The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-30 00:00:00

922 THE NEW POTATO MARKET AT KING'S CROSS. AMONG the many changes effected by the completion of the Great Northern Railway, and the consequent Opening of a direct communication with large districts of the north of England and Scotland, has been the creation of an extensive traffic in potatoes, grown in these districts, and conveyed by this line to the Lon don consumers. For this new trade the chief market is established at the terminus of the railway near King's-cross. For the following description of the traffic there conducted we are indebted to a corre spondent of the Daily News : Maiden-lane, not long since a gutter, in which the lightest carts sank to the axles, and which was flanked on either rude by the styes of pigs and of human beings little better housed than the pigs, is now transformed into " York•road," which sustains a bustling traffic, besides along cab-rank ffir local and railway passengers. Going up York-road, face northward, we meet a succession of waggons, spring carts, costermongers' barrows, and market vans of all varieties — the horses at a walk or a trot according to the weight of loading, but all loaded with one article. This article is the potato in its several varieties of " regents," " cups," " blues," or " reds," from the Listricts in winch it delights to grow, most of them but newly opened to the London market by the Great Northern Railway. Bedfordshire has its light fertile loam, in which the potato grows to perfec tion, about Biggleswade, Sandy, and Potion. The car riage hither is 7s. and 7s. 6d. per ton. Huntingdon and Bt. Neots send a contribution from their best soils ; Peter borough a few ; Lincoln and district contribute liberally. But the largest supplies come from Yorkshire through the Selby Railway, and from the Goole and Howden districts. Rates of carriage 15s. to Ids. per ton. The next districts north of York which contribute noticeable quantities are the Dunbar and North Berwick red sandstone soils in the county of Haddington, Scotland. The carriage from thence to London is 30s. per ton ; last year it was Ms. As many as 300 tons a day arrive and are sold at this market, though on some days not so many. The season for a full business in north-country potatoes has hardly yet set in. The finest qualities from Scotland do not begin to come up until November, or between that and Christ mas. It is alleged that were the rates of carriage lower, say 20s. per ton from Scotland, and proportionately from the great potato districts of Yorkshire, this would become the chief potato market in London. It is the second now. Tooley.street market, supplied by sea, is first. The freight by sea from Yorkshire is 95., and from Scotland 13s. and 145., per ton. It is said that owing to the lower prices and greater abundance of the article this season, as compared with 1853 and spring of 1354, the buyers in the north must resort to the cheaper, though slower, transit by sea, unless the railway companies make some concession. Not knowing the working costs of the potato trains from the north, 1 cannot hazard an opinion as to what the rate of carriage can be reduced to. But the London consumers of this universally-used article of food have a clear interest in obtaining potatoes by railway in preference to carriage by sea. The railway has opened new districts. High prices have induced a large cultivation. If low prices and high rates of carriage prevail, the growers must abandon potatoes and return to their former crops. Take the Dunbar and North Berwick districts in Haddingtonshire as instances. The soil has always been the same there as now ; the facilities of transit by sea to London the same; yet comparatively few potatoes were sent to London from Haddingtonshire until two years after the Great Northern had been opened to complete the direct communication. That soil, which is hardly equalled and not surpassed in Britain for potato growing, was not planted with this root for distant markets, because the demand was uncertain. Buyers did not go there from London, because the supply was uncertain. Owing to the failure of the Yorkshire supply for a succes sion of years from rot, and the comparative absence of the rot on the dry sandy loams of Dunbar, larger breadths of land were planted at a venture. In 1853 a London buyer went down, also at a venture, not knowing what the supply might be. He cleared the district of its surplus produce ; pad large prices ; forwarded his ttucks to King's-cross, whet s Dunbar potatoes, before unknown, soon obtained a name and the call of the market. Such was the abun dance of crop and excellence of quality, and high price, in 1853, that one farmer near Dunbar realised—so it was alleged and believed—the amazing amount of 1001. per acre for his potatoes. But I presume this was per Scotch acre, which is one-fifth more than the " imperial." Other farmers realised great sums per acre. The natural result was that in 1854 they planted double the breadth of land put posely for the London markets ; the crop is abundant and good. From various causes prices will rule far below those of last sea son. If the railways do not give every practicable facility to bring tip those abundant stores it is probable that fewer will be planted next season, and thus the potato traffic by rail will decrease, and the Londoner will have to eat an