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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 46, 14 March 1884, Page 7

The French are again mooting the question of levelling the enceinte round Paris, and filling up tne fl .tsb. During the seige they were of no use, but, on the contrary, sadly hampered the troops when a sortie was decided upon, as many valuable hours were occupied getting the troops through the gales. The Minister of War has given his consent to the destruction under certain conditions :— lst. that the new line of exterior forts must I c finished at the expense of the city by the construction of eight redoubts ; 2nd, the adoption of a new enceinte traced in front of the line of the old detached forts, where there are no natural obstacles like the Seine and the Marne. The price of the new enoHnte, about fifty miles in circumference, but which would not be continuous, is set down at 20,000.000 dote. From an article which appears in the Wexford Peopla we take the following extracts :— At the next general election the Irish public will have to face a difficulty of which they have had timely notice— the payment of their members— that is, if they mean to continue the game of Parliamentary warfare, which up to this at least has been a winning game, since Mr. Parnell assumed the leadership of the Irish party. The fact has now become plain to every order of intelligence that a representative who serves his country faithfully must needs surrender up his whole time to his Parliamentary duties while the House is in session. A hap-bazard visit, a speech on some great occasion, or a vote on a critical division, will not, as of old, satisfy the requirements of an Irish member. Men devoted to literature may, of course, by burning the candle at both ends, snatch a few hours each day or night from the Parliamentary tread-mill, but for men engaged in business m Ireland to give the necessary time or the time that is expected from them, in Parliament, is utterly out of the question. Whatever way we may turn the subject no matter from what standpoint we may view it, the practical question confronts us— will you pay your members? We have frequently shown that the system of having representatives directly is in operation in almost every country ruled through the exercise of popular suffrage, and we have pointed out that the ruling classes in England who virtuouly protest against direct payment have been paying themselves indvrectly in a variety of form as well aa in hard cash,