The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-07 00:00:00

CARLOW.

It is thought that Mr. Sadleir will have a very close
contest in Carlow. At the last election he was returned
by a majority of only 17 ; and the constituency has been
reduced by the late registration to nearly that amount,
most of the votes which were struck off being those of
the liberal party. The tories are working might and
main to oust him from the seat, but he is still sure of a
small majority—it may be of half-a-dozen, or even less.

THE MODERN EL DORADO.—The Empire, Sydney
• •
newspayer, of the 18th of September, received by the
Phcenician, gives an elaborate summary of the operations
in the New South Wales gold fields from the respective
Periods of their discovery down to that date. Notwith-
standing the report of Mr. Hargraves, about a year back,
of the great extent and probable richness of the various
deposits, the population then employed in gold-mining
has rapidly diminished, owing to the over-mastering at-
tractions in the adjoining colony of Victoria. At the
present time the total number engaged at all points is
supposed to be under 8,000. Of these, it is estimated
the largest proportion are at work on the mines north of
Sydney, namely, Ophir, the Turon, the Tambaro the
Meeroo, the Hanging-rock in the neighbourhood of Peel
River, and Bingara on the Gwydir. At Ophir, which
includes the Wentworth diggings, the number is sup-
posed to be 200 or 300, their average earnings being
Sofala, 10s. to 60s. per day. At Turon, which includesg
Sofala, and where there were formerly 10,000 pens,
there are now 1,200, earning from 15s. to 80s. On the
Tambaroura there are about 1,000 ; and on the
Great
Nugget. includes the Louisa-creek, the site of the Great
Nugget. Vein, the number is 1,500, obtaining average
earnings of 20s. At all of these places operations have
been more or less impeded by heavy floods, but at Bin-
gara, which is the most northerly point, difficulty is ex-
perienced from want of water. West of Sydney there are
about 200 persons on the Abercrombie, and about 100
at Havila.h on the Campbell ; while in the south the val-
ley of Aruelen is the chief locality, although the number
at that point, which was once 2,000, has been reduced
to 500; the earnings, however, are still supposed to range
from about 15s. to 60s. per day.
1, 562 ; i... 11 ed, (city),34 ;
JEWS IN SWITZERLAND.—The Jews in Switzerland are
distributed as follows ;---Argovia,
107 ; Basle (campagne), 15 • Berne, 293 ;
0v;
8 St. 0:111,
Neufchatel, 230 ; Geneva, 1'36 ; Zurich, SO
3 . Thur-
-63 ; Soleure, 21 ; Schaffhausen, 9 ; Fribourg,... „ Asgovia
govia, 3 ; Tessin°, 2 ; in the Grisons, 1
never had live only Swiss (native) Jews, whothey are mostly French
home. In the other cantonssio
greatest part are from
another
Jews, except Zurichpithesrte. t_
Hohenems, while those of
who have settled there from .
co
Gall are mostly Austrians,
come from the Grand
Argovia. The JdewsTiiiunrgovia
Schaffhausen an
Duchy of Baden.

