Austrian finance seems to be coming round. The Baron de
Praia presented the Cis-Leithan budget on the 14th inst., and it appears that the revenue of 1878 will exceed that of 1872 by £1,900,000. The expenditure is increasing also, but there are heavy cash balances, and the Minister hopes to close the year with a surplus of £350,000. This statement will help Prince Auersperg to drive through the Reform Bill described elsewhere, and the key- note of which is this. The Diets cease to delegate part of their power to a Central Committee called a Reicharath, and cease to elect its members. Their powers are otherwise untouched, but the Reiohsrath is changed by direct election into a Parliament, dele- gating part of its power to local governments, for local purposes. That is a very radical change, as is the introduction of the princi- ple that a voter must write the candidate's name, a change which, with the large addition made to urban seats, is intended to keep the feudalists in order.
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