The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-12-13 00:00:00

Morottsbirt.
STALBRIDGE FAT CATTLE SHOW.

On Monday the sth inst., waaa revived and spirited
annivers•ry of an institution which has 'sanded under
various phases for the last five•and•twenty years.
Generally there have been offered a few prizes for
stook exhibited among the other cattle in the mar-
ket, and the money has been handed over at one of
the market ordinaries, without any more fuss than
accompanied the celebrated presentation of a silver
jug to Elanday Mc Mahon. "Here's the mug !" said
the gentleman who had to perform the presentation.
Oh, is this the jug," was the return-thanks spomb.
This year it wan determined to come out as a full-
blown agricultural society. Prizes were offered for!
serious descriptions of cattle, and rewards to
labourers, and there was a dinner with a county
member as chairman. In spite of very discouraging
weather the effort was entirely successful, and we
may henceforth rank the Stalbndge meeting amongst
the many Chnstanaz gatherings that occupy our at-
tention. In one point we think the Btalbridge com-
mittee have set an example worth imitating. In-
stead of costa and "buttons," the first prizes were
excellent plam black coats, and the second prize, for
boys, was a substantial pair of hob-nail boots. The
show was • very good one. Mr. Senior exhibited
fat ox, which was thought the beet thing in the yard,
and will probably be as successful at Sherborne
as it was at Stalbridge. Mr. Stiby showed a fat
heifer, which got a prize, and a fat cow which didn't
—why we tbmi t pretend to inquire, but we thought,
with some, that it was the best animal of the two.
This gentleman's stock wethera were also particu-
larly worthy of notice, as was Mr. William Romiter's
stock. The bulls were not a good class, and the pigs
were but middling. The umpires, Meows. W. Coate,
Robert Corry, and Robert Collings, awarded the
prises aa under :
BREEDING STOCK.- Bull, £2, Mr. Wm. Stay, Temple
Comb.; fl, Mr. Caleb Loader, Bockhorn Weston. Two
cows, £2, Mr. Wm. Roesiter, Marnhull ; fl, Mr. John
Hole. Horsington. Two heifer', 1:2 and El, Mr. Wm.
Reelliaer. Ewes, £2 and El, Mr. Stiby, Stalbridge.
Boar, CI, Mr. Isaac Maggs, Stourton Caundle ; 10s.
Mr. Joseph Parsons, Stalbridge Weston. Sow, £l, Mr.
E. Bliss; 104. Mr. Win. Bugg.
FAT Brocc.-ox, £2, Mr. WM. Senior, Hinton; £l,
Mr. Eli Benjafield, Stalbridge. Heifer, £2, Mr. Stiby ;
13, Mr. Wailman. Cow, £2, Mr. Wm. Senior; El,
Mr. Jame. Senior. Wethers, 30.., Mr. James Jeanes ;
15e., Mr. Eli Ber.jafield. Ewes, 305., Mr. T. Surge;
15"., Mr. James Senior.
LAbfiellelle.—Jaleel Ware, 42 years with Mr. Wad.
man, Horsington, coat and waistcoat; Thomas Crew,
31 years with Messrs. Baker and Jennings, Maruhull,
coal. Bois.—George Dowding, 9i years with Mr.
James Worthy, Henstridge ; Charles Crew, 9 years
with Messrs. Baker and Jennings. FENALCI4.—Ann
Shepherd, 15 years with Mr. Win. Bugg, Stourtiin
Caundlii ; Agnes Brown, 10 years with Mr. Eli Benja•
field.

The dinner was held at the Red Lion, and wall
very creditably served. The tables were well filled.
some fifty or sixty persons dining under the presi•
dency of Henry Ker Seymer, Esq., who WM
immediately supported by M. S. Yisatman, E%iT.
Lyon, Esq., the Bev. Mr. Webb, It. Caine., ~
N. Spicer, and H. W. Langdon, Eaqm, &c., Mr.
it. Still being in the vice-Chair. After the usual
loyal toasts, the Chairman gave "The Bishop and
Clergy," remarking with regard to the Bishop, that
he had known him all his life, and they were to-
gether at Oxford; he was sorry to say that he had
come to that time of life when lie hail bishops for his
contemporaries. With the toast he coupled the
name of the Rev. Mr. Webb.

