The Express.
London, England, 1866-02-16 00:00:00

THI OAT= PLAGUE MUM FOR WIT WU&

The Advertiser cenrures the veterinary department of
the Privy Council Moe for the defects in their cattle
plague returns. Last week 209 inspectors made no report,
and this week 251 inspectors make no sign. To issue the
return at all under such a state of Wogs is a cruel farce.
Last week the defecti►e retinas had the credit of the ap•
parent demean in the Dumber of new cases of cattle attacked,
But what shall we say to the return of list night, from
which it appears that the number of new came is fully up
to the mark—moo fewer than 11,590—without the reports of
them 251 neglectful inspectors ? What would it have been
if the.. 251. gentlemen had all reported ? The number now
given for the week ending Feb. 3 (9,153) is the same al
given last week. Surely some at least of the 209 inspectors
have reported before this! If so, their reports ought to
have goo, towards immolating the rehire, and bringing the
number for that week as near to literal amurecy as it was
possible to get it. The reports OA to tends, so far as they
go, show sufficiently alarming results ; 148,023 head of
cattle have been reported as attacked since the commence-
ment of the disease, of which 92,853 have died, and about
equal numbers, 18,247, 18,302, and 18,621 respectively—
have been killed, have recovered, or are not accounted for.

AND TIM QUEEN'S

The Daily New hears that the terms which the govern-
ment has made with Roman catholic hierarchy in Ireland
are that half the Senate of the Queen's University are
henceforth to consist of Roman c atholics, and half of
protenants. The result must be that the Queen's Ual.
veraity will be transformed from an unsecterian Into a
sectarian Instintioe. It is maid by the Irish Viosroy and
his crolleaguee in England that this change is of no import-
ance, and that therefore it will be carried into effect
without !on:stetting parliament. But we greatly mistake
the intelligence of the liberal members in the House
of Commove if they suffer such a step to
be taken without a vigorous remonstrance. The
whole history of legislation, particularly u shown in the
opening of Oxford and C►mbridge to men of all creeds,
the persevering attempts to opera fellowships in a similar
way, and the abolition of testa for professors in the four
Soetch aniversitim—conclasively prove that of late years

the state has steadily proceeded to disencumber educational
foundations from ecclesiastical subjection, and to place
the practical business of schools and colleges in the hands
of laymen. And this is the policy which it is now pro-
posed to abandon in the very cionati7 where the
maintenance of such • policy is above all important.
Of course t►ere is no reason to exclude any Irish catholic
from the senate simply because he is a catholic. nor do the
Irish catholics labour under any such disability ; but to
place any person on the senate simply because be is • ca-
tholic would be grossly unjust to the protestant' of the
United Kingdom. It is one thing that the governing body
of the Queen's University may consist of men of various
denomications ; it is another and • very different thing if
UN members are "elected because they are known to be
zealous sectarian'. The protestant students of Belfast or
Galway would have no fear of the impartiality of men se-
lected upon the one principle ; they might very reasonably
entertain • different opinion if they were selected on the
other principle.

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*ads of
!1886-6
meant

The amount recovered by the increased gellumption of tea
will be about one-half of the whole tax given up, or, in
other words, the receipts from a duty of 6d. a pound, in
the first year after reduction, will be three-fourths
the receipts from a dif.y of a shilling • pound.
This is, perhaps, u stertlieg an instance of the
recuperative offset of a reduction in duty air
has ever been experienced. Mr. Gladstone, we may
any expect, will meet parliament after the Baster recess
with • statement of income received in excess of expendi-
ture of about 3,000,0004; sad though there will not, apart
from redactions of expenditure, be anything like this sum
to give away, there will doubtless be • eullicient surplus to
be an object of eager contention among the claimants for
the reduction or abolition of particular taxes. The modifica-
tion of the wise duties and the abolition at the timber
duties will still leave • balance to be distributed, and the
Tiara thinks a deliberate consideration should be
given to Mr. Bolster-Booth's suggestion of the

;imposition of ► beer duty as • substitute for the existi•g
malt tax, so oonoedior freedom to agriculture. It remains to
he seen, however, whether • new parliament might not
have the public virtue to support a serious proposal to do
something towards the reduction of the national debt.