The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1873-02-11 00:00:00

Duet eon* &gen.

TUISDAY, FIBRUARY 11, 1873.

NOTES OF THE WZIK.

The ()Jaen la still at Osborne, and Intends
to remain there till the 111th, returning to
Windsor for about a week, and then paying a
visit to London, taking up her quarters in
Buckingham Palace. The Prime and Princess
of Wales are in town, and the Priam was
meant in the House of Lords with the Duke of
Dambridge on the first night of the 131116311.
Why should he not have read the Royal
from the steps of the Throne as a
Commissioner I la a question that must have
i itself to most minds, and suggested
IlZatitiout an answer. Several forthcoming
Court ceremonials are announced. The Queen
will hold an official and diplomatic Court on the
23rd inst., at Buckingham Palace; the Princess
of Wales will hold a Lewis, on behalf of her
Majesty, at St. James's Palace, on the 3rd of
March; and on Wednesday next the Duke of
Cambridge will hold a Lev& at the Horse
used&

What will the Duke of Edinburgh do with
the freedom of the city of London Coach-
maken and Coach Harness Makers' Company,
which he has just received I Probably the Duke
will have about as much to do with coach and
harness making as the company have, and that
we believe is nothing at all. Nothing could
exceed the anomalous character of some of these
city companies, except the bestowal of their
freedom on Princes. At the inevitable dinner,
however, the speakers lighted on two facts
illustrating "the eternal fitness of things." It
was a member of the craft, said the chairman,
who was the means of frustrating the attempt
on the Duke's life while in Australia, and MI his
Royal Highneas manifested snob a lively Interest ,
In the Lifeboat Institution, it would be interest-
ing him to kaow that tbe inventor of the
was a cosahmaker.
The Lord Chief Justice bee declined the
peerage offered in acknowledgement of his
servioes at Geneva, and accepted the Grand
Cross of the Bath. Mr. Justice Denman has
declined a knighthood, his rank as • peer's son
giving to himself and his wife superior social
rank to a knight and • knight's lady. Mr.
Justice Denman has, in avoiding knighthood,
followed the preoedent of the Hon. Mr. Justice
Erskine, son of Lord Erskine. He also escapes
heavy fees, amounting, we believe, to about
£lOO, for what in this case would be an empty
title. Mr. Lumley and Mr. Erskine, who
represent Ragland respectively at Bromide and
Athens, have been made Companions of the Bath.
The fifth session of the present Parliament was
opened by oommiasion on Thursday, when the
Lord Coanoellor read the Speech from the
Throne. The programme of work for the Session
looks rev alight upon paper. The Irish
University Bill takes the post of honour. This
is to be tabled by the Premier on the 20th
instant, but all that we know of it at present 't
that it is to have two objects, first, the advance-
ment of learning, and secondly, to pay a carefri
regard to the rights of conscience. This will
constitute the staple work of the Hones of Com-
mons till Raster. The main work of the House
of Lords will be to turn over the Lord Chan-
celloi's plan for the reconstruction of our Courts
of Law and for the creatioa of • Supreme Court
of Appeal. The Bill for assimilatin4 the County
and -Borough franchise and for re-arranging the
representative system all through is conspicuous
by its absence; and the Land Tenure 1311, to
abolish primogeniture, entail, and all the rest of
it, takes the form simply of a proposal for faci-
litating the transfer of land, of • proposal, that
is, we suppose, to make the transfer of land as
cheap and oily as the transfer of Console or the
sale of " • rope of pearls." The Local Taxation
Bill is mentioned; and that is all, and even
this is mentioned with an intimation of the in-

tention of the Government to alter some of the
provisions of the Education Act of 1870 and the
Acts for regulating Railways and Canals.
In regard to the Irish University Bill, all who
spoke in the House recognised the enoimous
difficulties of carrying a Bill which shall at once
uphold sound learning and respect the rights
of conecience, but both parties are interested in
seeing It• carried, if poesible. That the Ultza-
montane party should get what they want 11
entirely out of the question. By sound learning
the Ultramontane means that which is in
harmony with the teaching of his Church; the
English Protestant means learning that embodies
and promotes free, active, and serious thought.
Mr. Disraeli took =sr don to foreshow
the action of his party on another of the stand-
ing dofichilties of the subject when he said that
he trusted that a famous University would not
be sacrified to the mechanical mediocrity of a
_ . _ . .

Board of Exam,-iers. If a number of call, fair,
and educated moo, equally free from bigotry
and from. ciwardly fear of the priests, were to
meet to frame an Irish Education Bill, they
would find it exceedingly difficult to arrive at
an agreement of opinion that would lead to. Bill
really adapted to the exigeocies of the case;
but when we add to this inherent difficulty of the
subject the difficulty of combating the fierce pre-
judices of thousluids of ignorant fanatics on both
sides of the Channel, we are not far from the
state of mind in which Lord Derby was when he
avowed his opinion that no satisfactory Bill on
Irish education was possible. On the other
hand, the Oonservetive party is as a party very
much interested in not taking office with this
vexed question remaining ea an open sore. As
Mr. Gladstone candidly observed, both he and
Mr. Disraeli had already burnt their fingers with
Irish education, and neither could wish to burn

them again. The opponents of the Government
are therefore sore to let the Bill pass if they
possibly can do so without alienating their
adherents, and this la the strongest ground for
hope that the Government pompoms.
TO* London correspondent of the Manchater
Guardian believes he may say with perfect
accuracy that compulsory education will form
one of the Government amsuidmente to the 25th
clause.

