The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-06-21 00:00:00

EXCISE INFORMATIONS

ILLICIT SPIRITS.—An information was yesterday laid, at
the police-court, against Mary O'Brien, alias Puwnie, by
two excise officers, for having in her possession a quantity of
illicit spirits. An inspector of police said, that on Friday
night, the 4th of Match, he observed the prisoner coming
from the direction of the docks with a basket which appeared
to be heavy, and on going up and examining it, he found it to
contain a jar with five quarts of whiskey. She then refused
to tell her name or residence. She, however, told him next
morning that it was O'Brien, and also named her residence.
On going to the place pointed out by her he found it was a
cellar, half-filled with water ! The delinquent had not
since been seen. An officer testified to the contents of he
bottle, and Mr. Rushton imposed the legal fine of £lOO.
SMUGGLING TOBACCO. -- Patrick Sweeny, and Ann
Sweeny, his wife, were next called, but neither of them ap-
peared. Mr. Davenport was employed for the defence. Mr.
Sherriff, excise oilier, stated that from information he had
received he, on the 10th of February last, went to the small
shop kept by Sweeney in Key-street, and found Mrs.
Sweeny there. She seemed to be fluttered when he entered.
There was a basket behind the counter, which she endea-
voured to conceal by covering it with her apron. He en-
deavoured to obtain possession of it, and she obstructed
him. He, however, at last succeeded in getting it into his
hands, and saw distinctly that it contained three or four
pounds of negro-head and Cavendish tobacco. Mrs.
Sweeny then called out, as if some one were robbing her,
and her husband came and forcibly took the basket. Some
other parties were by, and he could not again find it. Sweeny,
he said, used the most violent language towards him, and
flourished a stick over his head, defying him to find anything
wrong. Three police-officers were soon afterwards called in.
In cross-examination, it was admitted by the witness that
he had gone in and asked fora pound of negro-head tobacco ;
that Mrs. Sweeny had said she had none, nor did she know
where any such article could he go ; and it was also ad-
mitted that on witness producing his commission showing
that he was an excise officer, Mr. Sweet►y admitted him
willingly to search the premises. Witness asked for the to-
bacco he had seen, but nothing was found. The defence was
somewhat ingenious. Several witnesses were brought for-
ward, with a view to show that Sweeny was not the man who
took away the basket with the tobacco, and that he did not
arrive until some time afterwards, but this defence failed.
A question also arose as to the identity of Sweeny, as being
the man who carried off the box, and as Mr. Davenport
showed no reluctance to produce him, that he might be sworn
to by the excise-officers, he was sent for, but was not to be
found. There were two informations against him ;—one for
obstructing the officer in the performance of his duty, and the
other for " harbouring" the tabacco. The full penalty in
each case was £2oo—in all £4OO. Mr. Rushton imposed in
each case the mitigated penalty of £so—in all £lOO. The
collector stated in his behalf that he had learned that he was
a poor man with four children.

RAILROAD MORTGAGES.—The Bank of England has lent
£400,000 on railroad mortgages.—Globe.
A number of stone coffins, recently opened at the Cathe-
dral of Lincoln, contained bodies all enveloped in the coarse
hair• cloth shirts of the Catholic times.
The Postoffice receipts for the month ending January sth,
1840, under the fourpenny rate was £103,623, and for the
month ending January sth, 1842, they amounted to the sum
of £103,383 3s. 4d.
A first dividend of five shillings in the pound has been de-
clared payable out of the estate of. the Berwick Bank of
Batson, Berry, and Co. The total amount of debts proved
up to this period is £246,000. •
The united vicarages of North Newnton and West Knoyle,
Wilts, 22 miles distant from each other, have, for the inter-
ests of religion, been disunited by an order of her Majesty in
Council. The livings will therefore henceforth be distinct
benefices.

The labours of the committee are concluded—the Tariff is
finished, and, so glad were the members to get rid of its dry
details that some of them, we are told, actually danced down
the house with joy ! It is a new scene in the Commons, and
must have been amusing enough to those who witnessed it.
CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.—A deputation from the
committee of the Church Missionary Society, consisting of
the Earl of Chichester, Sir T. D. Acland, Mr. W. Evans,
Sir R. H. Inglis, Mr. J. P. Plumptre, Sir G. H. Rose, the
Rev. R. Davies, and Mr. D. Coates, had an interview with
Lord Stanley on Friday, at the Colonial-office.
THE WAR IN CHINA:-A return has been issued of all
moneys repaid by her Majesty's government to the East
India Company on account of the war in China, since the
commencement of the war until the present time. The total
amount is £573,442.

GREENLAND NITTIALE FISTIERY.—Captain Blain, of the
Perseverance, arrived at North Shields from Stettin, reports
having passed in the voyage a whale ship from Greenland to
Hainburgh, with a full cargo. This is the first intelligence
from the Greenland whale fishery this season ; and it is to be
hoped that the other vessels prosecuting the fishingat Green-
land, of late years very unsuccessful, have been equally for-
tunate.

There is at present residing at Seaville a young girl who
can boast of having four mothers living, viz., her own
mother, her grandmother, her great grandmother, and her
great great grandmother. Even the eldest of these mammas
is in good health, and they all reside in the parish of Home
Cultram.—Carlisle Patriot.
- -

From the return to the House of Commons, the number
of officers and men constituting the effective yeomanry of
Great Britain and Ireland, during the years 1840 and 1811,
it appears that they amounted in the. former 835 officers
and 13,450 men ; for the support of whom parliament granted
a sum of £92,093, which was exceeded by an expenditure of
£233 14s. 7d. In the following year the officers numbered
840 and the men 13,034 ; for whose support a vote of
£82,266 was granted, over which an excess of expenditure
has taken place of £lO3 6s. ld.
Numerous meetings of chartists have of late taken place in
Lancashire ; on Sunday week between 2000 and 3000 indi-
viduals congregated at Pendle-hill, a wild and mountainous
spot, and the highest point in the county. Every Sunday
also, for the last few weeks, encampments of chartists have
been held on the hills and other parts of the manufacturing
districts. One speaker stated, " that if they were resolved
to have recourse to physical force, lie would undertake to
lead them on, if he could only see one hundred men, twenty-
one years of age, ready and united."