The Sun. — London, England, 1868-12-25 00:00:00

~~;y atrice after- High. cess of r, and [CE. advice 3 ►etiiion ties by Greek 'eelings Eey. 24. egotia a Con- Turkey • lt it on the [rely in . 24. making ers and i to the ng and c. 24. sued au door to ients for lays. c. 24. cOUVe ad ger 2; and m arket 3167 -- ..r. 153 33 75 _.- ...- •••••• ....... )Mpan ies ng rest ) " the set , ;t sessioll or York , has ju st i s under an earl this cora' ----ema for il ommit' tee wring t he ouunitte° their big" he repre• ,es i n the ion in lb° non We° ,e of tb : od, and t he great lakos• tie wateris °' iA 00 Ch ' to Ayt oa destro i niLgil a cl 9 - • s adjoill'r tho %gate ROUGI i Leeds IA he w hole; of fi r ' r e The ° llA ', ( l £7OO s" t , At 111e0 day, A lci°ta esolved, 0110 Mr. M il :, id in 0 0 ' 40 Lny eXt' 24. b 659 rzed $8 7135 coppe r ' cl• )eing An A • It is pi th : _Geo— f iv: . 00 0 omp:ial 0, isi3V elit ° the 19,rgy'4 Whi 9l' , ) ,o l, to 014' I C Or e l 11,1110 C )n W• B S. 11 0 newer f° tul 104 et. t fl: n; the Di r oi rr ,ll , urian ° l ey it renlo A, Largo 13° 0 ,0 , ncl Ya NIONi ,- 3? MARIiET AND CO iMEROIAL iNTILLI.64-4140k, CITY, Two o'CLoca. in the foreign exchanges this afternoon there were again no material variations from those by last post. The sum of £28,000 in gold was taken to the Bank to-day. The return of the Bank of France this week shows a further diminution of £192,000 in the stock of bullion. It has been notified that the Secretary of State for India in Council does not intend to draw any more bills on India during the remainder of the present official year—that is, till after the 31st of March next. A facility is given by the Bank of France which uld be imitated by the Bank of England. They receive in deposit for the public for a small fixed charge all descriptions of securities, the dividends of which are payable in Paris, and collect the d‘vi dends and place them to the credit of the proprietor. The tariff for this service is about 2d. sterling per annum for every share or bond of the nominal value of £5O or less, 3d from £5O to £BO, and 4d from £BO to £l2O, increasing by a penny for every additional £4O. The minimum charge for any one deposit islod, and no dividends payable out of Paris are collected. At the same time, for a charge of 10d for every £4O the Bank undertakes the trouble of paying any calls upon shares deposited with them, and for exchang ing old bonds for new the rate is a penny for every share or bond, and a halfcenny for every £1 Rente. The payment of dividends through the branch banks is subject to a charge of 1 per cent., or a minimum of sd. Apart from the satisfaction the public here would feel at being_able to resort to so safe a system of deposit, the convenience the plan 1117 ould afford in the conduct of p►actical business is incalculable. At each fortnightly settlement in the Stock Exchange the value of the bonds car ried from office . to office amounts to many millions, and each parcel requires to be examined when de livered from one party to another, whereas if a Bank of England system of deposit existed the receipts or certificate of deposit might pass from hand to hand. The colonial produce markets will be closed until Tuesday, the sth proximo. During the present week the transactions have been much contracted, as usual immediately before Christmas. Coffee is steady, and quotations remain unaltered. The tea market has been dull, with very limited sales. No change has occurred in sugar. Afew floating cargoes of foreign are reported to have been sold for the United Kingdom on former terms. Saltpetre is again rather higher, and some contracts have been made afloat, including a parcel to arrive from Liver pool. A renewal of speculative demand for white pepper has caused another rally in prices, which are now almost equal to the highest current last week. Rice has been inactive. Common cargo Bengal has slightly declined. For rum the quotition is rather More firm. Tha return from the Bank of England for the Week ended the 23d December gives the following results when compared with the previous week :-- Rest PuLlic deposits Other deposits 17,850,762 ... Dscrea.se .. 121,691. On the other side of the account : government securi- ties £14,124,874 Increase ... £50,000 Other securities 18,339,395 ... Increase ... 844,417 Notes unemployed 9,251,730 Increase ... 75,235 The amount of notes in circulation is £22,940,185, being an increase of £.215,510 ; and the stock of bullion in both departments is £18,291,621, showing an increase of £133,306, when compared with the preceding return. Subjoined is a comparison of the present position of the Bank of England and the prices of Consols and French Rentes with the corresponding week of last year : Same Week At Present. last Year. Bullion _Reserve Notes in circulation 22,940,185 ... 23,362,865 ituto of discount Consols French Routes BRITISH FUNDS-CLOSING PRICES. GOVERNMENT FUNDS. 1 per Cent. Consols Ditto fur Account, per Cent. Reduced 92j } New 3 per Cent Now 2} per Cent. Jau. 1894 Do. i per Cont. can. 1873 A.anuities, SO yrs, expire sth Jan., 1880 — Do. for SU yrs, expire sth April 1835 — Do (lied Sea Teleb,raph), Aug., 1908._ Exchequer Bills, £l,OOO, 2 per Ct - prl De. £5OO Do. £l.lO & £2OO — pm Aank of England Stock, 4 par Cent Do. acceuet Canada 4 per Cent. Bonds — bktor-Celonial Omniurn , INDIAN dOVERNMENT SECURITIES. -India stock, 104 per Cent., April 1874 Do. Opening, for Account 2lO Do. 5 per Cent. July, 1880 Do. 4 per Cent., Oct. 1888 Do. Certificates — Do. Enfaced Pale. 4 per Cent — Do. 5 per Cent., Jan. 1872 Do. 5i per Cent. May 1879 lO9l 4 DJ 5 per Cent., Rup. Deb. 1872 — Do. do. 1877 — Do. do. 1882 — D.. Deb., 5 per Cent., Aug. 1873 ~ lO4l Do. Bonds, 4 per Cent., £1,000 Do. under £l.OOO - Poi FOREIGN FUNDS—CLOSING PRICES. Ar.;entine Republic, f; per Cent Do., Scrip £45 paid .. - Au Arian Bonds 5 per cent Do. 1859 — i , truilian 5 por Coat — no. 4/ per Cent., 1852 — Do. do. 1858.... 110. do., 1860 — Do. do., 1863 671 Do. 5 per Cent., 1865 — Do Account 7Bf 1 „ 'a 1 ' : epos Ayres 6 per Cent. Do 2 per Cent. (Deferred 3 per Cent ) 511 Cuba, 6 per Cent. Cadittn 6 per Cent — no. 4/ per Cent.... 7l Do. 3 per Cent., Do. 6 per cent. 1867 Do. 7 per Cent., 1866 C lo nbian, 6 per Cent. Dan sn, 3 per Cent., 1825 Danubian Principaities, 7 ler Cent — Do 8 per Cent., 1867 — Equador New Consolidated, 1 per Cent . 1 4., , ,yptian, 7 per Cent — Do Second Issue Do. £SOL Bonds.. — Do. £lOO Bonds . •••• -- Do. 1864 Do. Account Do. £5OO Bonds Do. £lOO Bonds B5 41 English Scrip,:lB6B 731 Do do. £45 pd dis Government Railway Debentures Greet 5 per Cent., 1824 5, ex Coups Do. Acccunt Do. Coupons Do. Account Guatemala 5 per Cent .. — lionduras Gov. Rail. Loan., 10 p. Ct., all pd I t3lian 5 per Cent., 1865 — Do. Account ... Bll Do Maremmana Railway — Mexicau 3 per Cent — Ditto for Account Dn. 1864 — Do 6 per Cont. Anglo-French — atontevideau 6 per Cent. .. Moorish imperial 5 per Cent - New Granada l4l Do 3 per Cen Do. Deferred Do Land Warrants (Hectares) i Peruvian 5 por Cent. 1865 Do Account .. ,91 4 P ortuguese 3 per Ct., 1853, '6, 7, '9,'60,'2,'3 , Do. do. 1867 , Do. do. Scrip, £2O paid Aussian 5 per Cent., 1822, £ St Do 4/ per Cent. 1850 Do 4/ per Cent., 1860 Do 3 per Cent., 1859 Do 5 per Cent., 1862 Do. Anglo-Dutch, 1864, £lOO Bonds.„ 90 Do. do. £B4 15s. do , -- Do., 1866, £lOO Bonds Do. do' £B4 15s. do — ~, Do Ni co l as R a il wa y "tr linian a per Cent 651 Do 4i per Cent. (Uribarren) Do 44 per . 1862 • — Do Account Cent., .._ . S panish 3 por Con ... — Do. Account Do. 1867 D, o. Account i 321 3 t-, , 0. Now Deferred Do. Account uo. Passive Do. Cora. Cert. of Coup. not funded „ 0 . Account '''N'f.dish Provincial Mortgage Loan — 1)0 Government, 1864 Do cl()) 18 0 1 3 miittemamomit ""._ Do 'do, Scrip — Pa- Turkish 6 per Cent. .....,.., Do Account Do 6 per Cent. 1858 — Do Account Do £lOO Bonds Do 6 per Cent., 1862 Do Account Do ..