The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-29 00:00:00

put in another place than that of the Court of
Chancery, an answer satisfactory to the creditors and

the shareholders may be obtained.

It may not be

quite so satisfactory to Messrs. MOZLEY.

THE remarkably unanimous character of the de-
bate on Sir H. SELWIN-IBBETSON'S Beerhouses Bill is
only one of amongst many signs of the change which
has come over the spirit of the House of
Commons. The progress of the last three
years has at least had the effect of convert-
ing many standard points of doctrine into
obsolete prejudices. Some clauses of what was once
the Liberal creed have fallen far behind the regene-
rated Tory programme. Amongst these may be
reckoned the old antipathy to discussion, not to
speak of legislation, on Tory licenses, landlords, and
liquor. On no subject, if we except the game
laws, did the old school wax so furious. All
attempts to interfere legislatively with the greatest
evil of the age was met with the stereotyped assertion
that Englishmen were getting more and more sober,
but that if they were not, it was impossible to make
theta sober by Act of Parliament. For years the
opponents of national encouragement to drunkenness
were met by these respectably ancient pleas, and
by the " brute force " of a majority which, having
learned the virtue of beer on polling.day, did not
like the flow of the barrel to be restricted. But all
this is changed. We hear less of the impossibility of
making men sober by Act of Paliament. It is admitted
that the:el:tuner)
An official communication was received at lb..
that British drunkenness is not quite satisfactory.
lcucester count) Gaol on Tuesday, stating
Mr. TIENLEY cannot doubt that beerhouse legislation G
Ins failed, and if he is not hopeful of improving the
of death
se passed on Charles, Wiltshire keen commuted co
existing state of things, he is not disposed to inter- usual servitude for life.
Richard
Grosvenor
is statedothar,iin hiS,rinterview wilt Lord
fere with those who wish to try. Mr. BRUCE finds
ts:,;,eoltvoftxttiween
.Duvet and
it impossible to deny that there are special evils Cz,'aisentioar, Emperoe r
.7‘.,j'aYpoluen
en-
attendant upon beerhouses, and promises that conpt..serl with diiliculties, but he laughed oute pt °l-il.ght et alst M
the whole subject of licensing shall be taken Bouters id. aof a bridge across the Channel.
into consideration. Meanwhile Sir H. SELIVV.N- The macors of Liver' 00l who arc disputing with
TBDETSON'S bill is allowed to .pass without opposi- their nwsters refuse to have the mute Lehi: submitted to
tion. The measure is by no means such as to finally art.tration. A strike is now looked upon as inevitable.
satisfy the advocates of temperance, but it is a decided The men rssign as th. it rea,on that the referee would be a
step in the right direction ; and its acceptance by an man of ?"Pi°'l* They therefore felt that the decision would
go against them.- - 'I hots is every potability now of a lock-
assembly which has hitherto resisted every reform of
cut in the building trade at. Bradford. At a meeting of the
1.-;nd is not without significance. runAer builders on Monday evening it was reported
The object of the bill is to transfer the power of that the C pclativo stet:measons lad refused to confirm
granting beerhouse licenses from the excise officers the nue( ra ut which their tit potation had come to
to the magistrates. Formerly, the latter, who were with the dtputation of the masters iu so far as
in a position to make all inquiries both as to that ogre en:ent r.iavis to payment hy the hour ar.d the
etrp'Q It:NA of n.acitinr-ww Led clone; and the mooting of
the requirements of the locality and the
masters re;o:ved to publish the whole of their cur espond-
character of the would-be liquor vendor,
[tot' ant to fall back upon their of igiLal nut.ce, expiring on
had complete jurisdiction in the matter of Cite 3.1 of May, though still willing to refer the dispute to au
licensing. But since 1830 beerhouse licenses arbitrator,
and to abide by his decision.
have been granted by the revenue officers, who are The Yen. William Pollock D.D.rchdeacon of
not only unable to institute any inquiry, but have CL ;the of 1 1 ; ti" ,11 S;er, course A:sant-Ina. tt_r.resson tles-
some sort of interest in granting as many licenses as day afternoon at -Want wick, raid :—" All is danger and dis-
possible. All that is required of the applicant is a tress. There is division, if not treason with ottr Zion. There
residential qualification, and a certificate of character are faithless watchmen on the Walls. The enemy is thunder-
froming at our gates. There is many a sign to say that Waud
six householders. This sage measure really esta-
blished the principle thatanybody might sell beer with- is growing weary of her Church, if not of her Gfiod.
bt You
ou
may see this in the abolition of Church-rates—the step,
out restriction. The residence proviso is palpably as I read it, towards discstablishment and disendowment.
worthless, and the testimony of six householders is so Yon may see it still more plainly in the cruel wrong which
slight a check that a thief has been known to corn- is b:ing done to the Church in Ireland. You may see it in
mence dispensinghis adulterated abominations imme- the popular acceptance of !he dogma of 'religious equality'—
diately after leaving prison. Such a wholesale gipa Melt mans nothing else than the equality of truth
letting loose of unprincipled liquor vendors has been and falsehood—the equality of light and elvarikness t rho
attended with the worst results. The beer sold is ethqcuachty otiftChrisand Be ial.
hßut enourgelnevil
'The good
bad ; though it is evident that if people
will drink, they ought, at least, not to be Lord gave crowding
gs
grace.' Ce•stehtbtaot ttuid-e
.r: and discharge his
own personal responsit ility—each in his own place to be
poisoned. Drunkenness has increased since faithful to Lis Church, his country, and his God !"

