The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-20 00:00:00

MAY 20, 1847.

AGRICULTURAL ST4.TISTICS
BILL.
By this Bill it is intended that once in every year
an account shall be taken for England and Wales of
the quantity of land sown or planted with wheat,
barley, rye, oats, beans and peas, potatoes, turnips,
carrots, beet root or mangold wurtzel, tares or vetches,
clover, lucerne, and other artificial grasses, meadow
and pasture, fallow, wood, waste and other crops, if
any, and also the number of bulls, oxen, cows and
sheep. The registrar-general of births, deaths, and
marriages, in England, is to have the care of super-
intending the taking of such account and of making
such preliminary inquiries as may be necessary,
end to prepare and cause to be printed, for
the use of the persons to be employed in
taking such account, such forms and instruc-
tions as he may deem necessary, and to issue the
same to the persons for whose use they are intended.
On or before the twenty-fifth day of June next, and
from time to time thereafter, whenever a vacancy
shall occur, every superintendent-registrar in Eng-
land and Wales is to appoint a competent person in
each registrar's district under his superintendence to
be the agricultural enumerator for such district, and
to perform the duties therein mentioned ; that every
such enumerator is to hold his office during the
pleasure of the registrar-general, unless he desire to
be discharged. Every enumerator, on or before the
tenth day of July next, and on or before the first
day of June in every succeeding year, is to prepare
a list in writing of the names bf all persons occupy-
ing any land exceeding three acres in quantity,
within the district for which he is enumerator,
arranged according to the parishes or townships,
or parts of parishes or townships, within such
district; and for the purpose of preparing or
correcting such list, every such enumerator shall, at
all reasonable times, have access to the several rate-
books of the parishes and townships comprised.in the
district of which he is enumerator, or into which
such district extends. Every such enumerator, on or
before the said tenth day of July next, and on or be-
fore the said first day of June in every succeeding
year, is to leave or cause to be left at, or to transmit
to the usual or last known place of abode of each
and every person named in the said list, a blank
form, giving the before-mentioned particulars.
Every person on whom any such blank form has
been left, or to whom it has been sent, or some

person acting under the authority and by the di-
rections of such person shall, within fourteen
days after such blank form has been so left or so
sent, fill up the blanks in the same to the best of his
power, so far as regards the land in his own occu-
pation, and shall sign the same • and if he be any
person other than the person to whom such form was
addressed, shall state that he has filled up the same
by his directions, or under his authority, and shall
return the same, so filled up and signed, to the enu-
merator from whom he received the same. On the
return of the forms the enumerator is to examine
them, and cause any defects or inaccuracies which he
may perceive therein to be supplied or corrected, so
far as may appear possible. Upon the receipt of such
forms so filled up, every enumerator is to make out a
table, arranged, so far as may be, according to
to the townships comprised in his district, or into
which his district extends, and in the form set forth
in the schedule ; and is to transmit the same so
filled up, on or before the 10th day of August
next, and on or before the Ist day of July in every
succeeding year, to the superintendent-registrar
of his district. The superintendent-registrar
is to examine all the accounts so delivered to him, and
to satisfy himself how far the enumerators have duly
performed the duties imposed upon them, and to cause
any inaccuracies to be corrected so far as may be pos-
sible, and on or before the twentieth day of August
next, and on or before the tenth day of July in every
succeeding year, is to return all the accounts which
have been delivered to him to the registrar-general
for the use of the Lords of the Committee of Privy
Council appointed for the consideration of all matters
relating to trade and foreign plantations. The Lords
of the said Committee may from time to time, by any
order or orders under their seal, alter or vary the i
forms set forth in the schedules to the Act; and if it
appear to them desirable that the information sought
to be obtained should not be collected in any particular
year, they are on or before the first day of May in such
year to notify the same to the registrar-general, who
is thereupon forthwith to issue the necessary instruc-
tions to the superintendent-registrars, in order that
no steps for such collection may be taken in that year.
The Lords of the Committee of Privy Council are
to prepare a table of the allowances to be made to the
several enumerators, superintendent-registrars, and
other persons to be employed in carrying out the
provisions of this Act ; but the allowance to be made
to any enumerator is not to exceed the sum of two
pounds ten shillings for every hundred occupiers of
land within the district for which he is enumerator,
and so in proortion for a greater or less number of
occupiers ; and the allowance to be made to any
superintendent-registrar is not to exceed ten pounds
for every one hundred pounds of the total allowance
made to all the enumerators within his district, and
so in proportion for a greater or less sum than one
hundred pounds ; and such table of allowance is
to be laid before both Houses of Parliament
so soon as the same has been approved by
the Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury,
if Parliament be then sitting, or if not, then
within fourteen days after the opening of the next
session of Parliament ; and all alterations in the said
table are also in like manner to be laid before both
Houses of Parliament as soon as may be after they
have been made. The Bill then provides for the mode
of application for remuneration by the different par-
ties entitled to it under the table of allowances, and
then provides that the guardian, or where there are
no guardians the overseers of the poor, are to pay the
superintendent-registrar of their district out of the
moneys in their hands, as such guardians or overseers.
the whole amount of the allowances to which the
superintendent-registrar and the enumerators in that
district are severally entitled, or in case any such
district shall contain parishes or places, or parts of
parishes or places, all of which are not comprised in
the same union, then so much of the whole amount as,
under certain appointments therein mentioned are
payable by such guardians or overseers, and each
superintendent-registrar is to pay over to the enume-
rators in his district the allowances to which they are
severally entitled according to the table of allowances.
It then provides for the mode of apportioning the
amount of the allowances among the different parishes
in the superintendent-registrar's district, and requires
that such payment by guardians, overseers, or trea-
surer, shall be certified to the registrar-general within
one calendar month. It then imposes a penalty of
Si. on the superintendent-registrar or enumerator, and
on occupiers of lands, of 1/. for each neglect of duty,
or a enalty of .51. on the latter if they wilfully make
any false statements, or wilfully suppress any infor-
mation which by the blank form left with them they
are required to supply, or wilfully deface, injure, tear,
or lose such paper. But none of these penalties are to
be sued for except-by direction of the Board of Trade,
or registrar-general. The remainder of the Bill is
confined to the mode of recovering penalties.

