The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-10 00:00:00

110 P INTELLIGFNCE.

KENT.—The hop picking in most places in this
county will be brought to an end by the close of
the week. Many planters have already finished;
and a considerable number of grounds will not be
picked at all, there being a certainty that they
would not pay for the labour. We are informed,
indeed, that a portion of the hops which have
been dried and sent to market are almost
worthless, rubbing to dust if pressed between the
fingers, and wholly unfit for the use of the brewer,
so that the factors will not undertake to dis-
pose of them. This is especially the case with
the Goldings, which seem this season to have suf-
fered more than any other kinds. There are one
or two districts, however, which are stated to
have produced some good samples, though these are
exceptions to the prevailing rule this year every-
where. In Sussex and Surrey the picking gene-
rally is nearly completed, and the complaint is
general that the quantity has by no means come up
to the low estimate which was formed of the yield
while the poles were still standing. In Worcester
the picking is now carried on as rapidly as possible,
but the complaints are general that the new growth
weigh lighter than was expected. Duty called
£2,000 or £3,ooo.—South Eastern Gazette.
SUSSEX.—Nothing could be more favourable for
the hop-picking than the weather of the past week,
and great progress has been everywhere made.
The yield, however, seems in many cases to fall
short of expectation, though as a rule the hops weigh
well—nay, better than was anticipated. In some
parishes there are fortunate exceptions to the
general rule, and good crops (considering the
season) are being secured. On the whole, how-
ever, the crop is a decided failure, and a grievous
disappointment. What aggravates the mischief is
that the planters have not—as is the case with
other producers—reaped any advantage from the
last few consecutive years of abundance. Large
crops have not brought them large profits or pro-
portionate remuneration. Heavy crops of hops
have simply induced extremely low prices an
outrageously heavy duties, the arrears of which
last are at this moment pressing- most onerously
upon the growers—,ussex Advertiser.

• ____ -------
NEW CHURCH ON VAUXHALL GARDENS.
Arrangements are in progress for erecting a new church on
the aim of the old Vauxhall Gardens, an :l near to he school
of art, the fetmdationlatone of which t
was laid by the Pr
of Wales a few months ago. The church will be dedicated
to St. Peter, and an ecclesiastical district will be assigned
to it out of the parish of Lambeth.

THE GOrERNMENT AND THE IRISR
SOCIETY.

Mr. Wellington Valiance, the deputy-governor,
and Mr. Charles Pearson, the solicitor of the Irish
Society, have within the last few days returned from
the north of Ireland, where, as a deputation from
the society, they have been engaged in propounding
to the local authorities, specially convened. for the
purpose in the Court-house of Derry, a communica-
tion relative to the issue of certain negotiations be-
tween the Government and the society in regard to
the disposal of the Culmore lands, forming a portion
of the territory embraced in the Ulster Plantation
scheme, projected and carried into practical effect
in the reign of James 1., as the seat of a Protestant
colony. These negotiations, recently entered into,
have resulted in an agreement between the Crown
and the society, which provides for the valuation
and allotment of the fort and lands of Culmore, and
for appropriating the amount between the contract-
ing parties, having strict regard to their respective
legal and equitable interests. By this arrangement
the society agrees to redeem the annuity of £2OO
Irish currency, payable to the Governor of Culmore,
for the sum of £6,000 Irish currency, and the
Crown undertakes not to fill up the vacant office,
and to release the society and the Culmore lands
from any obligation to rebuild or maintain the foit.
The lands in question are to be impartially valued
and then, together with the £6,000, to be divided
into two equal parts, of which one, discharged of all
legal and equitable obligations, shall be allotted to
the Crown, the original grantor of the lands entitled
to control the disposition of the rents and profits,
and the other moiety shall be held by the society, en-
titled to the freehold and inheritance, subject to the
conditions imposed by the original grant. Out of the
£6,000 and the produce of its allotment of lands the
society intends, in conformity with a resolution
passed in 1857, to apply £lO,OOO in aid of a sinking
fund to render the new bridge over the Foyle at
Derry toll free to the public at large. The gover-
norship of Culmore Fort, which Lord Palmerston
has thus agreed to abolish has long been a mere sine-
cire office, which it was the custom to confer on cer-
tain class of meritorious officers after spending their
strength in the national service, in the decline of
life, and with insufficient means of support in pro-
portion to their military rank. In the locality the
arrangement appears to be regarded as promising
hopefully for the speedy abolition of a most injuri-
ous obstruction to the development of its commer-
cial and material resources. In the forthcoming
re-valuation, consequent upon the agreement be-
tween the Crown and the society, it is said that the
question of tenant-right will be raised in a manner
to command public attention and recognition ; and
a confident hope is expressed that, in accordance
with the equitable principle which has been recog-
nised upon its own estates since the era of the
Ulster Plantation, the society's valuer will be in-
structed to form his estimate in such a manner as
that the cultivators in occupancy shall have the
'relit and advantage of bona fide improvements of
the lands due to the expenditure of their enterprise,
capital, and toil. Turning to another phase of the
transaction, it appears to be assumed that the ob-

ject of the Government in retaining a portion of the
Culmore lands in the hands of the Crown is to ap-
ply the proceeds to the common uses of the Imperial
defences at large; and on that hypothesis a ques-
tion is mooted in the locality whether any portion
of the revenues can be diverted from what are called
plantation uses.