The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-22 00:00:00

THE WINE DUTIES.

After hearing various observations from a deputation
who waited upon him on Tuesday, respecting the wine
duties, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said :—" If Mr.
Oliveira's anticipation of the result of the Vienna Con-
ferences be realised, it would then be a question to dis-
cuss the policy of reducing the wine duties ; but I need
scarcely tell you that at this moment when the expen-
diture of the country considerably exceeds the revenue,
it is not possible to reduce not only the wine duties, but
even other duties to which stronger objections might
be made. The wine duty is a duty upon a luxury,
upon an article not produced in England. It is
not, therefore, a protective duty. If a considerable
reduction in it were made, that would bring into peril
the duties on spirits and malt. The duty on spirits ex-
ceeds 10,000,0001., and we can hardly look forward to
any time, not far distant, when we shall be able to risk
so large a revenue. The malt duty is also exceedingly
productive, and if wine were to come in it would cer-
tainly dismiss both spirits and beer. I have great diffi-
culty iu believing that any wine sold at a few pence a
bottle would not displace spirits. For the present, at
all events, this can scarcely be considered a practical
question. If Mr. Oliveira be right in his anticipations,
his motion may be a proper one to maim in Ulu liousc
of Commons (though I am afraid there would be many
competitor; for any reduction that could be made), but,
I fear, it would require to be very sanguine indeed to be
able to look for any immediate reduction of taxation at
all." (A. laugh.)

