The Sun. — 1862-10-24 (London, England)

TAXATION IN AUSTRIA.—At the sitting of the Australian Chamber of Deputies on the 18th the Minister of Finance presented a new bill based on the one before withdrawn for increasing the taxes for three successive years. In deing so he stated that the deficit for 1862 would be twenty-five millions less than was at first calculated. The year 1863 would commence with 22 millions in hand, and no recourse would be had to a loan to cover the deficit, particularly if the proposed increase of the taxes and the bill on the Bank should be approved of by the Chamber of Deputies. According to the new bill, the extraordinary addition to the direct taxes established by Imperial ordinance on the 13th May, 1359, would ba increased as follows for 1863, 1864, and 1865 :—The land tax to be carried to five-twelfths of the ordinary imposts, and the tax on houses, trade licences, the contribute arsi e conmereio of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, and the income tax, to be doubled. Major Bruce, of the King's County Rifles, was nearly lost in a gale on Lough Dearg last week. His yacht Lurline, caught in a tremendous gale on Thursday night, was driven aground and abandoned. The Major, Mr. Hutton, and the crew got into the small boat, and after an hour's hard rowing amid the billows reached a small island, where they were obliged to remain all night. Some valuable articles were left behind in the yacht and lost.  SUSPECTED MURDER AND MUTlLATlON.—Considerable excitement has been caused in the usually quiet district of the Thorne Levels, during the past week (says a Manchester contemporary), by the discovery of the body of a female in a ditch, under very suspicious circumstances. On Thursday last, as some children were gathering blackberries on the edge of a ditch which separates the farms of •Mr. H. W. Godfrey and Mr. Charles Makins, on the Low Levels, in a very lonely spot between the Low Bank and the Hatfield Waste Drain, they saw an object which caused them to call the attention of some labourers in a field adjoining, and, on their reaching the place, they were horror struck to find the body of a female in a very advanced stage of decomposition. She was lying in the bottom of the ditch, with both her arms cut completely off, and they were nowhere to be seen. No weapons of any kind were found near her. Information was at once given to Sergt. Gibson, of Hatfield, who proceeded to the spot. Mr. J. J. Littleood, surgeon, of Thorne, was also summoned to make a professional examination of the deceased. Her name and address are at present unknown. An inquest was held at Black Bull Inn, Levels, un Saturday last, before Mr. Marratt, the district coroner, but, after hearing the evidence that could be produced, it was adjourned to the 4th Nov. next. From the depositions taken, and from certain other facts which have come to the knowledge of the authorities, very little doubt is entertained that the deceased met with her end by foul means. The police are taking steps to find out her name, and where she comes from, and also the whereabouts of the suspected murderer, and it is hoped their efforts will be successful.  DESTRUCTION OF A BARGE BY FlRE.—Yesterday morning, between the hours of two and three o'clock, a most destructive fire broke out in a barge belonging to H. Dudin and Sons, Springall's-wharf, Bermondsey-wall, which caused a general alarm. The barge was laden with a cargo of spirits and lucifer-matches. A man named Henry Steed was so severely burnt in cutting away the ropes that his removal to Guy's Hospital was rendered necessary. The barge was eventually removed and fastened to a buoy in the middle of the river, but the fire could not be extinguished, and the cargo was therefore destroyed and the barge sunk.