The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-02-07 00:00:00

th rougl
,
beelt

ctwatde. to the General Post-, ffic-, to be despatches'
:hy'that ait' s math,. The next moroing them, im
portant domniegts were in the hands a the Mayors ul_
cities and bmhs, and the 11Th Sheriffs of counties,
and within three days afterwards several members of
the new Parliament had been returned, The utmost
ciao is taken at ifie Post office over the sending out of
these write, so that there may be neither misdirection
nreedelag. .Farieeterwe, it by mistake' the writs for
,prkne7 and Shetland. were wont t 3 the Sheriff of
Galway, a delay of seveval,Olkire tie the elect on wag of
rv-cessity be the result. The (ate of a Ministry has

direidold'WMlte. Thiswae- the

_
-caw In 1841, trivet' fin edeve.. rote inew,eacciedag•inet
Lord Melboarne's Government of 312 to 311, and •
!dtedoletion '6f Terliement WAS thi3 c6the4tience. It
•reoeltlihts• *sty awirward thing indeed it the fortunes
.01454 Adatinlatrstion were 1.0 depend open the absence
of a roembes who was unatle beAresent through a
'bnJfetesidioe'oet e wilt'. • ""

,
• Is iittit—akie nrovince'to ........... upon the mutts
orthe- eltotione, but it may with safety be assumed
that whichever party wins, the doom of the income-4u
has been pronounced. In itepresentlorm it has existed
for 32"yeard;'llavtfie beeix-retived by Hit Robert Peel
in 842, for the purpose of removing the excise taxes
then levied upon hundreds of articles of daily me. It
has been continued by every Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer who has held office since. Mr. Gladstone hie
sem it at it two extremes while holding the post of
Minister of Fmance. It was fourteen pence in the
pound in 1855, when he was Chancellor of the E -
chequer in the Government of Lord Aberdeen ; it is
threepence now. More complaint is wade of it than
of any other impost that I know. It is likely
enough that every payer of income-tax contributes
equally as much to the revenue up t n his tea, his sugar,
s his wine. his spirits, and his cigars. I;ut then he does
this indirectly ;it Is paid without hie feeling It. In
the cane of the income-tax, however, it is often hard to
part with the money in an annum: lump nun, and the
people of this country do no; like the idea of other
persons prying into the secrets of their earnit gs. When
the income-tax disappears, I suspect that very few
will be inclined to address to it the language of the
poet, and say of it:

" Thou art my best, my only friend
" Del r.tlay departure yes,
" Fri betiold the turning away
" With feelings ef 00c1 regret.''
People h toe r 1 with in interait the account of
the Royal marriage at St. Petersburg, and we shall be
fortunate in getting the elections over before the time .
appointed for the arrival of the Doke and Duchess of
Edinburgh in this ctuutry. The West-End tradesmen
are now hoping for a cLit from the Czar in the
snsuing summer, and I need not say that the
airival of such a 'nighty Potentate would create
a very considerable sensation. He was at Paris
In 1867, when a base attempt was made to assassinate
him as he woe driving through the Chomps E'ys4es
with the late Emperor Napoleon. I think we might
safely promise his Imperial Majesty that if he cam o to
see tpi he might consider himself pis, fectly safe in the
streets of London. It is not the custom tf our people
to stab in the back, or to shoot a-. from behind a tree
those who accept the national hospitality. In the cise
to which I refer, however, it was not a Frenchman,
but a Pole, who endeavoured to send a bullet through
the Rlltlgeoll Emperor's head. the is a line handsome
man, althoush he does not possess the commanding
statue of his father, the Emperor Nicholas, of whom
so much was huiril tweniy years ago. But his arrival
in London would be the event of the season, and
alth,mgh our palaces cannot compare in splendour wit,
tilos.- of St. Petersburg. and our skies are murky +hen
contrasted with the clear, crisp atmosphere of that
fair city, we could show him many things worth
seeing, and there is little doubt that he would be cor.
chatty welcome.