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SOUTH WALES RAILWAY.
SOUTH WALES RAILWAY. [Frorji the Railway Gazette ] We have frequently drawn attention to the importance pf the Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow, and Dublin Rail- way, as a link of communication, by means of the South Wales Railway, between London and Dublin. In order to secure that communication, of course, means must be provided for crossing the Irish Channel in the most speedy and in the must effective manner. We under- stand that for some months past the subject has very deeply occupied the attention of the directors of the South Wales Railway, and we are happy to state that they have just entered into an engagement with the owners of a steam vessel, which is to be chartered for about six weeks, during which time she will be under the command of Capt. Claxton, the indefatigable ma- nager of the Great Western Steam Ship Company, by whom soundings of the channel between the coast of Ireland and the coast of Wales are to be commenced immediately, and surveys made so that the directors of the South Wales Company may be enabled to fix upon the best packet station and the shortest passage between the two coasts. We understand that Captain Claxton has proceeded on his mission; and a more able officer for the undertaking could not be found. We may rest assured that under his guidance the best and shortest route will be secured. Looking at the position and objects of the South Wales Railway, the importance of a short sea passage cannot be too highly considered. The South Wales Railway, although in itself an enter- prise of the first magnitude in a local point of view, nevertheless looks to future traffic with Ireland as a great object; and while it will monopolise that vast traffic which exists in the south on Monmouthshire and along the southern coast of Wales whose mineral wealth is unbounded, it will at the same time effectively com- pete for the Dublin and Irish traffic generally to .London. While on the subject of the South Wales Railway we regret to hear that the directors have hud some difficulty in obtaining possession of portions of the land required for the construction of the line. This difficulty, too, has, we understand, been considerably augmented by the local authorities, who influenced by the agents of the owners and occupiers, have refused, until very closely pressed, to adjudicate under the powers of the Act of Parliament. We however, hear that in many cases the company intend to resort to a jury, where the demands made for land have been excessive and exorbi- tant. We would counsel the owners of land to be more wise. In all cases, railway companies offer more than the actual value of the land required, and in all cases juries give much less than is demanded. The only effect of an exorbitant claim, therefore, is to fill the pockets of the lawyers, and at the expense, too, of the parties making these excessive demands. Let such parties consider that they gain in two ways by the con- struction of the railway, for they get more than the value of their land, while that which remains is im- proved in value by the construction of the line. We are glad to learn that generally, the South Wales Railway is proceeding most satisfactorily. The con- tracts are nearly all let, and the works wherever the land is in the hands of the contractor, are in full vigour and activity and there is every prospect that the line will be opened throughout by the end of next year, or I early in the beginning of 1849.
i' I THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS.I
i' I THE COMMERCIAL CRISIS. I The failure of Fry, Griffiths, and Co., indigo and colonial brokers, was announced in the City on Wed- nesday. The amount uf their liabilities has not been stated, but it is believed that it must be very considerable. Some other serious failures were made public on the Stock Exchange on Thursday, viz. Messrs. Shewell and Son, brokers amount not stated.—Messrs. Lyall, Brothers, East India agents estimated liabilities J:400,000, but the partners announce their confident belief that the affairs will be wound up without loss. —And .Samuel Phillips and Co. merchants, and East India agents, liabilities £ 1-50,000. From Glasgow, there is the announcement of the failure of Watson and Co.'s firm, in that city, commission agents and Honduras traders, liabilities nearly E200,OOO and at Manchester, the mercantile firm of Birley, Corrie, and Co. has sus- pended payment, the liabilities ranging from E200,000 to E250,000. A meeting of the creditors of W. It. Robinson and Co. was held on Thursday, when a careful statement of liabilities fixed the amount at £ 94,362 10s. 4d. and the assets at E100,390 9s. 5d. Payment in full of all claims is therefore confidently expected. The Manchester Examiner of Tuesday announces the stoppage of four Manchester firms :—Messrs. Stocks and Tait, bleachers, &c. Mi. J. Armstrong, cotton- dealer and spinner Mr. James Guest, manufacturer; and Mr. H. Glover, foreign merchant. The liabilities of the first of these Manchester houses are stated to be under £30,000; those of the second firm are said to be considerably larger, ESOOO being due to Liverpool cotton-brukers. Mr. Guest's liabilities are spoken of as above £iO,OOO, of which E40,000 are due to Mr. Armstrong's firm E7000 or 13000 are also said to be owing to an agent here. The failure of Messrs. Stocks and Tait is reported to be the cause of Mr. Glover's inability to meet his engagements. The Bank of Enyland announced on Friday that it would not make any further advances on the security of Stock; and the greatest consternation and excitement was occasioned on the Stock Exchange in consequence. At the breaking up of the Court on Thursday it was announced that the rate of interest on short loans had been raised to the minimum of 51,- per cent from which it was reduced a fortnight back but the deci- sion of the directors on Friday seems to have taken the holders of stock, who expected to raise money on it at the advanced rate without difficulty, completely by surprise. The result was a fall in Consols from 85-1 to 84j for money, and from 85j to 84g, and 85 for the account. Indeed, a complete panic was created on the Stock Exchange by the news; and it was feared that' most serious results will follow. The Times gives the following animated description of the state of the money market in the City on Monday. This (Monday) has been one of the most extraor- dinary days ever witnessed in the Stock Exchange. Owing to the way in which they had been taken by surprise, the parties called