The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-17 00:00:00

7111 E LRITISII CORN 2RAI2E,_

Although there has been no pressure of supply in the
leading markets, English wheat has met a heavy demand,
and the quotations have had a drooping tendency.
Millers, however, have now turned their attention to
Australian and Californian wheats, of which large quan-
tities have been disposed of on higher terms.
There has been only a limited inquiry for barley, yet
prices have been fairly supported. The supplies brought
forward have been on the increase. V.;ry little change
has taken place in the value of malt, but sales have pro-
gressed slowly. Oats, beans, and peas have ruled about
stationary, although the inquiry for them has been by no
means active. Both English and foreign flour has com-
manded more attention. The weather has continued re-
markably mild for the time of year. Field operations
which are unusually forward, have progressed rapidly.,
The wheats, however, have, as yet, made their appearance
is very middling condition.
Both on Wednesday and Friday, business in English
wheat at Mark-lane was quite of a retail character 7--
having, in fact, been confined to the immediate wants of
millers. Prices have been supported.
On Wednesday, the trade was dull for all descriptions of
foreign wheat, at late rates ; but, on Friday, fine Austra-
lian and Californian wheats met a steady sale, at an im-
provement of is. per quarter ; whilst all other kinds were
neglected.
Both English and foreign flour has been neglected ; yet
prices have been unchanged.
Notwithstanding that only moderate supplies of barley
have been on sale, the trade has ruled quiet ; but no change
has taken place in prices.
Seasonably-extensive supplies of malt have been on sale.
Very few sales have been effected on former terms.
The small quantity of oats offering has imparted a tone
of firmness to prices ; nevertheless, the demand for all
descriptions has been inactive.

With a moderate business doing in beans, late rates bave
been realised.

Sales to a fair extent have been effected in peas, on
former term►

The trade in Indian corn has been dull, at about late
prices.

THE INLAND REVENUE.

,_

The eleventh report of the Commissioners of her
Majesty's Inland Revenue has been presented. The com-
parative statement shews that the revenue obtained from
excise in the year ending March 31, 1867, was £20,691,917
as compared with £19,801,955 in 1866. The amount derived
from stamps was £9,354,085 in 1867, against £9,593,664 in
1866. The taxes in 1867 were £3,476,485, and £3,349,611
in 1866. The income tax in 1367 pioduced £5,637,294 as
compared with £6,321,692 in 1866. The total amount of
Inland Revenue was thus £39,159,781 in 1867, against
£39,066,922 in 1866, being an increase in 1867 of £92,859.
There is a reduction in the income tax of £684,398, and in
fire, stage, and post-horse duties of £295,660, making a
total of £950,058. These, however, have been more than
compensated by the growth of revenues from duties which
remain unaltered ; such as the spirit, malt, licenses, pro-
bate, and house duties. •
Going more into detail, the report states that the increase
in the consumption of spirits in the years 1863, 1864, and
1865 has been continued during 1866 and during the
greater part of 1867 ; and again, as was the case in the
previous year, the increase has been greater in Ireland
than in England and Scotland together. In England, the
consunttion of 1866-7 exceeded that of the previous year
by 333,860 gallons, in Scotland by 249,547 gallons, and in
Ireland by 5b4,502 gallons. The increase in England is
2.96 per cent., in Scotland, 479 per cent., and in Ireland
not less than 12'03 per cent. During the same period the
consumption of foreign spirits in the United Kingdom has
increased to the extent of 16 per cent. The total amount
of spirits exported is given at 1,260,388 gallons, being
nearly 400,000 less than the quantity exported in 1865-6.
An explanation is given of the reduction of the quantity
of spirits methylated during the year. It is accounted for
by an alteration which has been made in the law, so as to
prohibit the use of that kind of spirits in medicinal pre-
parations for internal use. Under pretence of being sold
as a medicine, it was in reality sold in the place of ordinary
spirit. The Pharmaceutical Society considering it highly
objectionable that these spirits should be used, legislatior
was resorted to prohibiting entirely its use.

