LATEST ENGLISH NEWS. [From the Sydney papers.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 194, 9 June 1847, Page 2

LATEST ENGLISH NEWS. [From the Sydney papers.]

By the Niagara we have received Liverpool papers to the Ist February. The announcement of the Premier that so large a sum as £7,000,000 would be required for Ireland, had had the effect of depreciating the funds from to 1 per cent. Great, complaints were being made at Liverpool, Manchester, and other large towns, of the immense number of paupers who were daily arriving from Ireland, which had had the effect of increasing the poor rates to a degree that it was impossible could be long paid. Provisions were slowly but gradually increasing in price, and it was feared that before the winter was over there would be almost as much distress in England as in Ireland. Her Majesty the Queen Dowager has given a donation of £1000 to the fund for the relief of the starving Irish and Highlanders. We regret to state that her Majesty Queen Adelaide has been indisposed for some days, and requires the close attendance of her physician, Sir David Davies, who is now in residence at Canterbury Park. The opening of the States took place oa the 13th December, at Bucharest. After the speech of the Prince, it was announced to the assembly that, for the future, the sittings would be no longer public. The Consul General of France and the English Consul, who were present, immediately left the hall. Mr. O'Connell has allowed his tenants a reduction of 50 per cent, on their rents. A Berlin paper informs us that the reply of the Northern Courts to the notes of Lord Palmerston and M. Guizot will not be* collective one, as generally reported, but that the arguments will be the same in each note. The Augsburg Gazette states from Rome that Don Migu -1, the pretender to the crown of Portugal, had been attacked there by illness, just as he was about to quit the capital for a country residence. We learn from Manheim (Grand Duchy of Baden) that Dr. Scholl, a priest of the German Catholic church, has lately married Madamoiselle Aghe Escher, who belongs to the Jewish persuasion. Defence of the Coast. — Batteries are being erected at Penlee Point, commanding Causand-Bay, at Looe, commanding the anchorage at Looe Island, and along the whole line from Looe to Plymouth. Royal Artillery. — Woolwich, Jan. 12. — There are upwards of 1000 recruits in the various stages of drill at Woolwich at the present period, and 39 are expected to join at head quarters here this evening. from Enniskillen. Eighty of the recruits sent to Woolwich last week hj Lieutenant Clarke from Lisburn, in Ireland, are to be attached to the 4th battalion, and the other 70 are to be attached to the other battalions, to fill up vacancies in them. Snuff and Tobacco. — There *re in England 170,041 licensed dealers in snuff and tobacco, 16,600 in Ireland, and 15,412 in Scotland. Large Import of Chinese Sugar into Liverpool. — Within the last few days we have had arrivals from China, with cargoes of a varied character, and in one or two instances with little or no tea. Two vessels from Conton have brought fourteen thousand five hundred bags of sugar. Another vessel from Sbanghae, has brought 420 bales, 24 boxes, and 80 cases of silk. There are also 60 bales of China grass, 90 cases of China ware, 226 cases of sweetmeats.; also 1,000 boxes of cassia, and 250 chests of rhubarb, and 200 jars of soy. It is evident that our large exports to China are stimulating, merchants to other returns than tea. Sugar is likely to increase, and become a very important celestial trade. Sir Walter Scott. — We sincerely regret to see in the Indian pape.s the death of Lieut.Colonel Sir Walter Scott, Bart, the son of " the Great Unknown," of a severe attack of the liver. The gallant officer was in command of the 15th Hussars, in which be jhad /served with a high reputation for 'upwards of thirty years. — Colonial Times. ■ -

