1843.] THE 
GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
61 
that vestry. Mr. Gibson stated that he was glad the 
Government had interfered, as the vestry would now 
make choice of a spot which was a Roman road 30 or 40 
years before the Christian era. He alluded to Tyburn, 
where the column would be much more conspicuous. It 
was then resolved, ‘‘ That the vestry having taken into 
ideration the ication from Messrs. Pember- 
ton and Co., have resolved that, in consequence of the 
objections raised on the part of the Queen as the alleged 
freeholder of the soil beneath the pavement of the Regent- 
circus, it is expedient that the sanction afforded by the 
vestry to the erection of the column in the Regent-circus 
by Mr. Hume, M.P., be withdrawn, and that the same 
hereby is withdrawn ; but the vestry at the same time 
protest against there being any legal right vested in the 
Commissioners of Woods and Forests in any way tending 
to abridge the entire and exclusive control of the vestry 
over the carriage-way and footway in the Regent-circus.”” 
Public Meetings.—The Half-yearly General Meeting of 
the proprietors of the St. Katherine’s Docks was held 
last week, for the "purpose of declaring a dividend. The 
chair was taken by Mr. Thomas Tooke, who stated that 
the credit-balance on the Ist January, 1842, was 120,526/. 
2s. 10d., and that the like balance brought forward on the 
Ist inst. was }21,184/. 19s. 9d., and after making suitable 
provision in advance for interest upon debentures payable 
in April next, and also for the payment of the dividend 
about to be declared, the net balance or rest would 
amount to the sum of 76,1357. 8s. 8d., being an increase 
as compared with the res¢ at the corresponding period in 
1842—a result, considering the general depression of 
trade during the past year, of a satisfactory character. 
The number of ships that had entered the Port of Lon- 
don in 1841, was 6,619, and that in 1842, was 6,381, 
being a decrease of 238. The amount of tonnage in 1841, 
was 1,313,210, and in 1842, 1,288,490, being a decrease 
of 24,720. The Chairman after having briefly com- 
mented upon these returns said, that it was the opinion 
of the Court of Directors that a dividend of 24 per cent. 
for the half-year ending the 31st ult. should be declared, 
the Company defraying the charge of the income-tax. 
This proposition was agreed to, and the dividend declared 
at the rate specified by the directors;—On Monday a 
special general meeting of the proprietors of the Union 
Bank of Australia was held, for the purpose of declaring 
a dividend for the half-year, The report stated that the 
accounts received from the colonies down to September 
last, were very satisfactory as respected the various 
branches. The result of the half-year enabled the 
directors to declare a dividend at the rate of 5 per cent. 
for the half-year.’ The net assets up to December, 1842, 
were as follows :—Paid-up capital in London, 616,640/. ; 
in the Colonies, 163,875/.; net profit for the half-year, 
47,9671. ; making together 828,4827. The amount of un- 
divided profit was 64,109/., to which, after deducting ex- 
penses of working, bad debts, &c., was to be added 
47,9677., less 4,796/., being one-tenth of the reserve-fund, 
making together, 43,1707. To this was to be added, 
amount of undivided profit, 107,280/., which after deduct- 
ing last dividend, left a balance of 70,280/. The reserve- 
fund now amounted to 24,475/. The chairman stated 
that there was no probability, at present, of the remain- 
ing capital being called up. The amount of the reserve- 
fund was invested in the Three-and-a-Half per Cents., and 
the subject of the charter was at present in abeyance, in 
consequence of some references now making by Lord 
Stanley in the Colonies.—A very numerous meeting in 
favour of the National Temperance Society took place on 
Monday, in Exeter Hall. The chair was taken by Mr. 
B. Rotch, when the objects of the Society, and the advan- 
tages of the habits of temperance were advocated by Mr. 
Bowley, of Gloucester, Mr. Buckingham, the Rev. G. 
