The Express.
London, England, 1859-02-12 00:00:00

IRISH SPIRITS.

HAISSARD azea•-a;th;;;;;elior of the Elehooner,
it it err kb intention to propose that any reduction should
be made bi the duty now payabie upon spirits meantestured
bs Izeiand. . .

The cinxicsuog of the EXCHEQUER saki holed
no intention whatever of proposing a roduoion. He mu
happy to state that the temente of duty et last year had sot
occasioned any dtetillatko whitens..

BA*ItACK MASTS I,

Mr. WARREN sited Zs SssNary----
of Beats for War,
whether say sad whet step were 6dst lakes towards im-
proving the cooditioa of barrack seaters, with redrew@ to
the sed soils d pry meetly prepared is the Wreck de-
Ont
General 1111111:eald that step were befog table to Improve
the condltka of barrack maws. A scheme wee under con-
sideration, whisk woad shortly be Lid befoul the house.

RAILWAY

sErrn 711ai th7147.171;:i of the Booed of
Traie whether it was the Istastion of her hteMsty's govers-
meet to introduce soy measure during the paisest reasloa
funded os the report of the select cmunitree as railway
amddrota
Mr. HENLEY raid that the report os railway amidst&
was so doubt well worthy the cosaiderarion of the govern-
ment, but will it wee not thought advisable to tetrads*. any
Elf WALK' expressly founded out that report. Should there be
any legislation reeperriag railwart it would he considered
whether the valuable eaggestiess of the report might not be
introduced.
OPENING LETTERS AT TEE POST-OFFICE.

On the motion for adjournment,
Hr. RICH nee to call attention to a recent order of the
Poe master •Oeneral for the opening of letters which
the pantie had not been prepeid. Attar an on
)Ir. RoWkka Hlll se the anther of the great mad reform of
the matory, the honowsbls member, who was bat indis-
tinctly beard, proceeded to say that the object of the order
11111 to increment :the number of prepaid Inters. At present
the perms to whom the letter was Wrens. might raft's* or
accept sad pay amble postage, bet bleed of this vertical
plan the Partniaater.Oenersl bad hard ea sear providing,
that If the letter was not preoaid the pesheilloo *OM open
snd retain it to the whir. Tb gresiaA perdble sesurity
to the public, with the peered ecenewy of
were the trus brim of joosi-diss system, is=
was a plan 6k mild& there was wither
nor mow. Oat of two wilder of na.
latter% sae Mlles were relosard. oar the went a
sod thwehins Here wee no loss to Net* the order. t was
quite pssibls That Mien night he 1•01 twlwsPell law */
*1184.11•1%• thing sot he be waisted at ansonpt
*vele ledisidembi, whoa they resseelend that 7.000 letters
igloo pot Mho the Peohellans, t debt; half s
bee 7rog=4:ristraindriVell" at sit.
c'el:Lro
inight be espieled perdue is ail the details of
Having Übsebnid the hrihip sf Se seder by probable
eawa. inch as kiwi f *koalas Melina et &Wen ar
pawing ata,n, and urging tae Ileporative assewity of prw
rring the *malty of the sod, the hen. imam mmolsoled
by rain the goveramsot far some information to allay the
alarm which was m goarally felt on Ibis Important joct.
Sir 8. ft ORTHCO rid remarked that teem theism grate-
.