With regard to illicit distillation, there were in 1866-7
17 detections in England, 9 in Scotland, and 2,306 in
Ireland, against 41 in England, 11 in Scotland, and 3,557
in Ireland made in 1865-6. With regard to fire insurance,
the gross amount of duty received in 1865-6 was £1,237,513.
There has been a decrease in 1867 of more than £230,000,
the amount being £1,000,113. The net amount of duty is
given as £1,178,385 in 1866, as compared with £952,338 in
1867. The latter amount allows a discount of is. 6d. for
£lOO insured to the companies for collection. With
reference to income tax, the amount of profits of trades
and professions charged in England in 1865 is in excess of
the amount charged in 186-1 to the extent of £8,270,000.
The commissioners have, as usual, abundant evidence,
from the number of fraululent returns which have been
detected, that Schedule D contributes far less than its fair
proportion to the revenue. The following is selected as a
specimen :—" A. 8." made return in 1864 of 22,500,
assessed £4,000 ; in 1865 £4,000, assessed £4,000 ; in 1866
£lO,OOO, assessed £30,000. On appeal, the amount
was fixed at 220,588, that being the ascertained
profit on the average of the three preceding years.
Similar cases are given. For instance, "C. D." made no
return in either years. He was assessed at £3,000 in 1864
and 1865, and 211,000 in 1866. In all cases proceedings
have been taken in the Court of Exchequer, but the penal-
ties, about £lOO in each case, have been found very in-
adequate to the offences, and as the offenders as a matter
of course make no resistance they avoid the publicity of a
trial in open court. If proceedings for such penalties
could be taken before the local magistrates (suggest the
commissioners) in the country, or the police magistrates in
London, the deterrent effect would probably be consider-
able. It never could have been intended that the secrecy
which we are now bound to observe respecting all returns
under Schedule D should extend to those who are con-
victed of fraud.

Within the past day or two the health of the Premier
is said to have decidedly improved. Since his recent
'severe attack of gout the noble earl has not been able
rapidly to gain strength, and it has been noticed of late
years that his lordship has, to the regret of his friends,
been unable so speedily to recover as formerly. Lord
Derby is at present suffering from extreme weakness.
One fact has been incidentally mentioned, which is not
without interest as bearing on recent discussions. The
noble earl sees the official papers, which are sent to him in
regular course ; and they are duly returned, not without
having received his personal attention.

The Liberals of Bristol have at length found a candi-
date to enter the field against Mr. Miles. Mr. Samuel
Blorley will, on his return from the Continent, be ready
to contest the seat which must soon be vacated by Sir
Morton Peto. The fact of Mr. Morley's having been un-
seated for Nottingham in May 1866 does not preclude him
from offering himself for any constituency other than that
for which he was declared not duly elected.
Amongst other items of election news, it is men-
tioned that at King's Lynn the Conservatives will en•
deavour to secure the second seat at the forthcoming
general election. They will therefore oppose the return of
Sir T. Powell Buxton by putting forward the Hon. R.
Bourke, son of the Earl of Mayo. This statement appears
in the Post, but there must be some mistake about it. The
young gentleman in question will not be 17 years of age
until July next, and will therefore not be eligible to sit in
Parliament for some years to come.

Sir R. J. Phillimore, D.C.L., has, we under-
stand, just resigned the office of chancellor and official
principal of the Consistorial Court of the diocese of Salis-
bury, which he has held for a period of nearly twenty-three
years, he having been appointed to it in 1845 by the then
Bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Denison. Sir Robert Phillimore
will, it is understood, be succeeded in the office by Dr.
Deane, Q.C., the new Admiralty advocate.
WATERING THE STREETS.—TIIO system of street-
watering is undergoing a revision. A combination of
certain non-corrosive salts has been invented, which,
sprinkled on roads, keeps them damp, yet prevents the
accumulation of mud, and is not injurious to coach-panels
or personal attaire. Experiments are about to be made
with it in Camberwell and Lambeth, by the vestries, who
are promised a saving of 20 per cent, by the adoption of
the system.