After the usual loyal toasts, Mr. Lyon proposed
"The County Members."
Mr. Simile, M.P., thanked them for their kind
reception of the toast, and assured them that such a
welcome was a sufficient return for any little exer-
tions they put forth, or any little inconvenience in
attending on committee, and doing the hard work
of "the house." And that was one of the great
advantages of social meetings of this kind, that they
met large bodies of their constituents—for they were
all constituents, whether they agreed with them or
not, and he trusted he attended to all their local
interesta—(hear, bear)—they met them all at the
festive board and enjoyed, as he trusted they would
that night, a pleasant evening. The time had gone
by when it was necessary to defend these societies.
Attempt.. had been made to write them down, but
they had risen superior to all such attempts. The
clergy, the gentry, and the respectable tradesmen all
knew they did good, and when Englishmen knew
anything was good no amount of clever and power-
ful writing, no amount of sarcasm, would turn them
from the course they thought proper to pursue.
Dorsetahire need not be ashamed to match with any
county. No county for its small size stood higher
than Dorsetshire in the competitions at Baker-street,
of the Royal Agricultural Society, and other large
associations ; and when they spoke of that they
must not forget that their excellent squire, Mr. Far-
quharson, had just received the first prize for a fat
Devon ox, beating all England at Birmingham. He
need not mention the names of Mr. Coate and Mr.
Pope, who competed with all England. He there-
fore said these societies had done great good in
stimulating agriculture. With regard to the rewards
afforded to labourers he advocated, where the funds
of the society allowed it, that it was of most advan-
tage to encourage agricultural skill; because moral
character could not be so satisfactorily brought to
the test of competition. For instance, a man might
have lived 30 years on a farm with a good character,
and another might have lived 29 years with not only
a good but a most excellent character, both as a man
and a labourer, and yet according to their rules the
man of 30 years must have the prize. Therefore it
resolved itself into • question of dates, and it did
good, if not so much pod as prizes for sheep-shear-
ing, mowing, thatching, rearing of lambs, and so on.
The only objection to these was that the funds of
these societies were sometimes trenched upon too
much, but seeing so flourishing a society, and so good
a party around him, he hoped they would be able to I
give such prizes on the next occasion. It was always
very gratifying for members to be able on these occa-
sions to point attention to some intended reductions ,
with regard to taxation. He should be very glad to
be able to vote for the repeal of taxes; he voted fur
the repeal of the malt tax and of the paper duties,
which were the only remaining Excise duties which
are oppressive to native industry ; and it was op-
pressive to Englishmen to have an exisemen enter-
ing your warehouses and taking stock whenever he
chose. But he saw not the slightest chance of voting
a remission of these or any other taxes. We should
be very lucky indeed if we escape any other taxa-
tion, for we have a restless neighbour, and we never
can tell whose turn will come next. It was not for
him to say where the blow would be struck first, but
he was of opinion that our foreign poseessioas would
be first attacked. Our neighbours had long looked
jealously on our possessions in the Mediterranean,
and they would be very glad to get hold of Malta,
Gibraltar, and the lonian Isles. But let him tell
them, if once we parted with any of our foreign pos-
sessions it would not be long before a blow would
be struck nearer home. if we were not strong
enough to defend our foreign possessions, it would
not be long before we should be attacked in a vital
part. Therefore we must stand by our possessions,
and with this view keep up the strength of our
nary and make it more powerful than ever. He did
not care what it cost. If others went on building
ships we must build more; if we could not get
sailors enough we must raise the rate of pay; we
must have a superior Heat to the rest of the world.
and they all knew that could not be done without
great expenditure; therefore he could not hold out
any hope of a reduction of taxation. All they had
to do was to see it fairly applied. Mr. Bright's
notion was that a lawyer who got £5,000 a year should
pay nothing, whilst • poor widow on £5O a year
should be very heavily taxed. (Mr. Ronal* : We
don't consider that a very Briyht idea! Much
laughter.) He was suite sure uo plan yet pro-
pounded by the Financial Reform Association would I
ever find favour in this country. He would not '
venture on the question of a Reform Bill, but there
Was one matter on which be wished to say a word.
He was told there was to he a serious attempt made
next Session to introduce the Maine Liquor law,
and to provide that no wines 01 spirits should be I
sold at all in the country. (A loud burster laughter.) I
It was sought to make it a little more palatable by
making it permissive, and not to be introduced with-
out the consent of a majority. That was what they
called permissive ! he thought it was rather compul-
sory on the poor minority, and that those who
wanted • glass of beer and could not get it, would
Ind it • very compulsory law. It might do in a
country like America, where the majority tyrannised
over the minority, but it would never exist in Eng-
land. The only danger he saw was the want of
moral courage to oppose measures brought forward
by moral and well-intentioned men. He was as
great a friend to temperance as any man, but he
never would consent to the imposition of • Maine
Liquor law in the manner contemplated by these
amiable enthusiasts. Of course if there was no
drinking there could be no drunkenness, but take
an analagous case—suppose every policeman was
ordered to take into custody every person out after
a certain hour of the night. There would he an end
no doubt to poaching and housebreaking, but for one
'Kim:her or one housebreaker apprehended there
would be twenty honest men deprived of their
liberty. (Cheers ) There was also this hard.
ship with it, that it did not affect any one who had
a good cellar of wine. Fancy a sleek member of a
Town Council, with a fine cellar of old port, voting
against his neighbour's obtaining wines or liquors at
a publichouse! Really the thought was absurd, and
they might depend upon it he should be at his post
ready to oppose any such measure. (Loud cheers.)
He believed there were many causes in work which
would have the effect of putting an end to drunken-
nor. The labourer lived in a more comfortable
cottage—his morals were better cared for—his wife
was taught to make a pod and useful housewife. I
and all these things tended to make the labourer's
home happy, and when he had a happy home he
would not seek comfort elsewhere. The movement I
we. certainly somewhat popular in the manufactur-
ing distaste, and was to a certain extent successful
in America, but if it were enacted here it would be
av oided. He was speaking to a gentleman the other
day, who said that he had travelled in the State of
Maine, and at one of the hotels asked for brandy
and water. The servant said, "Yoe forget you are

in the State of Maine—but would you like to go up
stairs and wash yrur hands I" He did so, and there
found all the arruigements for drinking, (Load
laughter.) If they had been under that law to-
night, they must have drunk the health of the
Queen in toast-anil-water. (Much laughter.) The
hon. member concluded by observing that if they
got nothing more formidable in the next session
than this proposed law, it did not much signify, for
it would be laughed out of the House. The question
of Reform and of our fereign relations he would
not enter on, further than to say, what we otiglit ti
do was to be prepared for all eventiudities. With re-
gard to ride elitbs, be tdoL'ereetl he was it it in the
least afraid of arming Englishmen, for unlike their
neighbours, they were peaceably disposed. They
went to war for military glory, but we know mili-
tary glory meant national debt, increased taxation.
(Cheers.) He should be glad to see the people of
this country thoroughly well armed. (Loud cheers.)