upon to repay loans to the Bank (upon a possible renewal, of which they had calculated up to the 14th of October) have been com- pelled to part with stock at-ld ExchequPr-bills at any prices, and the dealers, seeing their position, and par- ticipating, moreover, to some extent, in the panic, have made their own terms. Hence, at one time, while the quotation of Consols for money was 83, the price for the account was 8111, the difference being equivalent to the rate of interest of 3G per cent. per annum. At the commencement of business the market wore an appearance of comparative firmness, Consols having opened at an advance of a half per cent. on the closing price of yesterday. But from 84 they dropped al- most immediately to 84i, whence they rallied to 8-1-, From this point a general demand for money set in, and the pressure gradually increased until the price went to 83t. Towards the close of the day, however, another rally took place and they left off at 84 to For the account Consols began at 84 1 to 8.j, whence they declined to 84j, the final quotation being 8-1-:2, buyers. Exchequer-bills during one portion of the rooming were almost unsaleable. The first quotation was 20s. to 10s. dis., and they were afterward s sold at 27s. dis. In these, however, as well as in Consols, some reaction took place, and the last price was 2fis. to 20s. dis. Bank Stock left off 190 tll 193; Indian Stock 222 to 227 and Indian Bonds 30s. to 20s. dis. At the Bank the pressure for discounts was extremely heavy. The excitement caused by the urgent demand for money has been increased by two additional failures, the first being that of Rougemont Brothers, an old established house, whose liabilities are supposed to be of moderate extent while the second is that of John Thomas, Son, and Lefevre, which will prove extremely serious. The liabilities of this firm upon acceptances amount to E350,000, of which £ 15QJH)0 fall due during the present month, E120,000 in November, and and £100,000 in December, and the immediate cause of the stoppage is understood to have been the non- receipt of expected remittances from their house at St. Petersburgh. By many persons, however, the business of the house has long been supposed to have been ex- tended beyoud the amount warranted by its capital and it is, therefore, feared that the results will not prove so favourable as might have been expected if the disaster had originated in some merely temporary circumstances. The blow is expected to fall most heavily at Manchester, whence the firm, in connexion with Messrs. D. Jersey and Co., have been large ex- porters of cotton-twist to St. Petersbnrgh and Moscow. Within a recent period they had erected a cotton spin- ning establishment at St. Petersburgh, which is stated to have cost E60,000, and which (this branch of busi- ness being known to be one of the most profitable in that city) added considerably to the confidence of those who regarded the position of the house as a sound one John Thomas and Co. is the title of the firm at St. Petersburgh, and it has two partners, Messrs. Maingy and Forcemann, who are unconnected with the house in London, but as it is not expected that they have independent capital to any extent, and as the present suspension has been caused by their want of punctu- ality, there is little room to hope that the event mav be mitigated by anything that may transpire from that side. It may be added, that notwithstanding the dis- trust which has been felt in some quarters, the firm have generally been held in much esteem, since (setting aside the undue extention of business to which we have alluded) they are believed never to have mixed in speculations of any kind. This, however, rather adds to the apprehensions that may be entertained as to the ultimate liquidation, since there can be little doubt that, from the feeling entertained for Mr. Lefevre, any reasonable assistance would have been at his command if the difficulties of his house could have been clearly shown to be such as by time and good management might have been overcome. The Liverpool letters received on Tuesday morning give the particulars of the stoppage of Thomas and Henry Murray, a highly respectable firm in the East and West India trade. The occurrence is attributed to the failure of Samuel Phillips and Co., and the liabilities are stated at £ 150,000, of which £ 1 :30,000 is upon acceptances. Their balance-sheet is understood to show ? surplus of good assets to the amount of £ 80,000. With regard to the general bills which matured on Monday iii consequence of its being the 4th of the month, it is understood that, on the whole, they have been met .4 ygr-v rriangei.
I NOTICES OF MAGAZINES, PUBLICATIONS,…
I NOTICES OF MAGAZINES, PUBLICATIONS, &c. FK.VSKU'S MAGAZINE von OCTOBER.—J. W. Parker, West Strand, London.—TJiis serial prospers abundantly under the new management, and its tone and quality are evidently improved by the infusion of new vigour into its eonductorship. The opening article is Oil Free Church Sites" in Scotland, and contains some very severe remarks upon the conduct of the celebrated Dr. Chal- mers, in relation to this vexata questio. Mabel Earnleiy is a tale of some improbability, but may possibly be excused on the ground that truth is oftentimes stronger than fiction." The Carlovingien Romances of the Middle Ages arc interesting and curious. Chartley Castle and the Ferrers Family contains some interesting particulars of the murderer-peer Earl Ferrers, and also some characteristic anecdotes of Whitetield and Lady Huntingdon. The Symbolism of the Greeks and Music and the Modern Opera will each find admirers. Sam Slick's Clwsefor a Wife is not quite so good as some former portions of the Old Judge." The account of an extemporaneous attempt at making a page out of a farm servant is rich in the extreme- Well, to make a long story short, arter they had been the round of all the parties to all their neighbours, and shewn off all their airs and all their finery, they gave a large tea squall themselves to home, in return, and invited all their acquaintance. Hans and his wife undertook to astonish the weak nerves of the Clements' folks, and to do the thing genteel. So, instead of sitting down to a good, solid, well-found and furnished tea- table, sociably and comfortably, as we farmers do, and help each other and ourselves, nothing must do but have the things handed about to the folks, who sat all round the room, as stiff and formal as their chairs, doing company. Well, as they had no servants to do this, the bound farm apprentice-boy was enlisted but, just at the last