The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-24 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Although it occasions us much disappointment, we can-
not find room for the letter of " Lynx."
We are compelled, in consequence of a number of reports
of a local nature, to postpone our notice of the Rev.
R. Montgomery's sermon until our next.
We have received several lengthy communications on the
subject of the recent divisions in the Scotch' Church,
but most of them are characterised by such a bitter
spirit, and indulge in so much personality, that we
think we are best consulting the interests of all parties
to withhold their publication.

ribt Rfecrpnot 'AltanDarD.

TUESDAY 310RAING, OCT. 24, 1843.

We have again and again entreated the attention
of the legislature to the mischievous operation of
the system of joint-stock banking ; and we have
this day before us, once more, the affairs of a con.
cern which, above all others, has demonstrated to
the world the ruinous consequences with which that
system is pregnant. Need we say that the concern
in question is THE BANK OF MANCHESTER?
About eight months ago, it will be remembered,
the commercial community was startled by the an-
nouncement, made at a special meeting of the
shareholders in this wretchedly, if not dishonestly,
conducted affair, that the entire paid-up capital,
amounting to more than £700,000 sterling, had been
squandered in propping up a multitude of bubble
undertakings and bubble firms ; and that it would
still require an additional call upon the already-im-
poverished proprietors, to the amount of upwards
of £lOO,OOO, to raise it from its position of insol-
vency. We had then statements of assets and lia-
bilities, of bills overdue and accounts overdrawn,
the result of which, upon paper, flattered the de-
ceived victims, whose all had been nearly swallowed
up, that, by a little additional drain upon their
means—a little extra exhaustion of the savings of
past years—they might be enabled to wash their
hands of the trade of joint-stock banking, and sit
down in their poverty, relieved from the fear of cir-
cular letters, slips of parchment, and visitors even
more unacceptable and less easily evaded.
Well, what is the result, as exhibited at a meet-

ing of the same concern, held in Manchester on

Saturday last ? Are these flattering promises rea-
lised ? Are the affairs of the bank wound up—the
outstanding balances called in, and the liabilities
paid ? Not at all We are informed, indeed, by
the report just published, that, up to the 30th June,
1843, " the liabilities of the bank, including those
contingent on current bills, have been reduced from
£801,440, to £440,936; and exclusive of current
bills, from £581,860 to £408,499." The realisation
of the assets has progre-sed at a similar tardy rate,
and are row stated at £388,576 ; and although up-

._ .
wards of £lOO,OOO has been received on account of
the call made at the last meeting, it is now disco-
vered that there is still an " estimated deficiency" of
above £50,000 to be provided for by another call of

£2 per share upon the unfortunate shareholders !

How many more "estimated deficiencies" may
arise before all the bubble accounts which compose
the " assets" are wound up, and the various mills
and other properties, held by the bank are converted
into cash, we know not; but we should be very
sorry to guarantee any holder of stock that he will
not have to put his hand into his pocket to provide
for further "estimated deficiencies."

The total estimated losses are now £937,117, and
may be roundly stated at a million, the bulk of it
the property of the most defenceless portion of the
community, squandered by a clique of schemers to
advance their own selfish purposes of aggrandise-
ment, and no small amount of it devoted to prop up
their own political party in the borough of Man-
chester. Essentially this bank, it is notorious, has

been a political engine, wielded by a faction. Its
credits afforded a ready means of rewarding poli-
tical subserviency. They propped up the beggarly
tools who agitated for the Potters, the Harbottles,
the Dyers, and other of the prime movers in the
various questions which for years past have occupied
the attention of the manufacturing magnates. They
have rewarded the mercenaries who clamoured most
loudly for Incorporation, for repeal of the Corn-law,
and other specifics of Manchester radicalism; and,
in fact, the total amount lost by the unfortunate
shareholders may be said to have been sacrificed for
the zurpose of party elevation.
We are told, indeed, by the directors, that they
have been themselves large sufferers. These gen-

tlemen point to their own wounds, and assume the
position of unfortunate and guiltless martyrs. We
grant readily that, as shareholders, they may be, and
doubtless are, considerable sufferers; but is it no-
thing that as traders, in an age of speculation—of
manufacturing bubbles and railway and mining

bubbles,—they have been enabled to have funds at
command to advance their private emolument ? Is
it nothing that, during a period of bloated prosper.
ity, when trade was bringing in thousands where it
now, under a healthy state of things, brings in hun-
dreds only, they were enabled to push their various

concerns to an extent which amazed the world and
placed them in a few years far above the position of
those of their competitors who, trading on solid
capital, and within their means, had no such aid to
help them ? Assuredly men who have done these
things—who have thus traded upon the property of
a number of duped and befoolecl persons—must not
be allowed to shelter themselves behind the fact, no
doubt a true one, that by the same wretched concern
whose operations towards them, as favored customers,
have put tens of thousands in their pockets, they
have lost a few thousands as mere shareholders.

