The Express.
London, England, 1850-02-04 00:00:00

SIR JAMES GRAHAM ON PRESENT PRICES

AND FUTURE PROSPECTS:

Sir James Graham, Bast., M.P., of Netherby, held
his rent audit on Tuesday last. and the tenantry on the
Mats were invited to dinner at the Graham's Arms lan,
Lougtows, to meet the right hon. baronet on the ommioa.
Sir Janate Graham, of course, took the chair ; and he was
supported right and left by hie brothers the /Lev. William
Graham and Captain Charles Graham, R.ll , sad hie sm.
Mr. F U. Graham. Tee tenants present numbered about
so—and amongst them were some of the largest ooeupien on
the estate. The vies chair were filled by the steward, Mr.
M. Brown, jua. The usual twine of tools wore drank
with the untal honours.

In iviag tiel"--Meal---th of the Yeomanry of Combs:load,"
Sir James paid them a high eomplintint. They were a body
of men, he said, whom he had ever held in the bigheet
respect, whether he had met them under prosperous or ad-
e. no circumstances. They were patient, iadustrious, Inde-
fatigable, and "adorable, sad he doubted if they could be
equalled in any county M England.
The Health of Sir James Graham " was then p 2
by Mr. W. Reed, of Meat, wee drank with mach

Sir Jamas °Rawl returoalthsake. He declared it was
a source of pride sad perm, to ken to meet his tetanal.
He had meter shrank from dein so, whoa aseseary. To
meet them an the prosest oesmioa he looked upon slaoet
as a daty, when sa &douse cloud ;appeared to hang
over sit earned is the pursuits of egricaltsre. He
preferred this 00•11111 to either that of writing letter
or: makes, • parade of speech. He then took ea historical
review *Obis conaexioa with the tenantry ot the Netherby
estate date 1822. Is that year agriculture was greatly
depressed, and farmers were labouring under great fears ot
the (manganese of low prim. The prewar* was much
I similar to that which they all now felt. At that period he
elated an arrangement by whisk the management of the
anus came into his owe hands ; and he did so for the pile
me of areertainiag from his own experience what could be
dose to rem agriculture from the state of depression into
which it appeared to have sunk. Then, as now, low priori
bad succeeded comparative high prises sad years of seareLy.
There we. then a general complaint about the pruentoof local
burthess. Oa investigating the subject he found many of
them improperly imposed sad the funds carelesly adadais-
tend. He saw there was power to apply remedies to a cer-
tain extent, sad he exerted hWeislf to have them applied.
At that time the peer-rate Ia the pariah of Artharet Oa
which • large portion of the Netherby estate is situated)
amounted to 1,1544 per sass., sad that of Kirkandrews-
on.E4 to 7191. Now the present rats in these
taking the average of the three years, 1847, 14Vat.
1849, was for Artharet 8181—being • reduction of 30 per
oent.,--and for Kirkaadrews 4081., or a reduction of 4,5
per mat. At that time (1822) the highway-rate was 4d. in
the pound ; at the present time it was 2id., with roads in
much bitter condition; and besides this redaction, the
debt ea the main road through the *state had been so mach
reload se to enable the trustees to remove several side
gates, and thus relieve the fames from the tolls formerly
levied upon them at those plan. Them, with regard to
county-rates, he (*sad, at obi time of which woe
speaking, there was moot pagoda expenditure, with little '
or no control exerted wen it. -Against this he had struggled,
and eventually asseseded la serglarg the doors thrown ones
to the public—in haviag the moodier of the county Axed
and arranged Wore the epos ed the ratepayers, and not in
private se had formerly leen the ease. This rnee of
tromiectiag was now enforced by law in every county, sad
e contracted la strong terms the prodigal exoendiaire ot
that day with the eareal esoneeny of the present. He *s-
cribed the redaction is the peer rates to the co-operatioa of
himself sad the tosaatry, sad showed how, by pareonal exer-
ties, heal blether' might be materially lessened. After a
few mere observation oa this point, 80 James referred to
the dad that mese of kb twat* had made application to
him for • redaction of rent—ea appeared to be now the
Wilke of the day in other plains. la saying this, however,
he meet not be understood as having, from that fact, drawn
as infereace that his tenants were prosperous; all he meant
to convey by it was, that they had taken • view of the pre-
sent state of agricultural peels much similar to his own—
that they were under • (dead whisk would only be of tempo-
rary duration ; and that they had the reliance upon him
that when the proper time arrived he would meet them in a
fair spirit of natty, and with • determination to do what
was r lea. Hs them contrasted the present press of corn
with these which rabid in 1822 sad 1836, and showed
that they were such the same es at present. They had
the*, as now, followed years of high piaci sad short supplies,
whereby cultivation had been stimakted, sad supply made
abundant. He looked upon the present press as transitory,'
and said it was impos•ible to see at present what would
be the ultimate result of recent messaros se to future prices.
He bad, therefore, determined not to take any step to die-
%rub the present arrangements between himself and his
tenants, uatil it was clearly aseirtaiaed what were likely to I
be the tutors permanent prier. Os this he was anxious to
cannon all who heard him, aantely, not to eatertaia the
slightest expectation that the recent messiness of free trade
would ever be reversed. That he believed to be shawl an
impessibalty. On this point he spoke with great frankness
sad sandbar am to what had been sad what were now his
own epistles. It mlekt be said that he had cheated his
opinions. He admitted that he had done so. Hs tad at
use time held that to raise the price of cora by artillcial
mesas mast hod to an increase of the were of labels!. He
was now imavinced that each was not the sole,—
that the Mitt was quite the contrary. His official
position as a responsible adviser of his sovereign,
W led him to a doss investigation of the sub-
jest, sad the dace he held had given him access to facts of
each undoubted authenticity and of each a startling cha-
racter, as to lead to • complete alteration is his views on the
sal jet, and bad determined him to take the cease he had
plumed in the asttlemeat of this great question, regardless,
he added. as to what might be the consequences to me and
alike." He afterwards drew attention to the prim of wool,
as as Loewe ot the wrong impressions sometunes produced
by great changes. Wool wsa an arti:Je of treat import.
ante is the payment of rent- and when the duty was
taken off foreign wool, great alarm was created amongst
sheep kraus. The result, however, had been that the
prices el British wool had ranged hlgbgr since the
repeal of the duty on foreign, than they had
ever done before. He next insancod the prim of
pork, as another proof of the ease with which false
alarms were sometimes crested. On the point he appealed
to the experience of all these who heard him whether the
priers of pork had not been remunerative sines the tariff
same into operation, and equal to what they were, on the
average of the same number of years, before the free admis-
sion of malted provisions? This showed the fallacy of the
Idea which had bess entertaiasd, that the Americans could
send in supplies of pork in quantities safflennt to reduce our
own produce to ruinous prices. He again alluded to the
question of rents and to the system of milking per tentage
reductions, the latter of which he condemned as bad in prin-
ciple. He said it was destructive of the independence, of the
farmer, and that ain't the good aad the bad farmer on the
same oth's, aad in fact operated se as inducement
to bed farming. He would rather wait the malt
of the present essesure, and if the effect should be to reduce
prices permanently, it would then become the duty of land-
lords to meet their tenants is a spirit of equity, making
such a re-adjustment of contracts as would be fair and just
towards all. He complimented his tenantry on their not
seeking reductions of rent on the first appearance of reduced
prices. He had not asked for increased rents in 1847, when
pries far exoseded ordinary calculations, and they had sow
shown equal forbearance towards him.
Mr. Baown, the steward, mid that, of the whole half-
year's rental, due that day, there scarcely remained 501.
unpaid.

