The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-07-15 00:00:00

the rates of pension for merchant
ced to one scanty rate of uniform

first-rate ports, and many othc
which t-

cal funds; deprive
aperior advantages

•xr an exclusiVe management of
.rids; take from them the means and the
viding for the widows, and children of sea-
ery imperfectly should we discharge our duty
cantile marine of this country, the sole basis of
.rcial and naval power, if we do not devise some
more comprehensive measure, by which a fund may be
formed, sufficient to provide for the relief and support of
merchant and children, upon an
worthy the munificence of this country ;
he condition of British merchant sea-
a out additional inducements to them to
service of their own country, instead of
eir youth and their strength, under the flag of
, returning only when worn out, to seek in
land, provision for old age from funds too
my fn.-4i- support of tho-e, who devote their
to the service of the British marine.
e measure,may, he, (Sir H. Douglas.)
d. He was not prepared to indicate
ihich its means might be drawn ; nor to
or machinery by which such a measure
This, however, he would say, that
^d liberality of that great

their own
power of 1.
men ; but
to the men

men. their

eraily tt

iefand

deration of the report for three months ; so that the
whole question remains to be dealt with afresh next

session

Sir H. Douglas is a member of the Committee on
Lighthouses, and, we have no doubt, will equally
exert himself in promotion of the shipping interest.

We must confess ourselves surprised, and dis-
appointed too, at the feeling displayed by Mr. Geo.
Hall Lawrence and the Finance Committee towards
the promoters of the noble effort making to raise
the condition of the seamen of our port, by the
erection of a Sailors' Home. When the subject
was first mooted in the Council by Mr. Aikin and
others, it was understood that Mr, Lawrence and
the Committee hailed with pleasure an undertaking
so noble, as that of rescuing this invaluable class
of men from the harpies who prey upon them from
the first moment when they step on shore, until,
plundered and penniless, they leave it to encounter
a fresh course of toil and danger; and if they were
not prepared to aid that undertaking fio munificently
as the magnitude of the estate under their control
might seem to warrant, at all events we were proud
to have to thank them for the liberal offer of an
advantageous site for the necessary buildings. Such
at least was our impression, and that of the public,
of the meaning of the following resolutions, trans-
mitted by them to the Committee of the Sailors'

Home, appropriating for the purpose a piece of
land to the north of the slate-yards at the Prince's
Dock Basin,—the first conveying to the Committee
the offer of the site in question, and the second
directing the requisite deeds to be prepared :-
1. " At a meeting of the Finance Committee, held the
26th day of April. 1844,—present, Geo. Hall Lawrence,
Esq., chairman, &c., &c , &c.,—the Surveyor and Clerk
of the Committee havir, reported with reference to a site
for the erection of a Sailors' Home, that the piece of land
to the northward of the slate-yards, which in its present
condition is complained of as a nuisance, might be appro-
priated to that purpose, (the land, as shewn on the plan
submitted herewith. occupies a space of about 900 square
yards, and is capable of being advantageously laid out as
respects air and ventilation, two indispensable requisites
in a building of this description,)
" Resolved,—That it be recommended to the Council
to permit the appropriation of this land for a Sailors'
Hume, on the usual conditions in similar cases.' "
[The above recommendation was confirmed by the
Council on the Ist day of 'May, 1814.]
2. " At a meeting of the Finance Committee, held the
27th day of December, 1844,—present, Geo. Hall Law-
rence, Esq., chairman, &c., &c., &c.,—a co r munication
from the Committee for the erection of the Sailors'
Home, accepting the land in Waterloo-road, and re-
questing that. the requisite deed may be prepared, having
been read,

" Re,olved,—That the Town-Clerk be directed to
prepare the requisite appropriation deed, agreeably to
the resolution of this Committee of the 26th of April,
confirmed by the Council of the Ist of May last.' "

But, alas ! in the conduct of public bodies as in
that of individuals, there are sad slips between a
promise and its fulfilment. Whilst proceeding in
execution of their original promise, it was disco-
vered that possession of this precise land could not
be given—a strange discovery for the trustees of an
extensive estate to make, but an opportune one,
inasmuch as it allowed time for their hasty gene-
rosity to ooze through their fingers. Another site,
however, was discovered—the unoccupied land
facing Canning-place and the Custom-house; but
in the meantime legal difficulties had sprung up,
and amongst them we are sorry to observe the
opinion of the Town-Clerk, that, this being an
appropriation of land for the benefit of a section of
the community, it could not legally be made at all.
We trust, however, that the Town-Clerk's view of
the matter, although perhaps correct in law, will
not be carried cut by the Finance Committee.
Surely they can never bring themselves to insult a
body of men, to whom not only our own town, but
the country, owe so much as they do to the seamen
of Liverpool and of England, by treating them as a
'section only of the community of which they are
the boast and the safeguard ! If the law does so
limit us in our charity—does so treat them—let the
law, so far as Liverpool at least is concerned, be
altered.

