The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 5, 1800.

SPAIN AND MOROCCO.

Advices from Gibraltar iy the mail steamer Delta,
arrived at Southampton yesterday, are four days
later, but there is very little additional intelligence
from Morocco. The following items are extracted
from the Gibraltar Chronicle:—

"A Ceuta letter of the 17th inst., published in a
Spanish paper, states that the casualties in the
army of Africa since the commencement of the
campai.gn amounted at that date to 6,007; but; of
these it is calculated 1,500 will soon return to join
their corps. Volunteers continuo to arrive from all
parts to fill up the vacancies occasioned by these
casualties. The road to Tetuan was getting on
rapidly, and it is said that so soon as the siege train
arrived the army would march on that city, leaving
Gen. Orozco's division in charge of the earthworks
on the heights of the Serail°.
"The Epoca announces that the strength of the
army in .Africa is to be raised to 80,000 men. This
will leave a respectable force to operate, after gar-
risoning the redoubts, forts, and other advanced
lines. Every battalion, according to this journal,
is to be completed to 1,000 men, filling up from the
corps in the Peninsula the vacancies that may occur.
This augmentation is to have effect from the com-
mencement of the ensuing year."
" GIBRALTAR, DEC. 28.
"Private letters from the camp before Ceuta
have been received to the evening of the 25th. We
subjoin some extracts :

DECO 24.

" Nothing at all new here. No firing yesterday
or to-day. Eleven more battalions are expected
from Spain, and nearly all the cavalry has come.
It is thought we shall move towards the new year,
but nobody knows for certain. For the last week
they have had nothing but unimportant skirmishes.
They are getting on with the road in tke direction
of Tetuan',

" DEc. 23, 9 a.m.
" Moors attacking the left and centre ; skir-
mishing going on ; fire rather lively. Began at
half-past 8. No appearance of its proving much
mr.me than one of the ordinary encounters; only,
having begun so early, it may last longer.'
" Another correspondent, writing later in the
day, describes the fight as having been one of the
sharpest encounters witnessed since the affair of the
9th. It was over and the dead buried by two
o'clock. A brilliant charge was made by one of
the Spanish generals (name not given), who jumped
from his horse, seized a musket, and led his men
against one of the Moorish positions, which he took
at the point of the bayonet. 38 Moorish dead
were found on this spot. The Spanish loss was re-
ported as six killed and 30 wounded.
"Two battalions of infantry—the Soria and
Bailen—nsarched from Malaga on the afternoon of
the 24th, overland, on their way to Algesiras for
embarkation to Ceuta. One of these battalions
reached San Rogue between 10 and 11 o'clock last
night. '1 he other battalion is expected te-tfight.
" Arrivals from the coast of Morocco report that
everything remained quiet at the ports of Cass.
bianca (Dar-el-Baida) and Saffi. At the latter
place a number of Bedouins had' come in from the
interior in quest of provisions; and, after getting
their supplies, quietly returned into the country.
" The Spanish squadron from Algesiras is under
way for the eastward. It consists of the sailing line-
of-battle ship Isabel 11., bearing the flag of Rear-
Admiral Segundo Herrera, a sailing frigate, two
screw and one paddlewheel frigates; four steam
sloops. _ _

" DEC. 29.

lc There is no further news from Africa to-day.
The Spanish squadron which left Algesiras yester-
day continued its course to the eastward without
touching at Ceuta. At noon to-day the ships were
off the coast of Tetuan, with the intention, it is re-
ported in town, of favouring a forward movement
of the troops under Marshal O'Donnell towards
that city by the road which they have for some
time past been making.
" The other battalion of Spanish troops from
Malty'a arrived last evening at San Roque. The
two battalions--the Soria and Bailer--will shortly
leave for Algesiras to embark for Ceuta, to augment
the strength of the African expeditionary army."

of shipwrights and others on board to carry use
Brame extenbive repairs, found necessary after the
arrival of the ship alongside the pier, in her maste,
rigging, boats, poop, &c., and which are indispen-
sable to the safety and accommodation,of the ship
and cargo.• The repairs will not be completed for
six or eight days.

THE THIRD CHINESE WAR

FINANCE OF TILE CITY OF PARIS.

