The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-09 00:00:00

FRAM TAB MORNING PAPERS •F THIS DAY.

TIMES.—The plan for reducing the interest of the Three.
and•a.Half per Cents., announced last night by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, was received with an unanimous approval
which really appears almost incomprehensible. The public and
the public's creditor—stock-holder and taxpayer—appear equally
well pleased with the terms of their bargain. Such, at least, we
may presume to be the case, when in the House of Commons—a
body in which all may safely be supposed contributors to the na.
tional revenue, and most receivers of some amount of dividends—
not a single voice was raised in depreciation, however modified, of
Mr. Goulburn's measure. We do not, indeed, quite apprehend
the force of Mr. Baring's sentiment, that this reduction "would
be to other States a useful lesson that good faith to the public cre-
ditor is not only an honourable but even an economical policy."
This reduction of interest may be perfectly honest, but
it seems difficult to claim for it the high merit of
honourable generosity which Mr. Baring finds there, and
still more impracticable to establish between its eco-
nomy and its good faith that particular relation of cause
and effect which he seems to discover. The only faint whisper of dia.
content arose from Mr. Blewitt, who surmised that " the dissen,
tients might be found more numerous than the Chancellor of the
Exchequer seemed to expect." Perhaps our City Intelligence of
yesterday may serve to relieve his apprehensions. After the Go-
vernment's intention to reduce had been publicly announced, and
the particular terms which were to be proposed not uncertainly
conjectured in the City, the Three.and.a-Half per Cents. conti-
nued, and we may now fairly expect they will continue, to com.
mend the price of about 102%. It will be Indeed remarkable if
many stockholders are found of minds so peculiarly constituted as
to demand from Mr. Goulburn 1001. for what they might sell in
the market for 1021. 10s. Meantime, the public has to congra.
tulate Itself on an immediate saving of 825,0001., and an ultimate
one of a million and a quarter per annum. "It is an ill wind
that blows nobody good ;" and so this gain may be taken in part
compensation of the stagnation and lack of commercial enterprise
which has made the coming reduction practicable.
ADVERTISER.—It will be seen from our Parliamentary re.
port, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer last night explained the
mode in which he intends to effect the the reduction of the rate of
interest on the Three-and a-Half per Cents., which he announced
on Wednesday. The reduction is to three and a quarter, with a
guarantee that no further reduction will be made for ten years to
come. After the lapse of that period a further reduction of an-
other quarter will take place, with a guarantee that no further re-
duction will be made until the year 1874. This is, perhaps, the
best mode in which the operation could have been performed.
Though the saving to the public will be about 1,250,0(10/. per an-
num, the reduction is so slight and so gradual, that the annuitants
will not sensibly feel it, There is a general impression, which, we
trust, the event will confirm, that the saving effected by the con-
version of the Three.and.a-Halfs will not only enable, but dispose
Sir Robert Peel to dispense with the income-tax, when the three
years have expired. _