Before six months have elapsed we shall proba-
bly be able to look back upon the existing scheme
of direct taxation as a thing of the past, and -we
venture to predict that of all past things this will
appear not the least unaccountable. A system, so
monstrously unjust as to be indefensible any
ground but that ofhelplessnesshas been. maintained
against argument and opposition for ten long years.
The income taxwas first introduced as a temporary
expedient, and the notorious unfairness of its ope-
ration was excused on the plea that, before any re-
vision
,of its assessments could well be made, it
would be gone entirely. As'time rolled on, it be-
came more and more evident that this plea was with-
out foundation, and that an income tax of some kind
must continue to enter for a while into the financial
schemes of successive Ministers. Nevertheless, the
excuse was still alleged with the yam epertinacity, un-
til at length indisp
osition was roundly described as in-
ability, and' it- was :asserted that what had never
been done yet could note in point of- fact, be ever
donelt Just at tins crisis of the discussipn
when the " impossibility" of adjusting taxation
tO
means had been put forth as a doetrine of states-
manship a crisis of another kind occurred 'in the
councils of her Majesty, and it was edifying to ob-
serve how, on the true' principles of homceopathy,
one crisis entirely cured the other. W.' Disraeli,
with the support of nearly one-half of the house,
and the known assent of the other half, promptly
acknowledged, amid "loud cheering," that his
budget would ree"ognise the distinction between in-
come and property by a variation of the rate levi-
able upon each: This spoke for the ' Derbyites.
Then succeeded a Ministry composed of Peelites
and Whigs, and the first speech of the new Premier
contained an admission similar in principleto that
of Mr. Disraeli. So rapid, indeed, has been the
process of conviction, that it would now be scarcely
practicable to form an Administration with any
other views on this I;ubject than those declared to
be " impossible" twelve months ago.
The injustice of tho whole transaction is scarcely
credible. The income tax was avowedly imposed
as a method of obtaining direct contributionq pro-
portioned to the means of the contributor. It was
this consideration alone which suggested the total
exemption of incomes under 1501. a-year. The
nature too, and description of the several varieties
of income were duly regarded, and even arranged
under separate heads. When classification was desi-
rable for the purpose of collection no difficulties
were alleged, and schedules A,B,C, and D provided
proper columns for every species of receipt. When,
however, this very classification was demanded for
the regulation of contributions, it was represented
as somethinc, beyend the scope of financial arithme-
tic, and all descriptions of income whatever, whether
precarious or permanent, whether arising from, pro-
perty or created without property, were confounded
together, and held as_ identical in the eyes-of the
State. And this injustice was represented as approxi-
mating to justice by reason of its universality.
Everybody it was said suffered alike, and therefore
nobody could complain. We wonder it never oc-
curred to these financiers to think how materially
all our budgets might be simplified by the mere
extension of this principle. We require' about
50,000,000/. a year revenue, and there are about
35,000,000 inhabitants of these islands. If, there-
fore, every one of them, male and female,' old, and
young, were assessed at 30s. a year, the whole thing
would be settled, and we undertake to prove the
fairness of this imposition by any arguments which
shall prove the•justice of the present Income-tax.
The opponents of reform in this particular have
always vehemently declared that a perfectly fair
Income-tax was a downright impossibility. We
have no doubt of it. It is, and always must be,
absolutely impossible to attain to anything like
perfection in such an estimate ; but is that any
reason for making no approximation to equity
at all, and for maintaining the greatest amount
of iniquity as the most desirable alternative ?
Has such a principle been ever maintained on any
other occasion ? Take the example of the House-
tax. This tax has been recognised by financiers
of all parties as one of the soundest in use ;' and
on these grounds it was imposed by the Whigs,
and proposed to be doubled by the Protectionist&
Now, we are sure that every reader's experience
will bear us out when we say that every single -
town in England contains at least twenty instances
in which the principle of the tax entirely fails ;
where, for some reason or other, the occupant
is lodged either decidedly above his means or de-
cidedly below them, and where, of course, the ope-
rations of the duty would be proportionately un-
just. But is the house tax assailed on these
wounds Is it not, on the contrary, admitted by
all persons that the general validity of the rule
which measures a man's means by his habitation is
amply sufficient ?—and is not the rule at least
equally general, that incomes derived from realised
property represent a larger taxable substance than
incomes arising from precarious employment ?
Mr. Disraeli was accused of unstatesmanlike
carelessness in suggesting one rate of taxation for
permanent and another for precarious incomes,
and leaving the matter without. further analysis.
We do not say that such analysis was not de-
sirable, but we assert, without fear of contradic-
tion, that Mr. Disraeli's proposal, loose as it was,
was incomparably more equitable than that
which his opponents had been maintaining. Mr.
Gladstone called the Ministerial suggestion a "vague
variance," an " abstraction," and so forth, be-
cause it did not enter into all the subdivisions of
the subject. But it affirmed the one great prin-
ciple of division and apportionment, and, however
conjectural the ratio of taxability may have been,
we say that even this simple distinction would have
been a long step towards justice. The difference
between property and income is already recognised,
in the schedules for all purposes except that of re-
gulating the rate of contribution. Mr. Disraeli
proposed to remedy this' defect by enacting that
property should pay 7d. in the pound, and income
M. Hereupon he was assailed by countless ex-
amples of incomes which were certain and proper-
ties which were unreal. Very likely these were
authentic, but is it not incontestible that they were
all exceptions, and that Mr. Disraeli's legislation,
however roughly framed, had at least the enormous
advantage of proceeding by ride ? There is a dis-
tinction made between shops and dwelling-houses
in the assessment of the house duty. In some
cases, it is hard to say whether a house comes under
the first or the second definition, and in others the
true intention of the Legislature is neutralized by
the actual operation of the tax. But is this a
ground for taxing all shops like all dwelling..
M
houses, and abolishing the distinction alt9gether ?
We have certainly no expectation that r. Glad,
will bo able to construct a scheme of asses-meat
satisfactory to so very discriminative a mind as
his
approximation to what is rightA
own, but we are confident that he cannot fail in
e• • n
rreadjustmentstgiamnent of the income tax, however Clumsy,y,
'ro-
imperfect, or circuitous, must at least, if
'lt ceed on the principle of distinguishing betweenp
precarious profits and realised property succeed in
Injustice
substituting a less injustice for a great
su
dt the characteristic
the
other,
noorfisthite
yperreyseenat s seater'
system
.
understand
one one
how it could ever have been S. mcere y defended for
fear of anything worse. A Worse
impossible. . Very likely, under arrangement is
there will remain seine ease any regulations
8 unrelieved, but the
first taxabilities of income
first fairly proportioned, and and Property be
then a du • •
made for determininge provision
what shall be tak
perty, and what as incomeen as pro-
an immense amount in
doubtful examples,
of aeserved relief will be ex-
tended to the co 't
credit escaped b !i! y, and an equal share of dis-
y British statesmen.

