The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 30, 1869

THEATRE-ROYAL DRURY- L ANE.
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. F. B. Chatterton.
Tar; EVENING. at 7, I'M NOT MYSELF AT ALL.. At 7.45,
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: Messrs. Fred. Yokes, Brittain
Wright, Harry Bolen°, &c.; Misses Yokes, Harriet Cnveney,
Kate Santiey,

THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
fTIS EvEgiNci, at 7 o'clock, A CO-OPERATIVE MOVE-
MENT. After which, P:EW MEN AND OLD ACRE'; Mr
Buckstone, Mr Chippendale. Miss Robertson, &c. Concluding
with THE FAIR ONE WITH THE GOLDEN LOCKS:
Mr. A. Wood, Miss F. Wright, &e.

THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.
THIS EVENTIMG, at 7, THE LONG STRIKE: Mr. Benjamin
Webster, Mr A. Stirling, Ur George Belmore, Mr Atkins, Mr
liignold 11 i s Furtado. &c. Followed by LOST AT SEA :
Sir
G. Belmore, Mr A. Stirling, Mr Atkins, Mr W. Rignold, Mr C.
H. Stephenson, Miss Furtado, and Mrs L. Murray.

GLOBE THEATRE-ROYAL.
THIS EVENtNa. at 7, A HOUSEHOLD F uay. At 7.t5,
NOT SUCH A FOOL AS TIE LOOKS: Mr IT. J. Byro n. And
LORD BATEMAN : Miss Fanny Josephs, Mr J. Clarke ,

THEATRE-ROYAL, HOLBORN.
Tuts EvExisa, at THE BATH ROAD. At 7.4S.LOVE'S
SACRIFICE : Mr. Barry Sullivan, Mrs. Hermann Vezin,
And STATE SECRETS.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs. Swanborongh.
THIS EVENING. at 7.30. AMONG THE BREAKERS: Mr
Clarke. With THE, TOODLES. And ISO. Concluding with
THE CHOPS OF TIIE CHANNEL.

CHRISTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, Every Night, at S
Wednesdays and .s.turdays, at 3 and S all the year round.

ZOOLOGICAL G AR DENS, Regent's-park, OPEN daily (ex-
cept Sundays). Admission, Is.; on Mondays, 6d. Children
under twelve, 6d.

ROYAL ALHAMBRA PALACE. THREE BALLETS
Promenade Concert. Band of 60. Begin at 8. le. Box-office
o pen from 11 to 4.

) _44411 it
4.4

sents the expense of collecting £17,411; whereas
at Lynn £15,836 is collected at a cost of £1,204. At
Preston the establishment is supported by £1,105
and collects £51,230 ; Middlesborough. expends
£1,548 in receiving £1,858. The receipts on behalf
of the Inland Revenue at the former port wore much
greater than at the latter. At Newcastle the expenses
and receipts were respectively £9,397 and £206,574;
at Stockton, £1,889 and £70,093 ; at Sunderland,
£0,803 and £64,504. But at North Shields
£7,308 is required to collect £21,063;
and at South Shields the figures are £2,261 and
£9,721. The takings at Perth are £14,815, and the
expenditure £763; whilst at Port Glasgow only one
pound less was required last year to gather duties
worth £3,921. Again we allow that these figures
are not in themselves wholly conclusive as to the
labour done at any Customs establishment ; but the
results are certainly the most essential considera-
tion, and it does not appear that the irregu-
larities in other branches of work are sufficient lc
account for these great differences in the cost of main-
te lance. The figures sufficiently prove, at least, that
inquiry is needed to show whether some of these
stations which cost so much and return so little, are
really doing their business as cheaply and efficiently
as might reasonably be expected. As to many of the
smaller establishments, the annual loss to the country
on their maintenance is a primd facie case in favour of
their abolition.