THE GREAT NORTH OF SCOTLAND RAILWAY.-
We are happy to understand that the directors of this line
are taking active steps towards its formation. From the
report of the town council proceedings it will be observed
that a communication was laid before them to the effect,
that a working survey was about to be made, and the line
marked off previous to contracts being advertised for. Fol-
lowing up this communication, a party of surveyors from
Aberdeen arrived here on Friday last to commence opera-
tions. The engineers have also been at work in the neigh-
bourhood of Forres, marking off the line. The Torres Gazette
says----" The railway enters the town's lands at the east, after
crossing the fields near the obelisk, and runs in almost a
straight line from that, through the town's parks in the
direction of Hedgefield, and crosses the Findhorn a little
below the present suspension bridge. We observe it cuts
the roads in the close vicinity of the town, in five different
places, and unless viaducts at these crossings are built, will
very seriously interfere with the safety and comfort of the
lieges. The Councillor's- walk, the most frequented in the
town, is intersected by it in two places ; so is the Bogton-
road, the Hedgefield-road, and the 'Waterford-road, near the
Lee-bridge. It is expected that the working plans will be
ready in a few weeks, and operations, it is calculated, will be
commenced in October.—lnverness Courier.

........
Epsom RACES.—The influence of the wind, sun,
and dust, on these occasions, is frequently a source of serious
inconvenience to persons of delicate complexion. Ladies
should ever be provided with Rowland's Kalydor, which will
be found gratefully refreshing to the complexion, dispelling
the cloud of languor and relaxation, allaying all irritability
and heat, and immediately affording the pleasing sensation
attendant on restored elasticity and healthful state of the
skin. As a protector and preserver of the hair, Rowland's
Macassar Oil will be found alike efficacious, guarding it from
the injurious operation of the sun and dust. Beware of Spu-
rious Imitations. The only genuine articles have the word
"Rowland's" preceding the name of the article on the wrapper
of each."
For the fullest and most correct report of Epsom
four days' races, with a portrait of the Winner of the Derby,
see Bell's Life in London, of May 23.—A sixpence sent to
Mr. Clement, jun., 170, Strand, will insure a copy, by return
of post, to any part of England, Scotland, or Ireland. The
average sale of Bell's Life exceeds 26,000. Bell's Life of
May 9, which contained the explanatory chart of Newmarket
race courses, can be had all this month of May.
THE LAMBING: SEASON.—We regret that the
lambing season in the northern Highlands, has been tiTi-
favourable. In consequence of the inclewnt weather
there has been a great many deaths, and, upon the
whole, there has not been so bad a season for sonic:
years.—Ross-shire Advertiser.
The Earl of Minto gave a dinner to the Cabinet
Ministers last evening at his residence ia Eaton-square.

