The Press.
London, England, 1853-11-19 00:00:00

676

" Illy lords hare under their consideration two sp.
pboatioss maths mbject of receiving and parsing defaced
cunt
" Write to the applicants respectively, and state that it
was not the intention of the tiovemment, in peering the
net of the 11l and IT Victoria, cap. 104, entitled ' An Act to
prevent the detaining of the current coin id' the realm,' to
interpose) any dinienity in regard to such coin as may lutve
beet defaced by ordinary wear and are, or in relation to
Ferrous who, in the ordinary course of business, pay coins
which are &freed. •
'• Tite inintediate objoot of the Liovernment in obtaining
the set war to put a situp to a practice of stamping the
aosses of proms, Arms, upon coins, by way of adver-
tisements or otherwise, slid the intention of the I ii.% rni•
seat was to reach by painkiller the persons who, in this or
In any other wain% or malicious way, injured the coin.
And in order that the law should nut prove vetations to
those who in the ordinary transaction or 11111111111• NS paid
mph coin, and who were wholly i eee nwent of the offence
of deleting them, or of forcing Own, into eireulati
with the intention if promoting the object of such Aim&
era, and nut fur the purpose only of ordinary payments,
the law provides that Mb 1111 e eats b' prosecuted for parr•
ing defaced coin except with the consent of the Attorney-
Untold.
" Whilst, thereibre, the tiovernment are determined to
put an rod to snob abases as are herein referred to, and to
use the act with vigour to that slid, it is neither their wish
nor intention to ember:nee or interfere with the ordinary
and current tranaactiona of business."
(Migiked )

"JAMES WILSON."

How little effect this minute would have upon a
wart of law, if called upon to construe this statute,
may be seen hereafter; and how little it remedies
the vexatious operation of the act in another sense
is evidenced by the fact that, within a day or two of
its appearance, several of the railway companies gave
notice at. their respective stet' s that. all money
tendered in payment of fares, if in the least degree
defaced, would be refused.

THE SMALL BOROUGHS AND THE COUNTY
CONSTITUENCIES.
TO THIN ZDITon OF " THL PAM."

Sir,--So murk has been said of late by the Liberal
journals in condemnation of small boroughs, and
they have been so denounced in no sparing language
as the strongholds of the Tory party, that I have
taken the trouble to see how the members for the
forq-eight boroughs of England which contain con.
stitueneies under 400, and wend seventy-one members
to Parliament, voted on the rival budgets of the last
and present Chancellors of the Exchequer. I find
that, in the division of the Ilith of December last,
thirty such members voted with Mr. Disraeli, thirty-
four against him, and seven were absent. I find
that., in the division of March the 2nd, forty-two sup-
ported Mr. Gladstone, twenty voted against him, and
nine were absent, thus giving the present Coalition
Cabinet a majority of more than two to one in the
small boroughs. In fact, these boroughs are the
stronghold of that last phase of political quackery,
Liberal Conservatism or Conservative Liberalism ;
and the wish to disfranchise them emanates, not
from the present Government, but front the Man
cheater school, who wish to have the suffrage trans-
ferred to more populous towns. There might lie
some plausibility in this demand if the towns did
not already engross► more than their due share of
the representation. The county constituencies,
taking one county with another, contain more than
thrice the number of electors to each member
than the boroughs, taking them one with another,
do ; and this, notwithstanding the county occupation
suffrage is fivefold that of the same suffrage for a
borough. The county elections are, too, wholly un-
tainted by corruption. They have, therefore, on
every account the first claim to additional members
if it should be thought desirable to disfranchise any
existing constituencies. The Tory party has nothing
whatever to fear from any Reform Dill which shall
be based upon fair principles : whether we are likely
to get such a bill from the present Coalition, should
they remain in office long enough to bring one for-
ward, is more than I should like to allirm.—l am
your obedient servant, AN Ex-U.l'.

TN consequence of the diffieulty anti expense (Mewling
the transmission of heavy packets across the isthmus of
Suez, it has become necessary to rescind the regulations
under which printed books, magazines, reviews, and pant-
phleta, addreesed to the East Indies, Ceylon, Mauritius,
and New South Wales, are at present forwanied through
the Post-office rid h:gypt, and to restrict the conveyance of
such books, tie., to the direct mail-packets proceeding to
those pieties. In future, therefore, all publications, ad-
dressed to India, Ceylon, or Mauritius, intended to he for-
warded through the post, under the privileges of the
°Adel book post, will be conveyed by the eontnwt mail-
peekete, rid the Cape of Good Hope, leaving Plymouth on
the lb* of each month; and hooks, tic., for New south
Wales will be sent by the eontract packets J((1)4641(41 from
this country once in two mouths, of the bailing of wide/
notice is issued from time tv time.