The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-10-29 00:00:00

IMPORTANT TO AGRICULTURISTS

Several cases have lately been brought before the magistrates
in petty sessions in various parts of the country, and parties
(farmers and others) claiming exemption for toll for thrashing
machines ; the exemption has been allowed in some cases,
and in others refused. The point, whether they are not liable,
will perhaps remain unsettled until it has received the decision
of one of the superior courts of law ; but in the mean time
we give an extract from an opinion of the present Attorney-
General on the point. In a late case at our City petty sessions,
where the magistrates considered a thrashing machine to be
exempted from toll, another point was also raised, viz., sup-
posing that a thrashing machine is exempt from toll, will not
such exemption be interfered with in case any other article
should be placed on the machine or in the carriage in which
such machine is conveyed ? And if so, what quantity of such
article would constitute " a lading," in the terms of the
General Turnpike Act, 3 G. 4, c. 126, s. 32, which states as
follows : •

" For any horse, &c., or carriage employed, or having been
employed on the same day, in carrying or conveying any dung,
&c., (except lime) for improving lands, or any ploughs, har-
rows, or implements in husbandry, (unless laden with some
other thing not thereby exempted from toll,) or any hay,
straw, &c., which has grown on land in the occupation of
the owner of such hay, straw, &c., and which has not been
bought, sold, or disposed of, or or any horses, &c., em-
ployed in husbandry, going to or returning from plough or
harrow, or to or from pasture or watering place, or from
being shoed, such horses not going or returning on those oc-
casions more than two miles on the turnpike road on which
the exemption shall be claimed."

The following is the extract from the opinion of Sir F.
Pollock, above referred to :

" I am of opinion that a thrashing machine is not exempt
from toll to whomsoever the horses may belong that draw it.
In my opinion it is not an " implement of husbandry ;" hus-
bandry means " tillage:" and those tools or implements
alone, are in my opinion, " implements in husbandry"
which are employed in tillage ; such as ploughs, harrows,
spades, &c., (perhaps also sowing machines or instruments
for drilling) ; but a " thrashing machine" is not used in
tilling but in preparing the produce for the market. Every
farming implement is not exempted, such as a chaff-cutting
machine, and many others."

In our brief comment on the case lately heard at our City
Petty Sessions, as mentioned above, we remarked on the ab-
surdity of the supposition that the legislature had intended
to exempt the farmer's machine from toll, and at the same
time to levy a toll on a straw or other covering necessary to
protect such machine from the weather—in other words, pro-
tecting the agriculturists in dry but not in wet weather! But
this new proposition put forth by Sir F. Pollock—that a
thrashing machine is not an implement of husbandry—ap_
pears to us to be equally absurd ; and however ingenious such
an argument may seem when used by Mr. Lett, or any other
toll-gate keeper, we had not ,expected to see it advanced by
her Majesty's Attorney-General. It is evident that the pur-
poses and objects of " husbandry " are not fulfilled and
complete until the grain is made ready for the market ; and
no legislator could ever have contemplated affording protec-
tion to the farmer in one stage of his operations and refusing
it in another, in the manner laid down by Sir F. Pollock.
Again, " husbandmen," properly so called, are a class whose
operations are not confined to tillage, but embrace reaping,
mowing, thrashing, &c. ; yet, by the extenson of the princi-
ple laid down by the Attorney-General, such men would
merely be required to prepare the land for sowing, &c. It is
as necessary for the purposes of the farmer that his grain
should be thrashed and husbanded, as that his ground should
undergo tillage. We perfectly agree with the decision given
by our magistrates, one of whom judiciously remarked that
a flail (which we denominate a ruder kind of thrashing
machine) would have passed, toll free, through any gate, and
without any demand being made ; and further, we believe
that the Act 3 George IV. contemplates exemption for all
implements used by the farmer in the preparation of his
grain for the market.—Worcester Journal.

A popish paper in Cork " rejoices to announce the con-
version of Lord and Lady Holland to the Roman Catholic
faith, which gratifying event took place at Rome the latter
end of last month."

DISTRESSING ACCIDENT.—An accident of a most dis-
tressing nature occurred at Prestonkirk on Monday. Two
young girls—Jessie Steel and Mary Reid, belonging to East
Linton, had left their homes on the morning, for the purpose
of gleaning in the fields, and while attempting to cross the
Tyne, at the village of Preston, by means of a plank, they
lost their hold, and were both precipitated into the water.
On the alarm being given, Mr. William Pringle, Preston,
ran to their asssistance, and at the hazard of his own life,
rushed into the water, and succeeded in dragging one of them
( Jessie Steel) out. Life seemed to be extinct, but the means
used by Dr. Hislop, Linton, to whom, along with Mr. Wm.
Pringle, great praise is due, were at last blessed in restoring
her to life. The other girl, we are sorry to add, found a wa-
tery grave—her body was not recovered till the following
day.—Edinburgh Standard.

THE ENGLISH GALLERY AT THE LOUVRE.-AlOOllOl
the bequest of the fine collection of pictures of the late Mr.
Standish to the King of the French may, in a certain sense,
be considered as a loss to this country, yet the purpose to
which his majesty has applied the legacy amply compensates
for the change of owners. The reputation of this collection
will henceforth be European, as a separate gallery has been
devoted to its exhibition in the palace of the Louvre, which
will very shortly be thrown open to the travelling world, in
the same manner as the celebrated museums, which have for
so great a length of time formed one of the chief attractions
of Paris. His majesty the King of the French has given
Mr. Standish's collection the name of " The English Gal-
lery" under which designation there is little doubt of its
being better known to our countrymen than if it had remained
in that gentleman's family. This gallery will occupy the
liege above the Muse'e de la Marine, extending along that
front of the palace which faces the rue St. Honore. The
pictures are already classified and hung up, and will be very
soon thrown open to the public.—Herald.