inferior potato grown nearer home. THREE OF THE SUFFERERS in the accident in the Bramhope Tunnel, on the Leeds Northern Railway, last week, held annual insurance tickets. which will secure them compensation from the Railway Pas sengers' Insurance Company. A second accident took place on the same line a few days afterwards from a pilot-engine coming into collision with a goods train, and two of the railway officials who were on the engine and es( aped, the one with broken ribs, the other with a broken leg, were also insured with the same company. No less than fourteen claims have been made upon this company during the last six weeks, some of them for injuries of a very serious character. THE PRESS. Volituai Onterat. THE REDUCTION OF POSTAGE to New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia is officially announced in a post-office circular Just issued. The new ra•e will commence to•morrow (lat October), under the following conditions :—The postage upon letters con veyed either by packet or private ship will be reduced to a combined British and colonial rate of,—For a letter not exceeding half an ounce in weight, Od.; not exceeding one ounce, is. ; not exceeding two ounces, 25.; and so increasing one shilling for every ounce or fraction of an ounce. The postage upon these letters may be paid in advance, or they may be forwarded unpaid at the option of the sender. To the reduced rate of Ott. a French transit rate of sd. per quarter ounce must be added in the case of all letters for the above-mentioned colonies which may be specially addressed to be sent via Marseilles. The corre spondence for Western Australia is forwarded as a rule by private ship. Letters for that colony specially addressed to be transmitted " via Singapore " will continue liable to the existing rate of I s. the half ounce, or, if also directed to be sent "via Marseilles," to the existing rate of Is. 16d. the quarter ounce ; but letters for Western Australia, addressed to go by the direct Australian packet, will be sent in the mail for Melbourne, and will be liable only to the reduced rate of 6d. In all cases the postage must be pre paid. The rates of postage now chargeable upon packets containing printed votes and proceedings of Parliament, sent through the post to New South Wales, will be repealed, and all such packets will be forwarded only by the direct packets, and will be subject to the rates of postage which are levied on printed books sent to that colony, viz. :—For a packet not exceeding half a pound in weight, Od. ; not exceeding one pound, Is. ; not exceeding two pounds, 2s. ; and not exceeding three pounds, 3s. • beyor.d which weight no packet can be sent at a reduced rate of postage. THE UPWARD MOVEMENT IN THE PRICES OF WHEAT, which commenced in the beginning of the month, re ceived a further impetus last week, and the total rise from the lowest point of depression is at least 10s. per quarter—on some qualities more. This advance has taken the millers by surprise, for instead of buying whilst prices were receding they all held off to get in at the lowest point, and they are as a body quite as bare of stock at present as they were before supplies of new wheat began to come forward. In this position of affairs there does not appear much probability of any immediate reaction, more espe cially if the export demand for wh eat and flour (which has recently been rather extensive) should continue. The arrivals from abroad have lately been very small; indeed for some weeks past supplies have nearly ceased to come forward, and previous to that time the importations were on a much less liberal scale than earlier in the season. The next return is likely to show a still greater falling off, and, as stocks in granary have meanwhile been materially reduced, it will need very liberal deliveries from the growers to furnish the supplies requisite for actual consumption. The extraordinarily fine condition in which a large portion of the wheat has been harvested induced the belief that it would be possible to convert it into flour with a much smaller mixture of old than in ordinary seasons; but this upon trial is found not to be the case, and we have, consequently, during the last fortnight heard of numerous complaints in regard to the mealing properties of the new wheat. There is, however, we are inclined to think, no reason tor complaint in this respect ; all that can be said is, that something like the usual rule will have to be ob served; however dry the condition, new wheat cannot be used alone so soon after harvest. The effect of this has been to cause an increased demand for old; and, as very little of home growth now remains on hand, the ports where stocks of foreign are held are sure to be visited by the country millers.