The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-27 00:00:00

THE

the strike of the London cabmen before it found
itself in a similar difficulty. For the last few day
the cabstands have been deserted, the proprietors
having taken off their vehicles in a fit of indigna-
tion, and to defy the new city commissioners.
These officials have had to revise the scale of cab
fares, and in consideration of the high price of
forage, have allowed double the old rates to be
charged ; this would have been submitted to the
more readily as any tariff is nominal only, and,
practically, the drivers charge what they please.
But the new scale of fares was coupled with an
order to place the number of each cab on the door-
panels, instead of its old place, the end of the
driver's box, where it could be conveniently
covered with a carelessly-hung coat, either to
elude identification or produce an impression
that the turn-out is a private one. Compliance
with this order involves the painting out of all
the shields, crests, lions, and griffins of heraldry
with which the doors of the vehicles are now
decorated, and in defence of these monsters the
cabmen have " struck" with a spirit worthy of the
old French noblesse resisting the advance of Repub-
licanism. On the first day of the strike the omni-
buses out of the city were loaded with emancipated
Jehus, enjoying the sensation of being driven ;
while the public was puzzled by the sudden disap-
pearance of the ordinary conveyances. The licenses
expired a day or two after the strike, and the city
commissioners refuse to grant any new ones unless
the order as to the numbering is complied with.
The Supreme Court will have to settle the dispute,
as the cab proprietors intend to apply for a manda-
mus to compel the commissioners to show cause
why they refuse to license a vehicle without a con-
dition that would degrade the nobility of its door-
panels.
Since the above was written the cab proprietors
have applied to the Supreme Court for a mandamus
calling on the city commissioners to issue a license
to one of the number. The court decided that the
mandamus must be granted, as, according to the
present act, the commissioners had no pawer to an-
nex any condition to the issue of a license if the
individual applying for it were of good character ;
any default of the licensee must be the ground for
an after prosecution. The commissioners might
make the place on which the numbers of the cabs
should be painted the subject of a clause in the
by-laws relating to carriages, but they were bound
to issue the license ministerially, without reference
to the position of the number. In consequence of
this decision the cabs are again placed on the
stands.

The following paragraphs are taken from the re-
♦iew of colonial affairs for the past month given by
the Sydney Empire :
"The annual return of the revenue of the colony of New
South Wales gives the following results for the year 1853
as compared with the year 1852 :
The total amount for 1852 was £505,656 16 6
The total amount for 1853 was 815,859 2 10
The gross increase for the year 1853
being £359,695 13 4
From which deduct a
decrease of 49,493 7 0

Me real increase for the year 1853
beinc,
0

" The principal items in which this large in-
crease is observable are the revenue from spirits and
the revenue from the sales of land. There having
been :

Year Gallons
Spirits imported
Ditto

2 s. a.
Duty on spirits ...... 1852
Ditto
" The territorial revenue exhibits the following
large additions:—
Proceeds from the sale of lands and
town allotments for 1852
For 1853 158,837 2 7

Being an increase 0f..,2117,579 3 1

- (Or nearly 360 per cent.)
" With the sad exception of the crime of drunkenness,
the colony is at present very free from violence and dis-
order. The ample wages which all classes are able to ob-
tain and the general prosperity that prevails contribute as
much to this satisfactory condition as the large and expen-
sive police force which is kept up. The crimes that are
committed are nearly all of them traceable to the influence
of liquor.
" The harvest which is now being got in is generally very
good. In thg early part of the season great fears were enter-
tained from a long-continued drought. Some copious rains
at length fell, and resuscitated the crops in a most surprising
manner. Reports from the Hunter River district, the
Illawarra district, from Shoalhaven, and from the interior,
all concur in stating that the crop of wheat has been abun-
dant, and kay, of which an unusual breadth is laid down in
consequence of the enormous prices that this article has
realised, will also be a large crop. In the Hunter River
district the crops are heavier than has been known for 36
years past. The clip of wool also is large ; and, although
there is the usual complaint of want of labour for shearing,
it seems now to have settled down more into a question of
th© price to be paid than absolute impossibility of procur-
ing hands for the work.
" The unprecedented abundance of money and the keen
competition introduced by new banking establishments had
the effect, a short time ago, of reducing discounts from 6 per
cent. to 2i per cent. But it was felt that this low rate could
not be sustained, and a rapid and decided rise has taken
place, as the very heavy importation and the sluggish state
of the markets are causing a large demand for money. The
savings-bank, which had placed a large amount of its de-
posits in the hands of the leading banking establishments,
has recently withdrawn 200,0001. and deposited it in the
Government vaults. There is still an immense amount of
capital lying unemployed, the high price of labour and the
general want of enterprise in the colony rendering its in-
vestment at a profit exceedingly difficult.
" The half-hearly meeting of the Great Nugget Vein
Company was held on the 16th of January. The report
stated that the Government had conceded to the company a
lease of the claims for 21 years. The machinery had scarcely
got to work, so that no result could be reported, but
sanguine expectations were held out. The balance of profit
on the sale of shares in England enabled the directors
to declare a dividend of 5 per cent. for the half year. The
balance-sheet showed credits 229,4911. 14s. 7d., and debits
191,5791. 9s. Bd. The result of experiments made in this
claim showed that the average produce of the quartz
crushed was loz.l6dwt. per ton, and of thealluvium washed
112,dwt. per ton.
"A new settlement has been made in the northern dis-
trict at Port Curtis. A surveying party is at present em-
ployed there, and has marked out the site of a town, to be
called Gladstone. The country is described as auriferous
in its appearance and very fertile. The harbour is mag-
nificent. A large river has been discovered, and it is
named after the Governor-General ; it runs into the sea
about forty miles north of Port Curtis, and it is probable
that by its means the interior of that district will be
opened out.
"A larger amount of waste land has been taken into occu-
pation for farming purposes during the past year than in any
previous year; but still it is felt that, with a surplus of
500,0001. in the savings banks, and some millions in other
establishments, no more desirable means of investment
multi- be-offered, if-official difficulties and squatting privi-
leges did not stand in the way. Air. Wentworth declared
his determined opposition to what he denominated `the
picking out the eyes of the country ; and it is to be feared
that the squatting interest generally look with extreme
jealousy on the occupation of the waste lands by small
settlers, as they must be aware that the increased value
thus given to the waste lands will interfere with their
- monopoly."

