The Express.
London, England, 1868-04-02 00:00:00

THE INCOME TAX RETURNS.

Ma. J. B. MILL writes to the Doily News to ask
if there " be a desire, not, as usual, to make the
" income tax returns appear favourable, but to
" make them appear unfavourable, in order to
" obtain a readier acquiescence in additional
" taxation ?" and justifies his question by the fact
that no income tax has yet been asked for in his
district for the year just expired. Mr. MILL
assumes further, "that the apparent falling-off
" in the productiveness of the income tax is in
" part, if not wholly, fallacious," and in this, we
have reason to believe he is correct. But it is a
mistake to suppose that any Government efforts
have been made to keep back the returns. The
additional Abyssinian penny has been delayed in
collection, and has thrown sums due without
it in arrear ; but this is owing solely to tech-
nical and official causes, and is, in spite
rather than because of the wishes of the govern-
ment. It is, however, useful to remember that
the 063,0001. decrease, instead of being attribut-
able to a general falling off in the tax, can to a great
extent be accounted for by the money yet to be
called in. If the Inland Revenue department were
called upon, it could probably give specific reasons
for the delay, which we believe would be found
to arise from something far more trivial and insig-
nificant than the Machiavellian policy suggested by
Mr. MILL. While on the subject of revenue re-
turns it is worth remarking that what has been
frequently regarded as a test of the material pros-
parity of a country—the spirit duty —shows in
England and Scotland a large decrea.✓ on last year,
and that the Irish spirit duty for Ireland remains
buoyant, and has yielded a considerable i,I• rease in
the same period.

As the remains of Dasinu. MAIMS were being
deposited in the tomb at Venice a speech was deli.
voted by a striking•looking man, a Genoese lawyer,
whose language electrified the bystanders. " Whose
" ashes," hesaid, "are these? Those of an Emperor ?
" No : Emperors are not mourned in this guise by
" a whole people. These ashes do not come from
" Saint-Helena ; the crime of Campo Formic. [the
" treaty which destroyed the republic of
" Venice] is not inscribed on this coffin.
" These ashes donot come from Mexico ; youoannot
"read on this coffin : —Weep for the foreign Emperor
" shot by a people whose liberty he had robbed.
" These are the ashes of an exile—the ashes of
" Masts. He has come back from exile. He has
" been restored to us stealthily like a piece of
" smuggled goods because his ashes kindled the
" Montmartre Cemetery, and because in certain
.‘ places there are dead men who terrify *he living."

THE merchants at Victoria who are interesting
themselves in the project of supplying the English
market with Australian preserved meat, were
lately subjected to a great disappointment. It
seems that a telegram was received stating that
38,000 tons of the meat had been sold
in London. The news caused much rejoicing.
It was subsequently discovered, however, that
there had been an error of &letter in the message.
An "o " had been substituted for an " i." It
should have been 38,000 tins, not tons. The tins
only contain a few pounds each.