the passing of the Act. In this respect
we must judge, not by later statistics, but by
the years immediately preceding and following the
passing of the Act. And so great was the increase
of drunkenness after 1830, that even the House
of Commons of that period thought the sub-
ject worth inquiry. That the beerhouses are
nests of immorality is a fact which cannot be set
aside by the assertion that public-houses are as bad, or
worse. The bill which passed the second reading on
Tuesday deals very tenderly indeed with the question.
It provides ample facility for the granting of licenses
for the sale of beer not to be drunk on the premises,
but licenses for drinking houses will be placed on the
same footing as public-houses. In order to secure
this distinction increased powers of conviction are
provided. As a whole, the measure is only a partial
attack upon the present licensing system, but it is a
beginning. And so difficult is reform in this direc-
tion that thirty years of effort have been necessary
to secure even this slight and obvious change. In
1839 Lord BROUG Ham brought in a bill to stop this
broadcast distribution of balliquer. In 1869 these
endeavours have been successful.

An interesting return with reference to the coin-
ego has been published, showing the amount of gold,
silvt r, and copper men, ys mired at the Mint, from the
Ist day of Lnuney, 1,K9, to the 31st December, 1868
10,605,1091 oz. of gold, valued at £41,293,6.15, made
foci sovereigns less than that valta. ; 12,42,i)65 half-
& cvereigns have been sti uck ; 11,252,240 fl,. rins ; of
;(y.;',2,140; of sixpences, 21,328,L60 ; of ,uur-
pt piece,-, only 41,580; of the more popular silver-
tin eLpeunies, 19,:750:00. Where aro the 47,520 silver
twopennies, and the 79,200 silver pennies, or
the 479,670 sily. r threehalfpelmY ? Now we
conic to copper. Of pennies, 119,915.136 have been issued;
of half-pennies (and this a a very powerful argutuer4
against those who think that a penny should be
adopted es the minin.ma price of a newspaper), there,
has teen the largest issue, mounting to no less than
155,760,640. We hope the Mint will engage s:ill mole
largely in the manufacture of the popular halfpenny. Of
farthings only 49,149,748 havo been struck. During the 10
years 3,412,96810 z. of silver coinage have I.),:en put chased
and melted for re-coinage, upon which the loss was
£140,333.
EARLY CLOSING ASSOCIATION.—On Wednesday
night the general annual meeting was
.held at 11adky's
Hotel, New Bridge-street, Blackfriars, under the chair-
manship of Mr. William Ilivington. Mr. Henry Walker,
the secretary, gave an outline of the contents of the
report, which sheaved that, with one exception, the two
o'clock closing on Saturday had been maintained, and was
extending in the West-end of London, while other shops
had adopted four o'clock instead of six, and five o'clock
instead of eight. The guide brought out to assist this
part of the operations had proved a great success,
and the ladies' committee were still indefatigable in
their labours. In the provinces the half-holiday war
given on Wednesday or Thursday, as Saturday war
usually the market day. General early closing hart
obtained numerous additional adherents both in Londor
and the country, especially amongst diapers, hatters
and wholesale warehousemen. In Bristol, Rich
mond, Colchester, Leicester, and fifteen other places
the canvass had been highly successful ; and from
communications to hand it appeared that effort/
in the same direction were being made in the colonies
notably Australia, whence several applications had beer
received for the illuminated placards and publications o'
the association. More recently an Affiliated Society hac
been formed in Paris, and its promoters were in corre
spondence with the secretaries, their letters describin., the
enthusiasm with which the Parisian shopmen had ent7Prec
into the spirit of the movement. Financially the associ
Con continued to progress, and the receipts, amountin
tt
5.1,098 13s. 11d a
~ enabled the treasurer to announce g
balance in favour of the general account, and a
some
snial
larger one as standing to the credit of the Sat
half-holiday fund. The report pfas unanimously
(1'11.113
a
on the motion of Mr. T. Bait, the chairman of
board, who made a warm appeal for more pecuniar3
assistance.

afo
=
'
SI RUM t

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, April 28.
Her Majesty, accompanied by Princess Christian,
drove out yesterday afternoon.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise,
walked and drove this morning.
Princess Christian, Princess Beatrice, and Prince
Leopold also went out.

TYPHUS IN BRAMHAX COLLEGE. -- Bran-than
College for Dissenters, near, Tailcaster, not far from Leeds
is suffering seriously from the ravages of fever. Number
of the pupils are." down" from the disease. The cause o
this sickness in so healthily-stnated well-conclude:l al
establishment is said to be " the accidental percolation n
deleterious matter" through the earth into the well fron
whence water was drawn fist- drinkin purposes in th
college. There are about 100 pupils belonging to th
college, of whom no fewer than forty have suffered fron
fever. and four have died. The college is at present closed.