The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-15 00:00:00

Trusty, in basin at Woolwich, where the apparatus
is about to be fitted. The shipwrights have com-
menced cutting through the upper deck, and form-
ing a solid base below, for the erection of the
shield, which is composed of wrought-iron slabs,
4 inches iu thickness, and must effectually shelter
the gunner as well as the guns fired from the
upper deck, completely screened beneath the lower
part of the shield.

One hundred seamen belonging to the flagship
Fisgard, at Woolwich, were on Saturday de-
spatched to the Victoria (London) Docks to carry
out the task of masting the mail-clad ship Warrior,
which is to be performed to-day.
The remainder of the original number of ship-
wrights and artisans to be discharged, according to
Admiralty orders, from the Devonport Dockyard,
left on Saturday.

&The following appointments were made on Satur-
day at the Admiralty :—Lieut. H. M. Carre, to the
Cambridge ; Emilius W. Dubue, acting asoist.-
surgeon, to the Cossack ; W. E. Kelly, paymaster
in lieu of a:clerk, to the Impregnable ; and W. N.
Harriot, assist.-paymaster, to the Princess RoyaL

7.11 E AIIIIY.

The hired sailing ship Henry Fernie will embark
the following troops for New Zealand at Ports-
mouth :-Ist battalion 12th Foot-1 subaltern, 2
sergeants, 2 drummers, and 145 rank and file, from
Weimer ; 70th Foot-1 captain, 5 sergeants, 70
rank and file, 4 women, and 4 children, from Can-
terbury; Staff Surgeon Bews and Assist.-Surgeon
Pout. On embarking the above the ship will pro-
ceed to Queenstown, where she embarks as follows :
—2d battalion 14th Foot-2 subalterns, 2 sergeants,
198 rank and file, 18 women, and 19 children. A
library of 320 volumes will be put on board for the
use of the troops during the voyage, as well as a
double set of games, sets of singlesticks with hel-
mets, &c.
The following troops stationed in the South- West
District are ordered to hold themselves in readiness
to embark for 3lalta-2d battalion 4th Regiment,
onq officer and 40 men; 4th battalion Rifle Brigade,
one officer and 30 men ; Ist battalion 22d Regi
meat, Lieut. Baker and 20 men ; 2d battalion 22d
Regiment, Lieut. H. E. Harrison and 30 men.
The 14th Light Dragoons are under orders to
leave their present quarters in Peirshill (Edin-
burgh), Perth, and Hamilton, and proceed to Man-
chester, and the first troop is to leave Peirshill to-
day (Monday). They are to be succeeded by the
2d Dragoons (Scots Greys) from Dublin.
The 57th Regiment arrived at Auckland from
Bombay on Jan. 22 by the ship Castilian, and a
detachment of 150, under the command of Major
St. Clair, embarked on Jan, 26 for Taranaki.
Capt. and Brevet-Major Field, in command of a
detachment of Royal Artillery from the Depot
Brigade, has left Woolwich for duty at Great
Yarmouth. The detachment consisted of Lieuts.
Nlajendie, Dadson, Davie, and Howlett, Assistant-
Surgeon Evans, 12 sergeants, 9 corporals, 10 bom-
bardiers, 4 trumpeters, and 363 gunners, with 15
women and 19 children.
In pursuance of instructions received at Wool-
wich on Saturday from the Horse Guards, one
squadron and the headquarters of the 6th batta-
lion Military Train will leave Woolwich to-morrow
the 16th, to embark at Liverpool for the Curragh
Camp, in Ireland.
The let battalion 2d Foot (Queen's Royal), daily
expected to arrive at Spithead from China in the
ships Alfred, Adelaide, and Indomitable, will, on
arrival, disembark at Portsmouth and be stationed
in that garrison.
The Ist and 2d batteries of Royal Artillery
will, on their arrival at Spithead from China, in
the ships Mars and Hougomont, disembark from
those vessels at Portsmouth, and take over the
horses, guns, and accoutrements of Colonel
Turner's mounted battery at Hilsea. The 4th bat-
tery of the 2d Brigade, on board the same vessels,
will on disembarcation be stationed at Dover.
The Ist battalion of the 11th Regiment, under the
command of Colonel E. Moore, and the 2d batta-
lion of the 19th Regiment, under the command of
Colonel It. Warden, both stationed at Portsmouth,
are under orders to hold themselves in readiness to
proceed from that garrison to Dublin. They will
he replaced at Portsmouth by the 41st and 49th
Regiments, from Aldershott.
A vocal and instrumental concert took place on
Friday evening in the Royal Artillery riding-school,
Woolwich, under the special patronage of General
Sir Richard Dacres, K.C.8., Commandant of the
Garrison; Commodore the Hon. J. R. Drummond,
C. 8., Aide-de-Camp to the Queen and superin-
tendent of the dockyard ; the officers commanding
the local corps of volunteers ; the members repre-
senting the borough of Greenwich, &c. The con-
cert was attended by upwards of 2,000 persons, and
has been promoted for the benefit of the band fund
of the Ist battalion (26th Kent) Royal Arsenal
Volunteer Rifles, commanded by Colonel Parkyn.
The house was thoroughly filled soon after 7 o'clock,
the performances commencing at half-past 7, and
some 200 persons, it was stated, who applied for
admission after that hour, were disappointed. The
arrangements were under the superintendence of
Capt. Piper and Mr. Prater, whose efforts, together
with those of the general committee, were highly
successful, realising, exclusively, of the expenses,
a clear sum of £BO.

