ENGLISH NEWS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 24, 21 June 1851, Page 2

ENGLISH NEWS.

We this week resume our extracts from the London Journals to Feb. 27.

The repeal of the paper duty, as an iiVdifeet tax upon knowledge, was in course of agitation by several iniJuentin,! men.

OF New Zealand wool, fit the Loncloh sales; in February last, only sixteen bales, of aveYiVsre quality, entered the market, these realized from Is. 4rf. to Is. 4%d. per lb. A great and beneficial change (we quote from a leading article in the Illustrated Neics) is taking place in Ireland, llents, in many instances, have gone down to the equitable standard which allows the tenant to live after payment of his rent. Emigration, which even the winter months has not stopped, has rendered the late unnatural competition for land quite impossible, and has even threatened a new danger, that of inider-population, quite as subversive of real prosperity as over-population. In some districts, landlords have been compelled to enter into negociations with their tenantry and labourers, lest they should be left alone in the wilderness. But that which, after all, must be considered as the most fortunate circumstance i'or Ireland, is the new flax movement. Foreign oil-cake to the amount of 600,000/. per annum, is now imported into the United Kingdom. Flax-seed, for sowing and crushing, is also annually imported to the amount of "nearly a million sterling, and flax and hemp, in a fibrous state, of the annual value of nearly three millions of pounds, making little short of 5.000,000/. worth of produce which might be grown in Ireland, if both landlord and people set cordially to work, to meet even the present demand. The late meetings at Belfast have, it is confidently hoped, given the necessary impulse, and directed the energies of the Irish people into this useful track.

The Messrs. Birch, ofßoscrea, the eminent distillers, have converted their distillery into flax mills, and set a subscription on foot to establish a flax society in tlfeir locality. The Poor-Law Guardians in some of the southern and western districts, are actively co-operating with the gentry and farmers in measures for the extended cultivation of the same plant, and the establishment of suitable buildings for its preparation.

A new omnibus has just been patented, the interior arrangement of which provides, each passenger with a private enclosed seat. To this seat is attached a looking glass, and a bell to call the attention of the conductor, who is addressed through a speaking tube. The exterior of the omnibus is furnished with a gallery along the sides, by which each passenger can pass to his private door.

The Bishop ofßipon was taking very decided measures in his diocese. The incumbent of Shad well had been ordered to desist from certain papal practices in his church, and St. Saviour's Church, Leeds, had been also under his Lordship's consideration, which had led to very severe measures against the officiating clergymen. The Rev. Mr. Rooke had been ordered to desist from taking any part in the. performance of divine worship in any episcopal church in the diocese, and the Rev. Mr. Beckett, another of the curates, had been threatened with the same sentence within fourteen days unless he could satisfactorily explain his proceedings. The Rev. Mr. Minster, the vicar, had also received notice that further steps would be taken in reference to his church.

We are informed (says the Morning Post) that Mr. Sergeant Bellasis has joined the Roman Catholic Church. The Rev. Mr. Laprim.uidaye, late curate of Archdeacon Manning-, has made his profession at Marseilles.

The papers mention that the secession from the church of Mr, Francis R. Ward, (son of Mr Alderman Ward, of Bristol), who with his lady had joined the Church of Rome, had been followed by that of the Rev. J. H. Woodward, incumbent of the parish of St. James, in the city, and the Rev. Mr. Harper, of the Proprietary Chapel, Pimlico.

An address has been presented to the Queen, signed by 400,000 catholics, expressive of attachment to her person, crown, and dignity.

Mr.' Sydney S. Bell, of the Chancery B;ir, is appointed.to the vacant Judg-eship at the Cape of Good Hope. The contemplated abolition of the Irish Viceroyalty has met with much opposition in Ireland, and Dublin has taken the lead in petitioning- a»ain;-t it, as injurious to the best interests of the country.

The Society for the Reform of Colonhl Government have issued their second annual address, in which they complain that "the satisfaction of the constitutional claims of the colonies to the administration of their own •affairs" is not yet obtained, and jLli'at " the irritation of a distant veto in local legislation, the insult and injury of continued transportation experiments, tlie iiifperial appropriation' of local revenue, and the abuse of patronage, are still goading and afflicting the colonies/

Aihon g the measures' proposed' 'in the unsuccessful Budget of this session, in consideration of the surplus of i) 1,89:2,006, are, the reduction and equalization of the duties on foreign and colonial coffee, and the.application' of about £1,000,000 of next year's surplus towards the reduction of the national debt.