The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-06-14 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE, MANUFACTURES, Scc

Our market for cotton during the past week has been less
lively, yet has maintained considerable firmness, notwith-
standing the temporary check which business appears to have
sustained in the manufacturing districts, since the arrival of
the last India mail. The dispcsition to stand out for ad-
vanced prices has subsided, and 26,610 bales have been sold
during the wcek. Of these speculators have taken 2500, and
exporters 2010, leaving 22,100 bales taken for consumption.
On Saturday we had again a quiet market, the buyers hav-
ing the advantage, and 3100 bales were sold. Yesterday 4000
bales changed hands, a few hundreds for speculation.
Business in the mai tufacturing districts has relapsed into
its former ruinous Etat r, the bad prospects from the East

having, confessedly, had the most material influence in para.
lizing the improvement which we noticed a fortnight ago.
In the country trade, too, little is doing, and a few failures
which are mentioned have deepened the feeling of gloom
which hangs over the market.

STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE CORN MAR-
KET, AND OPERATION OF 'TIE NEW Law.

We have now had a month's experience of the working of
Sir Robert Peel's amended corn law ; and if the intent of
such law was to put (town that tampering with the averages
which alternately withholds supply, until a famine price is
attained, and then gluts the market with a large stock at a.
nominal duty ; if it was designed to secure regular and mo-
derate prices, and, at the same time, a regular trade—as we
submit Was the object of its supporters—the experience which
we have sO. far had must, we think, afford sufficient proof of
its entire success. We shall endeavour to collate together a
few particulars which will perhaps suffice to afford our rea-
ders the means of forming a judgment for themselves; and
dispel the illusions with which the interested advocates of
ultra free-trade doctrines—and especially our wise contem-
porary the Liverpool Times and others—have sedulously
striven for weeks past to surround the subject.
The duties under the amended scale became payable on
the 2d of May, at which time we held under bond, in Liver-
Pool, about one-fourth of the entire stock of foreign grain
in Great Britain ; viz., 209,032 quarters of wheat, and
165,166 barrels of flour. We had at the same time in the
market 25,000 quarters offree wheat, 5,000 barrels and 5,000
sacks of freeflour. On the 31st of May, after four weeks'
operation, the stock of foreign wheat in bond was estimated
at 229,136 quarters, showing an increase of 20,000 quarters,
or one-tenth of the entire stock on hand. Of flour, how-
ever, the quantity of bonded was only 111,548 barrels, or a
decrease of 53,618,—which will render the stock of both
descriptions as nearly as possible equal at the two periods.
The quantity of free wheat on the 31st of May was 20,000
quarters, and of free flour 30,000 barrels and 3,000 sacks,
from which we can assure ourselves that, since the operation
of the duties commenced, importation and the payment of
duty for consumption have gone nearly hand in hand. A
few days, however, will perhaps make a considerable altera-
tion in this balanced state of things. The last average de-
clared, reduced the duty from 12s. per quarter to Ils., and
some people were sanguine with respect to a further reduc-
tion. Some, in fact, went so far as to prognosticate a reduc-
tion to the lowest point ; and, consequently, importers and
consumers have deferred releasing their stocks. The excel-
lent accounts, however, of the approaching harvest, and the
prospect of its being some weeks earlier than was anticipated,
has caused speculation to flag. Prices are declining instead
of rising ; and in all probability our next week's circulars
will show large entries for duty at the present rate of eleven
shillings per quarter.

It must be borne in mind that the stock of wheat in
farmers' hands was never lower than at this period, and con-
sequently that there was never a fairer opportunity presented
for speculators to work upon the fears of alarmists. Yet
what has speculation been able to effect upon prices ? On
the week previous to the operation of the new law the price
per quarter throughout England was 61s. ; on the Gth May
it was declared at 60s. Bd.; on the 13th at 595. 9d. ; on the
20th at 60s. 9d. ; on the 27th at Gls. 10d., and on the 3d
June at 635. Gd. It is now, we expect, on the decline, and
will continue so until harvest. Again, has foreign importa-
tion been able materially to swell our stocks? It has not;
for although we have had an absolute certa:,ity of the duty
this year not rising higher than 13s. per quarter, the rate at
which the scale came first into operation, and it has since
declined successively to 12s. and now to lls., yet the stock,
as we have shown, remains at the same point as on the 2d

