The Press. — London, England, 1857-07-25 00:00:00

6U axon 3nteiligtntt. Mayo.—Colonel Higgins's candidature for this county is stated to be beyond a doubt. It is rumoured that Mr. Tristram Kennedy will seek the representa tion of the county, backed by the interest of Mr. G. H. Moore. Lord John Browne supports the Palmerston Government. Woonsroc K.—L ord Alfred Churchill was returned unopposed yesterday. His lordship in his address to the electors of Woodstock professed himself in favour of measures for strengthening the connection of the Church with the State; he will support an equitable adjustment of the church•rate question, an extension of the present system of Government grants for education. With regard to reform he says : The increase of intelligence and education at the present period is such that an extension of the suffrage appears with some reason to be demanded, and it is evident that to in terest a larger class of persons capable of exercising a dis criminating judgment in the maintenance of social insti tutions would prove an additional security to them. Should her Majesty's Government, in accordance with pledges (which they seem to have given), introduce a measure capable of effecting such ends, I shall be happy to give it a fair and impartial consideration. BiamtmixAm.—An announcement was made by the Mayor of Birmingham on Wednesday, at a public meeting, that Mr. Muntz will in a day or two be likely to accept the Chiltern Hundreds. GALWAY.—Mr. G. H. Moore has retired. Sir Thomas Redington is now the only candidate . Sir Thomas Redington (says the Freeman's Journal) will of course get such portions of the Clanricarde interest as can be influenced by the landlords ; and this interest, which headed the pole at the last election, will also get a large section of the O'Flaherty support. The popular party are wasting much energy by the delay in selecting a candidate. OXFORD.—Mr. Cardwell was returned on Tuesday by a majority of 07 over Mr. Thackeray. The numbers were : Mr. Cardwell 1,085 Mr. Thackeray l,OlB _ _ Majority 67 FALKlRK.—Captain John G. C. Hamilton has issued an address to the electors of these burghs, asking for their suffrages as the successor to Mr. Merry, who has been unseated by a parliamentary committee. He is " a sincere advocate of constitu tional and commercial freedom," in favour of a " reform of the representative system," the extension of the suffrage, and for the promotion of a tho roughly unsectarian system of education. THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY THE annual meeting of this society has been held during the week at Salisbury. The show of sheep and cattle this year was good, and that of horses magnificent. The pig yard contained the largest and best assorted sam ples of breeds yet brought together, and the sheep pens were especially good in Southdown and Cots wolds. Unfortunately, a sad accident happened to an unequalled pen of Southdowns forwarded by the Duke of Richmond. While coming per rail the straw in their pen was ignited by a spark from the engine, and the poor animals so severely burnt as at one time to render their recovery doubtful and quite destroy their chance of the first prize. The first and second prizes for sheep have both been taken by Mr. Jonas Wcbb. Among the shorthorns the prize has been awarded to Colonel Townley, the breeder of the celebrated bull "Butterfly," which last year fetched the enormous sum of 1,200 guineas for exportation to Australia. The sowing, hoeing, haymaking, and some other machines have been tested on various fields, com prising about twenty-two acres, situate at Laverstock, and which had been cultivated in such a manner as to develop the special capabilities of the various implements. The curiosity among the horse-hoes is a turnip-thinner, exhibited by Messrs. Howard, in which the revolving cutters are attached upon discs on upright spindles instead of on horizontal spindles s in Huckvale's implement. Among haymakers, Nicholson's improvement of hollow boxes to the wheels, as shown at Chelmsford last year, has eclipsed the celebrated machine of Smith and Ashby. The trial of reapers took place upon a field of ripe rye, near the show-yard, the style and expedition of the work assuring the light-land farmer that be need not suffer a single acre of corn to shake unreaped for lack of harvest-men, as was extensively the case last year, and affording promise to the grower of heavy and storm-broken crops that he may yet hope to possess a machine able to shear without wasting, and to save both expense and the more momentous matter of time in his laborious harvesting. Un doubtedly the greatest novelty in this department, and one of the most meritorious and valuable pieces of machinery in the whole show, is the "Eagle " combined reaper and mower, invented by A. H. Caryl, of Sandusky, Ohio , United States, and exhibited by Mr. Clayton, of the Atlas Works, Dorset-square, THE PRESS, JULY 25, 1857. London. This machine, which gained the first prize, operates beautifully as a mowing -machine