The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-19 00:00:00

maximum salary of £lOO lor the next eight or ten
years to come, with examples before them of men
having served twenty years before they obtained
£2OO a year ? Yet such are actually the facts of
the case.

It may be asked, however, how are these depart-
ments to be benefited ? The proposition is to reform
the system altogether. Let there be a general
weeding of men, and curtailment of forms of prose-
dare. The evidence lately adduced before Mr.
HORSFALL'S Committee, and the petitions of the
clerks themselves, all point to the practicability of
such a scheme. It is the multiplicity of forms, and
the habit of keeping the accounts in duplicate
and triplinte, that are the bar ci of the Civil Ser-
vice. \V have always been advocates for the civil
servant being fairlY Paid ; but we have, at the
same time, been desirous that he should work well,
and that his work when done should be useful to
the public. _ _

It is to be hoped that a Committee will be
granted to examine into the mode of doing business
in the several departments of the Custom-hoase,
and
which,
maysimplified forms an ac-
counts,separate the drones from the bees.
This course would enable the Government to give a
after having d,
higher remuneration to the clerks retained, and at
the same time render them better and more useful
servants of the Crown.
There are also other anomalies which at the same
time demand attention. Some of the departments
require to be reclassified. The fiscal and statistical
offices which are now intermixed and .placed under
officars of opposite interests, would be batter sepa-
rated. The department of the Inspector-General
of Imports and Exports, which has nothing what-
ever to do with the collection of the revenue, and
which is wholly occupied in the preparation of sta-
tistics for the Treasury and the Board of Trade,
is, strange to say, still under the control and man-
agement of the Board of Customs. And
in the annual charge for the collection
of the revenue, its expenses are included
in one part of the account as a charge, and in an-
other part are deducted !

The anxiety and determination exhibited by the
clerks to bring about a reform in the system of
business at the Custom house, and to obtain for
themselves a proper remuneration for their services,
are deserving of success. And we cannot doubt but
that their exertions will result in the appointment
of a committee which will not stop in its investiga-
tions until it has simplified the public business of
this important branch of the civil service, and pro-
vided for the comfort and wellbeing of the indus-
trious Custom-horse clerks.

Lord Shaftesbury and General Garibaldi,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—Having addressed to you a letter in which
I fully and accurately stated the history of my in-
tercourse with General Garibaldi, I had hoped that
no further observations would be necessary. But
I continue to receive so many letters with, and
without, names on the subject, that I am compelled,
not only to re-assert my first statement, but to add
that no one of the charges made by the gentlemen
on Primrose-hill has, so far as lam concerned, a
shadow of foundation,—l am, sir, your obedient

servant,

SHAFTESBURY.

May 13.

GAVAZZI OR SHAFTESBURY?

Yet—Signor Gavazzi last night during a lecture
at Wilton-hall, Camden-town—adverting to Gari-
baldi's abrupt departure from this country, attri-
buted its cause to the conduct of the Austrian
Government, who urged the General's presence
hero as an obstacle to the assembling of a Confe-
rence on the affairs of Denmark. He denied that
jeopardised health was the true cause, affirming
that Garibaldi was never in better health than
when sojourning in this country.