Tub is • rsatrakabls fact, what we bear is aisd that the
mown of Sir James's animal natal will probably fall little,
if
J saythiag, short of 20,0001. —Abridged from th• CarkaGo
ournal.

FIRE IN Douorryr-antarr.—On Saturday night,
shortly after eight o'clock, a fire broke oat la the private
residents et Bullak, No. 7, Deraidityoused. general of
the aliglibeso hotaady went to aiierfe aulsemee, whoa on
eaterlog.the moot bee batik tbeg hood it eaveloped In
Siam lolstioetles woe, thediesat.a_4l.apatiecil to the
mod two Is the Loudon
Br with of the Veil: est
ellkes attended.
The , ,ibretalia Whig Mt to work,
the flame were eeoileed too that pettish wets premien in
which they oriubseted, but they were aid extinguished until
considerable damage was done. A spark from a lighted
angle, it le believed, wee the faun of the aseldeat.

The Febrile, Nubs of the above seed esalesseed this
Woe IN light Hos. Oa. Lerd_Msfaa. Ba-
rge§ M revs, Moos, eed Ulisise, ilb••
miNestsite OHM raw I jury aierassi
sillellmska at tbe dielnera Glebe weber eipieures soma
settled tee bid to this rut. The JwirfiaMesalVieOseral
Celestas! Court, he amid, ezteeded over • medal &et two
eallguuk mit& t Peoilltalha th." wr =l=
seem swami WY, etas way
thew the breast seemittet *Ai MUGU el
lest yaw, awl eras Ilse sew* smeller theßtbe odlenq ave-
rage of esearittala for Ihe period rat lied elapsed ores the
last melee, and he said that, to whatever ern lush
a mull was to be attributed, it rest he moat
satishetery to every perms easeersed is the ad-
woristreelea pt wailed teethe, mid also to the
esmeusity at large. The beamed reserder this rid thus
by rims white ware before him it appeared that there
hid WS IN lan pumas eseunitted during the year 1849
thou the previews yew, end he ales soogratedatal the 'wad
Jury ties rehherise with Weber awl WM sewer et that
shatadait
tthe
New appeared Wee N be es the decreer, sad he coa-
stwise! by seek
itiag the sera jazy wed by seat he weak to which he had alluded.
TM peel Jay t retired.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
THIS DAY.
BO W- ST RE ET.
B.►Tta' ANIAVLT VPON ♦ FOLIC' COIISTABLI.—A au&
driver, named Andrews. was charged with areaaltiag police-
eoastahla 2V F.

CoMplarna;ii, whoa face was severely cut, stated that on
Saturday afternoon he wee on duty in Little Skire•liuse,
Temple-bar, whoa he heard a loud disturbance in the York
Arms. Directly afterwards the landlord of the pub.
behoove coned him, acd he saw the prisoner
ill-.d.( a female is a most sham, ful manner.
He Muth bet MOW times in the face, and
theft kaiaks& her dawn. The rotatable separated them,
and the peisoner again struck the woman a violent
blow, whisk brought on a fit. The constable left the house,
and while the temetable was cretonne the woman the primmer
ems in awl vernal her another moire blow. The constable
took him bearieseanly, when the prisoner commencod•furions
attack arm and struck him a blow upon the nose,
which hied rallasely. The prisocer followed up the attack
by striking mem several times acme the eyes sod face, until
lus eyes were meth swollen and blackened. The prisoner, after
be hedthilhael this violenoe, struggled with the constable, end
seonseeled in making his escape. He ran into Flat-street,
punned by the constable, who succeeded in stopping him.
The prisoner sena commenced a second attack upon the
constable, knocked his hat off, and struck him repeatedly in
the neck and face. With the assistance of a City police-eon-
stable, and aftereone difficulty, the prisoner was taken into
castody.
Mr. Hall committed him to the House of Correction for
one calendar month, without the alternative of a fine.