DE OMNIBUS REBUS .

     I WOULD STRONGLY REPRESENT TO ALL Conservatives, whether householders or lodges, who are not already on the list of voters, that now is the time to claim.

     The decision of the Court of Appeal in the Tolls Case, Corporation of Carlisle v. The London and North-Western Railway Company, is a serious matter for the ratepayers.   The circumstances out of which the litigation arose will be pretty clear in the memory of your readers.  A member of the Council-Mr. Stewart, I believe-discovered that some arrears of tolls were due from the Company.   When the latter got their Act in 1846, they bargained with the Corporation to give 204 l a year in lieu of tolls, but of this sum only 200 l a year was to be paid until such time as the Newcastle and Carlisle and Maryport and Carlisle Companies became joint tenants of the Citadel Station.   These companies did actually come into the Station in 1863; but, by an oversight, the deduction of 40 l. continued to be made until Mr. STEWART made his discovery, when the arrears were claimed, amounting to 540 l.  The London and North-Western Company did not dispute their liability; but they made a counter claim of 1026 l, being the sum of the tolls which, they alleged, the Corporation had improperly levied during the same period of time upon goods coming into the independent stations of the tenant companies in Crown Street and London road, the contention being that, by the terms of the Act, these companies were to be exempt from tolls when they became tenants of the Station and when the additional 40 l became payable in lieu thereof.  The contest at law was really waged upon the latter issue; and it must be said that if it had been the design of the framer of the clause principally involved to provoke litigation, he could not have answered his purpose more admirable; though perhaps the theory is more correct that the clause was the joint concoction of representatives of both sides, this one adding a sentence, and that one adding a sentence, until the whole became a muddle, out of which only the fine acumen and patient study of Mr. BENJAMIN could evolve a consistent purpose.  Two decisions have been given against the Corporation, one by Baron POLLOCK, the
other by the Lords of Appeal.   The amount is 486l, namely, the differencebetween 1026 l. and 540 l.  I suppose the taxed costs of the Company, which the Corporation have to pay, will make up 1000 l. at least.   Then there arethe Corporation's own costs, which, as stated on Tuesday, amount to about 1000 l.  As the tolls in dispute in this action are only 60 l or 70l a year, the Corporation will have to pay dear for them even if they should succeed in an appeal to the House of Lords, the chances of which may now be gauged.

There is this further consideration, that, according to the best lights in
economical science, and indeed according to reason, tolls upon goods and produce really come out of the pocket, not of the carriers, but of the
consumers.   I hope, with Mr. CREIGHTON, that the time is approaching when the whole  policy of this wasteful and annoying system of raising a revenue by a body representing the public will be thoroughly investigated, and eventually decided in a large and liberal spirit.

     A writer in Blackwood remarks upon the evidences which exist that our lakes are doomed disappear.   "Look," he says, "at the upper end of each of the Cumberland lakes, and here will be seen a green flat which has already been silted up, and there a marsh fringe steadily encroaching upon the wavelets of the lake."   This is a matter upon which some of the older residents in the Lake District might be able to furnish interesting data. In some of our lakes there are indications such as the writer mentions; but, considering the immense mass of mud and detritus which is ceaselessly borne into the lakes by our mountain streams, and the long period over which this has gone on-the Alps and Andes being, according to Professor HUXLEY, merely "things of yesterday" compared with the hills and lakes and valleys of Cumberland-I must say that it is surprising there are so few visible signs of silting up.   Are there any reliable soundings, taken, say, fifty years ago, for the purpose of comparison with those of today?  I am told that, when the Lakeside Railway was made, soundings which were submitted to the
Parliamentary Committee showed that the depths of the lakes singularly
corresponded with the heights of the surrounding hills.

     The revival of trade in West Cumberland is satisfactorily shown by the half yearly report of the Maryport and Carlisle Railway Board, issued this week.   The receipts for the six months amounted to 66,379 l, against 50,018 l. in the corresponding period of last year, being an increase of 12,361 l.   The increase is principally in the departments of goods and minerals, the former having risen from 10,159 l to 13,697l, and the latter from 30,115 l. to 37,957 l.  The coal and iron traffic therefore accounts for two thirds of the increase, which is the more satisfactory on account of what it implies in regard to the employment of the population.   The passenger traffic shows a moderate advance-from 10,510 l. to 11,384 l; and I would suggest that, as 8821 l. of this amount is derived from third class passengers, the Board would do well to apply part of the first fruits of their reviving trade to the provision of more comfortable carriages for this large body of their customers.   While the receipts have been augmented by the sum of over 12,000 l, the expenditure shows an increase of 3200 l, which is distributed pretty evenly over all the great working departments.   The prosperity which is re-appearing is evidently not confined to West Cumberland, because I see, from the most satisfactory accounts of the North-Eastern Railway Company, that of their total increase of 508,454 l. in the half year, 285,352 l . arises from mineral and 155,391 l . from goods traffic.