£lOO Bonds 63} 4} Do 5 per Cent. 1865 Do Account - 91 Do 6 per Cent., 1865 6li 2 Do 1 por Cont., Guaranteed Venezuela 3 per Cent.: Do. Acc.nut Dividends on the above payable in London. Austrian a per Cont. Ex 10 Florins Belgian, 4i per cent., Ex. 25f. Dutch 24 per Cent. Ex. 12 Gui?.. — Do. 4 per Cent. Certificates .... French Rentes, 3 per Cent., Ex. 231. — _ Do Account lt%litui 5 per Cent. 1831, E::.zsf. Do. Account 56 I 6 CLOSING PRICES. Consuls, Money 92- f xd Do. Account, Jan. 5 .. 921- xd share Itai lwityB. Paid. CiOditg SUMO'S Prise. lone. at Bristol and Exeter ...... 103 73 77 at Caledonian .......... 100 731 711 at Cambrian 20 Cornwall all 31 31 at Dublin & Belfast J unc lOO 77 79 st Dun„Yerth,& Ab.J 100 70 72 2 East London all 7 YO 1)0 15 - 2 t Do 10 - - at Glasgow &S. western lOO 90 91 at Great Eastern .. at Do. E. Angl. No. 2 iuti 7 8 st Great North of Scotland lOO 15 6 st Great Northern lOO 106 107 at Du. A stock st Do. 11 stock lOO 124 1.6 at G tS, and W. of Ireland lOO *Pi 97 a. Gt. Western -Original I‘O 4 481 4 / t Do. South Wales a.. Do. W. Mid.-0.filor:! lOO 25 at Do. Newport lOO 28 31 st Lancashire& lorkshiru lou .271 2sl 1271 at Lou., Lirigh.,& S.Coaa: lOO 48 4,1 t$ 8 10J Do Scrip - - at I on., Chat., and Dove., toe if: 171 14 ; 17 Do. Aletrup. Ex. A lOO - -- st Lou. A Noun 1% eriteff t Lou. at South Western lOO b 7 1 8 st Man., Shel., & Lineum at Metropolitan at Da Extensi .. 100 93 li 3 O v 8 lo Do. New rd 10 10 1 at ropoilian District. all - sletrup. John's V. 00 i b - at M u.aad at ,)o, thrum). 7a ti at N.i.tu British . ..... UV b 3 S at Do. Si., l'th., & Dun - - at or. , :astern-Berwiefi.. 100 P. 4 109 25 Do.a. N.E purchase - - at Do Leeds ...... ....... 101.1 54 15 at Do York lOO i 7 55 871 at LO Carlivle st Do Stoc... A Darling l,O 1,7 129 127 at North Lon ion .. 10 Do New 1868 . 2 14 '2 p at North Staffordshire . . 100 54 54 at North and S.-W. Junction *OO 108 195 10 Do New .010 shares 7 ... - • at Rhymney at Shropshire Union 1 0 31 35 at Sown Devon st South Eastern l9O 79 7.1 20 Staines, Wok'hain,& Wok all 1.2 11 ale i 0 De. C ..• .. 5 3 4 st Wateriord & Kilkenny.. 10u .0 Waterloo & Whiteha.l.. 6 - - SPECIE PAYiIIEIVT. Every appearance indicates that a vigorous effort will be made to return soon to specie paymen . s in the Un ted States. It is felt that the prac,ical settlement of all disputes lies in this, and that it can be accomplished without any great sacrifice. Grant is said strongly to favour it, and so to sup port Secretary M'Cullooh's project that he will re tain him, if possible, at the head of the Treasury. Senator Morton, contradicting a statement of the orld that he was about to introduce a bill for the immediate payment in greenbacks of the 5-20 Bonds the Government may now redeem, says that what he urged during the canvas was not, as reported, the recantation of what he had urged in the Senate regarding the payment of the Five- TwentieS in greenbacks, but the assation that the first duty of Government was to return to specie payment ; further maintaining that the Executive had no right to issue fresh legal tender notes for the payment of the bonds, although he did argue in the Senate the right of using the existouj Legal-Tender Note:: in payment of the Bonds. lie goes on to say :-- 7 " I also argued at various times during the canvass that, whatever might be the law on the subject, the Government could not pay the bonds, • or any considerable portion of them, in coin, while the currency remained depreciated, and that the im provement of the currency, by bringing it up to par, was a necessary condition precedent to the payment of the bonds in gold ; that if the Govern ment could not procure gold enough to redeem $365,000,000 of Legal-Tender notes, it was folly to talk about paying the bonds in gold ; that the question of the mode of paying the bonds will be come important only by the continuance of a de praved currency without taking steps to improve it; that to take the surplus gold in the Treasury and ap ply it to the purchase of bonds in the market, which will not fall due for 14 years, would not be paying the bonds,' but 'shaving' them, and would be an improper use of the means by which the paper of the Government, overdue and dishon oured, should be redeemed." These opinions he asserts are not inconsistent with what he said in the Senate. It is noticed that when the bonds and greenbacks were authorized, the Act stipulated that the latter were never to exceed $150,000,000. In spite of this provision necessity enforced their in crease to not far short of three times that sum. The argument then is that if legal, as asserted by Sena tor Morton, to pay the 5-20 Bonds issued over five years ago in greenbacks, it is first essential that the greenbacks should be reduced from thes4oo,ooo,ooo at which they now stand, to the $15,000,000 to which the Act limited them ; and it appears to us unanswerable. First, the bondholders deny the legality of paying in greenbacks at all ; next, if legal (however immoral), the quantity in circula tion must be reduced to the limit fixed by the Act, and indeed if the Government will do this the bond holders need require no further stipulation, fur the cancelling of half the greenbacks in circulation would almost equalize gold and currency in value. The Tribune argues that the Government are justi fied in buying the bonds at a discount in the market from whoever on surth terms will sell them, and accepting the position as it really is, the Tribune is right ; although Senator Morton may mean that the Government made that position, and it is dis honourable to depreciate your own acceptances and then buy them back at a discount. The wise plan, however, is to take up the existing position, and let the Government act as a banker would act, doing the best it can for the nation, while rigidly observing the spirit of its contract. It is an extra ordinary fact that men like Senator Morton cannot see that the offer on the part of the Government to pay in gold does not necessarily involve payment in gold. No more would the hard money be required in the United States than in England under the same circumstances. All people require is an assur ance on which they can fully rely that they can turn their paper into gold when they wish. This is the be lief which makes the Englishman prefer a Bank of England note to the amount of gold specified on its face. What the Washington Government re quires is credit,--the same belief in the redeemable paper they issue that Englishmen have in Bank of E'ngland notes,and the sooner theUnttedStates then return to a specie basis the better. All sensible men agree in this, but they split into parties when the question comes Hew is it to be accom plished ?" That it is very earnestly debated is a sign little less hopeful to the bondholders than the pledge given in the late resolution pased almost unanimously in the House of Representatives. Bank of England Returns. An Account, pursuant to the Act 7th and Bth Victoria, cap. 32, for the week ending Wednesday, Dec. 23, 1868. isstrz DEI Notes issued ....X32,191,935 'ARTMENT. Governmt. Debt £11,015,1Ce Other Securities 8,984,901 Gold Coin and Bullion Silver Bullion £32,191,935 XE2,191,935 BANKING D. Proprietors'Capi tal £14,553,000 Rest Public Deposits (including E xchequer, Sav ings' Banks, Commissioners of National Debt, and Div. Accounts Other Deposits 37,850,062 Seven Days and other Bills 434,187 ?.PA.ItTMENT. Governrut. Secu rities(including Dead Weight Annuity) .... £14,124,874 Other Securities 18,339,395 Notes 9,251,750 Gold and Silver Coiu .£42,815,705 [ £42,815,705 ,NIC MAY, Deputy Cashier. A detachment of the Coast Brigade of the Royal Artillery is ordered to proceed from Woolwich to . join the headquarters of the Ist Division of the Depot Brigade. A party of non-commissioned officers of the Depot Brigade, Royal Artillery, has been ordered to proceed to Woolwich for the pur pose of undergoing a course of instruction at the Royal Arsenal. INTERNAL REVENUE LAW.