Paid SD.

ARE THE COLONIES WORTHY
OF REPRESENTATION, BY DELEGATES TO
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ?
(From the Australian Journal.)
The talented and benevolent Cowper, in one of his
poems, gives vent to his amiable feelings in behalf of
his native country, in describing her defects, in these
words, " 0 England ! with all thy faults I love thee
still !"
If England were worthy of this eulogy at such a
time, how much more worthy is she in the present
day of such a testimony, after having passed such
laws as the Slavery Emancipation Bill, with its self-
imposed fine, for former injustice, of twenty millions
sterling ; the Catholic Emancipation Bill ; the aboli-
tion of the Test Act Bill; the Reform Bill ; the Irish
Education Bill • the Irish Colleges Bill ; and last,
but -not least, the Corn-law Abolition Bill ? Look
again at its magnanimous forbearance towards insult-
ing France, domineering America, and towards the
prostrate conquered city of Lahore !
Conduct like this, a series of magnificent legis-
lative and executive Acts like these have not been
known before in any land. They are acts perfectly
novel in the history of Governments, either ancient or
modern. And they encourage us to hope that justice,
in an important point, will yet be done to the colo-
nies of England, as the Irish nation are at last calling
for the Same with a prospect of success; which call,
nevertheless, seven years ago, only created derision ;
just as seven years ago the " League," on its first
germination, was met with reproaches and ridicule
by the landed interest of England, a majority of
which has, however, now granted almost all that was
asked, and more than the League expected.
Why then shall it be thought a wild project to pro-
pose to form a "League" of the Legislatures of all
the British colonies, and presenting a petition en
masse, signed by the Speakers of each respectively,
and to be presented to Parliament by a well-selected
member in each House, with another, of similar im-
port, to the Queen ? •r why should not a separate
petition be passed by each Legislature, and being
signed by its Speaker, sent to London, to arrive
there in the same month (the month to be previously
agreed upon, say January, 1848 or 1849, to meet the
new Parliament, which will be more " liberal" than
the last), each Legislature appointing its own favourite
members to present their petitions, but requesting
them to act in conjunction with the others so far, as
that the petitions may all be presented on the same
day.
But what should be the prayer of these petitions ?
We answer, that the House of Commons shall alter
the constitution, as it did in passing the Reform Bill,
by admitting to its councils henceforth as many
members, to be elected, not by the legislatures of the
colonies, but by the elective constituencies of the co-
lonies, as the latter may have chosen to represent
them in the lower branch of the British Legislature.
There are in the Southern Hemisphere eight colo-
nies, which require a voice in the House of Commons,
viz., Ceylon, Singapore, Hong-Kong, New South
Wales, South Australia, Port Philip, Van Diemen's
Land, and New Zealand. There are many islands in
the West Indies ; the smaller might be joined in twos
and threes if too small to claim a whole member to
themselves. Jamaica and Barbadoes should be al-
lowed to send two each, and Canada four. Then there
are the other North-American colonies. In all, we
imagine it would require an addition to the House of
Commons of some forty Members.
But first let us inquire, as far as the Home Govern-
ment is concerned, and the House of Commons itself,
as to the inconvenience such a change in the Constitu-
tion of the United Kingdom might bring with it to
the Imperial Government :
1. It will be said, that the Irish Members are al-
ready a faction, a tail of Mr. O'Connell, which is
continually embarrassing the Government, and ob-
structing the passage through Parliament of useful
measures ; and that the colonial tail, thus proposed
to be introduced, will add to this inconvenience.
2. That it is a change in the Constitution not justi-
fied by its importance, like the Catholic Emancipa-
tion Bill, the Slavery Emancipation Bill, the Corn-
law Bill, &c., &c.
3. That the present large number of Members of
which the House of Commons consists has long been
found inconvenient to the dispatch of business ; and
that the addition of some forty Members would render
the carrying on the national business as intolerable as
Dr. Reid's new ventilating apparatus is found, in
February and March, to be destructive to the
comfort and health of all Members except
those of an iron constitution, like Colonel Sibthorp
and Sir James Graham in the Lower House, and the
" iron" Duke in the Upper, who fortifies himself
against Dr. Reid's terrible set of bellows by taking a
cold bath all through the previous winter.
To these objections we shall only give one general
