Ziorttlautino.

We regret to hear that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is indisposed, and will be unable for some days to attend to public business in the House of Commons.—Times, Tuesday.

Viscount Lewisham, M.P., is detained in the country from his Parlia- mentary duties, for a few days, by the premature aceouchement of Lady Lewisham. We are glad to state that Lady Lewisham is, so far, going on very well.—Wolverhampton Chronicle.

Captain Austin has been daily at the Admiralty making the arrange- ments for the Arctic expedition he is about to command. Some thirty captains, including among them Captain William Peel, a son of Sir Ro- bert Peel, and Captain Caffm, formerly of the Scourge, have volunteered their services, and earnestly pressed for commands in the expedition. Mr. Penny, whom Lady Franklin has engaged to conduct an independent ex- pedition, has also been at the Admiralty, and has received encouragement and assurances of cooperation.

We understand that the Government have selected for service in the Arctic expedition of Captain Austin, C.B., the two screw steam-vessels Free Trade and Eider, belonging to a London company, and built by Mr. R. Green, of Blackwell. They are good, strong, wholesome vessels, with good stowage, and of excellent machinery, each of 60-horse power, by Maudslay. The Free Trade is daily expected from the Mediterranean.— Morning Herald, - Sir Henry Pelly, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, has pub- lished a letter from Sir John Ross, volunteering his humble services to head an independent expedition in search of his friend Sir John Franklin. Sir John Ross states that the step has been delayed to this late period

Principally by the sudden death of his patriotic friend Sir Felix Booth ; on whose further munificence," Sir John says, " I had on this occasion depended to enable me to perform the sacred promise I made to Sir John Franklin on his departure, that if he were missing in February 1847, I would volunteer and do all in my power for his relief." Sir John did offer then ; but Government refused, being, without blame, unfortunately misled by numerous opinions adverse to his, as to sending early relief and as to the size and description of the vessels to be employed. The expe- dition which he proposes will not exceed 3,000/. ; he volunteers his ser- vices without fee or reward. He recommends himself for the service by reference to his intimacy with the gallant officer who is to command the Government expedition, with whom therefore he could act cordially though they would be independent of each other ; his " excellent consti- tution, well adapted and accustomed to a cold climate," and his perfect knowledge of every precaution necessary ; his perfect knowledge of Da-

and facilities in communicating through Danish interpreters with the squimaux ; his experience, gained during six years' life in Sweden, in sledging with dogs ; and his preparations already made, in respect of instruments, and the engagement of an ice-master and excellent crew of fourteen men brought up in the whale-fishery. He maintains that the experience which he has gained is paramount to every consideration of the youth which he has lost. Sir Henry Pelly recommends the project to public attention ; stating that the Hudson's Bay Company have voted 5001., and will receive sub- scriptions at their House ; " the outfit is limited to the amount of 3,0001.; any sum received beyond that amount to be heid for distribution to [Sir John Ross] himself and crew on their return."

A circular memorandum issued by the Horse Guards, on the 6th in- stant, states that her Majesty has "been pleased to approve of a further reduction in the Infantry from the 31st of March next "; to be thus ef- fected—

" First—The 5th, 20th, 36th, 42d, 44th, 45th, 56th, 67th, 69th, 76th, and 2d Battalion Rifle Brigade, to be respectively reduced from 1,200 to 1,000 rank and file, and consolidated into one battalion. The supernumerary officers of these regiments will be retained on the strength of their respective corps 'en second,' with the exception of the Surgeons and Quartermasters, who will be placed on half-pay. The second Adjutants will remain in their ranks of Lieutenant or Ensign, as the case may be. These regiments will hence- forth have only nominal depots, such as those maintained by reeiments in India ; consisting of a Captain, who will, as heretofore, have charge of the regimental records, (assisted, when necessary, by one or two Lieutenants,) and five Sergeants and five Corporals, detached from the regiment. "Secondly—The 6th Regiment will be reduced from 1,200 to 750 rank and file.

