Cheshire Observer

SEAWEED IN KIDNEY DISEASES. Dr. James Walker, Kidney MId Urinary Specialist, Now York, says:—"I never treat a oaso where the kidneys, urinary organs or atomach are involved without seaweed. I regard it as indispensable." The species of seaweed used by Dr. Walker is the same as that contained in Vooo's Seaweed Tonic. Veno's Seaweed Tonic is used by many prominent doctors in aJl forms of kidney and urinary diseases because of its great stresngtlkon- ing, healing and purifying effect. It o-u res Nephritis of the kidneys, Bright's disease, uric aaid troubles, weakness, dropay and baakache; especially successful in constipation. Pleasant) to take. Cures pefmooentiy. No return. Ajak for Vono'ø Seaweed Tonic, at Chemist* everywhere, la. Hd. o.nd 2s. 9d.

MORTON'S CENTRAL BOOT STORES, 37, Foregate-street, Cliester. FOOTBALL.—Many a goal is missed by reaBon of faulty Boots. Hewitt's Boots sia, faukicss. Try a pair, and raise your a.vera.ge. I HEWITT, Abbey Gateway,

AGRICULTURE. I FEBRUARY FILL DYKE." I The month just do&e d ha? been characteristic of it. reputation of storm and stress, though not perhaps in ?uch pre-eminent degree ao to l make it high!] objBctiomb!e, considering the season. Unsettled weather, at this time of year is accounted a normal condition, and if it had not been that farm work in regard to the stirring of the soils had progressed satisfactorily during the autumn there woud be some cause for mild apprehension at the delay in preparing for spring cultivation arising from that source I during tho last fortnight or three weeks. Heavy rains have prevented much ploughing being- done, for no sooner has the surface become dried enough for capable working than another, and probably more violent, drenching has set in, marring the prospect for a few days, if not iu- definitely. No drilling for spring corn, it may be safely said, has been effected up to the present, and much of this class of work is not to be expected unless a dry interval sets in with the proverbial March winds. The recent rains have been noticeable for their frequency rat-her than for excessive quantity, and when the re- portci are summarised it will probably be found that we had not more than, if not-a little under, i the monthly average. Low temperatures, attended by frequent and varying degrees of frost, have retarded vegetation within reasonable and appre- ciable limits: autumn sown grain continues to, wear a healthy aspect, and though the pastures aro green, they afford little or no grazing as yet. It is stated that the Scottish farmers are taking kindly to the new order for sheel) dipping. which requires flocks to be first dipped between January 1 and August 31, and reeondiy between September 1 and November 12. The effectiveness of the order is believed to be unquestioned. From fJOme cause, either from short home suppiy or a diminution in the imports, the pig trade has been decidedly looking up of late. Whether it. will prove only temporary i, how- ever. another matter, as in no branch of live stock does the market flue uate more. No fewer than tlurty-threo sheep have been discovered worried to death during the week in holds close to the town of Montgomery. The loss is said to represent a value of something liko £ 100. As the result of inquiries by the police, two dogr have been shot. THE WELSH NATIONAL SOCIETY. At their annual meeting at Aberystwyth, this society reported that on the last year's working thero was an adverse balance of over L212, but this was .smaller than in 1904. Great complaint 1 was made of the paucity of subscribers, and one speaker. alluding to "a gentleman who had given £700," said he had expressed surprise that other landowners in Wales "had not followed his lead. The landowners of Wales and the wealthy people seemed to give as little as they possibly could. but if an appeal wae made for a museum for the preservation of Welsh hats they would give thousands where now they gave only 25 notes. It was stated that the committee were going to offer -Pl,loo in prizes. PROPOSED LEGISLATION. On behalf of the Central Chamber of Agri- culture. Lord Derby (says the agricultural oorre- spondent of the "Morning Advertiser") has caused a circular to be addressed to members of the House of Commons asking them to ballot for a place for thre-e unofficial measures dealing with the following subjects, viz., fertilisers and f.eRdmg stuffs, trespass on agricultural land, and pure bocr. The first-named proposed measure is to amend the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, of 1893, and is