The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-15 00:00:00

POULTRY.

It is curious to observe how certain parts of the world
seem productive of the best varieties of fowls, which,
nevertheless, can be readily naturalised anywhere. The
pheasant, as his name imports, came from the East, and
yet anybody would suppose that he pertained by nature
to an English coppice. The peacock, a truly Oriental
creature, is one of the hardiest birds about a country-
house ; and no species of fowl yet introduced has been
found eventually to require any more care than common
barn-door poultry. Our domestic stock has been princi-
pally improved from the resources of the Asiatic Archi-
pelago. Bantam, a place not far from Batavia, at the
western extremity of the island of Java, furnished the
name and variety now so familiar. The jungles of
Malacca and Sumatra sent the Malay species,
still highly fashionable ; and the next coast
in the track of the old East India merchantmen—the
coast of Cochin China—produced the wonder of the pre-
sent 11
week.

The price paid for fowls in London is preposterous,
even according to their present rate of multiplication
and increase, and if, by crossing the breed with these in-
teresting importations, the productiveness of the general
stock should be augmented, it will be out of all question
that such charges should continue. If the poultry fan-
ciers of the present season are really discharging any
public duty, they must needs anticipate greater cheap-
neSs and greater. .abundance in the breed of our domestic
fowls. More eggs, therefore, and more fowls—of a better
description each—ought to be ultimately producible ;
and this improvement ought to act on the markets of
the country. There is no reason why poultry should
not be considered as a species of agricultural stock, and
turned to as good account both for producers and con-
sumers. The consumption of fowls, in fact, is exceed-
ingly large, and, but for their unnecessary costliness,
would be larger still. For this unnatural price there is
no kind of excuse. The means of transport provided
by railways so completely answer all purposes, that
every county in England, may either transmit its pro-
duce to London or select its own market elsewhere at a
very small cost of time or money. Fowls, too, travel
more easily than any other animals. They can be dis-
patched alive or dead with equal facility, and there are no
gate' dues or taxes td heighten their price on a metropo-
litin stall. Yet, although 2s. 6d. a-couple would, ac-
cording to all calculable expenses, be a remunerative
charge, we are compelled to pay at least double.

AUSTRALIA V. CALIFORNIA.—AustraIia is far differ-
ent to California. There gold is not a blessing, but a
curse. It has not become so in Australia ; nor will it,
if einigration from the mother country is properly sup-
plied. 'ln California. crime, in its darkest form, is ram-
pant ; neither property nor life is safe ; the executive is
powerless,- the laws are_ openly defied, and murder is
perpetrated in the name of public justice. California is
a republic in its most offensive form. Australia is a
• British colony, and that speaks its praise ; the so-
vereignty of the crown is there acknowledged by a loyal
community. In California the country is a desert, and
peopled with men deserving no higher name than semi-
barbarians. In Australia the population have attained
a high social and commercial position under a constitu-
tional legislature ; and beyond all these distinctions in
its
favour the most important is, that whilst California
has no wealth besides her gold, that of Australia inde-
pendently of gold is unlimited.
Coal IN AUSTRALlA.—lntelligence has been received
of the supposed existence of coal in considerable quan-
tities at King George's Sound, Western Australia. It
is said to cover a space of 30 miles, and to commence in
Doubtful Island Bay, close to the shore, with a good
anchorage for small vessels alongside. Some specimens
picked from the surface have been sent home by the
Australian, and, if the quality should prove to be suit-
able for steam-vessels, the supply will be of great import.
ance to the
,Australian Mail Company, King George's
Sound being their first coaling station on approaching
Afistralia, and their last on leaving it.