of May

The operation of the new law, then, by permitting the
introduction of a moderate supply of foreign grain for
consumption, when prices were still at a moderate rate,
has protected alike the farmer and the revenue from the
consequences of an inordinate importation, at a nominal
rate of duty, during the present season. At a duty of
lls. to 12s. we may now assure ourselves that, except
in seasons of extraordinary abundance, a regular trade
will take place; and although it may be thought that a
favourable harvest this season will act as a prohibition, yet
we are scarcely satisfied that such will be the fact. For it
must be borne in mind, that from the deteriorated condition
of a great portion of the wheats, upon which the average for
the regulation of duty is at present being made up, we are
paying the present duty of lls. per quarter upon a price
nearly 10s. lower than the market value of sound well-har-
vested grain. A good harvest therefore, although it may
lower the value of good wheats nearly 10s. per quarter, may
probably give a merely nominal addition to the existing duty
upon foreign importations. We fully anticipate that this
will be the case ; that the duty will rarely exceed 125.: that,
in fact, as we originally calculated, it will range between Gs.
and 12s. ; and that we shall thus always be able to command
a timely supply of foreign grain, for mixing purposes, at a
moderate price and duty.
Surely this is a consummation which few advocates of a
fixed duly upon foreign corn, and no one who wishes the na-
tive agriculturer to receive adequate protection, can except
against !

On Friday, in the Cottrt of Queen's Bench, Dublin, judg-
ment was given in the presbyter-law marriage case. The
judges did not agree in opinion, and the question will, there-
fore, have to be decided by a higher tribunal.
CoNsumpnoN.—We draw attention to Mr. Conin's lec-
ture on consumption, which he will deliver at the Portico on
Wednesday. The lecture will be gratis, and all interested in
the subject are invited to attend. Mr. Cronin's mode of
cure and theory is, we believe, novel.
THEATRE-ROYAL.-Mr. Selby's new drama of " Maxi-
mums and Speciments of William Muggins " was produced
on Thursday, and has run since with increasing success. All
the parts are good ones. It is full of life, bustle, and smart-
ness, and throughout keeps the audience in a roar. Mrs.
Warner and Mr. George Vandenhoff are starring it at pre-
sent. To-night " The Stranger " will be performed. Mrs.
Warner is the finest Mrs. Haller on the stage.

THE WEATHER.—During the whole of last week, and es-
pecially on Saturday and Sunday, the heat was most intense.
On Sunday the thermometer stood as high as 859 in the shade,
and 1090 in the sun. Early on Monday morning, however,
the rain began to fall very heavily, accompanied with a slight
storm of thunder and lightning. Several showers of rain also
fell in the course of yesterday, which will, no doubt, tend to
forward vegetation very materially, as the ground in this
neighbourhod was until then in a very parched condition.
The weather is still excessively hot.

JUVENILE THIEtES.—On Saturday last, two ragged lads
who had been loitering about the house of Mr. John Con-
nor, in Crown-street, were placed before Mr. Rushton yes-
terday, at the police-court, on suspicion of having committed
a felony. It appeared that while the inmates vtere up stairs,
some person or persons effected an entrance into the house
from the back, and purloined six silver tea-spoons, marked
with the letters R.W.8., a silver fork and silver table-spoon,
bearing a French standard mark and the initials N.B. None
of the property was, however, found on their persons ; and,
as there was no evidence of their being in the house, they
were discharged.
THE GOLD CURRENCY.—We are informed, that the

Branch Bank of England, in this town, will receive any
number of light sovereigns not less than twenty, allowing
the full bullion value for them, which will, in most cases,
be but a slight loss on the currency value. Some of our
principal tradesmen complain, that the new arrangement will
affect them very seriously ; and, no doubt, it will be felt as a
great inconvenience, not less by those whose transactions are
extensive than by the bulk of our small dealers. We have
heard that some parties have, since the proclamation was

made, purchased sovereigns at what they have declared to
be their bullion value, and have afterwards passed them as

regular currency

EFFECTS OF DRUNKEN'S
Malley was passing
Mr-. Linden, in Hur

—On Friday last, as Bryan
e public house of

intoxicated out of

head against the steps. He was taken up and conveyed into
the house, when it was discovered that he was dead.—On
Friday James Murphy, aged 40, went home to his lodgings
tipsy. He was a man of very intemperate habits. lie fell
asleep in a chair, and was shortly afterwards found in a lit of
apoplexy. Mr. Surgeon Cripps was called in, and lie made
every effort to restore the patient without effect. The unfor-
tunate man died in about half an hour. An inquest was held
on the case on Saturday, when Mr. Cripps gave it as his
opinion, that the deceased died of apoplexy caused by execs-
stae drinking. Verdict accordingly.