"Thirdly—The 11th, 58th, and 65th Regiments, will be reduced from 1,000 to 760 rank and file. "Lastly—The depots of the 1st Battalion Royals, 7th, 16th, 19th, 34th, 38th, 54th, 66th, 72d, 73d, 79th, 88th, 95th, and 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade, will respectively be reduced from 230 to 210 rank and file." &The whole reduction will amount to 3,680 rank and file.

On the 16th of last October, her Majesty's steam-sloop Gorgon, Com- mander Paynter, took possession of the Tigre Island, in the name of the Queen, in consequence of the Honduras Government refusing to pay their just debts, and returned to the Commander-in-chief on the station, leaving

a party of forty-six officers and men on the island. Rear-Admiral Hornby, however, having disapproved of the steps taken by the commander, de- patched the Gorgon, from Callao, on the 14th of December last, to Tigre Island, to embark the party, and to surrender the ialand.— United Service Gazette.

A deputation representing the papermakers, publishers, and printers in England and Scotland, had an interview with Lord John Russell, in Downing Street, on Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Hume, M.P., Mr. Charles Cowan, M.P., Mr. Scholefield, M.P., and Mr. Blair, M.P., were present.. Mr. Cowan having introduced the deputation the Premier was addressed. by Mr. Crompton of Farnworth in Lancashire, Mr. James Baldwin of Birmingham Mr. Durham of Edinburgh, Mr. Robert Chambers, and Mr.. Charles Knight. Mr. Crompton urged the unfairness of imposing on a raw material of the most worthless character—the very refuse made from cotton and linen in the process of manufacturing them into cloth—a duty amounting to 600 per cent upon its cost price when made into paper ; whilst cotton manufactures have obtained the removal of a tax of only five-sixths of a penny per pound— not more than 5 per cent on its value—on the cotton itself. He detailed various checks on enterprise flowing from the inconsistency and capricious-

ness of the Excise. "Here," said Mr. Crompton, producing specimens of- what appeared to be paper, "are specimens of numerous articles brought into- the market as substitutes for paper, and in appearance so identically

the same with that article, that even I, my Lord, without mark- ing them, could not distinguish between the real commodity and its imitation, and I will defy any other man to select the one from the other. Now, at the mere caprice of the officers of Excise, the real or the- fictitious production is pronounced to be paper. One hundred per cent is ac-

cordingly. levied upon the cost value of the one, while the other goes free.

By a decision of the Board of Excise, in order to constitute paper, the mate- rial must have been pulverized and worked in water. It occurred to a manufacturer to take advantage of this official definition. He erected pre- mises, and constructed machinery for the purpose of fabricating the very same materials in a dry state. He succeeded, and challenged the Board of" Excise to seize the goods, which, according to their authoritative description, could not be paper. A seizure was made ; but a compromise took place. The manufacturer was allowed to proceed for a given time, on the distinct understanding that after its expiration he should discontinue his process, or subject his product to the same duty with that paid upon paper manufactured in the usual way. I believe it was discontinued accordingly ; but it was sub- sequently revived, and is at this moment carried on ; the goods being sold un- der the name of felt, extensively substituted for paper, and distinguishable from• that manufacture by no perceptible difference except by being slightly darker in-

colour." "About two years ago' a general order was issued from the Board of Ex-

cise to the effect that paper to be made into papier mache should be exempted from duty provided the paper were manufactured on the premises on which the papier mache manufacture was carried on, but not otherwise. Now, ob- serve the operation of this. I was under the necessity of either allowing the papier mache manufacturer to come to my premises, or of erecting paper- making machinery on his, or, finally, of allowing myself to be superseded in his supply. Findin„„e myself thus situated, I memorialized the Board of Ex- cise, as well as the Lords Commissioners of the Privy Council for the Affairs of Trade, as did also my customer, one of the most respectable and extensive

