The Express.
London, England, 1867-10-16 00:00:00

THE HIGH PRICE OF FOOD.

Wheat, it appears, i■ at this moment half as dear again
as it was last year, and almost twice as dear ss it was in
1864. Nor have we found, observes tie Toms, the ex-
pected compensation in a fall of me►t. A hard race is
going on between demand and supply, and the general rise
which we witness is probably due to the fact that good and
wholesome living is now within the reach and enters into
the expectations of classes who had no such opportunities
thirty years ago. A prospect is or en to us in the abund-
ance of sheep in Australia, for it is surely not unreasonable
to expect that the science of our chymists and the inge-
nuity of our merchants may before long supply British
markets with Australian mutton in a wholesome and
eatable form. A fat sheep in Australia is worth only Lir.,
and the colony could export them by the million. Pend-
ing this consummation let there be on the part of each
purchaser a careful prevention of waste ; an eye to the
bread basket may save many a loaf.
The Tiler/mph, writing on the same subject, warns home
growers of the danger of holding back their stock until
there is a deluge of foreign corn. If they do this they
will have to sell in a declining market, and their selling
will precipitate the fall. We should then behold the old
familiar series of fluctuations—first deficiencies, followed
by speculative excitement, artificial scarcity, a sudden
appearance of plenty, a rapid collapse in prices, and the
usual tale of few winners and many losers. If, on the
other band, our farmers take advantage of the present
favourable opportunity, and meet the demand, they will
make sure of a handsome immediate return, and run no
risk from an adverse reaction. Whatever our own de-
ficiency may be it is certain to be made good at an early
date from foreign countries.

)CS TOPICS.

The shocking scene on the scaffold yesterday is referred
to by several of our contemporaries. The asseveration of
innocence on the part of Wiggins maintained to the last
will fail, in the opinion of the Herald, to convince anyone
who has read and considered the evidence given at the
trial.

The Trlrgroph Woltz, on the contrary, that no one will
say the evidence was conclusive. One jury bad declined
to charge him with murder, and the other debated very
long and decided with difficulty. A profound disquietude
about the right and the advantage of official homicide
pervades the community, and a sight like that which
yesterday made Newgate hideous, quicken/ the mind with
horror, with compassion, and most terrible of all, with
the whisper of human fallibility.

The Post hopes the precedent set in the can of the in-
tended prize-fight yesterday will be followed on future
similar occasions. Prize-fighting is as vile and odious as
any of the brutal pastimes of the middle ages which we
plume ourselves so often and so greatly upon having aban-
doned at the call of decency and humanity. But if it were
the noblest and most elevating pursuit in the universe, so
long as it is illegal, so long will it be a disgrace to the
country that it should be permitted, if not winked at, by
the police.

The Star suggests that many a man whose cowardice
presents a remarkable contrast to Mr. Mace's daring has
been less fortunate than he in obtaining relief In mo.
mente of exigency. Mr. Mace's demeanour when at rested
appears to have been all that it should have been. The
Star is not ill satisfied that the failure of the men to meet
will contribute even more than the magistrate's sensible
decision to disgust the public with the prize ring, and to
save incorrigible gulls—though that matters little—from
future payments for the felicity of early information when
fights are not coming off, and of snugly se Lting themselves
with their clothes torn to ribbons by the roughs in untimely
railway trains destined nowhither.

The Standard is well pleased with the result of the
Bradford election. There is nothing in Mr. Miall's public
career that can recommend him to the suffisges of any
constituency which is not entirely swayed by the most
narrow-minded radicalism.

THE ABYSSINIAN EXPEDItIoN.—The Euphrates
and two other steamers—the Coromandel and the Scinde
—having on board the exploring party, under the com-
mand of Colonel Blerewether, left Bombay on the 13th of
September last. The Euphrates and Coromandel reached
Aden on the evening of the 26th, after a bad passage, the
latter vessel having lost ten mules out of 149 on board.
The Scinde, having the tent equipage on board, had to
put back to Bombay through stress of weather. The
expedition consists of 100 rank and file 21st Bombay
Native Infantry, and 40 troopers 3rd Bombay Cavalry, and
the undermentioned officers :—Lieutenant-Colonel Mere-
wether, commanding ; Lieutenant-Colonel Wilkins, chief
engineer ; Lieutenant-Colonel Phstyre, quartermaster-gene-
ral ; Major Bigree and Lieutenant Pottinger, quarter.
master-general's department ; Captain Goodfellow, field
engineer ; Lieutenant Jopp, assistant field engineer; Major
Blignion, Lieutenant Hemmel, and Lieutenant Mortimer,
commiesariat department ; and Dr. Martyn and Dr. Lams.
define, medical officers. The party were expecting to leave
Aden on the 29th for Maspowah. The principal objects
are :-1. To find a suitable harbour and shore for debarks,
tion, and location of some 200 steamers and transports.
2. To find a good route and post inland on the high land
some 60 miles from the shore. It is probable that the
landing-place will be fixed in Annesley Bay, which is some
distance south of Massowan.