intended to carry out the recommendations of the Departmental Com- mittee of 1905, over which Lord Bur?hctere pre- sided. It is believed that the Board of Agricul- t-ure is anxious to secure legislation on this matter, and, failing a Government measure, would be quite prepared to use its influenoe on behalf of the Bill of the Central Chamber. BUTTER ADULTERATION. Earl Carrington, "resident of the Board of Agriculture, replying to a deputation of the Federation of Grocers Association, promised the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into the adulteration of butter by moisture and foreign substances. He further promised legis- lation to protect the farmer, grocer and con- sumer against the manipulations of the adultera- tor. He did not think it would be practicable to introduce legislation with much success at the! pre60nt moment until the difficult circumstances had been gone into fully and the matter had been threshed out. This wa? not intended to ahelve the quest-ion, but to bring it before the general public. They must have public opiiiion? with them before they could hope to carry! effective legislation. It was quite an imperial question, particularly affecting Australia. He believed they had with them the consumers, distributors, and an overwhelming case shew- ing the necessity of doing something, and the Government was fully alive to the importance of the question. He hoped to appoint a Select Committee as soon as possible and to bring in a Bill at no distant date. CATTLE CAKE AND ANTHRAX. In the course of a lecture at ivnutslord on anthrax, Professor Penberthy, of the Royal Veterinary College, Camden Town, London, re- ferred to the increase in the number of cases in Cheshire. The cause for the alarm, he said, in some cases was more apparent than real, be- cause the returns showed that in most cases only one animal was affected in any particular out- break. They were bound to admit that anthrax was introduced into this country from abroad in artificial and natural food s, but it was almost impossible for farming and breeding operations to be carried on here without the use of foreign cake. etc. The only measure that seemed to him at all practicable to prevent the spread of the disease was that a guarantee should be obtained from the manufacturers that the cake, during the process of manufacture, had been subjected to a temperature sufficiently high to kill anthrax germs. EARL CARRINGTON ON SMALL HOLD- INGS. The President of the Board of Agriculture, speaking to the members of the Bucks and Oxon Chamber of Agriculture, at Reading, ex- pressed himself as in favour of the multiplica- tion of small holdings, increased security of tenure, and freedom for tenant- farmers in their mode of farming. At Drayton Paislow, Bucks, he said he had cut up an estate into small hold- ings and allotments, let at from 10s. to 25s. an acre, the same price as paid by the farmer, and there was not a shilling in arrears. The labourer grew corn and vegetables, and there had been no distress among them this winter. Notwith- standing that they were within a short distance of Wolverton, where labourers' wages were higher, the men preferred to remain in the village and work on the land. He always thought the great difficulty about farming was the uncertainty of tenure. If a landlord wished to take back his land he was entitled to do 60, but he should pay compensation to the tenant for disturbing him. He had practised that principle since 18G8, and, with the exception of changes through death, on his 23,000 acres he had only changed eighteen tenants. The reason for this was that his tenants could farm how they liked, shoot what they liked, pray where they liked, and vote as they like. He would like to see every tenant farmer in the same oasition. A REMEDY FOR WIREWORM. Mr. Tudge, of Kingston, in the "Farmer and Stockbreeder." gives a remedy for wireworm, which is no less simple than he believes it to be effectual. In 1904 he had a field of oats almost annihilated by this pest, and in order to reduoe them, if not to entirely get rid of them, he ploughed up about half an acro a day, placing on it a fowl house with some forty or fifty fowls. This was repeated till the whole field was ploughed, the fowls being shifted so as to concentrate their operations on the newly-turned soil. The result was that last year, the field being sown with swedes, not a trace of wire- worm was discoverable, while fifty large cart loads of roots were grown upon an acre and a half of land, which the previous year suffered largely from the pests.

