Our London Letter.

Southland Times, Issue 9799, 10 April 1888, Page 3

Our London Letter.

♦■ London, Feb. 10. The " Tribune of the People," «s all good Liberals were vont >o call Mr John Brigut, waxes more and more angry with his formes friends, He is by far the thickest thorn in their rib, it being his custom to speak on what he believes to be true and never make a bone of ft word. There is another letiti from Mr Bright. He regrets the increasingly bitter spirit manifested by the followers oi Mr Gladstone. He blames Mr Gladstone foi inviting them to break up Parliament ; ht blames them for having " succeeded in break ing up a great political party" ; and he re proaches both Mz Gladstone and his followers for having "swallowed doctrine.which up to two years ago they condemned and abhorred." There wai a tolerably large muster of ola Anglo-Indians to air the grievances of tbt» •^covenanted" Civil Servants in our Great Eastern dependency. One of the most pro minent complaints is that while the covenanted officer hasjhis pension and allowance* guaranteed in sterling coin, the uncovenanteu retired BtafE are paid in Indian currency— a difference of method by which they suffer »^ loss of 25 to 30 per cent., owing to the depreciation of silver, One source of revenue that hat during the put financial year been unusually prolific still keeps up. This is the death duties, to which the fortunes of quite a series of millionaires has contributed. I hear of one recent windfall somewhat peculiar in its bitsory. Six mouths ago a retired manufac tarer of vast wealth died, leaving the «hol* of his money to b« wife, with the under* ■tasdlog between them that ikf, wko wm 9 mm pJwum* upw fc» tat*, bnuMth.