IL DETERMINED RUFFIAN.—A man named Singlet
formerly a soldier in the 2d French re
recently condemned to ten ardent of Mai inee,
hulks for having years' hard labour at th•
P to murdr %
a man named Rateau, who afterware two
permsds died of ths
wounds which he received, and a girl named Louis*
Larissa, contrived to escape last week, early m ,tio
morning, from the military hospital of Rochelerw
When once outside, he proceeded straight to the hoar:
o
f the owner of a wine shop where the girl Larissa vr.sy
in service, and getting over the wall into the yard °
means
patientlyof
until
t ladderil the
girl
forward, stabbed her five times with a knitfieje
iitovitai.
which he foouunt,danodutstihdeen,, h,,s,;irilinilit
had borrowed from a sick sailor lying
got alarme
was going on, g .
unmet
and wine-shop, seeing what
ef the 340 Regiment
Several persons who were breakfasti!ig
and took to flight ; but a soldiesrin
ler, rushed out, and
named Sauveton, who knewit
forced gY. ngiiitirhleLraoorinsisne,exltie
the knife from his
grappling with him, at as
immediately fell into a pro-
found was then taken back
was found by the Commissa
r
of sleep, in which
.hetenv
gate him. sin
declared sar
to hand,th 1 e
gler
of Police who came to in
that, having n
alliods
. ow jimi vengeance on thei
t. fied, and that the
pniithasit,ewrehdelriehnlie
courts of justice
was perfectly en is
to him.
• ht do what they pleased
might
CLinom ROBBERY NEAR NOTTINGHAM.—
daring garotte robbery was committed on Sunday •
night
aS early as six o'clock, on the Snentoii-road, about half
a mile from the town. A.
young man named
printer, was proceeding up se Hennett,
church, when he was forcibl Hinton-road to the villag
by two ruffians, one of who ydragged into the passage
other unbuttoned his 1 m strangled him, whilst th
watch. The robbers °tiles and took from him his
escape. The road then succeeded in making their
is a well-frequented one.
LADIES' SLEEV
h "."—A
German
P113'816221
14
Paid
to
about to publi
9 a scientific condemnation of ihe presen
loose sleeves worn by ladies. He asserts ey that th pro-
mote rheumatism and all kinds of complaints, and re-
commends a return to the long and close sleeves of a
1111.1, da... ..- -_ • 1