The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The Times considers the question raised by Sir Massey
Lopes on Tuesday night, whether, at present and upon
the whole, land is taxed more or less heavily than it ought
to be. Nothing can be more difficult than to strike the
balance ; but perhaps we shall not be far wrong if we
c Include that it is over-taxed for local, and under-taxed
for imperial purposes. Such a conclusion is not altogether
unsatisfactory. It may not be very scientific to set off
the severer pressure of poor rates and county rates
against the reduced scale of duty on succession to
laud, or the questionable advantages of landowners
over professional men and tenant farmers over shop
I::opers in the assessment of the income tax, but
tilia solution of the problem is not without a rational
fGundation. It was acknowledged on all hands, in the
debate of Tuesday night, that local taxation is vitally con-
-1 with local management, and local management
—not to say jealously guarded—by the

valued

lose interests Sir Massey Lopes udvo-
t only mode hitherto suggested of
ed.encling local taxa.ion, in effect, to other classes, is
making grants from the national exchequer, and these
grants wc,nlil involve a proportionate extension of central
vupervision. The reasonable inference is, that whatever

very class wl
Almos

cates.

may be Lirly claimed by the landowners should be

given by Parliament in respect of those expenses over
which central supervision is necessary or desirable ; and
this is the inference which the House of Commons, with-
ou t dividing, had the good senseto draw.

Taking up the same subject, the Daily News admits that
considerable taxes and great charges are laid on the con-
veyance of land. But proportionate taxes are levied on
the transfer of railway shares. The sale of land is not alone
visited with stamp duties; nor can the Legislature be
blamed for the cost of conveyance. The processes by
which land is tied up under a settlement arealevices which
conveyancers have invented in order to defeat the law, not
hardships which the law has imposed. Primd facie, it is
nobody's concern that this nobleman or baronet
or esquire thinks proper to take precautions for "founding
a family," and appropriating, as far as possible, a landed
estate to his eldest male representative. It is inevitable
that such vanity should be a costly enjoyment ; that
hment should multiply upon the hands of these

n, and that settlements should become
more and more expensive. But the nation does not put
this impost on the landowner ; he Las to thank his own
pride, his longing to accumulate the iminctuta jugera, for
these incidents of his ostentation.

country o

The Post, in dealing with the riots at Ashton, wants to
know what on earth the authorities could have been doing
or thinking of to allow the fight to go to such a head, and,
in fact, to be actually concluded before they were ready to
play their appropriate share in the matter. They had
had ample warning on the Saturday and Sunday ; they
ought certainly to have been prepared by Monday
right to deal with any fresh outbreak, and they
ought • to be called to a strict account for their
failure to prevent the scenes we have described.
The Mayor appears to be very active now that the mis-
chief is done, in devising remedies for the effects of it, and
so far deserves praise ; but prevention is proverbially
better than cure, and it is difficult to see how it could have
.ter means of dealing with the matter was
ks for the rioters themselves, it would be
) exprct their brutal and stupid natures to be
by anything like reason, or it might be of
to point out to them that they will neither
_ their own cause ncr injure that of their
_tics by fighting with them, even if they are
1, as they have been on this occasion, to have their

1 without interfence. It is useless to
-.-
inalcc any app_sal to .such creatures ; but as we still have
laws and power to enforce them, if only used, we must pro-
test against the feebleness which results in handing over to
ruin and plunder nny town which savage factions choose to
select for the scene of a fight.

C 1) ,2t

fir~it

to tl

sing the well-worn subject of casual relief, the
rests an expedient for suppressing professional
_ The person starting, say for London, should
shed with a recommendation from the authorities
of the place he leaves, stating his object and destination,
which should on presentation at once entitle him to relief,
while its non-production by those who had not procured it
would at once denote their characters and disentitle them
to consideration. Lord Kimberley's apprehension that
the poor law may be but too laxly administered seems to
ns, basing our conviction on past experience of the
new law, tate perfectly unfounded. It would evidently
lie a far greater hardship to cast the entire support
d parents on a struggling child than to
divide it on the shoulders of the community for
whose benefit they may have before honestly laboured.
Such a course would in truth be a total perversion of
charity, and tend rather to increase than to diminish the
extent of pauperism. Neither dO we think that the Duke
of Cleveland's dread of workhouses becoming " what the
French called hospices" should influence legislation on
None are admitted into the French esta-
110-e comforts he seems disposed to grudge,
'e attained their seventieth year, after which
tably considered to be entitled to repose.
examples can be quoted in which undue
.oration has been extended in our workhouses to
occupants, although, unfortunately, but too many
instances have bean brought to light in which their heart-
less treatment has excited oublic indignation.