ONE OF THE REALITIES OF LIFE. —A sad story,
belonging to what is called the romance of real life, has
been told at an inquest held in the Hanwell Lunatic
Asylum. Elizabeth Money, a poor old woman, whose
recent death in the asylum was the subject of inquiry,
when young had a fortune of £4,000. She fell in love
with a perfumer and married him. Her friends,
shocked at the 70salliance, never spoke to her again.
Her husband fell into difficulties, and died, leaving her
and a crippled daughter without provision. The mother's
misfortunes preyed on her mind till she showed symp-
toms of lunacy. For a few weeks the daughter struggled
to maintain her, but, ultimately, hapless Elizabeth Money,
at the age of 71, came to the workhouse. There they kept
her a little time, part of which she spent in the padded-
room, as she was violent ! From the workhouse she was
put into a cab and taken to the asylum, where she arrived
in such a state of exhaustion that she died within a week
or two of her admission. The doctor at the asylum con-
sidered she ought not to have been removed in such a con-
dition. The jury brought in a verdict of accidental
death, but thought that the old woman's removal was an
error of judgment on the part of the medical officer of the
Stroud Vaion,

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HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Feb. IG.
Her Majesty, Prince and Princess Christian,
P:incess Louise, and Princess Henriette of Schles-
wig-Holstein attended Divine Service this morning
at Whippingham Church.

The Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting were in
attendance.

We are authorised to state that his Royal High-
ness the Prince of Wales will hold Levdes at St. James's
Palace, on behalf of the Queen, on Tuesday, March 3, and
Tuesday, March 17.

DRURY-LANE THEATR E . —Their Royal Highnesses
the Prince and Princess of Wales, attended by Lady Morton.
and Col. Keppe], honoured the performance at Drury-lane
with their presence on Saturday evening.
We are requested by the Lord Chancellor to con-
tradict a statement of the intended 'marriage of his daugh-
ter, which, without any authority, was most improperly
inserted in the Court Journal, and for which there is not
the slightest foundation.

NAVAL AND 111ILITAI?Y INTELLIG.EIVCE.

The unarmoured screw corvette Wolverine, 21
guns, 400 horse-power, Captain Thomas Cochrane,
which returned to England within the past week
from a term of service on the North America and
Wrest India stations, sailed from Spithead on Friday
evening for Sheerness, to be dismasted and paid out
of commission.

The unarmoured screw sloop Danae, six guns,
850 horse-power, Capt. Sir Malcolm MacGregor,
left Portsmouth harbour on Saturday, under steam,
and proceeded down Channel without anchoring at
Spit head.

The unarmoured screw sloop Blanche, six guns,
350 horse-power, Capt. J. E. Montgomerie, arrived
at Spithead yesterday morning from the Nore, en
route to Australia.

The armoured iron screw frigate Minotaur, 26
guns, 1,250 horse-power, Captain James G. Good-
enough, flagship of Rear-Admit al Fredk. Warden,
C. 8., Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Squadron,
has been undocked at Portsmouth, after having her
hull below the water line cleansed and recoated
with the " Hay" compositions, and is now berthed
iu the steam basin of the yard, completing her refit
and the alterations being made in her rig aloft.
This alteration in the rig of the Minotaur is just
one of those many instances of waste in our
dockyards which absords the money rightly be-
longing to the production of an ironclad fleet.
The Minotaur has been hitherto cruising with
double topsail yards aloft on four out of her five
masts, with stump topgallant-masts over all. No
one would pretend to say that this style of rig wan
either handsome or effective, but every one knew
that it had been fitted after long and deliberate con-
sideration by the constituted authorities. The four
lower masts have now been denuded of their top-
masts and stump topgallantmasts with their double
topsail and their topgallant yards, and the three
foremost carry instead new topmasts with single
topsails and new. topgallants and royalmasts with
topgallant royal sails. The fourth mast carries now,
like the fifth or aftermost one, only fore and aft
canvas. It is impossible to say how the ship is to
benefit by this large expenditure upon her rig above
her lower masts. The latter are unaltered in their
proportions as the carriers of sail power to a vessel
of such enormous displacement as the Minotaur,
and the change made only gives the ship three
scanty royals set over, three topsails of diminished
hoist. Altogether, the ship will go to sea under
certain alterations in her rig which will have cost
an exceptionally large sum, and which will abso-
lutely add nothing to her sail-propelling power.
They manage these things very differently in the
French navy.
An Admiralty order, received at Chatham dock-
yard, directs preparations to be forthwith made for
the construction at that establishment of another
powerful armour-clad war ship of the Hercules.cla.ss,
in the large dock from which the Hercules was re-
cently floated out. The instructions accompanying
the order states that the new vessel—the name of
which is not announc3d—will be in all respects the
same as the Hercules below the water-line, and that
the irocwork for the keel of the new ship is to be
immediately commenced. Consequent on this
order the extra mechanics taken on some time since
iu the smithery department will be retained in the
yard instead of being discharged.
Her Majesty's screw gun vessel Landrail, 5, 427
tons, 80 horse power, Capt. Horatio L. A. L. Mait-
land (promoted to post rank since the Landrail has
been in commission), having been dismantled and
the whole other internal fittings and bulkheads re-
moved, in the steam basin, was on Saturday put
out of commission, and placed in the third division
of the steam reserve in the Medway,under the super-
intendence of Captain W. K. Hall, C. 8., and the
officials connected with the steam reserve. By direc-
tion of the Admiralty a silver medal, with the usual
gratuity, was presented to William Pyburn, boat-
swain's mate, for long service and good conduct.
[he Landrail has been rather more than three years
in commission, and during the whole of that time
was attached to the squadron doing duty on the
West Coast of Africa. She is one of the earlier
built vessels of her class, and will probably not
again be placed in commission. The continuous
service men among the petty officers and crew were
granted the usual period of leave of absence on the
ship's company being paid off.

