The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1873-02-25 00:00:00

Duet &nig (Expo.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY EL 1873.

NOTES OF THK WIMIE.

Her Majesty's first ard on her return from
Osborne his been to pay • visit of ooudolence to
Ors Empress Eugenie. The deepest interest has
been taken by the Court in the oondltion of
Count Bernstorif, the Prussian Ambassador, who
still lies in • precarious state, though there are
aliaht symptoms of improvement. On Monday
again, notwithstanding the snow storm, the
Queen went to London to pay • visit to the
Duchess of Inverness who is ill at Kensington.
The Queen has paid • thoughtful tribute to
the memory of the late Emperor Napoleon.
Her Majesty has ordered from Aberdeen •
sarcophagus and pedestal of Peterhead granite,
In which the remains of the late Emperor may
be placed until their ultimate destination Is
determined.

The legal strength of Her Majesty's Privy
Council hie been augmented by the appointment
of Mr. Baron Channell and Mr. Justice Byles
as members of that right honourable body.
It is again rumoured that the Government
have determined to accede to the striking of the
25th clause out of the Education Act, and that
In order to do this Mr. Forster will resign his
present office, to be succeeded probably by Mr.
Childers.
The course which the Opposition will adopt
with the Irish University Bill will probably be
to deal with the measure in committee. Mr.
Smyth, • Home Rule candidate, has indepen-
dently given notice to move the rejection of the
measure on the second reading, but it is not at
all clear that there will be • strong party divi-
sion at that stage of the Bill. The power of the
, mowers to work good or evil would appear to
be mainly In Ite details.
Mr. G. 0. Trevelyan's Bill to extend house-
hold suffrage to the counties has been published.
The find clause proposes that the 6th section of
the Reform Act of 1867 "shall be construed as if
after the words ' the occupier as owner or tenant
of lands or tenements, within the oounty of the
rateable value of £l2 or upwards,' there were
inserted the words, 'or the inhabitant °coupler
as owner or tenant of any dwelling house within
the county.'"
At • conference of the leading members of the
Conservative party on Saturday last the Irish
University Bill was fully discussed. Disapproval
of its provisions was unanimously expressed, but,
Mr. Smythe having given notice of • motion for
the rejection of the bill, the precise form which
the opposition to it should take was not definitely
decided upon.
The dreary and inclement weather that we
have had since the opening of the session
see ms to have put a damper upon the spirits of
our legislators, and thin Houses have been the
usual order of the evening when only ordinary
business has been in hand. Yet some of this
business is of no little interest. The chief in-
cident of the week in the Commons is the debate
on expenditure. Mr. Vernon ilaroourt did not
probably intend to give the Government •
favourable opportunity for • party manieuvre
when he started the proposition that the present
state of public expenditure is excessive and that
it should be reduced, with a view to the diminu-
tion of public burdens. The Government quietly
took advantage of it, however, to secure • select
committee of inquiry. That the revenue has
enormously increased in the last six years, and
that the relief from taxation has not been at all
proportionate, was very easily proved by Mr.
Harcourt, but his speech did not awaken much
interest, and the House only rose to animation
when Mr. Gladstone ridiculed his prosy generali-
ties, and in • tone of banter recommended him
to follow Mr. Joseph Hume in tracking and
hunting departments in details of expenditure.
"By all means apply yourself to this vocation,"
he said, "you will find it disagreeable. You
will gain little distinction in your lifetime, but
in impartial history, and by posterity, you will
obtain your reward." The select committee
having been appointed to see whether reduc-
tions in the civil service can be effected,
the stone is set rolling in the right direc-
tion. On Friday night, Mr. Holm,, in
in moving for • select committee on the
purchase and sale of stores, pointed out that
different Government departments were often
bidding against one another in the market for
the same articles, and that sometimes one
department was advertising to purchase what
another was offering for mile. Mr. Gladstone,
In conceding the committee, acknowledged that
the Treasury had no control over the contracts
