The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1861-01-29 00:00:00

POSTAL SUBSIDIES

Mr. T. G. Taylor, of 10A, King's Arms Yard,
recently addressed a long and able letter to the
Chancellor of the Er:chequer, in defence of the
present system of granting postal subsidies to
steam packet companies, to which he received
the following complimentary reply :-
11, Downing Street, Whitehall,
sth January, 1861.
Sia,--4 am directed by the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer to inform you, that he has read with care your
clear and elaborate statement, dated the 2nd January,
upon the subject of polte subsidies, and I am to add
that he has never given any oplilion against postal sub-
sidies universally, at the same time, that he certainly
believes that they have been carried too fart and in par-
ticular, that at a.recent period there was a tendency to
great excess, which required to be confronted and
repressed,—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
(Signed) G. I ISLE 'RI DER.
Mr. T. G. Taylot; 19a, King's Arms Yard, E.C.

HOW TO
.PROTECT WATEI4-PIPES FROM

FROST.

The following excellent suggestion on this
subject is made in a letter to the Times by a
gentlerriun who writes from Dublin :
If a small closed copper box, about four inches square,
is placed below the lowest port of the supply-pipe and
connected with it by a three-quatters or inch pipe, and
a gas burner having about twenty small orifices, like a
miniature gas stove, is fixed under the box and kept
alight during the continuance of frost, an upward cur-
rent of heated water will be generated throughout all
the pipes communicating with the supply-pipe, and the
freezing of the water in them or the cisterns will be
effectually prevented. The box may be placed in any
convenient position, the only essentials being that it
shall be below, and connected with the lowest part of,
the supply-pipe.
The gas burner may be a spiral of small brass tube,
and should be placed within half an inch of the bottom
of the box. As the flame of each orifice may reduced
to a mere speck, the qnantity of gas consumed will be
very trifling. Where gas is not available a lamp or
candle may be used instead. Any plumber and gasfitter
could do all that is required at a very small cost.
As heated water will not descend, pipes which supply
baths, &e., from cisterns should be connected with the
main supply-pipes below their lowest points. These
connexions can generally be made without difficulty,
and will not interfere with or derange the proper work-
ing of the pipes for their ordinary uses.
All exposed pipes outside a house should be covered
with wooden casings stuffed with cork shavings, saw-
dust, or other non-conducting substance, the stuffing
being at least three inches thick.

REVISION OF THE FRENCH NAVIGATION
LAWS.