moment, they recollected he had no clothes fit for it so they got over this difficulty by putting him into a pair of trousers of Hans', that were a mile too long and too big for him. The legs they shortened by turning in but the waist, what in the world was to be done with that ? I have it,' says Hans so he lapped it over in places about his loins, like reefing, and in- closed and fastened it all by a belt. Arter the company had arrived, the little fellow fetched in a large tray, as much as hj could cleverly stretch his arms to (indeed, it was so wide, it made him stretch his eyes and his mouth too, as if that would help him), and went round to each one in order. I seed the whole thing with half an eye in a minute, and was determined to take a rise out of them; so, says I, Hold the tray a little higher, my man,' and I saw the belt slip up a bit 'just a little higher yet, my boy there, that will do and up went the belt, and down went the trousers to his hips. Oh, my says the poor crittur, and he actilly looked scared to death. Oh, my sakes!' savs he and I railly did pitty him, for he couldn't let go the tray, and he couldn't hitch up or hold on to his trousers so he stretched out both legs as wide as ever he could (he couldn't do no more, if he had a tray there too), and he kind of skated, or slid, for the door, arter that fashion but when he got there he stuck, and couldn't get through. At last he grew desperate, and tried to draw in one foot and send it back again as quick as wink, so as to pass out but he couldn't manage it and down went his trousers to his knees, and pitched him head foremost into the tray slap on the entry floor. I ran forward, and picked him up by his waistband, and shook him into his trousers again, and carried him at arms' length that way, kicking and squealing like any thing." The dreadful catastrophe which befel Luke and his betrothed is equally graphic and jocosely melancholy. The Group of Parliamentary Oddities is truthful and striking, and will afford much amusement, and with the other articles combine to make up a more than ordinarily interesting number of Fraser. HOWITT'S JOURNAL FOR OCTOBER.—W. Lovett, 171, Strand, London.—This popular periodical pursues the even tenour of its way, affording amusement and instruc- tion to the public and we trust remunerating its projectors. There is a series of papers on Capital Punishments announced for future numbers, whicn, we doubt not, will display an equal amount of talent with any that have preceded them. The present month's number is about the best that has been issued. THE DRAWING ROOM MAGAZINE.—Houlstone and Stoneman, Paternoster How, Lonùon. This is an elegantly printed periodical, combining instructions for Needle Work with light and elegant literature. In the October number are the following beautiful lines on "KIXDNESS." Kindness! an angel's attribute thou art So precious to receive, so sweet to give! A treasure thou, that dwellest in the heart, And on the lips of those with whom we live. Thou hast such power with thy gentleness Thy soothing voice can charm away our grief; The stricken that are full of heaviness Look unto thee, sweet kindness for relief. By all, thy pleasing influence is felt- By thee, the guilty can be moved to tears; A few kind words have made the proud heart melt. That might have rebelled against force for years Kindness! thou givest courage to endure A life of trials uncomplainingly— The toil, the hard privations of the poor, With thee, they can be borne so cheerfully. Bring to the sufferer thy gentlest care Come to the bed of sickness and of pain! Sit by it, kindness thou art wanted there With thee, the sufferer is calm again. Thou hast the tired wanderer adares't Thou speakest to the silent and the lone; Oh, deeply, fondly, in the stranger's breast, Lives the remembrance of thy cheering tone Kindness, endearing kindness thou cans't bring The angry back to tenderness again— It is from thee, our home affections spring— Thou givest not thy winning smile in vain. Sweet kindness! peace is ever where thou art; This charm of our existence thou cans't give; A treasure thou, that dwellest in the heart, And on the lips of those with whom we live! THE PEOPLE'S JOURNAL.—John Bennett, 69, Fleet- Street, London.—The engravings in this periodical are very superior, and the matter accompanying them is highly worthy of perusal.
ON THE SCARLET TREFOIL. -I
ON THE SCARLET TREFOIL. I (Trifolium Incarnatum.) I BY MK. FOAKEII, KIRBY, COLCHESTER. I Immediately after harvest, sow or drill a peck and a half of the seed per acre on a wheat stubble without ploughing it, and harrow it in, this is all the cultivation necessary. It has been said that it will not bear our winters this may be true when it is brought from the south of France or from Italy. I brought mine from Switzerland, and have had it eighteen years on my land, and I have no doubt that it would stand winter in every county, south of the Grampian Hills the more sheltered the situation of course the earlier in spring it will lift its crimson head. On burning soils, where in dry summers the clovers are grilled into tinder, and when the husbandman can take the produce of an acre home in his apron, and the work is finished on such lands, half a peck of the trifclium seed, (which I will prove presently will cost but one shilling if the farmer grows the seed himself,) sown on the young clover directly after harvest and harrowed in would double or treble the crop. I always do it in every field where I am doubtful of the young clover. I am not advocating growing the scarlet trefoil as a crop in place of clover; this mistake has been made and it is a great one; it leaves the land, more particularly light land, in too frothy a state for the wheat crop it should be sown as a crop after the wheat not before it. Sheep and Lambs prefer it to clover when young, but in blossom are not so partial to it yet, when made into stover, they eat the whole greedily. Dry land suits it best in low places on heavy land, whore the water stagnates, it is likely to lose plant. If the farmer grows the trifolium seed himself, one acre of tares costs him four times the amount of an acre of trifolium and I will point how he may prove himself that one acre of trifolium is worth two of tares. The land on which tares are grown is the fallow, and whether the tares are there or not, the rent, the tithes, and parochial expences must be paid the land also must be ploughed up in the autumn, therefore the only fair charge that can be brought against the tares is the seed. Some agriculturists sow three bushels per acre. I will, however, only reckon 2 at 6s. Gd. per bushel,—13s. Now, let us see what the trifolium will cost. Here is also no extra expense beyond the seed. The average growth of the seed with me has been 15 bushels per acre; if cut when the straw is green, which it may be without injuring the seed, thrashed the next or following day, and the straw immediately stacked, it will pay all the workmanship, when it is also considered that the crop is generally clear from the land the first week in July, leaving the best months of summer for fallowing. £ 0 per acre is a full remuneration to the agriculturists for the crop; this brings the seed to 8s. per bushel, or 2s. per peck; thus the farmer may have an acre of the trifolium by the end of April, for 3s.