The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-05-05 00:00:00

Vara' gountti Exprea

DORCHESTER. MAY sth, MO.

0 OttS•

What is to be done with the sewage' The solution
of this question has perplered the Town Council .4
thisborough for a long time, and well it may. But
Dorchester is not the only town which is troubled
about the dispreal of its sewage. Frequent applica-
tions have been made of late to the Law Courts for
injunctions to stay corporations allowing their sewage
to pollute rivers, and this has set many active wits
stirring. And now Mr. Astro!, conies to the rescue,
and announces that he has solved thU all important
' question. Whether he has done so, or not, we cannot
say, but he has obtained the consent .4 the Tottenham
Local Board to erect the necessary plant at their
sewage outfall, and before many more months have
elapsed hit promo will be thoroughly tested. If, a.
Mr. Astrop asserts, sewage can be easily dealt with
and made to yield a large revenue, we may yet have
cause to congratulate ourselves on the delay that has
taken place in the adoption of a new scheme for deal.
lag with the sewage of Dorchester.

The all.important (lunation, peace or war' haa not
yet been solved. Both natiema hesitate (and well they
inay)belomoommitting themselves toaistepwhich would
involve diseetrous conaequences to both, awl, more
than probably, complete ruin to one or the other. The
latest &Wish proprrials have, we belieVP, 1..11 met
in a conciliatory manner. Shedd the prevent
difficulty he settled by the bloodlean means (of
arbitration, what grand priaaibilities it opena up for
the future, and the question naturally atiggeata itaelf
—II two 'nations, with the Crimea fresh in momiry,
can settle • great difficulty, which might well be con•
sidered a eases without reaorting to arms, where
is the need for war at all, and under what circum•
stenos is it to be Justified where such a means of
settlement is in the power of disputants ?"

The Moral impression caused by the Budget is
good. It is a relief to find things no worse. The
income-tax is heavy; but if it had been a penny or
twopence in the pound heavier, no one would have
been surprised. This tax, no doubt, falls most heavily
upon the middle classes; but no one can say that the
lower claims are exempt whilst extra duty is placed
upon beer and spirits. No one will very much regret
11.. tax upon Corporations of a non-religious or
charitable character. The London Guilds besot course
chiefly aimed at. Mr. Childers remarked that as cor,
porstions " never die "their funds altogether eitcape
the death duties which are reaped by the State front
other IvoliertY. One deem not quite see why some
corporations should not die. The City Guilds are, in
I act, threatened with extinction mad they should be made
to pay a bit " duty " to the State when they expire.
In fact, if the State appropriated the greater part .4
the Guild funds for national pun...es—say for the
reduction of the National Irele, or for the enlargenwilt
of the Fleet—many ps.iple would think the siemy
eighteously applied.
Mr. Gladstone's speech on the Credit of Kleveu
Millions is justly regarded a. one f hi. fine.t
oratorical achievements. How far it was marred by
the preliminary " polemical " reference to tlw last
Premier'. Vote .4 Credit for AiX million., depends
rather upon the politics .4 the critie than hi. taste.
But Mr. Gladstone himself conceived —by the light .4
subsequent facts, and particularly the unanimity .4
the vote—that the allusion WM net in g... 1 taste, and
be took the unusual, hut none the less honourable and
manly, course of spontanoiusly apol.gising to the
Mouse.

The bosphort Syyptien incident is settled amicably
lsit it is Annoying to think of the manner in which
the English authorities at Oairo exposed themselves to
humiliation. The Egyptian I;,,Vl•lllinent ..tight
never to have been permitted to act in the absurdly
highltanded manner they did. The obnoxious journal
might have been summonsed without the violation if
law. No ime oast blame the French Government for
interfering in the matter, however strongly the
manner and Woe of it. interference may be con.
destined. Nnbar Pasha ham had to •1101.4(1M., and the
proprietors of the detestable journal have hail to be
compensated, and all became Sir Evelyn Baring, who
is for the time being the real Viceroy of Egypt.,
neglected precautions which common pnidence
would have sumpeted, And Allowed oriental official.;
to carry out a just order in an oriental and barbarous
fashion.

Some years ago the Christian world trne thrilled by
news of the Commission dispatched to Enrolr by the
Government of Jame for the purpose of ascertaining
what was the best religion of the western world.
Little, by the way, seems to be known f the results
of the Commission. Perhaps its report is not yet
published. The last few days have witnessed a
tuitional investigation, truly of less solemnity and yet
of a profoundly interesting and important character.
A committee of Belgian brewers have been visiting
the great breweries of the Metropolis for the punow
of determining the possibility of introducing English
ale and porter as a beverage upon the Continent.
There seems to have been no difficulty made by the
large London houses in admitting the foreigners to an
inspection of their processes. There appears to have
been entertained no apprehension of competition.
The large brewing firms of the Metropolis possibly
felt nothing but commiseration for the benighted
Continentalista to whom porters bins is • mysterious
and almost inaccessible commodity. But the Belgians
will not, it Is reported, return to their country as
missionaries to convert their customers to orthodoxy
013 the subject of drinks. Their conclusion is that
&Wish beer is too heavy to become popular &mooed
abode for whom they manufacture.