The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-28 00:00:00

TO THE EDIVOR.

Sir,—As the potato disease is occupying the atten-
tion of the great bulk of the community, and its se-
rious results upon the poorer class, allow me to men-

tion that the same disease is now showing itself in
the turnip in this neighbourhood. I have a caop of
swede turnips, which has excited great notice from its
luxuriant and forward appearance, being drilled on
the 22d July, upon ridges, with a composition of sul-
phuric acid and bones, nightsoil, ashes, and gypsum
mixed up together. From their first appearance the
plants looked healthy ; they grew very strong and rapid,
escaping that general scourge, the turnip fly. I had
them regularly horse-hood between the drills, and struck
out by hand to about twelve inches apart in the drills.
Although no rain fell for at least five weeks, they never
once flagged in their growth. As the rains came on,
the impulse given to the turnips was very perceptible ;
the land soon became covered with the plant, and bulb-
ing began, which has now attained a very large size,
many of the bulbs weighing upwards of 101 b. It always
gave me great pleasure when I visited them, par-
ticularly when the accounts of others were so dis-
couraging. On Saturday week I was induced to go
amongst the Swedes, from what I observed in some white
stone top turnips (about half an acre), which I had bad
drilled in the same piece, but which I now found to be
all rotten, and emitting an effluvium of the most offen-
sive kind. I thought as the white turnips bad attained
a very large size, they might have overgrown them-
selves, and decayed prematurely; but upon examining
the sound ones I found them perfectly sound, not
hollow. Now the swedes are certainly affected as above
stated, but not so extensively as the white turnips. I
found many putting on this appearance—the leaf a little
mildewed, in the centre of the eye a dark appearance ;
in a word, in every respect like the diseased potato. On
putting the end of my stick down the eye, I could force
it into some of them as much as a couple of inches; the
smell from them was most offensive, a kind of mattery
appearance, the same as the potato had last winter. I
visited the same field last Saturday, and am sorry to say
nearly the whole of the white turnips are affected, and the
swedes to a much greater extent. Not feeling satisfied, I
have visited some of my neighbours' crops, and can
easily see the same disease amongst them, in the inci-
pient state ; being later in their growth, the disease has
not yet developed itself so fully. One field I examined
particularly, which had been transplanted in June, but
they were affected. Not wishing to become an alarmist,
I merely write this in the spirit of inquiry. Having
carefully perused the different agricultural reports from
your numerous correspondents, I cannot see in them any
allusion to the disease ; all concur that since the late
rains, the turnips are looking much more promising. I
wish when they write again they would pay especial at
tention to the crops in their several localities, and report
thereon ; for if the disease should prove to be an epide-
mic, the consequence to the grazier the ensuing winter
will be very serious. Its being detected early in the
season may be the means of enabling us to provide a
substitute before winter sets in.—l am, Mr. Editor, your
obliged servant, H. MORRIS.
Gasberton, near Spalding, Lincolnshire.
THE POTATO DISEASE.
TO THE EDITOR.
_

Sir,-0n the arrival of your paper at my cottage, I
was surprised to read, in Mr. Balkwill's communication
to the Royal Agricultural Society, that the great de-
stroyer of the potato was an insect ; and that that insect
was in such numbers in the neighbourhood of Kings-
bridge, Devon, as to destroy whole fields of the potato
crop. The potato crop in the district of North r incoln-
shire, with which I am acquainted, looked as well to all
appearance as any crop of the kind could look a fort-
night ago. In a very short time many crops withered.
A respectable carpenter of my acquaintance looked over
his crop on Saturday evening, the 8th—they were well
and thriving then ; on Sunday morning, the 9th, they
were withered. Can this be the work of a tiny insect ?
On Saturday last I saw two crops of potatoes divided
only by a wooden fence—one, about half an acre, en-
tirely withered ; the other, belonging to myself, about
one acre, freshly green and in full flower, no insect per-
ceptible to the eye on either of the crops.
This year I have grown several kinds of the potato;
they are all affected with the disease, some more so than
others; the tops withered in a very short space of time.
The potato which we commonly call the " toad back"
—a good sound potato for the spring of the year—is
more affected than most others, and this potato has the
seed apple upon it. I, for one, have not been able to
solve this question, although I have paid a little attention
to the subject, and most certainly have never discovered
a bug, or any other insect, on mine or my neighbours'
plants; and I am led to think it is not an insect (with
us at least) from this circumstance.—l have dug up the
Cambridge white kidneys this year, the foliage being
green; and the disease I have found in the tuber,
although I was most particular as to seed, and placed
every potato of the kind in the ground with my own
hand.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Caistor. Aug. 20. E. W. G.
—Bell's Weekly Messenger.