—The United States Circuit Court for West Virginia, Chief Justice Chase pre siding, has recently decided that, under the Internal Re venue Law of 1864, receipts for freight on goods delivered to a railway company for transportation are inland bills of lading, and are not subject to a stamp duty. It was further held that in the case of an employd of a railroad company issuing unstamped papers con t rary t o l aw th e corporation should be indicted for an attempt to violate the statute, and not the clerk. The authors of " Miss Multon" have received an unpleasant proof of their plagiarism, in a claim from Mr. North Peat, the translator of Mrs. Wood's novel, and M. lletzel, its publisher, to participate in the droits d'auteur. M. Belot declares that he had no idea that the incidents fur nished to him by M. Nus were not original. The matter has been referred to the Societe des Hommes de Lettres. The Court of Common Pleas have refused an ap plication on the part of Sir Leopold M'Clintock to change the venue of the trial of the Drogheda election petition to Dublin. The ground of application was an allegation that, owing to intimidation, witnesses for the petitioner would be prevented from appearing at the trial la Drogheda. The trial has been fixed for the 15th January. A curious defence was set up by the London and North-Western Railway in an action to recover damages for personal injury tried at the Liverpool assizes on Wednesday. The plaintiff, a labourer, swore that, early one morning, ho was knocked down by a train as he was crossing the line at Widnes station, and considerably hurt, and his statement was corroborated by a friend, who carried Lim home. None of the railway servants were seen at the station: The defence was that no accident had occurred at the point stated ; and that the story waa a fabrication in order to obtain damages. The jury, however, believed the plaiutiff i and gay/ him 4210 damage/. THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 25, 1868. JOINT-STOCK BANKS. -- -- Closing Business Share NAII3, Paid. Price. done 10 Agra Limited, A all 111 121 121 12 10 Do B lO 6 6 60 Albion l5 6 4 100 Alliance, Limited 20 Anglo-Austrian 20 Anglo-Egyptian; lim all 17 1 i 171 20 Anglo-Hungarian 20 Anglo-Italian 1866, limited 10 6 4 40 Australasian 20 Bank of British Columbia all 11 IS 20 Do issued at 2pm ~.. 6 ... ... 26 Bank of Egypt 20 Bank of Otago, lim. 26 Bank of South Australia all 11 13 50 Bank of Victoria, Australia 25 17 MO 10 Bank of New Zealand all 17 19 40 British North American 20 Chartered of India, Austra lia, and China all 20 21 26 Chartered Mere. of India, Loudon, and China all 291 301 30 20 City 1 i 11 12 100 Colonial 25 40 41 10 Consolidated, Jim. 60 Delhi and London, lint 50 East London, lim 6 11 Oy 20 English and American, lim 10 ... ... 20 English Bank of Rio dig Ja neiro. lim lO ld pr 20 English, .!.eottish, and Aus tralian Chartered 281 How , Kong and Shanghai Balk Corporation all .. ... 231 Do new ii i i 100 Imperial, Um 2O 17 13 20 Imperial Ott,hn to lit 1 1 113 1 1 _5 lonian all 27 20 25 Do new 5 pr 1p z 0 Lnd Mortgage of India, lim 4 3 : 3 1 100 Do sp. c. Debs.lB64, 20 all 76 78 02 30 London Bank of Mexico and South America, lim. 20 9 7 121 100 London and Brazilian, lim. 48 3 , 31 20 Do new 71 61 51 100 London & River Plate, lim. 40 7 9 25 Do new 10 11 11 20 London Chart. of Australia all 221 231 50 London and County 2O 30 41 20 Do new. iss at 20 p.m, 16 pd ll ... ... 40 London Joint Stock 1 35 16 35 1 20 London and liouth African al 11 12 100 London & S.-Western, lim, 20 ... ... 50 London & Venezuela, lim l2l .. ... 100 London and Westminster 2O 651 661 881 4 100 Do Scrip, its at 10 pm 2l 621 8 1 63 100 Merchant, lim 26 7 5 10 Metropolitan, lim all 61 71 100 Midland, lim 2l Id pr 4 National of Australia 25 National ol' Liverpool, Jim l6 ... ... 100 National Provinc. of Eng'd 42 ... ... 10 Do . 42 ... ... 10 National. ll 44 56 20 New South Wales all 42 44 20 North-Western 7l 25 Oriental Bank Corporation all 421 411 421 60 Provinc. Bank. Corpo., lim. 11 6 51 41 1 100 Provincial of Ireland 25 91 13 10 Do new, all ... ... 100 Stand. of Brit. S. Africa, lim 25 14 12 100 Do issued at 6 pm. 11 ... ... 25 Union of Australia all 48 49 100 Union of Ireland, lim 50 Union of Loudon lb 17 31 381 THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN. A very large audience listened on Tuesday, at the Brighton Pavilion, to Miss Faitbfull's views c n this important subject. After saying that she did not appear as the representative of any organised move ment, but solely on her own responsibility, Miss Faithfull described the unfit occupations in which women are engaged, and dwelt with earnestness on the necessity of opening fresh channels and remunerating their work on a scale which would permit them to live in decency if not in comfort. In demanding for women of a higher class fair chances of livelihood, Miss Faithfull regretted that people had not yet learnt to follow the advice given by Lady Morgan years ago, though an admirable example had been set by our Royal Family. If parents would only learn to teach their daughters all things in moderation, but one thing in per fection—whatever they spew a special talent for—drawing, music, embroidery, housekeeping —even anything which would enable a girl to feel it would carry her through life without dependencies, the coming generation might be saved the evils the present one'was enduring. After touchirg upon the franchise and the proposed amendment in the marriage laws, with a moderation and liberality of treat• ment which secured a respectful hearing, Miss Faithfull deprecated the present condition of girls' schools, and urged the higher education of women, and their admittance to many sources of mental and moral development from which they are now excluded. The lecture was grave and logical, and exceedingly well delivered. Miss Faithful' has the advantage of a peculiarly clear, full, and well modulated voice, and her quiet yet earnest manner at once arrested the attention of her audience, who testified their sympathy with frequent applause. THE GRIEVANCES OF IRISH TEACHERS. A deputation from the Dublin branch of the Irish Teachers' Association has waited upon Sir Arthur Guinness, Bart., M.P., at Dublin, to lay before him a statement of their grievances. The several members of the deputation spoke at some length, and pleaded their cause with all the characteristic eloquence and energy of their nation. Their chief causes of complaint are the insufficiency of salaries, the want of retiring pensions, and the system of payment, by results ofwhich they complain most bitterly of all. The salaries now paid the Irish National teachers are miserably small. They commence at £lB per annum, and after many years culminate at £52, but it is only one teacher in 80 who reaches that amount. When this scale was fixed the neces saries of life were not half their present price, and it is no wonder that many young men who receive third-class cer tificates, entitling them to £lB a year, gladly leave their profession for clerkships of £6O or £7O, especially as these often offer a prospect of substantial" advancement. The delegates pointed out that the natural result of this insuffi cient remuneration would be to deter young men of ability from devoting their lives to popular education. The second cause of complaint was the total absence of all provision for the future. The demands of the teachers are very moderate. They ask only to be placed on a level with the other branches of the civil service, and declare themselves willing, if their salaries are increased, to be allowed a percentage to be deducted from them for the pensions fund. The inspectors of schools have, year after year, urged this claim upon the commissioners. Their work is laborious and incessant, and after many years devoted to the public service they have surely an even greater claim than other servants of the State to an honourable provision for their latter days. The proposed system of payment by results it is felt will be a serious hardship to the teacher, because of the irregular attendance of the scholars and other causes over which he has no con trol. The Irish schoolmaster has no fixed salary, except that paid by the State ; the amount received from all other sources is only about £7 per Echool, and even then is not certain. If the expected system of payments by results is introduced every child, for whose instructicn the teacher receives any State allowance, must make a given number of attendances and satisfy the inspector in the school pro gramme. Out of a school with 40 children, a very numerous class in Ireland, not more than 20 could be sent for examina tion, the youth and backwardness of the children and the irregularity of their attendance keeping back the other 20. For these the State will not pay, the parents cannot, and the teacher is consequently to lose his remuneration. In Eng land, where the system of payment for results has been tried, the schoolmaster has always a fixed salary from local sources and generally a house rent free. In England, however, the average daily attendance is about 90 per school ; in Ireland it is considerably under 50. The teacher of a large school in Dublin gave the result of his experience during the last six years. From January, 1862, to the present month, 2,000 pupils had been admitted, giving an average of 335 per annum. Of these 335 bays in each year, not fifty made the required number of attendances, so that for the remaining 285 who probably would have given the teacher most trou'tle ou accimut of their irregularity, he would get no allowance whatever. Sir Arthur Guiuness, after listening with interest to the statem etts of the depu tation, expressed his full acconlance in their views. lit thought that in Ireland the introduction of the system of payment by results would be most unfair and injurious. while he had no hesitation in declaring the present rate of salaries to be miserably insuffijeut, and in supporting the justice of their claim as vain able public servants t) an ade quate provision for their old ago. No doubt now that they Lave been thus plainly and forcibly stated nese grievances will be further inquired into. SHARE LIST. }.IIDINARY tillAttlO AND STOCKS. RAILWAYS-PREFERENCE SHARES AND fiTOCKS. st Bristol and Exeter 4 p.cent. 100 86 SS at Caledonian Qrs., No. 2 l9O at Do. Scot. N.E., 4) per cont lOO at Do. Aberdeen, gua 6 p.c lOO at Do. do. 7 per coat lOO at Do. do. Ordinary lOO 78 II st Do. Midland at Do. Dundee and Arbroatk 100 20 Cornwall, 5 per cent pia— all ... sti Dundee, Perth, and Aber deen Junction lOO ill 107 st Do. Ist Class preference lOO st Glee. ‘5; S.W. gua.s per ct lOO st lit. Eastern, A.C. Ex. No.l 190 97 180 st Do do N 0.2 100 DO 0) at Do do 6 per cent 100 106 108 at Do East Anglian Asp. c. 190 100 103 st Do do B 6 do. 100 st Do do C 7 do. 100 ... at Do do No. 1, 5 p.c. 100 100 103 st Do E. Union 4p. c. gua. 100 69 71 at Do Norfolk 5 p.c. Ex. 1846 10 ... ... atj Do do I p.e.W0.T.Va1.1847 100 ... at Great Noithera, i per cent 10 at Doi p.c., rd at 10 p. c. pm. 108 at Do 44 do do do 100 1071 7 at Do i do at sp. c. pm. 100 ... st Do Leeds, Bradford, and Halifax, 6 per cent lOO ... ... et! Gt. Nrth of Scotland, let pf 100 st Great South. and Western (Ireland) 4 per cent lOO 98 97 st Cl t.West.—Orig.& J nt.-Bent chg., per gua. S p.c lOO 102 104 at Do. Orig. (B. &H. Ex). 5 p.c IOU 95 100 at Do do 4 1 per cent. MU— 100 SI 88 st Do do 4 do do at Lo do 5 per cent. redem lOO 91 95 941 st Do do Birmingham gua lOO 63 72 at Do do do pref lOO at Do do Chester gua lOB at Do do do I per cent lOO 150 160 at Do do do 5 do 100 ti 101 at Do South•Walee, gua. 4 p.c. 100 ... at Do do 41 p.c lOO st Do do 41 1859 lOO ... at Do do I st Do West Mid. Oxford Ist g. 10J 103 112 at Do do 2d•gua. 100 106 103 at Do Newport, Ist g. 5 p.c. 100 11 92 st Do do 25 do 100 st Do gua. 51 per cent. 1813 100 100 Lancaster & Carlisle 44 p.c. all st Lancash. & Yorksh. I p.c. lOU 1 0 135 at Do Barnsley, £5 3a 10d p.c. 100 at Do 6 p.c. (East Lancashire) 100 lgo iji at Do 44 (Blackburn purch). 100 97 100 at London & Brighton, Ip. c. guaranteed, No. 1 at Do 5 per cent. gua. No. 2 100 at Do 6 do do lOO 120 at Do i do No. 4 lOO at Do 7 per cent 1:0 at Do 6 do (W.E. & C.V.) at Da 4 du 1859 lOO ... at London, Chatham, & Dover i per cent llO st London and N. W., C. and Nuneaton S per cent lOO 103 111 st Do Bedford &Cambridge lOO 8 VI at Do Shrewsb'y & Welchp'l lOO 85 91 at Loudon and .S.-W. 7 p,c late 3d shares, lOO 141 146 2 s.Gd. Do (Portsm. perp ans. 2s6d) all st Man., Sher., & Linclu. 6 p.c lOO 114 117 1141 6 Do £6 all par 1 put 64 at Do 31 per cent lOO 60 66 10 Do redeem. 6 percent. at Mid. Consolidated., 6p. c lOO 130 133 at Do Bristol & Birin., 6p. c lOO 1.0 133 at Do 41 per cent. redeem lOO 17 si sti Du 41 per cent. irredeiu WU 'O7 91 at Du Leicester & Irchn, 4 p.c. 100 83 'Ol at North Kritish, S p.c. No.l IVO at Do E. &G.4p.c. S. & D lOO at Du N. 8., N 0.2, 5 per can.t lOO at Do Border Union, 54 p.c lOO et N.-Eastern—Cone. 4 p.c lOO 86 8i st Do 41 per cent. redeem lOO 92 95 at Du 4 per cent., lOO 17 Do Berwick capital 8 13.4. 25 Do Yurk, H.& S. purchase. 10 19 101 at Do Stektu & Drliug. A. 5 p.c. 100 108 11U st Do W, liartlepool IL and R. 100 87 8) 20 North Staffordshire lOs a. Devon Annuities, 1 s all 91 101 lOs Do Taviatock Anus., 10s all 9 10 103 Do Fixed 41 per cent all 8 9 1.0.6. S. cast. ("Lead. Anus., 1.0.6) all 22 23 221 st Do 41 percent lOO ... at Do Fixed 41 per cent lOO st Taff Vale No.l lOO 145 lig at Waterford & Kilkenny, 6pc 100 41 43 RAILWAYS.—PREFERENCE SHARES AND STOCKS. With Dividends contingent on the Profits of each separate year. et Catedonian 41 p c gua. st uo Scot. Cen. min. 7 p c luU ••• st Do 41 p irredeem all st Do 4p c eon. issued at 80 65 ••• •.. st Great Eastern 41 per cent. 100 77 81 at Do I do, 1862 lOO f , at Do New 5 do, 1160— 100 87 VO st Do do i do, 1164 100 84 83 84 st Great Northern, 5p c irred. 100 st Do Permanent 5 per cent. 100 st Do Boston & Sleafd, 41 pc 100 •.. st Great West., W. 51id1., 5p e 100 86 90 st Do Joint I.erpe. 5 p c,1865 100 86 st Do do 6p c irred., 1866 100 103 105 104 11 2J Du Vale N eath peril. 5p e all 191 201 st Kent Coast, 6 per cent, B lOO _5 Lune. and York. New 41 per cent till July, 1871 2 st Loud., Brig., &e., 41 pc, 1858 101 at Do do 4 do, 1860 100 ••• st Do do 41 do, 1861 100 st DJ do 41 do, 11163 100 st Do do b do, 1865 100 st Do No. 6 5 do, 1866 100 at Do No. 7 5 do st Loud . Chat., &c., 20, 6 p.c 100 at Do Metrop. Ei. , B 6 p.c 100 Do du 6 p.e st London &N. Western, 5p e 100 103 110 st London &S. Western, 41 p c 100 03 9 i 10 Mau. chef. & Lin., i pc, 1865 all i bi st Metropolitan 5 per cent lOO at Midland, A 5 per cent prof lOO 105 107 st Do B 5 do 100 104 107 13 Do bp c opt. to conT. to Ord. Stk., Sept. 1, 1869 all 11 lip 18 Do luconT. New Shares 16 22 Do I p con. into Old „.. Stk., Aug. 21, 1872 Bl 1 14 et North 13riti►lt, E. end (1 1 No. 1, 1 per cent.— et Do £lO guaranteed, 1861 1011 et Do E., P., & Dun., 2d, 4pe lee et Do E. & , No. 2, 6 p.• 100 st Do N-13.. I per cent, 186 J 100 st Do E. & ti., No. 3, 5 p.e et Do E.& G., (Ordiry) 41 p o 100 61 17 :at North Eastern, 4} per cent 100 lei 97 et De Stock.. Dart., D ~„ 108 112 114 et North London, 4f, per coat (Max. 5 per cent) at North Staffordshire G p 100 et South Eatteru, 4i pc, 18511 100 ct Do 5 do 1661 100 et Do sdo (Ch. Cross) 16 , J3 100 et Doi do, Mt et Victoria St.& Pi►ulico, 44 pa 100 RALLIVAYS.—LINES LEASED AT FIX. ED RENTALSa at Birkenhead lOO a 2 91 100 Du. 41 per cent. Prefer.., all 101 103 at Buckinghamshire at Cheater and Holyhead..,.., 100 64 66 at Do. 11 per cent. 100 116 122 at Do. I do. st Clydesdale, guaranteed lOO at Colchester Stour Valley b t u at East Lincoln, gua. 6p, c toe 133 20 Gloster and Dean Forest._ all a Gt. Easn., Newm., &c., b p.c 100 ." a Do. E. Li. Harwich, 4 p.c 100 6) at Do. do. Woodbrg. Ex., do. 100 gs) 72 at Gt. West, W. Mid., lieref lO2 95 97 Hull and Seroy all 109 111 at Lancaster and Carlisle lOO 21, 213 218 at London and Blackwall lOO 33 95 K t Do. 41 per cent lOO ••• ••• Kt London, Chat., &c., 41 p c lOO at Do. Com. Fund, Ido lOO at London and Greenwich st Do. do. Preference lOO at London, Tilbury, & South 100 78 1.2 at Lowestoft, gua 4• per cent lOO 79 83 at Do. du. 6 do. 64 Blanch., Buxton, & Matlk all i 61 at Midland, Brariford, Prof.