OUR HOME LETTER.

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 72, 26 June 1869, Page 6

OUR HOME LETTER.

Ikhtt^W April, 3*®'^S^^eJm^ taervea the i % which it received Several a EJ Speakers followed, among them Sciuchester Fortescue; but there /as nothing very noticeable. On the / 19th the principal speaker was Mr. Bright ; and his speech is said to be thoiinest he ever made. On the 22nd Sir Rouadcll Palmer made a notable speech, expressing Ms rogret at having to separate himself from Mr. Gladstone personally, and from the Liberal party, on this question. He objected to disendowment as an injustice, but woundup with a declaration that he would acquiesce in the decision of the Hop*e if it passed the bill, and do his best in 'Committee to make its working just as possible. Then followed Sir John Coleridge, and after him sundry speakers on both sides. Mr. Lowe 'then took up the debate, and scarified fche Opposition in his usual merciless way. On the 23rd Mr. Walpole commenced the debate, then Sir Harry Bulwer followed, then came a number

of smaller speakers, and Mr. Hardy wound up with all that could be said against the measure. Mr. Gladstone then resumed, and the division was. finally taken at ten minutes past three — the second reading of the bill being carried by 368 to 250. The House goes into committee on the bill this evening, and there is every prospect of a sharp struggle yet. The Conserva- - tWo piLrfiy have given notice of a great number of amendm.on.ts. and many of these are very important, striking at the main principles of the bill ; but evidently disestablishment is accepted as a necessity, and the leading idea of the Opposition is to save as much as possible for the Church. The Irish Protestant clergy are rampant. Meetings are being held everywhere, and most furious language is used — in many cases such as it is scarcely to be expected would proceed from clerical personages. Pecuniary considerations seem, however, to be the main grievances, and the spiritual quite slight in comparison. The state of Ireland came before the j House of Lords on the 18th March,

but merely as a discussion.

Generally the budget is looked for- ► ward to most anxiously, and much speculation is evinced respecting the yarious projects that are expected to be brought forward. This year, however, from the knowledge that the Abyssinian expedition had cost far more than was estimated, it was supposed that a deficit must • ensue, and ' men's minds were disturbed by gloomy of increased income tax, &c. MrFLowe has, however, dispelled all these fancies, by the wonderful manner ', in which he has disposed of all difficul- i ties. The budget was brought forward on the Bth instant. The increase on the Abyssinian war estimates* and the estimated surplus of the coming year just balance ; but as this left nothing in hand, and the Exchequer balances were very low, it was necessary to see what could be done to replenish the coffora. Mr. Low has been carefully, considering the mode in which the }and and assessed to Xes are collected, j and finds that it is so cai&ip,gg a nd im- ! provident that there is a great l*^, o f revenue.' He then made the assertion

that these taxes ought to be collected once instead of thrice a year, and by excise instead of parochial officers. He proposes to convert the assessed taxes into excise licenses, like the. dog $ax, to be granted prospeetively instead of retrospectively (thus getting payment of a year's taxes in advance), and by this a saving would be effected pf £160,00Q.' These licenses would be granted on a declaration of the articles taxable; but the taxes due for this year would be levied in the old way, and the licenses would begin on the Ist January next, so as to make the transition as easy and pleasant as posbibla _ The land and house taxes would be placed on the same footing in.regard to being collected once a year, but would .still be collected by parochial pfEcers. - The income tax would also be collected once a year, in the last quarter. *The product of this estimated change is £3,350,000. With this surplus Mr. Lowe proposes to reduce the income tax by one penny inNtfie pound, to take off the Is. duty P n «orn, the duty on fire insurance, and oq hair powder; to reduce the duties ym carriages, horse dealers' licenses, ujen servants ; to make stage carriages a^d horses subject to the same rates \s other carriages and horses, and to^lace cabs on the same fqotmg (the saving by which to the cab i proprietors will be from £13 tq £17 per year on each cab) ; to abolish the post-horse duty and the licenses for selling tea; ani, after all these remission^ and reductions there Will remain a surplus of £442,000. In the House of Lords, Earl Russell has introduced a bill for the creation pf life peers by the Crown, and there seems to be every probability of its favourable reception. T-he naval force on the west coast of Africa has been considerably reduced ; ? nd it is promised that a still further

