The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-07-21 00:00:00

THE AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS BILL.

In the course of the discussion on Tuesday evening
on the Agrkultural Holdings Bill, several divisions
were taken uon points of importanee.
In the first division, upon Mr. Howard's amend-
ment, which was defeated by 275 to 35 votes, the
minority included Messrs. Summers, Holden, Eirp,
Jacob Bright, T. C. Thompson, Borlase, Rylands,
Taylor, Potter, J, Morley, Henderson, Farquhars,,n,
Bradhtn t, But, Duckham, Storey, Labouchere,
Grant, W. Shaw, Sir G. Balfour, and Coleuiei
Colthurst, the telltss being Mr. Howard and Mr.
Barclay.

Jo the second division, upon the amendment pro.
posed y Mr. Borlase, in the interest of the sitting
tenant, which was rejected by 196 to 45, the minority
included most rif the gentlemen already named, with
the addition of Messrs. Rathbone, Ott, etharn, Thomas-
son, Mappin, Gilman, A Amon, Reid, M'Laren,
Wiggin, and W. Fowler, Messrs. Borlase and Pugh
acting as tell,irs. In both cases Mr. Parnell and his
followers voted in the minority.
In the division on Colonel Kingscote'F amendment,
limiting compensation to tenant's outlay, very few
Liberals voted in the minority with the Conservatives.
Among those who so voted were the Marquis of Stat.
ford. Mr. Fo'jambe, Mr. John Ramsay, and the Hon.
J. W.
The defeat of Mr. Howard and Mr. Borlase in their
respective amendments on the Agricultural Holdings
Bill reduced the amendments on the paper by neatly
eighty, these being either consequentNl or settled by
the clivissione taken,

;Ye
, -
.

THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SHOW
AT YORK.

The Show of the Royal Agricultural Society at
York was opened on Monday ur ddr very favourable
circumstances in respcc; to weather. Toe judges
oommenced their labours early in the morning, and in
the afternoon it was evident, from the slow progress
Ty, Ade, that everywhere their task was most difficult,
'fuer.; we, 1 6 9 entries of stock, of which 6 4 were
of horses, 468 of cattle, 416 of sheep, and 193 of pigs
—alt of which were in competition for over £1,500 in
prizes.—ln a descriptive article Vie Times says
The show-ground of 80 acres, enclosed by wall of
planking, is part of Knavesnaire, a fiat pasturage of
300 acres, including the race.oourse, situated south of
the city, about a mile and a quarter from the railway
station. Without a railway siding, the machinery
and implements, goods, and animals were successfully
conveyed to the yard by horee drawn vehicles and
traction engines, and, as a precaution, in case of
excessive wet, a firm road of wood sleepers has been
laid down, with branches extending across the
entire ground. The usual order has been observed
in planning the show, the gridiron arrangement of
implement shedding being presented to view im•
mediately inside the main entrance, with the always
popular department of machinery in motion placed on
each side, and the stalls of seedsmen and miscellaneous
exhibitors, extending from the main entrance on either
hand next the boundary hoarding. There is a wide
central avenue between the two wings of implement
stands; and it is noticeable that the larger firms are
more distributed than usual through all parts of the en-
campment of canvas shedding, and many of the smaller
firma brought into prominent places with open
frontage. The central portion of the ground is
occupied by the working dairy, the competing
dairies, the bee tents, the stewards' and judges'
offices, the huge members' tent, the members' reading.
room, the council pavilion, and refroihments. Further
on are the classes of oattlo, sheep, and pigs; next, the
cattle-judging rings, the large horse ring, with its
grand stand, and beyond this and on each side the
substantially-built stables for the immense display of
horses.

The days are gone by when a week or longer was
spent in advance of the show in field or yard trials of
engines and machines and tools, in competition for a
long list of costly prizes. This year we have a couple
of £5O prizes for the best equipped dairies, with only
one of these honours held worthy of a trying for, and
this bringing only two entries. The only Fp.R.dal prize
offered is £25 for the most efficient portable straw.
compressing and binding machine, worked in con-
junction with a threshing machine ; but as usual,
the judges can award ten silver medals for new inven-
. .

tion; Where the principle or the Imp4-ovement is
"entirely new."

