THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. MONDAY, MAY 13, 1872.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 185, 13 May 1872, Page 2

THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. MONDAY, MAY 13, 1872.

The English news received on Saturday by tue Umeo is not very important, out may be regarded as satisfactory. The large rise m tno price of wool is a most encouraging item, affecting, as it does, the weiutre of one of New Zealand's staple products. The vvool market is described as being characterised by almost unexampled animation, higher prices being realised than any known to the present generation, and with an excellent prospect for next sales. New Zealand Government securities also appear to be ruling high, and the number of vessels loading for the Colony is most encouraging. The labour market is still remarkable for more of those strikes and lock-outs which recur periodically in the old world, where a dense population has to fight the battle of life against long odds, even in tbe most prosperous times. Eleven thousand hands were reported on strike at Leeds, one of the great centres of the manufacturing interest in Yorkshire; and four thousand weavers are also reported to be locked out. This implies a vast amount of privation and suffering, and furnishes a strong argument for the initiation of of a judicious system of immigration. It is said that the ballot bill is likely to pass the House of Lords, if tiiis be so, a most important alteration will be made, the effects of which it is difficult for us at this distance to judge. These colonies have set an example of how well the baliot system works, but whether it is equally suitable for the very different circumstances of the old country remains to be proved. It is undoubtedly one of those privileges for which the toiling millions of the old country have long been striving, and should they obtain it, which seems probably, it is to be hoped the good sound sense and right feeling of tiie great body of the community will enable them to deal with their new power judiciously. Mr Disraeli is re ported to have been addressing the Conservatives ol Lancashire,telliiigthem tliat the throne is the Source of the blessings winch the British people enjoy. He lias also been enlarging upon its cheapness, and upon the advantages cou--1 erred upon tue country by the House oi Lords. He is reported to have oeen enthusiastically received at Manchester, the great mauujactiunig capital, and it is evident tout there is a ftro,.g leeling oi loyalty and attachment o L..e ooieie.g.i and tne existing onstuucion, taioughout the leugtn and

breadth of Ei g’aiul. The contributions from tbe Ln ted Kingdom to tbo Chicago Relief Fund amount to the handsome sum of £160,000. This will convince America of the strong feeling of sympathy existing between the mother country and the Union, and in connection with the almost certainty of a peaceful solution of the Alabama question, will go far to cement tbo strong bond of union existing between these two great nations. In minor matters, we observe that tbe irrepressible claimant to the Tichborne estates, who is now awaiting his trial for perjury, still persists that he is the genuine Baronet, and appeals to the public for subscriptions in aid of his defence. How far he is likely to succeed we, at. such a distance from the spot, can hardly say, but there can be very little douot of his perseverance. He still solemnly asserts that he is the veritable Sir Roger, and we may look forward to another trial as long perhaps as the last, on the indictment for perjury. A singular scandal appears to have been the subject of investigation in the Law Courts relative to the moral life of Sir Travers Twiss and Lady Twiss, his wife, in which an attorney named Chaffers lias been indicted for libel. The particulars are not to hand, but it appears that Lady Twiss, alter appearing in Court and testifying to the falseness of the accusations against her, suddenly left London, and the case collapsed. Sir Travers lias since resigned his office of Queen’s advocate, a position of considerable dignity and emolument, and -if lie is innocent, it appears to be rather a hard case. The University boat race, an event which appears to occupy a much more prominent place in t.ie public prints than it did some years ago, has been won this time by Cambridge, which has only to be victorious once or twice more to be equal with Oxford in the number of races won. The -youth O’Connor, who assaulted the Queen by presenting a pistol at her, has been tried and sentenced to twelve months’ hard labor and twenty lashes, the latter being probably the severest part of the penalty, and likely to exercise a salutary warning to future youths contemplating similar escapades. Whether for good or evil the use of the “ cat ” seems to be very much on the increase in the old country. A few years ago it was rarely, if ever resorted to ; now it seems to be quite common, and writers on criminalities will soon have a line field before them in commenting “ pro ” and “ con ” on the advantages or disadvantages of this mode of punishment. It is a curious fact that, while Hogging is now altogether abolished in the army in the time of peace, it should be found necessary to resort to it in the administration of the ordinary course of law. The state of the revenue, according to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Lowe, appears to be in a very flourishing condition, and, despite some striking anomalies in the position of England at the present moment, appears second to none in (lie world.