The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-12-30 00:00:00

Varottotire.

• DORCHESTER.-3go DORSET RULE Vourx-
Taxgs.—We understand that Captain and Adjutant
Barrett will deliver a "Lecture on Musketry," at
the Townhall, on this (Tuesday) evening, at
8 p.m., when Captain Barrett will be glad to see
present any one interested in the volunteer move-
ment, although not volunteers. The corps
_will
parade in the Townhall for preliminary drill on
Thursday evening, the Bth January next, at eight
o'clock. The annual meeting (when the number of
drills for the year, and other arrangements will be
made) is fixed for Friday, the 30th January next,
and the'season of 1863 will commence with a church
parade on the Ist February. As it is well that
recruits intending to join the corps should commence
drill as early as possible in January, each member
would do well to use his best endeavours to increase
the numerical strength of the corps,
WEYMOUTH. —BREWERS AS MAGISTRATES.—

A communication having been addressed, by order
of the Lord Chancellor, in reply to a memorial from
Scarborough, intimating that a brewer was not
eligible for the appointment of borough magistrate,
the mayor of Bradford, being a brewer, addressed
the "Secretary of Commindons on the subject, and
received the following reply: "Upper Hyde Park-
garden,, Dec. 15, 1862. Sir—l am directed by the
Lard Chancellor to acknowledge the receipt of your
letter, and in reply to inform you that it has been
considered expedient by many past Lord Chance/lon,
as well as by his lordahip, to lay down a rule against
the appointment of brewers as magistrates. It waa
in reference to this rule that the expression in my
letter era brewer not being eligible for the appoint-
ment of a magistrate was used. This will, of cause,
in no way affect brewers whoee names may be in
the communion of peace, or who, having been
(*eked by their fellow-citixens to serve the offiee of
map*, may, Ay virtue of that office, be riliohorginig
the, dstio* of chief magistrate of their mopective
borough&—l am, air, your obedient servant,
LYBIPBTOE CAMPBELL, Secretary of Commissions.—
IL W. Thompson, ism., Mayor of Bradford."
CHRBITNAS MEAT. ABD POITLTiIIr Snow.—.-The

butchers aad poulterers of this town had an exoel-
Int!iow on Tuesday: Certainly there wu no
rns off in the quantity exhibited in forinu yearn.
aad bast the improvements which.- haw been
effected In the breed of cattle there la Oder amour-
eau that the meat is unexceptionable. Little* as

much care has been taken to 'avoid superabandince
of fat in the beasts for slaughter, as was formerly
exhibited in the .oultivation of it. The consequence
is, the consumer hes a much better opportunity of
selecting a serviceable joint than be had before, and
'grazier, purveyor, and consumer, are benefltted in a
pecuniary point cif view. The weather was unfavour-
able for the show, and those who have overstocked
themselves may suffer thereby, unless the demand is
rapid or the cold sets in. All, however, delayed
the slaughtering of the beasts until the last moment,
in order to protect themselves and their customers
from the inconveniences attending moist and sultry
weather. The following particulars of the meat
exhibited were supplied by the butchers themselves:
—Messrs, Baunton and Son, had, as usual, a large
. . . .