DRAINING OF THE NEW COURT-HOUSES.—A consider-
able quantity of water having been found in the excavation
for the foundation walls and cellaring of the new Assize
Courts, workmen are now busily engaged in commencing the
formation of a tunnel down Shaw's-brow' for the effectual
drainage of the site in question. Several eyes are already
sunk in the freestone rock which forms the substratum of
the locality—as of most of the elevated parts of the town.
Those at the top of the street appear to be from 10 to 12 feet
in depth ; those towards the bottom, 6to 7 feet. This depth
for the tunnel will, of course, be gradually decreased at the
bottom, where the brow terminates at its junction with the
bottom of Dale-street, where both are crossed by the Old
Haymarket and Byrom-street,—a situation so low, that, in
" the olden time," the tide frequently rose from the " pool"
below, on the site of Paradise-street and Whitechapel, which
formed (before the construction of the old dock) the harbour
for the then small marine of the port. The lower part of the
tunnel into the main sewer will, of course, be excavated and
arched with bricks.
THE WILIIEM SYSTEM OF TEACHING MUSIC APPLIED
TO THE ACQUISITION OF LANGUAGES.—Mons. De Balli-
court, a French gentleman who has taken up his abode in
Liverpool, as a teacher of music, is now engaged in an
attempt to apply the Wilhem system of teaching music to
the acquisition of the French language. Last evening he
delivered a lecture upon the subject before a large and re-
spectable miditory in the theatre of the Royal Institution,
Colquitt-street, by whom he was listened to with most
favourable attention. Behind the lecturer there was a
musical scale of one octave from C to C, and large printed
diagrams (if we may apply that term in such a case) of every
variation of the cases of the definite and indefinite article.
These were intended to illustrate the system after the lecture.
In expounding the principles of this new application, M. De
Ballicourt had to contend against the very formidable
difficulties of conveying his meaning in an idiom foreign to
his own, and against some degree of incredulity. He suc-
ceeded, however, in making himself perfectly intelligible,
and after a few oral explanations he induced several gentle-
men to attempt to pronounce the definite articles by apply-
ing them with a noun of both genders to the gamut as in
learning singing one would apply sol fa to the musical notes.
The pronunciation of the words was, as may be expected,
rapidly acquired ; and we have no doubt that as M. De
Ballicourt says, all the sounds in the language may be
permanently acquired by it. The lecture and the illustra-
tions occupied about an hour.
BAIL FOR COPELAND AGAIN REJECTED.—At the Police-
court on Monday, a respectable looking man, named Albert
Joseph Winter, tendered himself as the remaining surety for
Copeland, now imprisoned for the part he took in Miss Crel-
lin's case. He stated that he was a baker and grocer in
Thomas's-street, where he had resided for four years. He
paid £2O 10s. of rent, and had stock and furniture worth
upwards of £lOO. He had also five houses in Dublin, on
which he bad owed £5OO, but the amount was now nearly
paid off. He said he had received no promise of indemnity.
Thos. Ainsworth, senr., police officer, said that he had ex-
amined the premises and stock in Thomas'-street, and did
not consider the whole, if sold, would bring anything like
£loo.—Mr. Rushton said he had no means of ascertaining
the value of the property of the witness in Dublin, and from
what was stated of his premises and stock there, he should
not accept him. He must have sureties of whose validity
and means no doubt existed. The witness had very little
knowledge of Copeland, and had been called on by Mr. Lee
and another.—Mr. Snowball, who appeared for Miss Crellin,
and cross-examined the witness, informed the court that he
believed be could prove that Harper, who it bad been agreed
to receive as bail, had since had £lOO lodged as indemnity,
and had received £2O for his trouble.—Mr. Rushton said he
should have the matter sifted, and if it were so, he would also
reject Harper. The prisoner is, therefore, as far distant from
liberation on bail as he was at first ; and as the assizes are
not very far distant, the probability is that he will have to
remain in goal until he is brought up for trial.

COURT OF QUERN'S BENCH, FRIDAY.—EXPARTE BARRY
v. ARNAULD.-Mr. Erie moved for a rule to show cause
why a mandamus should not issue, commanding Mr. Arnanld,
the collector of the customs at Liverpool, to deliver to the
applicant, free of duty, a quantity of foreign wheat which
he claimed under the following circumstances :—The legis-
lature had agreed to a bill to regulate the importation of
foreign corn, and to impose a new scale of duties upon such
corn. That act (5 Vic. sess. 2, v. 14), received the royal
assent on Friday, the 29th of April, and under its provisions
former corn laws were repealed and new directions made
as to the taking of averages. These were to be certified on
the Thursdays in each week. Between the date of Friday,
the 29th of April, and the following Thursday, no certificates
showing the amount of duty to be levied upon the importa-
tion of foreign corn could be made out. A cargo of foreign
wheat arrived at Liverpool for the applicant in the interval
between these two days ; and as the new statute had repealed
all the old acts on the very day of its passing, and as no
authorised certificate could be issued till the following Thurs-
day, he claimed to have his wheat delivered to him duty-free.
The collector of customs, however, refused to deliver it, on
the general ground that the legislature never intended corn
to enter duty-free in this manner, and this application had,
therefore, become necessary to decide the question. This
particular course of applying for a mandamus would not
have been resorted to, but that it appeared that the decision
of this court on a former occasion, that an actip would lie
against a collector of customs for a breach ofghe revenue
laws, was now about to be questioned in the Court of Com-
mon Pleas, or by writ of error ; and, therefore, the applicant
came to this court for a mandamus, that his rights might not
be prejudiced merely on account of the delay. The court
said that of course his rights would not now be prejudiced
by delay, but at present the rule need not be granted. Rule
refused accordingly.