for grass or other crops, and when employed to reap white corn a curved platform is attached, on which a very ingenious yet simply constructed automatic rake collects and delivers the corn in sheaf-bundles in the rear of the machine, out of the way of the next course. The chief part of the trials, with the exception of the steam-culture experiments, were concluded on Saturday last. On Monday the steam ploughs were ( - Tiered up to the large field purposely provided at Bishopsdown, at the crown of the hill not far from the show-yard. Mr. Burrell's locomotive traction engine, fitted with Boydell's endless railway, climbed the ascent steadily and with great power, dragging after it a tender holding 1,01 X) gallons of water and carrying all the ploughs and tackle re quired. The boiler is an ordinary 8-horse power, with double cylinder engines, reversing motion, re ducing gear-work, water-tank, ship-steerage, &c., as last year, and weighs when fully charged with water, ten tons. Yet this enormous weight, with the seven tons of load behind it, proceeded up an acclivity of one in ten or twelve, the inclination in one place being no less than one in seven. Mr. Fowler's 10. horse engine, weighing about eight tons, and made to travel of itself upon wheels with braati peripheries, instead of being fitted with the endless rails, was only able to ascend the hill by anchoring a rope ahead and hauling up to the anchor, "veering," as it were, and with a slow and laborious progress. Mr. Collinson Hall's traction engine, exceedingly light and worked with steam of very great pressure, met with an accident in turning a most difficult and un reasonable corner, and entering a steep uphill gate way, was put hors de combat. The ploughing com menced, after many deiays, with Mr. Burrell's implements and traction engine, and proceeded amid great interruption from the crowding of the assem bled lookers on. The problem of steam culture, however, does not seem likely to be solved at Salis bury. The ground, although described as " light land," is so unsuited for clean smooth ploughing (consisting almost of one part stiff earth to two of stones and gravel) that no good work is practicable ; and of the methods of actuating the implements perhaps there is not one free from considerable objections; and the feeling of the public appears to be that an amalgamation of the best points in several schemes might be more successful than any single one has yet been. At noon on Tuesday a party of farming [notabili ties proceeded on a tour of inspection to the water meadows, now in the occupation of the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert. The inspection of the meadows afforded much satisfaction, and was followed by a visit to Mr. Herbert's model farm, upon which be undertakes to demonstrate the profitable zharacter of green crops. All is simple, good, and effective, and the crops excellent. The party, consisting of some two hundred gentlemen, was then invited to cross the beautiful park, and enjoy the princely hospitality of Wilton-house in the spacious library. At the close of the dejeilner Mr. Herbert read his balance-sheet, being an average of five years, com mencing 1850 and ending 1855, accompanied with synopses and analyses of a most important and interesting character, all reflecting much credit upon Mr. Robson, agent for the Pembroke estates, who drew them up. Tha result is highly favourable to Mr. Herbert's system of one third cereal and two thirds hay, roots, and green crops. The Prince Consort honoured the meeting on Wednesday with his presence, and though the visit was strictly private his Royal Highness met with a very warm reception from the good people of Salis bury. On Thursday the dinners came off with great success, Lord Portman, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and many other distinguished agriculturists, being pre sent. The city has been very gay, with concerts, theatrical performances, fireworks, bands, and every species of entertaining amusement ; in short, every thing bears the aspect appropriate to a triumphantly successful meeting. NEW WORKS OF DEFENCE AT GOSPORT. THe Government have just completed the purchase of a tract of land encompassing the town of Gosport, at a distance of about two miles from it, for the pur pose of establishing upon it a new line of fortifica tions. The land purchased is a broad belt of about three hundred yards in width, and extends from Frater's Point, at the upper part of Portsmouth Harbour, to the sea in the neighbourhood of Stokes Bay. In its direction it bisects the Fareham.road a short distance to the northward of the hamlet of Brockhurst, then crosses the Itchfield-road to the eastward of the picturesque chapel of Rowner, from which point it bears away towards Grange, part of which estate it includes, and terminates, as before stated, at the sea at the west horn of Stokes Bay, hear which, and included in the Government pur ehase, is the new fort already built, named Gower, after the estate of Levet:on Gower, Esq., which has also been purchased. 