.- - - 4. -.-

The report lately presented by the Prefect of the
Seine to the Municipal Councils on the bqgeta of
2.1)e city of Paris for 1859 and 1860 contains some
points of interest. It states, for example, that so
prosperous were the city finances in 1859, that,
after largely providing not only for the ordinary
expenses, but for the exceptional wants of hospi-
tals, religious edifices, and schools, for the repairs
of bridges and quays, the extension of paving, the
making of plantations, the salubrity of houses,
and the distribution and .carrying away of water,
a sum of £13,2031931., in addition to that which
came from the loan which the city had been au-
thorised to raise, was devoted to the purchase of
houses and buildings and the execution of works
for the improvement of streets and thorough-
fares; and that 'sum would have been still larger
if one of 6,750,582 f. had not been taken to in-
crease the reserve of the Municipal Treasury,
which had been lessened by a Fein of 10,000,000 f.
having been appropriated to the Caisse des Travaux
de Paris. " These figures," says the report, "prove
that the Municipal Council of Paris, in entering in
May, 1858, into an agreement with the Government
to execute in the space of ton years works and
improvements estimated to cost 180,000,000 f.,
in return for a subvention of only 50,000,000 f.,
did not miscalculate the resources of which the city
could dispose for that purpose." And, in
addition to all this, not only, says the
report, laze the sums required for the
payment of the interest, premiums', and lots of
the debt duly provided, but one of 5,743,415 f. was
set apart towards the payment of the debt. The
report then goes on to explain what it calls "the
secret of these results," and that secret is that
within the last seven years—that is, since the
establishment of the empire—the ordinary receipts
of the city have increased in .a much greater pro-
portion than the ordinary expenses. Thus, in 1852.
the year in which the empire was established, and
in which the great works in Paris were commenced,
the ordinary receipts were only 52,576,631 f.; and
in 1859 they were 79,327,925 f. increase,
26,751,291 f. ; whereas the ordinary expenses, which
in 1852 were 54,939,4361., were inlt3s9, 49,163,1781.
—an increase of only 14,223,742 f. " That," says
the report, "is all the mystery of the pretended
marvels accomplished in Paris daring the last:7 years
by the municipal administration. What had to be
done to obtain this result was very simple—
namely, resolution and perseverance ; on the one
hand, in obtaining from established duties all that
they could be made to yield, and taking advantage
of all circumstances that presented themselves for
increasing the revenue ; and, on the other hand,
restraining as much as possible the continual ten-
dency of the different branches of the municipal
services to increase their expenses." It is to the
increased population, to the influx of provincial and
foreign visitors, and to the increase of public, and
private prosperity that the report ascribes princi-
pally the augmentation of the municipal revenues ;
but it admits that the increase of certain Qctroi
duties, the establishment of taxes on wholesale deal-
ings in the markets, the increased rent for market
stalls, the increase of the tax on cabs and omni-
buses, and a number of other things, as also a more
equitable division of charges common to the Govern-
ment and the municipality, have likewise contri-
buted to that augmentation. The report then no-
tices various items in the revenue which are new or
have increased. Among them are these :—The
imposition of a tax of 2c. per cubic metre on gas
consumed, which last year yielded a revenue of
980,000 f. ; the tat on dogs. which, though redu-
cing the number of dogs from 45,617 in 1856 to
about 33,000 in 1859, yielded more in the latter
year than 300,000 f. ; the tax on cabs and on om-
nibuses (these vehicles are 3,997 in number), which
in 1852 only amounted to 471,1411., produced in .
1859 2,036,744 f. The report announces that the
municipality- has not yet been able to obtain the
imposition of a tax on all carriages, horses, and
vehicles employed in Paris, and remarks, as a sin-
gularity, that in this capital it is "the wealthiest
classes which manifest the strongest repugnance to
new taxes." The report justifies the proposed tax
on the ground that it is not right that private car-
riages,,and particularly the large waggons and vans
used in commerce, should have the privilege of
using the paving and macadam of streets gratuit-
ously, when omnibuses, which are chiefly destined
for people of modest incomes, pay. The report next
refers to the charge for admission to the Bourse—a
matter which has excited a pod deal of discussion.
This charge, it says, was established in 1856, on the
recommendation of the Chamber of Commerce, as a
means of preventing the overcrowding of that place,