The following non-commissioned officers and gun-
ners of the Royal Artillery have been awarded a
silver medal and gratuity, under the General Order
of the ith of July, 1860, for long service and good
conduct:—Medal and gratuity of I:ls.—Sergeant
Christopher Fitzsimons. Medal and gratuities of
£lo.—Sergeant-Major James Beardsley, Sergeant
William Sheppard, Sergeant 'William Kettle, Ser-
geant John Smyth, Sergeant Edward Keough,
Sergeant Ed ward Austin, and Sergeant John Synge.
Medal and gratuities of £s.—Gunners Alexander
Thompson, John Green, Andrewliavanagh, Thomas
Weir, James Moore, George Hunter, George Ward,
John B. M'Cann, and John Collisson.
The following master•gunners of the Coast Bri-
gade have been awarded by the Duke of Cambridge
medals, with annuities, or gratuities, for meritorious
service and good Conduct, viz. :—An annuity of
£lO each for meritorious services to William Whit-
ley and Peter Laird; gratuities of £5 each for long
service and good conduct to William John Hinds,
Thomas Mayberry, Thomas Tilley, and Gunner
John Mohan ; a gratuity of £lO and a medal have
also been awarded to Sergeant Robert Turner,
Coast Brigade.

~ ~.. .

he offered their grounds for the approaching cere-
mony of the presentation of a set of colours by the
Lady Mayoress to the London Rifle Brigade.
Lord ELeno returned thanks on behalf of the
House of Commons, whose duty, he said, it would
shortly be to afford some assistance in putting the
force on a more permanent footing.
The "Health of the Lord Mayor" followed, and,
with the remaining toasts, was drunk with much
cordiality.

THE SZ'ATISTIC'S OF 2HE INCOME TAX.

