The Express.
London, England, 1850-09-12 00:00:00

highest pries for " refined hems° is 60a, as qasted
in he
vita era, ki 1801Iftleptlatoptrcre
white's/egg to Idles from' W gd.
and the omanniptiiin Miss 3,079,429 owl., Work/ a.
pox amt.
ie. Taal i‘hihtts 6 II: I.
119014
esesomptian Ist as 181 a; ugb an
al Worm duty of Moat 100 pee seam, the chestnut
bass was ils.; no. hymns, and gunpowder
rowing op to 7s: and 10.. Id '46 Mt eta, dry of
USA. par .14 babas sold in bead as low's. 4d. ; congas,
10d. to la ; hyena, la 10d. to 25.; gtspowder, Slai
to M. Bd. Last weak babes le rsportei at Id. to 84.
per lb. Flue comma la 411. I ditto soostiong, ls. 13d.
to 2s. 4d. The retail price of tea has (Unlined since
1842 frees tic to 4a per lb., and tbe (paucity coo-
mined inoreased by T,372,201 lbs.
We ham gone through the principal items it
in lbs working man's ceding commlasrist.
There aro other necessaries to health and comfort, if
not to life, and on. or two luxuries which the
atuelioratioas in oar commercial code aro happily
Owing man within his nosh every year, if he he bet
moderately industrials sad provident. We Mall pro-
ceed hereafter with our daddies of pries, and finally
draw our conclusions from them.

WE called attention a few days ago to the neces-
sity existing for an alteration in the system of tenure
prevalent is the Highlands of Boothia& not only for
the improvement of Highland properties, bat for the
maintenance of their market value as compared with
arable lands ehewhere. Since than we have learnt
that a body of gentlemen have associated themselves
together for this very purpose, their primary. object
being the improvement of the phyacal and social con-
dition of the class of small tenants, from which they
anticipate u a necessary conwluence au enhancement in
the value of Highland estates. To understand the
plan, which they are about to carry into execution
as an example to the northern proprietors, it will be
necessary briefly to advert to some events which,
about this time last year, directed an evanescent atten-
tion to the Western Ulm

North that is one of the grasp of islands known
as the Outer Hebrides. It is the property of Lord
MACDONALD, and is divided into a few large farm,
and a coosiderable number of small holdings called
crofts. The crofters are tenants holding, say from
two to five sores, on the most precarious of all
tenures. A small community of these tenants, num-
bering about 600 persons, women and children in-
cluded, Inhabited a patios' of the district of Solos, on
the western side of the island. They occupied their
holdings at a small rent, which, owing to the failure
of the potatoes and to other circumstances, had been
permitted to fall into aerate for three years. The
proprietor, acting under the advice of Isis commis-
r.otter, and wishing. to put his property upon a better
footing, by converting it into large farms and intro-
ducing a superior class of tenants, proceeded, by due
camas of law, to eject the defsulting tenant., prepa-
rations having been made for their removal to Canada.
But they refused to go, in the first place disliking
the wholesale expatriation to which they were to be
subjected; and in the next objecting, and very pro-
perly so, to being removed to Canada at a period of
the year when they would have to encounter all the
hardships of a Canadian winter, without any ade-
..t. provision having been made against them.
As
they could not be perenaded to leave
their wretched houses about the beginning of winter,
onsher miens were resorted to, but they repelled
these by force, and drove off the officers of the law
who came to eject them from their homes. An
application was thereupon made to the Secretary of
State for the despatch of a military force to the scene
of disturbance; but he very properly refused to com-
ply with the request until the civil face of the county
had been exhausted in the vindication of the
law. The posse comitolms of Inverness-shire was accord-
ingly sent far, and it was net until several of the
wretched hovels had been unroofed, and women and
children driven, without shelter, from their smoky
hearths, that the poor creatures at length capitulated,
and agreed to expatriate themselves in opting, if they
were only permitted to occupy the houses, in whion
their fathers bad lived and died, during the inclement
months of winter. But se time wore on, they found
that, if they were not beyond the ale of the
law, neither were they out of the reach of the
sympathies of their fellow-countrymen. When
spring came, therefore, their expatriation was not
effected, and they still occupy their small crofts in a
district where there are but a few inches cf soil upon
the hard rock, although, being still wider summons
of removal, the siernmanjus of the proprietor may at
any time be wielded for their ejection. It may not
be amiss here to state that there is another commu-
nity occupying put of a property in Skye belong-
ing to a Mr. WALirran, en precisely the same
predicament.
Now the question is, what is to be done with these
Soles tenants? It is clear that they cannot, in
existing circumstances, pay up their arrears to the
landlord—(and it is but justice to him to state, that
he was willing to forego them, provided they would
have)—whilat their continued occupancy of the soil,
l• its present tenure, prevents the introduction of a
batter system as regards the management of the pro-
perty. To pat them cm a better footiog, withoutextra-
nuns aid, is almost impossible, so that nothing
seemed to be left, either for their own advantage cr
that of the proprietor, but their expatriation. It is
to avoid this harsh step which may at one
time be taken, that a committee of gentle-
men in the city of Perth is now devising a plan for
their settlement, on a superior footing, on another
part of the island. The poor people themselves have
manifested a strong desire that something of the kind
should be done for them I for, their little community
being their world, they are averse to the idea of emi-
gration, fearing that it would lead to their being
separated from each other.
. .