Ultimately it will be seen that the Finance Com-
mittee have come to a compromise upon the sub-
ject; but we really cannot discover precisely upon
wha,; grounds. We have, it seems, only £2,500
probable surplus this year; and this amount in

land the Council is to give, tha Sailors' Home
Committee paying for the remainder of the site.
But if it is not legal to give at all to " a section "

, - - ----
of the community,_ it is not legal to give £2,500 ;
and it would have been quite as easy to obtain
parliamentary sanction for the entire grant as for
the stinted one.

We must repeat our regret that the Finance Com-
mittee have felt it necessary to he thus niggard in
their liberality towards such an undertaking as the
Sailors' Home, though they have their expensive New
Law Courts, lib a cormorant, swaliowinq nn the

surplus ‘vhich ought to be available for works of
charity. But we must say that Mr. G. H. Law-
rence might have been considerate in his appropri-
ation of the public money—a faithful steward, as
he is no doubt an able financier—without placing
himself in the ungracious position of one who has
to be urged by that public to forward a work upon
which it has set its heart. It is not pleasing to see
Mr. Lawrence rating those of whose property he is
trustee, as a griping parent would rate a spendthrift
child. It is not pleasing to see a noble undertaking,
promoted by the sincerest desire to advance the
interests of humanity and the good of the town,
characterised as the work of " blind zeal," and the
money sought to be devoted to it represented as
being " frittered away." Mr. Lawrence tnigh;.
remember, that should we, in our " blind zeal" to
compass a good work, make a trifling sacrifice of
our means, such sacrifice, even if it extend to the
" frittering away " of some of the decorations of a
show building, may perhaps be repaid us fourfold
in the blessings which the success of such good
work will draw down upon our heads.

The " Commercial glance" originally compiled
by the late John Burn of Manchester, and now
continued by his son, with even an increased
amount of valuable matter, may fairly be said to he
to this district what the financial statement of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer and the return of the
yearly exports and imports are to the entire king-
dom. We make no apology, therefore, for bring-
ing a few of the results of the half yearly " glance,"
just published before our readers, and the more
especially, because they present very gratifying
proofs of the increased and increasing prosperity of
the country.

The fithsi fact which strikes us in looking at Mr.
Burn's statistics of the cotton manufacture, is the
amazing increase which has taken place in the ex-
ports of manufactured cotton goods. In 1842 we
exported of plain calicoes 184,017,758 yards; in
1843 the exports rose to 253,318,621 yards. Here
we might, without doubting the expansive power of
this branch of the national commerce, have antici-
pated, at the least, a pause. Such, however, has
not been the characteristic of the past six months,
for we find the exports under this head up to the
end of June 300,038,150 yards, shewing an increase
over the the corresponding six months of 1844, of
23,315,479 yards, and over those of 1842 of 116,
020,392 yards or about seven twelfths in three

years.
In printed and dyed calicoes the quantity ex-
ported up to June 1845 is 153,338,562 yards, giving
an increase over the first six months of last year of
-1,258,134, and over those of 1842 of 33,384,377 or
upwards of ore 'fifth. In some descriptions of
goods of no great moment we find a slight decrease.
In most ho-. ever the gratifying fact of an increase
.is appare zit.
The most remarkable feature in our condition,
shewn from this glance, is the fact that whilst we
have an increase of most descriptions of perfected
manufactures, there is a decrease in the exports of
cotton yarn, amounting to 351,583 lbs. When it
is borne in mind that the manufactured commodity
employs about four times the amount of labour re-
luired for spinning yarn, it is obvious that the con-
dition of the manufacturing labourer must have sus-
tained a very sensible improvement, and that full
employment is provided for all. That the cotton
trade, generally, has sustained a vast increase in ex-
tent, is evident from the fact that the deliveries to
the trade hare been for these six months 29,235
bales per week, against 23,093 last year. In addi-
tion, therefore, to the additional employment afforded
by it to the labouring classes, it is clear that it has
employed a largely increased amount of capital and
machinery.
Nor have our manufacturing neighbours had,
apparently, any ground to complain that their busi-
ness has been unremunerative. For the week end-
ing the Ist July, 1844, the price of upland cotton
was ard. to 51d., and during the same week in 1845,
it was aid. to 41d. On the Ist July, 1844, the price
of water twist No. 40 was, for common seconds,
12id., good seconds, 13d., and best seconds, 16d.,