The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-16 00:00:00

SEPTEMBER 16, 1854. artlata THE Nation says that positive information has been received of the arrival of Mr. Smith O'Brien in Belgium. THE accounts of the progress of harvest business are all that could be desired. The Cork Examiner says : " Since our last report the weather has been warm and brilliant, with heavy fogs and occasionally light rain at night. The blight has in isolated spots made its appearance during the last week, amongst potato-fields hitherto healthy, but the damage done is no considerable increase on that suffered before. In the neighbourhood of Killarney the potatoes both on boggy and sandy soil have been quite un touched, while those in the district of Bantry and on to Glengariffe have suffered heavily." The reports from the other parts of the island are equally satisfactory; notwithstanding, there has been a rise at the Dublin Corn Exchange on now wheat of from Is. to 2s. per barrel. THE MAN RYAN, who was waylaid some days ago in Tipperary, has died of his injuries. ACCORDING to the Dublin Express the Lord Lieu tenant was to leave on Wednesday or Thursday for England. THE Freeman's Journal has the following on the increase of railway traffic accommodation between England and Ireland : "We understand that important alterations are about being made in the present systeth of through traffic be tween this country and England, and that the contemplated changes include improved postal arrangements and greatly increased facilities for the transit of merchandise, &T. These are alterations in which not alone the railway com panies but the public generally are deeply interested, and we believe that they are about to be carried into speedy operation. Some of the directors of the London and North- Western and Chester and Holyhead Railway Companies, with their principal officials, are now in Ireland with the view of hastening that event." THERE has been, unfortunately, no abatement of cholera in the north. THE rumour that the cholera had broken out in the Prince of the Seas emigrant-ship, which has put in at Kilrush, in her voyage from Glasgow to Mel bourne, hes been contradicted by the surgeon and passengers of the ship. The captain had died of diarrhoea, and another case of the same kind had taken place on board; but that was all the sickness that occurred, with the exception of what is incidental to ordinary voyages. AFTER the late sectarian riots in the north of Ire land a new occurrence has added to the excitement. It would appear that a Roman Catholic priest, named Conway, was returning on that night from a sick call, when, as stated by his friends, be was assailed by some groups of persons in the street, and that he fired a pistol, as he says, merely to frighten his assailants. He then went to the police to complain of the attack made on him, and was arrested by the officer on duty, and kept in custody until next day, his pistol being seized and detained by the police. The organs of both parties are busy with the affair, one declaring that the priest fired at an unoffending young woman, the other de claring that he was unjustifiably detained. Thus the matter rests at present. AN ACCIDENT occurred on the North Kent Railway on Tuesday morning, fortunately without loss of life. An engine and train, composed of fifteen trucks, left Strood terminus at aquarter past one for the Bricklayers' Arms station, and on its way stopped at the Higham station, which is the first on the line and close to the tunnel, for the purpose of unhooking one of the trucks and taking on another. At twenty-five minutes past one another train, consisting of twenty-nine empty cattle trucks, left Strood for London, and proceeded through the tunnel at its usual speed, and immediately on its emerging therefrom the driver, Tickler, observed the lights of the goods-train standing on the up-line of rails. He at once put on the breaks, and did all in his power to bring up the train, but to no purpose, as the engine dashed with great force into the last truck of the goods-train, smashing several of the coal trucks, and causing the engine of the cattle train to he thrown off the line on to the down-line, where it lay. None of the carriages of the cattle-train were injured ; but the guards, who were in break-vans at the latter end of the train, were thrown with great force against their breaks and received some bruises and contusions : the driver and stoker of the engine, however, received no injury. The line was not cleared till eleven o'clock. The down train running over a portion of the up-line, the signals were all set at danger, so that the conduct of the driver is quite unintelligible. A FARMER IN HEREFORDSHIRE committed suicide from a too hasty despair at his pecuniary circum • stances. He took arsenic, and submitted w►th great reluctance to the operations of the stomach-pump, which were unavailing. His circumstances, though low, and causing him great apparent anguish of mind, were not irreparable, and, with a little assist ance from his brothers, he could have paid all his debts. He has left a widow and eight children. Verdict, " Temporary insanity." THE PRESS. 