The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-09 00:00:00

RAILWAY BILLS.

Yesterday the Examiners held sittings at the
House of Commons. Before Mr. Frere the follow-
ing bills were passed :—Burton-on-the-Water
(Abandonment, &c.), Sidmouth Railway and Har-
bour, Newry and Armagh (Sale in Chancery), the
Rathkeale and Newcastle Junction. The Standing
Orders were not complied with in the case of the
Llynvi and Ogmore and the Solway Junction. The
Midland Counties and Shannon Junction Bill was
postponed until Monday. The Neath and Brecon
and other Companies (Amalgamation and Arrange-
ments) Bill was postponed until Friday. Before
Mr. Palgrave the following bills were passed:--Great
Western, Bristol and Exeter, South Devon, and
London and South-Western (Arrangements) ; Bir-
mingham and Sutton Coldfield Extension, New-
castle-upon-Tyne High Level Hoist, and the Water-
ford and Passage Railway and Ferry. The Dublin
Trunk Connecting was postponed until Wednesday;
the West Sussex Junction and the Kilkenny Junc-
tion (Various Powers) Bill until the 4th of March ;
the West Cork and the Laugharno till the 18th inst.
There was no appearance for the Tamar, Kit-hill,
and Callington. All the Bills were unopposed,

The State of Minnesota.

(From the Money Market Review.)

One of the primary causes of the rapid increase
in the wealth and population of the United States
is the facility with which possession can be obtained
of land too rich and fertile ever to be exhausted.
Another is the extraordinary advances made of late
years in the facilities for internal and external com-
munication by means of the railroad and the steam-
boat. In a recent notica of the State of Minnesota
we rather underrated the railway facilities now in
operation. A considerable portion of the line from
St. Paul, forming the St. Paul and Pacific Railway,
is, we are informed, completed for use, and only
waiting for the rolling stock. We are glad to re-
ceive this information, because it enables us to
make an addition to what wethon mentiopod as the
chief outlets possessed by this great interior State.
Besides access to Lake Superior and. to the Mis-
sissippi below the falls of St. Anthony, at no great
distance from St. Paul, and so on down the river to
St. Louis and New Orleans, the main line is or may
be united with existing systems so as to reach the
shores of Lake Michigan either at Milwaukie or
Chicago ; while from both there is direct railway
communication with St. Louis. Thus,. though a
State far in the interior, art and nature have com-
bined to give Minnesota the command of a choice
of outlets, so that, practically, she is as well off in
this respect as Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, or
Missouri, and better than lowa. These advantages
need not be further dwelt upan. And as to the
facility with which immigrants or settlers can obtain
the ownership of some of the richest lands in the
State, it will be sufficient to refer, very briefly, to
the terms offered by the St. Paul and Pacific Rail-
way Company—a company which is proceeding iu
the steps successfully trodden by the Illinois Central
Company, but with more direct advantages to those
who deal with it. The company has, by legislative
grant from Congress to the State, and from the
State to the Company, somewhere about 1,600,000
acres of the most desirable land in the State. We
cannot enter into the details of the conditions on
which the company surrenders these properties to
settlers ; we can only say that they appear to be ex-
ceedingly liberal. They may be bought for imme-
diate payment or on credit ; and actual settlers may
locate on lands not yet subject to sale, yet with an
indefeasible title. In short, the facilities for obtain-
ing land could hardly be extended, short of giving
it away. This is sound policy for the State as well
as for the company. The State secures a popula-
tion interested in its progress and tranquillity ; the
company creates the means of a remunerative
traffic ; and the population, by means of the rail-
way, secures the opening of various and possibly
competing external markets for its productions.
The basis is thus laid for the development of the
anticipated results, and in a few years the ports of
Europe will be receiving, if they need them, sup-
plies of wheat and grain from St. Paul, just as the
British ports are now receiving them from San
Francisco.
We have often impressed upon the British public
that the newer States of the Union constitute the
most promising fields in the world for peaceful
enterprise. As far as the State of Minnesota is
concerned the Germans have shown a greater ap-
preciation of its natural advantages than either the
English or the Irish. The Germans have flocked
thither, whilst the Irish have endeavoured to settle
as near as possible in the districts adjacsehnotwton n
the
place of landing. The English have
decided partialities for Minnesota,
roeranninyedStwatheerine
particular. They have gone and m
.
theye ulcultural
rear
sldta
tdeo
ofbelsNtle
Wisconsin
ntleioe n
tnneireg•sh Lnol
nut:
yi n gex
ettegerai
ingly well-to-do English and Irish settlers. Min-
nesota, settled chiefly by Germans, is the fourth
State in the order of area in the Union, and, though
so large and so young, it is the thirtieth in the order
of population, according to the census of 1860.
Area—Square Miles. Population.
Texas 237,321 69 1,215
California ... 188,982 37,:t0
Oregon... ... 95,271 52,165
Minnesota ... 83531 173,855
We may add that Minnesota is the thirty-first State
in the order of population per square mile, but the
twenty-fifth in the increase of population per
square mile in the ten years from .1850 to 1860, in
this respect surpassing several of the older as well
as some of the newer State% But in no respect is
its progress more marked than in the value of the
flour and meal which it produced and sent to
market.