727 There is no doubt but that all this is a move in the right direction. The Gosport side of Ports mouth Harbour has long been a source of anxiety to military engineers, as hitherto the simple line of earthworks surrounding Gosport has been quite inadequate to bear any serious pressure from an enemy, who, having once possession of that side of the harbour, would have the dockyard entirely at command. The contemplated extended works will, however, give great security to this point, and the public may be congratulated on the undertaking. Before closing these remarks we must refer to the gunboat establishment on Stokes Lake. The arrangements which at present exist for disposing of this new arm of our naval defences is to haul them up on a slip, from which they are transferred to a kind of huge railway carriage or truck, which moving laterally deposits the gunboats into sheds constructed for the purpose. By the present arrangement, the tide is allowed to flow and ebb into and from the lalce, and the consequence is that the process of hauling up the gunboats, and of course launching them again, can only be performed at high water, and at low neap tide there is not sufficient water even for this. Now, the entranre to this fine lake is narrow, and, at the point where Haslar-bridge crosses it, is admirably adapted for a dam, which, by being thrown across, and furnished of course with gates, would transform this now almost useless creek into one of the finest wet docks in the kingdom, and which would not only enable the gunboats to be launched or hauled up at any time, but also provide a safe and out of the way place for any vessels of this description now blocking up our principal harbours. THE MILITIA. TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Sir,—ln reply to some questionings as to the defences of the country, Lord Palmerston replied, among other grounds of confidence, " We have the militia." I regret to have to say, as a militia officer, that that statement must be received with the very greatest reserve. At the disembodiment, at the close of the late war, the militia were about 70,000 strong, and this, though 50,000 under their proper complement, and 30,000 less than the number with which the Great Duke deliberately declared that he would be con sidered rash in undertaking the defence of the country with, is still on paper a considerable force. But let us remember that the constant drain upon the militia for volunteers for the line swept off the best and oldest militiamen, so that at the last the militia regiments were in a great proportion com posed of raw recruits or of men rejected from the line for physical or other defects. So that these 70,000 men are anything but a force requiring only a moment's notice, after more than a year's disem bodiment, to constitute a serviceable force. But even such as they are, shall we ever see them again? lam confident that I speak within bounds when I say that, drawn as they were from the most fluctuating classes of eur population, and not unna turally disgusted with their recent abrupt and thank less dismissal, very little more than one•half will ever again join their colours. I may add that there is a very great deficiency even on paper of officers, especially subalterns, and that numbers of those whose names still appear in the Armf List have already found other and more lucrative employments which would render it impossible for them to rejoin. As a militia offizer, therefore, I beg to protest against Lord Palmerston inducing the nation to lean blindly on such a broken reed as, deprived of the necessary training, the militia must prove in the hour of need, and I entreat the public not to expect from either officers or men that knowledge of their duties which they are refused the means of acquiring. —I remain, sir, your obedient servant, A MILITIA OFFICER. July 21, 1857. THE Ftrisr VOYAGE OF H.M.S. Shannon, 51, screw frigate, Captain Peel, has proved fairly successful. She made her passage to the Cape in 52 days under sail, having experienced fine weather all the way. She made 302 miles the last 24 hours ; force of wind 8, and north ; and sailed 15 knots without pressing her, wind abeam. Two fatal accidents occurred on board during the passage—Mr. Coaker, master's assistant, fell from aloft, struck the fore chains, end fell dead into the water; and the other, George Brown, a boy of the first-class, who fell from aloft inboard, and was killed. But for the admirable facility afforded by Clifford's plan of lowering boats with which the frigate was fitted, the body of the un foitunate young officer could not have been recovered, nor the life of another boy, who fell overboard, have been saved. On both occasions the vessel was going at from 11 to 12 knots under all sail, notwithstanding which the boat was manned and lowered in little more than a minute. The boats were 30 feet. cutters, the largest hung from man of-war's davits, and carrying from 17 to 20 men each, and weighing, with gear complete, from 2 to 3 tons.