The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-24 00:00:00

MILITARY COLONISATION FOR NEW

A. project for the establishment of military industrial
settlements in New Zealand is, it is now under
blood, under the consideration of the Government,
which, it is stated, seems peculiarly adapted to
the present exigencies both of the mother country
and the colony. The project before the Govern-
ment is, in a few words, substantially as follows :—lt is
proposed to establish a small colony, or several small
colonies on the frontiers of such portions of the North
Island as are most in danger of inroads from hostile
natives ; these colonies to be at once industrial and
military, containing "within themselves all the necessary
force requisite alike for their own defence, and, therefore,
also for that of existing British settlements in their rear ; the
force to be under the orders of the local Government, and
capable of co-operating with other forces in the event of
any serious outbreak in their neighbourhood." The
proposed colony would be composed half of soldiers who
have seen five years' service in the army, and half of
young men from the artisan and agricultural classes, the
whole body being enlisted for five years and commanded by
officers selected from the army and militia. Each
colonist would have a grant of laud according to his rank.
For the first year pay and rations would be allowed ;
for the second year rations only, except for
such periods as the men might actually be under arms,
when they would be entitled to pay as before. After the
second year there would be no pay or rations at all,
except during active military service. Moderate advances
would be made on the security of the land, and repayable
by easy instalments over a number of years, for
the purpose of enabling the settlers to cultivate
their holdings effectually. At the expiration of the
five years' enlistment each man would be a freeholder
of the land allotted to him, provided he had brought a
certain portion of it into cultivation ; in the case of pro-
tracted military service, unfavourable seasons, &c., the
period allowed for the fulfilment of this condition might
be extended. Mr. W. Fitzberbert, Colonial Treasurer of
New Zealand, when recently in this country, expressed
his cordial approval of the scheme, as " well-devised and
adapted for New Zealand."

Tun LOCK-OUT OF MINERS.—The dispute at the
Denaby Main Colliery, where nearly 400 men are locked
out for joining the South Yorkshire Miners' Union, con-
tinues with no prospect of a settlement.
ABDUCTION FROM KING EDWARD'S SCHOOL.—UII
Tuesday morning bills, offering a reward of £2O, were
circulated for information as fo the whereabouts of a
schoolboy, named Alfred Cotton, who was taken away
from• King Edward's School, Mile End, in Septemberlast,
by his stepsister, and has not since been beard of.

In the Bankruptcy Cuirt, on Tuesdt Mr. nat.
IT urtwell's enF.A came on before 31r. Crin.ni*E:len,r Winslow.
Bankrupt was an unsuccessful candidate at the r«7, Lt elec-
tion for Stoke-on-Trent. His eats were tmecr .C3O. He
states that his agent disappeared with .£2EO, tut scribed by
his friends to defray his clpenses. The case was Low ad-
journed the die for the amendmont of h:s duser:ption and the
filing of accounts. Protection was granted for one mouth.

It is said that Lord Ravensworth and his son,
the Hon. H. G. Liddell, M.P., have agreed to break the
entail of the Ravensworth estate. It is likely, in conse-
quence of this arrangement, that considerable plots of
land suitable for building sites along the Team Valley will
come into the market. Lord Ravensworth and his family
and the entire public of Tyneside will be benefitted by this
change.
THE REPRESENTATION OF bLACKBURN. —As at
present arranged the nomination will take place on Monday
next, and the polling on Tuesday. The hustings are being
erected in Canterbury-street, on a plot of land calculated
to hold 70,000 persons, and the Mayor has announced his
desire that, with a view to preserving the peace on the
occasion, no party colours shall be exhibited at the
hustings.

The man Michael Crowley, who was so severely
burnt by Lis wife throwing raraffin oil over him, at Liver-
pool, has just died. The unfortunate man suffered excru-
ciating agony during the week, and on Tuesday it was
thought necessary to take his deposition. In this the de-
oeased alleged that the accused, being enraged, threw the
oil over him ; on the other hand the woman's story is that
she was first struck by her hurl and, but she has no know-
ledge whatever how the oil c:.ught fire.
Mr. Goschcn's Valuation of Property Bill was pub-
lished on Tuesday. It contains no less than 77 clauses. Its
object is to provide for a common basis of value for the pur-
poses of Government and local taxation, and to promote uni-
formity in the assessment of rateable property in England.
The bill provides for the formation of a Valuation Board in
each county, whose business will be to draw up a table for
determining rateable value. This table is to ho conclusive,
and is to be sent to the assessment committee and overseers.
In each parish the valuation list is to be drawn up in
accordance with this table.

Four men, charged with mobbing and rioting at
Teviot•bridge, near Kelso, on the night of the 25th
November last, when the gate and posts in connection
with the pontage on the bridge were cut down and thrown
into the river, have been put upon their trial at Jedburgh,
before Sheriff Patt:sen and a jury. They all pleaded
not guilty, but were convicted, and sentenced, three of
them to three months' imprisonment, and the remaining
one to six weeks. The riot occurred on the evening of the
day on which the polling for the representation of
lioxburgi islt ire tc ok p' a( e.

THE MALT TAX. —An item of six millions sterlirg
cannot just now be spared from the revei.o t ; but can we
not shew how a material degree of relief may be accorded
to the classes interested in barley, and at the same time a
benefitbe conferred on all who drink beer, without any actual
remission of taxation? As Mr. Lowe declares himself unable
to remit the £270,000 a year of taxes upon vehicles--which
remission, by the way, would favourably affect the farmers
•As breeders of horses—it is cot very likely that his Budget
will propose either a repeal or reduction of the malt duty.
But without waiting for a disposable surplus, can we not
obtain, say, a transference of the six millions from malt
to the manufactured article beer, and thus render the in-
cidence of the tax far less mischievous than at present?
Would not a duty upon beer brewed for sale, accompanied
by licenses for private brewing, leaving the processes of
manufacture perfectly free and open to any improvements,
be a great advance upon the present roundabout and in-
tolerably burdensome mode of taxing our national
beverage ?—Cluember of Agriculture Journal.
THE STRIKE AT PRESTON.—TiIeTC is nothing new
to report with reference to the great dispute :t Preston,
except that at one of the mills (Mr. Paul Cattemll's, New
Hall-lane), a few spinners have, it is stated, returned to
their work. The general body of spinners are, however,
exceedingly d,terrnined, and maintain that they will
" fl;ht it out" to the end. The weavers are by no means
so well organised as the spinners, their number being too
large to admit of the same marshalling and order ; and
it is thought that nearly one-half of them are not in
the union, but the whole will have to be maintained
by it in the event of a general strike. Business, which has
been bad in every branch of trade in Preston for about
four months, is getting worse, and pauperism is increasing.
This week the guardians have 12-i more persons on their
books than they had last, and as compared with the same
period last year the book spews an increase of 1,158
paupers. The aggregate number of persons who have
this week rc9cived garish relief (exclusive of vagrants)
4,532,