1850. 1860. Inc. p. ct.
Flour and meal—value $5OO ... $1,310,000 619
Compare this with the production in the same
period of Illinois :

1850. 1860. Inc. p. ct.
Flour and meal $5,781,483 $18,104,804 213
This is a rate of progress most encouraging to
intending settlers, and a proof of the wisdom of
a liberal policy in distributing the land. There are,
however, some details of the progress made iii

I stock ... 19,403,6t32
Acrear,f ploughed
land • 1,900 433,276
This comparison might be extende.! ; but it is
sufficiently diffuse and varied to show that, wi• h :an
area of 83,090 square miles, and a popula'aon of
i 173.853 souls, there must •be ample scope and -verge
enough for the industry and capital of hundreds ‘,l
thousands, it may be said of Inillioas, more itn, al-
! grants. That they would find markets for ',heir
productions cannot be doubted, for they must 'com-
mand the seaboard just as much as Illinois, Wis-
consin, Indiana, or Missouri. Our only appre-
hension is that unless the subject be energetically
dealt with in time, the increase of population may
exceed the means of transport. We would, there-
fore, counsel immediate attention to this subject on
the part of the State and the railway authorities.
Rich and fertile as the soil of Minnesota must be
to promise, as it does, an indefinite expansion fA
these great results, they are only a part of the vast
endowments she has received from nature. Her
prairie grasses are as well adapted for the gr;Azing as
her corn and other grains are for the fattening of
cattle as those of Illinois or lowa. It is not, there-
fore, unlikely that Minnesota will compete before
long with the enterprising breeders of those States,
though at present there are no places to be com-
pared with Springfield or Chicago, or any such
trade as the " packing" trade. A nucleus, how-
ever, will be laid in the course of a few years.
There is a Spanish proverb " 'Where the foot of
the sheep touches the land, is turned into gold."
Well, from the northern boundary of lowa, itself
a sheep-breeding State, up to St. Paul, the country
is perfectly adapted to sheep husbandry. The
growth of wool may be made almost next to that
of wheat.

Then, if the surface of the land furnishes these
instruments for the creation and diffusion of wealth,
the geology of Minnesota, though we know little of
it from official investigation, promises equal attrac-
tions to enterprise, though they may have for a
time to give place to more immediate occupations.
The north-western parts of the State, if less fertile
than the south, contain highly valuable deposits of
copper ore, some of which are being worked.
There are extensive deposits of lead ore in the same
district. Iron is also found over a large extent of
country, and contiguous to it are coal and limestone
—a combination the advantage of which need not
be told in England. The building stones are
numerous ; they include granite and marble ; and
there is a district containing a decomposed felspa-
thic granite available for making the finest porce-
lain. A slate rock is found, said to have all the
properties of fine grain and clear split that dis-
tinguish the best quarries of Wales. There are
also salt springs, from which the Indians, with the
rudest appliances, make a bushel of salt out of
twenty-four gallons of brine. The geological,
like the agricultural, advantages of Minnesota
might be further detailed ; but enough has, per-
haps, been said to prove that the State is one of
the homes which the West offers to the poor man.

" These are miracles which man,
Cag'd in the bounds of Europe's pigmy span,
Can scarcely dream of—which his eye must see
To know how wonderful this world can be."
If the railway company prosecute their under-
taking with a vigour worthy of the issues that arc
before them, Minnesota will outstrip, as it has al-
ready done in some respects, most of its western.
neighbours. The means of internal and external
communication must be enlarged to overtake the
prodigality of nature, and to render her bounties
more accessible to countries less richly endowed.
We shall be gratified if what we have said now,
and upon a previous occasion,
,be the means of nt-
, tracting attention to a favourable opportunity for
the inves-ment of a moderate amount of European
capital.

The Mansion-House Metropolitan Distress

Fund.

The committee of bankers and merchants of the
city of London who have undertaken the manage-
ment of the above fund held a meeting yesterday at
the Mansion-home, under the presidency of the
Lord Mayor.
Mr. BALL, the cashier, read a statement of the
condition of the fund, from which it appeared that
the amount received at the• Mansion-house up to
yesterday amounted to £BOl 3s. 11d., and that
grants had been made to different districts in the
metropolis out of that sum amounting to £6,655,
leaving a balance of 11,369 3s. 11d. To this
sum, however, had to be added the sum of
£3;818 7s. Gd. in the hands of the different
bankers, which left a disposable balance to the
credit of the committee of £5,187 11s. sd. The
total amount received from the public in aid of the
object of the committee was £11,842 11s. 5d., but
the public appear to be relaxing in their liberality,
evidently considering that to a great extent, by the
alteration in the weather and other causes, the press-
ing necessity has passed away, and that things ought
to be left to resume their ordinary course, and this
would also appear to be the feeling of a good many
members of the committee.