eni;eila;n7eei iicnigitil;;CippoadihribTeiteagiwal7eiro-
duced for the benefit of the government and the Post-offies
department and to the injury of the puttee ; bat thee wee Use
reverse of the truth. The object of it was the 0311701611C0 of
the public. One of the objections the hen. member had
urged he had Wart( answered, for hay* said that the
government de trod to make the Poet-office a department of
revenue, be showed table subsogtent remarks that the effect
tithe regulation woad be to decrees the romitte of the
Poei-olike,aad also the charge upon the public. If the hon.
garlimea p eked at the warrant he would sec that I. regard
est Wen that were not soffidently paid on posting, the
moan cline !nixed upon the rewire would be lees than
it wee ender the admen regulates, end so the floe upon
the molar would be ler, sad as coesareently the amount of
massy brought into the revenue from the For-ollthe would
be ler, it was clear that the attention could not have been
introduced gar any Treasury rapes.. The hon gentkmaa
paid a jut compliment to Yr. Howland 16th, and drew •
diet notion between him sad the Postatastar-General. No
doubt the official bead of the department was
always the responsible party, sad it was the Partmerter-
General who was of course responsible for this Avenge;
but so far from Mr. Rowland Hiller aprovieg of it, it was, is
feet, part of his original plea that all Iran should be pre-
paid. Neither was the object to distrait the labour of the
Post-rim officials, but rather to secure the trennaiseion of
aa many letters as porible from the persons who sent them
to those to whom they woo sent; a result which was sot at
present arowed. The resent state of the low was this
Fears night post letters without prepayment; but upon
ALL such letters double retate was charged. The hon.
gerelernan said there might be tome reason to put • stop
to the previa, and partly without prepayment, bat that
the wey to do so was to double or treble the penal.), upon
those to whom sack letters were MIA. That, however, would
be taxing Or impoeleg the penalty upon the money patty,
and reminded him of the school story, when the sorter, not
twingabie to dimover the boy who threw the ruler at mother
boys heed, determined to flog the boy at whom it
had been thrown. It was well-known, that en cos-
sequence of the prersiage not beteg imperative,
persons in bualteis were reared by unpaid lettere frequently
sent to the to for the men purpose of annoyance. About
one-third of the whole probe* of unpaid letmrs that come
into the dial letter office were letters of this der rip ion,
dire which were known as valentines especially fointing a
ecnalehreble portion. (A laugh.) As regarded these
vaileithes it was a serious matter, for they were tamely not
el thee pissing and agreeable character which they theta
be as tent from young men to young women. or vice versa,
but la too many Matrices were annoyMg and disagreeable,
sentaining most off-noise row dilly aid sometimes even scot,
deed animas, and other things equally unplceeen*. (Hear,
sad • laugh.) The number of earner that psant
dowel the Per-office every year was about 800,000. Of
then ationteo.ooo ore nice' ed and camtbail to the dead brie
alßse.Tkeweypeoplopeotectedthemisivesegainetthoseruzoy-
lag heueregerrally was by giving ordento their eervants aot
Is tale la say unpaid letters, and though by this means they
eateliad the receipt of these which wen wor Mein and aa-
= Ls carted' small proportion of valuable labour was
The Post-office authorities considered that by
making prepayment compaleory, • step would to pot to the
erring at ikon offensive letters The number of unpaid
lettere rent is the course of the year was 21 millions, bat
large as that number appeared, it was, aft.r all, ineiguffirant
when compared with the 623,000,000 letters which pared
through the Yeet-offiae. Of those unpaid lettere 60 per mat.
soesisted of adv. dormant. end lettere of an insetting cbs
rioter, such as he had mentioned. Hon. gentlemen would
see, thee, that in mating the &Nombre they had been
dewing with • real grievence, and unless it could be
shown that the way in which they dealt with it would in-
fi a greater or r great a grievance, the ca e in favour of
the new regulation wee proved. It was • simple queries
of c meatience or income uleace, and urn that he most ret
aping the hon. gentleman's opinion, the opinion of the Per-
ak' officials, end the experience they had of a large clam of
letters upon which prepayment wan compute try— lateen
to the colonies sad some lento totters. For the last for
year., r terehd all lettere to thals and to the United
titres, prepayment had been compuitry, and the Incionnal-
ere resultmg from it had been easy small. Crew might be
angered In which there might be some erietanew, but he
wee not without hope that they might all be ratieferolity_
met, end the change having teen coalmen-eel In that spirit ti
it wee Arad that any incmvenience followed, the green-
meet would invoke* such farther alteratone as would, be
herd, remove
torti, Re hoped, howev. r, thet a fair trial
would be given he new regulatice, and that mere tem-
porary inconvenience comequest epos the first introduction
of • sew system would not be made there:tend for cceoplaine
But with regard to the inconvenience that had been marled
of the non-delivery of important letters, this was the first
day that the new system bad oome iato operation, end, of
course, it could net be 'append_ that 1110108 generally "e"
aware of It; but he was informed that the nuaber at lettere
which had been returned to the dead letter office was oily
one-third greeter there usual. The honourable gentle-
man hod angled is cretins lb. legality of be warmth
U pen that poiat be (Sir S. Nor bone) would refer
hint to the Ace 10 and 11 Worn cap. 85, tee. 3, which
provided that the Postmaster-General, with the cement of
the Lords of the Treasu might direct that to be dime
which bad beta d;rected. With tepid to till layl9l"tY

ef the litters under the peanut system, no fewer than 6,000
letters a•day were brought to the (had letter office,
sad there opened, but there wad no instance on record in
which there had been any exposure of the contacts of those
letters. (Hear.) And, in but, it wee imposeible, from the
cat number of letters, and the few clerks it that branch of
dt, and who were carefully selected, and might
be reeitiTpon—thet they could dp more then as-
certain where the miters lived, so that they might
be sent bath to them. They hod sot time to nod
the letters, even If they wished to do so. And as
to the tie that privale correspondence would be
violated by country postmasters, there would be no risk of
that, for the unpaid tuters would be all forwarded to the dead
letter office in Loudon, when °sly they would be opened,
and forwarded by the next mail to the senders. At present
the person to whom the uopeid letter wee sent wee compelled
to pay a double charge. Bet far the future ell that would
M abandoned, end all the Inconvenience that could occur
would be some slight delay. With regard Miles registration
of letters, he had but little to soy. Thus might to Dome In-
convenience pprrhheps is the cede of prisoners end in-
mates of wotthossee, bat the gem& effect of the registration
valid be to lessen the chasms of letters be-ng rejected. lie
pronderd, however, that the operation of the new system
dual& be earefully watched, and if any inconvenience likely
to be of a penumbral chase:sr eased, it would to conbited.