The fact cannot be lost sight of that for years

oast—since 1936 indeed—these men either were

might have been, aware of the insolvency of the
bank over which they presided. They were either
acquainted with it in 1840, when their flattering
report represented the concern as flourishing and
its past losses as amply provided for, or, as a share-
holder at the meeting justly observed, they must
have squandered a million of money within the
space of less than two years. There is no man who
can credit the latter alternative without believing the
directors during these two years to have been mad-
men. They were not such. The board on the
contrary was composed of men who doubted the
solvency of the concern and we believe strove to
avert the evils which impended over it. It was the
" liberal" clique who had preceded them to
whose anxiety to prop up their own ascendancy
is to be attributed the disastrous ruin which

has startled all sober men ; and retributive jus-
tice would enact that upon their heads should fall
the loss which has made so many a deserving trades-
man rue that ever a Joint Stock Bank was tolerated
by the legislature.

The nuisance however must be abated; and we
trust that another session of parliament will not pass
by without a measure of stringent character being
applied to avert the dangers attendant upon the
working of the system in dishonest, or reckless, and
ignorant hands.

Mr. Alderman Evans—according to current ru-
mour as to its authorship—has been occupying
his leisure in the concoction of a somewhat
lengthy article, upon the subject of dock matters,
which appears in the leader columns of our contem-
porary, the Albion of yesterday. In the opinions

therein expressed we can find little that is novel.
They are but the tedious repetition of " a ten times
told tale ;" and we should probably have passed
them by unnoticed had their expression not been
accompanied with some assertions of fact, and an
inuendo or two, which call for a few words of refu-
tation.

Referring to a " recent extraordinary resolve of a
majority in the Dock Committee to effect extrava-
gant purchases of land for the purpose of dock ex-
tension," Mr. Evans (from the editorial chair of our
contemporary) addresses himself, in the first in-
stance, to combat the position of the Dock Surveyor,
who, not having the fear of the alderman before his
eyes, recently " volunteered his opinion that further
extension of dock accommodation was required by
the trade of the port." That opinion, our readers
may remember, was a very strong one. It was
stated by AIL Hartley, that such increased accom-
modation was urgent—as urgent as when he first
came to Liverpool, in 1824 ;—and when we look at
the vast increase of space which, since then, has
been covered with docks, and look at the admitted
fact that the trade of the port is now increasing in
a ratio equal with that of its past increase, such ur-
gency will readily be admitted by men whose minds
are not preoccupied by their own particular crotch-
ets. It is urged, in reply, by the editorial alder-
man, that the inconvenience now sustained by the
shipping trade would be obviated by the " simple
putting up," in the three southern docks, so con-
nected at present as to render it impossible to " let
dry" each separately, of dock gates in reverse—
an operation not quite so simple, perhaps, as Mr.
Evans supposes—and by the increased facility for
discharging, and the increased space afforded, when
the Albert Dock and his pet warehouses shall be
completed. We contend, on the contrary, that such
remedies are totally inadequate to the evil at present
existing; that giving Mr. Evans the benefit of the
fullest realization of his hopes, with respect to the
working of his warehouse scheme, and his " simple
putting up" of transverse gates, to disconnect, when
required, the three southern docks, the additional
dock accommodation gained will barely carry us on
to the period at which the earliest portion of the
measures contended for by the majority of the Dock
Committee could be brought into operation. And
such, we need not say, is the opinion of nine prac-
tical men out of ten.

In corroboration, however, of this view of the
case, we have the return, just published, of the
number of days during which the flag has been
hoisted, to denote that our existing docks were
closed against the admission of shipping during the
past twelve months.

The Waterloo and Victoria have thus been closed 175 days.
The Prince's .. 255 „

.302 „

George's
Average of North Docks, 7 months and 27 days.

King's
Queen's ll3 „
Union and Coburg 137 „
Tosteth ... .
Average of South Docks, 3 months and 13 days.

Brunswick, the only convenient timber dock .. 251 „
Canning.....
Salthouse

Average of entire Docks, 4 months 26 days.

Average, exclusive of Canning and Salthouse, 5 months

25 days.
This vast deficiency, and the inconvenience occa-
sioned by it, the completion of the docks now erect-
ing, and of the warehouses, can do no more than
make up for ; and we have therefore still to provide
for future demand for dock accommodation.
In what direction, then, are we to look for the
land required ? Mr. Evans contends for " the great
superiority which the Corporation land at the North
Shore possesses" over the Harrington property " for
dock and commercial purposes." Is that site, we
ask, superior to the South Shore, for the timber
trade, already established at that end of the town,
provided at a vast expense with the necessary offices
and yards, and having its principal dock filled for
eight months and eleven days out of the past twelve
months ? No man will assert either that the timber
trade does not require increased accommodation, or
that the removal of any portion of it to the North
Shore is advisable or practicable. Independently of
local advantages—of the trade being already esta-
blished in the south—the greater exposure of the
north to currents and tides, points out that as the
most unfavourable which could be selected.

