The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-27 00:00:00

THE ISLAND OF JERSEY.
(From the League.)
Amongst the most useful as well as the most agree-
able results of the railway system, are the excursions
to considerable distances at cheap rates, and with the
allowance of sufficient time for the travellers to look
about them. The operatives of Manchester and
Birmingham have thus had, and availed themselves
of, the opportunity for becoming acquainted with the
sights of the metropolis; and many a Londoner who
would scarcely 'have found it practicable, a few
years ago, to get beyond the sound of Bow" bells,
has lounged amongst the beauties of our coast
scenery, or had a wholesome wonder excited by the
inspection of some grand specimen of manufacturing
machinery. Besides the actual amount of enjoyment
thus afforded, there is great good in the information
obtained, the stimulus given to observation and
thought, the abatement of local prejudices, and the
raising the general mental qualification of those whose
voices tell in the expression of public opinion, and
very often their votes in the selection of representative
legislators.

During the present week the South-Western Rail-
way has offered to a cargo of Londoners conveyance
to and from the Isle of Jersey, at the cheap fare of
28s. there and back, railway carriage and steam
voyage both included, and one week allowed for re-
turning. This excursion was well thought of. The
remarkable peculiarities of the Channel Islands, both
physical and social, cannot fail to make the tour a
most interesting one. It has all the advantages of a
visit to a foreign country, combined with a sufficient
prevalence of the English language' to secure the un—
educated traveller from any embarrassment.
The first sensations of the citizen at the deep blue
sky above, and the deep blue sea below, the grotesque
rocks and the beautiful bays, will scarcely have sub-
sided before he becomes equally astonished at the
cheapness of every thing. At the best hotels in St.
Helier's he may have every accommodation of bed,
board, and sitting-room, at 245. the week. He will
find good bread from five farthings to three halfpence
the pound. Ducks,. is. 6d. the pair. Fine poultry
turkeys, 2s. to 3s. each. Gunpowder tea, ss. per lb.
Double refined sugar, 4d. to 60. per lb. ; and Bra-
sil, 3d. Port wine, 15s. the dozen ; very good sherry
at from Is. to 2s. the bottle. If a brandy-drinker, he
will get it good at 3s. 6d. a gallon ; and finer than is
to be had in England at 7s. the bottle for that same
a gallon. Hollands, 2s. 10d. to 3s. 4d. the gallon.
If he inquire the rent of a house, he will
usually find it below even the cheap out-of-the-way
country-houses in England; little more than one-
half of those in villages near London ; and with this
important circumstance, that the rent is all that has
to be paid for the house ; there are no taxes. To be
rated, and so have a vote for the local authorities, is a
favour which English residents obtain with difficulty,
and which, when obtained, is in its amount little
more than nominal. The total cost of the island
government, which includes all that corresponds with
the parish as well as the state expenditure in England,
is defrayed by a small import duty on wines and
spirits. By this means the whole expenditure is met,
even to that of mending the roads. There is no such
thing as a toll-bar on the island. The roads and the port
are alike free, with the trifling but sufficient exception
just mentioned. Hence the striking contrast with the
price of similar articles in England. A hundred
pounds per annum there is worth at least one hun-
dred and fifty on the island; more rather than less;
for the difference of currency must be added to that
already made apparent in our list, and this alone is
considerable. The English shilling goes for thirteen-
pence in Jersey, so that after all the cheapness, when
the Londoner comes to the payment, he will be yet
more delighted to find, on proffering the account,
that he may " take his change out of that."
'Why is all this ? Not because Jersey is a little
island, and Great Britain a large one. No : it is
simply because Jersey has, by ancient charter, and
for the political purpose of conciliating a people whose
natural connexion would rather seem to be with
France, the privilege of free trade. There is the
whole secret and mystery of the matter. The diffe-
rence as to bread, sugar, &c., is what we in England
have to pay for monopoly.
The bread in Jersey is very good. It is generally
made from foreign wheat. There is plenty of home-
grown corn. The soil is exuberantly fertile. But
the Jersians eat bread made from Prussian or Danish
corn, and send their own wheat to England : thus
buying at the cheap market of free trade, and selling
in the dear market of monopoly.
For persons of limited incomes, Jersey is a para-
dise, especially if they like a warm climate. It offers
little attraction to the working classes. Whatever
perversion may be made of the fact, it is right to
mention that wages are low. We see no evidence
that the freedom of trade causes this evil ; on the
contrary, it mitigates the mischief which it has
not prevented. Two reasons for the fact offer
themselves to notice ; first, a large influx of poor
Irish, those colonists and missionaries of pauperism
' attracted chiefly by the low price of spirituous liquors.
Even the pledged Irish are here out of Father
Mathew's sight. And secondly, the prevailing cha-
racter of the island. The natives do 'not know what
a factory means. Agriculture alone al ways debases
the labourers to serfdom. It is so here. The little
tenant-farmers are farmers, labourers; carriers, fisher-
men, &c., all in one. There must be manufactures
to keep up wages. Except shoemaking, for British
North America, whither from 10,000 to 20,000 pairs
are annually exported, scarcely anything is made in
Jersey. And yet the natural produce (especially
of apples for cider), and the foreign trade, render it
rich and thriving; the landowners and shipowners
being the principal recipients.