The Admiralty are carrying out the system of economy that has been propounded. Portsmouth dockyard may now be said to be closed as a place where Government work is being done, there being at present only some eight or- ten men there. Deptford dockyard ! was finally closed on the 30th March, and it is probable that a short act of Parliament will be passed to enable the Government to dispose of the premises. The Government have promised to allow a number of the men who have been discharged from Portsmouth dockyard to have free passages ! to Gauada in some troopships that are going out there empty. The men will be assisted by residents in the town. A number of the men discharged from the Woolwich dockyard are also to be forwarded to Canada at the Government expense, on certain conditions. While on the subject of emigration, I may mention that the first party of emigrants sent out this year by the East London Family Emigration Fund, left King's Cross for Liverpool on the morning of the 13th instant, to embark for Canada. They numbered nearly three hundred, and with them were an additional twenty sent by the Clerkenwell Emigration Fund, and seven Bedfordshire labourers. From Preston a large number of emigrants are starting, the bad state of the cotton trade having necessitated a reduction in the wages, and some 3000 of the operatives being therefore on strike.

Easter Monday was quite the worst this year that we have had for very many years. The two preceding days were bad as regards weather ; but the day was wretched. On Saturday, a brig, homeward bound from Ceylon, was driven on shor"e at Dover, in a snow storm ; and on the morning of the Volunteer Review, a ten-gun brig, the Ferret, which had to take part in the naval attack on Dover Castle, became a total wreck, fortunately without loss" of life. At the time fixed for assembling on tke parade ground before marching to the review ground, the wind became fearful, and a fierce storm of snow and rain raged, completely soaking the men, who stood it bravely ; and it was then decided that it was impossible to carry out the review operations even if the men could manage to reach the heights. So the volunteers were ordered to break-up, to be mustered again at three p.m., for a march past, if that were possible, on their way to the railway station. About twelve o'clock the weather suddenly cleared up as if by magic, and the Duke of Cambridge appeared in Dover just as suddenly. He had been staying at Walmer, some miles distant. Immediately he demanded to see the general officer in command of the arrangements, to know why the review had been stopped ; sent the mounted officers all over the town to call the men together; and- in a very short time nearly the whole of the" force had reassembled, and the review took place — although, from the curtailment of the time, the whole of the proposed movements could not take place. The Queen has been passing a few d_ays in London, and has held a Drawing Room. On the 6th she visited St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and made a personal inspection of most of the wards, and spoke to nearly all the patients. The Prince and Princess of Wales are still on their travels in the East. They have been up the . Nile ; seen all the wonders of Egypt, including the Suez Canal (now so rapidly approaching completion) ; have been most gorgeously entertained at Constantinople ; and are now in the Crimea. \' 5S^ c -. latest intelligence is that they were av« n t to visit the battle-ground of the Alma. . Prince Arthur i s now in Ireland-, [ and has been exceedingly we ll received. Great preparations were nia^ to entertain him. On Good Friday the proposed Ao_ \ monstration took place in Trafalgar Square, as announced, but the proceedings were very dull ; and the crowd of two or three thousand persons which had assembled dispersed quietly after i the proceedings were over. Another fearful colliery explosion | took place on the Ist, in the Fiery Arley Mine, a»ain near Wigan. 30* persons were tilled, and nine seriously injured, five of whom have since died. Another accident occurred in one of Earl Dudley's pits, which was suddenly ! flooded with water. Thirteen men and six horses were in the pit, and were believed to have been drowned ; but by dint of strenuous exertions the water was pumped .out with sufficient rapidity to enable the . men to be rescued, except one who had gone mad, and wandered into' a remote part of the workings. They' had been imprisoned for 130 hours. Murphy, the notorious Protestant lecturer, has been again stirring up bad feelings in the north of England. At North. Shields a riot took place, and severe injuries were sustained by several persons. Mr. Arthur Heathcote, one of the heartiest sportsmen of the present day, died on the 18th March, at his residence, the Durdans, near Epsom. He was barely forty years of age, but was most popular with all classes of persons that came in contact with him. At the Epsom races he was the leading | Spirit.