-less than one- fourth part of the cost of his washy tares. Tares at all times are better physic than food, and in wet seasons they are for horses that which seamen and soldiers desig- nate bad small beer-swipes. As the potato occupies the lowest step of degradation as food for civilized men, so do tares for the brute they are Frenchmen's water soup diluted. As soon as the scarlet trefoil begins to blossom, put two or three horses to it in one yard, and the same number on tares in another; keep them thus a month, no further proof will be necessary of the superiority of i lie trifoliuiii. I will grant it is not so certain a crop as the tares, but what does this amount to > I grow 40 acres of wheat a year and have the same quantity of fallow. If I sow the whole 40 acres with trifolium, and 20 acres fail (very unlikely by the by,) on this 20 acres 1 lose 3s. per acre; the 10 acres that remain will pay me tenfold for the whole. I care nothing about the 20 acres lost, the land is ready for fallow or turnips, as it was ultimately intended. I have had about three waggon loads of trifolium stover per acre, therefore, exclusive of cutting and getting up, it cost me Is. per waggon load, if I lose half the crop as above stated it costs 2s., and I am convinced that the land was not 2d. the worse for it. This is no wild theory it is the experience of eighteen years. If it can be proved that the land is the worse for this green crop then some charge ought to be made against it beyond the price of the seed but I contend it is not. I have grown it side by side with the long fallow, the same with the tares, and I could see no difference in the following crops, except that my clovers were invariably better after the trifolium than a:ter the tares. Do not let the farmer dream he is buying the scarlet trefoil seed this year at 8s. per bushel; if he does, he may well be surprised at finding it £ 2, and cheap too. One peek and a half will give an acre of green food next May worth nearly double the money a second peck and a half, oil- good land will give three waggon loads of stover, the remaining peck will produce from 10 to 12 bushels of seed. The first step towards a good crop is good seed. I have seen bushels of seed soid for trifolium that was not worth its weight in sand; and when the price gets high it floods in from France seeds of all kinds, good and bad, perchance mixed with dodder and other parasites. I have begun cutting the trifolium for the horses on the 14th of May, and for stover the 19tht. This g ives time for turnips, if the land is calculated for them. The" Shade of Picton" in our next. In the speech of the Rev. Thomas Davies, at the din- ner of the Llandovery Agricultural Society, reported in our last, for never equalled by any recorded in history," read SELDOM equalled. We can-iot insert or notice in any way, any commu. nication that is sent to us anonymously but those who choose to address us in confidence will find their con- fidence respected. Neither can we undertake to return any manuscripts whatever. The publication of the Welshman commences on Fri- day morning in time for the Glamorganshire mail, which leaves Carmarthen at eight o'clock.
[No title]
It is rather refreshing to leave behind us imminent war with Austria, monetary panic, railway crisis, fail- ures of large firms, the fall of the public securities, daily accumulating commercial bankruptcy, and the fear that things in the city, bad as they are, have not yet reached the worst- it is rather refreshing, we think, amidst this crash of capitalists and Bank of England directors, to turn for awhile even to the agricultural associations, the members of which meet about this time of the year. Dull affairs to readers as they may be ab- solutely, they are comparatively interesting. Let us then see what our friends are about, and how it'goes with them. The Times, as usual, is facetious at their expense; and, by its felicitous ridicule, succeeds in raising a laugh at the same time down comes a suc- cession of bolts from the thunderer. Reprisals, how- ever, have been resorted to by some of our irate friends but we fear, as must always be the case in an unequal contest, they got the worst of it. The meetings, we lament to perceive, have lost something of their at- traction in some districts. Indeed more than one agri- cultural association are broken up. The Earl of' Arun- del attended the obsequies of his own society, and ob- served on that occasion that the gentleman and farmers did not continue to take that interest in the meeting which they did in its first establishment, and conse- quently the competition had declined. On examining the accounts the committee found that it would be quite impossible to carry it on. This association was not the only one that had declined, for at the West Grinstead Association he found that only 25 were present, an d at Goodwood he was told that only ten were present. He supposed that that which was agreeable a few years ago was not so now, and that the novelty had worn off." His Lordship is quite right in his fact. The causes of the falling off, too, we venture to affirm, may be found in a somewhat different direction from that to which the Times in its cockney crotchets assigns them. Our con- temporary confounds an incidence with a consequence; its propter hoc protection plea cannot be sustained. With deference we submit that the result" now does not show any such thing as that the landlords no longer take any interest in agricultural associations, because they no longer profit by protective or prohibitory duties on corn. The competition of agricultural skill remains as brisk as ever. Mr. Huxtable is making daily dis- coveries. The condition of the labourer is very much as it has been this century. The societies ought to be flourishing. On the contrary, one after another these stars are disappearing from the