manufacturers of .papier mache the kingdom : but neither of us could

succeed in obtaining permission ferame to send out paper under permit, giving notice to the officer of Excise to that effect, so as to be allowed a drawback." Mr. Crompton also stated that the tax has a very demoralizing tendency : it is encouraging the most iniquitous practices, and gradually breaking down the probity of the manufacturers; for you see daily in the- market paper sold at prices at which no honest trader can produce it, tram- melled as he is by this most oppressive and obnoxious law. Mr. Robert Chambers illustrated the pressure of the paper-duties on the publication of cheap periodical literature. There was one called a " Miscel-

lany- of Tracts," which his brother and he published. It met a large sale,„

and was in the way of doing some geed amongst the humbler classes. It re- turned, however, so slight a profit that they gave it up, while selling to the extent of 80,000 copies. On the whole amount of this work printed, the duty was 6,2201. Now, this would have been a very ample profit in itself, though a mere shade upon each copy. In a cheap publication, the value of paper may be set down at nearly one-fourth of the selling price, and considerably above one-third of the price to the retailer. Mr. Charles Knight developed the injurious tendency of the tax on "cheap- publications for which high-priced skilled authorship is paid." He had been

able to show that the duty had been a positive burden upon the Penny Cyclopedia to the extent of 16,600/. That work was undertaken under the auspices of Lord John Russell himself, amongst other eminent persons ; but

the cost had been borne by Mr. Knight. It had never been remunerative ;- for the cost was largely increased by the natural operation of the tax upon the price of paper. This was an example of the peculiar burden of the tax upon the higher kind of literary labour, compelled to compete with low- priced authorship in the rate of cheapness. Mr. Knight believed that the great mass of publications were tending to cheapness—the good as well as the bad. He believed that books for the few were fast going Qut of demand; and further, that the many would ultimately pay the proper rewards of good writers as well as if not better, than under the present system of a limited demand. But, with the paper-duty, the profits of a publisher employing the best authors to produce cheap books were so curtailed by the burden of the tax upon the large amount of paper used for such books, that the higher class of literature was deprived of its proper encouragement.

Mr. Hume wound up with a general review of the questions involved; and the deputation withdrew—" having," according to the newspaper report, "been received with the greatest courtesy by the noble Lord." But what besides " courtesy" may have been accorded to the deputation. by the noble Lord—what opinion the First Lord of the Treasury pro- nounced upon the ease submitted to him—is not recorded.

A correspondent of the Morning Poet, using the signature " M. J. W.," exposes what "he cannot help feeling is to a certain extent a fraud upon the benevolent public," in the carrying out of Mr. Sidney Herbert's emi- gration scheme for the distressed needlewomen. He has "heard from the very best authority, that the Committee have almost entirely departed from their original intention, and that instead of distressed needlewomen, a perfectly different class of females have been selected." Charging the Committee with having excited the sympathies of the public; and taken. large sums of money for one purpose, and then devoted them to another purpose, he adduces some instances which have come to his own know- ledge. "I know that in some cases, young women who have been, and are at this moment in situations as ladies'-maids, with very high wages, have been selected as emigrants, and are about to sail to Australia, provided with funds out of the money subscribed for the distressed needlewomen. I am prepare* to prove this. I know also, that a party had engaged a passage in a ship for himself and family, and a few days afterwards he stated to the owners of the ship that he should want two or three berths less than he at first mentioned, because some of his daughters would be provided with a passage by the Com- mittee presided over by Mr. Sidney. Herbert. He was a man, I believe, quite able to pay for his own passage and the passages of his family."

Total (including unspecified causes) 10487 957

"In the week ending last Saturday, the deaths registered in the Metropo- litan districts were 957; a number which exhibits a considerable decrease on