The deputation from the Central and Associated Chambers of Agriculture and other agricultural bodies will wait upon the President of the Board of Agriculture on Tuesday, at 2.30. in a committee room of the House of Lords, to impress upon him the urgent necessity for retaining the present restrictions on the importation of live stock from abroad. J

LAND TAXATION. 1 CHESHIRE FARMERS' VIEWS. IMPORTANT RESOLUTION. An interesting d.scussion on the taxaUon of land took place at Monday's meeting at Orewe of the Cheshire Chamber of Agriculture. On that occasion tho follow.ng resolution, whioh is now before the Central Chamber of Agriculture, came up for consideration:—"That in view of the burdens on land, a re-adjust- ment of the ina detice, of local taxation is of para- mount importance, and this Council urges upon the Government the necessity of introducing a measure to deal with the same at an early date, and that in such measure provision should be made for agricultural land to be exempted (as raw material) from all local taxation and that there should be one uniform assessment for all purposes, both Imperial and local." The South Wiltshire Chamber of Agriculture sent a reso- lution expressing the- opinion that the whole ocst of education should be borne by the Im- perial Exchequer. The secretary read a similar re-solution passed last May by the Cheshire Chamber. The Monmouth Chamber of Agri- culture forwarded a resolution on the incidence of local taxation, stating that a measure must be parsed to relieve agriculture from unfair bUJ-d "ns and to provide a un 'form assessment. The Chairman (Colonel Cotton-Jodrcli) called upon the Secretary (Mr. C. B. Davies), who read a short paper on the question. He said the Choshrre Chamber had on several occasions passed resolutions calling alien lion to the neces- sity of a re-adjustment of the incidence of local taxation. They had suggested that agricultural la.nd should be exempted from liability to pay rates for educational purposes, and they had suggested that the increased cost of main and district roads should be met by charges other than those from local sources, but they had never yet pessed a resolution asking that agri- cultural land should be entirely exempted from all local taxation. Land bore a far too oreat proportion of local rating, and occupiers of land were justly entitled to press for some equit- able system of rating, so as to equalise the proportion oil rates paid and the advantages re- ceived. It was questionable whether it would be wise to support the resolution asking for the exemption of occup'ers of land from all taxation. Under the Agricultural Rates Act, which was only a temporally measure, agricul- tural land was relieved from one-half the rates fcr county eduction, poor relief, maintenance of rjads and police and several other chairgras, j and to a fixed extent the relief given was met by g.ants pa'd to local author?ipa from Imperial j ur{'e, It was only a temporary expedient. Another system for relieving agricultural land was by differential rating. He submitted they would hardly be justified in asking to ba re- lieved from all local taxation under the hoards he had named, because in many of those things agriculture wa.s interested. Property not now liable to bo rated should be brought into aafjess- nwnt and so increase the total amount of assess- able property a.nd reduoe the amount of rates in the E. In a re-adjustment of the local taxa- tion, provision should be made to levy it more directly on the people, and the salaries of pro- fessional and oonimaroial men should contribute to local expenditure in the same equitable pro- portion to occupiers of agricultural establish- ments and holelings. Ability to pay and bene- fitfl enjoyed should be kept in view in any new system that might be promoted. The last pro- I)-osal in the resolution before the Central Chamber was all excellent one. A uniform assessment had existed in the Metropolis and had been promised years ago to the provinces, but had never been enacted. The present sys- tem was antiquated and out-cf-dafce and did not conduce to an equitable and harmonious state between municipal and rural authorises. The a'd of experts in the shape of surveyors of taxes as advisors to Assessment Committees was cal- culated to be of practical benefit, and another propcsal in the Valuation Bill of last year that valuation committees should be coniposed of re- presentati ves of county, municipal and urban authorities as well as boards of guardians was also a principle that might be advantageously asked for in any measure. AGRICULTURAL RATES ACT. BURDENS OF THE LAND. Mr. Emberton could not say that the resolu- tion before the Central Chamber oonunended itself to his judgment as it stood. He had thought they might a.rné'ud it, and possibly the Centiral Chamber would be able by acting on their amendment to draft a final resolution that might express the general feeling of agricul- tlll-istfi on the matter. He was somewhat with Mr. Davies as to the objects they ought to pur- sue, and it must. be remembered that. they had an Act giving them half exemption from local rales, and it applied even to the recent Education Act. Of course owing to no revision having taken place "inca the