ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 75, 18 April 1843, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

The Court.— The Court has passed from Windsor to Walmer Castle; given up to the use of the Queen by the Duke of Wellington. The Queen and Prince Albert, with the infants and the suite, left Windsor Castle at half-past seven on Thursday morning, in three carriages and four, and proceeded to the Slough station of the Great Western Railway, and so to Paddington by a special train. Thence the Royal party, with an escort, passed through Hyde Park, over Vauxhall Bridge, by Camberwell and Deptford, to the Green Man at Blackkeath. Here the loval landlord, Mr. Whitmarsh, had

permitted the assemblage of some 1,500 persons, including about 400 young* ladies of schools in the neighbourhood, whom he had specially invited, lie was gratified by being* made the bearer of a complimentary .message to his Royal neighbour, the Princes Sophia Matilda, from the passing Sovereign and her consort. The cortege went on at a rapid pace by Shooter’s Hill, Dartmouth, and Rochester. At Canterbury, the West gate was converted into a triumphal arch ; the whole line of the chief street was decorated with evergreens, dags, and other ornaments, and filled with spectators, almost every one waving a small bough of evergreen. At Deal, the authorities, with several of the inhabitants, and the famous Deal Pilots and Deal Boatmen, were drawn up in order, to greet the travellers. The Duke of Wellington, who had been at Walmer thrice in a week to superintend preparations, met the Queen at Sandwich. Within a short distance of the castle, he pushed on to receive the Queen; whom he handed from her carriage;, and she ascended the grand staircase leaning on his arm. The party arrived at five minutes past five o’clock, in the evening, it being moonlight, the Queen walked on the ramparts. It is understood the Court will proceed to Brighton, and return to town in about a month or six weeks, when the Queen will lay the first stone of the new Houses of Parliament. umos. “ We regret ex ceding! v to find that the concation of the working classes in this town is considerably worse now then it was in either of the years IS4O, and 1841, bad as those years were. The most decisive proof of this fact is to be found in the following return of the amount of relief given to the Leeds workhouse, in the months of September and October of the years 1840, 1841, and 1842 respectively:— Amount of relief given at the Leeds workhouse.

Thus it appears that the amount of relief paid in the two months of 1842 exceeding that paid in the corresponding two months of 1840 by 1.05 U. an increase of 40 per cent, on the amount paid in the year 1840 ! The following corroborative evidence was yesterday laid before us by a trustworthy person, who has made close personal inquiries of some of the principal stuff manufacturers in the East Ward of this town. He found that the amount of wages paid by three of the principal firms in the eight weeks following the Ist of September, in the three years, was as follows Wages paid by three firms in the East Ward, in eight weeks of September and October, 1841, and 1842.

Hence it appears that the wages paid in 1842 were only about one half of the wages paid in 1842! Four other firms declared that they had this year paid one third less wages in the months of September andfOctober then in the corresponding months of 1841. In the same wards three flax mills have been closed, the owner of ene of which, however, has opened a mill in another part of town. It must be understood that the reduced amount of wages paid does not proceed from a lowered rate of wages, bu t entirely frorn the diminished quantity of work done. These facts afford a sad prospect for the winter. fiM. —This city was visited last night with one of the most tremendous gales that has blown since the memorable 6tli of January, 1839. It commenced about II o’clock, and increased in violence, hour by hour, till about four in the morning. The clatter of falling dates and bricks, intermingled with the storm, 'vas absolutely deafening, and it was not until

, between S and 9 o’clock that the wind in any j degree abated. In the afternoon there -was a heavy fall of rain. The London mail was several hours overdue, it not having reached the post-office until 2 o'clock. Dwarkanauth Tagore, the distinguished Indian, whose zeal for British India, and whose philantrophy are beyond praise, has been honoured by a letter from the Court of Directors of the East India Company, requesting his acceptance of a gold medal, intended to perpetuate the sense entertained by the Court of his eminent qualifications. To this communication the illustrious foreigner has addressed a reply replete with modesty and gratitude. A colossal statue of her Majesty is now in the course of execution, by the chisel of Mr. Steel, sculptor, of Edinburgh. The figure, when complete, will weigh upwards of ninety tons, and is to be placed in front of the Royal Insti • tution.

The large mansion on the south side of Lincoln’s Inn-fields, formerly the residence of Mr. Harrison, parliamentary counsel, lately deceased, has been taken for the establishment connected with the lunacy commission. Mr. Enfield, who has for many years held an important situation in the lunacy department, under the Lord Chancellor, has been appointed to the secretaryship of this commission, with a salary of 1,000/. per amhitn. The correspondence dated Frontiers of Turkey, the 20th ult. f in the Augslmrgh Gazette of the 30th ult., gives a deplorable picture of the state of Servia. In the midst of the rejoicings at Belgrade for the Sultan’s confirmation of the new order, or rather disorder, of things, terror and persecution were the order of the day. Wutschitch had established committees of publie safety. Arrests of several rich merchants had taken place, many of whom were very ill treated, and then banished. The prisons were crowded with persons whose opinions were regarded to be unfavourable to the government, and on the 15th of September a Turk killed a

public functionary in the butcher’s market, alleging- that he had been authorised by Wuts - chitch, who, amongst other atrocities, had ordered the Commandant Mitschitseh* to he conducted in chains, hound to a car drawn by oxen, through the town of Belgrade, exposed to the ridicule of the populace. Mitschitseh had remained to the last faithful to Prince Michael, and had been taken prisoner by the Turkish authorities, who had handed him over to the Servian government. The payment of the “ national debt,” as it is termed, to Mr. O’Connell, was duly enforced on Sunday last at the various Roman Catholic chapels, and the amount collected is understood to exceed greatly that realized last year. The total for Dublin, as far as it has yet been ascertained, amounts to 2,033/.