— 100 22 91 10 Mid tient Cray Line) 60 Nortkerut East., percent all 53 3 56 O 4 Do. do. 6 do. all ... at N. Eastera —Hartlep00l at .N.West. A perp. prof, sp. c lOO 103 110 at Do B minimum 11 p.c lOO at Notting. 4; Urauth. L. & C lOO 92 94 25 Preston and 44 yro. ltuyatou, Hitch., and Shop lOO 133 13.5 at Shrewsbury an Hereford 130 133 Iss 10 Do do 6 21 2 p at S. Yorksh. mad Eiyer Dun 100 95 100 at Do 4 per cent gua lO , 79 St at Du 6 du all 97 Ka at Viet. Station and Pimlico lOO 171 150 at West Cornwall 20 West Loudon, Class A an 13 14 20 Do do B all 20 Do do C all - 61 — 7l at 'Weymouth and Portland log st Wilts aud. Somerset 100 tO 82 DOCKS. it East and West India lOO 117 119 st London and St. Katherine lOO 13 63 lot D oDeb. stock, 4 per cent 8.1,; ... .. Mil!wall Freehold Land it Dock lOO 31 3a st Southampton w 71 sy . sitrrey OVlZUUerOigki MISCELLANEOUS. 10 Anglo-American Tel., lim all 211 211 211 10 Anglo-Mediter. Tel.,lim 10 1 #p 10. 1 10 Anglo-Mexican Mint all 15 16 14/ st Atlantic Telegraph lO 26 28 271 8 st Do. 8 per cent. lOO 70 H 25 Australian Agricultural 25 Australian Mort. Land aid Finamce, lim. 10 Baugarah Tea Estates, lira I 7 Id 10 Berlin Water Works, lint all 1:? 1 14 10 Do. New 6 6 1 ' if 100 Bolckow Vaughan, lim. 5 Bombay Gas, lim 5 Do. New 4 14 Of b) British American Land 44 16 18 at B. and L Magnetic Tel., lira lOl 167 172 20 British Indian Tea, lim all t 4 111 20 British Ship Owners 29 Canada Company all 67 72 10 Canadian Loan and InTest mint, lim l5 ti 11d 20 Ceylon Company, lim. 20 Do. A shares 10 City Discount, lim 1 44 $1 21 City of London Real Pro perty, lira 8 41 tid 30 City of Milan ImproT. lim all 1 10 25 City of Moscow Gas, lim all i S 60 City Offices, lim 26 144 234 d 1 50 Colonial, lim. Do. 5 fp 60 Commercial Union ( Assur ) 4 10 Company of African Mer chants, lim 20 Continental Union Gas, lint all 17 13 25 Copper Miners of England, pref. 71 per cent. 100 Corporation of Londois Bonds, 1877, 45 per cent. all 104 105 100 Do. 1879, 4! per cent, all 104 1011 100 Do. 1882, 41 per cent. all 1031 1041 10 Credit Fon. of England, Um. all 14 21 50 Credit Fon.of Mauritius lim lO 6 2 d st Crystal Palace lOO 1) 21 201 20 at Do. Preference lOO Id 101 at Do. 6p. c Perpetual Deb lO9 116 110 107 20 Darjeeling, lim I 0 Eastern Assam, lim. 40 East Indian Land Credit and Finance, lim. 20 East India Erriga. & Canal all 17 IS 32 Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron, and Coal, lim. 100 Egyptian 9 per cont. V'roy. Gua. by Egypt. Got' all 88 89 881 # 20 Egyptian Com. & Traci. lim 6 41 41 st Electric & Inter. Telegraph 100 237 242 :442 10 Do. New 8 10 12p I Eng. & Austral. Copper, lim 21 4 f 15 English and Foreign Credit 71 1 4d 100 Eng. and Scot. AI acme, lim. $ ... ...d 10 Fairbairn Engineering II 11 14d. 20 Fore-streetWarehouse,lim l2 pr 1p 100 For. & Col. Coy. Trust and __ Loan Scrip, issued at .£B5 all 834 841 VI 50 Gellivara, lim. 2O 10 General Credit ,S; Dis., lira. 71 2 • 11 15 General Steam Navigation 14 23 20 10 Home & Col Marine In. lira 5 41 31,1 10 Hong Kong and China Gas all 20 Hudson's Bay all 131 13, 13i 20 Imperial Land Co. of Mar seilles, lim. 25 Indo-Europcan Tel., lim lO .. 20 Interns. Financial Soc. lim 5 11 1 j 20 Interns. Land Credit, lint 6 6 4d 50 Italian Land i 11 Id 20 Italian Irri. (Canal Cavour) all 54 4 100 Do. 6 p. c Bds., redeem 1870, issued 50 all 63 65 50 Land Securities, lim i 31 2jd 25 London African Trading lO 7 5,1 25 Lou. 5: Caled. Marine, lim 6 ... ...d 10 London County Land and Building, lim. 5 Loud. Provincial Tel. lim all zi 3 4 1 Do. Prefer. 10 per cent. all 1 fp 60 Loud. Financial Asso., lim SO 23 221 4 LoulGen.Omnibus.Co.lim. all 14 2 50 Loud. and Glasg. Engineer and Iron Ship, lien 25 22 17d 20 Lond. S Provincial Marine 2 ld pr at Madras Irriga. S Caul. Gua. ... 5 p. c. by India GOT: - -- 100 10 6 10 7 10 Mauritius Land, Credit, and Agency, lint l5 f id 10 Mediterra. Exten. Tel., lint all 4 41 50 Merchant Shipping, lint. 60 Millwall Iron Works, lint 121 ... ... 10 Natal Laud and Colonisa tion Co., Inn. 25 National Discount Co., lint 5 12 121 25 National Prov. Marine, lint. 4 4 8d 10 National Steam Ship, lira. all Si 0 1 20 Nerbudda Coal & Iron, lint. 6 8 '2 10 New Consolidated Dis. lint S 11 Id 4 I\ ew Quebrada, lint 44 0 4/ 15 25 New Zealand Loan & Mer cantile Agency,lim 2l f fp 25 New Zealand Trust and Loan, Bin 6 11 11 10 Northern Assam Tea, lint. 5 7 11 10 Do. B st North Brit. Austral., lint._ 100 46 111 50 North Brit. & Mercan. In_ 6/ 18/ 191 25 Ocean Marine (Insurance) 5 145 15 50 Oriental Financial, lint ll ... ...d 5 Oriental Gas, lint, 5 Do. New I f IP 10 Otago and Southland In vestment, lint 2 id IP 5 Ottoman Gas, lint all 15 21 10 Panama, New Zealand, and Australian R. Mail lint all 2 21 5 Do do. at Peel R. Land & Minerl, lint 10A 33 32 50 Peuinsu. & Oriental Stearn all 49 41 80 50 Do. New 1867 25 Renter's Telegram 24 30 36 P 60 Ithymney Iron lb Do. New 25 Rio de.Janeiro City Im.,lira. all 171 181 20 Do. Gas, lira all 23 24 100 Royal Mail Steam 6O 46 47 46 at Scottish Aust. Invest., lint lOO 107 113 at Do. I p c. Guar. I'ref. 108 ... ... 20 Societe Fin. d'Egypte, lint. 1 0 7 6 d 20 Societe Gen.de l'Empir• Ot. 8 3 4p 50 S. African Mort. & Inv., lint. 5 ..• ••• 25 South Australian Land at Submarine Telegraph 1 Do. Scrip all 5 11 20 Telegraph Con. & Main.,lint ,;;All 16 161 161 16 20 Thames and Mersey Marine (Insurance), lint 2 21 21 20 Trinidad Petroleum, lint B5 ... ... 10 Trust & Agency of Aus.,:im 1 5 1p 10 Do do. do. all ... ... 20 Trust & Loan Co., U. Canada 6 id r 50 Union Marine L'pool, litre 5 4 45p 20 Union Steam Ship, lint all 22 24 16 United Discount Corp., lint 6 11 813 416 16 5 IJ. Kingdom Tel. Co., lim all 45 5 1 5:, 4 Do. 10 per cent. Pref all 44 3 4 5 p 20 Universal Mitrine(ln.), lint 6 1 lip 10 Upper Assam Tea, lint all 8 4 30 Van Dieman'a Land 2Bl 7 a 00 Viceroy of Egypt, 7 per cent. (Mortgage) Loan all 751 761 761 55 6 50 Warrant Finance, lint. l2 12 10d 40 West India and Pacille Steam, lint. 2O 4 34 20 West London Wharves and Warehouses lO ... ... uoYZUNAINNT Shl:UltlTll.6 British Columbia, 6 per 0ent.,1872.... lOO Do. 1895.. lOO Can.Gov.6p.o.Jan.'&July 1877-81 Do. 6p. 0. Feb. & Aug lOO 105 10 Do. sp. c. Mar. & Sept lOO 105 10 Do. sp. o. Jan. & July lOO 93 H El 1 1 Do. sp. o. Inscribed sr lOO 90 92 Cape (}.Hope, 6 p. 0.1873.• 100 102 104 Do.Apl.4cOot 1890-1900 lOO 11l 113 Do. do 1880-90 lOO 107 109 Do. JanAtJuly, 11391 Do. 5 per cent. 15 April and 15 Oot., 1900 lOO 100 102 Ceylon, Nov 1878, 6 p.c lOO 108 115 Do. 1872, do lOO 105 107 Mauritius, 6p. 0, 1873,- - Jan. and July Do. 1878 .. ". ... Do. 1882, May and Nov lOO 108 108 Do. 1895. Feb. & Aug.. • • 100 106 138 Melbourne Corporatn 1067-75, 6 per ccnt. 100 N.8.G0v.6 p.o.Ja.&July lOO 102 101 Natal 6 p or, Apl 4; Oct lOO 1071 Do 6p c. May & Noir.• •.• 100 108 108 N. S. W. 5 ire., '7l to '7B 100 99 101 Do. 5 p.o. 1888 to 1090 lOO 00 100 1001 Do. 5 p.c. rd.'6; to '75 lOO 811 101 - N.Zealand, 6p. ct. 1891 lOO - Do. 5 per cent.— • - DoJau,Aptl,Ju;y, 0•t••• 160 07 6 9 83 Da 6p c. Mar & Sept '9l lOO 108 119 __„ D o J uOO Deo , 1 , 91 • • 100 tog 1.1 Do Prov. 01 ALO3Old. -, 0 beriee I &2, 1890... Nova Scotia 6p. c.Jan and Jnly, 1875 D 0 1886.. Queensind. 6p. 0. '825 100 It 8 IC9 108 Do 1891 • B. Austral. 6 p 0.1809 77 lOO Do 1878.02 lOO 108 110 Do 1893 1903 .. 101 107 1(8 Tasmanian 0p c. 1095.... 100 106 107 Do rd. 1893 to 169/ lOO It 7 108 Viotoria6p.o. Ja.