. Death of Lord Bernard- Howard.— We regret to state that letters from Alexan-

dria of the 29ih ult., announce the death of Lord Bernard Howard, third son of the Duke of Norfolk, at Cairo, on the 21st, from congestion of the brain. The Honourable Henry Escourt Addington, son of Lord Sidmouth, had committed suicide, at his father's residence, Albury, near Guild - ford. The deceased was only twenty-four ; he bad suffered for some time past from mental aberration. — Syd. Morn. Herald, May 15. Death ,of Joseph John Gurnet. — This gentleman, who. has been so long before the world in the character of a philanthropist, died at Norwich on Monday last. During the very sharp weather Mr. Gurney a* tended the meeting of the District Visiting Society for the purpose of providing for the great distress the poor of Norwich were experiencing, and on returning home his pony slipped and fell with him on passing over Orford-hill. Mr. Gurney was thrown over the pony's head, on to the ground. He was quickly picked up, and in a short time, considering that no serious injury had been sustained, he rode home on the same pony. We regret to add that other symptoms followed, and a special telegraphic despatch was sent to London at six o'clock on Monday morning last, and before ten a physician from London was in attendance; Mr. Gurney, however, we regret to add, died the same night, about ten o'clock, aged 59. Norwich is generally in mourning; all the shops in the market-place, and those in most other parts of the city, are closed, so universally and highly was the deceased respected. — Times. The Times, on the recent Quarterly Revenue, as just published, has the following able remarks, which will approve themselves to every one who reads them : — " The national income has been so steadily increasing during the last four or five years, that we now look for a surplus as a matter of course. The revenue table for the quarter ending Bth January 1847, does not disappoint the expectation. Compared with similar periods calculated to the sth of January 1826, it shows an increase of £19,873 on the quarter, and £13,032 on the year. These figures, however, do not present the most favourable view of the matter, inasmuch as they only give the net total, after deducting a decrease of £1,015,225, consisting chiefly of repayments of advances, and of a falling off of the Chinese tribute, which are not included in the general estimates. The statement of the ordinary revenue is more brilliant, and shows an increase of £454,662 on the quarter, and £1,028,257 on the year. In fact, there is an advance on the year in every item, except Stamps, and on the quarter in all except Stamps and miscellaneous receipts. The decrease under these heads is not large, and, with respect to one of them, is easily accounted for by the diminution of railway enterprise. The principal increase is in the Customs, Excise, and Property Tax; in the first £205,659 and £159,932 for the year and quarter respectively ; in the second, £344,138 and £269,318; and in the third, £368,218 and £63,234. We observe that in the Post Office also there is an advance of £85,000 on the year, and £14,000 on the quarter. It has been usual to consider the collections of the Excise as the surest test of the general prosperity of the people. When the produce of this department of taxation exceeds the average of former years, we say that the country is in a flourishing condition. If the amount is less, we suspect the existence of distress. Without questioning the general accuracy of this conclusion, we are forced to withhold our reliance upon it at the present moment. We have only to look around us, and observe the universal poverty that depresses the labouring classes, in order to be convinced of the fallacy of this surplus test. Exciseable articles, no doubt, have been sold to a much larger amount than they will be in the end of the year 1845 ; but we must not forget that the intervening twelve months have produced between 300,000 to 400,000 more mouths to consume them. The main fact, however, is the co-existence of distress among the people, and prosperity in the Excise revenue ; — an apparent contradiction,, which proves, that the prevailing idea we have mentioned is at best but an unsafe opinion. We may more safely congratulate the free trade party on the success of their commercial and financial measures, as displayed iv the present and several former revenue tables. Notwithstanding the continual reduction and repeal of Customs' duties from the year 1842 down to the last session of Parliamen t, the amount of revenue from that source has never been diminished^ In 1842 the great scheme of economical reform commenced, and we think that a sufficient space of time has since elapsed to afford a fair opportunity for judging of its merits. In the interval, no less than 503 articles have been entirely released from duty, and 727 considerably relieved ; yet the national income remains unaffected. It may be .said, and not without truth, that the income' 'tax is the stream supplying the drain from other lources. This would bt a very proper

remark, and we should be the first to make it, if we were examining the general balance between income and expenditure, and investigating the causes of an apparently flourishing surplus. But this is not now the point. The question is concerning the merits of the more liberal ccmmercial policy lately pursued by this country, as they appear in the results. The object proposed in remodelling the old scheme of taxation, was chiefly to promote the comfort and happiness of the middle classes ; and it was expected, that the relaxation or abandonment of the old duties would, by making the common articles of food and clothing cheaper, increase their consumption, and thereby keep up the revenue to its former amount. If it be too much to say that they are now accomplished, it is at least allowable to believe, that their ultimate success, is certain."