The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY , FEBRUARY 24, 1871.

great Merchant Shipping Code now before Parlia-
ment. Instead of the survey and the load-line, the
Government measure provides that the draught of
every vessel shall be registered before she leaves port,
so that evidence will be forthcoming in case of
disaster ; that any shipowner sending away an un-
seaworthy vessel be guilty of a misdemeanour ; that
any seaman who has shipped in a vessel he finds
unseaworthy may demand a survey ; and that any
other person who possesses knowledge of the state of
a ship may also demand one. Mr. PLIMSOLL'S
proposals are for prevention; those of the Govern-
ment are chiefly for cure, and it is well enough ,
understood that no punishment, no risk, will deter
men from trying the chance of securing profit. To
punish owners afterwards is no consolation
to the widows and orphans of seamen at the
bottom_of the ocean. However, what the Government
intend to do ought to be done at once. These clauses
form part of the Merchant Shipping Code, a huge
measure of some 800 pages, which has been before
Parliament for a long period, and is likely to re-
main "under consideration" for some time to
come. The chances of the British Hume of Com-
mons getting through such general codes of law as
we see in force on the Continent is indeed small.
These clauses, therefore, which are so much needed,
ought .to be taken out and embodied in a separate
bill.

been instructed by Mr. O'Flanagan to sell, by public
auction, his tenant-right interest in his farm, named
the Springfield, Clonmore, and Mulahan Farm. The
sale, it is added,. would have taken place privately
but " the precedent of a public auction
had just been established in the county
of Tipperary by the united will, equity, and intelli-
gence of the community. It is a principle too sound
and valuable not to IJe generally vindicate i." The
notice further informs the public that in November
last a tenant's interest in his Mere possession realized
£1,060 for 54 Irish acres.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

THE ARMY REFORMER.

Some members of Parliament, and some journals,

have complained of the strictures upon the Duke of
Cambridge as unwarranted. We can only say that
as the tree is known by its fruits, so public officers
must be judged by their deeds and their formal decla-
rations of policy, The following extract will shew
what an old and advanced reformer is the Field
Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, and how great is the
confidence to be reposed in him as the chief agent

i❑ carrying out the reorganisation. This extract is
front a speech, to which we have more than once
alluded, delivered by the Duke of Cambridge at
Fishmonger's Hall, on the Bth of April last year :
Amongst other institutions which demand change, it is
said that the army is one. I gather from what the chair-
man stated, and what I believe nobody will deny, that
the army. has performed valuable duties in recent times.
If it has been so, I ask myself this question : if it is so
efficient as it is represented, and as I hope and believe it is
—Why this great change ? What is the object ? The
object of change is improvement. Can we improve the
army ? Has not the army always performed its dnty
yvell ? Is it not efficient ? Has it not done that which
the country has required under the most trying, most
serious, and most dangerous circnmstances ? Then why
the change ? No man is more for change than lam when
it is necessary, and no man deprecates change more than I
do when it is not necessary—when it is not clearly demon-
strated that change is essential."