The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-26 00:00:00

AGRICULTUILIL PROGRESS.

The Magnet says :—" Ploughing and sowing have matte fair
progress during the week, although these operations experi-
enced a momentary check by the sudden advent of frost, and
the seed, generally, has been got in under favourable
auspices. The root crops continue to be well spoken of,
% considerable increase being noticed in the size of the
turnips as well as mangolds and swedes. At the same
time the pastures and meadow lands present a fresh,
verdant appearance, so that, with an absence of sharp
frosts; there is a good prospect of a sufficiency of natural
food for cattle up to Christmas. In England and Scot-
land potato-lifting has been about brought to a close, but
in Ireland much remains to be done. We regret to state
that complaints of disease are snore frequent, although no
heavy losses have as yet occurred."

TILE "PALL MALL GAZETTE" ON THE
REPI?ESSION OF DRINKING.

In the difficulty of deciding what is the precise de-
gree to which discouragement of open drinking may
safely be carried, and in the certainty that no general
rule could be laid down for the whole country, we are
disposed to agree with so much of the Alliance principles
Is would put the power of licensing in the hands of the
ratepayer. Nor should we at all demur to Dr. Temple's
suggestion that the wives should be consulted. The
better part of the population, male and female, which
happily is in every place the majority, would be the best
able to decide how much repression could be safely
enforced. But when we speak of the population it must
be clearly understood that we do not mean the population
of very limited areas. A parish court would be the worst
of all licensing courts. Every busybody would keep
up an agitation for his own crotchet, and some-
times it would be carried in the direction of
unlimited competition, sometimes in that of abso-
lute prohibition. Personal influence of brewers and
beershop-keepers would very often be found to bring about
a very different result from that which the Alliance expects.
There must, therefore, be a licensing body, either imme-
diate or as a court of appeal, drawn from a sufficiently
wide area to secure the neutralising of personal con-
siderations, and the recognition of some reasonable rule
throughout the locality. A county, or a division of
a large county, would effect this, and the adoption of so
wide an area need not militate against the principle of
popular control. The jurisdiction of the justices, who
know in general nothing more than the policemen tell
them, might very usefully be transferred to a county
or divisional board, elected by the ratepayers, and
representing their knowledge as well as their ideas. These
local authorities would feel their way, and would gradually
acquire a large amount of practical understanding of the
subject and its difficulties, which would direct us in any
further legislation. It is possible that under
their guidance we might even be able to enlist tho
public house keepers themselves in the number of
those who would discourage rather than encourage
the consumption of drink. An association in Sweden has
been formed with the object of supplying liquor to the
public without profit to the retailers, and under this
system it is obvious that the retailers, being mere
servants, have no interest in forcing the sale. We men-
tion this, not to recommend the idea, but to illustrate
how many ways there are in which the mischief may
be combated. One thing only is to be remembered,
that we cannot in any district go faster than the public
opinion of the neighbourhood will warrant. This is an
additional reason for trusting general opinion with the
regulation of the trade, while it is a conclusive answer to
those who would have either the national Legislature or a
narrow clique exercise despotic powers.—Pall Beall
Gazette.

The Right Bev. Bishop Trower, lately administer-
ing the diocese of Exeter, has appended his name to the
memorial to the Queen against the appointment of Dr.
Temple, accompanied by a subscription to the funds of the
committee. His lordship claims a vote in the Chapter as a
sub-dean.

The Empress Eugenic takes an herbal with her on
travels, and gathers a plant, a flower, or a leaf, at each
notable place where she stops. Her maids of honour con-
sign the souvenir to an album and inscribe at the same time
the spot where it was gathered and the date of its selection.
Nitro-glycerine has been doing some serious mis-
chief in the United States. The building for storing it at
the Ifoosac Tunnel, near Springfield, Massachusetts, has
been blown up from some unexplained cause, and three men
were killed.
SIR CHARLES DILKE.—Many of his constituents
will hail the return from Russia, where he has for two
months past been travelling, of Sir Charles Dilke, Bart.,
M.P. The hon. baronet will again leave London in the
ensuing month, and will finally return in_December.

RAILWAYS.-PREFERENCE SHARES AND STOCKS.

With Dividends contingent on the Profits of each separate year.