13 JUNE 1874, Page 3

The Minghetti Ministry has returned to power in Italy, and

has announced its financial programme. This is, to impose a stamp on all deeds of transfer, to collect all existing taxes equally and rigorously, and to resist, at all hazards, any proposal for fresh expense. The recent resignation seems, in fact, to have increased the strength of the Ministry, who have for some time found it most difficult to resist the extravagance of the Chamber, —an extravagance produced mainly by the desire of Members to keep up expenditures formerly sanctioned by the separate Governments, and distribute as much patronage as they can. Half the cities, for example, ought to give up -their Universities or pay for themselves, but each alternative is equally unacceptable.