Mr. Childers has made two speeches at Pontefract this week,
of the solidly-instructive kind. In the first, on Wednesday, he told his audience that the recruiting difficulty was over, the rate of enlistment having risen again to 37,000 a year.. After mentioning the new pressure on the Exchequer, of which we have spoken elsewhere, he pointed out that fifteen years ago the taxation of the country amounted to 22 Os. 10d. a head, while now it is only 22 Os. id. That is to say, taxation has declined, although the cost of education has risen from 9d. to 2s. 3d. a head, that of grants-in-aid to local burdens from is. 5c1. to 3s. id., and that of paying off Debt from is. 7d. to 3s. 8d. a head. Whatever the mismanagement, therefore, the misman- agement has not been in the way of extravagance. In Ireland, he believed the Government were within measurable distance of a settlement under the Land Act, which within a year will have- done its work. Crime is ceasing, and emigration, especially froze the congested districts, taking a wholesale character, 100,000' persons departing this year. He could not reveal the future plans of the Cabinet, for they were not yet decided ; but two groups of plans would certainly be brought forward, the reform of the representation, and the grant of municipal institutions to Lon' don, two changes which will constitute "the most momentous advance of our administrative and representative systems made in fifty years."
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