grant was first fixed, they did not get as lairge a grant as they would have had if it had been incorporated in the measure a.t first. Still there was relief from the Educa- tion Act so far that half of i,t was supposed to be returned as far as land was oonoerned. It meant a higher rate both on land and on pro- perty, and to make up the other half they, in company with owners of property, were paying an additional rate-(hcar, fiear)-wliioii land would not have had to pay if it had been placed in the first arrangement of the grant* He questioned whether the opinion of the country wss riM for such a far,reaching proposal as that land should be exempted from all local taxation. He questioned whether they would gain any practical end by advooating so ex- tremo an issue as that at the pF,sen>t moment. That claim had been put forward on the assump- tion that land was the farmer's raw material. Ho was quite disposed to agree there was a. sense in which land was a raw material, just like the raw material of the manufacturer. There was this difference—the farmer paid rent for his raw material, and as far ae he could see the manufacturer, or shopkeeper, did not pay any rent for their raw material. The old sys- tem of assessment was on the principle of what a hereditament should be set at, and land hav- itjg rent was a hereditament. It should be brought up-to-date by a new principle which should bear some relation to ability to pay. In the cage of the public-house, it was valued upon the trade it drew from the outside area for whioh it paid no rent, because by addling to the trade the rent was increased. In tho same way the farmer was assessed upon his trade. The doctor was free from all those harassing conditions. He drew his customers from a wide airea for which he paid no rent, and by increasing his practice he did not add value to his hereditament, and he esoapad in that way from assessment according to his praetioe. The lawyer escaped for the same (reason, and both had business more valuable than the business of the farmer or licensed victualler. That shewed the antiquated nature of the present system of assessment. The principle that land should be exempted largely firom taxatlion had been recognised by the legislature. The Liberal party objected to it at first, but they had had to agree that the principle was sound, and largely the supporters of the present Govern- ment for agricultural areas had agreed to con- tinue the grants until there was a revis'on of taxation. The revision must come, and come' soon. He considered the late Government had not tackled the question. It was a great ques- tion, and no doubt it had been put off until more urgent matters could be dealt with. It was for farmers to say what they wainted unless revision would be made without their wants being understood. If they dd not speak out the Government might revolutionise the system without oortsidering them. There was an idea, that land could stand more taxing than it had already encountered. He regretted the step of the last Liberal Government in equalising the death duties. It brought in b:g revenue, but it had fallen heavily on farmers. On many estates, while "death duties were being paid farmers had much less money spent on their farms than otherwise. Land was paying bwk only two per cent. on capital value, and he thought they all agreed to Chat. It ought never to have been placed on the same footing as othetr property paying five and seven and a half per cent. Looking at agriculture, its national importance, its bearing on the nation, and lives of the people, and the vast issues a.t stake, 041 enlightened Government, knowing what agri- culture was siifferirig and enduring, ought not j to have equalised the death duties. He thought they had taken I A RETROGRADE STEP, I and did not seem to shew the sympathy which Governments ought to have with agriculture, beciuiae agrioulture was different from other J businesses. It was a va,st national undertaking that had to do with the lives of the people more so than many inchiatries in the country. It was bound up with vital interests of the naolon and ought to receive preferential treatment, and to put it on a bare equality with commercial enter- prise see mird a retrograde step. That shewed what might happen if farmers were not careful. There was the land tax, whrch was put on at a time when thero was no foreign competition and farmeis had the field to themselves. While | foreign competitors had largely captured Eng- 1 sh markets, and wide the revenue was being j made up from other sources, agriculture had dediined to the low level they found it in that day. They ought to demand that land should be free from that which did not ellollmber trade and com me roc. He did not think they could claim exemption from all rates. They got a good deat more than half on the Poor Law Act, and county councils were gettling enormous grants on the main roads. That question of total exemption tho:r level-headed Chamber ought not to go for all at onoo, They wanted to emphasise the fftct that land was the farmer's j raw material. The Government had not always laksed that. lIe questioned whether some members of vh-j Government of to-day had looked on land at ail. They had been loom and