The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-17 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLOBE

Cornhill, May 13, 1842.
S
R,—Having been directed to correct a misstatement in
the Morning Herald of the 11th instant, regarding this
Company, to the effect that the Phoenix, Sun, and Globe are
the chief offices concerned in the loss at the calamitous fire in
the city of Hamburgh, I have to request you will insert in
the Globe, for the satisfaction of the numerous parties hold-
ing shares in the Company, that this office never had an
agent in Hamburgh, nor effected any insurances on property
there.—l am Sir, your obedient servant,
I. C. DENHAM, Secretary.

FOR SALE,
By PRIVATE CONTRACT,
A good FAMILY HOUSE, situated in Stanley-street,

, Watergate, Chester.
For particulars apply to EDMUND HARDMAN.
Globe-office, Exchange-buildings, 10th May, 1842.

Ebe ktbrrpool &tanbarri.

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 17, 1842.

It will be observed that, on Wednesday next, the in-
habitants of Liverpool will hold a meeting in the Ses-
sions-house, for the purpose of agreeing upon a sub-
scription for the relief of the distressed sufferers from
the recent awful calamity at Hamburgh. We sincerely
trust that our town will not be found wanting in the
cause of humanity, upon this, as she has rarely been
on any occasion when her sympathies have been ap-
pealed to. The noble effort now making in the city of
London has already shown us the example ; and Liver-
pool, the second commercial city in the empire, will
not, we are confident, be found lagging behind in the
march of philanthropy.
We cannot, however, whilst noticing this prompt-
ness, evinced by the mercantile public of Great Britain,
in coming forward to the relief of suffering in another
country, refrain from expressing our regret at the cir-
cumstance—pointed out by a correspondent of the
London Times—that no similar effort has been made
to alleviate (for, alas ! in this case philanthropy can only
alleviate) the distress in which a calamity, equally, if
not even more, heartrending, has recently plunged
thousands of British subjects. To the widows and
orphans of the gallant British soldiers slaughtered in
the passes of Cabool no munificent relief has been
stretched out. Over the bloodstained graves of these
betrayed victims no sympathizing hand has planted the
willow; around their desolated hearths no charitable
care has been found scattering—all we can afford them
—the means of temporal comfort and consolation.
This is not as it should be. Surely we owe it, (if not
in gratitude, at least in justice and prudence,) to those
true hearted men who go forth to fight our battles in
distant lands, that they should be taught to feel that
when a wide spread calamity, such as that sustained in
India, crushes its thousands in one fell swoop, a
British public will not suffer the widows and orphans,
which they leave upon our shores, to sink overwhelmed
under the double pressure of bereavement and hopeless
poverty.

We noticed some months ago an attempt, on the
part of the proprietors of the port of Fleetwood, to
impress upon the merchants and dealers of Manches-
ter and the neighbourhood the superior eligibility of
that port, in comparison with Liverpool, as one of tran-
sit for merchandise and produce to and from Ireland.
We have now, however, to remark upon a much bolder
flight on the part of the same imaginative gentlemen.
The port of Fleetwood, we are now told, is not only
the best port for the coasting trade, but for the foreign
trade as well ! The cotton of America is no longer to
be borne up the waters of the Mersey—is no longer to
occupy the docks and the warehouses, or to employ
the merchants and brokers of the port of Liverpool ;
but to be landed at Fleetwood and transmitted from
thence by railway to its destination—Manchester and
the surrounding district—whilst Liverpool, we pre-
sume, with this terrible competitor on the one side and
the port of Runcorn on the other, is to sink rapidly
into the comparative insignificance out of which she
has within the last half century risen.

This startling announcement has been conveyed to
us by the proceedings of a recent meeting of proprie-
tors of the Fleetwood-on-Wire Railway. We here
quote the passage, proofs and all :
" Mr. Philpots trusted that when Captain Denham's sur-
vey was completed, means would be taken by the Directors
to make the result known In the United States of America,
as he was sure that vessels from that country could unload at
Fleetwood more cheaply than at Liverpool. (Hear, hear.)

" Mr. Algar thought no better proof of the estimation in
which the port of Fleetwood was held could be adduced than
the fact, that the house of Lizardi and Co., of London, had,
from the representation of one of their agents, who had
personally examined the port, consigned to Fleetwood a ves-
sel from New Orleans with 2,000 bales of cotton instead of
to Liverpool. (Hear, hear.)

" Mr. Say had understood that the port dues and other
charges at Fleetwood were much less than those at Liver-
pool.

