ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH MAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume X, Issue 3624, 23 June 1873, Page 3

ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH MAIL.

[VIA SUEZ.]

The barque Thames, Captain Couves, which arrived from Sydney yeslcrday, was the bearer of the English and Kuropean. mails, via Suez. We make copious extracts from English papers : — ENGLISH. IMPRISONMENT FOB DEBT. Tlie movement in favour of abolishing imprisonment for debt is being materially assisted by the proceedings of tho select committee appointed to investigate the subject. Already a large amount of evidence has been taken, which lends to show that our present County Court system is something worso than imperfect ; that it has beon made in several instances an instrument of tyranny and oppression ; at tho same time it is only fair to observe that t.iie advocates of the system havo yet to be heard. Air. Bass, at whose instance the committee was appointed, is said to have obtained the services of a barrister in order to prepare the evidence in favour of the abolition of imprisonment. THE POSTAL COJiFEKKVCE.

The accounts have just readied ug of tile result—if result it can be called—of the Intercolonial Postal Conference. The Times deprecates too ijravo n view of the dispute, thinking it not very strange that the first essay towards a reconciliation of claims should be a failure, nor being much surprised at the conflict of pretensions which produced tho result. It regards tho whole affuir as a struggle for ascendancy, and evidently oxpects the longer purse to win, and says:—" Australia is not only our greatest dependency, but the greatest ever yet owned by a Crowu.

• l£ren America may be drawing to its dotage when Australia is rising to its culmination, and of these magnificent prospects the eolonistß are perfectly aware. Thoy cannot, however, yet succeed in taking the first, step to greatness It is recorded as an impolitic and inadmissible presumption t hat the \ictoria delegates and their friends should have repaired to the Conference not only with their minds made up, but with a foregone conclusion against any surroudcr. This, no doubt, is an objectionable policy, but it is not peculiar to Australian colonials, or to new communities generally Nevertheless, it must be oivned that the Melbourne people did take their stand, to some extent, upon might as well as right Sydney has got. tho privilege; Melbourne claims it, and will have that or nothing Some day or oilier, there will be a metropolitan state or province in the Australian group, but it may not yet be clear in what direction the preponderance of power will incline. The colonios are too young for the settlement of such a point. Their political life is before them, and its events cannot bo forecast. We should have been much surprised if any approach had been made to a genuine or durable confederation ; nor is the failure, we think, to be counted for much in disparagement of colonial enlightenment.

EMIGRATION. How strong is tlio feeling in favour of emigration is shown by a statement from Liverpool to the effect that the emigration season ut that port has opened with every appearance of itj proving more important than that of any preceding yeur. Tlio number of steamers leaving the Mersey for the United States and Canada—putting aside those which sail for the West Indies and Houtli and West Const of .South American ports —aro daily increasing, whilst the number of emigrants arriving nt Liverpool, en route for the United States, is enormous. The majority of the emigrants at present leaving Liverpool consists of Germans, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Alsacians, &c., whilst the minority is made up of English, Scotch, and Irish. With one or two exceptions, the old American emigrant Bhips are going out of their original trade, and are being supplanted by steamers. In connection with the exodus from Liverpool, wo may state that the recent disaster to the Atlantic has not in the least shaken the confidence of intending emigrants in the vessels of the Whiie Star Line. Yesterday, tlio White Star steamer Celtic sailed from Liverpool for New York, with 80 saloon and 800 steerage passengers. The Celtic will call at Queenstown, where about 200 more will embark ; and for the next two months nearly all the berths on board the White Star Company's steamers are engaged.