The Railway News, in an article oath. price
of owls, says that the increase is caused simply
by the demand being greater than the "out-
put" of the coition themselves, but that the
supply is sure to overtake the demand, and then
lower prices will rule. The Tines, in its City
article, says the effect of the Mines' Regulation
Bill, which came into operation on the tat nit„
by substituting adult labour for that of boys, is
said for the present to have made a difference
equal to ls. 6d. per too. Sir William Armstrong
estimates the total Increase in the cost of our
fuel for the year as equivalent to a quasi-penal
fine upon the consumer of forty-four millions
sterling. The worst of it is, awarding to Sir
William, that we waste more coal than we use,
after all—or, at least, burn it to waste--and
that many of the engines in use in the manufao-
taring districts consume, through their vicious
coustruction sail careless management, ten tons
otooal to every one that is really necessary for
the efficient working of the machinery. Our
fire-grates are almost if not quite as bad, for by
bringing the grates a little more forward, and
presenting more of the iron-work to the air of
the room, we might get twice the heat that we
get at present, If not barn lams coal, and always
haw a cheerful hearth. This is not the lest
time we have heard this; but with coals at their
present price an ironmonger with his wits about
itim ought to make his fortune; for economy is
now a necessity, and if we do not economise Sir
William Armstrong tells us that we must make
up our minds to be burning our last too of coals
to roast our last sirloin of beef in A.D. 1983.
. _ .

. .
The dearness of coal, of which we are all oom-
plaining, says the Standard, is not simply the
result of high wages. It is mainly the effect of
• short supply, which enables the coalowner to
command the market. Roe is this to be dealt
with 1 II will never be conceded that the
Government should palatine and work the
collieries. lot in the absence of soma suoh in-
terference no immediate remedy present" itself,
There is one thilg which the Government might
perhaps do. It might be deemed a proper thing
to make grants in aid of the search for coal in the
south-eastern eountin A patriot:leaflet:apt has
been Rade by ciertain. parties to bore through
the Sussex data in search of the primary rooks.
Than is also a well 960 feet deep at Groaner.
which ought to be deepened. If coal ware found
on the line which runs from Sonaerset tp Bel-
gium, England would be immensely enriched br
the discovery. The search, if fruitless in respect
of coal, 'paid be certain to yield some valuable
results, and the
.enterprise cannot be deemed
altogether unsuitable ay • matter for Govern-
ment aid in the shape of • monetary grant- Or,
perhaps, our Royal Engiwers might be entrusted
with the operations. Au extraordinary I.
affecting the prosperity of the whole nation,
demands all the help that can pliably be given, I
and may be held to justify unwonted measures,

By iucrsuuig the !lumber at oar coal-pita ire
should be widsuiug the ama sad augmenting the
sources of supply. To that Went ire &odd be
mimeo( our prima sialr.

A deputation from the beer trade waited upon
Mr. Brent on Wednesday, to call his attention
to what are considered evils operating nudes the
Upending namely, the difference of regula-
tion in different ; the omissions' exemp-
time ; the variety of closing hours; the invidious
distinction drawn between • beer shop
and a tavern; and the inconsistent system
of valuations. Mr. Bruce admitted that some
of the objections urged against the Bill were
oertalnly deserving of consideration, and Pro-
mised they should receive attention.
Mr. Brogdeo's kindly-meant mediation in the
South Wales strike may bear some fruit after
all. The result of his interview with Mr.
Halliday is that the latter will ask him to
endeavour to convene a meeting of employees
for the purpose of resolving a deputation from
the men. But while the unionists are talking
of conferences, the non-unionists are sating for
themselves, and the miners at Beaufort,
Brynmawr, and Hantyglo have returned to
work in the pita, taking their lives in their
hands; and at Merthyr, the works of the Iron-
King are soon expected to be in full swing
again. The non-unionists among the colliers
are in proportion of about 4,000 to 6,000; but
although unionist are acting together, we
may be sure that with idols of 10s. or 12s. a
week instead of ZS or £3, large 'iambus% will be
only too glad to jump at the first opportunity of
returning to work, especially as they must all
see now that their strike is • blunder, and
perhaps something worse.
It is reported that Russia undertakes to with-
draw bee troops from 'Mrs within three
months after the object of the expedition is
attained.

The Prussian Parliainen. votes to
110, has passed the third of tail foe
bringing religious bodies directly wider State
control.

Prince 131 muck proposal that Germany
should speed about tan millions darling on
fortresses end forkiluntiona

K Thbos the Ooctuattao 1 ThMy by
doolY-4 tom:auk" say of his powers.