display of first-rate meat, which attracted the atteii-
tien of thousands as it hung in the shop. The
stock consisted of between 20 and 30 Portland sheep
grazed by themselves, among which were those
which gained the prize at the Dorchester show; a
number of prize Exmoor sheep, grazed by Mr.
Harding, of Speckington ; a Devon heifer, bred
and fed by Mr. Coate, of Sherborne. This
animal had gained about .£4O in prizes at Smith-
field, Sherborne, Dorchester, and elsewhere. A
Devon heifer' ALSO bred and fed by Mr. Coate, and
other heifers bred and fed by Mr. Crocker and Mr.
Wake. The Down Wethers exhibited were from
the flock of Mr. Randall, of West Coker.
Mr. Laver bad seven heifers—one a bullock, bred
and fed by Mr. Hill, of Came, and which took the
lirst prize at the Wimborne Cattle Market
The others were grazed by himself. He had
Also thirty beautifal Southdowrui, and nine first-
elms Portland sheep, likewise grazed by himself.
Mr. Bolt displayed some excellent Down sheep,
grazed by Mr. Hill, of Came and Mr. J. A. Pope,
of Sutton, some very handsome heifers of the
Hereford breed, grazed by himself, and some extra-
ordinarily good Portland wethers. We saw no more
asefej meat in the market. Mr. Roberta—an excel.
lent bailer, Down and Portland sheep of good quality.
Mr Saunders's display consisted of 3 heifers bred
tad fed by Mr. Norton, of Milton Abbas, and IS
splendid ox, grazed ty Mr. Groves, of Bowood.
His Down and horned sheep were from the flocks of
Maser& Groves, of Bowood, Mr. Thomas Homer
Sannders, Mr. Caines, and Mr. Dunning of Friar
Wadden. His Portlanders were grazed by Mr. Scutt.
Mr. Bond exhibited a heifer, fed by Mr. Duke of
Piroadinayne • and a number of Down wethers.
Mr. Stiokland's stock consisted of two Midden
heifers, from the herd of Mr. Duke, of Broadmayne,
ten Down wethers, from the fold of Mt. Levi
Lyekßauli Broadway, and six Portland sheep,
grazed by himself. Mr. Dominy provided an ex-
cellent display, consisting of an ox and two
superior heifers, grazed by Mr. W. Fooke, of Buck.
land Newton, a number of Down sheep, a portion
of which were grazed by Mr. Pope, of Symonciabstry,
and a portion by Mr. Coat, of Craxton. jHls Port-
land wethers were grazed by Mr. Scutt. Mr. Hann,
of Maiden-street, had a prize heifer, 19 months old,
bred and fed by Mr. Hill, of Came, and weighing 35
more • an ox, bred and fed by Mr. Groves, of
BowoOd,and a number of fine Sussex Down Wethers,
from the flock of Mr. W. Manfield, Dorchester,
Mr. Hatton displayed an excellent heifer, grazed by
himself, and some Soutbdown sheep, grazed by Mr.
Chinn, of Corfe Hill.—Mr. Thomas Dominz had a
beifee fed by Mr. W. Foot, of Bewley Wood, and
a member of Southdowns.—Mr. Yearaley's display
consisted of a heifer, bred and fed by Mr. Taylor,
Pierley, and a number of Down sheep from the flock
of Mr. Longham.—The butchers in the market also
had a first-class display of beef, upon the merits of
which we are unable at present to etiter.—Mr.
Croad bad a beautiful heifer, grazed by Mr. Dunning.
—Mr. Bowdich an excellent heifer and South-
down mutton.—Mr. Stone a prize heifer, bred and
fed by Mr. Hill, of Caine.—Mr. Rabbets, a heifer
from the herd of Mr. Dunning, and another from
that of Mr. Bridge, of Wynford Eagle. Mr.
Parsons a heifer, bred and fed by Mr. Williams, of
Bockhampbon, and weighing 52. scollaniir2ther
fed bv Mr. Pope, of Toiler. Mr. Ca r ereford
heifer, grazed by Mr. Ward, of Port!, another,
bred and fed by Mr. Crocker, of Ilchester. Mr.
Watkins had 4 heifers, bred and fed by Mr. Williams,
of Bockbampton. Mr. Hunt. a heifer, grazed by
Mr. Tucker of Pippleton.—Mr. Roberts a heifer
bred and fed by Mr. Senior, of Hinton St. Mary,
which weighed 56 score and 8 score of roxigh fat. It
gained the first prize at Stalbridge and the 2nd at
the Sturminster cattle shows. Another heifer,
weighing 52 score, was grazed by Mr. Tucker.
Among the pork butchers we may notice that Mr.
Hurdle had four pigs, fed thy Mr. Symonds, of
.Portisham, weighing 120 score, and several other
exceedingly fine pigs. Mr. John Bridle exhibited
three very fine pigs, which were greatly admired,
bred and fed by Mr. N. Howard, solicitor. Mr.
Guppy had two fine pigs, fed by Mr. Bewley. Mr.
Lowman had a fine fat pig of the Chinese species, fed
by Mr. Oliver, dairyman. The show of turkeys,
geese, and ducks was fully equal to former years,
iind in this department, Mr. W. Lowman,
Town Surveyor, cut the most conspicuous part.
Should Mr. Windham live until 1869 he will
become entitled to some further property, of the
annual value of about £4,000. Some days ago,
while driving in a carriage towards Aylsham it is
said be came upon a farmer who was engaged in a
hand-to-hand struggle with some poachers, whom
he was endeavouring to capture. Mr. Windham
disregarded the farmer's appeals for help and drove
on but finding that the men had decamped, came
beak, learnt the particulars, and, going to the police.
station at Ayleham, gave a flaming account of the
vigour and daring with which he himself had en-
countered the poachers, and put them to the rout.
He is &boat be present Mate with a gold cup valued
at 100 guineas.
PORTLAND. —Cosivlcv Lrvreci.—When we selected
Portland as an illustration of the "system" of penal
servitude, we did so as it is scknowledged to be beyond
all doubt the hest managed establishment of its kind in
the kingdom, and one in which the "hard labour" is
supposed to be hardest. What the hard labour is has
been shown, bat it does not of necessity follow that it
can easily be made harder. "You may take a horse to
the water," &a, is a musty, but very true saying; you
may bring the convict to his work, but nothing short
of an immense staff, which would cost ten times more
than his labour was worth, will ever make him do a
fair day's work, if he did it even tben. With few and
rare exceptions, convicts won't work hard; they will
move slowly, hit lightly, and stop of ten, and they are
up to every dodge of " malingering" and idleness which
might be expected among such a set. Occasionally one
comes who workk.vigoronsly, and to the best of his
power. Such it man was Redpath, who is now at large
on his ticket-ofdeave, and who can live in splendour
on the proceeds of his gigantic forgeries—proceeds
which, it is well known, he had somehow managed to
make secure before his apprehension. Such instances,
however, are rather scarce. It is true that warders do
report conviets who obstinately refuse to come up to
the low standard of labour required, but the officer only
does so when he cannot help himself; for it must not be
forgotten that the warder is quite alive to the prudence
of keeping on tolerable terms with his gang of men,
and knows well that if he presses matters bard with
them he does so very probably at the risk of his ow*
life. The convicts are not men to be safely trifled wit*
and there are many at Portland who would think very
little of trying to murder any warder who they thought
had illtreeted them. At these very Assizes at Dorohes-.
ter a convict has been tried for murdering one of the
quietest and least active of the warders at Portland,
who he fancied had reported him, though in reality
this was done by another offloer. With instances
these, therefore, before them, with others of murderbits
assaults, or, more common still, the plans that are laid
to effect them, which are not unfrequently discovered,
the
&warders are reluctant to provoke such desperate
ns too far, or report them more than it is abso-
matinlutely n • Occasionally • prisoner gives infor
Cr,
about intented mischief the
riift
Important,
other, and snch. an one, if
fender, inform ',Zhieds
.. and the intended 0f-
..." haS to be sent away to Chatham
or Portennouth. Ttio
amid not protect hi _ , ward.ra. frankly own that they
the exasperated
omvizawzactrmehow or other"
the informer's life. Ls it likely, theremefo' re°r, thtit cont"vikchie'