19 OCTOBER 1867, Page 2

The people of Lyons are petitioning for the right to

elect their own Municipal Council, which, as in Paris, is appointed by the Prefect. The budget, they complain, has been increased in six- teen years, from 200,0001. a year to 480,0001., while the popula- tion has only grown from 260,000 to 323,000. Indirect taxation now amounts to 19s. a head, and the Lyonnese have not enjoyed the immense improvements effected in Paris, which is under the same organization. Lyons, say the petitioners, "never asked for the honour of being a capital."