firmament." In other words the funds of some of the societies are found in- sufficient to maintain them and their meetings, are less popular this present October, than they were some October before. Such seems about the state of things in respect of agricultural meetings generally. But the exceptions to the rule of decadence are numerous enough to afford a hope that, whatever of good there may be in these rural games and gatherings, will survive alike the shafts of satire launched at them, and the false and weak friends who desert a path of public utility, when it no longer subserves to narrow views, or unworthy purposes. The main question now remains :—Are agricultural associations conducive to the interests of the public at large ? That they can be rendered extremely beneficial in a public point of view, we assume is beyond question. That they concern the common weal, it is conceived, not the least informed or most conceited of cockneys will be silly enough to deny. For our part, we are of opinion that they contain in themselves the germ of general benefit. The ostensible object is legitimate, highly laudable, and has for purpose the improvement of an art of all others the most important to a populous nation like England, occcupying comparatively but a small portion of soil available for the means of supplying its accumulating masses with food. It is no valid objection that the rural re-unions re- ferred to do not always display the perfection of good sense, or the excellencies of first-rate oratory. The way in which a petty prize is awarded to the peasant for years of self-denial and poorly requited toil, when contrasted with the premium given to a grazier who has succeeded in making a mountain of fat (fit only for the tallow-tub) of some big-bodied beast wastefully stuffed to repletion-the disproportion, we admit, is ridiculous. But the intention of the patrons is good. It is of use to encourage graziers, feeders, and breeders it is of use to show in public an appreciation too of the peasant's good conduct—although the man's having remained in one place several years, working on in- sufficient wages, and bringing up a large family, as he best may, without swelling the poor's rates of his pa- rish-may, as an incident, be advantageous to the land- lords and rate-payers. We hope our friends the leading landlords and farmers will not be laughed out of their cattle shows and annual meetings. Let the attacks of the metropolitan press be turned to good account. Like other things agricultural associations may be improved in constitution and character. The first step towalds mending our faults is to be sensible of them. We have been made sensible enough of them, for the London papers have never ceased to recapitulate them with a nauseous iteraticn and a no less laudable exaggeration. Declining to follow so bad an example, we will still candidly suggest one or two things that may be im- proved. It is, we think, injudicious at least, to lecture farmers on bad farming and mis-management of stock. Tenant rights ought to precede this task-talk. Depend upon it, fools as farmers may be thought, they do not require any lecture to make them do the best for their interest. The speakers are generally very diffuse on the duties of farmers, but they seldom say much on the subject of what landlords ought to do. It is likewise absurd to dilate on theories which the farmer knows practice will upset. Give the farmers good leases, give the tenants their rights,-that alone will work improve- ment; it will better their condition and beget a desire for useful knowledge. Give the tenants such leases as are described in the following speech of Mr. J. Brother- ton, at the late meeting of the North Derbyshire Agricultural Society. Mr. B. in alluding to the sub- ject of leases, said-" Do not suppose that I allude to those absurd incomprehensible documents, abounding in useless restrictions, and worthy only of an obsolete age, but to those simple, intelligible instructions (too rarely to be met with) which give the tenant credit for common sense and competent skill in the conducting of his business, whilst they preserve intact the just rights and privileges of the landlord. Such a lease, for ex- ample, as that taken by Mr. Skirving, a well-known farmer at Walton, near Liverpool. Some six or seven years ago, this gentleman applied to the owner of his farm for its occupation. The landlord knew that Mr. Skirving was both a man of capital and skill, and as such, he was aware, would not enter on the occupation of the farm without the security of a lease. Accordingly, instructions were given to the attorney to draw one. But when it was presented to Mr. Skirving for perusal, it was so full of ridiculous directions, and more absurd restrictions, that be (Mr. S.) found it would be quite hopeless to attempt to farm under it, and therefore refused to sign it. After a great deal of wrangling and discussion, the landlord at last said—' Then take the farm on your own conditions draw up a lease yourself, j and I vi-ill sign it.' The tenant did so, and instead of a long incomprehensive document, produced a lease of some six or eight lines. He entered upon the farm—and it is now known as the best cultivated farm of the district, and an example to every one who sees it. This, gentlemen, is, the common-sense method of going to WOl k. All that an effective lease requires is a general covenant that a tenant shall keep his land clean, and in a good state of cultivation, with a clause enabling the landlord to determine the lease, if upon arbitration, the tenant shall be declared to have dilapidated his farm." Let the farmers only have justice, and they will be no slower to remunerate their landlord by rent, more regularly paid, than to avail themselves of every method which science unfolds to augment the productive capabilities of the soil. Freedom for the farmers is the thing most wanted, at any rate it is the first thing that should be attended to. Education, skilled labour, improvement in the art of agriculture will follow as natural consequences. It is a just remark that men are sure to outlive their reputation-be it bad or good-if undeserved. The observation is equally applicable to institutions, amongst the least of which we may perhaps number .agricultural associations. Our wish is to see these societies flourish, as flourish they will, if their promoters are only reasonable. The farmers too will flourish with them. Agriculture will become of some account and the associations on which such unsparing obloquy is now cast, will occupy their proper place in the public mind.
