2 JUNE 1860, Page 7

In a very concise pamphlet of twelve octavo pages, Mr.

Joli:s Lettsom Elliot suggests a plan for reconciling the Parliamentary repr4etntation of members with the representation of " property." Ho proposes that all counties should be divided locally, giving to each elector only pne vote ; a plan which, he believes, will tend to check bribery, since much of the existing system of bribery is due to the double vote. With regard to boroughs, he proposes a different arrangement.

"The actual number of Borough Electors on the Register for 1859-60, is rather above 450,000; and this number is one-third snore than in 1833. It is exceedingly difficult to arrive at anything like certainty with regard to the additional numbers to be admitted under this Bill ; but, from the conflicting statements in the House of Commons, varying from 220,000 to 420,000, I will assume, that 300,000 will be added to the actual number of 450,000; thus forming two-fifths of an aggregate mass of 750,000 Electors."

He finds that of 14,000 electors in a certain borengh 9000 pay 114415` on a value under 40/., with a mean value not exceeding .301., -amounting in the aggregate to about 90,000/. of rates out of 723,000. So that thm 5000 who pay the other four-fifths are kept in a hopeless minority as regards an election.

• The assessment to the poor-rate is not unfairly made the qualification for voting at the Election of Members of Parliament. Let, then, all Boroughs, returning two Members, be divided : not locally (as some have proposed) but rateably. Divide the Rate into moieties ; and let one Member be elected by the payers of each moiety. Let the comparatively many, who individually pay /ow rates, and represent Nun2bers, elect one Member ; and let the comparatively few, who individually pay hig/s rates, and represent Property, elect the other Member—provided always, that this division shall contain not less than (say) one-fourth of the whole num- ber of electors."

The "nine hours' movement" promises to become a summer topic. Mr. Potter Secretary of the Building Trades, has reopened a question, painfully disputed last autumn, by forwarding the following memorial to the Central Association of Master Builders.

"Conference of United Building Trades, II, Rochester Terrace, Westminster, May 25.

"Gentlemen—We approach you once more for the purpose of respectfully requesting you to concede to us a reduction of the hours of labour from ten to nine hours per day. In making this fresh presentment of our desire for the nine hours movement, we are confident that a more careful and impar- tial consideration of the subject will induce you to come to the conclusion that your interests as employers will not be injuriously affected by the con- cession of the nine hours' boon to the earnest and respectful solicitation of the men engaged in your establishment. On the other hand, we are 0,19111y confident that the condition of the workmen, physically, morally, and in- tellectually, will be greatly improved through the effect of the prosorm2dilre- duction. In this conviction we are fully sustained by the resultsaa .0a and reductions of daily toil in other departments of industry. In .1, cl generally throughout the provinces, the clerks and warehousemen have upturn for a veryconsiderableshorteningofthehoursof work. Iheireffortshave been completely successful, and the result has been an immense gain to the men, with- out the slightest least° the masters. 0 n the contrary, the establishment of better and friendlier feelings between the employers and the employed has not only conduced to the greater comfort of the parties, but has also been pro- ductive of no small pecuniary advantages to the employer. The operative builder's hours of toil are at least as many as the clerk's and warehouse- man's, the distance between his home and his place of work is in general longer, his right to:mental improvement as sacred, his need greater, and the claims of his family to his personal superintendence as obvious and urgent. These, gentlemen, are a few of the reasons which we deem deserving of your consideration ; but, in addition to these, we have to urge the manifest ten- dency of the age towards the reduction of daily toil in every branch of em- ployment; the wide-spread and constantly increasing cravings of the work- ing classes for a higher intellectual and a purer moral condition of exist- ence; the immense difficulty, and,. in the majority of cases, the absolute impossibility of administering to this desire for mental improvement, so far as the operative builders are concerned, without a diminution of the hours of toil; and the determination on our part, as well as on the part of our fellow-workers throughout the country, not to cease the prosecution of the present agitation until the boon of the nine hours' has been conceded. 'BHA last fact we submit to your. attention, not in any boastful or defiant spirit, but lest you should be so far deceived as to imagine that the operative builders are to be diverted from the demand for the nine hours' movement.' Rest assured that the determination to assure this amelioration of our con- dition is too deeply rooted in our hearts for any amount of resistance to