Again, where would Mr. Evans locate the dock,
now day by day more imperiously called for, for
the accommodation of our large Transatlantic
steamers, and, indeed, for our coasting steamers,
some of which cannot at present be adequately ac-
commodated, and for one of which—a Glasgow
steamer—the entrance of Clarence Dock has had to
be cut down ? Obviously, it is desirable that the
north end should be the site of such a dock, and
that the navigation of the river should not be ren-
dered dangerous by the constant passing and re-
passing of these steamers to and from the south end.

But it is not upon the ground of merely tempo-
rary necessity or expediency that we advocate the
carrying into effect of this resolution of the Dock
Committee. Such a body, invested with such large
powers, and having under their care such vast in-
terests, ought to look beyond the wants of the hour
—ought to possess that common forecast which in-
dividuals exercise in the regulation of their private
affairs. They have an opportunity now of purchas-
ing the Harrington estate—which no reasonable
man can deny will at no distant period be wanted,
if even the accommodation which it is capable of
affording be not greatly wanted now—at a price
(31s. 6d. per square yard) which every competent
professional man consulted has declared to be below
its real value. They have an opportunity, too, of
purchasing the north strand to Beacon's Gutter, at
a price less than they will be able to do when, as
Mr. Evans himself states, they will have made that
strand into valuable land. If such purchases ought
not to be made, then we say Mr. Alderman Evans
is about as inconsistent a man, and as forgetful of
his former declared opinions, as any that we ever
met with. Perhaps we may be excused if we call
the attention of that gentleman to the following ex-
tract from a memorial, emanating from a meeting of
dock ratepayers, held on the 21st of September,
1832 :

" When they," the Dock Committee, " made the
King's and George's Dock, instead of purchasing for
themselves at the outset the strand to the westward of
the Dock Trust, they allowed the intermediate land, un-
purchased, to be enclosed by the sea walls advanced
into the river at the expense of Dock Estate,"—the
same operation now going on northward of the boundary
of that estate ; - " and after the strand so enclosed had
been filled up with excavations from the docks, and thereby
made ground for building, on part of it they" the Cor-
poration, " made yards and small docks, or basins,
which they have let off at considerable rents, and on the
part to the westward of the King's Dock they built the
present Tobacco Warehouse, for which they received
from the crown and merchants an annual income of
L 6,000."
Now, if the Dock Estate had been represented by
trustees distinct from the Common Council, (a body
alike hound by oath and interest to support the Corpora-
tion,) it may reasonably be presumed that these inde-
pendent trustees, looking with a single eye to the interest
of the docks, would have had the common forecast to
purchase from the Corporation the strand required for
dock purposes, before it was reclaimed from the waters
of the Mersey at the expense of the Duck Trust."
And who do our readers imagine was the most
active amongst the very influential parties by whom
this memorial was adopted ? Why, Mr. Alderman
Evans himself—the same most consistent personoye

TH E LIVERPOO

who now discountenances that very forecast policy
which, ten years ago, he so strenuously advocated!
We shall not follow our new editorial acquaint-
ance through all the calculations and assumptions of
comparative cost with which he has favoured us,
further than to undeceive our fellow-townsmen with
respect to the asserted enormous addition to the
debt of the dock estate—to the amount, we are told,
of a million and a half—which is to be the result of
these purchases. The securing of the land is all
that is contended for ; and that object, with the
docks in the first instance contemplated, can be
achieved with an outlay of under half a million.
There are few men, save the alderman himself, who
will maintain that the same amount of benefit, pre-
sent and prospective, can be secured by the expen-
diture of an equal sum in the erection of his favour-
ite dock warehouses.

Independent of a little bitterness of feeling, known
to exist in the mind of Mr. Evans towards the Har-
rington Company, and which he gratifies by an
unjustifiable attack upon the motives of that body,
and upon those of a gentleman—(the mover of the
resolution in the committee, whom he represents as
" recently the chairman of the Harrington Dock
Association," when he might have known that that
gentleman had retired from office a year before the
act of parliament was obtained, and is now not even
a shareholder)—the animus of the present energetic
opposition of the alderman is easily seen through.
Extend the boundary of the dock estate, and Mr.
Evans's pet warehouse scheme sustains a " heavy
blow and a great discouragement." Coop up that
boundary, by the erection of valuable property
around it, and enclosed docks with warehouses are
assumed to be our only resource! This is distinctly
admitted in the article under notice. " Had the
advocates of dock warehouses," says the writer,
" listened to suggestions urged upon them by insi-
dious or timid advisers, to go for an open dock, and
to take chance for getting warehouses afterwards,
Liverpool would never have seen a warehouse upon
the dock quays; and if the present attempts to im-
pose open docks upon the public succeed, the fur-
ther acquisition of those invaluable instruments of
trade, dock warehouses, will be rendered for ever
unattainable." Cruel deprivation ! May the pro-
phecy be realized; and so it will be if the council
and the public can once be convinced that this op-
position of the worthy alderman is only the ware-
house movement in a new and ad captandum shape!

