The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-09 00:00:00

RUSSIAN GUSTOMS REFORM.

At a meeting of Bri►tish shipmasters held at Cron-
stadt, her Majesty's Ambassador was requested to
present the following address to the Minister of
Finance :—" To his Excellency M. Reutern, Minis-
ter of Finance, &c.—Your Excellency,—We, the
undersigned British shipmasters, trading to the port
of Crousta,dt, desire to express most respectfully
our grateful acknowledgments fur the great boon
which your Excellency has conferred on the com-
merce and shipping of this port by the two recent
improvements in the Customs regulations of St.
Petersburg and Cronsta It. We are deeply sensible
of the important alterations in the Customs laws
relating to the production of bills of lading by mas-
ters of vessels, which we consider is one of the most
beneficial changes that have been made in the com-
mercial legislation of Russia, and we earnestly trust
that your Excellency will soon think proper to ex-
tend its benefits to the other ports of the Empire.
The fines and penalties attached to the minutest
imperfections in bills of lading and entries have
from our experience been greatly prejudicial to the
foreign trade of Russia. The almost unavoidable
liability to fines and detention for mere clerical
errors has rendered the Russian trade one of the
most precarious and unsatisfactory to the shipowner,
and we therefore feel confident that the removal of
these fines and penalties will act as beneficially on
the interests of Russia as on those of our employers.
We are also desirous to thank your Excellency for
the advantages accorded to us by the regulations
under which we are permitted, as in other countries,
to obtain the clearance of our vessels for sea without
the compulsory employment of agents, whose
charges, arbitrarily fixed, have weighed heavily
upon our ships, and to a great extent also on the
produce they carried. As, under your Excellency's
nstructions, the Customs will in future allow our

vessels to depart on the satisfaction of all Govern-
ment dues and charges, we shall be able, as in other
ports, to make such voluntary agreements for the
transaction of our business while in harbour as will
greatly reduce our expenditure. We beg to assure
your Excellency that the simplification of the Cus-
toms laws will not fail to insure a more effectual
observance of them, and thus conduce to a greater
security of the revenue.—We have the honour to
remain, with most sincere assurances of gratitude
and respect, your Excellency's most obedient hum-
ble servants (signed by 81 British shipmasters.—
Cronstadt, May 20 (June 1), 1868."

At the Central Criminal Court this day, Anne
Rickaby, alias Annie Laura Reeve, a fashionably-dressed
lady, was indicted for bigamy. The jury, after hearing
the evidence, found her guilty, and she was sentenced to
one mouth's imprisonment.

ROYAL ComMISSION ON PRIMARY EDUCATION
(IRELAND).— Tho Royal Commission on Primary Educa-
tion (Ireland) met on Saturday at the offices of the com-
mission, 46, Upper Sackville-street, Dublin. There were
present—The Earl of Fowls, the Bishop of Meath, Master
Brooke, Rev. Dr. Wilson, Rev. B. M. Cowie, Mr. Dease,
Mr. Gibson, Mr. Stokes, Professor Sullivan, and Mr.
Waldron. The secretaries, Messrs. May and Dunne, were
in attendance.
TRINITY MONDAY.—Yesterday being Trinity
Monday a special general court was held at the Trinity
House on Tower-hill, at which his Royal Highness the
Duke of Edinburgh was unanimously re-elected master,
and Captain Frederick Arrow, deputy-master, of that
ancient corporation for the ensuing year. The court then
proceeded to the parish church of St. Olave in Hart-street,
where an excellent and appropriate sermon was preached
by the Rev. C. F. Tarver, M.A., vicar of St. Peter's Thanet
uhapisin in ordinary to her Majesty, and chaplain to the
Prince of Wales.
NATIONAL CHORAL SOCIETY (Conductor, Mr. G.
W. Martin).—We are requested to state that the weekly
meetings of the above society have terminated or the sea-
son, and will bo resumed in the autumn.
CRYSTAL PALACE.—The number of visitors to the
Crystal Palace yesterday was as follows : —Admissions
b season tickets, 1,762 ;on payment, 4,152 —total, 5,914.
THE TEA TRADE, June 8. —The deliveries in
London estimated for the week were 1,979,5541 b., which
is an increase of 580,4071 b. compared with the previous
statement. _

HRIFT AND THE POST. —The amount of capital
accumulated iu the Post-office savings banks at
the close of 1867 was £9,230,299 ; at the close of 1866 the
corresponding total was £7,719,981 ; at the close of 18 65,
£6,161,488; at the close of 1864, £4,687,893; and at
the close of 1863, £3,131,535. Thus in four years the
aggregate balance at the credit of depositors in the
Post-office Savings Banks increased to the extent of
£6,098,694.
WRECKS.—During the past week 34 wrecks were
reported, making for the present year a total of 989.
The title of William M'Garrahan to 19,000 acres
of land in California has been confirmed by a bill which
has just passed the Representatives. The track embraces
the new Idera_suicksilver mine.