The work of reform need not end with this
cutting away of unprofitable stations, and revision
of costly ones. For many years, simplifying the
collection of the revenue has been one of our most
important administrative reforms. The separate de-
partment and complex machinery of the Excise have
been handed over to the management of the Inland
Revenue Commissioners ; and the several boards which
once 1 ooked after the Customs have been merged in
the central department in London. The time seems
now come for the last step in the process—the amal-
gamation of the Customs and Inland Revenue
departments. The business of both has
already lost much of its complexity. The
Excise duties on salt, glass, soap, candles,
leather, and paper have been repealed one by
one. Intoxicating liquors now furnish almost the
whole of the revenue. The duties on imports have
been simplified in like manner. Mr. HumE accom-
plished the great work of consolidating the Acts in
1825; the free-trade legislation of 1846 removed very
many imposts; and almost every year since that date
has witnessed the abolition of some duty or other.
The fact that the Customs establishments now
transact a good deal of Inland Revenue business
is another argument in favour of consolidation. Such
a change could not fail to prove economical? and it
could hardly impair efficiency.

COMIC; PAPERS.

(From Punch.)

DEFLOWERING THE PARKS.—Ayrton is going to root-up
the park flower-beds. Suppose he kept the nation's flowers
of rhododendron in the park, and relieved us, instead, of
his own flowers of rhetoric in Parliament.
- - - -

EXPERIENTIA Docwr.—Master George (whispers): "I
say ! Kitty! Has mamma been telling you she'd give you
a lovely spoonful of delicious currant jelly, 0 so nice, so
very nice? '"—Miss Kitty : " Ess ! Cullen' jelly ! 0 so ni',
so welly !"—Master George : " Then don't take it. !"
SEASONABLE.—If anyone read a statement of intended
"City Ward Changes" on the 21st of December, and
noticed the announcement that " Mr. Midwinter retires,"
did it occur to him as rather a remarkable fact that Mid-
winter should retire on the shortest day?

(From, Judy.)

" The Art of Dyeing made Easy "—Go to St. Pancras'
Workhouse.

If a girl were to fall into the water, and were unable to
sink, why would she partly change her sex ?—Because she
would be a boy and (buoyant) girl.
MATHEMATICAL.—If a man were to break his neigh-
bour's windows, what would he make ?—An improper
fraction.

A NENV AProncrmENT.—The newspapers inform us that
O'Donovan Rossa, the member for Tipperary, is employed
in the Chatham prison in darning stockings for his fellow-
convicts. Might he not, on taking his seat in the House
of Commons, be promoted to the Treasury Bench, and
occupy himself in darning the holes in the reputations of
its present occupants? This would certainly be no light
work for a single pair of hands, but time and patience will
do wonders.

NEW GAME LICENSES.-It is understood that new game
licenses are about to be issued for landlord shooting in
Ireland during the ensuing winter. All poaching will be
prohibited, and the close season strictly observed, lest the
game should become extinct, owing to the popularity of
the sport. From the numerous applications for the new
licenses which may be anticipated, a considerable addition
to the revenue is reasonably counted on. Licenses at a
lower rate will also be issued for shooting agents, police-
men, and other inferior species of game.

(Front Fun.)

FOUR on AGAINST.—How oddly Americans do spell! A
fire is reported at the Forepaugh Menagerie. Surely the
correct way of writing the name of that collection of
quadrupeds should be " Follr-paW."
THEY MANAGE THESE THINGS BETTER IN FRANCE.—
The papers, describing a recent funeral in Alsace, say :
"The whole population accompanied the bier to the ceme-
tery." In England, we fear, in too many cases the mutes
and mourners accompany one another to the beer (not to
mention spirits) after leaving the cemetery.
LIKE A BIRD —lt is stated that even should Parliament
declare O'Donovan Rossa's election for Tipperary null and
void, Mr. Heron will not petition for the seat. We should
think not! No gentleman will be anxious for the succes
sion, and besides a heron is not quite the bird to represent
a set of geese.
A SWORDED APPLICANT. —The San Francisco News
Letter says :—" General Butler has been accused of robbing
somebody of a sword. Is it possible that General Butler
would rob—when it is so much easier to steal?" But our
contemporary forgets that the General must be despe-
rately hard up for a clean weapon; his own sword wasn't
fit to wear after New Orleans.