MADAME TUSSAUD'S.—This delightful exhibition,
with its rich and tasteful embellishments, attracted our
editorial presence within its gorgeous saloon on Satur-
day last. The varied objects of interest, including the
Napoleon room, in which several well authenticated and
interesting relics are deposited, combine to make this
one of the most popular and entertaining resorts in Lon-
don. The great expense lavished upon it, to render its
principal features worthy of public patronage, ensures a
full attendance at all times ; and no marvel, for the
room in which the figure of George IV. in his corona-
don robes is located, may be ranked among the best speci-
mens of modern decoration. The " natural monstrosity,"
Torn Thumb, is far more agreeable iu wax than in
proprza persona; and having seen the original, we can
pronounce it an excellent representation, while the
visitor to this exhibition is not obliged to witness the ri-
diculous and monkey tricks of the poor little General.
An excellent band, which performs popular quadrilles
and waltzes, not forgetting the Polka, is also provided.
SINGULAR OCCURRI3NCE.—On Monday, the 9th
instant, as a married woman named Davies, from Govi-
lon, was proceeding on her way from that place to
Abergavenny, and was passing through the wicket-gate,
opening from the fields near Pengrwllod on to the bridge,
an adder, which was lying coiled up by the side of the
pathway, sprang at her and fastened on her arm. The
terrified woman succeeded in shaking it off, and ran on-
wards as fast as she could, but what was her horror to
find, when she paused to take breath, that the reptile
was in swift pursuit of her, and had well nigh reached
her, when fortunately a man came up and succeeded in
destroying it. Afterwards, the nest of the adder was
found, containing 18 young ones ; the woman, who was
in a delicate state when the accident occurred, has not
yet recovered, and now lies in a dangerous condition.—
Hereford Times.
A TORTOISE CAUGHT STRAYING.—AS a farmer
was proceeding towards his harvest field near Houghton,
on Monday last, his attention was attracted to a dark-
looking substance on the road, which seemed to have
the power of locomotion. On a closer examination he
discovered a freckled head and neck peering out
from beneath the Shelly substance, which was being
moved along by dark little feet, having the appear-
ance of India-rubber. The farmer naturally stared
.on seeing so strange a thing, but after some little
compunction, timorously seized hold of it, when his
knowledge of natural history informed him that it was a
real live tortoise ! And a very beautiful and lively little
creature it is. It was brought to our office, and on being
placed on our editorial desk, manifested an irresistible
desire to pry into our inkstand. How it came into the
neighbourhood of Houghton is a mystery ; but as we
found, on inquiry, that a quantity of guano had recently
been used in a field from which it was " tracked," it is
not improbable that it has been imported in a guano-
laden vessel, and lain hid until the sack in which it was
confined was opened.—Carlisle Paper.

PROFESSION or A Nuri.—One of those interesting
ceremonies, so frequently to be witnessed in this emi-
nently Catholic country, took place yesterday in the
Presentation Convent, Midleton. The young lady who
was there professed is Miss Louisa I)aly, daughter of
our fellow-citizen, Maurice Daly, Esq., Waterloo-place•
The Rev. Dr. Keane, the exemplary pastor of Midleton,
officiated in the absence of the venerated Bishop of tho
diocese, the Right Rev. Dr. Crotty. The whole cere-
mony was conducted with the most impressive dignity,
the professed repeating all the answers in a firm tone of
voice, and with remarkable distinctness. A beautiful
sermon approprite to the solemn ceremony, was preached
by the Rev. John Browne, of this city, who took his text
from the 115th Psalm. A great number of the friends
of the young nun, together with many of the clergy of
the surrounding parishes, were present, and at the cere-
mony, partook of a splendid breakfast which had been
laid out in the largest apartment of the building.—Cork
Examiner.

Ladies travelling, or temporarily subjected to any
I deviation of equable temperature, will find in Rowland's
Kalydor a renovating and refreshing auxiliary, dispel-
ling the cloud of langour from the complexion, and
immediately affording the pleasing sensation attending
restored elasticity of the skin. The distressing and
unsightly varieties of cutaneous eruptions are also
promptly eradicated by the Kalydor. Spots, pimples,
freckles, discolourations, and sallowness, yield to its
specific qualities, and are succeeded by a smoothness and
transparency of the skin, giving rise to sensations of the
utmost pleasure and surprise. Its universally great de-
mand excites the cupidity of unprincipled shopkeepers,
who give the title of "Genuine" Kalydor to some com-
pounds of their own manufacture, of the most deleterious
ch4ropter, ,intainlng• imn.rnl trii,-;ents uttot ly ruinolip
to the complexion, and by their repellant action endanger-
ing health. It is, therefore, imperative on purchasers to
see that the words "Rowland's Kalydor' are on the
wrapper. All others are fraudulent counterfeits 111