The Rev. Father Mathew administered the temperance pledge on Sunday and Monday last to 12,509 persons in the neighbourhood of Kilkenny. The works upon the line of atmospheric railway between Kingstown and Dalkey are proceeding with great rapidity, and the early completion of this important undertaking is now confidently looked for.

A discovery of much interest to the antiquarian has recently been made by an enterprising gentleman named Robson, who tenants the estate of Friars, near Roxburgh. By means of the ploughshare he has been enabled to trace the remains of the ancient city, from the chapel of St. James, which was situated upon a knoll immediatelp opposite to Floors Castle. The lines of streets, and sites of public buildings, are distinctly marked and laid open to the inspection of the curious.

It has been officially announced that Duncan M'Neille, Esq., Solicitor-General, has been appointed her Majesty’s Advocate for Scotland. In a few days it is expected that Adam Anderson, Esq., will be announced as the successor to Mr. M'Neille in the office of SolicitorGeneral.

The recent gales on the coast of Scotland have been productive of a large amount of calamity, as regards loss of property and shipping; but, fortunately, there does not appear to have been much destruction of life. The Income Tax in opSkation. —The mode in which the Income Tax officials execute their duties is most vexatious. They seem to act on the assumption that every man in business is a rogue and has delivered in a false return of his income. We daily hear of mercantile establishments in the City of reputation as unimpeachable as any of her Majesty’s Ministers being served with surcharges. In some cases in which this has occurred, the statement of income thus surcharged has actually exceeded in amount the profits accruing from trade, and the original return has been made for secrecy- to the commissioners direct, without the intervention of the district assessor. There appears to have been no discretion used as to the persons who should be thus, experimentalised upon, but surcharges are fired, off haphazard at every man whose income can make success profitable. It is the mercantile and trading community who will chiefly experience the annoyance of these surcharges ; the income of landowners is easily ascertained; the fundholder is treated with sharp but not

| inquisitorial practice ; while no one will presume to doubt the accuracy of the return of the county magnate ; hut that large and important class of persons who live by the conjunction of energy, enterprise and knowledge with capital; they who may really oftentimes have some difficulty in ascertaining what the profits of the year’s adventures may have been, they, to whom credit and the reputation of well-doing are honestly ahd fairly worth more than the capital invested, are the individuals on whom the severity of the tax will fall, aud these are just they to whom not the least consideration is paid either by the act or by its officers. A great part of the evil arises, it is said, from the fact that the assessors have a pecuniary interest in the amount of their assessment; they are remunerated by a per-centage, and disturb the repose and calumniate the character of better people bv their selfishness. These surcharges are, however, the commencement of an unpopularity that will be universal when the days of collection arrive ; and as if to guarantee that the .odium shall be universal, the per-centage of the collectors is, we are told, to be doubled for diligence —that is of course, for speedy returns. The affliction, the pain, the cruelty and the scandal, that will be produced by this diligence per-centage will be beyond all endurance ; it will amount in practice to an instruction to enforce payment with the utmost rigour of the law —a pleasant prospect truly for Christmas! If Ministers do not voluntarily attend to this matter in time, we shall have the House of Commons sitting all next session as a court of appeal from the Income Tax severity —it might however be worse employed.

Alarm of Fire in Eton College. —On Wednesday morning a fire broke out in the residence of the Rev. Mr. Abrahams, one of the masters of Eton College, but was fortunately got under without any very serious consequences. It appears that Mr. Abrahams, who is a very early riser, was enjoying- a morning’s walk, and during his absence the servants were alarmed by finding a strong smell of fire ; they immediately searched the different rooms, and at last discovered that one of the pupil’s rooms was so full of smoke that they could scarcely enter to arouse its inmate; they did so, however, and the young gentleman was providentially rescued from the impending danger. Upon further search being made, thev discovered that the fire was under the hearth in the bed room ; upon removing the stone the flames burst out with considerable violence, but were, from its beingso fortunately and promptly attended to, got under without any further mischief arising. It seems that the fire must have been smouldering for some time, as two very thick beams were quite burnt away.

Prison Manufactures. —Considerable dissatisfaction is felt from the fact that hosiery, manufactuied by prisoners in Jedburgh Castle, is sold in Glasgow at a price far below the ordinary value, and has a most injurious effect upon goods of that discription, made under ordinary circumstances, by men who have not enjoyed theprivilege of being convicted of crime.

1840. 1841. 1812. September .. - . ..£1.085 .£1,198 #1,520 October ... 1,523 1,796 2,139 #2,008 #2,994 #3,059

1840 1841 1842 No. 1.. .. .. £726.. . .... £579.. . . .. £267 o .... 735... ... 755... . .. 434 .. .. 370 . £1,821 £1680 £919