The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-20 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS

The Paris journals are much occupied with Sir Robert
Peel's new tariff, and, generally speaking, condemn it.
We understand that Sir Allan M'Nab, to whose gallant
conduct in the Canadian troubles the country owes so much,
is expected in Edinburgh on Saturday next.—Caledonian
Mercury.

IlilcHEN.—Great consternation is occasioned here by the
sudden and much-lamented death of Joseph Margetts Pier-
son, Esq., banker. The firm have, for the present, sus-
pended their payments • but there will be a meeting of the
creditors within a few days, and we rejoice to learn that such
a statement of the affairs will then be produced as must prove
highly satisfactory.—Hertford Reformer.
LEGACY AND PROBATE DUTIES.—From a recent parlia-
mentary return, we find that the following were the total
amounts, omitting fractions of pounds, received in the year
1841 (ended sth January 1842) for stamp duty on legacies,
and on probates, administrations, and testamentary invento-

ries :

Legacies. Probates, tkc
England and Wales £1,109,317 £915,354
Scotland 69,787 57,955

Great Britain
Ireland .....

1,179,004
30,020

973,309
38,564

Totals..
The total duty received since 1797 to the sth January last
has been :

Legacies. Probates, &c.
England and Wales .... £32,136,634 £25,504,823
Scotland

Ireland.

609,840

940;089

£34,609,230 £27,719,854
The amount of capital, on which the several rates of legacy
duty was paid in Great Britain, in 1841, was £41,476,521;
in Ireland, £2,487,262 ; and the total amount since 1797 was
£1,163,284,207 ; of which the three principal amounts were
£568,412,956 at £1 per cent. duty, £293,855,817 at £3 per
cent. duty, and £124,851,536 at £lO per cent. duty.
How TO ASCERTAIN THE GROWTH OF CABBAGE.—
James Boardman, a tailor, residing at Little Hulton, was
summoned for refusing to give up a coat, the property of
Richard Markland, a farmer. As soon as the case was an-
nounced the tailor stepped forth in " awful majesty" to make
his statement, and the court was in consequence, somewhat
puzzled to know who was the complainant. The mystery,
however, was soon unravelled, and it appeared that the com-
plainant, who never parts with six pennyworth of copper
without counting it, had taken a coat to be made by defend-
ant, and had made a bdrgain that 6s. 6d. should be the price
of making. On the day appointed the coat was in readiness,
and " the fit" was considered to be good ; but complainant
had taken the precaution to weigh the cloth and trimmings
before they were placed in defendant's possession, and on ar-
riving at his home, and re-weighing his cloth he found that
he was a pound and a quarter deficient, amounting, as he
said, to nearly a yard of cloth ! The coat was therefore
taken back again and thrown down, with a feeling of indig-
nation, and the tailor has, according to his own account, re-
tained it to clear his own character. The defendant said it
was a very "mysterious" affair ; that he never knew an in-
stance of cloth being weighed before the tailor had it, except
on one occasion, previously, and exhibited what he called
" tailors' fruits," but what are more significantly designated
" cabbage," to make up the deficiency. The magistrates
had no power to adjudicate upon it ; but they very ingeni-
ously advised complainant to " try the fit" of the coat, and
the moment he had obtained possession of it, ordered him to
keep it. The tailor wished to claim " the fruits" as his
rights, but these also complainant got possession of, yet,
notwithstanding all, was not a gainer, as, on the case being
dismissed, he had to pay 3s. 6d. costs.—Bolton Chronicle.

FIREPROOF MILL.—A factory has recently been erected in
Duke-street, by R. F. Alexander and Co., of such a con-
struction as to secure it against the effects of fire. The
premises of these gentlemen having been on more than one
occasion nearly totally consumed by fire, they determined to
be independent of a fire establishment, and resolved to erect
a mill which, as far as art can go, should be fireproof. It is
a building of 209 feet in length, by 35 in breadth, built of

stone, and four stories high. -The lower storey is built to the
street, of droved ashler, and the next, which may be called
the street flat, the other being partially sunk, is composed of

. .
rock or frosted work, with an archway at each end, more like
the entrance to a baronial residence than the entrance to a
thread mill. The upper flats are fronted in rather an uni9ue

style, being what is technically called " debbed ashler,f' a
style of work almost unknown in this country. To be inde-
pendent of insurance offices and fire-engines, the joists are of

cast iron, on which arches are to be raised to support a floor
of a fireproof composition, and the roof is to be of the same
material, the water flowing from the roof to be retained in a
cistern to be used for the water closets. We have very seldom
indeed seen a building which reflected greater credit on the

builder than this ; and much as we have-seen of the handi-
work of Mr. Thomas Binnie, we suspect this will eclipse all
of them.—Glavilow Guardian.
THE CREOLE NEGROES.—The

New York Express con-