The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1874-06-02 00:00:00

Rorat Conntti exgeo.

TUESDAY. JUNE' 2. 1874.

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

Her Majesty with the Court is at Balmoral,
and the Queen on Thursday displayed her well-
known kindness of heart by attending the
funeral of an old servant on the estate, whom
she had previously visited during his rtal
sickness. "Trooping the colours" was the most
distinctive and picturesque celebration of her
Majesty's birthday in London on Saturday. It
was witnessed by the Prince and Princess of
Wales, with several of their children, and the
Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. There were
aim. the usual Ministerial dinners and receptions
in honour of the Royal birthday.
Thu announcement that her Majesty has con-
ferred the title of Duke of Connaught upon
Prince Arthur has given rise to some inquiry
respecting Irish titles in the Royal family.
According to the Peerages of Lodge and Burke,
Prince WiUiasn Henry, a younger brother of
George 111., was created in 1764 Duke of
Gloucester and also "Earl of Conaught ;" and
these titles passed to his son, the second Duke
of that creation, but became extinct at his
death in the year 1834. It is also not true that
the present is even the second instance of one
of the Royal family being directly connected
with the sister kingdom by an Irish title ; for
example, the Prince of Webs is Earl of Dublin,
as was his granfather, the Duke of Kent; the
late and present Dukes of Cumberland have
always enjoyed the titles of Earls of Armagh ;
the late Duke of Cambridge was created Earl of
Tipperary, and his son, the present Duke, still
holds that Earldom ; the Duke of Edinburgh is
Earl 14 Ulster; the late Duke of Sussex was also
Baron Arklow, in the county of Wicklow;
and the Duke of Clarence, afterwards King
William IV., was created Earl of Munster in
, 178%

_
Both Houses of Parliament re-assembled on
Monday evening after the Whitsuntide recess,
and begin the business to he got through before
thu prorogation. In the Lords there are the
three Land Transfer Bills, the Church Patronage
in Scotland Bill, the Primate's Public Worship
Regulation Bill, the Statute Law Revision, and
the Supplemental Judicature Bill. In the
Cotumons the picci ie re4Wance is the Licensing
Act Amendment Bill, besides which there are
the Revenue Officers' Disabilities Bill, the Juries

Bill, the Factories Bill, Valuation of Property
Bill, Mr. Newdegate's motion, the Elementary
Education Act Amendment Bill, with other Bills
and motions. Nothing can be made more clear,
says the Daily Nrav, than the fact that the
Government do not mean to harass themselves
or anybody else with serious and difficult law-
making this Session. This is perfectly fair ;
this is the principle on which they came into
office. It is the principle on which, above all
others, Mr. Disraeli made his appeal to the
constituencies, and the principle upon which, as
we understand it, he was accepted by the
country. Unless, therefore, something very
unexpected shall start up in the path of the
Parliament timing its next few weeks of jog-trot,
this is likely to prove the moat uneventful, un-
amusing, and withal innocent Session we have
had for half a generation.

The Return; just printed from the borough
authorities in England and Wales respecting the
working of the Licensing Act are highly im-
portant. More than a hundred and sixty large
towns have sent replies to the questions sub-
mitted to them, and the result is, on the whole,
extremely favourable to the existing system.
With few exceptions the mayors and other
rinondenta concur in bearing witness to the
highly-beneficial operation of the Act of 1872.
In some instances we are assured that drunken-
ness has been on the increase during the past
two years ; but there is a very decided pre-
ismdemnce of opinion that the greater her
of cases coming before the Courts is due mainly
to the stringency of Lord Aberdare's Act, to the
inability and unwillingness of publimus to har-
bour drunken men, and to the activity of the
police in apprehending tipsy men without wait-
ing for them to become disorderly. With regard
to the restriction of hours, and the proposed
reversion to the former limits, the balance of
opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of leaving
things as they are. Thu excitement which arose,
in the first instance, about the earlier closing of
public-houses very soon subsided ; and we can
hardly suppose that Government will persist,
after receiving these returns, in meddling with
the time-table of the Act. In brief, it is Mani-
featly the judgment of those who are most able
to form a valuable opinion that the Act of 1872
has been highly beneficial ti the country; and
that if certain changes appear to be necessary
from a political point of view, no very drastic
operation is called for on the grounds of high
public utility.