INFERNAL MACHINES.—It is reported, whether truly
or not, that several Americans, headed by ex-Alderman
Wesley Smith, jun., of this city, accompanied by a
Russian officer, left in the Baltic on her last outward
trip, to engage in a contract with Russia to destroy
British and French ships of war that approach near
enough to Russian ports by means of Taylor's submarine
armor and Colt's submarine battery. They have also an
invention called the catapult, a vessel with double bows,
armed with long sharp iron beaks, to break the sides of
hostile ships. It will be propelled by steam, which
drives a wheel in her bottom. It is so arranged that
jets of scalding water are thrown from the vessel on all
attempting to board her. —New York _Herald.
'LAWYERS IN AUSTRALIA.—There has been a large
emigration of lawyers to Australia, and, from inquiries
continually being made by correspondents as to the regu-
lations for practice there, it would appear that many are
contemplating the same step. Let us give to such a timely
warning. There lies now before us a letter from ayoung
lawyer, who had gone to the land of gold with the
fullest confidence that fortune was to be certainly and
easily secured. Bitter has been his disappointment.
He finds that lawyers are but little wanted there ;
that for such business as there is the competitors
are so numerous that no one can thrive. He has been
obliged to turn his hand to labours for which he had re-
ceived no previous training. The day-labourer was bet-
ter off by far than the barrister or the attorney. He
had seen gentlemen belonging to both branches of the
profession glad to earn a maintenance as porters, ostlers,
and waggoners--even as domestic servants. Trade, too,
is overdone, and is not profitable, because everything is
so expensive. Let those of our readers who may have
entertained thoughts of emigration to Australia pause be-
fore they resolve ;. and, if they go, it should not be as
lawyers, or with any hope to thrive by the law.—Law
Times.

REMOVAL OF SPIRITS BY RAILWAY.--IMPORTANT
NEW REGULATIONS.—The following order has bees
issued by the Board of Inland Revenue, establishing
regulations for the removal of spirits from Scotland to
England by inland conveyance : It is ordered that
the several officers of this revenue take notice, for their
information and guidance, of the following regulations,
under which only such removal of spirits can legally be
made :—Foreign or British spirits removing under Cus-
toms bonds must be accompanied by an advice letter
signed by a Customs officer, containing a specification
of the packages and the quantity and description of
the spirits, and the casks or packages must be ad-
dressed only to the officer of Customs at the port of
destination. Spirits upon which the full English duty
has been paid may also be removed from Scotland to
England, as at present, by inland carriage, and must be
accompanied by a warehousing permit, endorsed with a
specification of the spirits and a certificate that the full
duty has been paid. In order that the examination of
spirits removed by inland carriage may be properly at-
tended to, it is further ordered that the collectors in
whose collections railway termini and goods stations are
situate, immediately state what arrangements it may be
officersinpremises
the
sina m d
necessary to make for the efficient performance of this
duty. On the removal of spirits from the Customs
bonded
same
pmlthe
ac
na duplicate,
r advicea s onela permit,
e ctto epi
t
i to
and
dcec
tophr
areeppoaat
nhr
yeedr tby
thetheto
goods
be forwarded by post to the port of destination.