879 ATI:NAGE ILLNEHN AIdONO THE LABOURING CLASSES Mr. Finlaison thus calculates the average number of days' illness per annum suffered by the population at different ages. At the age of 45 he states that 09 out of the 100 benefit clubs close their doors to the admission of candi dates, and above that age the number of illnesses begin to increase. Between 15 and 10, the average number of days per annum with persons engaged in general labour is 61 ' • between 16 and 26, ; between 26 and 30, 7 ; between 41 and 40, 8; ; between 46 and 51, 101 ; between 51 and 56, 121; between 56 and 01 , 101 ; between 61 and 66, •2,31 ; and between 60 and 71, 30 days. Mr. Finlaison adds, on an examination of the amount of sickness per annum recorded for the whole mass of the male members of friendly societies, from the age of 15 to that of 85, it may be pre mised that almost exactly five years' sickness is undergone by the man in the 70 years of time. But during the period of labour—that is, from the commencement of the 16th year of age to the close of the 60th—there are in this 51 years but 78 weeks, or exactly one year and a half, of sick ness. Further, that in respect of this period of labour, the sickness, during what may almost be termed its second moiety—viz., from the age of 41 to that of 60--is almost exactly the double of that undergone in the previous moiety —from the age of 15 to that of 41 years. For the sickness during the first 20 years of manhood if 'meetly half a year, or 1821 days, while it is 3621 days, or almost exactly one whole year, during the next ensuing 25 years of maturity. THE COMPLAINTS OP BAD VENTILATION so often made during last session by the members of both Houses of Par liament is producing its effect. Both chambers are now undergoing extensive alterations, preparatory to the intro duction of Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney's system of lighting and ventilation, in conformity with the recommendation of the committees of both houses which investigated the subject in the last session. The members' benches in both chambers have been entirely removed, the perforated floors are being stripped of their leaden coverings, and the walls, which so recently echoed to " the applause of listening senators," reverberate now with the operation of artisans. The ventilation and lighting of both houses, and all the contiguous chambers, corridors, galleries, and passages, are henceforth to be under the sole control of Mr. Gurney. The artificial lighting of the two debating chambers, how ever, will be different. In the Commons the system of lighting through the ceiling, which was introduced in the last session as an experiment, and met with such general approval, will be retained, its great merit being that it throws rays of light alone into the chamber, without rays of heat, and thus leaves the atmosphere of the house wholly uninfluenced. But in the Lords there appears to be a diffi culty in carrying that arrangement into operation, without extensive alterations in the ceiling, which would mar its beauty, while they could only be introduced at considerable cost ; and therefore, in pursuance of the recommendation of their lordships' committee, the pendent lights put up by Mr. Mees in, which were tried in the chamber before the close of the session, are to be adopted permanently, but perfected in a mode by which all products of combustion which vitiate the surrounding atmosphere shall be carried out of the house. The ventilation of the Lords' chambers will be conducted on the same plan as that recently intro. diced into the Commons by Mr. (Jamey. MR. MECHI AT ALTRINCHAM. LAST week the Manchester and Liverpool Agricultu ral Society held a very successful anniversary at Altrincham, at which the tokens and specimens of progress and improvements in the arts of cultivation were duly exhibited, and admired by a numerous throng of visitors. The proceedings closed by the usual banquet, given at the railway station, where a large carriage shed was covered in and decorated for the occasion. There were 450 guests, with the Earl of Stamford for president, and many speeches of mingled congratulation and advice were delivered after dinner. Among others Mr. Mechi, in returning thanks for the Royal Agricultural Society of Eng land, offered some observations deserving record. He said, after some occasional remarks : " I want to see British agriculture more elevated in profit, in sentiment, and in character. It wants more edit cation more intelligence, and more capital, and that can only be attained by the concurrence of landlord and te nant. I believe we are never so well off as when we are dissatisfied with ourselves. If Manchester had not been dissatisfied with the spinning -wheel, what would Manches ter have been at this moment ? And so it is with agricul ture. Believe that you are only just beginning to act, and you will do well for yourselves. But you cannot do it with your present appliances. Your land is undrained, your buildings are unfit for a respectable farmer, your fields are too small, and your hedgerows too numerous. I have been told that it is because game is respected that your fields are small. But I won't believe it, because I know that the aristocracy of this country have a very high sense of their position and dignity, and are ready to fall in with that which is for the benefit of the country. We want to know more of the requirements of agriculture. In the largest fields in Norfolk I have seen four fields for a thousand acres—(cheers) —and there are more partridges in the fields of Norfolk than you ever see here. And how is this done ? Because the farmers of Norfolk, liking to see the landed proprietors enjoy their sport, drill a few rows of buckwheat in their turnips, and always have capital part ridge-shooting. (Cheers.) I tell you that you cannot go on in Lancashire and Cheshire as you are going on now. (Cheers.) Your farmers cannot spend money enough— they cannot be intelligent enough—they cannot be good customers enough to the other classes of the community, because your system is a starvation and poverty system. (Applause.) Excuse me for speaking honestly, but I be lieve that railways and the facilities of intercourse between man and man in this kingdom will cause a great change— will enable farmers and landlords of any poor districts to go into well-farmed districts in other parts of the country which hate been reclaimed and improved and made fruit ful by the investment of capital and intelligence. I do not charge upon agriculture any particular prejudice more than belongs to any other class of the community. We know that in manufactures, and in every invention and improvement, we have always had great contention against old customs and prejudices. But I address myself now to the manufacturers of Manchester. We know there are men in Manchester who, by science and capital, are becoming princes, and are purchasing the broad lands of this king dom. I say to them, You have done great things—you have got a magnificent city, but take care to learn agricul ture. Take care to raise amongst you, for money is no object, a college in which agriculture can be taught as a science.' (Cheers.) 