HERALD.—The inveteracy of the Opposition to Ministers and
their measures, in which some of our Contemporaries indulge, leads
them into laughable blunders. Thus the Chronicle yesterday ob.
jected to the proposed reduction of the Three.and.a.Half per
Cents. ; " not that the Ministers take advantage of the [Money]
Market, but that they have made the market in :order to take ad.
vantage of it." This great discovery—this ascription of a miracu.
lons power over the Money Market to Mr. Goulburn, will rather
astonish Lombard-street and the discount brokers. But how does
the reader think that the Chancellor of the Exchequer " has
made the market ?" By " secret and mysterious operations," we
are told in one sentence ; and by " restrictive laws," it is further
explained in the next. How " restrictive laws " can be " secret
and mysterious operations " we are not instructed; but we let
the neutralising inconsistency pass, to inquire what " restrictive
laws " Sir Robert Peel has procured the enactment of ? Every
economical law he has proposed to Parliament has been for the
relaxation of restrictions ; and so far from the effect of his legis-
lation being, as is alleged, to " cripple manufactures," it has had
the very opposite result. The Annual Trade and Navigation
accounts were presented the other day to Parliament, and
they exhibit a very remarkable increase during the
last year, in the exportation of our " crippled "
manufactures. The declared value of British produce
and manufactures exported in 1842 was 40,785,3501. ; in 1843 it
rose to 44,720,563/. ; and the greater part of this increase is in
" crippled" cotton and woollen goods. In 1843 we exported
16,248,7591. worth of cottons against 13,907,8841. in 1842, and in
1843 again we exported 6,784,4321. worth of woollens against
5,185,0451. in the year 1842. In all the leading articles of import
there was also an increase of consumption last year; in coffee,
sugar, tea, tobacco, wine, and tallow, the augmentation was consi-
derable, and the tonnage of our shipping employed in foreign trade
likewise increased. If, then, Ministers have been "mysteriously
and secretly" preparing for a reduction of the Three-and-a-Half
per Cents., it has been by extending and not by " crippling" our
manufactures. Mr. Goulburn simply takes advantage of that
which, as a wise financier, he is bound to take advantage of—the
permanent low rate of interest caused by circumstances over which
he has no more control than the Chronicle. Had he undertaken
the reduction last year, he might have been accused of seizing on
a temporary depreciation in the value of money; he has waited
until a time when further postponement would be a neglect of pub-
lic interests, and that which really gravels our Contemporary is
the certainty that he will be successful, and the knowledge that
his success will still further increase the surplus revenue Sir Robert
Peel promised, and has given to the country. But the public will
find in our Parliamentary reports Mr. Goulburn's own hill and con.
elusive explanation, the terms of the reduction, and a comprehen.
sive view of the whole subject.

RAILWAY BUSINESS IN PARLIA.=
MENT.
Whitehaven and Maryport Railway Bill,—" for making a
Railway from the town and port of Whitehaven to the town
and port of Aiaryport, in the county of Cumberland," pre-
sented, and read a first time.

Northern and Eastern Railway (Newport Deviations)
Bill,—" to enable the Northern and Eastern Railway Com-
pany to make certain Deviations in the Line of their Rail-
way, between Bishops Stortford and Newport, and to alter
and amend the Acts relating to the said Railway," presented,
and read a first time

Brighton and Chichester Railway,—Petition for Bill re-
Sorted, and Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. John Abel
mith and Captain Pechell.
Colchester and Harwich Railway (No. 2),—Petition for
Bill reported, and Bill ordered to be brought in by Sir Henry
Smyth and Major Beresford.
Harrogate and Knaresborough Railway,—Petition for Bill
reported, and Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. Lawson
and Mr. Ferrand.

Newbury, Basingstoke, London and Southampton Railway
Bill,—read a second time, and committed, and referred to the
Committee of Selection.

Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne, and Manchester Railway
Bill,—read a second time, and committed, and referred to the
Committee of Selection.
Eastern Counties Railway (Brandon and Peterborough
Extension) Bill,—" to enable the Eastern Counties Railway
Company to make a Railway from the Northern and Eastern
Railway at Newport, by Cambridge to Ely, and from thence
eastward to Brandon, and westward to Peterborough," pre-
sented, and read a first time.
Newbury and Great Western Railway Bill,—read a second
time, and committed, and referred to the Committee of
Selection.

Slamannan Junction Railway Bill,—read a second time,
and committed, and referred to the Committee of Selection.

North British Railway Bill,—read a second time, and com-
mitted, and referred to the Committee of Selection.

Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings Railway,—Petition for Bill
reported, and Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. Darby and
Lord Alfred Hervey.

FIRE AT EALlNG.—Yesterday evening, about a
quarter to five o'clock, an express arrived at the King-street
brigade station, announcing the outbreak of a large fire in the
village of Ealing, Middlesex. Immediately an engine, with
a party of firemen, under the charge of Mr. Fogo, the fore-
man, was started to the scene and the news having been
forwarded to the other stations in the metropolis, in a short
time the County Fire-office engine, and another from the
Waterloo-road station, were likewise dispatched. Upon
their arrival the fire proved to have originated in the resi-
dence known as Sutherland House, belonging to Mrs. E. V.
Nunn, near Ealing House ; but, fortunately, the danger had
been overcome, though the damage the building sustained
was considerable. It commenced in an apartment adjoining
the drawing room, on the first floor. The cause of the fire is
unknown.