the returns of the last two months, December and 1 January, during which the deaths were usually above 1,050, and in one week were 1,156. The re- sult is also favourable as compared with the average, corrected for increase of population, of corresponding weeks in ten• previous years, 1840-9, which is 1144, showing a decrease of 187. The sudden decline in the mortality from -diseases of the respiratory organs is remarkable ; bronchitis, pneumonia, and asthma have numbered in the last three weeks successively, 237, 234, and 165 deaths; the average for last week, derived from returns of the same weeks in ten years, is 187, or if corrected for population, 204. But the deaths from pthisis (or consumption) have scarcely varied ; they have been in the last three weeks 128, 137, and 135 respectively ; the average of last week for this disease is 155. The deaths enumerated in the zymotic or epidemic class of diseases were 152; the corrected average is 215. Smallpox was fatal last It to 8 children, scarlatina to 11, hooping-cough to 36, measles to 18, all of these epidemics being under the average, and the first two being much less fatal than usual. Diarrhoea was fatal in 20 cases : in the corresponding weeks of ten years, the deaths from it have ranged from 3 to 32, and show a decided tendency to increase in later years. No deaths occurred in the week from cholera. From typhus there were 27, a comparatively light mor- tality from this cause. From influenza there were 2 deaths ; from ery- sipelas 10 ; from cancer 17 deaths, of which all except three occurred to women ; and 9 women died after childbirth. In two persons fatal disease is stated to have been the result of intemperance. The death of a woman of forty-seven years, which occurred in January, was accelerated by destitution and exposure to extreme cold.' She had been previously removed to Bethnal Green Workhouse.

4' The mean height of the barometer in the week at the Royal Observatory, .Greenwich, was 29457 inches. The mean temperature was 44°, showing an increase of 10.7° on the average of the same week of seven years. It was higher than the average throughout the week. On Sunday the mean temperature was 12° above the average, and on Friday and Saturday 14° above it." The mean direction of the wind for the week was South-west.

Many disastrous effects of the storm last week are reported. The body of an old lady was found in the Regent's Canal at Hackney ; she had been seen contending with the wind, and there is little doubt that she was blown into the water at a spot where the bank was quite unprotected.

The shipping on the coasts suffered enormously. There are reports of wrecks in every direction, and in many cases with loss of life. In the West, a ship was shattered to pieces on the shore at Mawgen Perth, and all hands perished ; at Ilfracombe, a Fowey vessel was wrecked, with the loss of the whole crew. In Wales, both at sea and on land, the damage was exten- sive. A ship was wrecked in attempting to enter Cardigan harbour, and eleven out of a crew of thirteen perished. The gale caused the destruction of a well-known windmill at Castletown in the Isle of Man : the sails were whirled round with such rapidity that the mill was set on fire, and was speedily burnt down. On the East coast, a great deal of shipping was damaged or destroyed. A brig was seen to go down near the Dugeon Light : _nothing heard of the crew. A West Indiaman seems to have been lost in Margate Roads. The Sarah, from Jamaica, was on the way to London, towed by a steamer, when the hawser broke, and the ship went adrift during the night. A quantity of West India produce and pieces of wreck have been seen floating or have been cast ashore : nothing heard of the crew. Near Ayr, the Jubilee of Sunderland was lost on the rocks : the mate and four seamen drowned. The Margaret, from New Orleans, went ashore near -Dunure : the crew got to land. But a young man determined to return and save his chest ; he got back to the ship, much exhausted, and caught hold of a rope ; he hung by this for twenty minutes, and then, quite worn out, dropped into the waves and was drowned. A coal-ship ran ashore near Girvan ; the men took to the boat; this afterwards filled and sank, and five men were lost. At Ardrossan, a steamer which plied to the Isle of Arran caught fire while lying in port; and the wind so fanned the flames that nothing could be done but scuttle the ship, which then burnt to the water's edge. The storm raged in Ireland. At Limerick, the master of a ship was drowned, having been blown off a plank as he was going to the vessel. The Queen's College at Belfast was a good deal damaged; and a fatal accident occurred at the Union Workhouse : a chimney was blown down, and a large stone fell through the roof of a dormitory, frilling three boys. At White Abbey, a child was killed by the fall of a chimney, while sleeping with its parents. In some districts the wretched hovels of the peasantry have been swept away by wholesale.

