The Sun.
London, England, 1836-08-27 00:00:00

Mr. Exam gave a long account of tue working of the
Cornish steam engines. .
Mr. THOMAS MOORE came into the room, and was rc-
Aceived with much applause.
'Pie business of the section having concluded,
Mr. RUSSELL begged to propose_that the thanks of the
section be given to their chairman,"6e -father of science,
--for his greiit kindness and urbanity, and for. the ability he
-haedisplaysed.—(Loud cheers.) • •
• Mr: GILBERT returned thanks for the kind acknow-
ledgriieht ;-if he had rendered any assistance in the cause
of science,-he was much 'pleased.
, This closed this very interesting section, which has been
completely filled during its sittings.
SECTION F.—STATISTICS.
Mr. KINGSLEY, in exhibitirn, some formulae recommended
by him). to be employed in makinglp the gross receipts of
,the revenue and saving-bank returns, remarked upon what
-he considered every one present would concede—the in-
efficiendy, for any statistical purpose, of the returns usu-
ally made by order of Parliament. The reason of this
was; the irregular manner in which the public accounts
generally were kept, so that returns were frequently
called for which it was impossible to be made out. The
inconveniences thus occasioned Mr. Kingsley proposed to
remedy by means of the formula) submitted to the
meeting, by-the general use of which the respective clerks
would be: able to make up their returns on one uniform •
system, and with much less trouble than at present. And this
'advantage would be a better and a more distinct classifica-
tion, as he would separate the male from the female depo- ,
sitois in saving-banks, and distinguish the number of con-
tributors below the age of 10 years, because in philosophy
a great many deductions might be drawn from the results
as they appeared. The table he proposed embraced, also,
a column for enumerating the expenses of management ;
that, also, would be found an advantage, besides affording
statistical information, inasmuch as it would supply the
means of checking extravagance. Mr. Kingsley then ex-
plained hisformulaefor reforming the public revenue,
which, if adopted, would not merely give the total receipts,
but show at the same time the direct sources from whence
those receipts were derived, distinguishing the amount
from taxes coming into operation, as well as that from taxes
in course of being repealed, and would show also the amount
of taxation wholly remitted.
Dr. Bovvnim alluded to some of the causes which operate
in rendering the Parliamentary returns defective. The fact
was, thdy were mostly moved for, not ,for any general pur-
pose, but to assist individual members in some private cal-
culations of their own. With respect to the public revenue
in most of the countries on the Continent, the entire pro-
ceeds are paid, without deduction; into the Treasury ; but
here every branch retains whatever money is wanted for its
own purposes ; it was perfectly clear that unless that system
were altered they could not arrive at anything like accuracy.
Colonel SYKES agreed with Dr. Bowring that until a
system of centralization was organized, no results could be
relied on as perfectly accurate.
A very interesting communication was then made to the
section by Baron Dupin on the influence of the prices of
corn on population. The Baron prefaced his observations
by stating that it was formerly held to be indisputable that
times of great plenty were favourable, and, on the contrary,
that times of scarcity were adverse to vitality. He had
prepared returns in France, from the 86 departments—and
in France the returns were officially and accurately taken ;
and also returns of baptisms, burials, and marriages, and he
found that in the 15 years preceding the cholera there were
more marriages and births, and fewer deaths, in the period
when corn was at a medium price.
Lord NUGENT inquired of the Baron Dupin whether he
considered the effect he had stated (a lower scale of popula-
tion) as the result of plenty.
Mr. C. B. Fairr said, one part of the Baron's commu-
nication certainly appeared to be involved in mystery, though
he did not for one moment mean to deny it as a fact. He
(M. Dupin) said the number of births was the greatest
when corn was at middle prices.
,Mr. VISGER said, as the Baron had stated that a disar-
rangement of commercial relations was of more importance,
as affecting the welfare of the community, than the price of
corn, he hoped the statement would not go forth that an in-
termediate price was more favourable to population than a
low price.
Colonel &las would express his conviction that the
well-being of society depended on the cheapness of articles'
of necessity.
The Baron DUNN replied severally to the above speakers.
The difference in France. between the lowest price and the
medium price-was 34 to 40, and though this variation made
but little difference to the consumer, it was not so to the
grower, who had to estimate it on large quantities. In
France the land was more divided than - in. England, the
number of growers being no less than 5,000,000 ; the ordi-
nary tenure was one-half of the produce, the leases being on
three, six, and nine years, and hence it followed that in
times of scarcity the proprietor bore one half of the
suffering, as, when the prices fell, the contract still
continued. He did not mean to contend for the
position, that, abstractedly, a season of plenty was
