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

MAYOR OF GLOUCESTER.-

The city of Gloucester was thrown into s
on Tuesday morning, by the announcement that M
Washbourne, the respected mayor of the city, ha(

Le excitement

don. It appearq that
-

Mr. Washbourne formed one of
vho left Gloucester for London on

a party of excursionist
Saturday by the

reat Western

turned from- London

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 am

ointed

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-

sibility attached to th
nual salary of £1,500,
end of five years it s

omce, anu mime in ins case, an an-
gradually augmenting, till at the

already in ifs main features acted on,

With reg

Ito 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 £150; the next £lBO, in-
creasing by £7 10s., to £240; and the highest £2OO, 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
bupiness„ a consolidation is recommended of the hitherto

separate departments Known as toe Inland-office, the
London District office, and the Dehd Letter-office, the
whole to be placed under a single controller, with a salary
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

Inesty

and intelligence. For the lowest clases the recommenda-
tion is 19s. per week, rising annually ls. a-woek to 235. ;
for the next, 325., rising to 385.; 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 .2300 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, and, as it is customary for the Post-
e office and the companies in making their respective con-

tracts each to appoint an arbitrator, a permanen
also considered necessary for that duty, at a salary of
rising to £l,OOO. Finally, the departments of the Receiv
General and the Accountant-General are recommended to
be amalgamated, and their whole system of book-keening

officer

.ept in much

the same form a

Queen Anne.. By this means the number of persons-em-
ployed la the two offices might be reduced from 64 to 53.
With regard to the Money-order office, which at present
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-
fidAnep in the hands of the Postma.stor.f4Anornl. Tn Ann-

elusion, the commissioners urge that all promotion should
be made to depend on qualification and merit
NEW GUANO DEPOSITS.—A discovery of

has been made in the West Indies. A fetter dated St.
Croix, the 28th July, says :—" Her Britannic Majesty's
steamer Devastation was at Frederickstad yesterday. I
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
guano found on that island proves to be as compared with

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.
THE 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 arc 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 7i 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. Oa
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
have 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.

RESUME OT TM] SESSION. —The parliamentary session
differs from its predecessors of the last nine-and-thirty
years, 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 81st of January, the House of Com-
mons has sat since that period upon 125 days, extending
over 945 hours, whilst the House of Lords has sat upon
100 days, extending over 268 hours. The average dura-
tion of the daily sittings of the Commons, therefore, has
been something more than 72 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,
i espe-
cially within the last month, when three o'clock n the
morning has been no uncommon hour of adjournment.
Their sittings past midnight have amonnied 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 31. 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 Co,nlmons has been 232 as against 2430 in
the previous cession; and in the Lords 27 a against 25.
—Profs