Apension of £100 has been granted by the Queen to the widow of the late William Oarleton.

The Hudson's Bay Company are about to giye up their territorial rights

to the Canadian Government, and the arrangement is all but complete. -The shareholders - will . receive a -sum of money equal to a return of £3 per share on all their subscribed capital, a large extent of land round edteh of their present trading stations, the right to select two millions of acres in the best part of the territory, and certain immunities from taxation. They will retain all their rights to hunt, trap, and trade ; and they will have the advantage of securing a settled Government over a large tract of territory hitherto occupied only by roving wild Indians, and threatened by acquisitive and not over-scrupulous Yankees.

The driver and stoker of the goods tram which was concerned in the great railway accident at Abergele have been tried at tk<3 Denbigh Assizes, and , found " Not Guilty." The grand jury ! passed a vote of censure on the London and Worth-Western Railway Company for the loose instructions given to their servants with respect to shunting, and also for permitting trains to follow each other in such rapid succession. Sheward, the man who confessed to having killed his wife at Norwich many years since, has been found guilty and sentenced to death" It is not expected, however, that the sentence will be carried out, as the case presents very many unusual features. Thomas Garnbier, the admiralty clerk, and William Rumble, the navy engineer, have been tried, and being found guilty of conspiring to defraud, were sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment with hard labour. Enquiries are being made at ■ the Admiralty with a view to the detection of similar practices which are said to exist. Madame Rachel has again been figuring in the public eyes. Three distinct applications have been made for bail since last mail, but without success — something being wrong each time. The present application is not rejected, but stands over for a day or two to make enquiry respecting one of the persons proposed for bail. There are fifty-three cases in the crown paper for the Court of Queen's Bench for next term, and that of Madame Rachel stands 42 ud in the list ; so that unless the case is specially 'appointed for hearing, it cannot be reached next term. Some very bad news has been received from the Cape. A tract of country, four hundred miles long and varying in breadth from fifteen to one hundred and fifty miles, has been deso- . lated by a fire unparalleled in the annals of the colony. The intense heat was the cause, the fire breaking out in several places at once. Numbers of families lost all they possessed ; and as the calamity occurred just after an unusually good harvest, the whole produce of which has been destroyed, great distress is being felt. Two hundred gold diggers have arrived from Australia at Port Natal, and a steamer with several hundreds more is expected; but there being no news from the goldfields, the diggers have not yet gone up country. More diamonds have been found in the Yael district. The Eev. W. K. Macrorie was constituted a Bishop of the province of Cape Town, on the 25th January. A protest from the Cape, signed by one hundred and twenty-nine persons, and one from Natal, signed by over one thousand two hundred and sixty, had been presented to the Metropolitan against the consecration. The Senate of the United States, on the 13th instant, rejected the Alabama Claims Treaty by fifty-four votes to one. Mr. Johnson, the present Minister in this country, is to be recalled at once, and Mr. J. L. Motley, the celebrated historian, has been appointed as his successor. G-eneral Longstreet, the celebrated Confederate G-eneral, ! has become Surveyor of Customs at the port of New Orleans — another proof of the readiness with which the leaders have accepted the present state of affairs. Terrible snow storms occurred in Canada during March. No trains had started from or arrived at Montreal for two days. Four trains from New York were blocked at St. John's. A mixed committee has been appointed to investigate the economical situation of the two countries (France and Belgium), so far as regards their cammercial and industrial relations, and also to examine the Railway Convention. Tho license accorded to speakers at public meetings in France is now very much abused, the language used being in many cases of a character I that would scarcely be endured even in this country. From Spain we learn that the Committees appointed by the Cortes have laid before that body the draft of the Constitution. The basis of the proposed Constitution are a Monarchical Government, two Chambers, a Senate, and a Congress. The senators are to be elected by the provincial councils, four from each province, for a term of thirteen years. The deputies are to be elected for three years, by universal suffrage. The King is to reign for eighteen years. A majority of the j committee are favourable to the separation of the Church and State; the minority, however, propose that the Roman Catholic religion shall be the State creed, but with toleration for other confessions. Liberty of the press and the right of public meeting are to be guaranteed. No king has yet been found for the expectant kingdom, although negotiations are said to be in progress. '