UNFOUNDED CHARGE.—At the police-court, on Friday,
a respectable young female, named Hannah Farraday,
daughter of a publican, was placed at the bar, charged with
having feloniously possessed herself of a £1 note, the pro-
perty of a man named William Rufferty. The complainant,
a big forward fellow, said that he and
one into some of his carraomd a-
nions had, on the previous day, g Mr. Fs
public-house, in Waterloo-road, and had each something to
drink. A dispute arose as to the payment for the glasses
they had drunk, and it was finally agreed that each should
pay for his own. The prisoner asked him for payment of
his, and (as he alleged) he pulled out and gave her a 30s.
country note, with which a£l note was wrapped up. She
gave him the change out of the 30s. note, and kept the other,
requiring also to be paid for what she would have to give for
exchanging the note for coin. He then said he would get
the note passed without paying anything, and gave her half-
a-crown, when the 30s. note was returned, but not the other,
and she gave him the change out of the half-crown. He then
had her taken into custody. The prisoner told a straight-
forward and very different story. 'Thinking he was going
without paying, she demanded her money, and be tossed
down the 30s. note in a passion, but no other. She imme-
diately returned it on his giving her half- a
t-hcr n own,
accused her
and for
which she gave him the full change. He e
of stealing a £1 note; but she declared there was no such
note with the other, nor had she seen it, and she herself,
smarting under the accusation, sent for the police, as there
was no male in the house to take her part, and she submitted
her drawers and her person to be searched by the officer, who
found nothing. An officer stated that the complainant had
admitted to him that he had changed the £1 note before!
Mr. Rushton said he believed the complainant had no £1
note with him, and that the prisoner, a respectable young
woman, had been most wrongfully given into custody. He
reminded the complainant that that was not the first occasion
on which he had preferred false
becarges against innocent in-
dividuals, and warned him tocautious how he repeated
to
such conduct. With respect the prisoner, she would
leave the court without any imputation putation whatever on her
character. The complainant was very urgent to defend him-
self, but Mr. Rushton ordered him out of court. The pri-
soner was then discharged.
Mr. C. R. DUNCAN.—This gentleman, who is
.a son of the
late Capt. Duncan, R.N., of Holyhead, was—it
aevwei ralvoy-
ages in
the remembrance of many of our readers—for
first officer of " The Liverpool" transatlantic steam-
ship, of this port (now " The Great Liverpool," one of the
Mediterranean mail-ships) ; afterwards first officer of the
ill-fated " President" steam-ship (both of them commanded
by Lieut. Fayrer, R.N., now of " The Forth," West Indian
mail-ship) ; and subsequently first officer of one of the
Halifax and Boston line of mail ships ; and his friends in
this quarter will be glad to learn that he has been appointed
to the command of one of the West India royal mail ships,
" The Solway," of which he had also acted, since
she was launched, as first officer. Captain Dun-
can, an active and spirited young man, during his
comparatively short career as a seaman, has saved the
lives of a considerable number of individuals, who, but for
his manly and generous exertions, would have perished in
" the briny deep." Conjointly with another gallant " vo-
luateer,,, lie saved a man from the Liverpool, who had fallen
overboard far from the land, in the Atlantic ocean, when the sea
was running high, and when the danger was most imminent.
In presence of the writer of this, he saved the lives of two
men belonging
in the dead of night,
to "the President," in July twelve months,
medal of the in Kingstown harbour. The gold
Shipwreck and Humane Society of this town
was awarded to him for his gallantry on this occasion, and a
silver snuff box was also subscribed for by the gentlemen on
board, and presented to him, with a suitable inscription and
device, shortly after the arrival' of the vessel here. We feel
assured, that not only our townsmen, but our countrymen
generally, will be gratified to learn that Mr. Duncan's
merits are now appreciated, and that lie has obtained t
the
he
command of one of the finest (if difference there )of
*pie nd i line of Wept India Steana-§hiPs•