We do not say that the French Government contem-
plates the immediate abolition of all differential duties
in favour of French shipping, but we are so satisfied of
the intention of the Emperor that we shall not be sur-
prised any day by the appearance of an Imperial decree
placing British vessels on a footing of equality with
French vessels, in an important branch of the French
trade from which our shipowners are practically excluded
by the operation of the existing system. In which
direction this desirable change will commence remains
to be seen. Foreign flags supply already more than
one-half of the tonnage required in the French foreign
trade, under which designation is included the trade
between France and the British dominions in Europe, the
British colonies, and other foreign countries. The
French coasting trade is absolutely reserved to French
vessels, and the colonial trade so strictly, that of 625,252
tons entries and clearances in 1858 but 112 tons were
foreign. The French Government, in revising the
navigation laws of France, will, no doubt, be guided
in the first instance by a consideration of French
interests alone, and there is no branch of the French
commerce more seriously affected by the operation of
the existing law than the trade between France and
her colonies. That it is so has been recently established
by the memorial of the merchants and shipowners of
Martinique, addressed to the home Government, and
praying for a change in those regulations which,
by excluding foreign shipping from the ports of
that island, have pressed so injuriously upon her
commercial prospects. What is true of Martinique is
true of every other French colony. We have before us
a circular addressed by a house of eminence in Calcutta
to their correspondents in Liverpool, in which we find
it stated that the shipping of coolies for Reunion under
the recent treaty with France has commenced—the St.
Bernard, a British ship, having taken a cargo at seventy
rupees a head. This trade will probably be done alto-
gether in British vessels, the French having few, if any,
ships adapted to the trade. " But in that case" (we
quote from the letter referred to) " they (i. e., British
ships) must ballast their lower holds with food for the
Mauritius, for French vessels alone can import food into
the island, unless, indeed, the French navigation
laws are altered in that respect, which is not im-
probable, as the Bourbonnais are now clamorous for
free trade, and for the same advantages as their
countrymen enjoy under British rule in the Mauritius."
We cannot doubt that the French Government are
fully in possession of the opinion of the French colonists
at Bourbon and elsewhere ; and they who are at all
acquainted with the Imperial policy need not be told of
the great importance attached by the Emperor to the
advancement and prosperity of the French dependencies.
He has already liberated the trade with Algeria, and
we may be quite sure he knows that the commerce of
the outlying colonies demands the adoption of a similar
policy in respect to them. It is impossible, with the
limited amount of tonnage at the disposal of those
colonies that their commerce can develop, and, as
a matter of fact, it has not developed, or at all kept
pace with the demand for colonial produce in France.
We shall not be surprised if the Emperor applies
himself in the first instance to remedy this state of
things, and if the first extensive breach in the French
navigation laws be made in favour of the colonial trade.
But, the principle once admitted, the French Govern-
ment cannot stop, even if they were disposed, and if it
were consistent, which it is not, with the present com-
mercial policy of France to do so. The opening of the
foreign and coasting trades to British vessels, and
eventually to the shipping of other nations, will be sure
to follow. The opening of the French colonial trade to
British shipping will be, so far as it goes, an advantage
to the British shipowner. Not that it will afford any-
thing like a harvest of freights—for the admission of
additional shipping into any trade must bring down the
rates—but because it will give him the choice of two
markets occasionally instead of one, and enable him
to make a profit "on the round " where it may
be impossible to do so outward or homeward
bound. The approaching revision of the French
navigation laws in favour of British shipping will be
effected, just as the commercial treaty was framed and
concluded, from a conviction that the commercial
interests of France imperatively require it. From the
moment the Emperor was convinced of the necessity of
a change, he has never wavered or hesitated in giving
effect to his convictions ; and be knows, as well as any
economist can tell him, that the revision of the French
tariff must be followed by a relaxation in the French
navigation laws. Those who had the best opportunity
of forming a settled opinion as to the views of the
Emperor, speak with the utmost confidence of their
settled character. He has resolved to, make the com-
merce of France free by sea and by land. In effecting
so great an achievement there must be great difficul-
ties to be surmounted ; but the present ruler of France
has proved himself equal to them, and so satisfied is he
of the wisdom of the reforms he has so recently effected,
and of increasing the commercial intimacy of this coun-
try with France, that he is about to anticipate the time
originally fixed for the complete operation of the com-
mercial treaty. We are not given to predictions, but
we need not withhold the expression of our conviction
that the complete revision of the French navigation
laws, so far as they affect British shipping, is at hand,
and that before another year has expired France will
cease to appear in the category of non-reciprocating
states.—Shipping Gazette.

IRON-CASED FRIGATES IN .FRANCE.—We have re-
ceived information from France, on which we can place
implicit reliance, that the Emperor has resolved to con-
struct with all dispatch ten iron-cased frigates of La
Gloire class. This is no mere idle rumour, but a stub-
born fact.—Ariqy and Navy Gazette. _ .

COTTON CULTIVATION IN AUSTRALIA.— What is
required to bring the cotton lands of Australia into cul-
tivation in capital and labour. Of these two important
essentials, the men of Manchester have no lack. They
readily subscribed £lOO,OOO when the repeal of the corn
laws obtained for them cheap bread for their factory
hands, and procured them new markets for their manu-
factures in exchange for the corn and flour which would
be imported. The same sum judiciously applied would
have gone far to have obtained for them a supply of
cotton from Queensland and other parts of the British
possessions. With respect to the supply of labour, that
been overcome, had the necessary capital been forth-
is a difficulty which might have been and would have
coming, by the importation of coolies and Chinese into
the new cotton-growing districts. With such magnifi-
cent colonies as we possess ; with lands suited in every
respect for the culture of cotton, which may be pur-
chased for a merely nominal sum ; with all our manu-
facturing skill for producing the necessary implements ;
and with abundance of capital at our disposal, and with
facilities for obtaining labour from India, and from
China under the new treaty, it will be a crying. shame
and a disgrace to the country if we continue much longer
Whatever
o statesetten ot
attention
nto
n e America.\v fieldsllr ein our state 'of precarious dependence upon the
donecotton-
be
in
cotton-
growing idirectingng we
productiveness, may
l
hope that the unequalled facilities of Queensland will
not be overlooked. We are glad to learn that the
colonists are fully alive to the importance of providing
additional labour, and a memorial is in course of pre-
paration to the authorities, praying for some relaxation
in the present regulation respecting the introduction of
coolie emigrants. Now that the treaty of Pekin recog-
nises the right of emigration on the part of Chinese,
there can be no difficulty in affording increased facilities
to their leaving the country and settling in Australia.—
Australian and New Zealand Gazette.