liruniurrz.

At the yearly meeting of the South Avon (Hants) Agricultural Society, at Christchurch, on Tuesday, the Earl of Malmesbury made a long speech, going with guarded candour over the whole subject of agrieul • tural prospects. He acknowledged that this year, for the first time after three years of despair, he does descry a ray of hope for farmers. If the present price of some agricultural products—that of barley, wool, and stock—be maintained, they are nearly as profitable at their present rates now as they were at their higher rates fifteen years ago : the cost of production has so much lessened, that barley at 27o. or 2Ss. is as good as it was at 32s. twenty years ago. But wheat is lower than ever; and if it remain so low, the production of it in this country must go on di- minishing, as it has already, since 1846 down to two years ago, when the returns were made on Lord Lansdowne's motion. This being the state of things, the farmer must strive his utmost to improve his cultivation ; and his representatives in Parliament must direct all their efforts to re- storing the principle of protection, and to obtaining a fairer adjustment for the farmer of that general burden of taxation which is necessary for the support of the country's credit and power. Those who say protection is dead, and those who say that the law of 1842 can now lie restored, are equally far from the truth. No reaction ever brings back a legislature to the exact legislation which it has abandoned ; but a new law must be es- tablished on the old principle—a law which shall admit a genial stream of competition into the country, and yet withstand an overwhelming de- luge of it. And the farmer's taxation must be lightened to its proper pro- portion.

The demand for agricultural labour in Yorkshire is greater than it has been for some years past, and higher wages are asked and obtained.

The members of the American Chamber of Commerce at Liverpool gave a grand banquet on Monday, at the Adelphi Hotel, in honour of Mr. Walker, late Secretary to the Treasury of the United States, as a mark of their appreciation of his services in giving facilities to the commerce between Great Britain and America. Mr. W. Brown M.P. was to have presided, but he was kept at home by illness; and Mr. W. ltathbone junior, President of the American Chamber of Commerce, took his place. The loyal toasts were drunk with especial warmth ; and the sentiment of " The land of my forefathers " produced an unpremeditated and most ge- nial speech from Mr. Corbin, of the States. The toast of the evening was introduced by the chairman with references to the late Sir Robert Peel's expressed admiration of Mr. Walker and his State documents. Mr. Wal- ker's acknowledgments were eloquently made; and then an immense mass of American statistics was poured forth by the orator, in proof of the triumph of those principles of free trade which he has done the most of any American statesman to carry out. This summary of the effects of a low tariff on the yield of import-duties will suffice as an example- " In 1842 a very high and restrictive tariff was adopted by the Congress of my country. In 1846 that policy was changed, and the duties were reduced in the aggregate average more than one-half. Our direct revenue, from duties under the high tariff of 1842, was 23,895,000 dollars - our direct reve- nue from duties, when reduced one-half, rose to 36,145,000 dollars. In this last year—for the duties continued to augment every year in a most won- derful and extraordinary ratio--our revenue rose to 50,000,000 dollars. Gen- tlemen, I have received, by the steamer which has last reached us today, the official account of the revenue for the first quarter of the present fiscal year. Our fiscal year commences on the 1st of July every year, and terminates on the 30th of June succeeding. Now, these are the results of the first quarter of the present year, commencing on the 1st of July last. The revenue from duties alone for the first quarter of the present year is 14,754,909 dollars, or at the rate of 59,019,219 dollars per annum. Our total revenues from all sources for that quarter were 16,000,000 dollars, or at the rate of 64,000,000 dollars a year. Our surplus during that quarter of receipts over expendi- ture amounted to 4,500,000 dollars, or at the rate of 18,000,000 dollars a year. Now, as our debt—our whole debt—amounts to but 64,000,000 dol- lars, this surplus would extinguish it in less than four years, and leave us in a situation in which we have been twice before, entirely without any debt."

Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Crittenden, the American Consul, and Mr. Baxley, acknowledged special toasts; and the health of "that active philanthro- pist, always foremost in every good work, independently of country or of creed, Mr. Henry Grinnell of New York," was suitably acknowledged by his own son.

The Earl of Shaftesbury has pursued his tour through the manufactur- ing districts ; acknowledging the thanks of Short-time deputations, and encouraging moral and physical self-improvement among the masses with whom he comes in contact.