turn us from our i purpose, and that the chief effect of any severities to which we may be exposed n consequence of this demand will be to deepen our attachment to the cause for which we have suffered, and strengthen our resolve to persevere in our agitation until success has crowned our en-

deavours. in conclusion, gentlemen, we have only to add i that, next to the triumph of the cause to which we are devoted, our chief desire s to wit- ness the establishment of a perfectly friendly feeling between employers and employed, and that the conviction that the granting our present de- mand will be powerfully conducive to this most desirable result is one of the reasons why we now ask you in the most earnest and respectful manner to concede this reduction in the hours of our daily toil.

"On behalf of the Conference of the United Building Trades, yours re-

sPootinilyi GEORGE POWER, Secretary."

A deputation of the Honduras Inter-Oceanic Railway Company were received on Sunday at the Tuileries by the Emperor of the French. The deputation consisted of ?Jr. F. Moulton, of Paris; Mr. Joseph Robinson, of London - Mr. Sanden Kirkpatrick, of London; Dr. Holland, 11.D., New York, physician to the surveying expedition ; and Mr. Robert Rowan Moore, secretary to the company. The deputation was intro- duced by Senorjterran, Minister Plenipotentiary for the States of Hon- duras and Safi -Salvador. The Emperor inspected the maps of the line and ports. He asked at what gradients the summit was surmounted, and expressed himself satisfied with the reply that the ascent from both the Atlantic and the Pacific was, to a great extent, gradual ; that the steepest gradients upon the line were for five miles on the Atlantic side, rising from the plain of Comayagna, 85 feet to the mile ; and for 22 miles rising from the Pacific at a gradient of 95 to the mile, but that these gradients, Colonel Stanton states, admit of being very Much im- proved. His Majesty stated his satisfaction at the route being thoroughly international—English, French, and American. He in- quired as to the estimated cost. It was stated that the directors had re- ceived a tender for the construction of the line for 2,500,0001., and that it could be made for that amount, seeing that for about forty miles on the Atlantic side the river Ilumaya was navigable. In conclusion, the Em- peror nee !red the deputation that the enterprise should have his best protectid`11: Having presented to his Majesty copies of the maps, plans, reports, iA other documents, the deputation withdrew.

Interesting experiments were made at the Nore on Saturday, with one of Mr. Whittvorth's guns, an 80-pounder. The object fired at was the Trusty, a weed covered with 4-4--inch iron plates ; the distance was 200 yards. The glut was placed on board the Carnation gunboat, and the wind being high, of course the little steamer was "lively." The first shot was fired with a charge of 12 pounds of powder. It made a clean hole through the iron plates eleven inches of oak, and striking an iron bolt, entered and rested in the frame of the ship. The next shot fired with 14 pounds of powder went completely through the side of the Trusty, and buried itself in the main deck. Three other shots were fired, and each penetrated the iron plates, one striking the plates obliquely, yet still going through. On examination, it was found that the woodwork os the Trusiy, like that of the gunboats, was entirely rotten ! The Lords of the Admiralty were present part of the time, and the Duke of Somer- set declared himself "satisfied."

The Prince of Wales wilj be accompanied on his visit to Canada by a Secretary of State, and by Earl St. Germans, who is not only Lord Steward of the Household, but has been a Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.

The Duke de Brabant has arrived at Brussels on his return from his visit to the East.

Lord Bloomfield, the English Minister, left Berlin this morning, with Lady Bloomfield, for England.

During the summer, when the accouchement of the Princess Frederic William is expected, she will reside in Berlin and Babelsberg. Her Ma- jesty Queen Victoria will arrive at Berlin in September, to be present at the baptism of the infant, and will reside at the new palace at Potsdam. — Post.

A Berlin letter states that the Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia, after a short visit to Sans-Souci, left for St. Petersburg on the 26th.

The Princess Marie de Leuchteuberg has arrived at Paris from Nice. She was accompanied by her two sons, her daughter, and the Coun t litrogonoff, her husband.

General Knolls's, late commander at Aldershot, has been entertained at dinner by the gentlemen of the neighbourhood on his departure. They are thankful to him for his continuous efforts to promote the welfare of Aldershot and its vicinity.