answer. That a religious tail, backed by the reli-
gious world of England, produced the Slavery Eman-
cipation Bill ; that the Radical tail, backed by the
people of England, produced the Reform Bill ; that
an Irish tail, backed by the Repeal Association, pro-
duced the Catholic Emancipation Bill and the Irish
Colleges Bill, &c. ; and that, last of all, the Man-
chester, and Birmingham, and Glasgow tail, backed
by the merchants, manufacturers, and shopkeepers of
England and Scotland, produced the abolition of the
corn-laws. Now we do not dispute the very
great inconvenience that Ministers, one set
after another, were put to before they proposed
these measures, and also after they proposed them.
But we have this apology to make for such inconve-
nience, that if it had not previously existed, and that
to an insufferable extent, so that Ministers could no
longer stand it, any more than the unjust judge could
bear the boring applications of the poor widow, none
of these laws would have been passed ; and we should
sell be jogging on in the good old system of the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries—namely, with Ca-
tholic slavery, Negro slavery, Irish local oppression
and educational darkness, rotten boroughs, and some
hundreds of protective duties in addition to the mother
of them all, the dear bread protective duty.
Therefore we argue, that as the inconvenience suf-
fered by Ministers and by the House, however annoy-
ing and repulsive to the good old prejudices of 1601
and 1701, have nevertheless terminated in measures
which are considered at this present moment, now that
they are the law of the land, the glory of England,
and the admiration of surrounding nations; besides
preserving that transcendent blessing, peace—peace
with France and America, never perhaps to be dis-
turbed more : so are we justified in saying and
prophesying, that the increased peace, population,
prosperity, content, and loyalty of the British colo-
nies, in both hemispheres, are likely to be so much
increased by the proposal of a "colonial" tail of some
forty Members, and that solely through the inconve-
nience which its talkative propensities, alias informa-
tion, will bring to the House of Commons as at pre-
sent constituted, that it is worth while to put up with
the new " tail" we propose.
Laughter and tears are not incompatible with each
other. Whoever reads the debates in Parliament
when the Australian colonies are before it, if the
subject b© a vital one (such as the abolition of trans-
portation, or the raising the price of waste land), or
peruses the evidence of those roving colonists and
others taken upon these and other deeply-important
subjects, will be apt to burst out into tears, and then
laughter; and in another minute into laughter and
then tears. Such is the fatal nature of the twaddle,
the gross ignorance, the venal misrepresentation with
which these debates and this evidence too often teem.
But still the Cabinet of London will say, "No doubt
some little inconvenience to the colonies arises from
these mistakes ; but for us to be bored by the speeches
of forty new colonial orators, fresh from Jamaica, Que-
bec, and Botany Bay, world be intolerable. No. We must
go on in the old way. The wisdom of our ancestors
never tolerated such an innovation on the privileges
and conveniences of this House. One of these con-
veniences is, and that not a little one, that at the end
of a weary, worrying session, Ministers can dispatch
colonial affairs by the aid of a few honest whippers-in,
whom we can keep in town for the express purpose.
We used to treat Ireland in this comfortable way, and
what is the consequence of the new movement in its
favour ? Why, that presently we shall have to com-
mence in December, and sit to September. And if
we admit fifty new colonial orators, we shall positively
have to sit all the year round! No, it won't do. The
colonies must be contented with our doing the best we
can for them with our present machinery." Such will
be the answer not doubt of Lord Melborne, Sir R.
Peel, Lord J. Russell, Earl Grey, or Lord Stanley,
iwhen
t•wilel vbeer,oaunrpdtrpos
that
tbaelfshall be dt
before ten
yearsmae areo them.gon eFoolr.ermade
our
heads, though we see no objection to set about organ-
ising a " League " of Colonial Legislatures at the
present mom e
eou t. It
n may be begun by our Sydney
Legis Council appointing a Committee to draw
u p twolst.—Andocuments
address
ptthooe
ratelhlsand every Colonial Legisla-
t u r2ed
•A pebothljeton hemispheres.
mocnospiesof
respectively, to be signed Queen,e
b Lords,
y the
Speaker.and Com-
these may be sent in triplicate, to every
British Colony, addressed to the Speaker of the Le-
gislative
Assembly thereof, with arequest to lay it
before the House,
A memorandum should be made of the month and
year in which it is intended that the petitions from
New South Wales shall be presented to the Queen
and both Houses of Parliament. And the time thus