A meeting was held in the Town-hall of Manchester on Monday, nu- merously attended by clergymen, ministers, and manufacturers, to esta- blish a society for securing the better regulation of public-houses and other places of entertainment. Lord Shaftesbury presented himself, and spoke in aid of an object so congenial to his philanthropic aspirations. " You have undertaken a great work, a work becoming the vast intelligence of the city of Manchester, and highly becoming the dignity and position of all those great capitalists in this town who hold in their hand a means of in- fluence and power far greater than ever was allotted to any body of men before, and which if directed to the discharge of their duties will produce such an effect, and be of such service to society, as will go further towards establishing happiness in the world than many poets, even in these days, have ventured to predict." He gave them a statistical fact which he has learned officially as a Com- missioner of Lunacy for twenty years, and as Chairman of the Commission of Lunacy during fifteen years. " I state that, having had the whole of the business of the Commission under my personal observation and care, having made inquiries into the matter, and having fortified them by inquiries in America, which have confirmed the inquiries made in this country, the re-

.suit is, that ftilly six-tenths of all the eases of insanity to be found in these palms Mid in America arise from no other cause than the habits of intem- perance in Which the people have indulged." He also stated a fact bearing on the worldly advantage which masters may reap by giving up to their servants the Sunday for a real day of rest. "This i fact is one stated to me by a dear and intimate friend of muse, a clergyman living in one of the great parishes within three miles of London. He had in his pai i-h a gentleman who was the proprietor of a vast number of omni- buses, which invariably ran on the Sunday, and he never attended a place of worship, neither be nor his family ; but by the exercise of his influence, my friend the clergyman persuaded him to attend a place of worship, and to make the experiment, and see the result of stopping the running of his om- nibuses and the constant employment of his men on the Lord's Day. At the end of a year he came to my friend : he had been during that time constantly in the habit of attending church, and he said—' fhe experiment has answered so well that I will continue it to the end of my days. So far from suffering financially, I am a better man by several pounds this year than last year. In the first place, my horses, by having one day's complete rest, are better able to do their work during the week, and not so subject to accidents ; but the principal point is, that I receive more money than I used to do, and I trace it to this : it is not that the receipts, I believe, are actually larger, but it is that the men, having a better moral example set them, and having a day of repose, which they devote to honest, sober, and religions purposes, and being Ly that greatly improved in moral condition, they do that which they never have done before—faithfully bring to tee every farthing which they earn.' " It must be admitted that there are differences of opinion as to legis- lating f T securing a better observance of the Sabbath ; but this fact would show what sort of good might arise from the better observance of that day, however it could be accomplished.

A vast amount of evil arises from the penny theatres. " I can only state the result of my own minute and personal inquiries from hundreds and hun- dreds of ragged-school children in London, who are open and candid, and will tell you any one single thing you want to know. I am sure I am speaking within due limits when I say that seven-tenths of these children have been first tempted to crime by stealing halfpence from their mothers and friends for the purpose of going to penny theatres." Now there is no argu- ment which " the purists " can use against limiting the hours during which these places of amusement are to be open. " If you could obtain an enact- ment that every place of amusement of this description should be closed at nine o'clock, you would go very far indeed to bring the whole thing under manageable control ; and you have a perfect right to demand that." A society was embodied, and the Bishop of Manchester proposed for its president. On Tuesday, Lord Shaftesbury passed on to Ashton-under-Lyne, and addressed a meeting of Short-time delegates, assembled under the Mayor to pay him a compliment. Mr. Hindle)* M.P. made a speech.

The Earl of Carlisle contributed his genial eloquence at a tea-party after the laying of a foundation-stone for a new Mechanics Institution at Burnley in Lancashire, on Tuesday. The gathering of gentry included the Earl of Sefton, the Honourable Colonel Scarlett, Mr. Patten M.P., Mr. Heywood M.l'., Mr. Heyworth M.P., and Sir J. P. Kay Shuttle- worth. Mr. Charles Towneley, President of the Institution, was the ma- sonic depositor of the stone.

A great conference of Parliamentary Reformers is to begin at Manches- ter on Wednesday next, in the Free-trade. Hall. Deputations from all the towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire will be present, and Mr. Cobden is expected to "come out strong" about the supposed Ministerial projects.

A farewell dinner is to be given to Mr. Sharman Crawford, at Roch- dale, next Friday.

The inquiry made by the Earl of Carlisle, as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, into the conduct of Mr. Ramshay as Judge of the Palatine County Court, has produced its expected fruit. After a full consideration of all the circumstances, the Chancellor decided on removing Mr. Ramshay from his office. The fact of the removal was intimated from the offices of the Duchy to the attorney of the memorialists at Liverpool on the 26th instant. It is very likely true, as asserted, that Mr. Ramshay had inveterate enemies an oag the townsmen of Liverpool ; but no one can doubt that he had a generous and much-forgiving judge in Lord Carlisle. Mr. Ramshay resumed his sit- tings in his court as soon as the doors of Lord Carlisle's inquiry at Preston were closed ; and in several eases displayed all his former infirmity of temper, and much of his former extravagance of conduct. Mr. Joseph Pollock of Manchester, Judge of the Salford Hundred Court of Record, a rising barrister of learning and dignified personal demeanour, has been appointed Judge of the Liverpool County Court in Mr. Ramshay's place. Mr. J. K. Blair is mentioned by the Globe as the probable successor of Mr. Pollock at Salford.

