The Press. — London, England, 1856-10-04 00:00:00

952 course depending on the number of sheep, the number of shearers employed, and the convenience of the place. A shearer, working twelve hours a day, will shear from fifty to one hundred sheep, and as the price has ranged for the last three or four years from fifteen shillings to one pound per hundred, the wages for shearing are higher in proportion than for any other farming work. Still there are some drawbacks, as the shearer often loses much time i■ going from place to place, and at the end of the summer has to engage for low wages during the winter season. There is always a stand made at the beginning of the shearing season for the price, and the unlucky sheepholder who begins first has sometimes the mortification of seeing all his shearers troop off just as he has got his sheep washed, and perhaps ready to shear. The usual trial of skill between master and man goes forward somewhat in the following way :—Suppose the sheep in the pens, shearers scattered over the floor, wool winders and wool pressers in their places. The master comes in, and, with as careless an air as he can assume, says, " Now, my lads, hit in."—" What's the price ?" asks the spokesman, a bush lawyer. Master : " Oh, thirteen shillings is what I hear." All : " Thirteen shillings !" Spokesman: " Why, Jack says they're a giving thirty shillings over the water ; it war a pound last year, and now all the shearers is gone to New Zealand, it's a going to be twenty-five shillings this year." Master ' Pooh ! nonsense ! Who can afford to give each a price as that? I hear fifteen shillings is the price at Port Philip, and we can't afford to give so high a price as they do." Spokesman " Why, look at the price of wool; it's higher now than when you give a pound last year." Master "'Tie not as if it did you any good : you'll spend all the money in drink." Wag : " We lays it out iu houses—(sotto race) public houses." Muter: "And as to shearers, there's lots of them knocking about that would be glad to take a flock like mine, so many ewes and lambs, and hardly any rough sheep." Spokesman : " Ali, they says they are shearers ! but when they gives in their tally, it'll be five-and•twenty or thirty : as to me and my mates, we've been a shearing these ten years ; but it's time we give up when masters talks of thirteen shillings" (putting up shears, and corn • menoing to put on coats). Muter: " Well, I'll go as high as fifteen shillings and two lots of cider, and no thanks to you: you are a greedy set." Spokesman : " There now, just as if we cared ! only how can one go for to show oneself on a township, and have it cut up as we lowered the price ? we darna go fur to do it." Muter : " You may depend upon it nobody about here will give more ; but if anybody round about gives a pound I will; but mind, now, the price is fifteen shilling 4." (Exit muter.) Spokesman (to the rest): " Well, bow's it to be ?" Man, who has not got a shilling, and has borrowed money to buy his shears : " The cove says hell give a pound if anybody else does." Man, who left a good place, and has got five pounds in his pockets : "A pound is the price we agreed to have." Thirsty man : " But cove says we're to have two lots of cider." At this juncture an old ewe, with very little wool on it, comes round to the front of the yard. " good morning, marm," cries the wag ; " you're the shearer's friend, I should say : you and me's partners." " Come, Jack," says his mate, " den't you be a eagle, hawking 'em at this rate : no picking, say I." This induces a rush for the sheep, and before the spokesman can get out, " That's not a fair start," there are several sheep on the shearing floor, and busy shears at work: the most stubborn grumble, and at last get a sheep, saying, " Well, I think the cove would ha' given the pound if we had a stuck out." It is satisfactory to observe how steadily this young colony is improving. The land sold already amounts to 2,804,183 acres, and the rented land to 2,284,214 acres. The land unsold in the colony is stated to be 12,482,214 acres. The value of imports in 1855 was up wards of 3,000,0001., and of exports 2,000.0001. The revenue of the colony amounted to 298,7841., and the expenditure to 276,6501; the return of land revenue was 113,3351., and of expenditure to 86,6801. The book gives a most favorable impression of the country of Tasmania, and of its present social state. Whatever taint the colony re ceived from its convict population is fast wear ing out. Apart from circumstances, vice does not appear to be progenitive. It is an element foreign to humanity, a kind of acquired habit from which the children of a convict popula tion, brought up under favorable conditions, may be wholly free. That Port Jackson, from a purely convict settlement, should have risen