The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-08 00:00:00

ceipts, without any augmentation in the ordinary works
ing expenses. The rolling stock and works of every
description have been maintained in full efficiency at the
cost of revenue, and when it is recollected that the cost
of coke and other necessary stores has been greatly en-
haeced, and that the company is now subj -ct to the full
effect of competition at all points, both on the east and
west, the result of the following statement may be re-
garded as satisfactory :—The receipts during the past
hall-year for passengers amounted to 742 2751., and for
goods to 743 8471., as against 709,3081. for passengers,
and 711,689/, for goods, showing an increase of 32,9671.
in the receipts for firmer, and 36,6581. in the latter, the
total increase being 69.6251., and the total receipts
1,490,6221., against 1,420,997/. in the corresponding
period of 1855. Tee wuricin4 expenses amounted for
the past half year to 597,3991 , or 40.07 and for the cor-
responding period to 600,7191., or 42'27 per cent. The
report then explains that a deed of arbitration respecting
the division of traffic which has been reterred to Mr.
Gladstone had been sealed -by that company, the Mid-
land, the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, and
the Great Northern Railway Companies, and signed by
the respective chairmen ; and as the award is to be for
14 years, the directors trust that the companies may not
again be subjected to the evils of similar contests, and
that they may be enabled to carry on the traffic of their
respective districts to the advantage alike of the share-
holders and of the public. The claims raised by the
North Staffordshire Company are still undetermined.
The arbitration under the West London Act of 1854
has resulted in an award, by Mr, Hawkshaw, that the
lessees shall pay to the proprietors of the %Vest London
Railway, for the use of their line, a sum of 1,8001.
' per annum, from the Ist of July, 1856, in lieu of
the undefined and fluctuating payments provided
for in the original lease, and which have led to se much
litigation. The arrears and damages awarded amount
to 4,1271. of whica 2,0001. are charged in the accounts
of the past half-year. The bill for the deviation and
completion of the Crewe and Shrewsbury line, and for
the necessary powers to provide station accommodation
at Shrewsbury and at Bolted. and for other purposes, has
received the sanction of Parliament, as also the bill to
extend f .r one year the timeallowed for the construction
of the works of the Hampstead Junction line. Five of
the six bills affecting the company's interests, introduced
in the last session by the North Staffordhire Company,
were withdrawn. An act has been obtained by parties
locally interested for the construction of a railway from
Shrewsbury to a junction with the Oswestry and New-
town Railway, near Welchpool (a distance of about 16
miles) with powers to enter into working arrangements
with this company. As the construction of this railway
would tend materially to aid in developing traffic over
the Crewe and Shrewsbury line, the board have under
consideration the terms of a working agreement. The
Oldham branch, about 4 miles in length, connecting the
town of Oldham with the Huddersfield and Manchester
line of this company, was completed and opened for pub-
lic traffic on the sth of July. Nearly the whole of the
land requisite for the construction of the Crewe and
Shrewsbury, Northampton and Market Harborough, St.
Albans, and Hampstead Junction railways, has been
purchased, and the contracts for the works have been let
on sati-factory terms. The board request authority from
the proprietors to make arrangements, conjointly with
the directors of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln-
shire Company (as jeint owners of the Manchester and
South J unnion Railway), for the working and inter
change of traffic on the Warrington and Stockport
Company's line, by which the tan miles of line between
Warrington and Altrinchain may be worke 1 in connection
with, and as a continuation of, the S ,nth Junction Rail-
way. The commit,ee of the Railway Clearing-house have
called upon the company to enlarge the building occu•
pied by them at a cost of about 6,0001. ; for which out-
lay, however, the company will receive rent equal to
interest at 61 per cent, under the lease. The directors
request a vote of the proprietors for 19,0001., being the
cost of a warehouse at Poplar, now occupied by the com-
pany at a rental equal to 6 per cent. on the cost ; and
for additional land, sidings, and other works at various
stations on the line, amounting to 10,1361.
The disposable balance amounts to 578,4621., out of
which a dividend is recommended at the rate of 5 per
cent. per annum, whickewill stbsorb 564,3851., leaving
14,0761. for the next account. The dividend tor the cor-
responding period of 1855 amounted to 535,8651., being
at the rate of 41 per cent. per annum, leaving a ba-
lance of 6,9501.
The profits of the half-year exceed those of the corre-
sponding period by 58,4051. 15s. 11d., and the directors
are therefore enabled to recommend a dividend at the
rata of 51. per cent. per annum.

MIDLAND.
It appears that a dividend at the rate of 4 per cent.
per annum for the half-year ending the 30th of Juno is
to be declared, leaving 3 QOM over for the next half year.
STOCKTON* AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY.— The directors
recommend a dividend at the rate of 9 per cent. on the
ordinary shares.