M‘Donald, of Leeds, the Rev. Mr. Stovel, and other gen- 
tlemen. Mr. Hunt, a farmer, expressed his belief that 
teatotalism would be an efficient remedy for the existing 
distress among the agricultural and other labourers, as well 
as a means of moralizing the lower orders. A collection 
was made, with an appeal for contributions of a larger 
character, in reduction of a debt of 7007. due by the 
society, between 5007. and 600/. of which sum was already 
raised—The half-yearly meeting of the United Mexican 
Mining Company, was held on Wednesday, Sir John 
Easthope in the chair. From the report it appeared 
that the mine of Rayas was working prosperously, the 
ore sold having produced 157,618 dollars; the outlay 
was 77,653, leaving a balawce of 79,965, of which 
the company’s share was 44,980 dollars. The assets were 
11,1687. 18s. 3d. The available surplus was about 
7,5471, 8s. 3d., which, in addition to 6,5007. expected from 
abroad, would make a total of 15,0477. 8s. 3d., with 
which the directors proposed to pay off 11,9067. 5s. on 
the red scrip, which was about 25 per cent. The report 
Was considered satisfactory, and seemed to inspire the 
Shareholders with the hope of a general dividend being 
declared before a very long time shall have elapsed. 
East India Trade.—Mr. Stikeman, of the East India 
and China Association, has just published his comparative 
Statement of the number of British ships, with their ton- 
age, which have traded with places within the limits of 
the East India Company’s charter in the years 184] and 
1842. Of the number of vessels entered inwards, the re- 
turns show a decrease in 1842 of 37 ships, 25,533 ton- 
see and 2,126 men—the difference between 788 ships, 
£03980 tonnage, and 16,304 men, and 751 ships, 293,427 
renee? and 14,178 men. Of the number of vessels 
eres outwards, the returns show a decrease of 186 ships, 
a i38 tonnage, 3,113 men—the difference between 1,006 
Bee 408,607 tonnage, and 21,392 men, and 820 ships, 
%26,869 tonnage, and 18,279 men. One of the most 
Udexpected results is, that a decrease of no less than 146 
ships has occurred in the clearances for the Australian 
colonies and New Zealand. The clearances for Bombay 
and Calcutta also exhibit a considerable decrease. 
The Corn-Law Movement.—On Monday, at the meet- 
ing of the Directors and Guardians of the Poor of Mary- 
lebone, a memorial was presented, signed by several 
ratepayers, calling upon the board to lend their co-opera- 
tion in the movement now taking place throughout the 
borough in favour of a repeal of the Corn-laws. Mr. 
Soden moved, that every assistance be given by that 
board in aid of the movement now going on, not merely 
throughout that borough, but throughout the country. 
Bread partook greatly of a parochial character, inasmuch 
as it concerned in particular the poor as well asall the rate- 
payers. Other speakers contended that the question was 
political, and not parochial. The motion, however, was 
carried, with only five dissentients. 
Greenwich.—On Friday a disturbance broke out in the 
Upper School of the Royal Asylum. It appears that 
Lieutenant Rouse, one of the directors of gymnastics, had 
restricted the intercourse between the boys and their 
friends, which so irritated the pupils that they commenced 
a general row, smashing the windows with slates, rules, 
brickbats, and other missiles, and breaking upwards of 
1,000 panes of glass. Five of the ringleaders of the dis- 
turbance have been placed in confinement. An investi- 
gation is going on by order of Sir Robert Stopford before 
the principal officers of the institution. There are nearly 
800 boys, the sons of commission and warrant officers, in 
the upper school, and many of them are 15 or 16 years 
of age, who, on a former occasion, expelled the police by 
a volley of stones. 
Mortality of the Metropolis.—The following is the 
number of deaths registered in the week ending Satur- 
day, Jan. 14:—West districts, 131; North districts, 
191; Central districts, 186; Hast districts, 203 ; South 
districts, 239. Total, 953, (502 males, 451 females.) 
Weekly average for the five last years, 903, (461 males, 
442 females,) and for the five last winters, 1,004. 
Probineial News. 