) the money to her hnsband's relations. Upon s this transaction only probate of 3 per cent. [ wag paid to tbe State, but a fortnight ago s the woman died al«o, whereupon there is anotber probate of 3 per cent, payable to the Exchequer, an-i a legacy duty of 10 per cect., '.bat being 'b- percentage payable upon the terms of relationship between the legatee and beneficiaries. Thus, within a period of six months 16 per cent, over one- < •ixth of the vast possessions bequeathed by j the| manufacturer have gone Jo swell the coffers of the State. Although the Merchandise Marks Act came into operation only with the beginning of the year it has already had a striking effect, It is designed to protect industry — a, fashion which the most pronounced Free Trader will support — by preventing evil-disposed persons placing marks upon go;d« representing them to be what they really are not. No longer will it be allowable, for instance to sell knives manufactured in Germany with the mark " Sheffield " upon them, and the same idea will be rightly applied all round. Already a consignment of boots and shoes from the United States has been stopped at the London docks because they were marked " Boston," as if they came from the English and not the American town of that name , and the Onstoms officers at the various ports have received the most stringent orders from the Board of Trade to watch all imports so as to prevent similar deceit, This is a movement which all will support. Let us buy what we like, but let us know what we are buying. If we prefer Solicgen steel to Sheffield, we are at liberty to purchase it ; but it is not right t&at we should pay the Sheffield price for the Solingen article. It is the same with the boots and shoes and all other manufactured articles, and the Merchandise Marks Act, if continuously exercised, will be a boon to honest trade. The appointment of Bear-Admiral Hotham to succeed Lord Chas. Beresford as Junior .Sea Lord of the Admiralty has taken most people by surprise. Admiral Hotham will bring to his new duties some of the experience he has gained in the office of the Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserve, where he has been assisting Vice-Admiral Baird in carrying ont the many details appertaining to the fleet under his command. Admiral Hotham will not have, nor will he seek, a Beat in Parliament. In this way he will not be likely to disagree, or if he does he will not resign, because, unlike his coble predecessor, he will have jno political following to approve his action, There is a whisper in Ministerial circles that must interest MrJHeury Chaplain. It is to the effect that the master of Blankney will be offered an appointment as Governor of South Australia, and that he is likely to accept the distinction. I can give no opinion as to the truth .or untruth of the statement. There can ue no doubt, however, that Mr Chaplain expected a Ministerial appointment when bis friends took office, and that he has manifested some soreness at the manner in which his claims were overlooked. This consideration may induce Lord Salisbury to tender a solatium of another description, even though he may suspect that it will be declined. In these day* of agricultural depression a salary of LSOOO a year is a bait that few politicians can afford to ignore, but I have an impression that Mr Chaplain— irho must be coining money out of Hermit— will take his chance of a prize in tbe Legislature rather 'than submit to a long exile at the Antipodes. Two volumes have just been issued from the press of Messrs Blackwood and Sons entitled "Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century." From the M.S 8. of John Ramsay, I£sq , of Ochtertyre. Edited by Alexander Allardyce. The literary matter is well written and has been assorted with care and judgment, the result being that the information given throughout i« of the most interesting description, embracing as it does an exhaustive sketch of many of the moat illnatrions men of the time. It also divulges much which but for their publication we must have still remaiaed unacquainted with. After Procedure will come the Local Government Bill, which Mr Ritchie nas promised to introduce before Easter. That, he should do so is simply a necessity if the bill is to pass this session. It is enough of itself to engross the attention of the House through a full session. The interests concerned are as complicated as they are extensive. The mass of ordinarily intelligent people are profoundly ignorant of the intricacies of the chaos we call local government. The Home of Com* mons itseif as a body will have to be caretuliy educated before it is in a position to legislate on the subject. Oncu comprehended it is full of fascination, having a direct personal interest fir every ratepayer in the kingdom. It jnly Mr Kitchie is permitted to bring in * bill honestly and bololy grappling witb the question, the Government will succeed m their prime endeavour to postpone dealing with the Iriah poolem, Local Government is not a matter of politics. It is a purely ousiness question of administration, offering a tempting field to men like Sir Übarles Oilke, Mr Chamberlain, and above all, Mr Gladitone. Mr Kitchie has a great oppor'unity, and Liberals may iincere.y hope he will be left unfettered to deal with it. What a pity it is that the Duke of Edinburgh is so — His refusal on the ground of poverty, any longer to subscribe to the Canterbury Hospital is juat one of those things that does more harm to the prestige of the Crown and Constitution than hundreds of Hadical orations, Every naval officer who has served with the Duke has some story to tell on this topic. Yet the Duke has an income of at least L 50,000 a year, and practically no establishment expenses. A most disquieting rumour it in circulation to the effect tfe»t the post office authorities have some reason to anapect that the extraoidinarily numerous thefts of postal orders in this country are tbe work of a regular contederacy among the younger members of tbe service, the head quarters of which are id ooe of the larger cities in northern England. It must moit earnestly be hoped that the tumour is without foundation, or, at the very least, is greatly exaggerated, for if the confidence of business men in the internal administration of the Post Office were shaken, it would be a very serious matter. Everybody knows that individual officials are no infrequently convicted of fraud, and, as long as human nature ia constituted aa it is, tha may unhappily be expected. But isolated cases of theft are a very different matter trom a conspiracy to rob, and it is scarce I) possible to compare the amount of evil resulting from ths two. Snould it be proven that such a conspiracy exists, it would serijusiy affect the extension of the postal order ■system. So far that system, which in its simplicity is a great improvement upon that jf the old Post Office order, has worked admirably, and with ever-growing success. Bnt any who study it can see that to the cunning its very simplicity, which to tbe public ib its chief recommendation, affords ipportunity for fraud ; and although little damage would be done if that opportunity .ere availed of only in isolated cases -tht imagination almost fails to grasp its extent ii oca c it weie iv the hands of a gansr. General Gourko is recognised, not only iv iussia but throughout Europe, as possessing ; uilitary talent of the first rank, The man i *ho in midwinter led the Russian army cross the Balkans is &n especial favourite of i qc Czar's, and is understood to be the chosen generalissimo in the event of war breaking jut. There is a significant announcement { cb&t General Gouiko is about to be withdrawn from the Governorship of Poland. By the death of Sir Henry Maine, England j has lost one of her most accomplished jurists. Sir Henry early achieved distinction and the success which marked his academic :areer was sustained through the whole of his «fter life. At the age of 25 he attained a professorship. In 1862 he proceeded to India as law member of the Government there. On his return to England after seven years of legal labour, he was elected to the Professorship of Jurisprudence in the University of Oxford. Undoubtedly Sir Henry Maine's residence in India enlarged hit. conception of many legal questions, and the jight shed on them in " Ancient Law," in " Village Communities," and " The Early History of Institutions" ii invaluable. His latest work "Popular Government" is written in a somewhat pessimist spirit, bnt throughout it bears evidence of all its author's wide range o! reading and admirable synthetic power. Few men could write more luminously on semi-legal and historic tuemes than the departed publicist. Sir H. Maine was a copious writer, and there was scarcely any subject touched, by feim which