JUDGMENT CREDITORS.
A BILL.
INTITULED AN ACT TO MAKE CREDITORS
WHO HAVE PROVED UNDER PROCESS OF
BANKRURPTCY OR INSOLVENCY JUDG-
MENT CREDITORS OF THE BANKRUPT OR
INSOLVENT.

Whereas it is expedient to give additional remedies
to creditors against debtors who, having been declared
bankrupt or insolvent, do not account in a satisfactory
way for such property as has been traced into their
possession, or who have not kept such books as they
ought to have done, or who have not continued to make
the usual entries in their books up to the time of their
bankruptcy or insolvency, or who may appear to have
been guilty of great extravagance in their expenditure, or
who may have put their creditors to unnecessary ex-
pense by vexatiously resisting proceedings taken against
them in courts of justice for the recovery of debts, and
who for these or for any other reasons shall appear to
the Commissioner to be undeserving of protection ; Be
it therefore enacted, by the Queen's most excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the
Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this
present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of
the same, that the Commissioners of the Court of Bank-
ruptcy acting in the matter of any bankruptcy or insol-
vency may at any time suspend or withdraw the protec-
tion granted to the bankrupt or insolvent as to his per-
sc n and property, as to either of them, as to him may
seem just and expedient, and may again renew and
again suspend the same from time to time.
And be it enacted, That the assignee or assignees of
any bankrupt or insolvent shall from the time of the
bankrupt's or insolvent's accounts becoming records of
the Court be deemed judgment creditors of such bank-
rupt or insolvent for the total amount for which such
bankrupt or insolvent shall thereby admit ,himself to be
indebted to all his creditors; and that if the Commis-
sioner acting in the matter of such bankruptcy or insol-
vency shall think fit to withdraw or suspend the pro-
' tectign granted to the bankrupt or insolvent as to his
person, he shall, on the application of such assignee or
assignees, grant to him or them a certificate according to
the form specified in the schedule to this Act annexed,
marked (A), which shall have the same force and effect
as a judgment of her Majesty's Court of Queen's Bench
for the sum therein specified.
And be it enacted, that every creditor of a bankrupt
or insolvent who shall have proved his debt, shall from
the time of his proving such debt, and in the order in
which the same shall be or have been proved, be deemed
a jndgment creditor of such bankrupt or insolvent for the
sum so proved ; -and that if the Commissioner acting in
the matter of such bankruptcy or insolvency shall think
fit to withdraw or suspend the protection granted to the
bankrupt or insolvent, as to his person or property, or
both, he shall, on the application of any creditor so ad-
mitted, grant to him a certificate thereof according to
the form specified in the schedule to this Act annexed,
marked (B), which shall have the same force and effect
as a judgment of her Majesty's Court of Queen's Bench
for the sum therein specified.
And be it enacted, that the assignees or assignee or
any creditor holding such certificate may procure the
same to be sealed with the seal of the Court of Bank-
ruptcy, and upon producing such certificate so sealed
to the proper officer of her Majesty's Court of Queen's
Bench. may procure the proper writ of Capias ad satis-
faciendum or Fieri facias against such bankrupt or in-
solvent, or his property, as the case may be, to be scaled,
in the same way in which he might have done if he had
recovered a judgment against such bankrupt or insolvent
in her Majesty's Court of Queen's Bench, and had pro-
duced to the proper officer the judgment paper.
And be it enacted, that if any bankrupt or insolvent
shall be in prison under a capias ad satisfaciendum so
issued as aforesaid, the Court having jurisdiction in the
matter of his bankruptcy and insolvency may order his
release after he shall have undergone such imprisonment,
not exceeding one year, as to such Court shall seem
sufficient punishment for the offences of which he may
have been guilty : Provided always, that no bankrupt
or insolvent against whom or by whom in respect of
his bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings shall have
been had shall be imprisoned for any debts, proved by
whatever creditors under such bankruptcy or insolvency
for a longer period than one year, taking into the ac-
count all the imprisonments which he shall suffer under
such irocess.
And be it enacted, That whenever a bankrupt whose
certificate the Court shall have refused or suspended. or
an insolvent to whom the Court shall have refused his
final order, shall appear to any creditor who shall have
proved his debt to be in possession of property which
might have been seized for the benefit of the creditors,
but which has not been so seized, he may apply
to the Commissioner acting in the matter for an order
upon the assignees to 6 how cause why he should
not be permitted to seize the same at his- own
risk for his own benefit, upon which application the
Commissioner may order, unless cause be shown to the
contrary, that such creditor may cause such property
to be seized under the usual writ of fieri facias at his
own risk, and may apply the proceeds in discharge of