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Within the last few weeks we have spoken pretty freely of the kingdoms and states of Continental Eu- rope, and of their Sovereigns. We have spoken of Italy, of Austria, and of France and if we omitted to devote an article to the present condition of Spain, it was not because we had not much to say about her, but because the changes and chances which are constantly occurring in the administration of her government are so anomalous, and the accounts which we receive of them come so thick upon us, that ere the ink which records them has had time to dry we are prepared to learn that the history of the administration on whose acts we have been commenting belongs to the past- that the actors, having strutted their short hour on the stage, have made their bow, and retired. The history of Spain is fraught with interest to him who carefully and thoughtfully peruses the annals of the human family, and is desirous to extract the philo- sophy which a faithful record of the moral features, the conduct, the achievements, and the vicissitudes of na- tional communities discloses. Even at the time when she formed the great battle field of the Romans and Carthagenians, when the rude tribes by which she was peopled formed an immense number of petty states, each of which affected to be independent of all the rest, the two mighty belligerent powers that strove so hard to obtain undivided possession of her were fully cogni- zant of the value of the prize for which they contended. The vast mineral stores which nature had deposited in her many and long Sierras (mountain ridges) were not unknown to the Phoenicians, who were the progenitors of the Carthagenians and that most enterprising and eminently commercial people, to whose skill in and patronage of the arts and sciences mankind are under such obligations, traded to the shores of Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia, and Andalusia, even before the days of Solomon or more than 1000 years before the Chris- tian era. The amount of gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron, which the Tyrian adventurers annually procure. from these provinces appears to have been immense and down to the period when the colossal power of the Mis- tress of the world was for ever crushed by the innume- rable hordes of the northern barbarians that poured in upon her empire, for centuries the Hispanian Peninsula had supplied to Rome nearly the whole of the precious and useful metals which she required, the manufacture and distribution of which brought no small amount of gain to her citizens. Spain also furnished to Rome a large portion of the corn which the wants of her vast population rendered it necessary for her annually to import; and in the days of Augustus the native breeds of the sheep and horses of Spain were in high estimation. Every statistical and topographical account of Spain which we have seen bears witness to her natural fertility, and almost inexhaustible native resources. But with all those resources, together with her delicious climate, her extensive and productive foreign possessions, and her admirable position for rendering her one of the first commercial states and maritime powers in the world, she is wretchedly poor, and ranks only as one of the second or third-rate nations of Europe. Her population, at the present moment, probably falls short of 13,000,000 (in 1836 the Spanish Gazette stated it to be 11,963,000); and yet those who are competent to speak on the subject affirm that her soil and native resources are capable of sustaining in comfort at least 45,000,000, or three and a half times the number of human beings that are scat- tered over her vast surface. That surface extends to 180,000 square miles, and is situated between the 36th and 44th parallels of north latitude. In Andalusia the cotton shrub and the sugar cane may be profitably cul- tivated. The vine, the orange, and the olive, flourish in nearly every part of the country and the capabilities of the soil for producing wheat, maize, barley, oats, pulse, &c., and wool, horses, black cattle, sheep, and swine, are such as would render her, under proper ma- nagpment, one of the most important producing and exporting countries in the world. And yet Spain, with all her vast natural advantages and capabilities, her large extent of territory, her fine navigable rivers, and her admirable position for enabling her to traffic with the whole world, is wretchedly fiocr in token whereof she owes this country the enormous sum of eighty millions sterling, and cannot pay even the annual in- terest of the debt. She was once one of the first of the nations of the world, and was great in arts and in arms, great in wealth, great beyond all precedent in the extent of her colonial possessions —ruling supreme as she did over three fourths of the huge territory that stretches from Georgia to Cape Horn-great in all the essentials of a first rate power. How has she, then, undergone such a reverse as to occupy the position which she does at this moment? Her infantry, in the days of Charles V., was the terror of France how has it come to that pass with her that, in 1847, a single individual, in the station of an ambassador from the latter country, can claim the entre of her palaces, and beard the sovereign of that country to her face ? (—We beg the Duke of Glucksburg's pardon for though he may show his beard to Queen Isabella when it suits him, yet the latter, being presumed to be what Statins calls imberbis, cannot possibly be bearded -) What has been the cause, or the series of causes, that reduced the land of the CJD to the ignominious position of crouching at the foot- stool of France, while many of her nobles and officials wear the livery of the crafty old man who is styled King of the French ? Reader, of Spain as of Ireland it may truly be predicated that she is a land which God as regards her native capabilities hath blessed, and which man hath cursed. For upwards of two centuries, compared to what she was in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, who did themselves honour by bestowing on the illustrious Columbus that patronage which he had in vain solicited from our Henry VII., and also from the Genoese and Venetians, the fortunes and influence of Spain have been on the wane. Under the despotic rule of the imbecile and priest-ridden kings, while most of the other European States have advanced in the march of national greatness and prowess, she has retro- graded. Well does the wise man say, Woe to thee, 0 land, when thy king is a child." For centuries the kings of Spain, in respect of intellect, and the use which they made of such mental powers as they pos- sessed, were mere children. With them a crown and sceptre were but glittering playthings, and not symbols of the awful responsibilities that rested on them as the centre of law, on whose wise or unwise rule depended the prosperity and happiness, or the misery and wretch- edness, of millions. And these sapient and puissant monarchs were petticoat-ridden at well as priest-ridden and where a conclave of females and shaven crowns direct the councils of a nation it icquires no wonderful degree of sagacity to form a correct notion of the condition of the people. Gold and silver became so plentiful among the higher orders after the con- quest of Mexico and Peru, that the man who did not dine off plate was reckoned nobody and history tells us that a certain Cardinal Archbishop of Seville had in his princely palace sixteen silver ladders for the purpose of enabling as many of his two hundred and forty liveried servants to clean, and arrange on shelves, the five hun- dred thousand pounds-worth of plate which his most reverend eminence possessed But the sloth, volup- tuousness, and