Ashton.—A demonstration in favour of free trade princi- 
ples was made here on Monday, at which Mr. Hindley, the 
member forthe borough, gave in hisadhesion to the agitation 
of the Anti-Corn-law League for total and immediate repeal. 
Mr. Hindley took the chair, and the meeting was addressed 
by Mr. Cobden, Mr. Brotherton, Colonel Thompson, Mr. 
T. Gisborne (late M.P. for North Derbyshire), Mr. 
M’Callagh, and other gentlemen. Mr. Hindley, after 
speaking at some length in favour of the doctrines of free 
trade, alluded to the comparative merits of a fixed duty 
anda total repeal. To what, he said, were he and others 
driven who had been desirous rather to take a practical 
course when those in power were willing to give a fixed 
duty? Their alternative was no longer between a fixed 
duty and a total repeal; for Sir R. Peel had declared that 
those who advocated a fixed duty had the worst of the ar- 
gument, and that those who voted for the total and im- 
mediate repeal had far better ground. Was he then to be 
turned about from one thing to another—to be sent over 
from Whigs to Tories, from a repeal toa fixed duty— 
roasted on one side, and boiled on the other? Not at all. 
Moreover, the landowners said they could not do with a 
fixed duty at all, but they could understand a perfectly 
free trade. If the farmers and landlords would have 
nothing to do with a fixed duty, why should he take the 
trouble to advocate it, when his own constituents would 
not go along with him in doing so? That was his justi- 
fication for giving up a fixed duty, which he had likened 
to descending down the stairs, instead of jumping from 
the top to the bottom at the risk of breaking their necks. 
But when he saw the commercial community in such a 
state, when he saw the house burning, was it a time to 
consider about going down stairs? The question was 
now practically not between a sliding scale and a fixed 
duty, but between a sliding scale and a total and imme- 
diate repeal. He would say, in justice to himself, and to 
those who had fought and acted with him, that they were 
not responsible for that alternative. He would take upon 
himself no such responsibility, now that the very farmers 
had begun to say that the question must be settled, as the 
question of rents and engagements generally was involved 
in it, and that they would rather know at once what they 
had to do and suffer, than be left in an uncertain and un- 
settled state, which disabled them from making engage- 
ments with their landlords. In conclusion, he assured the 
meeting that he should go along with them heart and 
hand in the establishment of free trade and the abolition 
of monopoly. 
Barnstaple.—A. letter has been received at Lloyd’s 
from a resident at Braunton, near this town, giving an 
account of the conduct of the wreckers on the north 
coast of Devon during the late storms. The following 
js an extract:—‘‘On the night of Saturday last, two 
very large merchant ships belonging to Liverpool, and 
pound for the coast of Africa, were wrecked near our 
dangerous bar—the lives were happily saved, but the 
scenes of audacious plunder which immediately ensued, 
and which have continued up to the present time, are of 
the most revolting description. On Sunday all our op- 
posing sects were merged into wreckites, and never was 
a more busy day of rest for man and beast. The shore 
was thronged with wretches hardened as the rocks that 
surrounded them, wholly intent on plunder. Farmers 
from this and the adjoining ‘parishes continued through 
the day to cart off whatever they could put their hands 
on, and the night came without causing @ cessation of 
their labours ; and that which is most yemarkable is, that 
not asingle magistrate made his appearance to check the 
work of devastation. The collectors of the neighbouring 
ports betrayed the same want of energy and promptitude. 
I believe the highest official authority was the comptrol- 
ler from Barnstaple, but it must be borne in mind that I 
am speaking of the wreck on the Braunton side. There 
was nothing approaching to a properly-organised police, 
and those set to watch, if not participating in the plun- 
der, were singularly indiff in its ion.” The 
writer concludes by expressing his belief, that “some of 
the more wealthy offenders have been more promi- 
nent, and certainly more wholesale in their proceedings, 
than the numerous poor wretches who might plead their 
fourteenpence a-day, the amount of husbandman’s wages 
in this parish, as some incentive in following the ex- 
ample.” 
