The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-15 00:00:00

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

The following circular has been addressed by the
Poor-Law Board to the officials of the Unions in the
several counties where the collection of facts relating
to agricultural statistics is proposed to be made for
the present year :

"Poor-Law Board, Whitehall, Sept., 1851,

" You are doubtless aware that (at the request of the
Lords of the Committee of Council of Trade and with the
express sanction of Parliament, the Poor-Law Board
undertook to collect the agricultural statistics of Norfolk
and Hampshire for the year 1853, through the agency,
wherever practicable, of the boards of guardians of those
two counties and their officers.

" The large measure of success which attended that ex-
periment to obtain reliable information on a most im-
portant subject, considered in conjunction with the com-
plete success of somewhat similar operations in three
scotch counties, has led to a renewal of thole undertakings
on a more extended scale in the present year. _ _

" The experiment for 1,54 will embrace the whole of
Scotland and the following counties of England and Wales
—viz., Norfolk, Suffolk, Southampton, Wilts, Leicester,
Berks, Worcester, Salop, West Riding of York, Brecon,
and Denbigh.
" In Scotland the proceedings will be conducted, as in
1653, under the auspices of the Highland Society. In
England and Wales it is intended to put in motion the
machinery which worked, upon the whole, so satisfactorily
in Norfolk and llampehire.
" I am therefore instructed by the Poor-Law Board to
request you to have the goodness to move the board of
guardians over which you preside to aid in the accom-
plishment of an object admitted to be of great national
importance.
" In Norfolk and Hampshire it was found that this
object
was best promoted by the formation anti co-op e-a-
tiou, in every union, of a joint committee of owners and
ec,upiere, called' the Statistical Committee,' with the
chee neat,
withuu teeclasionc_
of the union fur its chairman, and by employing,
concurrence of the guardians, the clerk of the
cuungitermrnand the relieving officers as enumerators.
tons Anted
tons Anted affordseet and support which a committee so
welt as by the en,,l the mere fact of its existence, as
directions, go far kiocliMent of the union officers under its
find no difficulty or=e success, and I trust you will
isiegeuch a committee among the
agriculturists of
leading
essential, although certaYin°ller union.,e It is not, however,
committee should consist exclusively convenient, that the
board of guardians, er that the !I:eV cf members of the
ploy to enumerate and classify theerre'°" whom it may em-
ploy
selected exclusively from the officers
statisti s snould
• The duties of the committee aro not's of the -union.
jest it members to much personal troullf, &nature to sub-
uh, tau have to do may be summed ,„ All, or nearly
10 in; heads P Under the two fol-
.
" induce, by their example and influence, their
bours to fill up their:schedules before the ;;oth of Soh. gp.
tember.
"To superintend the labours of the officers engaged in
the inquiry and to exemine autl verify the results.
"Annexed,, for your own and your board's information,
are copies of the various documents which it has beet,
deemed desirable to prepare for this inquiry. These docu-
ments are substantially the same as the documents used in
the statistical inquiry of 1853, though certain modifications,
of which practical experience hes suggested the propriety,
have been introduced into them.
"I have to add that the clerks of unions, if employed as
classifiers will be remunerated by a payment at the rate of
10s. per 100 completed schedules A and B, together with
the further gratuity of 2 guineas for the preparation of
schedule C ; and that the relieving officers, if employed as
enumerators, will be remunerated by a payment at the
rate of 40s. per 100 completed schedules A and B, together
with a bounty, on the present occasion, of ss. per 100 sche-
dules whenever the difficulties surmounted or the special
merit of tha work performed shall, in the opinion of the
Poor-Law Board, appear to call for some extra compensa-
tion. •

" The Poor-Law Bard, are, however, particularly a
one that in selecting the enumerators the relieving ofpcer
shoild nit be employed if any fear can Yes sinably be itl-
tertained that such employment would be prejudicial"-to
the interests of the union.
" The results of the experimental proceedings in Norfolk
and Hampshire, which were unavoidably prolonged threugh
a severe winter, seem to prove that the relieving officer
without detriment to the administration of relief,
properly be intrusted with this employment. Still, the
Poor-Law Board are very far from wishing to restrict
boards of guardians to the employment of their officers,

Poor'•Law Inspector.
•
" Chairman of the Board of Guardians."

" LIST OP 'THE DOCUMENTS ANNEXED.

" 1. Copies of Sir John Walsham's and Mr. Hawley's
reports on the agricultural statistics of Norfolk and
Hampshire, and of Sir John Walsham's supplementary
report.
" 2. Instructions to the classifiers and enumerators.
c' 3. Schedules A, B, and C, with the enumerators' auxi-
liary sheet and exemplifications.
"4. Letter for the Poor-Law inspector to the parish
officers."

