The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-27 00:00:00

THE HARVEST.

Mr. Mechi, the agricultural authority, writing from
Tiptree Hall, gives the following report on the harvest :--
" As harvest advances the prospect becomes more cheering
under the influence of bright sunshine and a high tempera-
ture. The grain is so well ripened or dried that, although
somewhat shrivelled as compared with that of last year,
millers calculate on making good flour. The bulk of wheat
straw is enormous, and stackyards begin to have the ap-
pearance of being amply filled. There have been numerous
threshings, and a much more hopeful view of the probable
yield prevails. It is said that the laid crop never ruins
the farmer,' and it appeals to be the case this year, for
although the grain does not rise in proportion to the straw
as it did last year, yet, out of the extraordinary number
of heads, enough appears to be saved to render the crop
probably an average one, especially as there is so large a
breadth of wheat—many farmers, within my knowledge,
having an extra percentage. This opinion of an ave-
rage appears to gain ground rapidly, for there was a
fall of nearly Be. per qr. in wheat during last week.
Reaping machines with Lack delivery are so exten-
sively used in this county that they not only greatly
shorten the harvest, but save money as well as time, ren-
dering the farmer more independent of manual labour,
which is now merely required for binding, carting, and
stacking. It is eighteen years ago since (in 1851) I intro-
duced the American reapers to the agricultural public on
my farm. I used one from that date, wore it out, and
am now using one with the improved back delivery. How
much severe labour is spared to the agricultural labourer
by these machines !"

THE LONDONDERRY COM:,,fissiozr.—Before the
Londonderry Commission, on Thursday, Mr. Carter, J.P.,

recommended a reorganisation of the police, a termination
of all party displays, and the trial of party cases by resi-
dent magistrates. Mr. Ferguson deposed that the Ap-
prentice Boys determined to maintain displays. lie
believed the Party Processions Act would not be tolerated
anywhere except in Ireland.
PETER'S PENCE—From the
year 1.860 up to the
present time the Pope is said to have derived the large
sum of 80,000,C00f. from the Peter's penny. The Italian
Government is about to pay to the Pontifical Treasury
the sum of 7,500,000 f. on account of the Pontifical debt,
the amount having arrived in gold. The arrival of
such a supply has acted foVourably on Pontifical Conso-
lid6s, and also on the Roman Bank, which had become
seriously depreciated. 860,000 f. have been invested by the
Roman Mont de Pict 6, the result being a rise of 7 in
Consolid4s.

ALARMING RAILWAY COLLISION.—On Thursday
afternoon, a little after three o'clock, a Great Northern
train left Castleford, and between Meth]ey and Stanley
met a coal train consisting of about nine trucks. A colli-
sion ensued, in consequence of the trucks of the coal train
breaking loose at the Lofthouse Junction. Considerable
injury was done to the brake of the coal train and to the
locomotive of the passenger train, the people in which
were shaken. Only one girl, however, seemed to have
received any external injury. Two of the coal trucks
were smashed. The line was cleared in about two hours.
A BICYCLE ACCIDENT.—On Wednesday two
farmers, leaving Rosedale for Cleveland, one of the most
lonely parts of the moor, found a gentleman lying head
downwards in a ditch, and a bicycle lying upon him. From
the marks on the road it would seem that the machine had
become unmanageable in a deep rut, and bad run over the
bank, apparently capsizing with the rider as found. The
gentleman was quite unconscious, and had evidently been
lying out all night. He was carried to the nearest habita
tion, some miles distant, and medical aid was obtained.
On Thursday it was stated that he had recovered conscious.
ness, and that his main injury was a dislocated ankle.
He is a Mr. M`Henry, from Glasgow, who has been
" doing " Yorkshire on a bicycle. In the part of the
moors where he was found he might have lain for a month
in ordinaay times without being discovered. He was
removed to a railway station on Thursday.
Most of our readers are no doubt aware that for

some years past the Astronomer Royal has sent to the
principal towns in the kingdom, at one p.m. each day, au
electric current from his normal clock at Greenwich, the
time being corrected to the last hour's observation. This
current has hitherto been used for the purpose of correct-

in; highly finished "regulators," or, in some instances,
there have been employed clocks having a gaining rate,
and fitted with mechanism so contrived that on :the
hands reaching one p.m. the clock's motion iz
arrested until the receipt of the current from Green-
wich, when it is ngain started. Mr. Harrison's clock is
a vast improvement on both these plans, being so arranged
that on the receipt of the electric current, it will,
whether fast or slow, be at once set to the true time, the
setting of the hands being effected by the motive power of

the clock. Mr. Barrison's system requires no electrica:
break in a line of clocks, however numerous or distant
those clocks may be; arrangements are provided for pre-
venting any disturbance from residuary magnetism.—
Penny Mechanic.

A PUBLICAN'S BRIDE.—At the general annual

licensing meeting held at Stone, Richard Henry Hailes,
of the Albion beerhouse, Station-road, Stone, applied for
the renewal of a beer licence granted by the Excise. Mr,
Crisp, superintendent of pule oppo: el the appli-
cation, on • the ground that the applicant, while
the occupier of the Wheat Sheaf, at Oulton, was
twice summoned for permitting drunkenness in his
house. On the second occasion he was told that these
offences would be brought against him at the next
licensing day. He told the magistrates that he should not
have to apply to them again. He then gave up the
house at Oulton, and took the Albert beerhouse at
Stone. The new Beerhouso Act, however, rendered it
necessary for him to apply to the magistrates for a
renewal of his licence, and to ensure the assistance of
the police, he, on Saturday last, sent a barrel of ale to the
superintendent of police, with a polite intimation that
any assistance rendered to the sender would be " thank-

fully received." The application for renewal of licence
was refused.

A SWINDLE.—A Berne journal relates that a
certain commotion has been created at Interlacken by the
following occurrence :—Last week, M. Ruchti; the pro-
prietor of the II Otel Victoria, received a telegram from
Geneva, signed "Alexandre Dumas, Pere," announcing
the desire of that author to give a literary soirle for the
benefit of the victims of the Stockhorn, and requesting to
know if be could have the use of the hotel for that purpose.
M. Ruchti immediately replied in the affirmative. The
next day the secretary of the great writer arrived and
explained that M. Dumas could only come to Interlacken
on condition of a certain receipt being ensured. There-
upon the hotel-keeper exerted his influence and succeeded

in getting tickets taken, at 10f. each, to the amount of 200 f.,
which he handed over to the secretary, and then sent off
word to Geneva that all was ready for that evening. Buthere
another difficulty occurred. Another telegram came to
say that M. Dumas had met with a slight accident, and
could not arrive till the day after. The fête was, there-
fore, postponed to the morrow, but at a very early hour

the discovery was made to the effect that the soi-disant
secretary had decamped with all the receipts, leaving poor

Ruchti a victim to his enthusiasm for literature. - The
delinquent was traced as far as the pass of the 13runik
but uo further.