1 said so to-day to a manufacturer, and he said, Mr. Mechi, I will give you 500/. for that ob ject to-morrow.' (Cheers.) To the great landed proprie tors I would say, ' Look out amongst your tenant farmers for some son—some young man whose father, having a desire to make his son more than himself, has given him a good education, and offer some premium, pay some part of the cost to the tenantry on your estates, that their sons may go to those colleges now existing.' Some years ago, at great personal and pecuniary inconvenience, I took an in terest in the college at Cirencester, in Gloucestershire. That college was founded for the sons of the farmers of Eng land, but I say it with great truth that the education was so inferior that when we got professors of the highest class we found it was throwing pearls to swine ; for the educa tion received by that class of individuals would not enable them to imbibe that science which would have been so be neficial to them. Therefore I say to the landlords, and particularly the Manchester gentlemen who have plenty of money and plenty of ability, establish a noble college in which the agriculture of this country shall be taught. You have not got all the difficulties to go through that we had at Cirencester, That college is established, and we are turning men into the world who will he an honour to Agri culture. Do you the same. I say, as a general rule, if we had more knowledge—and I have had to buy my expe rience, as we have all had to buy our experience —but, if you had great and established rules and principles of ac tion, those questions of drainage, farm-buildings, steam engines, and other things, would not be questions of dis• pute, but they would be accepted as common and every-day occurrences ; and I have no doubt we shall have no discus sion on the subject fifty years hence. (Cheers.) They will be matters of course, like your breakfast, dinner, and tea. There is another point of the utmost importance. We, as farmers, think that if we keep 200 sheep to 100 acres we have our farms well manured; but when you have 400,0(X) sheep in Manchester—(cheers)—or, what is better, you have 400,000 men, women, and children, with all their cats and dogs—(laughter)—horses, and everything else, and allow all these advantages to be wasted, you are not sane men. Now you are coming to Board of Health prin ciples, and carrying away all this in tubes ; and I hope you will find some spirited man wise enough to look at profit and say, I will give 1,0001. a year for the sewerage of Manchester. I will get an act of Parliament to bring it fifteen miles away. I shall put it on 10,000 acres of land, and I shall make 100,0001. out of it.' (Applause.) I am not speaking theoretically on this question --I have laid down two miles of piping myself, on my own farm, for the conveyance of liquid manure ; and I can only say that I should be too happy, if I were within five miles of a town, to be able to get the manure from it. I assure you it will pay. I tell you honestly you could put a ton of liquid ma nure, send it five miles, put it on your farm, and throw it down in a shower, plough it, spread it in the soil for three farthings a ton. if you don't do that, I can only say that. the men of Manchester are not what I calculated them to be. The Almighty has blessed us with a bountiful harvest ; consequently Consuls go up, money gets cheep, labour will be well employed, and our friends in Manchester are re joicing at the prospect of an abundant trade. I say to you on public and on national grounds, do all you can to miti gate the vicissitudes of the season, which are sometimes so fatal. You can only do that by manure and drainage— putting in water where it is dry—taking it off where it is wet. You ought to be the richest agriculturists in the world. Why? Because you not only consume al! you grow, but you import every imaginable thing that is good fur man. Your port wine, your sherry, your turtle, coffee, and sugar, all ought to add wealth to this country. You bring it, throw it down the river, and go to I'eru to buy guano at 101. a ton. ( Hear, hear.) I conclude by saying, on public grounds, but at some personal inconvenience, that my farm is open to any gentleman who wishes to carry out those great and important measures so beneficial to us. Let them send their men to my farm—let them work with my men—let them save all the costs of the experi ments which the introduction of a new system entailed on me. They are welcome to do it, and Ido it on public grounds." Mr. Mechi sat down amid prolonged cheering. THE HIGH PRIEST OF FUGITIVE MAGI:III:ES, Mr. J. Murray, of Sarkbridge tollbar, who performs marriages by the score, some of them at sixpence each, is so highly rented for the tollgate on account of his great gains, that he is about to resort to an expedient by which ho may retain his business and diminish his outgoings. A house is about to be erected for him, we are told, by Sir James Graham, ins field ou the English side, close to the high way, about 400 yards from the tollbar. He will probably find a powerful opponent installed in his old shop at the bar, fur there are rivals in this limited sphere as well as in the great world. When the three Gretna prirste are on the look out for for fugitives at the Gretna Junction, Mr. Ward, the station-master, makes them stand behind the railway, about ten yards from the trains ; and when the fair ones step out they walk up to their reverences, who are all in a row, and take their survey of them and make their selection. They are always dressed in black on such occasions, and look very grave.