&July lOO Do. 1891 P9t dp, i)gtp., 490 108 go lon THE PEABODY BUILDINGS. The striking contrast presented by the Peabody buildings in Shadwell to the miserable tenements by which they are surrounded forms the subject of a graphic description in the Daily Telegraph. It is difficult for the dweller in more favoured localities to form any idea of the miserable locality in which Peabody-squar e lies situate, and which seems to set even the enlivening influences of Christmas at defiance. The Peabody-square consists of four largo blocks separated from the main street by a gateway. There is space for the accommodation of about 200 families, and until lately the rooms were fully occupied. The class who inhabit it are above pauperism, though if a man's average wages amount to more than 30s. a week he is refused admission. If a working man wishes to exchange the dirt and wretchedness cf Shadwell courts and lanes for the cleanliness and decency of Peabody-square, he gets a letter of recommendation from his employer and applies with it. For one room he pays 2s. tid. ; for two rooms, 45.; for three rooms, ss. The tenants are mostly porters, labourers, carmen, policemen, and a few skilled artisans. If a tenant, who is known to be industrious anri respectable, is unable to pay Lis rent, he is treated with leniency. A month or two's grace is given, and in some instances arrears of sixteen weeks have been allowed. But there is another kind of tenant who gets little mercy and deserves none. They come in expecting to pay no rent at all, and do not scruple, when asked for it, to say that Mr. Peabody built the place for the poor. The parochial autho rities do not look kindly on the establishment, as the guar dians think that the superintendents should take some of the inmates of the workhouse and keep them free of expense. This was not Mr. Peabody's design, however. He wished to assist the industrious poor, who are willing and able to help themselves—a class which generally profits too little by public benevolence. His trustees have faithfully fulfilled his commission; and as the local rates levied on the Shad well buildings for the current quarter amount to £lO2 125., the whole parish gains by the establishment. Many of the new comers to the buildings are at first dirty and untidy in their ways, but the influence of the place and the example of their neighbours soon tell upon them. The reluctance of many of the women to take advantage of the dust drops in the passages or the washhouses fitted up for them, proves however the difficulties which there are to contend against in assist ing this class of persons. The children profit largely by the cleanliness of the place. Careless and negligent parents see other children as poor as their own with clean faces and mended stockings, and soon the common phrase " I don't like to see my children different from anybody else's," works a beneficial effect. Strange to say the men of the family appreciate the advantages of the buildings more than the women, but the establisment is growing in favour. At first there was an idea that the residents would be under great restrictions, whereas they are quite free. They have their own keys and can come home at any hour they like, Still with all their advantages there are some points which are susceptible of improvement. The rents are high for such a place as Shadwell, and the rooms aro small and sometimes gloomy. The buildings, too, according to the visitor, are cold and draughty in construction, and he thinks that in special cases, such as that of a man he mentions with nine children who earns ls. a week, a special reduction of rent might reasonably bo made. Still on the whole the substantial benefits of Peabody-square far outweigh any exiting drawbacks, while even those may probably be re moved or diminished after a little experience. THE MANUFACTURE OF WATCHES AND CLOCKS.-- A most intere:Aing and instructive little work, describing briefly but with great clearness, the rise and progress of watch and clock makin has just been published by Mr J. W. Benson, of 25, Old Bond-street, 99, Ihrestbourne-grove, and the City Steam. Factory, 58 and GO, Ludgate-hill. The book, which is profusely illustrated, gives a full description of the various kinds of watches and clocks, with their prices, and no one should make a purchase without visiting the above establishments or consulting this truly valuable work. By its aid persons residing in any part of the United Kingdom, India, or the Colonies, are enabled to select for themselves the watch best adapted for their use, and have it sent to them with perfect safety. Mr. Benson, who holds the appoint ment to the Prince of Wales, sends this pamphlet to any address on receipt of two postage stamps, and we cannot too litipugly recommend it to pa, notice of the intending purclaler FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT. Information was forwarded on T hursdly to Dr.Lankester,the coroner, of the frightful death of John Burnard, aged 70, who was accidentally killed on the Metropolitan Extension of the Midland Railway in the Garisford-street tunnel, near Cam den-road station. It appears that on Wednesday afternoon the deceased arrived from Kettering with his grandson, having taken a ticket to the Finchley-road station. Instead of getting out there he came by mistake to the Kentish-town station. Having partaken of some refreshment at the Assembly Rooms public-house, he raid he should go to St. Pancras station for his luggage. The last that was seen of him was by Mr. Smith, the station-master at Camden-road, and Police-sergeant Butcher, Y reserve, who heard an alarm given .by the 3-45 engine-driver, who reported that he had run over something. On pr)ceediug up the tumid the body of the deceased was found on the rails, the head nearly cloven in two, the brains lying y the side of the rails, and the right hand nearly severed from the body. The poor child was nearly dead with fright, and also hal a narrow escape f corn being Ilan over by the ,ame train flea killed his grandfather. The body was re moved to the St. Pancras mortuary. TILE DUKE OF ST. ALBANS ON THE VOLUNTEER CAPITATION GRANT. The Duchess of St. Albans on Wednesday presented prizes for shooting won by the Robin Hood Volunteers, at Nottingham. The Duke, in introducing her Grace, took occasion to refer to the capitation grant. " I think," said he, " when we go to the State and we say we require a larger capitation grant, we must keep in view that we do not wish to make ourselves in any sense a burden upon the country. Nor is this at all necessary. There are cases in which a lavish expenditure may be the best economy. I think that the economy in men will not be the best economy of this country. I think that economy may be made both in our army and in our navy, but I do not think that the economy in men can be wisely accepted, because, as the volunteers in this room will acknowledge, the discipline cannot be raised in one month, or two months, or even six months. The ques tion is, if the volunteers are to exist on the present capitation grant, why should not they exist for ever? No doubt the volunteers will exist, and other people will say if the volunteers die out to-morrow we might have them again. I ask this, why should we begin the volunteer movement over again ? Our capitation grant does not cover our expenses. We have to resort to various means for turning an honest penny in a very curious way. We all know that if it was not for the bazaars, and different things which take place at the Castle, the Robin Hoods would not exist. I ask you fairly, should we, as a nation, gain if the volunteers were to cease to exist ? I may say, re specting the capitation grant, we_do not wish to augment it too much ; but a slight addition, I think you will acknowledge, if we can get it from the Government, will not be a burden on the Government, but it will be an advance in the right way." His Grace then referred to the proportion of officers in the English army to that of France, which was as 25 to 35, and was the cause of much needless expenditure. He also depre cated the great expenditure on the navy and fortifica tions. THE RUPTURE BETWEEN TURKEY AND GREECE. The project of a conference has not, on the whole, met with a very warm reception, especially in England. A fear is pretty generally expressed that the meeting of the Great Powers would come to nothing, and there is an evident tendency in the public opinion of the various countries to take sides on this question. The Times believes that the Emperor of the French desires a Con gress. " He is, as is well known, very partial to