WORKSOP.—A very complimentary address to his
Grace the Duke of Newcastle, on his retirement from
office, is now in course of eignature in this town. The
scheme is promoted principally by his Grace's trades-
men.—Deebyshire Courier.
A meeting of the Cabinet Ministers was held at Three
o'clock yesterday afternoon, at the Foreign-office, Down-
ingestrect. It was attended by Viscount Palmerston,
the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the Marquis of
Smith, Sir Wm. Molesworth, and Viscount Canning.
ofLansdowne, Clarendon,
t h
S° Duke
C. Wood,lf Argyll,
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the Lord
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Hon.mu rR. tVernone ' Earl
Despatches etsh
ewere v
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tahte t‘livee ost nndiiaal
The Earl and Countess of Durham have left the Cla-
-losffilacnedsy.es-
rendon Hotel, for the French capital, until after the
terpdauys
close of the Easter holidays.
The Duke of Rutland will entertain a select party at
Belvoir Castle, during the approaching Croxton Park
race;.
Viscount Burghley, M.P., Colonel of the Northamp-
tonshire Militia, which has been doing garrison duty in
Dublin, we hear is on the eve of embarking with his
corps for service at Malta.
The Patriotic Fund has now reached the sum of one
million sterling.
The population of Geelong, in Australia, in 1341, was
454 ; in 1854 it was 20,000.
We understand that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
has declined the honour of being appointed president of
the Associated Societies of the University of Edinburgh.
—Edinburgh Courant.
Sir Robert Peel, Bart., has entered upon his duties as
the " civil" member of the Board of Admiralty, vice the
Hon. W. Cowper, appointed to the Home Office as one
of the under secretaries.
The scheme for laying a tax upon paper in France has
been abandoned, in consequence of the great outcry
against the project.
According to a letter from Odessa, General Annen-
koff, the governor of Odessa, has been summoned to
Kischeneff, to take part in the councils of war being
held there, presided over by Count Adlerburg,
The Malta Mail announces that 25 steamers were
expected to be sent to Genoa for the conveyance of the
Piedmontese contingent to the Crimea.
GENOA, March H.—General La Marmora's mission
concerned, it is understood, a separate treaty between
Piedmont and the Sublime Porte, by which all diplo-
matic difficulties are set aside. The expedition will set
out on the 12th of April.
CALEDONIAN RAILWAY.—The report of the directors
recommends the preferential dividend at the rate of 43/4
per cent., and the dividend on the ordinary stock at the
rate of 3 per cent. per annum.
Intelligence has been received from Australia by Mr.
Gould, the ornithologist, of the murder, at Percy
Nand, of his collector, Mr. Strange, making the third
party employed by that gentleman in pursuit of bird'-,
&c., who has been speared by the natives.
Mr. Charles Dickens has consented to visit Ashford
to read his " Christmas Carol," on Tuesday next, for
the benefit of the South-Eastern Railway Mechanics'
etie'*Asekkely; uph r 1 w. the t enei al
A chop iste • at the Greek chapel at Marseilles, named
Mareello, has just been condemned by the Correctional.
Tribunal of that city to thr:e months' imprisonment,
40f. fine, and five years' survelliance of the police, for
having on different occasions, and in public places, em-
ployed insulting language respecting the Emperor of the
French, the Sultan, and the English army.
GENEROUS GIFT OF PRINCE ALBERT TO THE PoP.TS-
MOUTH "SAILORS' Homr."—We duly noticed in Tues-
day's Sun the great interest manifested by the
Prince on his Royal Ifiglines's visit on Monday to
this noble institution. To show how favourale!y the
Prince thought of the management and benefits to be de-
rived by the British sailor, his royal highness has pre-
sented the institution with the munificent sum of 5001.,
a cheque for which has already been given for 3001., and
the remaining 2001. will be handed over as soon as the
additional building shall be ready in Hanover-street, ad-
joining. This generous act will ever be appreciated by
the honest tars of old England.
LAUNCH OF HER MAJESIT'S SCREW TROOP - SHIP
TRANSIT.---The Transit, iron screw-ship, of 2,600 tons,
purchased by the Admiralty of Messrs. Mare and Co.,
was launced from Blackwatl on Tuesday last, and is
now lying in the river, preparatory to being taken to
Messrs. Seaward's, who are to fit the screw machi-
nery of 450-borso power seized at Napier's, at
Glasgow, because it was conitructed for the Em-
peror of Russia. This ship is one of the finest ever
turned off the stocks. She is an improved Prince, and,
with her poop and forecastle, presents one of the most
sightly and formidable vessels that has floated on the
Thames. She was most skilfully launched from a very
awkward position at Bow Creek, and was brought up
within one-half her own length from the slip and within
about 30 feet of the opposite bank. It is calculated
that she will be ready for service in about eight weeks.
IMPROVEMENT IN SCREW STEAM MACHINERY.—A very
simple but effectual plan has recently been introduced by
Mr. Penn, the eminent engine-maker, for preventing
Ciat constant and excessive wear and tear of the bearings
on the shafts of screw steamers which has hitherto been
found so great a practical difficulty and so continually
recurring a source of expense. He introduces between
the bearing and the ebaft thin slips of wood, which have
the remarkable property of entirely suspendng that in-
cessant waste of material which, after a certain pressure
on the square inch has been attained, is constantly in
progress. The simple expedient has been adopted in the
recent repairs of the Himalaya, and will probably be al:-
plied, if found successful in her case, to all screw steam-
ers. While the surface of the bearing is preserved from
waste, singularly enough the slips of wood show no in-
dication of being rubbed away or heated.
THE STOCKTON AFFILIATION CASE.—JONES V. SIN-
GLETON. —This case came on for hearing before the
Stockton bench cf magistrates last week. Mr. Stea-
venson, of Darlington, attended on behalf of Miss Jones,
and Mr. Dodds, solicitor, of Stockton, on behalf of Mr.
Singleton (who, it will be remembered, is a Roman Ca-
tholic priest in Stockton). The case, it will be recol-
lected, had already been twice heard before the magis-
trates, when the application had been refused. 02 the
first occasion, when it was before the magistrates at
Stockton, on the 13th and 14th of September last, we
reported the case fully, and the details of the case are
necessarily of that nature as not to warrant a repeti-
tion of them on the present occasion. As we have
already intimated, the evidence was, on the present
occasion, in a great measure the same as that adduced at
the previous inquiries ; but on what Miss Jones princi-
pally relied was evidence by which she would be enabled
to contradict the statements made by Mrs. Proud, Mr.
Singleton's housekeeper. At the previous inquiries Mrs.
Proud positively swore that whilst Miss Jones was re-
siding at the house of Mr. Singleton she had never seen
her come out of Mr. Singleton's bedroom at 2 o'clock in
the morning; and being again put into the box she re-
peated that evidence, and swore that she had never said
to any one, whilst Miss Jones was living at Mr. Single-
ton's, that she (Mrs. Proud) would not be long there in
consequence of what was going on, and that she had
seen Miss Jones coming out of Mr. Singleton's bed-
room at 2 o'clock in the morning. Mr. Steavenson then
called Mrs. Delmer and girl. Robinson, two highly re-
spectable persons, who positively swore that in July last
Mrs. Proud had ma, le the above statement to them.
Her testimony was also contradicted by a servant girl,
named Martha May, who was evidently- the witness of
truth. A plan of the premises was produced, which
showed that the sleeping apartments of Miss Jones and
Mr. Singleton adjoined each other, and were both en-
tered from the same corridor. Air. Steavenson pressed
the bench to be allowed to produce the infant, in order
to prove its likeness to Mr. Singleton, but the magis-
trates refused, and stated that they were satisfied on
that point. Other evidence was also adduced, but as
the
mother's statement be given to the satisfaction of
act requires that sufficient corroborative evidence of
ththee justices before they can make an order, and as they
were not satisfied that her evidence on the present occa-
aitteergehtahser beeni;l
Miss strongly
occa-
sion had received that sufficient corrobora,tion, they
again dismissed the case.' Public opinion upon the
mat
expressed in Stockton, and it
is
Jones's avour,— YorkAir9oo4tte.