The plan proposed by the Perth committee is, that
they should surrender their crofts, and be trans•
planted in a body to the other side of the island,
where holdings of 20 acres in extent would be given
to each family on leases for 21 years. This improve-
ment in their position, as regards their holdings,
would serve, if anything can do so, to stimulate them
to that exertion which would not only enable them to
meet their obligations as tenants, bat also to render
them self-suppoeting, which they have not been for
the last three or four yams, during which
time they have been rescued from starvation by the
efforts of the Highland Relief Board. The committee
has already put itself in cammurication with Lord
'Law:ow:Am on the subject, and he expresses his rea-
diness to acquiesce in the proposal, and to dispose of
the land, for the sake of the experiment, at half the
mat for the next 21 years, which he now receives for
it. All parties seem thus agreed, and nothing is now
wanting, but the funds to carry the scheme into
operation. Nor can they, with strict accuracy, now be
said to be wanting. The Perth Committee has raised
1,0001. for the experiment, and the balance re-
quired, 70W., is to be oontrabated from the funds of
the Glasgow motion of the Highland Relief Board.
At the meeting of that section of the board, which
took place in Glasgow a few days ago, the whole
plan was detailed both in the report of the secretary
and in the speeches which were subsequently made.
The land, to which the people are to be transplanted,
is covered with mom, bet it is not the deep spongy moss
which defies almost every effort at its redaction
to the :porpoise of cultivation. In its immediate
oeighbourhood is abnadanos of sea ware, which can
be amid with the greatest advaatage as manor,. In-
deed, the land is described by Mr. Brrrtaa, of For
to be each as he would willingly 'ecru the ex-
pense of reducing, if near his estate, and pay three
times the rent for it demanded by Lord Macoos.u.u.
Everything, therefore, seems to conspire to
favour the experiment, which, if successful,
may be imitated with advantage throughout the
greater part of the Highlands. It is true
that in this case the intervention of a third party be-
tween the proprietor and his tenants is necessary to
carry it into- dint, neither of them being in a position
to attempt it without extraneous aid. The Perth
Committee, aided by the Glasgow section of the
Mid board, will undertake the settlement of the'
Masa* and their melanoma,* oath able by their an.
Minas to maintain themselves, which they seat MS
bo if they display ordinary industry. Oa*
tftall despitir of the experiment being von
generally followed, even if successful, posideal
seek intervention were necessary in all oases. The
sigeetof the present effort is to set an example which
ma& future, if it may seem desirable, be followed
by proprietors and their tenants, especially in eases
where the proprietors are well able to foil ar it, with-
out seeking aid from without. At all events, it is an
experiment in which the whole county is deeply
interested. It may, in the first place, lead to