to its existing flourishing state must be regarded as one of the noblest achievements of modern times, and surely points out the most desirable mode of dealing with a criminal population. As for the insane it has been dis covered that the best and most curative mode of treatment is to relieve them from restraints, to give scope to their activity, and only im mure theta in a solit.try cell when they mani fest irrestminablo violence, the history of THE PRESS. our convict settlements shows that to separate convicts from their criminal habits and con nections, and place them in circumstances where strong inducements are held out to honest industry, is the safest, perhaps the only, mode of reclaiming them. The island of Tasmania is 250 miles long by 200 broad, and is watered by many beautiful rivers. The pursuits of the settlers aro almost entirely agricultural, and its cli mate and soil are equally well adapted to the labours of husbandry. From what is said here, we are inclined to regard it as one of the most aristocratic of our settlements. The landed proprietary, of whom mention is made, seem to be enviably placed. They aro found. ing new families, stamped broadly with the characteristics of the English gentry. What an opening is here for the younger branches of our old houses. With something of Cfesar's spirit in them—" I would rather be the first " man in these Alpine valleys than the second " man in Rome"—they might acquire a position in our colonies equal to that held by the fathers of their native land. Happily, in our day, the tie that binds our colonies to the mother country is a very close one. There is little danger of its being violently severed. All classes have friends and relatives in the colonies, and there is constant intercourse be tween them, with, as regards the higher class of settlers, frequent visits to England, for ends of pleasure or business. Then the ties of commerce materially help to rivet the ties of family. It is convenient for colonial firms to have one member resident in the place with which they have dealings ; and that member is not unfrequently a brother or son of one of the principals in the establishment at home. These various sources of intimate connection all weaken the chances of any serious rupture between England and her colonies ; while, with the latitude of action allowed to the latter, no opposition of interests is possible. The advantages lie all on the side of con tinued union ; the disadvantages all on the side of separation. Our colonies are more firmly attached to the parent State than the provinces of the United States, north and south, are attached to each other. It should be our policy to seize every occasion to strengthen this connection ; and it is to be regretted that in the late war an effort was not made to raise colonial instead of foreign legions, as the cause of the parent State and the colonies is really one; and it would be as natural for the latter to send forces to assist us in our European struggles, as for the former to send troops to put down a Kaffir rebellion, or to repel the chance of foreign invasion. The volume of Captain Stoney is illustrated with a number of plates, representing some of the most striking natural beauties of Tas mania. The work is intelligent, practical, and amusing, and tends to inspire bright hopes for the future of our colonial empire. The Census of Ireland for the Year 1851. Part VI. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. Dublin : Thom and Sons. THIS IS, in appearance, a most imposing volume. It has prodigious columns of statis tics, with divers statements of figures, relating to all classes and occupations in Ireland, and undertakes to record such au amount of knowledge about that country as would greatly raise the estimate of human omniscience and capacity. Recollecting the difficulty of obtaining information of this sort in Ireland, one is startled at finding the smallest shades in the social strata of that country indicated with such marvellous pre cision. Such an affected display of accuracy is apt to put people ou their guard. When Sir Benjamin Backbite, in The School for Scandal, relates that " Charles's ball, after " wounding Sir Peter, struck against a little " bronze Shakespeare on the mantel-piece, " glanced out of the window at a right angle, " and wounded the postman, who had just " come to the doo r w ith a d ou bl e letter from " Northamptonshire," the fallacy of pretend ing to know too much about it is cleverly exposed. We must*say that there is a paraoo and affectation of accuracy about this lybole SATURDAY, Report which ought to be provocative of criti cism. It is certainly very late to offer us, in the last quarter of 1856, a census for thii year 1851. In military matters, hospital returns of all kinds, and in bureaucratic