general corruption of manners which the influx of the precious metals superinduced upon all classes in Spain were some of the principle causes of the deterioration of her national character, and of the degraded position which she occupied when Buonaparte placed his brother on her throne, and when, in order to assert her independence, she was fain to appeal to the generous sympathy of a people whom her ghostly guides had taught her to view as accursed heretics. Imbecile, bigoted despotics, and priest and women- ridden kings, an ignorant, a licentious, and a tyrannical nobility, and a huge army of lazy, sensual, knowledge- hating, fanatical, and rapacious priests—these were the parties to whom Spain owes, and for centuries has owed, her decadence from the commanding eminence on which her nationality once rested. And how fares it with this splendid country at the present moment ? A youthful female sovereign wears its crown, and an immense majority of its people would gladly, nay enthusiastically, rally round her, and tender her their willing support, if the nobles and priests would but do their part and show themselves pure and zealous patriots. But the priests of Spain, like the priests of other lands, will, as a body, become pure patriots and reformers ad Grecas Kaltndas, or, as Theodore Hook would have phrased it, on the 33d of February, A.D. 9,999." Espartero, during his short but brilliant career, dealt these shaven crowns some hearty and heavy blows but of what he did to crush the dominancy of Rome's militia it may be said with truth, that he did just enough to incur their undying enmity, and far too little to render them powerless, and to secure for Spain what the heroic and strong-minded Knox did for Scotland—a thorough emancipation from spiritual thraldom. When, oh when, shall a Knox appear in Spain ? Of the present noblesse of Spain it is difficult to know what to say. In the days of chivalry and knight- errantry, when the red cross on the right arm was the badge of him who never turned his back on friend or foe, foremost among the brave, and in the front ranks of those who braved the Paynim legions in the Holy Land, were the nobles of Castile, Leon, Aragon, and Navarre. Bold heroes then from England came, From Scotland, and from France: And the noble born Castilian Came couching with his lance. They came, and fought for deathless fame On Acre's pebbled strand; O there was magic in the name Of the far-off Holy Land!" But the days of Spanish chivalry have passed away. At the bidding of a woman, a vile, licentious, and gold- worshipping woman, the modern nobles of Spain, aided by the priests and friars, drove from the country the magnanimous Espartero, while he was doing his utmost to secure to the present youthful Sovereign—then a minor—a safe path to a firmly-established and well- guarded throne. And now, when their young female Sovereign sits on that throne, instead of throwing over her the oegis of their rank, wealth, and influence, a large number of them basely and meanly pander to the sinister policy of the heartless old man who sways the French sceptre, whose infamous policy it is to render Spain an appanage to his family, and her crown a dotation to his second son. But let Louis Philippe know that, while Great Britain remains what she is, neither the Duke de Montpensier nor his descendants will ever be permitted to ascend that throne. Astute and crafty as he is, h cannot blot from history the page which records the fact that twice, within the pre- sent century, did a British army garrison Paris, and twice hurl from the throne of France a far greater man than he who now fills it. During the last five or six weeks, Queen Isabella— thanks to her own firmness and decision of character— has had the support of something like an enlightened and liberal administration, at the head of which is the long-headed and able, but not altogether trust-worthy banker, Salamanca. The Queen had been waited on by Narvaez, who passes in Spain by the name of the dic- tator, armed with full powers by the king of the barricades," and the duchess of Rianzares, (Christina) to name to her a ministry, at the head of which he would no doubt have placed himself. Isabella, who it appears, has a mind of her own, and by no means a weak one either, looked at the list of names which the dictator had been so kind as write out for his royal mistress as worthy to hold the rank of ministers she looked at it, and smiled, begged of the dictator the space of an hour for deliberation, darted an arch smile at his stern countenance, ran away to her boudoir, and at the end of an hour told Louis Philippe and Chris- tina's messenger that she would have nothing to do cither with him or his list. The dictator smiled grimly, bowed and retired; somewhat disposed perhaps, to believe of Queen Isabella what Buonaparte said of another female Bourbon, namely the Duchess of Agou. leme, that" she was the only man (I) of her family." Her Majesty then sent for Salamanca, and charged him with the task of forming an Administration, and the millionaire banker soon succeeded in constructing a cabinet which is likely enough to be as ephemeral as the one that preceded it, (Pacheco's) and to hold together until the plots and machinations of the Tuileries shall upset it; for that the crafty son of Egalite will exert himself to come the artful dodge over" Salamanca no doubt can be entertained. Meantime it is gratifying to have to record of this cabinet, that one of its first acts, and that with the hearty approval of the Queen, was to grant a universal amnesty to every Spanish exile whose sins against the state were merely of a political nature, and did not involve him in any rebellious plots or efforts to place Don Carlos on the throne. This amnesty of course comprehends the Duke de Vittoria, (Espartero) on whom the rank of Senator has been conferred by his Sovereign, accompanied by a pressing invitation to hüD to hasten his return to his native country. But who that has a spark of virtuous and honest feeling within him, can ponder the present situation of the young- female who wears the Spanish diadem and not feel deep pity for her, and still deeper indignation against the artful and hoary intriguer of whose selfish and sordid policy she is the victim, and to whose plots and machi- nations may be traced her sorrows and chief embarrass- ments ? Her people almost adore her, but they sigh for and demand an extension of liberty which, although the Queen would willingly grant, it suits not the policy of the Afrancesado (French) party to permit her to oon- cede ? We rejoice to know, however, that many who are well acquainted with the present state of affairs in Spain are strongly of opinion that the time is not far distant when Isabella will burst the bonds by which she is now tied and bound, and throw herself upon the mag- nanimity of the Progressista party, at the head of which the noble-minded Espartero will place himself. From the heartless and soul less dolt whom, in an evil hour, she was forced to call husband, the laws will then release her and thus may the spell of the Tuileries be for ever broken. Happily we have at Madrid an ambassador who knows his duty, and has the will to perform it. Let Mr. Bulwer tell the young Queen of Spain that, in all her troubles, and in all the vile schemes of the old dotard of the Tuileries by which her peace and happiness are marred, in Britain she shares the sympathy of a Queen and of a people who know how to feci for the injured and oppressed, and to buckler j i them in the hour of distress. We should much like to be within hearing of a two hours' combat between Louis Philippe and Mr. Bulwer while discussing the affairs of Spain, and the causes which have led to her present position.
