The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-01 00:00:00

MAIL COSTRACTS.

The committee appointed to inquire into the contracts
entered into by the Postmaster-General with Messrs.
Cunard and Co., and Mr. W. Inman, for the conveyance
of mails from this country to the United States, have
issued their report with commendable promptitude. The
committee was only appointed on the 16th inst., and on Wed-
nesday morning the report was published, together with the
evidence, and a number of documents, extending to nearly
200 pages. The committee are of opinion that, con-
sidering the already large and continually increasing means
of communication with the United States, there is no longer
any isecessity for fixed subsidies for terms of years in the
case of this service; and having regard to the fact that a
weekly service had been carried on by Mr. Inman in 1868,
in consideration of receiving the sea postage only, to the
difficulties which these contracts would for eight years
throw in the way of any great reduction of postage, and
to the express power of disallowance by the House of
Commons contained in the contracts themselves, they
recommend that the contracts with Messrs. Cunard and
Mr. Inman's company be disapproved, compensation being
made, if necessary, on the basis of the contracts for ser-
vices already performed in the present year. In the
course of the inquiry, Messrs. Burns and Inman stated
that they had not understood Clause 24 of their con-
tracts as rendering the contracts liable to be disapproved
by Parliament for any cause except want of good
faith, or dishonesty in the parties contracting ; and in
this belief they had entered upon the contracts, and had,
since the Ist January, been working under its provisions
at considerable expense and loss. While refusing to re-
cognise the accuracy of this reading of the clause, the
committee admit that some hardship and inconvenience
may have resulted from the delay which has oc-
curred in submitting the contracts to the consideration

of Parliament, and the committee therefore recommend
that an option should be given to the contractors of con-
tinning the contracts for a shorter period. But, to avoid
similar difficulties in the future, they also recommend that
all contracts of this nature should be considered by the
Government, and brought before the House of Commons
in the spring rather than in the autumn of the year pre-
ceding their expiration.

The Cork Examiner states that the attack on the
house of the Magillicuddy of the Reeks, near Killarney,
when that young gentleman was fired at, but not
wounded, is believed to have been in no sense agrarian,
but a case of intended robbery.
; On Wednesday an order, printed by order of tbo
Commissioners of Police, was read to the men at every
station of the force, to the following effect:—" Beards and
Mcustach, s.—The Metropolitan Police will in future be per-
mitted to wear beards and moustaches." The "order" was
received with general sathlactiou by the men.
LONGFELLOW.—Mr. Longfellow is still in Naples,
The climate agrees with him so well that he intends to
stay longer than he had anticipated. It was his intention
to have gone to Sicily, on a visit to an old friend, M.
Monti, United States Consul at Palermo, formerly a pro.
fessor in the Havard College, Bobton, and who is men.
tionel as the Sicilian Boy in the poem of the " Wayside
Inn." The rough weather of the last few days has pre.
vented Mr. Longfellow undertaking this journey for the
present, if he has not abandoned it altogether. He intends,
also, to visit Amalfi, Sorrento, Capri, and Ischia.
A contemporary says a serious difference has
arisen between the Marquis de Banneville, the French Am-
bassador at Rome, and the Marquis de Lavalette. The Mar-
quis de Banneville complains that the Minister treats him
more as a sub-eccretz.ry than an Ambassador, and he has
written to the Emperor to request either that his position
may be better defined or that ho may be recalled. The
Liberal party in Rome declare they have positive informa-
tion that Italy has joined France and Austria in a treaty of
alliance, and that one of the covenants provides that "the
status quo shall be maintained at Rome till the death of Pius
IX., when Rome shall be declared the capital of Italy.
A conference on the licensing system has been
held in the Manchester Town Hall, under the auspices of
the License Amendment League. Resolutions were
passed in favour of a general scheme of license reform,
and of lessening -the facilities for procuring licenses, and
a memorial embodying the opinion of the meeting was
adopted. There was some opposition, and several amend.
ments were proposed, but they were directed rather
against the formation of a new association, when, as was
alleged, the ground was already covered by existing
societies, than against the views expressed in the reso•
lutions.