brought up among bricks and houses. Farmers should ask that land should be exempt from taxation not borne by other assessable property, He did not know how it would hit tithes. if he were a landlord he would call a meeting and ag tate for the do.ng away of tithes. By taking the tux off land, no matter whether the iandioTd j or the tenant paid it would make easier the conditions of tenure. Farmers wera prepared to pay 011 an equality with manufacturers. There w-a-ic geliti?,iiien iii<).jey <)f th-o oottiilry who %veto no more than the farmers, and why should farmers pay four or five timcs more than f.hey. They d.d ail the spending and farmers did all tire pay.ng. The local elementary school had not been raised in efficiency since the passing of the new Act, Out in his district thoy had to pay a rate of Sd,, which would soon be lOd. or Is., whereas they formerly pad a voluntary rate of 2d. He did not know where it was gong to end. It was time for sorce farmers to think of tracking across the Atlantic if the present state of things continued. Why should farmers be ratled on the land whioh was their raw material? The County Council proposed to take the great bulk of the secondary eduoal oti rate for the bIdding t r secondary sohcols in the boroughs. There was a district from Crewe to the Welsh herder which was without a secondary school. They w^uld have to pay the rat-* to have the additional ex- penses of sending their ohi'idron to Ciowe tr I Northwich, or Liverpool or Manchester. It drove him out of his wits to think how un- equally the Act touched farmers an all points. They must now begin the campaign of educat- ing the members of the new Government, many of whom nvg'ht be aft;ma" w.t-h the best jn- of whom m/ght be animated w. t- h the best. in- t<'ntions, a.nd m?ht be only perishing for 'ack of knowledge, and it they did not come up to scratch farmers would have to do their duty when the time arrived. It was possible if they brought pressure to bear they would get some revnaon. ? Later, Mr. Emberton handed up a re?t"t'on wh?ch embod'ed that now before the Central Chamber with the exception of the ciattsc "and that in such a measure provision inoi'l-.l be made for agricultural land to be exiia.jtod (as (raw material) from all local taxation.' Mr. Emberton replaced th's by the folio: — "And that such a measure should pio -de ex- emption from land only (.as the farm?r s raw material) of all ratss for sanitary and eciea- tional purposes and for the relief of the peer— houses and bnild:ng\3 still bearing their full share of local taxes for these purposes." Mr. S. Jackson seconded. He 9a>-d the ques- tion of education was quite as much national as the Army and Navy, and he did not eea vbv the money should not come from the same source. He thought the poor of the country should be supported in the same way. That was a principle he had advocated WCtl or eight years a.go, and he hoped ere long to see a sys- tem whereby worn-out people could be kept without having recourse to the taxation of land. They hca.rd a good deal about inducing people to go back to the land, but they could not do tha.t if land was taxed as it was at present. The main roads also belonged to the nation and ought not to be supported out of the land. He was not certain whether they should not remain as a. local charge, but he hoped to se £ land relieved from education and poor rates and the maintenance of the main roads. THE RISE IN RATES. Mr. Philip Hewitt, said when he commenced to farm 19 years ago his rate for the half year was 9d. in the J3. After the pass:ng of the County Councils Act the rates went up to ona shilling. and then came the benefits of the Agricultural Rates Aot. Taking the allowaiioe under the Act into consideration, he was paying 1;5 a year more than when he commenced farm- ing. He would go the whole length of the resolution before the Central Chamber, but per- haps it would not be prudent. Mr. W. Millington did not know whether it would be wise to give up the maintenance of the poor, because the Government would then want the management, and local people knew the requirements of the poor better than Govern- ment officials would. Mr. Jackson asked what advantage people got from the looal management of the poor. Mr. Millington could not think Government officials would know so much about the poor aa looal boards of guardians. If they oould get a. latrger grant from the Government it would be better. Mr. Emberton said they must fight for the principle of bringing down the rates to houses and buildings. He did not ask for education to be made a national charge, because the lead- ing county boroughs hid refused to do so be- cause they would lose their control. Unless the oouncy boroughs asked for it, they (the farmers) could not get it. The boroughs were asking for more grants instead. If their proposals were carried out they would have a higher rate for buildings, but they would only be on the same footing as doctors and lawyers. Mr. S. Gleave thought the County Council had administered the Education Act very lav- ishly. It had been a blunder to place it in the hands of the County Council because it had in- curred enormous unnecessary expenditure. It had incurred a double set of officials. He sup- posed