inimical to population, but the results he had given
made it obvious that low prices were not, in themselves, the
constituents of prosperity. The solution might be that, a
sudden fall in prices, though regarded as advantageous to
the mass of the population, might entail great suffering and
distress on those engaged iu agriculture, and this would
account for the results he had given. Another fact, too,
must be kept in view, that labour always bore a propor-
tion in value to the price of commodities. •
[At the close of the discussion the thanks of the meeting
were unanimously voted to Baron Dupin for his interesting
communication.)
Colonel SYKES read a paper entitled " On the utility of
co-operating Committees of Trade and Agriculture in the
Commercial and Manufacturing towns of Great Britain, as
projected by the Right Hon. H. Mackenzie and Mr. F.
Royle, and advocated 'by the Right 'Hon. Sir A. Johnstone
and. Sir Charles Forbes, Bart., for investiging more exten-
sively the natural and artificial products of India." The object
of this paper was to incite the formation of committees in the
manufacturing and commercial towns of Great Britain, either
in co-operating with the Royal Asiatic Society, or inde-
pendently, for the following objects :—I. -To ascertain what
articles, the produce of India, now imported into England,
are of inferior quality to those produced in other countries ;
to investigate the causes of .their inferiority, and to explain
and suggest the means of xemoving them. 2. To ascertain
what articles, now in demand in England, or likely to be
used, if furnished, hut not yet generally forming part of
our commerce with -India, 'could be profitably provided in
that country, or their place advantageously' supplied by
other things belonging to it ; to take measures for making
known in India the wants of England ; and in England
the capabilities of India ; and to adjust and facilitate such
experiments as may be necessary to determine the practi-
cability of rendering the resources of one country subser-
vient to the exigencies of the other. 3d. To ascertain what
useful -articles are produced in countries possessing climates
resembling those of the different parts of -India which are
not known in this country, and vice versa, to consider the
means of transplanting the productions and transferring the
processes of one country to another, and to encourage and
facilitate all useful interchanges of that nature. 4th. With
the above views, and for the sake of general knowledge and
improvement, to consider how the statistics of Indian agricul-
ture and arts, including climate, meteorology, geology, bo-
tany, and zoology, may be most conveniently and .economi-;
tally aseertaitied and recorded ; and to encourage and facilitate
all inquiries directed to those objects, numerous illustrations
of those views ware granted,' particularly for Mr. Royle.
It was stated that, so recently as 1784, an American ves-
sel arrived at Liverpool with eight bags of cotton, which
were seized, under the belief that America did not produce
cotton ; and now her produce is 400,000,0001 b. annually,
the greater part of which is consumed by Great Britain ;
and it is a curious fact, that the native country of the Sea
Island cotton -was supposed to be Persia. The Carolina
rice, which sells at sd. per lb., whilst East India rice sells.
at 21d. and '3d, originated in a single bag of East India,
given b), Mr. C. Dabors, of the India House, to an Ame-
rican trader. All the coffee of the West Indies originated
in a single plant in the hot-houses of, Amsterdam. It
was stated that, in 1792, Mr. Brown, the resident at
Cossinibazar, told the Coun'cil at Calcutta, that if lie should
think proper to send a few cwts. of lac to Europe, it might
be procured at Calcutta. The annual consumption of lac
in -England is now estimated at 600,0301 b. A variety of
other instances of a similar desc'ription and of comparatively
recent date were 'adduced to illustrate the importance of the
subject now submitted to the consideration of the section.

PROMENADE IN MILLER'S GROUNDS.
These beautiful gardens were thrown open at six o'clock
this evening to the members of the Institution, and the
ladies they brought with them, and interesting as the.pro-
ceedings of the week have been, this promenade came in for
its full share of public approval. There were several mar-
quees, and a long tent was adapted for a refreshment-
for the crowd here was so great that 'nearly half
room and much indeed, did the visitors appear to require
was occupied in endeavouring t
obtain
o an ice.
arenfrieihirng,

CLIFTON SUSPENSION BRIDGE.
I yesterday stated that the iroti bar across the Avon had •
fallen, in consequence of the hawser giving way. Mr.
Brunel said he should have it up again in time for Satur-
day's proceedings. • I confess I much doubted it. Two -
hawsers were attached to the bar as it lay in the mud yes-
terday, afternoon, and a number of men were then put to the
capstans, and recommenced their work of battling it up,
and, to Thy astonishment, on going up to the Down this
morning, ifound the bar had again reached the top of the
rocks, uninjured, and about nine o'clock, nine cheers were
given by the men on their having accomplished their task.
The bar is 800 feet in length, and is a vny beautiful spe-
cimen of the pliability of iron. The fall of yesterday really
has added interest to it.