It is gratifying to report some really important ad•
vances in steam-power tillage. Messrs. John Fowler
and Co., of Leeds, have invented a novel application of
the principle of hauling two or more implements by one
rope- the implements arranged so far apart along the line
of furrow as to plongh Via field in sections. Thus, where
two ploughs are employed, each travels to and fro
over half the field, the rope, hauled as usual by a pair
of engines on the headlands, also traversing half the
length of the field instead of the whole way. Two
balance ploughs, each torning four furrows, plough
eight furrows simultaneously, while the rope travels
only half the distanne that would be necessary with one
plough only. The result is that the same engines and
men do double the quantity of light work at half the
expense; and in heavy work they can, by runn,ng at
a slower speed, do the same quantity of work more
electively and with less liability to breakage. The
merit of the invention is the mode by which the two
or more implements are connected tog2ther at long
distance by the rope carried upon porters. The new
system, which is expected to revolutionizi steam till-
age, is exhibited in work daily near Garforth Station
on the North-Eastern Line.
A novel steam cultivator is shown by Messrs. J.
and F. Howard, of Bedford. It is the invention of
Mr. James Howard, Au., whose mechanical genius
is still as active as ever in the impvoveinent of field
implemenas. By a clever adaptation of the brake
principle to the supporting wheels of the cultivator,
the implement is self-lifted, at the will of the
attendant, out of work so as to clear any obstruc.
don, without reversing the draught rope or stopping
the engine. The originality lies in the method
by which gear is introdu-ed so as to obtain
sufficient leverage for lifting so heavy an
implement by so slight an action. A steam plough
for one-way ploughing, yet to turn round at the
ends .of the field like a cultivator, thus avoiding
the extra weight carried in a balar ce plough, has been
constructed by Mr. C. Catley, of York, One ret of
plough bodies is turned up out of the ground, and the
other set lowetted by a very simple motion. Messrs.
134rford and Perkins, of Peterbozough, exhibit a new
steam-ploughing and traction engine, in which the
winding drums are placed between the real wheels
and the engine fire-box, and hung upon eccentric-boss
axles so as to be most easily set in or out of gear. The
arrangement dispenses with a proportion ot the usual
heavy gearing, and the removal of the two rope drums
when the engine is to be used wholly as a road locomo-
tive is accomplished in the speediest possible manner,

The Morning Post says :—Speaking generally of
the display of live stock, the great strength lies in
the wonderful classes of horses—always strong at a
Yorkshire show, but here exceptionally so. Among
these hacks were the only weak portion, while
the Clydesdales and hunters have been but rarely
excelled. Shorthorns are also a marvellous
display, and here the Prince of Wales has a
large number of animals. Of the other cattle there
is a fine display of black polled Angus cattle from
Aberdeen and of red Norfolk polls— both of which
breeds are represented as they have been but rarely
represented before in an English show-yard. Here-
fords are a poor display, and so also are the Jerpeys,
though of both breeds one or two exceptionally good
Au:long tho ahaop olaaaas, tha
Sonthdowns, Shropshires, and Hampshire downs are
exceptionally good, and in the first-named classes the
Prince of Wales is credited with several prizes. Pigs
are a good show.

Among the noteworthy features of the yard two
things should be specially mentioned. CloQe by the
council buildings the Royal Agricultural Society have
erected, free of cost, an office for the Royal Agri-
cultural Benevolent Institution, a society just now
barfly in want of funds. Altogether no less
than 600 decayed farmers or their widows or
orphans are being maintained from these funds, at
an annual cost of £13,500. There are also 400
candidates on the list waiting for relief, which can.
not be granted until another £9,000 a year is drawn
from the benevolent. It is a most deserving charity,
and it is to be hoped that it will succeed in increasing
its income for the purpose of doing more good. The
Canadian Government also have a most magnificent
museum of its mineral, vegetable, animal, and pisca-
torial productions. Everything seems to be here,
from specimens of blue grass to the highest examples
of the printer's art,

weighing about 2cwt. from the Calgarry Mines,
in the centre of the cattle ranch district in the
North-West of Canada, where the discovery will
settle the question of fuel supply for the enormous
ir.flux of settlers; a collection of hemp and fl sx, which
will Come into competition with Russian growths; at d
some varieties of the wild hop and the wild pea-vine,
remarkable for its feeding properties. Mr. John
Dyke, the Canadian Government RR —W.., had the
honour of conducting the Prince of Wal,s over the
varied exhibition, which includes fish, as well as vege-
table and mineral produce.