- " The Chairman said, the fact was so, and referred in
proof to the printed statement, which was lying on the table.
On vessels of five hundred tons, (cotton in and coal out.)
LIVERPOOL CHARGES. £. S. d.
Harbour dues and local lights, at Is. ild. per
ton ln 40 12 G
Out 40 12 6
If ft
19
Anchorage 0 1 6
Pilotage in and out, 14 feet, at 9s. per foot 1 In 6 6 0
in, and 4s. out
Lights at &Id. per ton, (outer lighta) ln 13 0 5
f f tf SO
Out 13 0 5

£ll6 9 4

FLEETWOOD CHARGES
LightsHarbour3d.
dues, 3d. per ton:
Ditto Peel lights, 3d. „
Pilotage ..£3 10s.
In 1 66 0
.C 2 16.
Outer lights, £l2 Ils. 2d ... .
91 1:12 14s. 2d.
Difference on ship in favour of Fleetwood..... 25 8 4

6 5 0
6 5 0
6 5 0

66 0 0

4
" The Secretary said, that even now goods could £ll6
be con.veyed more cheaply from the manufacturing districts by
Fleetwood to Manchester, than by Liverpool."
Our first business must be with these statements of
" charges, " which, being " printed statements " and
" laid upon the table," by authority of the chairman
and directors, it is natural to suppose have been pre-
pared with some pretensions to accuracy. By these
statements it will be seen that the Fleetwood " charges"
upon entering and clearing a vessel of 500 tons bur-

then are £5O. 9s. 4d., whilst those upon the same ves-
sel in the port of Liverpool are stated at £ll6. 9s. 4d.,

thus showing a difference of £66 in favour of the port
of Fleetwood. As we have no means of checking the
various items which compose the Fleetwood charges,
we shall assume them to be correct. They bear, in..
deed, that appearance. But in the Liverpool charges,

_ _ ... .
the first glance, we detect an error of 1:40. 12s. Gd.

under the head of " harbour dues and local lights, at
is. 71d. per ton," which those of our readers familiar
with the subjecewill recognise as the dues paid at the
Dock-office when reporting a vessel inwards, and only
paid once instead
asis hereofbei asngcshuamd. charged again upon the out-
warde voyage,By this correction
the difference of £66 claimed as being saved upon the
voyage, in and out, at Fleetwood, is reduced to X 25
12s. Bd.

It will be said, however, that this, even, is a very
important saving in the charges of a vessel of 500 tons;
and, for the sake of argument, we will admit it to he
so. But let us bear in mind that this is only an in-
complete transaction. The cotton at Fleetwood has to
be carried to Manchester—(for it is said that to that
town, even, Fleetwood is the cheapest route) ; and we
have, therefore, the inland carriage by the two routes
to compare. Now, low as the fares are at present upon
the Preston and \Vyre Railway, (along which merchan-
dise from Fleetwood, en route to Manchester, must
pass,) there is, we believe, in the inland carriage, add-
ing porterage at Liverpool, a saving in favour of that
port, as the port for the manufacturing districts, suffi-
cient to compensate for the difference of port charges
at Fleetwood. We know, moreover, that at the pre-
sent rates of carriage upon the railway from that port
to Preston, the proprietors are heavy losers ; (as much
as £4,000 have been lost in working the line during
the past year;) and we may therefore fairly conclude
that in the event of any large trade being entrapped to
the new port, the railway proprietors would promptly
step in and claim, at least, saving if not even exorbitant
remuneration.

We will not so far insult the understanding of our

readers as to institute any comparison between the two
ports upon general grounds. We need scarcely say
that few—very few—people would, unless in consider-
ation of an extra freight, consign cargoes of cotton, or

any other cargoes, to a port from which no return car-
goes can be got, except coals, and in which there is
no market for the commodity itself when landed. We
have only alluded to the subject to suggest to the gen-
tlemen by whom these statements have been put forth
that it would be honest at least, before adventuring
upon a crusade in the United States in behalf of their

pet projects, to make the correction in their compara-
tive calculations of charges which we have pointed out :
for unless our friend George Thomson is to he their
" Peter the Hermit," we know of no man who could
have the face to go before an intelligent American
merchant with a case so 'grossly mendacious and silly
as that under our notice.