Her Majesty's troop-ship Simoom, Capt. Leth-
bridge, yesterday embarked at Portsmouth, along-
side the great south jetty of the dockyard, the fol-
lowing officers and men, draughts from various
corps to join regimental service companies at Gib-
raltar and Malta, and sailed this morning, calling
in at Portland and Queenstown, on her way west-
ward for other troops for the same destination, as
subjoined :—Staff Brevet-Major Parsons and Mrs.
Parsons; Surg.-Major Douglas, 87th Regiment,
and daughter ; Staff Town-Major Morgan ; Capt.
_ _

Rawlinson, 48th Regiment, and Mrs. Rawlinson ;
Assist.-Surg. Mould, Royal Artillery ; Capt. James,
Ist battalion 13th, and Mrs. James ; Capts. Price,
R.A., and Aylen, 64th ; Lieut. Sperago, Royal
Malta Fencibles, and Mrs. Sperago ; Lieut. Phipps,
87th, and wife; Lieut. Ward, 31st ; Lieutenants
Dalston and Arbuthnot, R.N. ; Lieut. Trotter
and Ensign Train, 48th; Ensigns Bell and Harlow,
83d ; Lieut. Jopp, R.E., 320 non-commisEionel
officers and men of various carps, with 37 soldiers'
wives and 39 children. Ibree naval officers
and a few supernumerary seamen and marines also
embarked to join the Mediterranean squadron under
the command of Sir Alexander Milue. At Port-

land the Simoom will take on board the 25th cam-
pany of Royal Engineers, consisting of one officer,
93 men, ten women, and 28 children. At Queens-
town she will receive on board the 2Gth company
of Royal Engineers, co9sisting of two olfic_trs, 93
men, one officer's wife, 93 men, ten women, and 18
children. The Simoom returns to Spithead from
her present ordered service with troops relieval by
those she takes out from England with her.
HOME MANUFACTURES VERSUS FOREIGN PR7-
1:A=1o:is. —lt is generally acknowledged that an English-
made watch or chronometer is superior to an imported
one, and yet, notwithstanding this, it was shown at a recent
meeting of the Clerkenwell watchmakers that the home
trade in these articles suffers greatly by the large quantities
continually brought over from abroad. This in the pre-
sent depressed state of trade is much to be deplored. We
cannot but think that the remedy lies in our own hands,
and a consideration of the following facts strengthens this
idea. Messrs. Lund and Blockley, the successors to Mr.
Viner (who has held for the last 70 years one of the first
positions as a watch and clock manufacturer) guarantee
that every watch and chronometer sold by them is made
by their own workmen, under the personal supervision
of themselves from first to last, and their reputation is
certainly sr fficient to warrant the assertion that the
quality of the workmanship is unexceptionable, while at
the same time a watch can be purchased of them at a
less price even than is paid fer a foreign one made by un-
known artisans, which is unfortunately so often passed
upon a confidin,g.public as a genuine English manufac-
ture, whereas in reality the only English part about it is
the name engraved upon it. Messrs. Lund and Blockley
have elected a splendid building in Pall• mall, opposite the
War Office, and the interior of the establishment is de-
+ corated in a manner unsurpassed in the metropolis. One
of the most recherché collections of articles of vertu in Lon-
don is on view here, and the many interesting inventions
exhibited render it a museum in itself, and cue well
worthy of a visit. The undertaking is a proof of the
• vitality of private enterprise, and the general excellence
of everything sold here must command patronage sad
MIMI&

POLICE IN7ELLIGENCE.—Ihts Day,

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

John Foley, a coachmaker, of No. 9, New Comp-
ton-street, was charged before Mr. Knox with
being drunk and disorderly.
Wm. Porter, 132 C, raid that about five o'clock
yesterday afternoon he was in Park-street, Gros-
venor-square, when he saw the prisoner ejected from
a public-house, and then behaved in a very disor-
derly manner. Ile requested the prisoner to go
away, but he refused, and spat in Hs face, and on
his taking him into custody he made use of very
abusive language.

The prisoner denied insulting the constable, and
said he was not in the habit of doing such a thing.
Mr. Knox, after remarking that it was a nasty
dirty thinv for the prisoner to have done, fined him
Ma., or 14 days.