The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-11 00:00:00

IRISH SPIRITS.

Mr. HASSARD asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer
if it was his intention to propose that any reduction should
be made in the duty now payable upon spirits manufac-
tured in Ireland ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER replied in
the negative, and expressed his pleasure in being enabled
to state that there had been no increase in illicit distillation
in Ireland, notwithstanding the increase of the duty on
Irish spirits.
THE NEW POST-OFFICE ORDER.
Mr. RICH called attention to the order of the Post-
master-General of the 27th of January last, directing, in
effect, that after the 10th of the month all letters
which were not prepaid should be opened by the post-
office authorities ; and to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exche-
quer what provisions had been made thenceforth to guard
the inviolability of letters sent through the post-office.
The hon. member contended that the order sub judice was
most impolitic and unjust. It had been ascertained that
within a certain period there were 1,273,000 letters dropped
into the Post-office improperly directed, which gave an
amount of 610,000 a-year which never reached their desti-
nation. It was very unfair to the public to open-the let-
ters which were carelessly posted, and which being of a
confidential character should have been respected.
Sir S. NORTHCOTE assured the hon. member that
the order was not made for the convenience of the Govern-
ment or for Treasury purposes, but for the convenience of
the public, and that its operation was injurious to the re-
venue. The'order was in conformity with the plan of Mr.
Rowland Hill, and had his approval. It was a fact that a
great number of the letters m question were sent for pur-
poses of annoyance. There were 523,000,000 of letters
posted in the United Kingdom in the year. Two
and a-half millions of them were not prepaid, of which
no less than 60 per cent. were of an annoying cha-
racter. With reference to valentines he b9gged to state
that these were not always of such a character
as might naturally be supposed to pass between young men
and women. (A laugh.) Out of 800,000 of these there
were no loss than 60,000 (which were not pre-paid) which
were of an offensive description ; some of them contained
soot and the dead bodies of certain animals. (Alaugh.) A
great number of these letters also contained merely the
advertisements of tradesmen, and to such an extent had
the nuisance proceeded that numbers of persons had given
order that no unpaid letters should be received at their
establishments, which, of course, sometimes led to the re-
jection of letters that were of importance. Six thousand
letters were returned daily to the dead-letter office, which
were not only immediately forwarded to the writers by the
first mail, but free of expense. In no ease whatever had
there been an instance of the contents being abused. (Hear,
hear.)
ARMY AND NAVY EXPENDITURE.
Mr. W. WILLIAMS asked the right hon. gentleman
the member for Radnor to inform the house why the Com-
missioners of Audits' account of the expenditure do the
army and navy in the year ending the 31st March, 1866
is £1,156,509 more than the Treasury account of the Sala
expenditure presented to this house ?
Sir G. C. LEWIS explained that it was impossible the
audits could agree in any two years.
After a few words from Sir W. JOLLIFFZ,
The subject dropp.
THE NEW FOREIGN OFFICE.
Mr. TITE asked the Chief Commissioner of Works what
steps 'll ad ;been taken with reference to the rebuilding of
the Foreign Office in Downing-street, and entered into
details of the proceedings of the commission on •this
sstt7lcet,
ift hseo
that
i la t
subject. He understood that Mr. Scott was the architect
who had been seleicnte
and that it was to be the tgootchioncwilding,
and
would not harmonise with the buildings that would sur-
round it. The Duko of Buccleuch, it was understood,
would rebuild his dwelling in the Italian style, and he con-
tended that that style would be preferable for the new
ecausequence of
building, not :only on that ground, but