even Mr. Emberton would admit that the Agricultural Rates Act had been a boon to aigrkultuir sts. (Hear, Juear.) Had it not been for the death duties it was about certain they should never have seen the Agricultural Rates Act, because that relief came from death duties. He was very pleased that Mr. Emberton w;t.h his persuasion in politics had such high hopes and great confidence in the present Administra- tion. If they received what they were asking for they would be satisfied with having sent the present Administration to power. It was reasonable for them to ask far the abolition of the land tax, and he hoped the Government would take into consideration the burdens of agriculture. Mr. T. Parton If. a revision were to act In the consistent manner proposed by Mr. Ember- ton, it will satisfy us in a very great measure. Mr. Hill said the education rate pressed very unfairly on agriculture, and he quite agreed to the proposit'on. Mr. George Barbour said if land was treated as raw material and, in oonsequenoe of being considered raw material, was relieved from aJl local taxation, would it raise the income tax? Would there be any taxation on the profits? It was supposed to raise the money to a much larger extent from Imperial taxation rather than from local taxation. Imperial taxation meant to a oart-ain extent an increased inoomo tax. Mr. Gleave This resolution Is in the interests of farmers, and as farmers do not pay income tax it has not been taken into consideration, but no doubt it will be taken up by those whom it concerns. The Chairman: If all these things are derived from Imperial sources, the Imperial purse will have to be found big enough to pay for them. It has been a very favourite principle where demands were made on the Imperial revenue to raisa the income tax as being a convenient and handy source of raising money. Income taxpayers would have to be on thedr guard. Mr. Gleave: The present Government will be able to save more than that. The Chairman said what had struck him was that a resolution sufficiently comprehensive had been framed during the coqrse of what was— compared with the magnitude of the subject— a comparatively brief discussion. He would ask I J the public to bear in mind that the f?ieetiona d:SU,3-ed had been thought about by the gen- tlemen present far years and years, and it Was not a decision made merely at a meeting of agriculturists. It was simply an embodiment of principles which had been in the minds of those present for many years. He attached so muoili importance to the resolution that he should be very much disappointed if the Central Chamber did not take considerable notice of the resolu- tion, because it was a very much better resolu- tion and very much more. practical than the one on the agenda paper of the Central Cham- ber. It was far better to specify what they wanted, and they had far more hope of success than if they passed a resolution saying land must nor b" taxed at all. The TC80111tian wa" ur:a;¡:mously. The reso l ut i on was carr.ed unanimous l y.

INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE ENGLAND SIGNS THE CONVENTION. Tho Convention for tího establishment of an In-!e rrt atonal Institute of Agriculture waa signed at Kome on Tuesday by Sir E. II. fi>ar- ton, the British Ambassador, on buhalf of Great Britavn, and by Izzet Pasha, the Egyptian Cn- der Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on beihalf of Egypt.

WHAT WILL THEY DO?  A me?mg of about seventy Radical member* wiio represent county divisions or who taJte a special hue test, in agriculture was held on Tues- day night in one of the committee-rooms of the House of Commons. Those present formed themselves into a sessional committee, with Mr. Channing as chairman and Messrs. Oorrie Grant and Mansfield as honorary secretaries.

MIDDLEWICH SHOW. DOG CLASSES ABANDONED. On Tuesday Col. Franoe Ilayhurst presided over the annual meeting of the Middlewich Agricultural Society, held at the Middlewich Town Hail. In his annual report the secretary, Mr. R. Walmsley. st.ated that owing to tire fact tbab the show was lield on a wet day there waa a deficiency Oil the year's woikiag of £ 76, making a total balance duo to the bank of £ 105. The dog soot-ion was responsible for about £ 40 of the loi's. The oalance-sheet, shewed an expenditure of je345. 4s. ICki, ch:efly made up of L467. 17. prize-money and £ 120. 2s. showyard expensea Tho balance on the reserve fund stood at E105 133. lOd., -,Liid it was decided to allocate tihis to the wipmg out of the diebts against the society. With a view to considering the financial condi- t< on of the society a special meeting of the committee had been held. Several important recommendations were made witih the object, of putting the society on a sound financial basis, including the abolition of the dog sect:on of the s how. The r-ocoiiinie-ndations were put. to the meeting for approval, and after some discussion were adopted. On the proposition of Mr. J. Millington, seconded by Col. FranoeTIayhurst, Mr. W. If. Vorciin, of DarnhaU Hall, was appointed presi- dent for tho year, and the other officers wera reappointed. The prize-list having been revised, it was cided to hold the annual show on Wednesday, the 12th of September.

