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
ltatbkeale and Newcastle Junction. The Standing
Orders were not complied with in the case of the
Llynvi and Ogmore and the &Away 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. B o,re
Mr. Palgrave thefollowiiig bills were passed:—Great
Western, Bristol and Exeter, South Devon, and
London and South-Western (Arrangements) ; Bir-
mingham and Sutton Coldtield 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 Laugharne 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 notice of the State of Minnesota
we rather underrated the railway facilities now in
operation. A consider,Lble portion of the line from
St., rani, forming the St. Tau' 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 we then mentioned 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 upon. 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 in
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 adjacent to the
place of landing. The English have shown no
decided partialities for Minnesota, or any State in
particular. They have gone and remained where
they could do best; but the neighbouring agri-
cultural State of Wisconsin contains many exceed-
inffly 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 •
604,215
California ... 188,982 •
379994
Oregon... , 95,271 ... 52,465
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 18G0, in
this respect surpassing several of the older as well
as some of the newer States. 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. 186. . . .
Flour and meal—value ... $5OO 310, $l,O Inc
000 ... 2619 ct
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 m