THE ZAKZIBAE EXPEDITION. Tlio Times of India saya : —"At the date of our advices, March 29, the Livingstone Relief Expedition was still in the neighbourhood of Bagamnya. Mr. Moffat, who had lately joined the expedition, had returned to Zanzibar to get sixty additional porters. It is feared that the expedition will be unable to proceed further until after the rainy season." TFHECK OF A VESSEL AND 1.033 OS LIFE. We have been favoured with the following particulars of the loss of tho Series, which have been received from Captain Hagemun of the Johann Swidt, anived at Saigon from Touron : —" Two days before my departure from Touron, I was told by an Animite, that there was a European on shore in the house of tho first inanderin. I went there, and found a man who said that he was a sailor, and gave his nam He had been boatswain on board the British ship Serica. Tho Serica had left Hong Kong on a Saturday morning, bound to Monte Video, and on the following evening, between 7 and 8 o'clock, struck on a reef, ivhich, as the captain afterwards said, was tba north shoal of the Paracels. It being very Btormv, masts, boats, and deck-houses were Bwept away by the sea. The crew made a raft, provided themselves with some provisions, and left tho ship. The crew consisted of twenty-eight hands. The captain died after four days, and eight men died a few days later. On the eighth day, water and all provisions were finished. On the ninth day, the raft was smashed on a rock, whereby the remaining crew, except one of them, were drowned. The surviving man found dome rain water, and lived on shells found on this rock. On the 6th day, he was saved by a fisherman, and brought ashore to a French missionary." ENGLISH PAUPEBISIT. It is very satisfactory to find that the decline of English pauperism continues ; but it is accomplished by a not altogether reassuring feature, namely, the increasing slowness of the decline, which is, in fact, so small that it may be converted at any moment into an actual increase. Indeed, it would seem that the pauperism question is about to assume a more grave aspect than it has possessed for some time. To illustrate this a contemporary observes :—" Pauperism is, of course, always nt its minimum in the summer. The short and oold days of winter necessarily throw a

largo number of peruona on tho rates. The addition will,of course, be greater if the savings of the poor, are less; its relative amount probably, therefore, affords a fair test of the position of the London poor. From the summer of 1867 to the winter of 1868 the roll'of pauperism swelled fsom 116,983 to 169.831, or by 52,842 persons; from the summer of 1868 to the winter of 1869 by 25,189 persous ; from the summer of 1869 to tho winter of 1870 by 56,908 persons ; from tho summer of 1870 to the winter of 1871 by 37,104 persons ; from the summer of 1871 to the winter of 1872 by only 7125 persona ; and from the summer of 1872 to the present winter by 19,354 persons."

THE WRECK OF THE ATLANTIC. The loss of the Northfleet has been outdone twice over by the wreck of the White Star steamship Atlantic near Cape Sambro, on the Nova Scolian Coast, to the South of Halifax. The New York papers have come to hand with full details of this disaster, whereby out of 103S souls on board, all have perished save eomo 420, who managed to get aslioro on the rocks of Meagher's Island. The vessel was adequately coaled at starting, but bad weal her delayed her course, and she was compelled to make for Halifax for the re-filling of her bunkers. The inquiry is still going oil, but the captain appears to have been culpably negligent or incompetent iu his calculation of distanco from the land. A large proportion of the passengers were German and English emigrants, whose fate cannot but have a deterrent effect on many of their old neighbours. THE ENGLISH BUDGET. The Budget was unfolded in Parliament just before the Euster recess. Though (he past your was one of many vicissitudes, yet tho revenue had amounted to the unprecedented sum of 76,608,770, being nearly five millions in excess of the estimate formed twelve months ago. During the same period, tlio expenditure had been less than was expected, amounting to £70,714,000. Of this | excess of receipts over expense, no less than £2,475,000 had come out of the Excise a fact which Mr. Lawo said he contemplated with mingled feelings of satisfaction, snowin® flow much the working classes had to spend" and of regret that so much of their gains should havo gone in strong drinks. For the incoming year he estimates the revenue at 76,617,006, and the expenditure at £71,871,000. This gives a balance in prospect of'li millions; what is to bo done with it? First of all, half the Alabama indemnity is to come out of it; then the income-tax is to be lowered to 3d in the p3und, the lowest figure at which it has stood for many years ; the | sugar duties are reduced by one-half, and some minor remissions dispose of what remains. THE CO A L FAMINE PRICES. The Leeds J/i;rcury writes :—" We believo that there are at least 20,000 tons of coal consumed in the borough of Leeds every week. Every shilling advanco then per ton, of course means £1000 ; and as there has been put on by the coulownera not less than 10s per ton all round, this represents £10,000 per week, or more than half-a-miliion per year ! Now, into whoso pocket does this enormous extra sum go? What proportion of this do the working colliers receive, and what the coalowners ? If the former get one-tenth, this would amount to only £50,000 out of the £500,000, so that £450,000 extra profit on what was a reasonable profit boforo is being drawn from the pockets of the general manufacturer, tradesmen, the working classes, and the poor of Leeds, to swell the hoard of the coal proprietors.