CHESHIRE CHAMBER, 1 FOREIGN FARM PRODUCE. A general meeting of the Cheshire Chamber of Agriculture was held at the Crewe Arma Hotel, Crewe, on Monday, when Colonel Cotton- Jodrell presided over a small attendance. The Chairman expressed to the Chamber hit deep thanks for re-electing him as president for another year at the last meeting. He regarded it as a high honour. He had been elected presi- dent for many years in succession, and he esteemed it a great privilege. He should en- deavour to do his duty to the chamber as well lid he could during the forthcoming year. (Ap- plause.) The Secretary (Mr .C B. Davies) reported that the Central Chamber of Agriculture had asked the Cheshire Chamber to scud a delegate to join the deputation meeting the President of the Board of Agriculture on March 6th, to protest against the removal of the restrictions on the im- portation of Canadian cattle. The Secretary thought that it was important to send ft delegate. The Chairman agreed that it was important, and Mr. Davies was aalced to be the delegate. The following letter from the Liverpool Branch of the Tariff Reform League was read:—"Dear Sir,-I enclose herewith a statement compiled from the Board of Trade returns, shewing the value of farm produce imported into this country, last year, and indicating the consequent enor- mous disability under which the homo producer has to labour. Do you not think it would be well to have a large number of these cirettlare distributed a.mong all the agriculturists in your district. I should be glad to have a reply from you as to your views on this subject at your early convenience.—Yours faithfully, D. C., Pugh, hon. secretary." Mr. J. Emberton said he would be glad to have a copy of the circulars. Mr. J. Furber said the circular stated that the total value of imported meat, alive and (lead, was 948,412,062, and the total value of all other agricultural produce was £ 138,445,862. He said there was a note at the bottom that read as follows:—" On an average, farmers pay about one per cent, of their annual turnover in poor rates. The above imported produce pays no poor rates. In fairness to our own producers, imported farm produce ought to pay the same poor rates, viz., one per cent, which would yield 21,384,485 per annum; otherwise our farmers are handicapped with this one per cent. The importation of Indian corn and corn meal, which we cannot produce and is raw material, amounted during 1905 to £ 11,179,577." It must be interesting to agricuturists, continued Mr. Furber, and he proposed that the information be obtained and sent with the notices of meetings. The Chairman said the statement did not specify the countries from which the imports came. It might be of interest to know that last week lie came home from the Mediterranean in a ship from Australia, and she had a thousand-tons of butter on board. Mr. T. Parton seconded the motion, and it was agreed to. The secretary also accepted the suggestion by Mr. S. Gleave that ho should obtain the sources of the imports. The Chamber decided to support a recom- mendation by a committee of the Central Chamber that a Royal Commission or Depart- mental Committee should be appointed to con- sider rural building bye-laws.

IMPORTANT TO MILK PURVEYORS. -• Milk purveyors were interested in two prosecu- tions a.t Banow 011 Monday, in whioh Wm. Asih- croft and Framk Exton were charged. Ttie cased wero dismissed, however, witliout going into the evxfenca, on a technical point. or Watson had a stundai-d lkalf-pint measure, and he dipped it into the milk kits three times, poured each half-pint into a bottle, a.nd sealed each bottle. Mr. Hodgson, solicitor for the do- fendants, claimed that his clients had not beeu given one-third of the sample taken to be analysed. What the inspector should have dona was to have purahased 1J, pints in bulk and there divided it, This objection WM upheld, but Mr. Hodgson said he wanted to add that lie oould also have proved that tho milk had not been ta;mpe-rod with.

NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS.—The un- precedented demand for Hoknikan's Furs Tka during the past year has beaten every record, and conclusively proves tho decided preference given by all classes to Horniman's Pare Tea. Sold by Chester: W. Alan Davios, 10, Commonhall street (wholesale agent); Co-operative Society; Cryer, 25, Christleton roa<J j Holborn Restaurant, 29, Foregate street. Neston Lee. Little Sutton: Swindells- Bhuddlan: Boberts, grocer. feromborough Pool: Co-op. Society. Mynydd Isa: Co-op. Society. Mold Junction: Co-op. Society. Hoole: Jones A Davies. Wrexham: Felton. Saltney: Bobinaon, Winsford; Whitehead, Tattenhalii l Jackson, Grocer,