The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-08-22 00:00:00

TY OF

THE FRENCII EMPEROR

MAGNA:VIM

Moniteur ant
occasion of his jete, z

s that the Empi

sentenced to depot

s, or penal establish!'

colonies ; 1,003 to soldiers or s

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of Guiana and oti

his under

FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—A collision took place on
the North London (Camden Town) Railway, near the
Highbury station, on Monday night, between a passenger
train and a heavy goods train which had started before
it in the same direction. The luggage train had two

engines accompanying it, but the drivers improperly un-
hooked them from the trucks in order- to pump more
water into the boilers whilst the train was on an incline.
The consequence was that the train returned down the
incline by the force of its own gravity, and met the pas-
senger train. The engine-driver of the latter, named
John Allen, was killed on the spot. Serious if not fatal
injuries were sustained by one or two more of the com-
pany's servants, and a number of passe'
bruised.

gers were cut and

TIIs CIIOLERA.—The following recipe- has been com-
municated to the Times by Mr. Henry Wakefield, surgeon
to the Middlesex County House of Correction, who says
he has used it in that establishment during every visit of
the epidemic, and that no fatal case occurred under its
administration. An early application of the medicine is,
he says, indispensable to its success : —The simplicity of
the remedy is a strong recommendation in its favour ; it
is at the command of all classes of society, and may be
prepared with the greatest facility. The form of the
prescription is,-30 grains of the sesquicarbonate of soda
in a wineglassful of strong mint tea, made with the fresh
vegetable, or, if this is not at hand, one drop of the
essential oil of peppermint diffused in the same quantity
of water, and repeated every half-hour. I have rarely had
occasion to administer the dose more than three times
without the sickness and diarrhCea being arrested. While
under treatment the patient is confined to a diet of beef
tea, well seasoned with salt and pepper, cocoa, or arrow-
root : nothing solid is allowed while the diarrhces, con-
tinues, even the daily quantity of bread is withheld.

BANFFSHIRE FISHERMEN'S SUPERSTITION.—The her-
ring fishing being very backward, some of the fishermen
of Buckle, on ednesday last, dressed a cooper in a flannel
shirt with burs stuck all over it, and in this condition he
was carried in procession through the town on a hand-
barrow. This was done to "bring better luck" to the
fishing. It happened, too, in a village where there are no
fewer than nine churches and chapels of various kinds, and
thirteen schools. —Baqf Journal.
Runts AND FARMERS.—Farms occupy to o-thirds of
the land of England. The number of the farms is 225,318 ;
the average size is 111 acres. Two-thirds of the farms are
under that size, but there are 771 of above 1,000 acres.
Thelargefarms abounding in the south-eastern and eastern
counties ; the small farms in the north. There are 2,000
English farmers holding nearly 2,000,000 acres; and there
are 97,000 English farmers not holding more. There are
40,650 farmers who employ five labourers each ; 16,501
have ten or more, and employ top
170 farmers have ab

) labourers each, ana t

employ 17,01

—Census Report,

SUDDEN' DEA.TR OF THE MAYOR OF GLOII

!ESTER.-

The city of Glo

aeester was thrown into some exe

Washbourne, the respected mayor df the city, had died
suddenly on the previous night, on his *turn from Lon-
don. It appears that 'Mr. Washbourne formed one of
a party of excursionists who left Gloucester for London on
Saturday by the Great Western Railway. The train re-

turned 'from London on Monday evening. Mr. Wash-
bourne appeared in excellent health until the train arrived
within a few miles of Gloucester. As it was running
down the long incline near Stroud, he made the remark
that the train was running at an unusually rapid rate,

and appeared somewhat alarmed. Almost immediately
afterwards he fell back in a fit of apoplexy. On the train
arriving at Gloucester he was conveyed to his own resi-
dence, where he expired almost immediately.

