EXTRACTS FROM ENGLISH PAPERS

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 55, 7 February 1843, Page 2

EXTRACTS FROM ENGLISH PAPERS

THE REVENUE. It is an old saying, that any Clerk in the Treasury, upon three days’ notice, can so mystify the public accounts, that no human being can make head or tail of them until worked out afresh in all their details. We never saw a happier exemplification of this, than the accounts for the present quarter, for so large is the proportion borne by the miscellaneous receipts to the general receipts, both for the quarter and the year, and so equivocal is the character of this miscellaneous income, that we are at a loss to say whether it is to be regarded as a mark of improvement, and a source of permanent revenue, or simply as a proof of the ingenuity with which arrears have been whipped up, and unusual efforts made to put the best face upon the deficit in the customs, which amounts alone to 426,395/. This, however, may be, in some measure, accounted for by the shock given to so many branches of industry by the tariff; for be the changes made, ultimately, for better or for worse, the announcement of them, and the subsequent negociations with Government for their modification, have paralized business during the last four months. The stocks on hand of many important articles wa3 never so low ; and this added to the recent alteration in the corn laws, and the very small portion of foreign wheat, that has yet paid duty, coupled with the admitted prevalence of great distress, sufficiently explains the difference in this branch of the revenue, between the present, and the corresponding quarter of last year. In the Excise, which is generally looked upon as a criterion of the consuming powers of the country, the result hardly corresponds with the data, that reach us from every side, as. to the diminished consumption of all the great necessaries of life. It is probably upon the next quarter that this will tell. At present, the Excise shows an increase of 94,000/. In the stamps and taxes there has also been a slight increase (17,558/. and 2b,558/.) ; and we see with pleasure that the Post-office also is gradually creeping up, and becoming again an important branch of revenue, having produced last year no less a sum than 539,000/., notwithstanding the immense sacrifice made three years ago. Let this improvement continue, as we have no doubt that it will do, when the present pressure upon the springs of our industry is removed, and the advocates of Mr. Hill’s simple, hut grand and beautiful scheme, will he able to point to its results as a proof of the smallness of the risk with which the most important changes may be effected, and of the low price paid for incalculable blessings, when the working of the experiment is well conducted, and the principle sound. The decrease upon the whole quarter, as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1841, is 26,427/. The increase on the “ Miscellaneous” Estimates, 19fi,522/., besides 69,545/. derived from “ Imprest and other Monies, ’’ the value of which, as an item of the revenue, Mr. Goulburn alone can tell, until he condescends to put his financial statement into a more intelligible shape. Conversion to Popbry. —We regret to say that Miss Gladstone, daughter of John Gladstone, Esq., of Fasque, and sister to the vicepresident of the board of trade, has recently been admitted a member of the Roman Catholic church. On Tuesday week she was confirmed by Dr. Wiseman, in the chapel at the nunnery, near this town, and afterwards partook of the “ Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.” The lady is described as being highly intelligent, and about thirty years of age. During her stay in Birmingham, both she and her attendants resided at the convent. —Birmingham Advertiser. —[The vice-president of the board of trade is at heart as much a Catholic as his sister.] Singular Hatch. —Three brace of grouse and three brace of pheasants have been bred by the Rev. Mr. Lewes, of Duffryn, under a barn-door fowl, and so very tame are they as

to eat put of the hands. They vVere chiefly fed upon the white of an egg mixed up with grated bread, ants’ eggs given sparingly, with plenty of green food, such as turnip arid cabbage leaves.