The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-16 00:00:00

TATTERSALL'S—MoNi)Iy.

Members mustered somewhat numerously, but, beyond
the settlement of the Liverpool accounts, very little busi-
ness was effected. Tho prices given below do not require
comment.

SHREWSBURY HANDICAP.
stolon the field (offered)
DERBY.
10 to 1 agst Promised Land (taken and offered)
26 to 1 agst Gaspard (t)
33 to 1 agst Rainbow (t)
33 to 1 agst Balnamoon (t)
40 to 1 agst Hal o' Kirklees (t)
40 to 1 agst Sehuloff (t)
1000 to 15 agst Far West (t)
1000 to 15 agst King of Algiers (t)
5000 to 15 agst Aston (t)

CROYDON RACES.
Entries for the Croydon Steeplechase. About four miles.
Bon Vivant, Emigrant, Dayton, Evington Lass, Tam-
worth, Fanny, King's Court, Omar Pacha, Liverpool Boy,
The Farmer, Ratcatcher, Chelmanton, Sportsman, Nigger
Lass, Theodine, Fire Fly, Weatherglass, Shylock, Milk-.
maid, Timekeeper, M by the Count, 4 yrs, G by Chatham,
6 yrs, Half Caste, and Hindoo.

The weights will be published on Saturday next.

THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND
THE NORTHUMBERLAND FARMERS.

The inquiries issued by the French Government
to the agridulturists of the Northern counties as to
the operation of free trade have been answered in
the county of Northumberland by Mr. John Grey,
of Dilston, a well-known practical farmer. The
queries, with the replies, are as follows :
"1. Has the area of laud under culture been ex-
tended or diminished ?

" Diminished in some parts of the country, be-
cause the high price of live stock has caused land
of inferior quality and in high situations to be more
profitably. occupied in pasture than in tillage ; but
lowlymg lands and flat districts, with a climate
suitable for growing corn, it has been increased by
drainage.
"2. Should that area have diminished, would
not that diminution have been compensated in some
measure by the extension given to drainage and
the consequent augmentation of produce ?
" Yes ; much more than compensated by the im-
provement arising from draining and the applica-
tion of adventitious manures.
" 3. What has bean the influence of the reform
of the corn laws upon the agriculture of England?
" The cultivation of land has been much im-
proved ; a stimulus has been given to the energies
of farmers, who set themselves, after the first feel-
ing of alarm subsided, by the aid of scientific men,
to study and obtain chymical combinations to in-
crease their crops, which, together with draining
and the introduction of foreign manures, produced
highly beneficial effects. A great improvement has
also taken place in the implements already in use,
and in the construction of new ones, by which
agricultural operations are performed more cheaply,
perfectly, and expeditiously.
"4. Since the reform, has the yield of cultivated
lands augmented or diminished ?
" Greatly augmented.
"5. Has the rotation of crops been altered, and
in what manner ?

"It has in some cases, by leaving arable land for
two or even three years in pasture at a time, and
in others by the application of guano, bones, phos-
phates, &c., by which the extent of root crops has
been much increased, and substituted for naked
fallows, which tends to an increased production of
beef, mutton, and wool, as well as to a greater
return of home-made manure.
"6. Have farm-rents been lowered or elevated ?
" Considerablyadvanced, particularly where farms
are let on lease and provided by their -landlord with
good and sufficient offices. An increase of from 10
to 20 per cent. has been common,and in some cases
it has extended to 25 and 30.
" 7. Has the income of those who cultivate their
own lands augmented or diminished ?
"It ought to be augmented under judicious ma-
nagement, as rents have increased under good
farming.
" 8. What of the income of farmers, and what
are the modes of lease most in use, and their usual
length ?
" Except on tillage land of an inferior descrip-
tion, where little live stock is kept, farmers are
generally more prosperous. A common term of
lease is 15 years ; but in cases where the farm is
extensive, and improvements are to be made, in-
volving considerable outlay in the early part of the
term, a lease of 21 years is preferable and not un-
usual.