his own debt and costs., rendering the overplus (if MO
to the official assignee entitled to receive the same..
And be it enacted, that if any bankrupt or.
not being protected from process by thgeOiart de:lank-
ruptcy, shall with the consent of the true ocirifirlatereof,
be in possession of any goods or chattels whereof" he is
reputed owner, such goods and chattels shall be liable to
be seized under a writ of fieri facies for the benefit of
any person who may have issued the same.
And be it enacted, that this Act may be altered or
repealed during the present session of Parliament.

PUBLIC HOUSES (SCOTLAND).
Report from the Select Committee appointed to take
into consideration the system of granting certificates for
public houses in Scotland, laid upon the table of the
House of Commons:— _ _

1. That the number of houses in which spirits are sold
for consumption on the premises is excessive, and ought
to be restricted ; and in particular that the number of
such houses of inferior class is excessive, and productive
of evil, and that it would be expedient to repress the evil
arising therefrom.
2. That the facility with which licenses for the sale of
spirits is to be consumed on the premises are obtained,
is one main cause of the excessive number of such houses,
and of their indiscriminate character.

3. That the combination of the trade of grocers and
venders of other commodities with the trade of venders
of spirits to Le consumed on the premises, is, especially
in towns, productive of evil consequences to the working
classes.

4. That great inconvenience arises from the circum-
stance that the Excise licenses are in force from October
to October annually, while the occupation of houses and
shops in Scotland is almost universally from Whit Sun-
day to Whit Sunday, and certificates are commonly
granted in May.

5. That with a view of diminishing the number and
improving the character of houses for the sale of spirits
to be consumed on the premises, and with the view of
securing a better appointment of the number of such
houses to the wants of each particular district, it is ex-
pedient that the system of granting certificates be
altered and amended.

6. That at their meeting on the 30th of April, the
justices of the peace of each county should appoint a
committee of their own number for the purpose of as-
certaining and fixing the number of public houses ne-
cessary for the wants of each locality or district. That
this committee, after full inquiry, should fix the number
for each district for a certain number of years prospec-
tively, and that such decision of the committee should
be final.

7. That at the same meeting the justices of the peace
should appoint local committees to act in the several
localities or districts, in granting or renewing certificates,
and that the decision of every such local committee
should be final.