Diphtuhemen meeting of the Chamber of Commerce 
of this town took place last week, to receive the report of 
a committee relative to a correspondence which has been 
for some time carried on between the committee and Sir 
R. Peel. It appears that on the 29th July last the com- 
mittee addressed a letter to Sir R. Peel, applying for a 
personal conference. Sir Robert, in his answer, proposed 
that instead of a conference, the facts intended to be stated 
to him should be communicated in writing. The com- 
mittee then forwarded a memorial, setting forth the state 
of extreme distress of the town of Birmingham and the 
surrounding districts, the embarrassments of the manu~ 
facturers, and the hed of the ployed ops 
ratives, but repudiating in the strongest terms the idea 
that the distress alluded to was at all to be traced to over- 
production. The memorial concluded by urging Govern- 
ment to adopt some step with a view of putting matters in 
the manufacturing districts upon a better footing. To 
this document an answer was returned, stating that Sir 
Robert had laid the memorial before her Majesty’s 
Government ; that Government lamented the existence 
of the distress it detailed, but that they trusted that the 
measures introduced during the session would have the 
effect of promoting the interests and bettering the con- 
dition of the manufacturing districts. Certain resolutions 
were then forwarded through the Mayor of Birmingham 
to the Home Secretary, expressive of fears that, as the 
causes which had produced the late disturbances were still 
in active operation, the peace of the manufacturing 
districts could not be safely relied on, and intimating 
a desire on the part of the applicants that the matter 
should be taken under the serious and immediate con- 
sideration of the Government. A reply was received from 
Sir James Graham, stating that Government could not 
hold out any expectation that it was within their power 
permanently to alter the condition of the working classes, — 
On the 4th November another memorial was forwarded 
from the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce to Sir R. 
Peel. Itstated that trade was still declining, and distress 
consequently upon the increase ; that in the opinion of 
the memorialists-one of the main causes of this unfortunate 
state of things was the present state of the currency, the 
attempt of the Legislature to ‘‘subject the circulating 
system of the country to the ancient standard of value rie 
and that the restrictions placed by foreign nations upon 
our manufactured goods were partly occasioned by this 
defective policy with respect to the currency. The memo- 
rial proceeded to make certain recommendations founded 
upon these views, and concluded by calling on Sir R. Peel 
to take the subject of the currency into his immediate and 
serious consideration. The reply, dated Nov. 7, inti- 
mates that the Premier quite differs in his views of the 
currency from those adopted by the committee, and dis- 
sents from the conclusions at which they had arrived. 
Another memorial was then despatched by the committee, 
dated the 26th November. It proceeded still further to 
argue the question in dispute, denying that ‘in the pre- 
vious paper the memorialists had recommended any spe- 
cific course to be adopted; but, in general, reiterating 
their conviction of the soundness of the principles they 
had laid down, and the correctness of the facts they had 
stated. They observe that, in their mature opinion, ee 
considerable permanent expansion of the circulation, not 
subject to be contracted by circumstances over which the 
public have no control, is essentially necessary for safely 
and effectually sustaining a permanent demand for labour. 
On the 3d Dec. Sir R. Peel replied, maintaining the cor- 
rectness of the views he had already expressed ie the 
question, and disapproving of the suggestion that the Go- 
vernment should be empowered to issue paper money, 
which should be issued as a legal tender. To this letter 
the committee replied at considerable length in a memo- 
rial, still further arguing the questions at made and re- 
questing permission to publish the correspondence. Sir 
R. Peel at once assents to the publication, and tells the 
conimittee that he does full justice to the motives by 
been actuated in representing to 
inions on the subject of the cur- 
pose of an instrument of exchange, and to be madea legal 
tender, must profess to be of a certain value, to be equi- 
be no answer to it to observe that the paper is based on 
the national solvency, or that the amount of it is limited 
to the amount of the quarterly dividends.” The Com- 
mittee reply, in explanation, “That their proposition is to 
limit the issues of national paper to Government, and to 