---
The Chancellor of the Exchequer observed, in the
course of his last financial statement, that " the best
mode of making an estimate of the rate of increase
in the wealth of the country is to resort to the in-
come tax. No other criterion," he added, "is com-
parable to it; for, though it may not be an exact
index of the truth in this matter, yet, as be-
tween one period and another, I believe it to
be an index on which we may safely rely." It
happens that a return very recently printed gives
in detail the amount charged under Schedules A,
B, and D of the act upon each parish in Great
Britain for the year ended the sth of April, 1860.
For the year 1812-3 we have a return nearly simi-
lar, and for 1814-15 we have accounts not as full,
but sufficiently so to enable us to institute compa-
risons which at the present time are more than
usually interesting.
We begin with. Schedule A, which has been
called, with no great propriety, " the Landlord's
Schedule," and which, in fact, charges not only
agricultural land and tithes, but also houses and
buildings not occupied in conjunction with land,
as well as the profits of railways, mines, quarries,
ironworks, &c.
In 1803, the first year in which the tax was
levied upon the plan now adopted, the amount of
Schedule A was about £38,500,000 ; in 1810 it had
risen to £52,000,000; and in 1815 to £60,297,166.
For 1842-3 (the first year of the present tax), its
amount was £95,284,498 ; and for 1860 no less
than £126,056,829, more than three times as much
as in 1803, and more than twice as much as in 1815.
Before showing the amount of increase in different
descriptions of property, we will give the figures
for some of the larger English counties, including
all which contributed above £2,000,000 in 1815, or
more than £3,000,000 in 1860. In this comparison,
however, it will be proper to exclude the amounts
contributed by railways, which, being assessed a,
the head offices of the several companies, give to
particular counties an advantage not properly be-
longing to them. The figures so corrected are as
follows :

1815. 1843. 1860.
Middlesex £5,765,374 .. X 10,342,746 .. £13,677,213
York
Lancaster
Somerset 2,308,723 .. 2,991,746 .. 2,
996,605
Lincoln
Kent
Surrey 1,589,702 .. 2,748,050 .. 3,823,844
Stafford 1,200,325 .. 2,439,098 .. 3,423,635
The counties in which the increase was most rapid
during the earlier period are—Lancashire, 128 per
cent. ; Staffordshire, 103; Carnarvon, 99 ; Mon-
mouth, 93 ; Glamorgan, 85; Sussex, 82; Middlesex,
79; Anglesea, the same; Flint, 78; Surrey, 73;
Kent, 72. On the other hand, the increase was
slowest in the three counties of the northern group
(Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland),
and in Rutland, Wilts, Essex, and in Huntingdon,
being in each of these counties under 25 per cent.
Passing to the later period, we have as the coun-
ties in which the increase has been most rapid
Glamorgan, which has already gained 94 per cent.
on the valuation of 1843 ; Carnarvon, 52 ; Mon-
'mouth and Denbigh, 42; Surrey, 39; Lancashire,
38 ; Durham, 36 ; Middlesex, 32 ; Brecon, 31. In
no other county has the increase amounted to 30
per cent. In Somersetshire (which has been almost
stationary), Oxfordshire, Cornwall, and Hereford-
shire, it has been less than 5 ; in Huntingdon, Berks,
and Devon 6; and in nine other counties less than
10. It will be observed that we have now at the
lower end of the list three south-western instead of
thrpe northern counties. In six counties only
(Northumberland, Cumberland, Hampshire, Brecon,
Denbigh, and Glamorgan) has the rate of increase
been more rapid during the later than during the
earlier period.
Passing next to the items of which the schedule
is composed, we have first agricultural land, the
annual value of which appears to have risen from
about £24.500,000 in 1803 to £39,405,703 in 1815.
These figures refer to Great Britain, but in those
which follow we take the returns for England only,
and it will be necessary to include tithes, inasmuch
as commutation rentcharge is entered as " land,"
and consequently, in order to make the comparison
a fair one, the amount assigned to the earlier years
to tithes, as separately taxed, must be added to
" land" in the accounts of those years. Making
the requisite deductions for the tithes of the city of
London, we shall get for the annual value of agri-
cultural land and tithes in England-
-1815 £37,043,855
1843
1860 42,954,204
The result is that in the last 17 years the annual
value of land and tithes has increased about
£850,000, that is to say, somewhat, more than 2 per
cent.