The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-09 00:00:00

and men, 38 soldiers' wives, 76 soldiers' children ;
officers' wives—Mesdame Ross and 3 children, Lacy
and 2 children, Price and 7 children, Allen and 2
children, Tongue, Dashwood, Kemmis and 1 child,
Braine and 1 child, Smith and 2 children, Miss
Mountain, and 12 officers' servants. The non-
commissioned officers and men consist of invalided
and time-expired men, and will be disembarked from
the ship this morning, the time-expired men being
forwarded on from Portsmouth by the South-
Western and South Coast Railways to their regi-
mental depots, and the invalids to the Royal Vic-
toria Military Hospital at Netley. The Himalaya,
on her passage homewards, spoke the following
vessels :—ln Quebec river, the ships Alfred,
Guiding Star, Queen of the Chase, and Eliza
Keith. On the 30th of September, in lat. 46 54 N.,
long. 47 W., the English ship Guy Mannering ;
and the sth inst., the English ship War Cloud;
on the 6th, the Banda, of Liverpool, bound to
London, 140 days from Hong Kong. It is under-
stood that Capt. Lacy returns from sick leave to-
day, and resumes command of the Himalaya, and
that Capt. Lethbridge will be appointed to the Vic-
tory, for service in the screw troopship Simoom, now
fitting out at Portsmouth.

The Earl of Leicester on Agricultural

Affairs.

LYNN, Oct. 7.
The annual meeting of the Docking Agricultural
Association was held at Docking, Norfolk, last

evening.
The Earl of LEICESTER, in acknowledging the
toast of his health, said—l am afraid that I cannot
congratulate you upon meeting under propitious cir-
cumstances. We have harvested the very worst

wheat crop that I ever recollect in this district, the
. . .

natural result of having had no flag, no plough in,
an unpropitious seed time, and early and severe
frosts in the spring. lam afraid our prospects for
the wheat crop are not very bright. It is very de-
sirable that in this district of the county we should
get our wheats in early. It is now the 6th of Octo-
ber and there is very little land prepared for the
wheat crop. Our barleys on our light lands were
burnt up, and on all lands they were badly got up.
Yet as the barley harvest was tolerably general

throughout the country during a period of wet
weather I think that our Norfolk barleys are likely

to hold their own, and those who hold such samples
as were contemptuously discarded last year are likely
to meet, I trust, with a fair price. (Hear, hear.)
While our barleys were being drenched we were re -
joicing in the hopes of an abundant root crop. The
extraordinary drought of the last five weeks has de-
stroyed that prospect. Our mangolds are good, but
turnips must be deficient in quantity if not in qua-

lity. I am more and more satisfied of the beneficia]

results pertaining to deep cultivation for the roo,

crop, and I am satisfied that one deep ploughing, and
only one ploughing in the early winter, is the best
means of retaining the moisture in the land, without
which the turnip crop must be a failure. It is true that

beef and mutton are fetching extraordinary prices,
but we have to give nearly butchers' prices for

our store stock. Our light land arable farms in
West Norfolk are not adapted for the breeding of

either cattle or sheep ; therefore we not derive that
advantage from the high price of meat which we

otherwise should do. And now, gentlemen, we are
threatened with a disease in our cattle and our

sheep ; but I think that from the exertions of the
committee of our association, and especially through

the exertions of Mr. Read—to whom we are deeply

indebted—(cheers)—for the prompt and vigorous
measures which were taken to prevent diseased cattle

from infecting the healthy—with proper caution on
our part and with a prospect of cooler weather, I
trust we may escape severe losses from this calamity.
(Hear.) This is a long list of grievances, but I
think that we have learnt something from our trials
that will be of service to us even in years of abun-
dance. Continued prosperity causes the energies of
man to lie dormant, and iu the trials and difficulties
we have had lately to contend with we have learnt
some things. We have learnt that hay—the most
costly crop we can grow—is not a necessary item in
our produce. We have learnt the value of straw as
a feeding article. We have learnt how to economise
our root crop. And if we have learnt that it is
desirable to give deep cultivation to the roots of our
plants to enable them to seek moisture in the earth,
the trials that have been given us have not been, I
trust, in vain. (Hear, hear.) But we have not
met here solely for the purpose of talking over our
own affairs, but to consider what progress we have
made in improving the condition of the labourer.
(Hear.) Although we may not be altogether pros-
perous at the present time, I think that I may say

that he is. Labour is abundant, wages are high,
and bread is cheap, and I think we may rejoice
upon the moral and physical improvement of our
labourer. Drunkenness used to be a common vice in
this district. It was no uncommon thing to see
a man intoxicated. But I think I can say that for
some years I have not seen one.of my labourers the
worse for drink. (Cheers.) It was impossible at one
time to get any work done without an allowance of
beer ; it was beer here, beer there, and beer every-
where. Now I never make any allowance of beer to
any of my labourers ; I give a full equivalent in
money. They prefer it, and lam quite sure that
they, their wives, and their families are the gainers
by it. (Cheers.) I am satisfied also, gentlemen, that
there is no work but what can be done better with-
out the beer that the men are in the habit of getting
than with it. Many of my men are teetotallers. I
do not think that it is desirable that men who can
abstain from drinking malt or spirituous liquors in
excess should bind themselves by a pledge, but those
who find they cannot control themselves and abstain
from excess have done a wise thing in doing so.
(Hear.) They cannot obtain the beer that we drink,
they cannot obtain the light wines of Germany and
France, which will quench our thirst without caus-
ing intoxication. If they drink they must drink the
drugged beer of the publican—(hear, hear)—which
tends to excite their thirst and to cause excess, or
they must drink the wretched stuff which is made at
home, which is quite sufficient in itself to make any
man a teetotaller. (Laughter.) If the malt duty was
repealed the poor man's wife can never brew beer,
and the money that is spent in the attempt had far
better be employed in providing other luxuries or
comforts for her husband's home. I must now con-
gratulate this union as being the only union in this
country which has adopted that wise measure of a
union settlement, and for having given a precedent
to Parliament for passing an act which will do more
to benefit, the labourer than any other measure that
has been hitherto attempted on his behalf. (Cheers.)
Up to the present time our duties and interests
have been apparently antagonistic. I say appa-
rently, gentlemen, because we had begun to learn
that unless we provided proper cottage accommo -
dation for our labourers within a reasonable
distance of their work we were like to lose the ser-
vice of our best labourers. We also consider that
it was better to open our close parishes and be
subject to provide for the aged and infirm rather
than to depend upon the supply of our labourers
from the distant and open parishes. (Hear, hear.)
That the evils which existed under the old law can
be immediately remedied is impossible. Before the
Act that was called the New Poor Law was passed
there were certain parishes in the estate that paid
19s. in the pound poor-rates. Certainly at that
time, if it was not the duty, it was the policy and
interest of the owners of the property to endeavour
to diminish the population, and not to increase the
cottage accommodation. But railways and other
causes have entirely altered the position of employers
and employed. But after all that can be or has
been done by Parliament, or by societies like this,
the physical and moral improvement of the labourer
must mainly depend upon his landlord and upon his
employer. (Hear, hear.) While I am upon the
subject of rates, I will allude to what I consider to
be an injustice in the existing law. There has been
lately a very wise and proper readjustment of the
rates of our respective parishes, and there are cer-
tain descriptions of property that I think are un-
wisely exempted from being rated. I see no reason
why the 2,000 acres of wood that I hold in this
country—retaining them as I do for the purposes
of game or ornament—all of which, if converted into
pasture or arables, would be subject to rates, should
not pay their quota to the poor-rates. (Cheers.)