BCIMAN COINS. A small hoard of abdut eighty Roman coins has just been discovered at La Poterie, near Eu, where it appears to havo been buried in tho third century. Among the coins are those of Gordian 111., a.d.. 235-244 ; Philip, 244-249 ; Trebonius Gallaus, 251-254 ; Valerian, 253-2G3 ; Gallian, 2G3-2GB; and Posthumius, 2GI-2G7. .Besides these are several of the Empresses!, among them being coins bearing the effigy of Herennina Etruscilla, Kmpress of Trajanus Decius, who reigned from 240 to 251. FRANCE. A meeting of the Left waa held to-day. They received the petitions for a dissolution, collected by the Steele, bearing 192,205 signatures, and passed a vote of thanks to the Siecle. Tho deputies of the Left will present these petitions to the National Assembly. In a subsequent debate, tho meeting appeared i'avourablo to tho proposal of the committee appointed by the Assembly, to pay 100,000,000 francs as indemnity for damages occasioned by the war, to the departments, as- well as to reimburse 140,000,000 francs to the city of Paris.

The committee for tho re-organisation of tho army has unanimously voted the system of regional division for tho active army, a system which the Government only accepts for the territorial army. There will bo seventeen army corps,—two in Paris, one in Lyons, and tho fourteen others will bo distributed throughout France. A curious symptom of the anxiety so generally felt here in regard lo what may be the consequences of Die withdrawal of tho German forces, is the great number of families who are giving up their " appartementes " on the fifteenth of next month (the classic day of Parisian " moving "), und preparing to stow their belongings in cheap rooms, while thoy go off to the country, or even to other countries, where they intend to stay until tho storm has burst or blown over. Small apartments are, therefore, scarce ; while larger ones are "to let" in unprecedented numbers. The Vendomo monument wilt shortly be rebuilt, all tho pieces being in tho hands of tho most skilful workmen in artistic metal)urgy; but how soon thoir prophecies of the return of tho Empire are to bo fulfilled, is a point in regard to which supposition is idle.

SPAIN. The state of Spain should bo a warning to her neighbour. The Government is powerless, the aruiy, the different provinces, and even some of the towns, are all setting up independently, refusing obedience to anything but their own view 3 and wishes. As the process extends, civil war becomes more and more imminent, not only between the Carlists and the rest of the country, but also between the various sections of the latter, and even between the individuals who inhabit them. The Carlists are committing frightful atrocities; tho most sanguinary of their leaders being a forocious priest, who shoots without mercy the captires taken by his band. Among his other victims is a peasant woman, who was taken by his men, and brought before him, accused of some offence, probably that of refusing to submit to the requisitions of those ruffians, who plunder everything they can lay their hands on. The priest, acting as judge, condemned the woman to death ; then, as priest, shrived her, then Bhot her with his own hand; and, lastly, took possession of eight Spanish halfpence that happened to be in her pocket, to pay for the mass which he forthwith proceeded to say for the repose of her uoul! The Italians have welcomed back the Duke of Aosta and his family with an enthusiastic cordiality that is more like an English movement than any other Continental nation would be likely to get up. Addresaess of praiso and felicitation are being signed by the people of various towns, and a national signature is being got up for binding in a splendid album to be presented to the Duke, together with a civic crown, the subscription for which is going on brilliantly. The story goes that the Duke, who is only 29, brought back such a care-worn face from delightful Spain, that the King, on meeting him, burst into tears, declaring that he looked like a man of forty. THE ysw ZEALAND DIFFIOUXTY. The follo wing letter appears in the Sydney Homing Herald of the 3rd June :—" To the Editor of the Herald, Sir, —With reference to the present aspect of affairs in New Zealand, I beg to inform you that it iB my intention to call a meeting in Sydney, of old soldiers who are willing to offer their services to the Government of New Zealand. Due notice of the time and place of meeting will be advertised in your columns shortly. Your insertion of this letter in your valuable journal will muoh

