prepared
to make any report before the 9th of February, to which
period it was deferred; and Mr. Mallaby said he would make
such arrangements as would enable them to make, in com-
mittee, such additions to the bill as might be thought desi-
rable. Before the meeting was over, Mr. Laird requested
permission to say a few words on the subject of the Dock
Committee and the Birkenhead Commissioners. He
thought it necessary, and be was sorry Mr. Jack-
son was not present, that the Commissioners, as a
body, should disavow the expressions of confidence in the
DoCk Committee, made use of by the chairman at the
last meeting. Such an expression of a confidence (which
he was sure they did not feel) might seriously damage them
before a committee of the House after all that had passed.
He had had a letter from Mr. Aikin, in which that gentle-
man expressed his surprise that the chairman should de-
clare that he felt such confidencein the Dock Trustees.
Mr. Laird read the answer be had sent to that letter, in
which it was stated that Mr. Aikin was wrong in sup-
posing that their contemplated landing place in Liverpool
was abandoned from any feeling of confidence in what
had been proposed by the Dock Committee. He then
contrasted the speeches 'made by Mr. Jackson at the last
two meetings. In the first the Commissioners were re-
presented as " dubious" of the professions of the Dock
Trustees, and in the other as having confidence in
them. In the latter case he would have disavowed any
coincidence in such confidence, but that he thought Mr.
Jackson was only expressing his own sentiments to Mr.
Wood, and not those of the Commissioners collectively.
For his own part, he had sufficiently shown in the trouble
he had taken that he was anxious to have a friendly feel-
ing with the other side of the water, but be was also
anxious they should not, in Parliament, be put in a false
position by any premature declaration of confidence.

ACCIDENT TO LIEUT. WEBBER SMITH.—From
letter, dated " Camp, Poona, Nov. 16," it appears that
this gentleman, who was a native of this town, unfortu-
nately lost his life by drowning. He was senior lieutenant
of her Majesty's 22nd regiment, and had gone with an
ensign and some others on a shooting excursion to a large
tank ten miles distant. The lieutenant shot a duck, and
a native jumped into the water to fetch it out; but, get-
ting entangled in the rushes, he was drowning, when the
gallant officer mounted a horse which was near, and
plunged into the water to his rescue. The native imme-
diately clung to him, and the horse becoming entangled
in the rushes, they were all drowned together.
NEW GAS AND COKE COMPANY.—The half-yearly
meeting of this company was held, on Wednesday, at the
Clarendon-rooms. The report stated that the Act of
Parliament, passed in the session of 1844, limited the
business now to be transacted, but the committee could
not omit availing themselves of that opportunity to remove
fron the minds of the gas consumers any erroneous im-
pression, formed with respect to the balance of the
accounts of the company filed to the 30th of June last, or
that a further reduction in the price of gas would be made.
From the balance then apparent of £9143 14s. 5d., the
dividend of five per cent. for the half-year, amounting to
£6762 10s„ ordered in due course by the proprietors at
their general meeting, was paid, leaving in hand the sum
of £2381 4s. 5d.; but taking into consideration the de-
crease in the price of gas to 4s. 6d. per 1000 cubic feet,
and the consequent diminution of rental, (which was
already showing itself,) though the usual dividend might
be sustained, it must be very doubtful whether any sur-
plus would remain at the end of the year. The committee
recommended a dividend to be ordered by the meeting of
£5 on each share of £lOO, and £1 ss. on each share of
£25, being at the rate of five per cent. for the half-year,
payable on the 6th February next, subject to the deduc-
tion of the property tax. The report was adopted; and
the proposed dividend ordered to be paid. Messrs. Fos-
berry, Barton, Muncaster, and Mather were re-elected
directors without opposition

DOCK COMMITTEE.—At the meeting on Thursday, the
marine surveyor reported that the south pier of George's
basin was the most eligible site for the telegraph station.
Plans for the proposed new offices at the Albert Dock
warehouses were submitted, and allowed to lie on the table
for a week. The marine surveyor reported that, in 1845,
4,709 gallons of oil and 10,607 wicks had been consumed
at the lighthouses and lightvessels ; in 1844, the number
f wicks was 10,640, and 4,778 gallons of oil. Uniforms
for the dock-gatemen, with an anchor and L D. on the
coat collar, were ordered to be advertised for. An alter-
ation, proposed by Mr. Cubitt, in the new landing stage,
was agreed to. The contract between the Steam Tug
Company and the trust (or towing out the life-boats was
renewed for a year. A memorial from timber merchants
and brokers, requesting that a sub-committee would con-
fer with tbem as to the regulations for discharging and
removing timber in the Brunswick Dock was read, and
the harbour masters' sub-sommittee, with the addition of
Messrs. Houghton and Rankin, were appointed to confer
with the memorialists. Two letters having been read
complaining that priority had been given to certain vessels
in docking, an order was passed directing the harbour-
masters to dock all vessels in their regular turn. A me-
morial was read from a number of merchants, requesting
that the valuable speech of the Chairman of the Dock
Committee delivered in Council, in proposing the new
dock works, should be printed in the pamphlet form ; and
on the motion of Mr. Nicol, seconded by Mr, Bold, it
was ordered to be done, the chairman, at the request of
the applicants, undertaking to revise and correct it. A
lengthened conversation then took place as to the commit-
tee and the commissioners of Birkenhead. Mr. Aikin
explained ; and the whole affair appeared to have origi-
nated in a misunderstanding, the chairman stating that
he had never refused to meet any one, friend or foe.