of the departments, and that Mr. Holmes had
done a public service in bringing forward the
question. Perhaps the committee may show
Mr. Lowe how to effect a saving of some portion
of that £6,600,000 which we shall have to
retrench before we can abolish the income tax,
as the Chancellor of the Exchequer explained
to a deputation from the Associated Chambers of
Commerce on Thursday. But of more vital
interest to the public than even savings in
Government departments is the coal question
brought forward by Mr. Mundell,. Mr. Bruce
told us the other day that the government could
not intervene in this matter, but he saw his
way to agree to the appointment of &committee
to enquire into the causes for the present
excessive dearness of coal. Probably it was the
knowledge that this concession would be made
that left Kr. Mundell, to make his motion in a
House of only twenty-two members. But, at
any ride, if our legislators have no vital interest
in this matter, the people have, and, if they are
to pay exorbitant prices for coal, they would
like to "know the reason why."
The army estimates show a reduction amount-
ing to £408,000, for which the Government will,
probably take considerable credit. As the oast
of establishment-charges, provisions, forage,
fuel, transport, wages, are all higher, showing •
gross increase of £205,700, the actual reduction
ender otter heads must be more than is shown
by the balance. The total of the regular army
stands numerically at 191.892 men, of whom
63,924 form the British army in India. Placing
all our forces together, the British Establish-
ment, the Forces in India, the Militia, the
Yeomanry, the Army Reserve, and the Volun-
teers, we have rather more than half a million-
-530,000 men. There is evidently to be • debate
again this year upon the dimensions of the army,
Mr. W. Fowler having given notice to move a
reduction of the force by 10,000 men.
Mr. Plimsoll, the junior M.P. for Derby, has
found himself all at once one of the most pro.
minent men in Parliament. He has published •
plea for our seamen, under the title of "An
Appeal," which we recently reviewed, asserting
that hnudreds of easels are even now sailing
from the North-east ports which are utterly
unfit to be trusted with human life. "There has
been no instance without any knowledge," says
Mr. Plimsoll, "of a ship being broken up any-
where for many years. They insure them is
long as they two, and when rechristening and all
other dodges fail even with underwriters, they
then form mutual insurance clubs, and go on
until the &hips fill and go down in some breeze,
or strike and go to pieces." But the statement
which more than any other is the talk of the
hour is that in which Mr. • Plimsoll gives us a
conversation which he had in the lobby of the
House of Commons in the Session of 1870, one
evening when his Pill stood for its second read-
" Do you expect your Bill tl come on to-
night, Mr. Plimsoll T' asked one of this " small
knot of bad men" from the North-eastern ports.
" Yes, I hope so," was Mr. Plimsoll's answer.
"1 am sorry for that," replied the shipowner,
"as I have • dinner engagement, and should
not like to be absent.""l think you should
not be absent, said Mr. Plimsoll. " Why P
asked sharply the member for
"Because,' was the reply, "I may have to ta
the House of a man whose name you will hear
in any coffee-room or exchange in Yarmouth,
Hull, Scarborough, Whitby, Pickering, Blyth,
Shields, Newcastle, Sunderland, or any port on
the North-east, as one notorious for excessive
and habitual over-loading, and • reckless die.
regard of human life • who has lost seven ocean.
going steamers, and drowned more titan a
hundred men in lees than two years, and whose
name I have myself seen as one of those whose
ships Insurance brokers at Lloyd's at length
warrant the underwriters they will not ship
goods in before the under-writers will take •
'1 lien upon them, and I may have to tell the
House that that man is
_the member for

--." The man sTkidTa;ver •—;;Ord in
reply, 'act wore such • look that Mr. Plimsoll
thought he would have fainted. Re ham-
distely went to rectors a notice which he had
put on the paper of wnendinalt to Mr. Plimsoll's
Bill, vis., that it be read that day six mouths,
and walking up to Mr. Plimsoll • short time atter
In the House, "With • face like that of a deed
man," tapped him on the shoulder and whispered
in his es:, "Mr. Plimsoll,! have been to Mr.
Pnlgreve and token my notice off the paper."
Mr. Gourley, M.P. for llunderlend, has put on
Mr. Plimsoll's cap, acknowledging himself to be
"the ineraw for ."and brought an