We have abstained hitherto from referring, ex-
cept incidentally, to the municipal contest, to be
decided on the first of the ensuing month. The
near approach of that period, however, leads us to
enter upon an examination of the prospects of the
Conservative cause, and the characters of the re-
spective candidates about to he submitted to the
choice of the constituencies. In doing this, how-
ever, at a time when the whole of the candidates in
the Whig inte est are not officially announced, and
some not even hinted at, we would earnestly caution
our Conservative friends against placing the least
dependence upon the apparent inactivity of their
opponents. We told them, months ago, that the
organization of the Radical faction throughout the
borough, was perfect ; that, if they seemed to sleep
up to the last moment, they would start up with
unexpected vigour, when it might be too late to re-
pel their onset ; and we tell them now advisedly and
seriously, that on the day of election they will find
in every ward a candidate, with a body of canvassers,
prepared to strain every nerve in the effort to secure
once more the predominance of Whig-Radicalism in
the corporate body. It will be, Conservatives may
depend upon it, no light struggle in which they are
about to engage. It will require no slight amount
of energy and perseverance to carry them to a suc-
cessful issue; and we implore them, therefore, to
lose not a moment in devoting themselves to active
preparation for the day of conflict; to pause not one
moment in their exertions, until the final close of
the poll assures them that their exertions are
crowned with triumph, or that they have been put
forth in vain.

In glancing over the names of the candidates
proposed for the various wards, we must be excused
if we pass somewhat briefly over those of some of
our friends, against whose return, although an op-
position may, and undoubtedly will, be offered, if
only to deprive the candidates in other wards of
their double votes, we are confident that such oppo-
sition will be vain. Thus, in No. 1, Everton Ward,
we have Mr. David Hodgson, at present unopposed ;
and in his recommendation we feel' that we need say
nothing. In No. 2, however, Scotland Ward, we
have as the retiring candidate, Mr. W. Thornhill ;
and of him we feel bound to say a few words.
If to have been the tool, and the thoroughgoing,
and wholesale one, of the Whig faction be a
recommendation to the Conservatives of the ward
to be inert and divided in their efforts, then Mr.
Thornhill is the man of all the retiring Council
whose claims are most to be respected. He is op-
posed by a " good man and true"—a man of in-
fluence in the ward—Mr. Vernon; and if the Con-
servative constituents respect themselves, they will
not leave an effort unmade to secure a triumphant
result of the contest..

For Vauxhall Ward, we have at present as a can-
didate, on the "liberal" side, Dr. Chalmer—not
him of pulpit fame, but the same disciple of Escu-
lapius who has heretofore been rejected by St.
Anne's and other wards. Surely the Conservative
party will not allow such a man to walk the course
In St. Paul's Mr. Blundell, the retiring member,
in whose praise we need not say a single word,, is
opposed in the Radical interest by Mr. Deakin—
also one of the rejected.

. In Exchange Ward Mr. Thomas Sands, the
present respected member, is opposed by Mr.G. Holt.

In Castle-street, Mr. James Aikin stands, so far,
unopposed.
In Pitt-street, the retiring candidate, Mr. Toul-
rnin, comes forward again, and is as yet unopposed.

For Great George, R odiley-street, and Abercromby
Wards, the candidates are Messrs. Sothern, W.
Birkett, and C. Boutflower. To none of these gen-
tlemen is opposition at present offered ; or, we feel
assured, can be successfully offered.
In Lime-street Ward, however, we feel that an
arduous contest is before us. Mr. Kilshaw, the
retiring member, stands in the Conservative interest,
and has already gathered round him a body of
strenuous supporters, who are fighting his battle
manfully—as well indeed as he deserves that they
should. Although seldom presenting himself be-
fore the public as a speaker, there is not in the
council a harder worker, or a more stanch member
of the Conservative party. That such a member
should be lost to the council, and to his constituents,
would be to us a subject of deep regret ; and we,
therefore, earnestly entreat of every Conservative
in the ward to be unceasingly active, and, above
all, of those who possess influence amongst the con-
stituency, to rally to his side. Ile is opposed to one
of the picked men of the Whig-radical party—one
who, if elected, would prove a thorn in the side of
the Conservatives; and we need not assure our
friends in the ward that no effort will be left untried
to place the Whig-radical lawyer in a position upon
the poll above that of the good specimen of an
Englishman who no represents the ward;