POST-OFFICE OFFICIALS.—The commission appointed
to inquire into the internal arrangement of the General
Post-office have made their report. They recommend, in

reference to the principal secretaryship, that only one' in-
dividual should occupy the position, and incur the respon-
sibility attached to the office, and advise in his case, an an-
nual salary of £1,500, gradually augmenting, till at the
end of five years it shall reach £2,000. This has been
already in its main features acted on. With regard to the
general salaries of the establishment, which are at present
arranged in a manner that causes jealousy and dissatisfac-
tion, the commissioners propose that, with the exception
of the secretary's office, the salaries of all the ordinary
clerks should be placed on a uniform basis, and that three
classes should be formed, the lowest receiving £BO a-year,
increasing annually by £5 to £l5O ; the next £lBO, in-
creasing by £7 10s., to £240; and the highest £260, in-
creasing by £lO to £350. In the secretary's office, where
superior qualifications are required, the• minimum, it is
thought, should be £l2O, and the maximum £5OO. Heads
of offices in each case are to receive proportionately
larger remuneration., As respects the letter-carrying

buiiness, a consolidatiOn is recommended of the hitherto

separate depar
London Dist 6

known as

whole to be placed under a single controller, with a s-alary
rising from £6OO to £BOO a-year, with a vice-controller and
a certain number of deputies. The sorters, letter-carriers,
&c., are proposed to be divided into four classes, so as to
afford the prospect of promotion as a stimulus to honesty
and intelligence. For the lowest clases the recommenda-
tion is 19s. per week, rising annually ls. a-week to 235. ;
for the next, 325., rising to 388.; for the highest, 405., ris-

ing to 50s. They are also to be eligible for the appoint-
ment of inspectors of letter-carriers, whose salaries are to
range from £llO to £3OO. Along with these arrange-
ments others are put forth for abolishing offices which
are becoming obsolete, and creating new ones, called for by
the altered circumstances of the times. Among the latter
are four inspectors, with salaries of £3OO to £5OO, whose
duty it should be to maintain the authority of the Post-
office in dealing with the railway companies. The yearly
sum now paid to railway companies for mail service
amounts to £372,000, aud, as it•is customary for the Post-
office and the companies in making their respective con-
tracts each to appoint an arbitrator, a permanent officer is
also considered necessary for that duty, at a salary of £7OO,
rising to £l,OOO. Finally, the 'departments of the Receiver-
General and the Accountant-General are recommended to
be amalgamated, and their whole system of book-keeping
simplified, some of the accounts being still kept in much
the same form as when first established, in the reign of
llZv fii;e -manna illet nnml.nw of

ployed o maces
With regard to the Mon,

employs 100 clerks, the commissioners consider that the
business is conducted with method and accuracy, and that
such simplifications as are necessary may be left with con-
fidence in the hands of the Postmaster-General. In con-

elusion, the commissioners urge that all promot
be made to depend on qualification and merit.

NEW GUANO DEPOSITS.-A discovery of guano deposits
has been made in the West Indies. A letter dated St.
Croix, the 28th July, says :—" Her Britannic Majesty's
steamer Devastation was at

had a visit from Commander de Horsey, who mentioned
that he had been up to the Isle of Ayes, south-east of
Saba Bank, and had there found three American vessels
with large crews loading guano ! It is strange that this
valuable deposit has remained thus so long undiscovered."
Unfortunately the writer does not communicate whether
the deposit be large or small, nor what the quality of the
',nano found on that island to be as compared wif'

pio,vo
Peruvian. It may be, however, safely inferred that, unless
it were sufficiently valuable in fertilising qualities, the
American vessels would not have been there loading with
the article. And it may be presumed, from the fact of no
less than three vessels being at the island, each with a
large number of men at work, that these vessels had been
purposely fitted out after an inquiry into the value of the
guano there obtainable. We hear it rumoured that in
consequence of the present unprecedented price of Peru-
vian guano, arising from the high rates of freight, &c.,
several private expeditions of discovery have fitted out
both from England and America, with orders to survey
carefully various isolated isles, in various parts, where it is
either known or supposed that sea-fowl resort as places of
habitation. The habits of these birds are sufficiently well
known to point as places where it is likely guano exists,
those that are not frequently visited by man. It appears
expedient that the extent of the deposit, and the quality
and value of this guano, be immediately inquired into.

