The correspondent of the Times at St. Petersburg sends an
interesting account of the reforms which the better educated among the provincials are asking from their Government. The Agricultural Committee of Novgorod, for instance, which may be considered typical, asks that elementary educa- tion should be provided without the interference of the priests ; that all adults should be released from the control of ' the Mire, or village Corporations ; that the villagers should be allowed to choose the form of ownership, whether communal or individual, which they prefer; that Customs and Excise- duties should be superseded by a progressive Income-tax; and that the financial policy of the country should be directed to the development of agriculture. These are the requests clearly of agrarians, but those who make them think they will conciliate the peasants. The correspondent adds that M. de Witte is regarded in the provinces with marked disfavour, the theory being that he favours manufacturers too exclusively; that his plans of improvement are too costly, and that his high Protective duties make everything dear to the masses of the people.
