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

half-year of 1853 of £2

age, for the half year

clzss passengers amounted to

but this Illf-year th

imounted to 80,104. The second-
passengers for the former period amounted to
.2, while this half-year they were 246,806. In the

'comer perroa, tne numoer or mint-crass pa
93,394, while this half-year they reached 96;

A divi-

IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM IrA.CIIINERY.—The American
pers allude to a plan, which is now being successfully
C!,-,ll;na Uno of nampt, fnr rnaneincr rum.

sumption of fuel very materially. It is the invention of a
mechanic at Baltimore, and consists in the use of an addi-
tional furnace directly operating on the pipe which conveys
the steam from the boilers to the cylinders of the engine,
thus preventing the condensation of steam in its passage
along this pipe, and expanding into steam the globules of
water (imperfectly formed steam), which, up to this time,
have always issued from the best-constructed boilers. The
steam is thus greatly rarefied in its passage from the
boilers to the machinery, thus enabling th engine to
exert greater force with a decreased expenditure of fuel.
The apparatus has been tried on several of the Baltimore
river boats with the greatest success ; and it is understood
that the machinery of the Atlantic is to be adapted to its

use, the proprietors believing that she will be able to effect
the passage in the same time with 500 instead of 1,100
tons of fuel, as at present.

OPENING OF STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH CASTLE-
TOWN —The handsome paddle-steamer, Ellan Vannin,

built by Mr. John Laird for the Castleto-wn (Isle of Man)
Steam-packet Company, is now on her station, between
the metropolis of Mona and this port. On Tuesday, the
Ellan Vannin left here about eight o'clock, on her first
trip to Castletown, reaching there in six hours and fifteen
minutes. Her arrival at Castletown was the signal for
great rejoicings, the inhabitants vieing with each other in
exhibiting their delight that steam communication be-
tween their town and Liverpool had been accomplished.
All the high lands from which a view of her approach
could be obtained were crowded, and salutes fired in
honour of the occasion. The directors of the new com-

pany, Captain Skillicorn, and many of the chief inhabi-
tants of Castletown, dined together at the George Hotel,
on. Tuesday, to celebrate the inauguration of the enter-
prise ; and the timely occasion was made use of to open
the recently erected gas works, and thus " illuminate "
the town in the most effective manner during the even-
ing, in honour of the double event in its history. The
Ellan Vannin started "from Castletown about one o'clock
on Wednesday, and reached here in six hours ten minutes,
after contending against the tide at both ends of the
journey. A large party came over in her, and expressed
themselves highly satisfied with the capabilities of the
vessel. She left here for Castletown again at ten o'clock
the same night, in the face of rather a stiff breeze, and,
on Thursday, made an excursion thence to Bangor, leav-
ing the latter place on Friday, and Castletown for this
port on Saturday. The Ellan Vannin is now upon the
station, to ply from here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays, and from Castletown on the intermediate week
days.

SELECT VESTRY.-At the fortnightly meeting on Tues-
day, a voluminous address was delivered by Mr. Farnall,
government inspector. He had found, in looking over
their books, that at the present moment they had now
13,769 persons entered, which was fifty-seven more than
last year, to feed and relieve. The cash paid to the re-
lieving officers now exceeded by £9O a week what was
paid last year. Amongst those whom they had to main-
tain and relieve was that very interesting class, the
children that they brought up at the Kirkdale schools,
where there were 598 boys and 419 girls, making a total
of 1,017. Now of those 598 boys, 221 were trained in in-
dustry, and of the 419 girls, 210. He recommended that
the Vestry should purchase a piece of land and employ
the majority of the- bays in field Labour. The total ex-
penditure from rates in the last two years, up to Lady-
day, was as follows :—ln 1853, there was spent in relief
alone, in-doors, £18,025 ; in out-door relief, £34,600,
making a total of £52,634. In 1854, there was spent on
in-door relief £19,0x7; out of doors £35,063, making a
total of £54,590. They had, therefore, spent £1,596 more
iu 1854 than in 1853, which might, no doubt, be easily
accounted for by the increased price of provisions. Now,
there were other expenses besides the £54,590; there
were the salaries of the officers, the interest upon the
building fund, and a variety of things to pay. So they
must add to that amount £24,291 for other expenses.
The salaries of the officers were £6,312. against £6,307
in 1853. The relief was raised by a levy upon the net
rateable value of property here, £1,062,671, or 110. in
the pound. That met their relief of the poor. Then for
other expenses they required sid. in the pound, there-
fore, the total amount required was about ls. sd. in the
pound. The salaries, which he included in the 5d.,
would be met by IA-d. That was precisely the amount
required throughout the whole of this district. There
were about forty large commercial unions over which he
had supervision, in which the average of the salaries was
lid. He found, by subdividing the accounts of this
parish, that they stood very fairly compared with the rest
of the district. The cost of the poor per head per week was
2s. lid., whereas, throughout the district it was 2s. Lid.,
but they should have to add to that perhaps 4d. in the
present year. He also observed that every out-door
pauper received here on an average £3 is. 7d., while the
average throughout the district was £3 17s. ; but he took
it that the majority of the people here were more fre-
quently put off and on the books. There was one other
point also which he should wish some little information
upon. Is. Qd. would cover all their expenditure ; but he
was told by the ratepayers that it took 2s. ed. He found
that they did not collect their rates upon the net rateable
value, but they collected only on 80 per cent., and that
made a considerable difference. It would amount to
£6,000. He came next to the subject of vagrancy, and he
was sorry to report that their system at the sheds had
been badly carried out. He did not mean that the system
was bad, but that their officers carried it out badly. It
was always unpleasant to find fault, but he visited the
vagrant wards on the morning of the 19th; he was there
a little after ten o'clock, when he found 53 men, 37 wo-
men, and 17 children, making a total of 106. He had
looked back to the books, and saw that they averaged
about the same amount ; and that they were receiving
weekly from 800 to 900 tramps. It was strange that,
although there was a considerable diminution in Irish
pauperism, it did not affect the number admitted to the
vagrant sheds. Instead of having 600 or 700 a week
coming from Ireland and seeking relief, they had only
from 80 to 90, but that made no difference as to the sheds.
He recommended that every vagrant should be put into a
bath, and while th.r..: t hit all money should be taken from
him. This plan he had proved most successful in re-
pres iag vegrancy in other unions over which he had
inspection. At the conclusion of Mr. Farnall's address,
some of his statements were partially corrected by dif-
ferent members of the board, after which the chairman
thought they should express their acknowledgments to
Mr. Fantail for his. information. The Vestry's double
object was to show compasSion to the poor, and save the
pockets of the ratepayers. Mr. Jones, pursuant to notice,
then moved for a return of the occasions and the dates in
which Mr. Fleetwood, a Romish priest visiting the work-
hlus3,- has, within the last two year, interfered with the
religiln of Protestants iu tho house. The motion was
ageond to,