The Italian Government is at war with the Upper House.
The Minister of Finance declares that the actual returns of 1879 show a surplus of 2760,000, and expects a surplus of 2640,000 this year; and he desires, in presence of such a rise, to abolish the Grist tax, or tax on the grinding of corn, which falls with great severity not only on millers, but on the body of the people, who are just now roused both by the Italia Irredenta agitation, and by the propagandist influence of the Republican example in France. The Chamber has accordingly abolished the Grist tax, but the Senate will not agree, declaring that the surplus is unreal, and that the Income-tax ought first of all to be reduced. On January 22nd, accordingly, the Bill was thrown out, the Senate voting, by 125 to 83, that it awaited efficacious provisions for the gradual abolition of the tax, and meanwhile passed to the Order of the Day. It is believed that the Ministry will create Senators sufficient to carry the Bill, but it is hoped that the Opposition, in expectation of this measure, will give way.
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