Congresses and Conferences, and believes in their efficacy—an opinion which is not shared by other European statesmen, and which, so far as we can see, is not supported by ex perience. Nevertheless, if it is thought that a Con ference can throw any new light on the subject, or give the Powers a better opportunity of framing a plan of common action, we see no objection to it, provided it be held as soon as possible, make no delay in its debates and resolutions, and, above all, confine itself strictly to the subject before it—the quarrel between Turkey and Greece—and avoid rambling over all the matters which are to make up the Eastern question." The Standard bluntly hopes that there may be no founda tion for the report of a projected Cjnference. "If the proposal has been made we may give up all hope of a peaceful or satisfactorysettleinent of the dispute. We will lay no stress upon the circumstance that the suggestion of t Conference has become in recent times the immediate and apparently the indispensable pre liminary to the declaration of war. Every rule, or rather custom, of this kind may have its exception, and it is not impossible to assume a case in which professedly neutral Powers would make an honest and an earnest attempt to settle a quarrel, and the disputants shew themselves disposed to accept a reasonable compromise, The importance, the gravity, of this alleged proposal of Prussia consists in the proof it would furnish that Prussia, in alliance with Russia, is anxious to prevent the pacification of the Turkish Empire, and proposes as the aim of its policy the exhaustion of the Porte by means of permanent insurrection sustained by foreign help. To propose a Conference to decide whether Turkey or Greece is in the wrong, and to devise an arrangement for recon ciling them, is really to take part with Greece, and to protect her in the gross violation of neutrality she has so long committei and announces her intention to persist in." The Standard sees no reason why Turkey should be placed outside the common law of nations. The Daily News thinks the proposition means nothing more than that Russia gladly seizes an opportunity of appearing on the scene as the powerful and disinterested friend of the Greeks, anxious to make the best terms for its clients, and that the Court of Berlin is willing to aid in this benevolent intention. Let, however, the Conference, if Conference there is to be, be a Conference ad hoc: not a Conference on the Eastern ques tion, and still less a Congress on the state of Europe in general, with a view, say, to the general elections in France next May. Perhaps it might facilitate matters, and smooth the way to such a Conference, to propose that it should be held in Paris ; but in that case it would be particularly necessary to state the objects of the Con ference precisely beforehand. The Star also hopes that until the scope and limits of the proposal are fully before us, ?Sur Government will not accept even the prin ciple of a Congress. At the scene of the dispute there seems to be a partial, but not an entire suspension of war preliminaries. The demand of the Greek Government for a loan of three millions and a half, and the war preparations, do not look reassuring. Still less so is the information that the permission granted to Greek vessels to carry the Russian flag is confirmed. This is further testimony, if any be needed, that Russia is warmly interested in the cause of Greece. Last, and most serious of all, is the refusal of the Turkish Government to accept the proposed Con ference. Dr. Sandwith writes to the Daily News to the effect that there is everyprobability of the expulsion of all Greeks from Turkey being rigidly carried out. When the hero of Kars was at Constantinople in 1854, and the Greek nation rose against the Turks, the Porte at once issued an edict commanding all Greek subjects to quit Turkey. The misery that ensued in consequence of this order was appalling. " I myself saw wretched little wine vessels, in the stormy month of March, crowded with men, women, and children, setting sail for Greece, and it is well known that many were swamped with their living freight." The Times Athens correspondent says that war has already begun in fact, if not in theory. The blockade runner Enosis landed from Dec. 6th to the 14th a large number of troops and quantities of ammunition in Crete. On the 14th she returned to Syra, having succeeded in all her ope rations with great skill and daring. Her entrance into port was attended by an engagement with two Turkish ships, of which the captain gives the following report : As he approached Syra, at a distance of half a mile from land, he was pursued by a frigate bear ing the flag of an Ottoman admiral, attended by the corvette Izzedin. and was fired at with heavy guns, revolvers, and muskets, for the pursuing ships came, he says, within musket-shot. The enthusiasm of the crew of the Enosis was worthy of the patriotism of Greece. They re turned the fire of the Turks with great effect. One shot from their well-pointed guns disabled the corvette by striking a paddle-wheel, and another raked the flag ship from bow to stern. Shortly after the Enosis was anchored in the recess of the port the Ottoman frigate cast anchor at the mouth. Later intelligence strengthens the chance that the Con ference will be held. The Powers are all acting, we are told, with great eagerness, with the view of bringing about a meeting. A rather singular offence against the Factories' Act was investigated at Salford on Wednesday. The in spector found a boy, "very small for his ago," working in a cotton mill of Salford. lie made inquiries and found that the boy could not be of tho ago stated. The parents had one son who died, and they had used his certificate for this one. Being discovered they were ordered to pay a fine of 108. and costs. GRANT AND THE CIVIL SER VICE. (From the Nation.) There are rumours afloat already that the Jenckes Civil Service Bill begins to find unexpected favour in the eyes of politicians at Washington, and we have little doubt that the number of its supporters will--now that it is plain that Grant does not in tend to work under the old system—grow every day, and that the measure will, early in the Forty first Congress, become a law. Not that we should have despaired of success even if Grant had not been elected, and his place during the coming four years were to be filled by one of the regular party hacks. It would have taken more time to bring about the desire:l result, but the result would still have been certain ; the outrageous misconduct and incompe tency of the present tribe of office-hollers would have made-the necess'ty of the reform plain to the pubic, even wii,hout the aid of set expositions from its frien Is or the active support of the new Presi dent. But without the aid of the President the task of " edue:oi , g" the regular politicians " up" to the change wool I, we admit, have lean difficult. They themselves " educating" the people "up" to the level of their own crazt!s, hut they are extremely chary a:out receiving ideas that SQUill likely to lessen their importance to the Sta' e. There is probably nothing in the whole political fi.1,1 more provoking, aid at the same time !no' e emus ine., than the air of dren'Ken doubt and disapproval wiJi which " ‘ the men pales," as they c ill themselves, look down from the stump on all re formatory labours out of which no " capital" is to be made. Any change which seems likely to lessen the number of things they can promise—and there fore their weight with their followers—or the support of which involves the denial of something to some body, or the utterance of unpleasant speeches about the machinery of their own party, they endeavour to treat as visionary, and laugh over it as long as they dare. But the minute they find that it is to be, that there are influences working for it against which they cannot make head, their conversion be comes so rapid that the difficulty is to baptise them fast enough. Had they succeeded in putting