The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-12 00:00:00

WOOL.

There has been an improved demand for nearly all classes
of English wool since we last wrote, and the previous rates
have been well supported. In co.onial and foreign quali-
ties, by private contract, a limited business has been trans.
acted; nevertheless all qualities are held at extreme quo-

THE RESOURCES OF GREECE.

The public revenue of Greece is derived from the follow
ing sources, ♦iz. :
Direct Taxes—
L•{nd-tax and usufruct
Tax on Bees
„ Cattle ..
„ Professions
„ Houses

Drachmae.
.. 8,030,619
.. 82,252
.. 1,407,078
.. 220,519
.. 108,810

Indirect Taxes—
Customs • •
Stamp duties
Miscellaneous

Public Establishments—
Mint .. ..
Post-office • •
Printing-office ..

.. 4,198,181
.. 1,515,479
.. 395,148

9,799,178

6,108,815

.. 2,000,000
.. 244,691
•• 4,525

Public Property in possession of Government—
Mines and minerals .. .. 123,283
Thermal springs .. .. • . 5,383
Salt-pans .. • • • • • . 514,705
Fisheries .. .• • • .. 144,813
Forests .. • • • . .. 260,387
Olive-groves . • • • • . 84,328
Vineyards .. • • • • • • 263,505
Gardens .. • • • • • • 119,455
Buildings .. • • • • • • 63,699

Revenues from national lands alienated
, from ecclesiastical property
Miscellaneous revenues .. .. .
Receipts on arrears due .. .. .

Total drachmas ..

2,249,486

1,579,558
30,342

189,923

,
.. 755,534
.. 1,438,927

.. 22,151,793

THE LANCASHIRE DISTRESS FUND.—Amongst
the well-directed efforts which are set in motion in
every conceivable way towards the one grand object of alle-
viating the sufferings of the operatives in the manufactur-
ing district, we have heard of none more likely to achieve
or more deserving of success than that adopted by Messrs
Morton and Stanley, the spirited proprietors of the Oxford
and Canterbury Music Halls. In addition to the customary
first-class entertainment provided for the patrons of these
popular places of amusement, the proprietors have at a
great expense secured the services of the Lancashire Cham-
pion Prize Handbell Ringers (who have never yet ap-
peared in London), and they intend appropriating weekly,
during their engagement, a portion of the receipts towards
the relief fund, in lieu of handing over the proceeds of any
given night, thus affording an opportunity to all of contri-
buting at their convenience to this praiseworthy object
The band consists of twelve men, under the direction of
Mr. Edward Benson, of Wigan, pianist, who perform on
the bells, in full harmony, classical, operatic, and dance
music, also popular airs with variations, all from piano-
forte copies. They have sixty-six bells (5f octaves chro-
matic), and bring with them a well-earned reputation
from the populous but now afflicted district of which they
are all natives, and from the high encomiums which have
been bestowed upon them by the local press, we have no
doubt the Champion Prize Hand. bell Ringers will pass
successfully through the more severe ordeal of a London
criticism.

AN INDEFATIGABLE IMPOSTOR.—On Saturday
George Harrison, a tall, good-looking, soldierlike
fellow, who said he had been discharged from the 4th Dra-
goons. in company with Mary A. M'Donald, a woman about
35 years of age, with a child in her arms, was chargod be-
fore Mr. Raffles, at Liverpool, under the following circum-
stances:—On the night of the 17th ult. the prisoners called
at the house of Mr. Gardner, in Rodney-street, where Har-
rison represented himself as a police-officer, and said he had
been sent by Major Greig with the woman to different
houses, for the purpose of obtaining a small sum of money
for her, as she had bailiffs in her house; he requested Mr.
Gardner to contribute. This was declined, and they went
away. Mr. Gardner, suspecting all was not right, fol-
lowed them, and they took the direction of Major Greig's
house. On arriving there, and observing they were fol-
lowed, they ran away. Information was given to the
police, and they were taken into custody on Friday. Fur-
ther inquiry showed that Harrison had called at the house
of Major Melly, in Chatham-street. To Major Melly he
represented that he was a discharged soldier, produced a
letter, purporting to be from Preston, and stating that a
considerable sum of money was due to him there; and also
requesting him to come over and get it. To do this he
solicited " a loan" of a sum of money to take him to Pres-
ton, and Major Melly made the requisite advance (a sove-
reign). On another occasion Harrison, accompanied by
another man, called at the house of Mr. Brown, West
Derby, to whom he represented himself as Inspector Car-
lisle, of the Liverpool detective police, and said that his
companion was the captain of a ship that had been wrecked
off Holyhead, who was collecting subscriptions for his
crew. Harrison represented that he had been sent with
the pretended shipwrecked captain to attest the truth of his
statement. The money to be collected, he said, was to be
appropriated to the purchase of clothes to enable the poor
shipwrecked sailors to reach the Sailors' Home in this town
Harrison
s. f
After
eoar hearing
imprisoned
paperpr isto hneed withev him, on which were written
the pretended signatures of several gentlemen as subscri-
bfiodrenthcere,ethme
omnathgsis.traTtehseenwtoenmcaen
was discharged.d
Harrisone

