The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-06 00:00:00

THE NAVY ESTIMATES.

The Navy estimates for the year 1871-72, the Army and
Navy Gazette anticipates, will, when laid on the table of
the House of Commons, shew an excess of from £400,000
to £500,000 over those of last year.

.)EATH OF LORD PENZANCE'S FATHER

The death is announced of Edward Archer Wilde, Esq.,
solicitor, of College-hill, City, the father of Lord Pen-
zance, Judge of the Probate and Divorce Courts, and
brother of the late Lord Truro, who was Lord Chancellor
from July, 1850, till February, 1852. Mr. Wilde, who
was the oldest London solicitor on the Rolls, having been
admitted in 1810, died at Brighton on the ,Ist February,
in the 84th year of his age.

THE NEW GOVERNOR OF QUEENSLAND.
George Augustus Constantine Phipps, the Marquis of
Normanby, who has been appointed Governoor of the
Australian province of Queensland, was born in 1819,
and, being an only son, succeeded his father in the title
in 1863. From 1847 to 1851 he sat in the House of Com-
mons for the borough of Scarborough. He has served in
the Scots Fusilier Guards, been Comptroller and Trea-
surer of her Majesty's Household, and Lord-in-Waiting
to the Queen. From 1858 to 1863 he filled the post of
Governor of Nova Scotia. In 1844 the new governor
married Laura, daughter of Mr. Robert Russell, by whom
he has issue four sons (the Earl of Mulgrave being the
eldest) and three daughters.

SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ON THE WAR AND
ENGLAND'S DEFENCES.
The members for Maidstone addressed a large number
of their constituents on Friday evening. Sir John
Lubbock touched, in the course of his speech, upon the
policy of this country in regard to the French war ; and I
defended the Government from the charge of having neg- '
lected the national defences. He said :—I venture
to say that with respect to our defensive con-
dition, no fair accusation can be brought against
the present Government. I believe there never
was a time when our Army and Navy were more efficient
than they are at present. We have at the present time
40 ships of the line, carrying 506 guns ; and the largest
navy next to ours is' he French navy which only counts
31 ships, and 283 guns. A great deal has been said
about stores ; that the Government have cut down the
taxation of the country by running down the stores to a
dangerous point, but what is the fact ? At the present
moment to take the case of Deptford—which I think
is a very fair average case—we have a large amount
of stores, and I think the present Government
have done very wisely and economically in not increasing
them. We have beef enough to last for seven and a half
years—s.nd if it lasts for that time it must have bean very
good beef at the beginning. There is four years' stock of
" pickles," six years' stock of white wines, candles for ten
years, blue cloth No. 2 for seven years, jackets for twelve
years, comforters for three years and a-half, and striped
shirting for five years. I do not blame the pre-
ceding Administration, believing that there were
some special circumstances to account for these
large supplies, and that therefore it would
not be fair to bring an accusation against
them. At the same time I do say that we may
appeal to these stores as an evidence that our present
Government has not cut down our taxation by any nig-
gardliness or undue economy in that direction. With re-
gard to the army, what are the real facts ? Those who
attack the Government at the present moment have two
main questions which they bring against the Gladstone ad-
ministration. They say, "You have been so very
economical that we have now no army and
navy able to defend us against a foreign attack.
so parsimonious that we are thrown open to the invader."
And the second charge against us is, that we ought to have
helped Fiance; that we should have sent an army into
that country and driven the Prussians out of it. It is
perfectly evident that these two questions are not con-
sistent with one another. If we have got no army to
defend ourselves we should scarcely have' been able to
defend France against Prussia. On the other hand, if we
have got an army so powerful that with a stroke of the
pen we can drive all the Prussians out of France, then it
is quite clear, the Government . have not left
this country utterly at the mercy of the
invader. In the year 1830 the whole force in this country
for defensive purposes was 50,800; in 1840, 53,000 ; in
1850, 108,000 ; in 1860, 100,000 ; and last year 110,000.
More than this, if we exclude the " depots" belonging to
regiments on foreign stations, our force last year was
80,000 more than in 1868. I say, therefore, upon
this point our Government may fairly argue that its
questioners have nothing whatever to complain of. But
it is a very different question, whether our
defences are in a satisfactory position, and whether
our forces, both naval and military, do not require to be
entirely reorganised. Let us, however, not be led into the
error of supposing that we shall really get a good army
by merely increasing the amount of the taxes which we
have to pay for it. Our army costs us fifteen millions per
annum, and the Prussian army only costs ten millions, and
is superior to ours. I for one should like to see the army
in a more efficient condition. (Applause.) I ventured
myself last session to bring forward a, motion in the House
of Commons on the subject of military education. It
was then proposed that the little science taught
to our officers—or required from them —should be
still further reduced, and instead of it, a little
more Latin and Greek required ; so that we
must take our officers from the most aristocratic
classes in the country. I objected to the object and the
way of going about it. Although, however, Mr. Card-
well did not see his way at the moment, the principle
which I ventured to suggest has been adopted in the
Indian Department, for the Engineers have exactly the
same system of examination I recommended, and there-
fore I cannot help thinking that in the next session we
shall see it applied also to the army generally. I think
myself that it would be as well if our officers were
selected by open competition, and then advanced
by merit ; still, until we hear what is said on the
other side, I should not like to commit myself to so
large a question.

The suspensionhas been announced of Mr. liyam L.
Yuly in the Mogador trade, whose liabilities, after a career,
apparently, of little more than a year, are stated at be-
tween £20,000 and £30,000.
We are informed that Mr. Spence, who presided
at the annual meeting of the North of Etnglancl Anti-
Tobacco Society, held on Thursday evening, has intimated
his intention to subscribe £lOO towards the proposed
guarantee find, for extending the operations of the

society.
ST. LEGER'S LIFE OF BALFE.—The author of
this charming little anecdotal memorial of the great Eng-
lish composer has within the last few days received an
autograph letter from his Serene Highness Prince Teck,
thanking him for an exquisitely-bound copy, which has
been graciously accepted by H.R.H. the Princess Mary.
LORD DERBY'S IRISH ESTATE.--LOrd Derby, in
answer to his Tipperary tenants, has stated that he wishes
to dispose of his Irish property from feeling that the in-
terests of an absentee proprietor are not likejy to be so
well protected as those of a resident landlord. Being
willing to meet the views of the leading tenants, he would
be glikd to receive froln them offers tor their holdings,
" where the lot would not be an isolated one injuring the
corpus of the estate," but he would not refuse other offers
or sell for less than the market value. It is believed that
a number of the tenants who are of a comfortable class
will make an effort to embrace the opportunity a pur-
chasing their holdings.