     The Coffee Tavern which the Lady of the Manor opened at Maryport on Friday begins under the most favourable auspices.   The chief requisite, that of a good position, has been admirable secured, the site near the quay the best that could be selected; and with the traffic there concentrated there out to be little difficulty in making the undertaking pay, after some little time.   The general interest that has been taken in the good work is also an encouraging feature; Mrs. SENHOUSE heading the list with a hundred shares, and all ranks taking their part according to their means.   The management, too, is in the hands of men of practical business aptitude, with Mr. ADDISON as chairman.

     The pleasant sketch in this month's Blackwood , entitled "In the Deer
Forest: A Day Bewitched," is by Mr. Gilfrid HARTLEY, of Rosehill, in this county.   Mr. HARTLEY had another article, on "The Northern Shepherd," in last month's Macmillan.

     Mr. GLADSTONE'S sudden lapse into critical illness-fever, complicated by lung congestion-and his equally sudden relapse into health, the whole proceeded not taking more than a week, is one of the most remarkable things I remember.   Taking into account its opportuneness, arising from the congestion of business in Parliament, you may be sure that had it been Lord BEACONSFIELD 'S case, the Radical papers would have been recalling TALLEYRAND'S question on a similar occasion, "What can be his object in being ill now?"

     I observe that, at the Church of Congress, which meets at Leicester in the last week of September, the Bishop of Carlisle will take part in the
discussion on the internal organization of the Church; and he, with the
Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Liverpool, will address the mass
meeting of working men, which forms so interesting a feature in the annual gathering.

     I see that some of the Radical papers speak of the result of the
Liverpool election as a "moral victory:" for their Party, because Lord Claud HAMILTON'S majority is not quite so large as that of Mr. WHITLEY in February last.  But they overlook the question of proportion.  The public interest in this election was not so great as on the former occasion; as a consequence, only 40,137 voters exercised their franchise on Friday, as against 49,991 in the WHITLEY-RAMSAY contest of six months ago; and a majority of 1901on the former poll gives a larger Conservative percentage than a majority of 2221
upon the latter.   Considering the fascination of Mr. PLIMSOLL'S name among the mass of  the population in the seaport towns, I was prepared for a much narrower issue.

     In all the writing about Dr. TANNER and fasting in general, I have seen no mention made of the celebrated case of KAVANNAGH, perhaps the most famous of the fasting men, but who, in November, 1841, was found out and punished. This "total abstinence" impostor long and cleverly imposed upon the London medical profession.  He was detected at last as Reading.   A young woman, had previously been to see him, recongnised him, closely disguised, buying a saveloy, a pound of ham, and a loaf for his own use.   When taken before the magistrates, he confessed his imposture, saying, "I did eat, for the Lord caused me to be hungry."   He was committed to three months on a treadmill as a rogue and vagabond.   The disclosure caused a number of very
eminent people to look foolish, as they had warmly vouched for his honesty.

     This week, there have been several smart passages at arms in the House of Commons with regard to the Rabbits Bill.   That measure has been purposely delayed ill a period of the Session when the local engagements ofcounty members call them to their own neighbourhood.   The clever plot has therefore naturally irritated them, and the state of feeling has been rendered more acute by sundry ill tempered lectures from Mr. BRIGHT especially, who makes it more clear, every time he speaks, that the purpose of the measure is not to benefit the farmers, but to set them and the landlords by the ears, by suggesting antagonistic interests and antagonistic rights.   On Tuesday night Sir Stafford NORTHCOTE happily commented on the spectacle of men-who had never done anything for the farmers in all their lives before, and who had quite recently opposed the successful efforts of the Conservatives to relieve the burden of local taxation and to protect the herds of the country from foreign diseases-now posing in the novel and awkward attitude of "farmers' friends."   He added, most truly, that the
farmers would soon discover their real character.  On Friday night, Mr. A. ARNOLD, the pushy member for Salford, sought to repeal the Cattle Diseases Act of the last Government, and brought up all the ignorant imputations, which the Radicals bandied about so freely in the towns during the late election, about that measure being only a Tory dodge to benefit the farmers at the expense of the people at large.   But Mr. MUNDELLA, who had himself bitterly opposed the Bill at every step, but who is now in office, stated that its effect in clearing the country of disease had been "triumphantly established!"

 
X.Y.Z.