After leaving the yArel the Prince visited the bazaar
in aid of the blin , schools, opened by the Archbishop
of York at noon, and thence proceeded to the cathe•
dral, over which he was conducted by the Dean and
Chapter. His Royal Highness afterwards proceeded
to the York Clnh, where he was entertained by about
50 members at dinner, at which the proceedings were
private.

On Tuesday over 16 000 persons paid for admission
to the Show-yard, which is far ahead of the first half-
crown day in any year since the Bristol meeting in
1878, with the exception of Kilburn. On Monday the
attendance was 3,012, against 1,717 on the five•shil-
ling day at Reading last year.

THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF CON.
NAUGHT AT DOVER.

On Saturday the Duke and Duchess of Connaught
opened a new town hall and municipal buildings, to-
gether with a public park, at Dover. The weather
was all that could he desired, and the inhabitants,
with whom the Duke is very popular from his residence
amongst them with his regiment some ten years ago,
wished to give him a right royal welcome. The decora-
tions were most profuse, and there were two parti-
cularly handsome triumphal arches erected in the line
of route. " Ich Dien," "Long life and happiness to
our Soldier Prince," "Welcome to the Duke and
Duchess," "Thy choicest gifts in store on them be
pleased to pour," were amongst the conspicuous in-
scriptions. The entire route from the railway station
to the park, a distance of rather more than a mile, was
lined on either side by the troops quartered in the
garrison.
The Duke and Duchess travelled by special train on
the South-Eastern Railway, and on arrival at the
Dover terminus were received by the Mayor and
Mayoress, who were accompanied by Earl Granville
(Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports) and Lady Gran-
ville, Earl and Countess Sydney, &c. Before leaving
the station, her Rcyal Highness was presented by Miss
Rtgden, the Mayor's niece, with a bouquet. A royal
saints was fired from the castle both on the arrival and
departure of their Royal Highnesses. Outside the station
the di,tinguished company was joined by the corpora-
tion and other local gentlemen, and the procession to
the park, which occupied rather more than half an
hour, was At once commenced. The procession was
headed by an escort consisting of a squadron of the
Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles (Duke of Con-
nanght's Own), Dover and Elham troops, and the
royal carriage was escorted by a squardon of the 7th
Dragoon Guards, stationed at Shornclifre, and who
took part with his Royal Highness in the recent
Egyptian campaign. On arriving at the entrance to
the park the party alighted and proceeded on f•oot by
& pathway indicated by crimson cloth to a lawn in
front of a piece of ornamental water where the Duke
formally declared the park open.
His R .3111 Highness said—l have great pleasure in
giving my name to this park, which I now declare
open. I sincerely hope it may prove a great addition
to Dovir, and that it may be a most agreeable resort
both for the health and happiness of all concerned.
The Duchess of Connaught was then presented with
a handsome silver spade, subscribed for by the ladies
of Dover, and bearing an appropriate inscription.
Taking the spade from the hands of the Mayoress, her
Royal Highness formally removed a quantity of loose
earth on to the roots of a young evergreen oak planted
in commemoration of the occasion. The procession
afterwards reformed and proceeded to the Town Hall.
In the grand old town-hall, which is connected with
the new hall, were assembled nearly 500 guests who
had been invited by the Mayor to the lunche3n. The
assembly was a very brilliant one, including the whole
of the mayors of Kent and military officers from the
various stations in the district. A flourish of trumpets
announced the approach of the Royal visitors. As
their Royal Highnesses paQsed up the steps flower 3
were strewn by some twenty little girls prettily dressed
in cream-coloured dresses and hats to match.

After luncheon, the Duke of Connaught in respond.
ing to a toast said—l had the pleasure of spending the
best part of t guo years in this garrison town, and lean
assure you, Mr. Mayor, and the inhabitants of Dover
that I have the happiest recollection of the kindness and
cordiality which I ever met with in your midst; and I
shall never forget the kind way in which my birthday
was celebrated in the year 1872, when you, Mr. Mayor,
were in office, and had a very pretty procession of all
the different guilds and school children in the town,
I cannot forget that the first place in England where
the Duchess landed was at Dover. It was here she
first heard the British cheer, and it was here she first
received English flowers—His Royal Highness then
declared the hall and municipal buildings open, and in
doing so paid a graceful compliment to the architect,
and concluded his remarks by proposing "The health
of the Mayor," to whom he alluded in the most kindly
terms, observing that he felt the distinguished com-
pany was assembled to mark their appreciation of the
endeavours which the citizens of Dover had made to
do honour to their ancient town.