METROPOLITAN BUlLDlNGS.—Yesterday the Bill
" for better regulating the buildings of the metropolitan dis-
tricts, and to provide for the drainage thereof," was issued.
It extends, with the several schedules annexed, to eighty-
four pages, and appears to have been framed with a good
deal of labour and care. There are one hundred and nine
clauses, and twelve schedules. The object cf the measure
is to regulate the construction of buildings in the metropolis,
and to provide for the drainage of the districts. The mea-
sure, so far as relates to the officers to be appointed, shall
come into operation on the Ist of September next; and as to
buildings, streets, and other matters, on the Ist of January,
1845, on which day all the Acts mentioned in the schedule
A, except so far as in the schedule stated, are to be repealed.
The Bill is divided into several portions, embracing the fol-
lowing expressions :—General provisions, buildings, new and
old, builders, buildings generally, adjoining properties, party
walls, party fences, intermixed buildings, ruinous buildings,
expenses of works, building use thereof, district surveyors,
official referees, registration of metropolitan buildings, official
referees, official legal proceedings, and miscellaneous." Fixed
rules are to be relaxed where they needlessly affect the ob-
ject of the Bill, and surveyors are empowered to carry the
spirit of the Act into practical operation.
THE INFANT ORPHAN ASTLEM.-011 Thursday the
friends and supporters of this establishment celebrated the
anniversary of its creation by dining together at the London
Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, and partaking of the hospitality
provided on the occasion by the proprietors of that well-
known gathering place of the benevolent and the festive.
It had been announced that Lord Morpeth would take the
chair, but his Lordship not being able to attend, his place
was supplied by Lord Robert Grosvenor, who was supported
by Sir George Carroll, Mr. B. Bond Cabbell, and many other
gentlemen of rank and fortune. The company consisted of
upwards of 160 persons, and the gross amount of the contri-
butions was about 1,5001., including 101. from her Ma-
jesty, 25/. from the Noble Chairman, 251. from Mr. B. B.
Cabbell, and 25/. from the Pacha of Egypt, through
Mr. Waghorn. Upon the removal of the cloth " Non nobis,"
was sung by Messrs. G. F. Taylor, G. Rennie, R. F. Smith,
and G. George ; after which the healths of the Queen, of
Prince Albert, of the Prince of Wales, the Queen Dowager,
and the other members of the Royal family were drunk
with the accustomed honours. " The health of the
Duke of Wellington and the Army" was also drunk with
every demonstration of respect and enthusiasm ; after which
the children nurtured and educated at the new building at
Wanstead were brought into the room, and after having sung
an appropriate hymn, marshalled in procession between the
tables. fhis was the most interesting part of the festival,
and certainly, if the merit of an establishment is to be
estimated by the appearance of those who are the
objects of its intentions, nothing could exceed the claims
of this asylum to public patronage. The children were
line specimens of what good treatment, good air, and
kindness in their guardians and preceptors, could pro-
duce. As soon as they had retired, the Noble Chairman
made a short but forcible appeal in support of the institu-
tion by which they were protected to the company, and the
appeal, as the amount of the contributions showed, was not
in vain. Several other toasts, viz., the health of the chair-
man, for which Lord R. Grosvenor returned thanks, of the
vice-pi es , • idents for which Sir G. Carroll returned thanks, and
of the clergy, were then drank; after which the Noble Chair-
man retired, to be present, as he said, at a division in the
House of Commons, and Mr. B. B. Cabbell took the chair.
The company remained for some time after the retirement of
his Lordship, and having drunk several toasts more imme-
diately connected with the charitable purposes of the asylum,
and heard some good glees from the professionals present,
separated a little before 11 o'clock.
The General Steam Navigation Company's mail -
packet, Neptune, Captain H. W. Gibbs, arrived at Blackwall
this morning, at half-past nine o'clock, with the Hamburgh
mail. This is the first vessel that has arrived from Ham-
burgh blue the ice bet in.