In the Horning Herald of yesterday, a curious question is raised respect- ing certain facts of theatrical management. The manager of Drury Lano has attached to his bill a series of extracts, purporting to contain the " opi- nions of the press" on the subject of Fieseo ; and, according to the extract from the Herald, that journal stated that the version was brought out "with great discrimination as regards choice ; for it is well calculated to serve the cause of Legitimacy." The Herald of yesterday repudiates this extract, and reprints the notice referred to; which says—" An English version of Schil- ler's Fieseo was brought out at this theatre last night, with small discrimi- nation as regards choice ; for it is by no means calculated to serve the cause of Legitimacy." Hereupon, and upon another similar point, issue is joined. The printer of the Drury Lane bills seems to have been a blundering per- sonage; but there is method in his wanderings, for he only blunders on the aide of his establishment. Results of the Registrar-General's return of mortality, in the Metropolis for the week ending on Saturday last : the first column of figures gives the ag- gregate number of deaths in the corresponding weeks of the ten previous years.

Ten Weeks Week. of 1839-49. of 1850.

Zymotic Diseases 1969 .... 153 Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat 583 .... 44 Tubercular Diseases 1876 .... 170 Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 1280 .... 125 Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 298 .... 31

Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 2072 ... , 175

Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 621 .... 66 Diseases of the Kidneys, de 77 .... 11 Childbirth, diseases of the Uterus, 8:c 107 .... 6 Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, 84c 70 .... 8 Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, Ac.

Malformations I31 .... 3

Premature Birth - 196 .... 22 Atrophy 142 .... 27 Age 723 - .. 56 Sudden 135 .... 8 Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance 234 .... 45 — —

The Sunderland ship-builders are emulous of the skill of the Yankee gaiter-maker, who threw his productions over his shoulder as he finished them, and had a gaiter continually in the air! There is everlastingly in Sunderland a ship rushing out of air into water—seeking, as our friends the penny-a-liners periphrastically, if not philosophically affirm, "its native element." Only on Monday last, Rogerson and Wilkinson, and Briggs and Candlish, and Haswell and Naseby, and the veteran Tang, were all shoving new ships into the Wear ; and it comforts us to know that Mr. Laing's splendid bark, the Talavera, 916 tons, classed at Lloyd's A 1, thirteen years, has found a purchaser in Mr. David Dunbar, who had once a crotchet in his head (now happily expelled) that shipping was going to the dogs.—Gateshead Observer.

Monsieur G. Otte, agent in this country for the Messieurs Didot and Co., sends to the ?Nes a case to favour free trade in books. " The 'duty levied on foreign books is said to produce about 8,0001. a year. To raise this tri- fling amount, every one of our volumes of Greek and Latin Classics is made to contribute from three to four shillings; being a tax of no less than 50, and in some instances more than 70 per cent, on the net value of the books, and acting very nearly like a prohibition."

A Parliamentary return shows that in the year ending 30th June 1849 the number of passengers conveyed by the railways of the United Kingdom was 60,398,159,—an increase of 2,433,089 over the preceding }ear; but there had been nearly a thousand miles of rail additional opened during the last year. The receipts were—from passengers, 6,105,9751. ; from goods, cattle, parcels, mails, &c. 5,094,9251.

The Earl of Carlisle has represented to the Lords of the Treasury that the Minister of Public Works in France, the Ecole Nationale des Mines at Paris, and the Geological Society of France, have made contributions to the Museum of Practical Geology : admission free of duty has been ordered by the Trea- sury.

The discovery of a new alkali from kelp, called kelpina, is attracting great attention in Scotland, as pregnant with great results for the Highlands and the Islands.

One of the most recent suggestions of the [Papal] camarilla, and the most in harmony with its principles, is the reedification.. of the church militant by the reestablishment of the ancient military and religious orders of the Tem- ple, Rhodes, St. John of Jerusalem, and other defenders of the faith. A Frenchman, M. Montalivet, is said be an active promoter of this strange scheme.—Roman Correspondent of the _Daily News.

A letter from Arad states that the military authorities of Perth have issued a warrant for the arrest of Mr. C. Pridham, a correspondent of the Times. He had returned from Transylvania, and was secreted somewhere in Hun- gary.-3Then fag Post.

A quantity of meat has been roasted on the railway near Leighton Buz- zard by a truck's catching fire. By the time the train stopped at the station most of the meat was cooked.