Yesterday deputations attended from seven dis-
tricts of the metropolis only to apply for assistance
from the fund. These were Whitechapel, Canning
Town, St. George's-in-the-East, St. Dunstau's,
Stepney, St. Peter's, Stepney, Lambeth, and Shore-
ditch. . _ _

A grant was made to the Whitechapel Relief
Committee, in whose district it appeared a large
amount of exceptional distress existed, of £2OO.
To Canning Town a grant was made of £5O; to
St. George's-in-the-East, where there is also a large
amount of distress, a grant was made of £3OO ; and
to St. Dunstan's, Stepney, £5O.

In the case of the application from Lambeth, a
gentleman connected with the extensive establish-
ment of Messrs. Maudelay, Field, and Co. attended
with the deputation for the purpose of giving the
committee any information they might require. This
gentleman stated that at the present time there
were more than a thousand men who were usually
employed by the firm out of employment, and in-
stead of there being 1,500 men or thereabouts en-
gaged in their establishments, there were not more
than about 400. This state of things had been gra-
dually developing itself during the last 12 months
and the fact of so many men who had been accus-
tomed to receive good wages, and most of whom
had families, being thrown out of employment, had
caused a great deal of exceptional distress.
In answer to a question put by a member of the
committee, the gentleman stated that the slackness
of work was not believed in any way to arise from
foreign competition, but from the Government, for
Whom the firm of Messrs. Maudslay was princi-
pally engaged, having stopped certain works they
were in the habit of having done, for the present,
.aild that there was no strike or operation of that
sort that had anything to do with the existing
condition of affairs. The Messrs. Maudslay had, it
appeared, contributed a large sum towards a local
fund that was being raised for the purpose of alle-
viating the distress at present existing.
The committee, after a short deliberation, made a
grant of £2OO to the applicants, this being the
second of the same amount.
. The committee shortly afterwards adjourned
until Monday.

PRESENTS AT PARKINS AND GOTTO'S.--Photo-
graphic Albums, a choice of 3,000; despatch-boxes, wri-
ting-cases, dressing-cases, travalling-bags, envelope-cases,
blotting-books, ink-stands, desks, book-slides, work-boxes,
tea-caddies, hand-bags, and reticules, card-cases, purses,
stationery-cabinets, scent-bottles, albums for postage
stamps, crests, &c.m o;
Churchxt cigar-cases, f ioegraidar-s-rscgetaerrsev
isee;csetsoc, in
ne-ebvaLpesruokybaelcitti
ysoc,
up
es, pocket-
books, eliaiofgrit 'and elegantly-mounted articles. Bibles
ck
wkPinrba:Yieaesarn-db:OG°pokrtsiltooe,asn2:so,

LA TEST INTELLIGENCE.-
" OLL) SA3I SMITH," late of " The Mail Coach,"
Shepherd's Bush, now of the White Hart, Acton, Attiddleseac.
begs to inform his friends and neighbours that the LATEST
EDITION of " THE SUS" can be seen at his house as
above.

THE LATEST EDITION of " THE SUN."
J. HOLMES beg,s to inform his friends, and the pubiio
-,:enerally, that he supplies the LATNsT EDITioN of
THE SUN" as soon as published --No. 16, Ihmpstead-
road, N.W.

MOSES and S O N
E• Ready-made and Bespoke Tailors, Habit Makers,
Woollen Drapers, Hatters, Hosiers, Boot and Shoe Mann
facturers, and General Outfitters for all Classes.
E. MOSES and SON respectfully invite an inspection
of their STOCK, which will be found to comprise all the
most fashionable styles and an extensive assortment of the
newest fabrics.
A very large and well-assorted stock of OVERCOATS,
and Winter Clothing generally, at their usually moderate
prices.
The following are the London addresses of E. Moses
and Son :-
154, M [NOR lES.
155, MINOR' ES.
156, MINORIES.
17)7, MINORIES.
83, ALDGATE.
84, ALDGATE.
85, ALDGATE.
86, ALDGATE.
87, ALDGATE.
88, ALDGATE.
80, ALDGATE.
506, NEW OXFORD-STREET.
507, NEW OXFORD- STREET.
508, NEW OXFORD-STREET.
1, HART-STREET.
2, HART-S TREET.
HART-S TREE T.
137, TOTTENHAM-CO URT-ROAD.
138, TOTTENHAM-COURT-ROAD.
283, EUSTON-ROAD.
Also, •
19, BRIDGE-STREET, BRADFORD, YORKS.
20, BRIDGE-STREET, BRADFORD, YORKS•

•
MOSES and SON'S ESTABLISHMENTS
V• are CLOSED EVERY FRIDAY EVENING at
kunset till SATURDAY EPENING at sunset, when
business is resumed till Eleven o'clock.
All articles ai e marked the lowest price in plain figures,
from which no abatement can be made.
Any article not approved of will be exchanged, or the
money will be returned.
Lists or Prices with rules for Self-measurement and
Fashion Sheet, with Patterns and " llistory of London,"
gratis and post free.