SUICIDE IN EUROPE.—A highly interesting paper
was received a few days ego by the Academie de
Medecine from M. Legoyt, Director of the Office of Statistics
of France, on the number of suicides in Europe. From this
laborious work it appears that suicides increase in a more
rapid ratio than the population and morality in general in
Bavaria, Denmark, France, Hanover, Mecklenburg,
Prussia, the Kingdom of Saxony, and Sweden. Suicides
are most frequent in Northern Germany and in the
various parts of Denmark. Sweden and Norway,
though belonging to tile same race, are proportionally
inferior to Denmark in that respect. Contrary to
a generally adopted opinion, England stands nearly
at the bottom of the scale; and so do Belgium,
Austria, and Spain. France holds an intermediate posi-
tion; she would rank with the three last-named countries,
were it possible to eliminate the suicides of Paris, which
are one-seventh of the total number in France. Generally,
for every 100 suicides of men, there are from 29 to 30 of
women. The number of suicides increases with the age of
individuals, at least until the age of 60. The number of
suicides is generally lowest in January, and highest in
July. As to the causes, insanity and physical suffering are
about as active in producing suicide among men as among
women ; as to the rest, the latter yield more to grief occa-
sioned by moral causes than men, who are chiefly affected by
material affliction, such as loss of property, bankruptcy,
&c. Drunkenness and debauchery only form an ins'gni"
ficant item among the causes impelling women to suicide.
In Denmark, Spain, and Saxony, the only countries
where it has been possible to obtain reliable information on
the subject, 'married people
are least subject to commit
suicide, and widowers on the contrary are most liable to it;
but suicides occur most frequently among mprried people
that have been divorced or separated. In Prussia, in the
course of two years, there were 163 suicides of Protestants
per million, 51 of Israelites and only 47 of Catholics per
million of each. Suicides are much more numerous in
capital cities than in the country. The general result of
all these investigations shows a universal and rapid increase
of suicides. The author is of opinion that it is attributable
to unlimited competition, to the immoderate thirst after
wealth, to the progress of public instruction which excites
to ambition, to political agitation, and to speculation.
THE BISHOPS IN THE HOUSE or LORDS.—A new
arrangement is likely to be made relative to the
attendance of the junior bishop in the House of Lords for
the purpose of reading prayers during tho sitting of Parlia-
ment, a duty which has been found to work very unfavour-
ably for the diocese to which he may happen to belong.
Henceforth, the duty will be divided amongst three bishops.
The Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, who has hitherto
been the junior bishop, will, for the future, assist Dr. Harold
Browne, the new Bishop of Ely,
who will be entitled to
take his seat on the reassembling of Parliament, and when,
by a vacancy in another bishopric, Dr. Jenne, the new
Bishop of Peterborough, takes his seat, the three will read
prayers in alternate weeks or months. On the accession of
another bishop, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol will
be entirely relieved from the duty. By this arrangement
no diocase will suffer by the continuous absence of its
bishop.
Hop INTELLIGENCE.--KENT' The weather dur-
ing the past week has been exceedingly favourable
for the hop plantations, and the bineis overrunning
has made such
rapid progress that in mat*" grounds it
the tyers. There is still a considerable quan' ity of
flea and weakly bine in some of the backward dressed pieces
in Mid-Kent, but many grounds whieh a fortnight ago
bore evidence of being attacked by this pest, especially in
East Kent, are now looking well. . SUSSEX : Throughout
l sunshine
followed as they have been by g ,
the various hop-growing districts inenia Sussex the late
have rahad
ins,
a very beneficial influence upon the hop plantations. In
a few places the flea had made its appearance, but the rain
tying is now being
of
said that has served to clear the plant in those places where it had
been attacked. The bine shoots out vigorously, and has a
very healthy look. The work
actively pushed forward, itand may be
every-
where the hop gardens have a most promising appearance.
South Eastern Ga.:gee.
The Liverpool Shakspere Tercentenary Celebra-
tion Committee wound up their proceedings on
Monday. The balance remaining at the disposal of the
Committee does not amount to quite £2OO. It was origi-
nally intended to apply the available surplus in establish-
ing a local memorial of the bard ; but in consequence of the
amount being so small the Committee decided to divide
it amongst existing literary and dramatic institutions.
The Royal Literary Fund will receive 100 guineas, and the
remainder will bo equally divided between the Newspaper
Press Funds and the Dramatic College.
The Gazette de Peronne bap In the canal
near this place the body of M. Batel, mayor of
Flaucourt, has just been found floating on the surface. He
had been transacting some business at Peronne, and was
returning home when a violent storm burst over the place,
and the supposition is that in the midst of the rain and
lightning, ho by some chance went astray, and fell int
the water,