whenever they see occasion to apprehend that it will be np a knife to witness, but ran into his own room when
productive of inconvenience or mischief. witness said he would call in a policeman.
"It is desirable that the board of guardians should pro- The defendant repeated his former insir•,uations agailst
ceed as soon as may be to nominate the Statistical Coupsit- the complainant's character, but although he said his
tee, and appoint their clerk to be classifier, and the reliev- brothers were cognisant of the improprieties the com-
ing officers to be enumerators, or (if deemed more advis-
plainant.had been guilty of, he produced no witnesses to
faithfully yours,
able) recommend for those offices other persons in their stead,
substantiate his assertions.
communicating to me the result of their determination.
Alderman Muggeridge said the defendant was a dm-
,/ •
tardly young man for several reasons. In the first " I remain very
in-
stance he behaved towards the complainant most insult-
ingly, and then, because his improper overtures were
repelled with indignation, he subjected her to other
annoyanoes, and ultimately assaulted her in a most
cowardly manner. The accusations against complain-
ant's character were disreputable in the extreme, and
he felt vary much disposed to commit the defendant to
prieon, and so put it out of the power of his friends to
assist him, but he would not do so this time. He should
therefore fine the defendant 101., or in default three
months' imprisonment with hard labour.
The fine was not paid, and the defendant was there-
fore locked up.
George Button, a private in the Royal London Militia,
was charged with enlisting in the above corps, and giv-
ing a false address.
Quartermaster•Serjeant Brett said the prisoner was
attested and.received 10s., but on making inquiries he
ascertained he had given a false address, so that if ho
was not forthcoming at drill he could not be found.
Alderman Muggeridge reprehended the prisoner's con-
duct, and committed him to prison for two months.

CLERKENWELL.—When Mr. Tyrwhitt took his
seat on the bench, Mrs. Skinner, who charged Mr.
Soper, the secretary of the Working Man's Emigration
Society, with assault, was introduced to the witness-box,
when, addressing Mr. Tyrwhitt, she said that although
Mr. Soper had produced witnesses to swear that he was
not at home on the Friday, she could produce evidence
as to his having violently assaulted her on the previous
Monday, and she requested to have a summons granted
against him for the assault on that day.
Mr. Tyrwhitt said he would not grant the summons ;
the case had been heard and decided upon for the assault
on Friday, but she might indict him for both assaults at
the sessions.
She thanked the bench and left the court:

When applicant left the box, a poor young woman
succeeded her, to complain against the Working Man's
Emigration Society, for detaining her subscription
money under circumstances already and so often detailed
in the newspapers.

Applicant said she had paid in her subscriptions for
the purpose of being sent out to Australia. She obeyed
the instructions in the 16th rule, by sending in a written
notice to have the money returned to her in a month.
T.,e month had expired, but Mr. Soper had refused to
return her the money, and she determined on applying
at this court for advice.

Mr: Tyrwhitt said they would never be done with such
applications with reference to this emigration society.
The fact was that the society had ousted the jurisdiction
of the magistrate by having in their rules an arbitration
clause. He (Mr. Tyrwhitt) would advise those parties
who had parted with their money to the society to meet
together and employ some respectable professional man
to call for the arbitration, and pursue the matter accord-
ing to law. I can only say, if the society do not pay
the money back to those members who have regularly
applied far it, nobody would be foolish enough in future
to deposit their money with them, and the society
would inevitably drop to the ground. (Smiling)—
What with kissing women, and these constant applica-
tions for not returning money to the members, the
magistrates would have nothing else to do but with
Mr. Soper and the Working Man's Emigration
Society.

Applicant thanked his worship, saying she would
adopt his advice.

A poor woman, in a state of great excitement, applied
to Mr. Tyrwhitt for advice and assistance under the fol-
lowing extraordinary circumstances :
She said that on Wednesday evening her little son,
eight years of age, was playing in Margaret-street,
Clerkenwell, when another boy, ten years of age, came
to him with a bottle of vitriol, and asked him to drink
some of it, saying it was gin. Her son drank some of
it, which burnt him severely, and the other boy threw
some of it over him and injured his clothes, and his flesh
was shockingly burnt. He instantly ran home crying,
and in great pain, and she took him to a surgeon, who
advised his instant removal to St. Bartholomew's Hos-
pital. Applicant went in pursuit of the boy who admi-
nistered the poisonous liquid, and she traced him with
the quart bottle containing the vitriol now produced, and
giving it to other boys. She took the bottle from him,
and she ascertained that his master had sent him for the
stuff.

Mr. Tyrwhitt directed applicant to proceed to the
nation-house and take an officer with her, and give the
boy into custody immediately. She did so, and he was
placed at the bar. He gave his name George Scannell,
errand-boy, 62, St. John-street, Clerkenwell.
Edward M'Gee, the injured boy, said he resided with
his parents at 17, Berry-street, Clerkenwell. On Wed-
nesday evening he was carrying his mother's baby in his
arms when the prisoner came up to him with a quart
bottle. He said, "Do you want a drop of gin ?" He
opened my hand, and poured something into it, which
burnt it very much. He confirmed his mother's state-
ment.

Mrs. Elizabeth M'Gee, his mother, said her son's
hands, &c., were blistered, and his clothes were burnt.
She burnt her hands, which were blistered through
touching them.

Caroline Maskell, aged 10, of 7, Compton-place,
Clerken well, proved that the prisoner offered her some
of the vitriol, saying it was gin.
The prisoner said his father was a water gilder, and
his master a jeweller. He knew what the bottle coß-
tained.

Mr. Tyrwhitt said it was a very important matter, as
it was a felony. It was very much practised in the
north, and there was a special act of Parliament to pro-
vide against it. He remanded the prisoner, and he was
conveyed to prison.