The existing arrangement by which the East and
West Indian, Meditteranean, Levant and peninsular
mail steamers are compelled to take on board and deli-
ver their mails at the port of Fahnouth, has, at length,
by the inefficiency of its working, drawn forth a demand
from the merchants of London, for one of a more prac-
tical and convenient character. On Thursday last a
meeting was held at the London Tavern, which was at-
tended by the leading members of the several interests
affected, to the number of about 200, at which, although
'differing with respect to the port to be selected—(the ma-
jority favouring Southampton, whilst a considerable mi-
nority were in favour of Dartmouth)—the present port
—Falmouth—was, by common consent, condemned ;
and, as the result of the proceedings, a memorial to the
Commissioners of the Treasury, praying that the mails
might be forwarded from Southampton instead'of Fal-
mouth, was put and carried.
We should, perhaps, not have alluded here to this
meeting but for some remarks which dropped from
tsl o of the speakers in the course of the proceedings.
It is a tolerably well understood fact that it would be
almost as difficult to persuade any given number of
Londoners, of any class whatever, that the wishes and
interests of LONDON were not to be considered before
those of all the kingdom besides as it would be to con-
vince his sublimity, the brother of the sun and moon,
that the entire people of Great Britain are not, at this
moment, trembling before the awful threatenings of his
exterminating edicts. It may, therefore, be conceived
that the claims of Liverpool, Manchester, &c. to be con-
sidered in the settlement of a question such as that be•
fore the meeting at the London Tavern, are not altoge-
ther insignificant, when we find them prominently urged
by two of the most influential speakers, and made the
object of an amendment upon the original motion pro-
posed. Mr. Divett, M.P., one of the gentlemen to
whom we allude, in a speech containing much sound
argument, confirming many of the views which we have
advanced in favour of Liverpool, as the best port for
the dispatch of the West India mails—maintained that
the question to be considered was not one merely as to
the comparative advantages of Falmouth, Dartmentl),
and Southampton, but to determine " how they could
best obtain an impartial review of the whole subject."
They must look at it as one " in which the interests of
the whole country was involved; one in which the mer-
chants of Manchester and Liverpool, as well as those of
London, were to be considered."

Now, we beg to suggest to our local authorities that
when the claims of our town are thus taken up for us
—before a tribunal, too, so convinced of its own self-
sufficiency and overwhelming importance as a meeting
of London merchants—surely it is time that our own
voice was raised in our own behalf ! If the local au-
thorities of Liverpool will not lead in a matter so vitally
affecting the interests of the port and its inhabitants,
surely they will follow, when even opponents of their
claims urge the right of Liverpool to be heard ! A few
months ago, when advocating the advantages possessed
by this port as the station of one of the mails in ques-
tion—the West India mails—we were told that the time
had passed by—that it was too late—that the arrange-
ments of Government were already made, and would
not be disturbed. Here, however, we have the voice of
the metropolis, for whose especial convenience the ar-
rangements in question were concluded, crying out
upon their inefficiency—demanding alteration—and
expressly acknowledging our right to be considered be-
fore making that alteration. In the name of common
sense, then, let our authorities put in their claim, if
not with respect to all, at least with respect to the West
India mails ; and do not let us again be told,—if we
find ourselves excluded from consideration and sub-
mitted to the endless and manifold inconveniences
which must attend the permanent selection of South-
ampton as the port of arrival and departure of these
mails—that it is too late to move !

Our contemporary the Journal, without excepting
against the "good temper " with which we treated his
demand for the admission of reporters to the Watch
Committee, is anxious that we should give the subject
greater consideration ; and, particularly, that we should
" refresh our memory by perusing our own articles on
the admission of 'reporters to the Dock Committee."
We should really be willing to treat the proposition of
the Journal with more serious consideration, if we
could he convinced that it is seriously put forward ;
and we would even recur to the arguments which we
advanced, in favour of the admission of the press to
the meetings of the Dock Committee, if we could see
any parity of circumstances in the two cases. We
would do this, and more—we would take up the advo-
cacy of the Journal's demand—if we could satisfy our-
selves that the public have any earnest care to know
the sayings (they can learn the doings already, if they
wish to learn them, from the monthly reports of the
Council) of this particular body.
We cannot, however, think that our contemporary
is in earnest in making his demand. We can see no.
thing in the functions of the Watch Committee, or in
the business committed to its management, which can
at all entitle that body to be placed in the same cate-
gory as the Dock Committee. The control of an es-
tate so vast as that of the Dock property of Liverpool,
the press may reasonably claim to scrutinize and re-
flect to the public ; but the mere details which consti-
tute the business of the Watch Committee—discus-
sions upon the orthodox length of a policeman's
truncheon, the number of nails in his shoes or stripes
upon his armlet—are matters with which we have po-
sitively no inclination to fill our columns, and the pub-
lic no great inclination to meddle. We can already,
through the Council, know all that we require to know
of the proceedings of the Watch y.
bod Committee as a
We can already scrutinize their conduct as a body ;
and we can dispense with a knowledge of the sayings
and doings of particular members of that body.
We must still, moreover, urge our fear that the pre-
sence of reporters in the Watch and other subordinate
committees would tend to convert those, which ought
to be working bodies, into debating bodies. We have
not the slightest objection that the world should know
who are the workers upon any committee ; but that
.knowledge can be acquired by a return being made to
every monthly Council of the attendances of each mem-
ber at the various meetings. Anything further, we
are convinced, would only lead to a multiplication of
prolix speeches not worth the cost of the " midnight
oil" wasted in their preparation; and to the conversion
of not a few gentlemen, who are at present good work-

ing members of committees, into perfect oratorical
pumps—artesian wells of eloquence, eternally bubbling
over and threatening ultimately to bewilder and over-
whelm the world with visions of watchmen's rattles
and blank verse rhapsodies upon the proper form and
metal of a policeman's button.