MR. WILKIE COLLINS has a great command of
clever contrivances, by which this sort of thing may
be kept going on indefinitely, He manipulates all his
puppets with the greatest skill, foresight, and patience ; he
arranges about flys and post-horses, and express trains,
with the mathematical precision and cool-headedness of a
practised station-master. One of his characters is driving
full gallop to catch the last up-train ; if he misses it, all is
lost. Another is searching in the enemy's bedroom for a
missing piece of evidence; in 15 minutes the enemy will be
back, the evidence hoplessly gone. Another is speeding to
the Continent on a false scent, and will be got home within
a few hours of marriage, which there is reason to conceal.
A fourth is in full pursuit of a letter, which, if delivered,
will be his " ruin." We turn dizzy at the proximity of so
many dreadful contingencies and hair-breadth escapes—
in the midst of all Mr. Wilkie Collins sits calm, calculat-
ing, unruffled, unanxious, and entirely master of the situa-
tion. He pulls this string or that, throws the train off the
line, lames the post-horses, stops the telegraph, or burns
the letter, just as the occasion demands, and once more we
escape for some new and still more alarming combination
in the next chapter.—London Review.

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.—The House of Com-
mons will see some changes amongst its members on
its assembling on the sth of February, six gentlemen hav-
ing been elected since the prorogation, namely, Mr. Denis
William Pack Beresford, for the county of Carlow, in the
room of Mr. M'Clintock Banbury, resigned ; Mr. Greenfell
for Stoke-upon-Trent, in the room of Mr. J. L. Ricardo,
deceased ; Alderman Rose, the Lord Mayor of London, for
Southampton, in the room of Mr. Wilcox, deceased; Alder-
man Cubitt, the late Lord Mayor of London, for Andover,
in the room of Mr. H. Beaumont Coles, deceased ; Mr.
Pender for Totnes, in the place of Mr. T. Mills, deceased;
and Sir Edward Dering, Bart, for East Bent, in the room
of Mr. Deedea, deceased. In the course of a few days
another member will be elected for Totnes, in the room of
the Earl of Gifford, deceased. Other changes will be an-
nounced on the first evening of the meeting of Parliament.
A seat for Cambridgeshire will become vacant by the re-
signation of Mr. Edward Ball, and a seat for the borough
of Cambridge by the resignation. of Mr. Andrew Steuart.
Mr. Monson, the late member for Reigate, is now a peer,
and the seat vacant. Mr. Richardson, it is said, will resign
Lisburn; and Mr. Thornhill is expected to vacate his seat
for North Derbyshire. Mr. Turner, it is reported, intends
resigning his seat far Manchester in order to make way
for Mr. Samuel Laing, a former member of the Govern-
ment.

A pension for distinguished or meritorious ser-
vice is reendered vacant by the appointment of Major-Gen.
Mackinnon to the colonelcy of the 26th Regiment.

PENAL LITERARY EASE.--It is some years since
probably eight or ten, writes a correspondent,'
that I went over Portland Prison. On being asked by my
conductor whether I should like to see the library where the
books were kept, and which were lent to the convicts to
read at their "leisure hours," I declined the offer, merely
observing that I supposed they were mostly of a religious
and elementary character. Upon which he replied, " Not
altogether, for we have some classical books among the
number." " One convict," he added, " was, if he behaved
well, indulged with his' Horace.' "