Under the superintendence of Capt. Willes, who
is in command of the steam reserve at Devonport, a
trial of the iron double-screw corvette Penelope, 10,
was made at the measured mile outside Plymouth
breakwater on Friday. The weather was fine. The
Penelope was built at Pembroke ; she burdens 3,096
tons, and has engines of 600-horse power nominal con-
structed by Messrs. Maudslay, Field, and Co., whose
partner, Mr. Maudslay, jun., with Mr. Warriner,
was on board. The result of six runs gave a mean
speed of about 12i knots, which was considered
satisfactory. The Penelope is provided with two
rudders, and when both screws were put in motion
and both rudders turned to port or to starboard
the corvette performed the circle in less time than
when one screw was reversed and its rudder was
placed so as to aid the movement. The Penelope is
now in Keyham steamyard, where her fittings will
be completed.
Her Majesty's India troopship Jumna arrived at
Suez on the 10th instant. The troops she brings
from Bombay will be conveyed from Alexandria to
Portsmouth in the Crocodile, and they may be
expected to arrive at that port or on about the 29th
instant.

The Depot of the 2d Battalion, Bth Regiment,
consisting of four officers, 73 non-commissioned
officers and men, ten women, and 15 children, ar-
rived at Aldershott on Friday afternoon, and pro-
ceeded to occupy quarters in the South Camp,
there to await the arrival of the battalion, expected
home from Malta at an early date.

Major-General Sir A. Horsford, K.C.8., having
returned from leave of absence, has assumed com-
mand of the 3d Infantry Brigade at Aldershott.
A sergeant in the Ist Battalion 9th Regt., named
George Keating,has been dismissed her Majesty's ser-
vice at Pembroke dock. Keating had been tried at the
Fort Barracks, the President being Colonel G. F.
Mann, C. 8., Royal Engineers, upon charges of
being absent without leave and of insubordination:
he having struck his superior officer in the face,
and for making use of the following language :—"
no an Irishman and a Fenian, and to -- with,
die English Government; I am a Fenian and Will
lot be ruled by the British Government." He was
sound guilty upon the whole of the charges, and
vas sentenced to five years' penal servitude, to be
)randed with the letters " B. C.,P and to be dis"
;barged from her Majesty's army with ignominy.
The following appointments were made on S -
urday at the Admiralty :—William C. P. Grant'2
.ayinaster, to the Rodney ; George Maclean, ass's
urgeon, to the Bristol ; Joseph Lindsay,
,ssistant surgeon, to the Bristol ; Frederick ti
.
yr
3ottomley, clerk, to the Mega2ra ; George "
Mackey, clerk, to the Royal Adelaide, as superuu
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