TTIE NEW STAMP ACT.—On Monday, the new act to
amend the laws relating to the stamp duties (17 and 18
Vic. c. 83) was printed; The new duties are on bills of
exchange and promissory notes, and on certain convey-
ances. The new duties are to commence on and after the
10th of October, and are under the care of the inland
revenue commissioners. The duties on bills drawn out of
the United Kingdom are to be denoted by adhesive stamps.
The holder of a bill drawn out of the United Kingdom is
to affix an adhesive stamp before negotiating it. There is
a provision in this act declaring that unstamped drafts on
bankers are not to be circulated beyond fifteen miles of
the place where they are made payable. Adhesive stamps
denoting the duty of one penny may be used for receipts
or drafts without regard to their special appropriation.
The allowance on the new duties is to be 7f per cent.,
and the sellers are not to charge for the paper on sale of a
bill or note stamps where the rate of duty exceeds ls. On
stamps on bills of exchange or promissory notes the duty
is one penny for not exceeding £5, twopence for £lO,
threepence for £25, sixpence for £5O, ninepence for £75,
one shilling for £lOO, and two shillings for £2OO, and so
on in proportion. Leases for a period less than a year are
to be chargeable with stamp duty on the rent received.
An allowance is to be made for stamps rendered useless by
this act if claimed on or before the sth of April next. The
following is a new provision in criminal matters :—" Every
instrument liable to stamp duty shall be admitted in evi-
dence in any criminal proceeding, although it may not
hav,e the stamp required by law impressed or affixed there-
on." Public maps and documents are not to be liable to
stamp duty by reason of their being referred to in deeds
of writing.

Irastrair or TIM SESSIOS.—The parliamentary session
diffetb from its predecessors of the last nine-and-thirty
year; in that it has been emphatically a war session. Not
a week had elapsed from the time of its assembling before
the " eastern question" became the great topic of our
senators ; and from that time forth it formed the most
engrossing subject of their debates. Parliament having
assembled upon the 31st of January, the Rouse of Com-
mons has sat since that period upon 126 days, extending
over 945 hours, whilst the House of Lords has sat upon
100 day; extending over 268 hours. The average dura-
tion of the daily sittings of the Commons, therefore, has
been something more than 74 hours, and of the Lords
2 17-25 hours. The vicious habit of sitting past mid-
night, although not carried to the extent of last session,
has still been practised largely by the Commons, espe-
cially within the last month, when three o'clock in the
morning has been no uncommon hour of adjournment.
Their sittings past midnight have amonnted to 85 hours,
or 101 days of eight hours each. The Lords have only
offended in this respect upon three occasions, and their
total hours past midnight amount to but 34. The "no
house" and the " counts out," so often looked to with
hope by the reporters, have been very rare. Of the for-
mer there have been two and of the latter four. Two of
the "count outs" have been the result of sheer inanition
at past one o'clock in the morning. The total number of
divisions in the Commons has been 232 as against 260 in
the previous session; and in the Lerde 27 as against gs.

ST: JOHN'S CHURCHYARD

TO THE EDIT

Mt OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

At the meeting

the Health Committee las

it was stated -that there was a nuisance resulting from the
burial of the dead in St. John's Chu: chyard, end that the
coffins were not covered with earth to the extent required by
law—two feet six, inches. I beg to give- to such statement the
most unqualified denial, as ever since the act, 5 Vict. c. 41,
1812, such requirements have been most scrupulously at-
tended to. I beg further to add, that there is a large space
of ground (about =square yards) in which not a single inter-
ment has yet taken place, and that ground is now being used.
21st Aug. 1854. NVM. FOULKES, Sexton of St. John's.