THE HIGHLAND AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND.

INVERNESS, AUG. 5

France and England have had their agricultural exhi•
hitions ; Scotland follows with her great biennial show.
It was meet that she should make a vigorous effort to
maintain her character as the parent of agricultural in-
stitutions, and the exhibition now in the first stage of its
progress gives good promise that her sanguine expecta-
tions will be realised. IThe tine old town is getting fast
filled with visitors from all parts of the kingdom ; the
show-yards are receiving their complement of imple-
ments ; Balls and Routs are being planned, and the sun
is just dispelling a Scotch mist to pour a flood of golden
beams on the people's gala-day. The hotels are all en-
gaged, private lodgings are either occupied or bespoken,
accommod.tion is being extemporised, and already as
inuch as half•a-guinea is being asked for a comfortable
bed.

While the implements are being arranged for the first
day's exhibition, we may glance at the rise and progress
of the society, premising a few facts connected with the
early history of agriculture in Scotland.
Under the feudal system Scotland had no agriculture.
Patches of land were cultivated in the rudest possible
manner ; the people lived from hand to mouth, land
being to the chiefs not a source of revenue, but of power.
Her union with England intro,uced a new era, and
whatever indignities might have been done to her " Red
Lion," her material interests were thereby greatly sub
served.

In 1695 Parliament passed two statues, which laid
the foundation of Scottish agriculture. The one pro-
vided for the division of commons, t ie other fqr the se
paration of property occupied as runrig and rundate.
Intermixed property thus became disentangled ; land
was let out on lea-E. to be hell in severalty and in con-
ttguous portions, and occupancy was based on the prin-
ciple that the soil ought ti be cultivated for the benefit
of society, rent being the surplus value, under a deduc-
tion of the farmer's profits.
In the low countries agriculture in the course of time
became a science, and the proprietor of the land was
himself the first and best farmer. In 1723 the proprie-
t-rs formed themselves into an association, under the
title of "The Society of Ira provers in the Knowledge of
Agriculture in Scotland," and published their transac-
tions. 300 of the principal landholders of Scotland were
members of this society, but it lasted only 20 years.
Political troubles intervened, until Calloden-muir, over
which we pased yesterday with the iron steel, saw the
close of a conflict which brought Scotland to herself

again.
Political asperities had just begun to disappear, when
the Duke of Argyll and a few other sagacious noblemen
set themselves again to promote agriculture. They bad
in view also the encouragement of habits of industry
and various occupations among the population of the
Highlands. The Highland Society of Scotland was then
' formed. In 1787 it received a royal charter, and in
1789 Parliament voted 3,0001. out of the moneys paid
on restitution of forfeited estates to be applied in " in-
quiries into the state of the highlands and islande of
Scotland, and in promoting improvements by advancing
agriculture, and in introducing useful trades and manu-
factures into that part of the kingdom."
A new impetus was given to agriculture, and within
a period of 20 years 500 volumes of one sort or other on
the subject were published. the Highland Society, in-
stead of using up the Government grant, invested the
money on heritable security, and thereby realised an
annual revenue of 1001. to 1201. Premiums were then
offered for the best essays on the general management
of black cattle, farms, enclosures, cereal and green crops,
dec., and for the improvement of waste land. In 1824
a veterinary college was instituted, and subsequently a
department of analytical chemistry was added to the
uatitution.
In 1834 another charter was obtained for the society
by which its constitution was enlarged, under the deno-
mination of the Highland and Agricultural Society of
Scotland, and soon after tenant-farmers, who bad now
grown to be a very important class in the agricultural
community, were admitted as members for 103. a-year.
They constituted a most valuable acquisition to the
society, and their admission bad also the happy effect
of bringing landlord and tenant into frequent and pro
fitable intercourse with each other. !klonthly discus-
sions of agricultural subjects were estab ished, and the
Transactions being published, the association soon pos.
sensed a literature which gave to it inure than a Euro-
pean reputation.
The annual income of the society having greatly in-
creased from the subscriptions of members, if not from
other sources, a system of agricultural exhibi*ions was
organised. The first show was held at Edinburgh,
where the permanent staff r f the society resided, in the
year 1822. Since then 30 summer shows have been
held, besides a nuirber of winter extubitions for fat
stock ; and so successful were they that the Royal Agri
cultural Society of England and the Rayal Agricultural
Society of Ireland were organised after the same model
and with similar results, while local associations sprang
up all over Scotland and in some parts in England, I ay.
big the same object to subserve. The memaership of
this society has ii creased to upwards of 3,000, of when)
700 are tenant-farinfr3 Toe amount ot preolium4 has
advanced from 78/. in 1822, to 1,000/. in 185 d, and the
-entries of stock have risen in proportion, as rill be seen