A NEW RAILWAY PASS.—A conductor's duty
on the Pacific Railroad involves certain personal risks
peculiar to the far West. A gentleman who has recently
passed over the road relates a scene lie witnessed in one
train. The conductor told a rough-looking traveller that
he wanted his fare. " The you do," was the only
answer. The conductor persisted. " Wall here's my
pass," said the traveller, presenting a heavy revolver at
the official's head. Another huge fellow interposed at
this point, presenting a pistol to his fellow-passenger's
temple, with a menacing look. " None of that stranger,
fair play, shell out." This settled the matter, and the fare
was paid.—. New York Tribune, March 17.

A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT. The secretary to
the municipality of Florence, M. Soletti, who is partial to
trying his luck in the lotteries, sent one of his men a few
days ago to put 20f. on certain numbers of a quartern
to which he had taken a fancy, but the messenger forgot
his commission until the offices were closed. Next
morning M. Saletti, on his way to business, saw the
figures which he had selected posted up as having
gained a prize of 1,200,000 f. In his joy he announced the
good news to his acquaintances, including the mayor and
Count de Cambray-Digny, who warmly congratulated
him. On reaching his bureau he rang the bell and asked
for the receipt from the person whom he had charged to
place his money. The latter, in a dreadful state of agita-
tion, was obliged to confess that he had forgotton to
execute the order he had received. The revulsion of
feeling experienced by M. Saletti at seeing his hopes of
being a millionaire destroyed cannot be described.

THE AUSTPALUN MEAT-PRESERVING COMPANY.
—The Melbourne Meat-Preserving Company lately
afforded an additional and most convincing proof of the
success of their process in preserving meat and rendering
it capable of-withstanding not only the effects of time, but
the influence of the warmest climate. In response to the
invitation of Mr. Caldwell, a number of gentlemen, in•
eluding several of the leading merchants of the city,
assembled at the company's premises for the purpose of
inspecting the opening of a case of preserved meat, which
had been allowed to remain four months in the
, furnace-room att: chea to the works, where the tempe-
rature on n ::ve age was at least 110 degrees.
The case et nta:ning the mutton was composed
of gin. deal bear s s cure:y fastened, and about three
feet by one foot in irn skit-% The meat, prepared in the
usual manner, way p*n e:1 in these cases, and when packed
a quantity of ;a wa: poured in until the cases were
completely filled. Ti.ey were then nailed down, and placed
in the furnace-min. When op ne 1, the temperature
appeared to have lad but litt'e ff,ct upon the meat.
The fat resembled soft w. x n the su -ft ca, but was quite
firm at the depth of about an inch. 'lh., meat was then
taken out, and a port'on of it prepared for luncheon.
When dressed it was found is os', de *c*ous and savoury,
all present expressing the ui-r, p rfe :t satisfaction with
the result of the exptri eat Ain migst those present were
Commissary-General Ho z•,- Al I,rinan Cohen, Mr. Keep
(of Messrs. Keep Broti Mr. M.Farlaue, and others.
'-Melbourne Argue_

EPISCOPAL PATRONAGE IS THE "7L•,ST

E.YGLAND.