Dr. Villiers, Bishop of Carlisle, is to succeed Dr. Longley as Bishop of Durham; Dr. Longley becoming Archbishop of York.

By the translation of Dr. Montagu Villiers from the See of Carlisle to that of Durham, Dr. Wigram, the newly consecrated Bishop of Rochester, ob - tame a seat in the House of Lords. l'he new Bishop of Carlisle, whoever he may be, will remain out of Parliament until such time as a vacancy shall 'occur among the members of the Episcopal Bench, other than the two Arch bishops or the Bishops of London, Durham or Winchester.

The Queen has nominated Mr. Robert Lowe, Richard Quain, M.D., and Mr. James Paget, F.R.S., to vacancies in the Senate Of the University of London, caused by the deaths of Bishop Maltby, Lord Macaulay, and Mr. M. T. Baines.

M. Yigier, formerly the proprietor of the floating baths at the Pont Neuf, and now the husband of the singer, Madame Cruvelli has purchased Geri- baldra marine villa at Nice for the sum of 130,000 franca.

Mr. W. Smith O'Brien and his eldest son have returned to Dublin from a tour in Spain.

William A'Court, Lord Heytesbury, an old public servant, died on Thurs- day, at his seat in Wiltshire, in the eighty-first year of his age. Beginning in the diplomatic service sixty ), ears ago, lie continued in that department until 1832, having been Minister at Lisbon, Madrid, Naples, and St peters- burg. Ile was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland from 1844 to 1846. ái2 peer- age dates from 1828, and he was the first Peer. He is succeeded by his only son.

The American papers announce the death of "Peter Parley," as Mr. Good- rich familiarly designated himself. This is a name which is endeared to tens of thousands of juveniles on both sides of the Atlantic by its associations with a large number of singularly popular booke.

The directors of the Cologne and Minden Railway mw about to erect colossal statues of the King of Prussia and the Prince Regent at the gates of the railway bridge over the Rhine, and the models prepared by the sculptors, MM. Drake and Bluer, have been approved. The statues will be in bronze, eighteen feet high, and will be on pedestals of eighteen feet. It is intended to ornament the bridge with various other works of art.

It is now said that no letter from the Prince Regent of Prussia to the Prince Consort has come into the possession of the French Government, and of course that no interview, like that described in the Dusseldorf paper,

ever took place at Berlin. - Who next ?—A Limerick paper says The famous Garibaldi is of Irish extraction. His ,erandfather was engaged in the troubles of 1798, and emi His - grated to Italy. s name was Gerret Baldwin—chonged to Garibaldi—and

his residente was on the borders of the county of Limerick, but in the county

of Cork. '

A eonstithtional question has caused some excitement in ,Tamaica. A Mr. Lewis, Member of the Legislative Assembly, voted against the Government, and published letters in the newspapers. It happened that he held an honorary office in the Militia, and Governor Darling deprived hlin or the. office. 'Ilia has given great offence, And it has been seriously proposed that the constituencies should refuse to elect persons holding official posi- tions.

A severe gale blew fiercely from the north-west on Monday, sweeping over the whole island, accompanied by showers of heavy rain. In the northern counties, snow and sleet fell. Houses have been blown down, trees torn up by the roots, chimneys overthrown, ships stranded and sunk, and some lives lost. At Liverpool, it blew a " hurricane " ; at Scar- borough, a "tempest" raged ; but, at Plymouth and Portsmouth, there was only. a "hare gale." Further particulars, u hich have been dropping in all the week, show the direful effects of the tempest. It is estimated that no fewer than 150 wrecks have occurred, with a proportionate loss of life. Ekeursion steam- ers, cattle-boats, coasters, trading-craft, are included, in the general sum- mary. The fishermen have suffered severely. On land the storm has been hardly less destructive to property, but it has been more sparing of life.

The health of London continues in an improved condition. It is zo.far satisfactory, that the number of deaths last week, 1087, is 46 fewer than the calculated average. Four children were suffocated in bed ; three were burnt, and one scalded to death ; and eight infants were found murdered, " a re- markable and also a lamentable fact," says the Registrar-General.