which had become intolerable, and of keeping away
petty capitalists, who were tempted to speculate,
and by so doing often lost all they had. Another
reason for establishing the charge was that the mu-
nicipality did not think it right that an edifice be-
longing to it, and whiCh served as a...market for secu-
rities and merchandise, Should be free from all
charge when all the other markets are made to pay
heavily. Some persons, says the report, complain
bitterly of the charge for admission as injurious to
commercial transactions; but it was those persons
who profited by the silly hopes and the sudden panics
of the petty speculators. But though,tbe report says,
the Bourse is less frequented than it used to be,
it is still well attended, and on some days is over-
crowded. The number of persons it can conveni-
ently accommodate is about 4,000 ; but on certain
days as many as 4,200 and even 4,500 havAntered,
and rarely, even in the summer, has the number
been less than 3,500. Moreover, the number of pay-
ments for admission steadily progresses—in 1857
the total amount obtained was 1,010,148 f., in 1858
it 'rose to 1,027,4951., and in 1859 was about
1,060,000 f. The report afterwards proceeds to give
details respecting the budget of 1860, which, on
account of the aggrandisement of Paris, differs con-
siderably from that of 1859. Among other things
it shows that all the communes annexed, except
Passy, have debts amounting to 5,962,900 f., which
will have to be paid between 1860 and 1874; but it
shows also that they have assets amounting to
5,893,425 f, It calculates that 1,400,000 f. will be
required to exempt poor families from what is
called the personal and furniture tax, and -that in
the suburbs annexed the number of families so ex-
empted will exceed 28,000, consisting of 90,000
persons. It says that the number of octroi en-
tiances into Paris, which has heretofore been 57,
will henceforth be 66 ; and that the duties of the
octroi officers will be greatly increased on account
of the entries being much more numerous, of the
fortifications which they will have to watch being
upwards of 20 miles (33 kilometres) in extent, of
the neecssity of watching the points at which the
railways pass through the fortifications, and the
goods stations of railways ; and, lastly, of exercis-
ing surveillance over what are called the entrepots
a domicile. These increased duties will render
necessary the augmentation of the ordinary octroi
staff from 1,259 persons to 1,862 ;of fro-a 138 to 200
of the men charged to accompany goods which pass
through the city in transit, or do not pay at the
gates; and the creation of 90 new officers specially
charged with the surveillance of the domicile en-
trepots. The expense of the octroi will, says the
report, be increased from 2,925,725 f. to 4,275,962 f.
The report notices that, in expectation of
the aggrandisement of Paris, many persons
residing outside the octroi will have laid
in for their on n Frivate use Weiss of
wood, wine, &c., in order to avoid paying the
octroi duties of Paris, which are higher than those
of their communes ; and it expresses a doubt that
they have made a good bargain, inasmuch as they
have paid for those articles, and especially wine,
more than they will be worth this year. It does not
propose to interfere with them, hilt it says a great
number of other persons in connivance with specu-
lators have clandestinely collected as many as
300,000 or 400,000 casks of wine, with the inten-
tion of depriving the city of Paris of the octroi duty
thereon, which it calculates at 15,000,000 f. or
18,000,000 f. ; but it says, that in virtue of regula-
tions adopted by the Council of State, they will be
made to pay the duties. On the subject of the
cemeteries, the report says that Paris, when en-
larged, will comprise three large cemeteries—those
of the East, or Pere-Lachaise ; the West, or Mont-
martrc; the South, or Montparnasse ; and 10 otheri
less important, those of Auteuil, Passy, the Batig-
nolles, La Chapelle, La Villette, Belleville, elm-
ronne, Bercy, Vaugirard, and Crenelle. The com-
mune of Montmartre besides makes over to the city
the proprietorship of a new cemetery situated be-
yond the fortifications. Of all these cemeteries, the
three large ones of old Paris and those of Auteuil,
Passy, Betignolles, Montmartre, La Villette, and
Vaugirard will alone be required. The others will
be closed—that' is to say, will not receive any new
tombs ; but they will remain accessible to families,
and the existing tombs will be respected. The report
concludes by proposing to set aside a reserve fund
of 5,000,000 f. for the expenses which the enlarge-
ment of Paris will necessitate—namely, the forma-
tion of a magnificent promenade by the union, on
the demolition of the octroi wall, of what are now
the outegßoulevards and the Chemin de Ronde ; the
construction of new mairies,,-&-o.; but the report