departments, where each and every person is under supervised control, it is possible to attain accuracy; but in a society like that of Ireland, divided be tween hostile religions, it is hopeless to expect that the constabulary force could succeed in obtaining data sufficient for such a volume as that before us. We shall presently show how little the figures or assertions in this Report are to be relied on. The " General Report " and preliminary introduction is not drawn up with the neatness and clearness appropriate to statistics. It is a prolix piece of patch work, and exhibits much clumsiness in its method. This is now the sixth part and tenth volume of the series of reports addressed to the authorities ; and the Commissioners com mence their Report with a most superfluous narration of the powers given to them, and with a tedious explanation of the forms A, B, and C, which are afterwards printed at length, and at a glance sufficiently explain themselves to the eye. After stating the instructions of the Commissioners to the police enumerators, the Commissioners say : It having been determined that, as in the Census of 1811, the enumeration should be taken by townlands, parishes, baronies, and counties, according to the bounda ries laid down on the Ordnance maps, and that each Con stabulary district should, where not inconvenient, form a Census district, under the superintendence of the Sub- Inspector, or Head• Constable, in charge of it, we procured maps from the Ordnance Survey department, and fur nished each officer with one for his district ; having pre. viously caused the boundaries of the townlands, sub. districts, and districts to be distinguished by different colours. To aid in the enumeration, the services of the Coast Guard were made available—the Comptroller• General having directed that the officers and men of that force should afford assistance on all matters relating to the Census. The several enumerators having been appointed, and districts assigned to them, the different forms—amounting to upwards of a million and a half—were forwarded to them, accompanied by full instructions as to their duties. " A million and a half of forms " let loose from Dublin on the police and constabulary of Ireland, who were to bo the enumerators What follows is significant : We next endeavoured to prepare the public mind for the approaching inquiries, by addressing a circular letter to all persons throughout the country, whom we supposed to possess, by reason of their rank or occupation, any influence with the people—soliciting their friendly co. operation, with a view to the removal of any prejudices unfavorable to the Census. In this object we were ably assisted by the public press in Ireland—our circulars having been published in the various newspapers, and special articles inserted in them, calling general attention to the importance of giving correct information—thus making widely known the objects for which these decen nial accounts of the population are taken. That statement testifies to the difficulty of obtaining the facts, and al izo to the likelihood that the police would not obtain much volun. tary assistance from the people at large. Tho letter of the Commiosioners ran thus : Sir,—We, the Commissioners appointed by his Excel lency the Lord Lieutenant to carry into effect the pro vision, of the Act 13 and 14 Vict., cap. 44, "for taking an Account of the population of Ireland," on the 81st instant, beg leave most earnestly to solicit your friendly co-opers tion in this very important object, by exerting your in fluence among the peasantry and the less enlightened classes in your neighbourhood, so as to remove any pre judices which may exist, and induce them willingly to afford the information asked for in the several print& d forms, and thus facilitate the labours of the Enumerator?. The great importance of these inquiries, and the universal interest expressed as to the results of the approaching Census of Ireland, will, we trust, excuse us for soliciting your aid on this occasion. We need scarcely add that upon the fidelity of the returns will chiefly depend their statistical value. Just so. " Upon the fidelity of the returns " will chiefly depend their statistical value." For " chiefly," as we conceive, the word ought to have been " entirely." A priori, we might say that to obtain accurate information on such minute and complex forms as were sent would be almost impossible. Let us now see whether the knowledge so obtained can be practically relied on. Let us take the town of Belfast, and turn to the " Occupation Tables" for that district (p. 414). Amongst the class " ministering to food " the Report puts down •' waiters—hotel and tavern." Belfast is a city which swarms with hotels, and how many " waiters " do our readers suppose are ill Belfast? There are