The Judge of the Oldham County Court has decided against the claim of -railway companies to act as they please in regard to keeping time on the score of a " notice" having been given to the public. Mr. Duncuft M.P. proceeded against the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company for Ils. expense be had incurred through a train not keeping time. He left Oldham in the morning for Manchester ; if the train had arrived at the latter place at the time fixed in the bills, he would have been able to proceed by another train to Frodsham : the train was after its time, the Frodsham train had gone, and Mr. Duncuft had to take a gig from Warrington, which cost him Ila. more than he would have paid by rail. It appeared that the delay arose from a leakage in the locomotive. The company publish a " notice " that they do not pledge themselves to keep exact time. The Judge held that they were liable to Mr. Duncuft, as the engine was evidently not in a fit state to be sent out with passengers. Judgment for the plaintiff.

A cruel murder has been committed at Tollesbury, a fishing-village on the marshes of the Blackwater, in Essex. Joseph Cobb, an oyster-dredger, a decent frugal man much respected in his village, arose at about six in the -morning on Tuesday, to go to his work. He left in bed his wife, Elizabeth, and a little girl whom they had adopted as their daughter. As he bid good morning to his wife before going out, he put his hand round her neck and kissed her. He then went to work. At noon when he came home, he found that his wife had been murdered in her bed. Some two hours after he had .gone, the little girl she, ked out that her "mother" was dead ; and when the neighbours got into th house, they found the poor woman lying, much as her husband had left her, without mark of any struggle, but with her skull beaten in by a hammer, and her throat cut. She had evidently been ,killed in her sleep. The boxes in the room had been broken open, but the money in them had been unperceived ; the box of a lodger in the house. had ..been broken open, and a small hoard of twelve shillings taken away. Suspicion fell on young Henry Harrington, an ill-reputed neighbour ; and he was arrest- ed. Blood was found on his garments ; the hammer with which the poor ;woman had been murdered, and which had been left behind, was found to be that of: his brother-in-law, with whom he ,lodged. The razor of the -brother-in-law was missing, and, Henry said-he had not seen it ; and be also declared, that he possessed• only:one-handkerchief : but the.razer was found, with blood on it, wrapped up in a handkerchief, and thrust into a ditch-bank ; -and• it was proved that the handkerchief was a second one of his, and -that he had walked near the ditch. Lastly, it was proved that he wanted a small sum of money to buy a share in a boat ; and that he knew Joseph -Cobb had saved up more than the price of his share in the same boat.

At Oldbury in Worcestershire, on Wednesday, the burglars John Green and James Hunt, who robbed the aged Miss Nicklin and almost killed her venerable cousin, in their house near Ilalesowen, and were apprehended, after a stubborn resistance, by the police at Leominster, were fully committed to be tried for several burglaries which have been clearly traced home to them.

A fatal collision of railway trains happened at the Weedon station on the North-western Railway, on Saturday last. An up cattle-train which should have arrived at Wecdon by 12.30 p.m. reached that station only at 3.40 p.m. It was unable to come beyond Weedan, from the weakness of its en- gine. Immediately after it, came a coal-train. The delay of these trains while an engine was summoned up from Rugby to help the cattle-train, brought due the Liverpool train which leaves Rugby at 4 p.m. This train came up punctually at 4.29, and was stopped outside the station. At last the cattle-train was sent off, the coal-train was being shunted out of the way for the passenger-train to resume its journey, and the passenger-train was discharging its passengers at the platform, when, at 4.37, a fourth train ran up from Rugby, and smashed the rearmost carriages of the halted pas- senger-train. At least sixteen passengers were hurt more or less. Mr. James Currie, gardener, of Upper Clapton, sustained such injuries on the skull that he died on Monday ; a labourer's legs were crushed, and ho was for some time in danger ; Colonel Douglas Pennant and his lady were seriously bruised. Captain Huish, the manager of the line, and Mr. Bruyeres, the traffic-superintendent, were in the train, and were badly hurt.

A Coroner's inquest on the body of Mr. Currie was commenced on Tuesday. It was proved that the train which caused the injury was a special cattle- train from Rugby to Thrapstone—a cross-country route; and that this train travelled at a rate of at least twenty-six miles an hour, though the rules forbid a higher rate than twenty miles an hour. But it was also made clear that the engine-man obeyed all the signals for slackening speed at the proper moment, and at the instant of collision was not going more than six or seven miles an hour. The engine-man has not been examined, but his plea is that the engine was unmanageable at the critical moment. He used his reversing-lever, but the engine flew into forward gear again, and persisted in running on despite his eftbrts ; the steam-regulator would not act, though just before it had acted very well.