The Western Morning News calls attention to a scandal
affecting the Church of England in the western extremity
of the diocese of Exeter :—" A few weeks ago the vicar-
age of Lelant, Cornwall, became vacant. It is worth,
including house and glebe, about £3OO a year. It had
been long held in connection with the vicarage of Towed-
nack, the church of which is four miles distant from Lelant
church. This second vicarage is worth about £l5O a year.
It has no suitable parsonage, and it has therefore been left
by the vicar of the joint parishes to the charge of a miser-
ably paid curate, and has been virtually a non-resident sole
cure. When these two livings fell vacant through the
death of the vicar, the curate of Towednack, who has been
thirty years in holy orders, most of that time in this dio-
cese, and who is still only a curate, in spite of diligent
and conscientious ministrations, offered to take that
vicarage by itself ; and though its income is but £l5O a
year, he rurposed to build a house at his own cost, and
so give the parish for the first time the benefit of a
resident vicar. That offer, as we have been
informed, was never acknowledged by the youthful
secretary of the bishop, whose energy and industry one
of our correspondents has been found to praise. This was
an act of personal discourtesy. But worse followed. The
system of pluralism, which had, ecclesiastically speaking,
been the ruin of Towednack, was continued, and the two
benefices were conferred upon the same clergyman.
Worse still, the vicar of Lelant and of Towednack enjoys
other preferment, and this of such an anomalous kind
that we question if it has its parallel anywhere else in the
kingdom. The vicar.of Lelant and vicar of Towednack
claims the vicarial tithes of St. Ives, worth £lBO a year.
So that he receives in all an income of about £630."
The Western Morning News declares that there may be
any number of such appointments, any number of plural-
isms perpetuated, and there is no remedy. But (moralises
our contemporary) the darkest hour is just before dawn,
The state of the diocese cannot be worse than it is at
present. It must mend, it must be mended.

MR. REVERDY JOHNSON AT NEWCASTLE.

Mr. Reverdy Johnson was well received at Newcastle
on Tuesday. During the afternoon he was presented
with addresses from the Newcastle and Gateshead Chamber
of Commerce, the Coal Trade, and South Shields Corpora-
tion. The ceremonies were gone through in the council
chamber, in the presence of the most influential people
of the district. His Excellency, in his reply said:
" Every manifestation of the amicable feeling of your
countrymen for the people of the United States is
full of interest to both countries, and is especially
so to me, whose duty it is to cultivate it. The
prosperity of each nation is so involved in the continuance
of peaceful relations that its statesmen would be lost to
duty if they failed to do everything that can properly be
done to maintain and strengthen them, and I do not
doubt that such is the determination of the people of both
Governments. My visit to your town will afford me
much gratification, if it shall prove, as you suppose it
may, productive of international good-will and be
mutually beneficial.' I sincerely thank you for the esti-
mate you place upon the efforts which I have made during
my mission to draw closer the ties of amity between
our respective countries, and to settle and remove
existing differences ; ' and these efforts it will be not less
my obligation than my pleasure to continue as long as I
remain in my present office, They have, as you perhaps
know, resulted in the negotiation of three treaties, cover-
ing each of the causes of controversy between our countries.
Two of these it is understood, and such, I doubt not, is the
fact, are approved by all the departments of my Gox ern-
went. This removes, consistently with the rights and
honour of both nations, two subjects of difference which
have for many years seriously threatened our peace. The
third treaty has not as yet been sanctioned by the
Senate of the United States, but has received the decided
approval of the late President and all his Cabinet. What-
ever objections may now be urged against it; I have no
reason to apprehend that they may not be obviated with-
out abandoning the principle upon which the treaty rests.
That is to say, that whenever differences arise between
nations which cannot be adjusted by themselves, humanity
and civilisation demand that they be referred to friendly
arbitration. This principle being recognised, it is impos-
sible that a state of war at any time between our countries
can occur."

THE FIRST _ENGLISH -RAILWAY

PROSPEC7'(IB.