8. That no certificate to any new party should be
granted until the number of public-houses in the district
or locality shall have been reduced to the number fixed
by the general committee first mentioned, without a spe-
cial reference to and approval by the said committee,
and in no case should more than one such new certificate
be granted in any cne district in any one year.
9. That each local committee should fix the minimum
rent of houses to the occupants of which new licenses
may be granted, and the minimum rent having been
so fixed, the same should not be altered without the
consent of the general committee.
10. That there should be one certificate for keeping
a common inn, alehouse, or victualling house, in which
beer, cider, or perry should be sold- to be drank or
consumed on the premises, and a separate certificate for
keeping a common inn, alehouse, or victualling house,
in which spirits, &c. shall be sold to be drank or con-
sumed on the premises ; and that there should be se-
parate licenses to correspond with the separate certi-
ficates.

11. That no certificate for keeping a common inn,
alehouse, or victualling house, where beer or spirits are
sold to be consumed on the premises, and no license for
such sale of beer or spirits should be granted to any
person who sells groceries or such like commodities,
unless special permission to that effect shall be annexed
to the certificate, and subscribed in like manner as the
certificate.
12. That in no case should a certificate for license be
granted to any person whose character is not satisfac-
torily attested on the personal knowledge of the attesta-
tors, each of whom should add to his signature a state-
ment that the attestation is made on his personal know-
ledge.

fb. That there should be a license for the sale of
spirits to be consumed on the premises, distinct and
separate from the+ retail license.

14. That no certificate should be necessary to entitle
any person to a license to retail spirits not to be con-
sumed on the premises.
_ _.

15. That it is very expedient that the period of the
currency of Excise licenses should be made to corre-
spond, as nearly as possible, with the period of the oc-
cupation of the premises, viz., Whitsunday to Whit-
sunday.
16. That no certificate should be granted for a license
to the occupant of a toll-house in any case in which
there is a licensed public-house within two or three miles
of such toll-house on the same road ; nor unless the
aforesaid general committee shall have resolved that a
license for such toll-house is necessary for the con-
venience of the district in which it is situate.

17. That the remuneration to the clerks in respect of
the matter of certificates shall be by a fixed annual sum,
and not by fees on each certificate.

ARISTOCRACY OF THE SKIN.
On Tuesday last two American sailors, named Alonzo
Lewis and George Brookes, were placed before Mr.
Rushton under the following circumstances:—
It appears that a poor Hindoo, who sells tracts, went
into the house where the sailors were for the purpose of
selling his books. He succeeded in selling one, for
which ho got paid. One of the accused seized the re-
mainder of his stock and destroyed them. On the Bin-
doo remonstrating, he was immediately, with much
abuse, ordered out, and, not instantly complying with
the order, both the sailors assailed him. He was beaten
and kicked, and fled for safety into the street. The
poor fellow was followed by his assailants, who, as Mr.
Moss, one of the witnesses, stated, beat and kicked him
about the head and breast in the most dastardly man-
ner. The seamen made no defence. As soon as this
case had been heard, an elderly man, a negro, stepped
forward to prefer another charge. The negro stated,
that as he passed the same sailors, one of them squirted
his spittle into complainant's face, and, on being remon-
strated-with, the negro was immediately knocked down
by one of the sailors, whilst the other threw at him a
large stone. The negro had not given him the slightest
provocation. Their cowardly conduct did not stop here;
for a poor woman, an English woman, who was carrying
a mulatto child in her arms, was strueked in the face,
and the child knocked down. In both these cases no
defence was made. These republican sailors were et..
cited by the dark skin of their victims to abuse and in-
jure them. Mr. Rushton, on inquiry, found that the
negro had shipped on a voyage to Calcutta, and that to
detain him till the sessions would inflict further injury;
he, therefore, did not send them for trial. He, however,
spoke with indignation of the brutal conduct of the pri-
soners, and told them that such conduct in England
could not be endured ; that the laws admitted no dif-
ference between white and black ; and that the utmost
punishment the justices could award for the offence was
much too light. After consulting with Mr. Christopher
Rawdon, who sat on the bench, Mr. Rushton ordered
each of the sailors to pay the sum of 5/. for each assault,
and in default of payment to be imprisoned two months;
he also ordered them to find bail to keep the peace, or,
in default, to be imprisoned four months. We trust this
prompt and salutary punishment may serve to convince
such of our American visitors as venture to beat and
kick a man because he has a black skin, that the law is
too strong for them. We are glad to say that in general
the American sailors are as well-behaved and as respec-
table as our own Now and then, however, the curse
which slavery
this k
bringsind.a
y p
of i
veearrpso,
oia nfildewrceuryh.7 e the resulta