one of their own number in the Presidential chair, they would, owing to the enormous amount and value of the patronage now in the hands of the Govern ment, have offered a resistance to any change which nothing but an overwhelming outburst of popular indignation could have overcome, and we should probably have witnessed four years of corruption in every possible form, which would compare with the corruption of the last eight years as the finished work of a man compares with the tentative efforts of a boy. It must be remembered that "the whisky thieves," which now seems to be the generic name of that vast and growing class who devote them• selves to plundering the Government as to a pro fe,sion, have been, until now, comparatively un skilled in their work. It took some years to dis cover the various devices by which the Government could be cheated, officials bribed, evidence destroyed or covered up, and to draw into the business the leading rogues of the country and the vast body of capital which is now literally invested in the robbery, just as it has taken ten years for the rogues of this city to find out the use for their purposes that might be made of an elective judiciary. It is an exaggera tion to say— as those who know most about it assure us most earnestly—that there is no " interest" in the United States so strong, so compact, so well organized, with so much money and so much skill and ingeunity at its command at this moment as the body of persons who are engaged in de frauding the public Treasury. Their creatures swarm in every department of the public sevice, except the army and navy, and do their bidding without hesitation. Their "lobby" is so powerfnl that they find no difficulty in arrestinc , and delay ing any piece of legislation that seems likely to di minish their profits. Nay, they are strong enough, as we have recently seen, to stay proceedings in the courts, close the lips of the public prosecutor in the very midst of a process, and hurry him away to become a culprit elsewhere. Moreover, there is no chance whatever of bringing the party machinery into play against them, because they take care, we need hardly say, to commit no breach of the party canons. They are all, or nearly all, " sound on the main question ;" in fact, in the matter of ortho doxy, they usually out-do everybody else, and are as intolerant of heresy as the grand inquisitor himself. With one of themselves in the Presiden tial chair, or with any man in it who was tho roughly broken to the party yoke, they would have proved for the present invincible, and they would, on the opening of the new term, have gone to work with all the advantages of eight years' training and experience. Grant comes, therefore, into the civil service of the country as he came into command-in-chief of the army, after three years of blundering and dis aster, literally as a saviour ; and in the former, as in the latter case, he comes t) meet a crisis for which his career and training seem to have especially prepared him. had he reached his present elevation, as most of his more recent predeces sors have reached it, after having " filled every office in the gift of the people, from village alder man," &c., or after having begun bis political edu cation in ward caucuses and worked up into State or national prominence through the hidden and crooked ways in which so many so-called states men lay the foundations of their fame and earn their reputation for wisdom, he would have learned, as most of them have learned, to look on party usages the most debasing as well as the most useful, as part of the organic law of American society. Ile would have learned to regard the best places in the public service as the " inalienable right" of those who do the work of the canvass, and the party ma nagers as the heaven-born dispensers of the public patronage, and resistance to their will or disre gard of their advice as at best a sort of mild lunacy, if not downright treachery. Luckily, he has learned his duty to the country in a school in which truth and courage are still the highest virtues, in which the public money is held sacred, and in which the habit of looking on the sacrifice of life for the country as an obvious duty makes defrauding the country seem one of the meanest of vices, and in which the political art, as practised in caucuses, ex cites only disgust. Although the political tone of the American army is not owing to the social influ ences by which military circles were governed be fore the war, perhaps all that could be desired, it is permeated by a morality which we shall have to infuse into the civil service if we are to save the Government. Aloreover, Grant has not been chosen by the party, in the smse in which candidates for the Pre sidency are usually said to be chosen ; lie has been, in a measure, forced upon it ; no other nomination was possible without almost the certainty of de feat. He did not seek the nomination either, and during the canvass refused steadily to contract obligations to anybody for helping to get him elected. Anybody who " worked for Graut," there fore, did so on his own responsibility; so that Grant can now meet all Republican orators, writers, and bill-stickers, drummers, scene-shifters, stage-car penters' and rollers of thunder-barrels, with an un clouded brow and a sense of perfect independence. The result is that there is an extraordinary and almost unprecedented absence of rumours about offices; an almost unprecedented scarcity of office seekers in Washington. In the course of the next year we confidently expect to see the theory that the present system of appointment to office has anything peculiarly " American" about it, or that any considerable portion of the public is attached to it, proved to be a fallacy and thoroughly ex ploded. The number of persons who take any real interest in the present system, or would mourn for one hour over its destruction, is in reality ex ceedingly small, and it forms a class without the least weight in the community, either as regards character or ability. The doctrine, too, that there is something peculiarly Democratic in rotation in office—that is, in the periodical dismissal of one set of public servants for the purpose of giving a fresh batch of citizens a share in the profits of politics— is one which has equally little hold on the popular mind ; and the success which those who live by it have bad in persuading people that the country was attached to it is simply a strik ing illustration of what may be done by noise and impudence. The only argument we have seen anywhere put forward against reform is that it will ruin the Republican party, by leaving them nothing to offer those who do the work of electioneering by way of reward. We believe, on the contrary, that it will simply substitute a good class of workers for a very bad class. It will cause, no doubt, the retirement in disgust of a large number of wire -pullers and orators of the baser sort ; but, on the other hand, it will bring into the field a larger and larger num ber of the men who built up the Republican party and who now keep it alive—those who have faith in its ideas, and who belong to it not as an end but as a means —and a larger and larger number of mcn devoted to practical legislation, who, like Mr. Jenckes, have made a conscientious study of subjects, and want to use the party as a means of putting their conceptions into practice. The men, even now, who do the party most service during a canvass are not men who entertain any expectation of re ward in the shape of Federal offices. They are either men who have already won, or who are seek ing by honourable acts, such honours as the people can bestow by election, or else men for whom no office whatever has any attractions, and who serve on the stump, as many of them had served in the field, for the sake of the famous "Old Cause" for which Sydney prayed on the scaffold, and which in our day seems to run as much risk from knaves and blatherskites as in other days it ran from kin and priests. owi.. ing.) I I