—Mark-lane Express. HOP-PICKING will be finished by the end of the present week. The South• Eastern Gazette states that it is universally said among the planters that the crop will fall far below what was expected a few weeks ago, though the quality has been improved by the favourable weather of the last fortnight. In Maidstone, Boxley, and the immediate vicinity the average yield is said to be between four cwt. and five cwt. per acre ; two or three miles distant it is not likely to exceed 1 # cwt. One grower has obtained about twenty-five pockets this year, where last year he had 140, or nearly six times as many. On the whole, it may be fairly concluded that the total yield on the Canterbury grounds will be quite a third less than was estimated only a few weeks since. Some 400 pockets have been packed without, however, display ing many excellent samples. In Sussex, in a con siderable number of the grounds, the picking is al ready finished. The average yield is variously esti mated at from one and a half to three cwt. per acre, according to the situation and nature of the grounds ; but it is universally said that the quantity is short, and the quality indifferent. SATURDAY, COUNT WALEWSKI has returned to the residence of the French embassy, Albert-gate-house, after an absence of some weeks. THE celebrated floating island of Derwentwater has made its appearance during the last few days. CAPTAIN PENNY set sail again yesterday week from Aberdeen, in his little brig, for the Arctic regions, to prosecute the whale-fishing. THE Government has conferred a pension of 2001. from the Literary Fund on Mrs. Fullerton, the widow of the late Lord Fullerton. _ A GREAT NUMBER OF THE BAKERS Of the metropolis increased the price of their bread a halfpenny the 41b. loaf on Wednesday last. ON Saturday last a range of cottages at Clare, near Bury, Lancashire, belonging to Mr. Alger, were destroyed by fire, and some slight damage was sus tained by contiguous property. A FEW days ago, as the wife of a butcher of Crosley, Wilts, was whitewashing their cottage, she pulled away an old board from the ceiling, when to her astonishment and joy a bag containing 3701. in gold fell to the floor. THE new plan for assimilating the financial to the natural year will not, as regards the making up of the public accounts, be carried into effect immediately. The revenue returns for the current quarter will, ac cordingly, be carried up to the 10th of October, as heretofore. THE number of visitors to the Crystal Palace last week was 32,228, including season.ticket holders. The receipts for admission during the week 'were 1,3991. 10s. AN interesting description of the leviathan vessel now building for the Eastern Steam Navigation Com pany, by the firm of which he was a principal, was given by Mr. Scott Russell, in a paper read before the Mechanical Section of the British Association at Liverpool. This gigantic steamer, he said, would carry her own coal, 0,000 tons of goods, 500 to 600 first-class and 1,000 second class passengers. It was by her enormous capacity that she would be made to pay, and they calculated that she would reach Aus tralia in 33 days, or go round the world, without in cluding her detention in Australia, in 60 days, less than the time it now takes to go one way. Her length would be 675 feet, her beam 83 feet, and her depth about 60 feet. She would have three decks for passengers, with more than 8 feet between each. Now, St. George's-hall, in the interior, was 109 feet • in length only, 77 feet in width, or six feet less than this new ship, and the height from the floor to the spring of the arch was about the same as that of this great leviathan. THE COMMANDERSHIP OF THE FORCES IN SCOTLAND is now vacant, General T. E. Napier having attained the rank :of lieutenant-general, and retiring accord ing to the rules of the service. The gallant general is brother of Admiral Sir Charles Napier, and has himself gained much distinction in the field, losing an arm at the passage of the Bidassoa in 1813. His successor will not improbably be Lord Melville, now on important service in India, or elsa the Earl of Rosslyn. THE REGISTER OF THE MEMBERS OF CONOREGA nox in Oxford University, as qualified under the new act to vote in the election of the Hebdomadal Council, has now been completed, and the list is published by authority. It contains 265 names. The congregation will meet on the 24th of October to choose such members of the Hebdomadal Council as are made elective by the act. The meeting will commence in the House of Convocation at 9 a.m., for the election of six heads of colleges and halls to be members of the said council, the voting for whom will terminate at 10.30; at 12, for the election of sit professors, the voting for whom will terminate at 1.30 ; and at 3 p.m. for the election of " six members of Convocation of not less than five years' standing,' the voting for whom will terminate at 4.30. In the university the following list has been proposed as containing the most probable members of the forth coming election : The Master of University College (Rev. Dr. Pluniptre, ex-Vice•Chancellor). The President of Corpus Christi College (Rev. Dr Norris, next Vice• Chancellor). The Provost of Oriel College (Rev. Dr. Hawkins). The Warden of Wadham College (Rev. Dr. Symons). The Principal of lirasenose College (Rev. Dr. Cradock). The Master of Ralliol College (Rev. Dr. Scott). The Regius Professor of Divinty (Rev. Dr. Jacobson, Christ Church). The Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History (Be!. R. Hussey). Professor of Natural Philosophy (Rev. B. Price, rem broke College). Professor of Chemistry (Dr. Daub en y , College). Public Re Orator (v. R. Michell, agdalen Hall). Lee's Reader in Anatomy (DrM. Adana, All Soul s ' College). Rev. H. H. Cornish, Corpus Christi College. Rev. 0. Gordon, Christ Church. Magdalen Mr. M. J. Johnson, Radcliffe Observer. Mr. C. Neste, Oriel College. Rev. M. Psttison, Lincoln College. Professor of Moral Phil o sophy (Rev. J. M. War)°, Corpus Christi College).