The first prospectus of the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway Company, drawn up by Mr. Henry Booth, whose
death was announced a day or two since, but signed
by the late Mr. Charles Lawrence as chairman, bears the
date of Liverpool, October 29, 1E24, and seta forth that
" railways hold out to the public not only a cheaper
but far more expeditious mode of conveyance than
any yet established." In recommending the proposed
new mode of transport, the author of the prospectus
states that "in the present state of trade and of
commercial enterprise despatch is no less essential than
economy. Merchandise is frequently brought across the
Atlantic from New York to Liverpool in 21 days, while,
owing to the various causes of delay above enumerated,
goods have in some instances been longer on theli passage
from Liverpool to Manchester. But this reproach (the
prospectus says) must not be perpetual. The advance.
meat in mechanical science renders it unnecessary ; the
good sense of the community makes it impossible. Let
it not, however, be imagined that were England to be
tardy, other countries would pause in the march of
im-
provement. Application has been made on behalf
of the Emperor of Russia for models of the loco.
motive engine, and other of the continental governments
have been duly apprised of the important schemes for the
facilitating of inland traffic now under discussion by the
British public. In the United States of America, also,
they are fully alive to the important results to be antici•
pated from the introduction of railroads, a gentleman from
the United States having recently arrived in Liverpool
with whom it is the principal object to collect the necessary
information in order to the establishment of a railway to
connect the great rivers Potomac and Ohio." In this pro-
spectus, which may be justly regarded as a great historical
document, the following are put forward by its author
as some of the advantages of the new system :—" The
immediate and prominent advantages to be anticipated
from the proposed railroads are increased facilities for
the general operations of commerce, arising out of that
punctuality and despatch which will attend the transit
of merchandise between Liverpool and Manchester, as
well as an immense pecuniary saving to the trading com-
munity. But the inhabitants at large of these populous
towns will reap their full share of direct and immediate
benefit. Coal will he brought to market in greater plenty,
at reduced price ; and farming produce of various kinds will
find its way from greater distances, and at more reasonable
rates. To the landowners, also, in the vicinity of.the line,
the railroad offers important advantages in extensive
markets for their minerqj and agricultural produce, as well
as in a facility of obtaining lime and manure at a cheap
rate in return. Moreover, as a cheap and expeditious
means of conveyance for travellers the railway holds out
the fair prospect of a public accommodation the magni-
tude and importance of which cannot be immediately
ascertained."

DIE REMEDY FOR SNAKE-BITE.—TIIO Melbourne
Argus, Feb. 1, has the following :—" The efficacy of Pro-
fessor Halford's antidote for snake-bite was demonstrated
in a very remarkable manner last week at Seymour. Mr.
Sturt, P.M., on his return to Melbourne, remained there
one nght, and was called to see a lad who was dying from
the bite of a black snake. The boy, who was about 12 years
old, had been bathing in a water-hole, and was bitten in
the leg just as he stepped from the water. When Mr.
Sturt saw the boy he was in a state of coma, with glazed
eyes and dilated pupils—evidently dying fast. No medical
man could be obtained ; but there were two apothecaries
present, who, upon the advice of Mr. Sturt, injected am-
monia. The operation was performed rather roughly—
the vein was exposed with a penknife, and the ammonia
injected with a common syringe—but the. effect was won-
derful. In less than than ten minutes the lad recovered
consciousness, and when Mr. Sturt (who is our informant)
left next morning, was almost quite recovered."

THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND.—It is under.
stood that some changes will be made in reference to the
episcopate in New Zealand. When Dr. Selwyn was con-
secrated in 1841, he took the title of Bishop of New Zea-
land, as he had episcopal control over the whole of the
islands ; but since that time six new bishoprics have been
constituted there, namely, Wellington, for so much of
the northern island as lies south of 39 deg. south latitude ;
Waiapu, for so much of the northern island as lies east of
176 deg. longitude, and north of 39 deg. latitude; Nelson, for
the middle island, from Cook's Straits to 40 deg. south ;
Christchura, for the middle island, from 43 deg. south to its
southern extremity, Stewart's Island, the Auckland, and
all the adjacent islands ; Dunedin, for the province of
Otago ; and the missionary bishopric for the Melanesian
Islands. The formation of these new sees left to the
Bishop of New Zealand the Chatham Islands and so
much of the northern part of the country as lies north of
the 39th degree of latitude and the 176th degree of longi.
tude. Mr. Uowie will have episcopal jurisdiction over
precisely the same district which Bishop Selwyn lately
had, but his title will be not Bishop of New Zealand, but
Bishop of Auckland—Auckland being the chief town
of the diocese. Bishop Selwyn was " metropolitan," but
Mr. Cowie will not succeed him in this office, the dignity
having been conferred upon the Right Rev. Dr. H. J.
C. Harper, Bishop of Christchurch, who was consecrated •
iu 1556.