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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3921, 1 June 1877, Page 2

We find the following in the Ofar/o Daih/ Times of the 28th \ilt :— " Messrs Cargill, Gibbs and Co. have received tho following from Messrs Helmuth, Schwartze, and Co., dated London, May 23rd : ' Lately telegraphed improvement not maintained. Market is lower. Prices are irregular. The wool trade is much affected by present state of politics in France.' " This corresponds with the view which we expressed on the receipt of the intelligence of the last decline. An English correspondent of the Australasian of May sth remarks that, all along, the wool market had been more affected by the Franco-German difficulty than by the threatened Jtusso-Turkish war. French politics, it is satisfactory to observe, are now in a more settled condition, and Germany appears to be endeavoring to retire from the position it assumed in regard to Alsace and Lorraine. The question as to the expulsion of tho " optants " — that is the young men of these provinces who belonged to the French army — has been taken out of the hands of the Imperial Government by recent legislation and put into those of the Provincial Legislature. An English contemporary says : — " The German Government has taken a step towards granting a certain autonomy to Alsace-Lorraine. A Bill has been introduced allowing the provincial Parliament to legislate for the province, and taking it out of tho hands of the general Parliament of the Empire. A veto will, of course, remain with the Emperor, and 'provincial laws decreed by Imperial legislation can only be repealed or altered by the same means.' The Bill was advocated by the Government, which stated that the Assembly of Alsace-Lorraine, though often opposed to the administration, had proved itself a sensible and useful body. Under this measure, the i province accepts a position nearly as good as that of Baden, with this difference — that it has no native Court, but becomes a sort of peculium of the Emperor, who might hereafter, in concert with the Assembly, do much to conciliate the province."