The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-25 00:00:00

IRISH ItAILWAYS.

Two correspondents of the Times express some
irritation at the tone of Lord Clanricarde's letter on
Irish railways. One of them, Mr. Lawson, reminds
the public that, according to Irish statistics, only
12,000,000 of the whole amount expended on Irish
railways was raised in Ireland, the bulk of the
money spent coming from England. Moreover,
those lines which do pay have borrowed largely from
the English Government. In 1861 £2,000,000
remained unpaid, with S:10,000 arrears of interest,
and yet at the same time Lord Naas, now Earl of
Mayo, obtained from the house of Commons the
sum of £OO,OOO to assist the Irish railway
companies. " A Railway Shareholder," taking
much the same view, as'. s in which of
our colonies the British Government has subsidised
the railways. The Government lus merely treated
Ireland as an integral part of the United Einzilom,
allowing railways to be promoted there by.yrivate
enterprise, as in England. It is only bec.,nse the
speculators in them have been unsuccessful that they
raise a cry for the porch: se of railways by the State.
If this be justice to Ireland, argues the " Railway
Shareholder," a similar measure must, in justice to
England, be adopted in this country. Perhaps so ;
but then, a good many persons are perfectly willing
to accept this reductio ad alsurdunz,as the Times con-
siders it.

THE TWO SERVICES.

There are many rumours of coming changes in the
two departments of the army and the navy, but the
journals which represent those interests are rather
shy about vouching for any of the reports. There
seems, however, to be little doubt that an important
change will be made in the coastguard department.
The separate establishment in Spring-gardens is to
be broken up, the chief offices i.bolished, a 1 rge
number of clerks dismissed, and henceforth the co.. st
guard ships will be placed under the comma: n(1 of the
various admirals at the diffesitnt outports. The
new Director-General of tae Medical Depfirtii;ent of
the Admiralty will have to submit to a reduction of
:1300 a year. Still more important, it is believed that
the Admiralty will not fill up the appointment of
the Admiral of the Fleet, vacant, by the death of Sir
Lucius Curtis. As already stated, the post of
Governor of Greenwich hospital ill not be filled
up, and it is contemplated tr..nsfeiring the infirm
pensioners to the hospital
.at iNetley, and convert-
ing the hospital to military purposes. More
important still is the final determination,
already announced, to close both Deptford and
Woolwich Dockyards. The navigating cadets now
in course of instruction on board the St. George will
be absorbed by the Britannia, and a useless distinction
abolished. The Daily Telegraph announces that
there will be a reduction of £500,000 in the army
estimates on the cost of war materiel alone.
The Pall Mall Gazette says it has been positively
announced at Chatham that with the new financial
year the whole of the separate depids of those
regiments which have two battalions will be abolished,
an arrangement affecting twenty-five regiments.
Finally, it is believed that Government will
favour shorter terms of enlistment by keeping a
certain number of infantry battalions always at home
and a certain number localised in India.
We learn it has been decided at the War Office
that henceforth officers in the army wishing
to give up active service shall have the option of
selling their commissions to the department as an
alternative to going on half-pay.