" 9. Has the marketable value of land increased
or diminished ?

" Increased. That, however:may not be entirely
attributable to agricultural improvements, but in
part to the influx of gold and the success of manu•
factures, causing many to wish to invest the for-
tunes they have realised in land.
" 10. What have been the average prices of wheat,
and the quantities imported from abroad in each
year since 1853
" The average price in 1854 was £3 12 4 per qr.
If 1855 .. 314 8 „
ff 1856 .. 3 9 2 „
9! 1857 .. 216 4 „
I cannot tell the quantity imported at this moment,
but it can be obtained from the Board of Trade, or
other official sources.

" 11. What has been the average produce of corn
in Northumberland each year since the same date ?
" I cannot answer that question with accuracy,
but am satisfied that it has been much more per
acre than in former periods, and that the total
quantity produced in the county is greatly increased.
" 12. What has been the influence of the repeal
of the corn laws on the consumption of bread and
the consumption of meat ?
" The consumption has greatly increased of both
corn and butcher's meat. The price 'of corn has
been moderate and generally free from much fluc-
tuation, while the wages of the working classes
have been good and their employment has been
steady ; so that they have been able to procure meat
as well as corn, although the former has generally
ruled at rather a high price. It is an undoubted
fact that the lower classes in this country live now
much better than they used to do, owing to the
good wages they obtain, and the general improve-
ment of their condition. An obvious result of the
abolition of restrictions on the importation of corn
is, that excessive fluctuation and the misery of
famine prices are likely to be avoided. The larger
the arca from which the national supply can be
drawn the less is the probability of extreme prices,
because if crops should be deficient in one part of
the world they may be abundant in another.
" It may not be improper, in connection with this
subject to remark, that although the progress of
improvement has been the most rapid and impoy-
taut since the change was made in the corn laws in
1846, it received a great impulse 10 years earlier
from the Act of Tithe Commutation, which encou-
raged the application of capital to land, by making
tithes a fixed charge:instead of an exaction of the
tenth of its gross annual produce.

ire (Ashton _Reporter) have the
has
gratification o
being able to inform our readers that a letter beenre-
ceived from the Right Hon. T. M. Gibson, addressed to
one of our principal townsmen'
the end of this month. The
announcing his intention of
meeting his constituents about
right hon. member is at present with his family, which has
suffered greatly from sickness at a French seaport.
EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE OF MURDER. —On
Friday last a man was apprehended at Fleur-de-lys, in
Monmouthshire, charged with committing a murder in one
of the Welsh counties 33 years ago. The circumstances of
the case, so far as they are at present reported, are briefly
hese :—ln or about the year 1826 a man named Thomas
Price, alleged to be the prisoner, lived in Carmarthenshire,
where ho was paying his addresses to a young Welsh-
woman. Another young man, named Lewis Williams,
became attached to the same girl, and frequent quarrels
arose between the rivals through the coincidence of their
choice. The girl herself seems first to have encouraged one
and then the other, but exhibited no decided or permanent
preference for either, and this increased the ill feeling be-
tween Price and Williams. At length they agreed to
" fight out" the dispute in a field, and both repaired there
alone for the purpose. A struggle took place, in the course
of which Price got his opponent to the ground, and while
in that positiOn stabbed him with a knife. The neortunate
man died soon after, and his murderer escaped. A warrant
was issued for the apprehension of the latter, but the police
could never find any trace of him until last week, when a
man, who formerly knew all the parties, happened to be on
business at Fleur-de-lys. Here he saw the prisoner, and
declared him to be no other than Price, who committed the
murder described. Price still retained his name, and had
been living in the place where he was found ever since the
occurrence. He was apprehended and brought before the
magistrates at Newport on Saturday, but remanded before
any particulars were gone into. Communication was at..
once made vita the Carmarthenshire police, and the depuos_.
tions taken at the coroner's inquest on Williamsobta
The prisoner is a gray-headed man, and, not being called
s_
upon to say anything, was silent while before the
trdos,