in acts

Sir George Baker, Bart., and suite, the Baron Mun-
chausen, and Colonel Fulton, arrived in London on Wednes-
day afternoon by the General Steam Navigation Company's
steam-ship Soho, after a delightful run from Ostend.
GROUSE SHOOTING IN " THE HOUSE."—In conse-
quence of the extreme length of the Parliamentary session,
several Members of Parliament are detained from their
favourite sport of grouse-shooting. As it is very hard upon
these individuals, who are thus deprived of their recreation
by the business of their country, it has been proposed to in-
troduce into each House a large cage of living grouse, at
which Members may pop from their places, and thus combine
the pursuit of pleasure with the performance of an important
duty. They may, by this arrangement, discharge the order
of the day and their fowling-pieces at the same time, or
bring up the report on a Bill simultaneously with the reports
of a different character.—. Punch.
COPPER ROCE.—The Detroit Advertiser contains, in
a letter addressed to that journal, the following account of
a most remarkable natural production :—Yon undoubtedly
have heard of the enormous copper rock at Eagle harbour
location, pronounced by Dr. Petit the great-grandfather of
all the rocks of this kind—estimating its weight at from 75
to 100 tons. A brief description by an eye-witness may be
interesting to your readers. At Eagle Harbour, commencing
at the shore of the lake, is au open cut 12 feet wide, 85 feat
long, 7 to 8 feet deep, in which is found this enormous mass
of copper. The shoe, which is 90 per cent., pure copper, is
in the centre, running the entire length of the cut, varying
in thickness from 6 inches to 2 feet, having branches of from
1 to 2 inches in thickness shooting front it east and west, and
varying in length from Ito 2 feet. The interstices are filled
with sand and trap rock, charged with native copper—say
50 to 75 per cent.; also small masses of beautifully crys-
talised marcasite or spar, filled with what has the appear-
ance of copper filings—being quite rich. This is what is
called the copper rock, as unlike a roek as possible; it looks
snore like a large tree that has fallen, and turned to metal,
with this exception, that its depth is not in proportion.
Large detached masses of native copper, weighing from 50
to 3001b5., are taken from alongside of this sheet, and the
vein stone up to the wall rock is richly charged with copper
in its native state.
ELECTORS (IRELAND).—A return has just been issued
by order of the House of Commons, showing the number of
Parliamentary electors registered for each county, city, town,
and borough in Ireland, on the Ist of February, 1835, 1837,
1845, and 1846 ; of the number of electors for counties en-
titled to vote on the 2d February, 1845, and 1846 ; and of
the number of electors registered for counties, cities, and
boroughs, from Ist February, 1844, to Ist February, 1815,
ice. These returns war.: moved for by Mr. Pigot, on the
15th of May last, and the following are a kw of the
results shown thereby :—There was a decrease in the
number of registered electors in the county of Antrim,
on the Ist of February, 1840, compared with the Ist of Fe-
bruary, 1835, of 1,436 ; Carrickfergus, county town, a decrease
of 362 ; Cashel borough 67 ; Cavan county, 696 ; Galway
county, 6,099 ; Limerick city, -st f the
crease of 1,184 ; Wexford county, 1,034 ; and In,.
mcompared
above, the decrease on the let of Februarycuter.ll ln other
with the Ist of February, 952 ; Mayo countoy,
oa d
following cases there
instances, there has been
of registered electors.
s
Thus,
Ist of February, 1846, eons
•
laBd34nidwe-tateinsctirease in the number
the increase stated on the
bun county, 981 ; Waterford city, S2O.
pwaarsed' with the let of February, 1834 ; Dublin city, 6,327 ;
Dionag