be

;ad at

of his

tr.til U.

they are cha

The Telegraph declares that no one can deny that the
llhuse of Commons has given its sanction to the introduc-
tion of the metric system into this country. Why, then,
hesitate any longer ? The sooner we put our hands to
work and enter in good earnest to make the change the
better. - The experience of France and other countries is,
that a very short time is sufficient for diffusing the neces-
sary information on the subject. So long as there is any
uncertainty as to its becoming the law of the country,
few, comparatively, will use the plan, and even teachers
will abstain from introducing it into the schools.
But let it be known that in a few years the rule
will become compulsory, and it will at once be
taken up and learnt in every nook and corner of
the land. There is no reed of any further inquiry.
on the subject. What is wanted is the passing of a simple
re, el-meth-1g that in five or ten years the metric
system shall be obligatory; and the bill before the House
wisely leaves the number of years a blank to be filled up
in committee. In a matter of this kind the Chambers of
Commerce have a right to be heard, and they have pro-
vin favour of the measure. The Metric

me as

d strc

Committee of the British Association for the Advance-
ment of Science has also expressed itself in favour of the
system, and public opinion has been manifested in every
way in the same direction. A little more boldness, and a
desire for thoroughness in our legislation, would save us a
world of time and much useless disputation.

The Council of the Liverpool Chamber of Corn-
mace have agreed to a petition in favour of the Govern-
ment management of the electric telegraph system of thd
United Kingdom. The council suggest that the telegraph
lines be managed on the Post-office system, and that in
each village consisting of Z.lOO or more inhabitants, there be
a station.

REFUSING TO ACCEPT A FINE-ART COLLECTION.--
The Liverpool Town Council has refused to accept a col-
lection of pictures and works of art, left, on certain con-
ditions, to the town by Mr. Gower, an English merchant,
who recently died in Marseilles. A deputation of the
council, who had inspected the collection, reported that not
one out of about 400 pictures was worth more than £5 ;
while the bronzes—described as old classic works—were of
the coarsest modern manufacture, and not even "aged"
artificially to imitate long-buried works of Roman and
Greek zat.

Those to whom it is a satisfaction when the
representative of an ancient and distinguished family is
placed in the enjoyment of " his own again," will have
observed with pleasure that the noble Secretary for the
Colonies has for SjITIC time past occupied Chandos House,
and has resumed his residence at Stowe, which for
many years, after being stripped of its unrivalled contents,
was deserted. His Grace is, moreover, we are informed,
gradually re-collecting many of the dispersed treasures, of
w:iose fate a careful account had been kept ; and he
intends that, as opportunities occur, many more shall
again find a resting-place in their old home. Buckingham
House, the residence of the family in the last generation,
ii splendid hospitality in the days of
neighbour, Schoenberg House,
edy encroacher on " the sweet
the War Office. The arms and,

anti the

the Regency, h
been al

tinne: :IA fa
believe the

Ike its

by that g:

lora their family mansion.

ing the state of Ireland and the prospects
rest, the /iisA Cii,t if the season con-

g 1.

t pr,2sent, there is cv_Ty reason to

ill not only be abundant, brat early,
obtained for their produce last year

ha.‘" encouraged the agriculturists to place a larger
extent of land in tillage. A slovenly farm is now the ex-
ception, mat the rule." The winter and spring-sown wheat
is thriving well. A like account is given of the
oat crop. The same paper adds that the Irish in America
continue to send over money to ray the cost of passage
for relatives, and the prospect of high wages, with the
on of land at a cheap rate, prove

hope of ult

irresistibi, tcmptaticns. Yet wages in Ireland are in-
creased, and will probally become still higher. The
eashntry aro better clothed and fed and lodged than they
1 ave ever been, and there is a complete absence of crime
throughout Ireland.