oblige,—Yours, Came. Haxdaitb S\ OEE3 j Captain Jate Royal Engineers. Departs. lent of Lands, Sydney, June 2." SIB DANUiL COOPER AND THE MAIL SERVICE. We" are authorised to say that the Govern - ment of New South VV ales hag no knowledge of the alleged endeavour of Sir Daniel Cooper,on behalf of the New South "Wales Government, to make a contract with the P. and O. Company in respect to the Suez mail service, as reported in our telegram from Melbourne. It is not unlikely that, as an influential colonist from New South VV ales, he may have interested himself to the extent of communicating with the P. and O. Company on the subject; but, if so, he has done it on bis own individual responsibility. We understand that the Premier (the Hon. Henry Parkes) has received a communication from the Chief Secretary of Victoria (the Hon. J. G. Francis), in reference to the Victorian contract for the projected Suez service ; but we are not in a position to 6tate the purport of it, or to say whether or not any reply has yet been sent.— Sydney Morning Herald, Juue 6.

AMERICAN. MIBDEB Ilf BROOKLYN. We have just had another murder in Brooklyn, of a somewhat original type ; indeed, the account of it reads like one of Poe's " Tales of Mystery." The victim is a Mr. Goodrich, who was a man of moans, and lived in one of an empty and barely completed block of houses that ho had built on speculation. His brother came early one morning to see him, and not being able to rouse anyone, procured a key and entered. He found his brother lying on the floor of the basement kitchen with three bullet waunds in his bead, and a frightful gash on the forehead. The police, with their usual stupidity, insisted, for some time, that it was a suicide, but they have beon now converted to tho theory that it was a murder, since a man cannot very well put three bullets into his own brain, two on one side and one on the other. Besides the blood had been washed from the forehead, evidently to see if the wound was mortal, and the murdered man's watch and wallet wire gone. Many other valuables were, however, left in the house, and a number of circumstances showed that some other motive than plunder prompted tho crime.

| CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Foster, the carbook murderer, was hanged last week, ami there was a controversy rawing about him in the newspapers at the rate of 6overal colutmis a day, for a month before his execution. Tho excitement spread all over the country, and many fear that the result will be the abolition of capital punishment. At present the Governor, in most of the States, holds the prerogative of pardon, as in England, but in New Jersey it has been taken away from him, and confided to a Court of Pardon*. This system is found to work very well, and if the penalty of death is abolished it will be on some such basis of compromise. Tho statistics of the few States whore capital punishment has been abolished certainly compare favorably with those where it still exists. SIB SAMUEL EAKEII'S AFBICAN EXPEDITION. It will be remembered that Sir S. Baker undertook a commission from the Khedive some three years ago to put down the slave trade on the upper parts of the Nile. A series of disasters, coupled with the hostility of the Bari tribe, reduced his men to 200, with whom he proceeded south of Gondokoro to the regions between that place and tho Albert Nyanza. Hero ho relied upon the friendship of a chief, who had always beforo behaved cordially, but whose suspicions were now funned into a flame of open animosity. In a deadly encounter, Baker appears to have lost 170 of his band, to have been compelled to burn his baggago, and retire into a small fort. The rumour now reaches us that after being blockaded in this place, he surrendered, only to be mercilessly 1 murdered by the natives, together with his wife and followers. This Bad story rests at present upon the authority of the Times, which has on more occasions shown itself not above a canard; but tho fact that a relief expedition had been sent to him via Zanzibar showed how critical his position had already become.