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE. "'V' CARMARTHEN TOWN COUNCIL. The usual Council Meeting was held on Tuesday, at which there were present:—the Mayor, Aldermen Webb, C. Jones, W. G. Thomas, Councillors H. Lawrence, M. D., W. Simons, C. Brigstocke, J. Adams, B. Jones, T. Richards, G. Davies, D. Evans, and E. B. Jones. Alderman W. G. Thomas was appointed to preside with the assessor at the ensuing election of Councillors for the Western Ward, and Mr. John Williams, saddler, Lammas-street, qualified as assessor. Mr C. Brigstocke called attention to the circumstance that at a former meeting a committee consisting of him- self, Mr. Webb, and Mr. B. Jones, had been appointed to attend with Mr. Goode, at the South Wales Railway Office, in order that a settlement should be arrived at relative to the sum to be paid for the Corporation land required for the purposes of the railway. The Company would take 3 acres, 1 rood, and 16 perches, for which £ 655 was offered as a compensation. He must say that he thought that a very liberal and proper tender, but there appeared to be a private feeling or misunderstand- ing existing between Mr. Goode and Mr. Wilson, the Company's surveyor and valuer, which effectually pre- vented any decision being arrived at, and he (Mr. B.) had left the Railway Office in consequence. The com- mittee had better be left to arrange the matter them- selves. The sum offered was ample, and both Mr. Goode and Mr. Wilson were agreed as to the amount, but' differed as to the mode of computing it. Mr. Gojde wishing it to be stated as 48 years' purchase, whilst Mr. Wilson required other particulars to be mentioned. All this cavilling would not benefit the Corporation, and unless a speedy decision was arrived at, the Company would go to a jury, when if the sum awarded was less than the Company offered, the Council would have to bear all the expenses. As a public body. he was of opinion the Council ought not to suffer the matter to go to a jury. Mr. Geo. Davies said that as they had appointed a sur- veyor, he should like to hear his report. Mr. Brigstocke would also like to hear it, but it had not been brought in. The Town Clerk said that as Mr. Goode had been ap- pointed, it would be abrupt and uncourteous to adopt the step suggested by Mr. Brigstocke. Mr. Goode was from home or he could explain the matter. Mr. Ben Jones said that there was some dispute as to a right of way for the Council across the line. He should object to a crossing over the line, which would place them in the power of the Company, and would in- sist upon having an archway under the line, Several Councillors concurred in the desirability of this. After some further discussion, Mr. John Adams moved that the Committee and Mr. Goode have the power to close with the Railway Company for the sum of £ 655, upon steps being taken to guarantee the right of road. This was seconded by Mr. Simons, and carried unani- mously. The Treasurer attended with the estimate for the ensuing year, and entered into a statement of the financial affairs of the Corporation. It appeared that they had overdrawn their account at Messrs. Wilkins' bank by E678, and their present liabilities (as stated by the Mayor) exceeded £600. A sum of LO)OO beiii,, the last instalment of the rate for the current year would be paid in in the course of next month, which would pay the amount due to the bank, all but E78. The bankers had now positively refused to allow the advance of E500 which he (the Treasurer) was led to expect on a former occasion would be acceded to, and they had raised their rate of interest in consequence of the state of the money market. On the receipt of this information the municipal con- clave looked somewhat aghast, for it became apparent that the Corporation was in what the Yankees would term a fix," for after the payment of the last instal- ment of the rate there would be a balance, (a small one it is true) due to the bankers, and more than E600 due to other creditors, many of whom had already waited six and eight months for their money. The Mayor at length asked in consternation what was to be done, and a long but eloquently expressive silence followed the im- portant query. At length Mr. Richards was asked, whether the bank had positively declined to advance the further sum of jEoOO, and he replied in the affirmative. Another lengthened silence followed, which was broken by the Treasurer observing that E1139 17s. 10d. had been paid from the Borough Fund for the purposes of the New Market. In fact it was the Market that had thus hampered their resources, and the rent had not as yet become available, as it was applied to the repay- ment of the advances made by Messrs. Morris. E500 of the sum he had named had been paid for interest on the Market debentures. Mr. Charles Brigstocke said that by the Market Act, the tolls of the Market should pay for the expenses of the construction and maintenance of the Market as well as the payment of the interest and the principal of the debentures. The Borough Rate ought not to have paid one penny towards the Market, and there was not only an understanding to that effect when the Market was erected, but the Act of Parliament ex- pressly stated such to be the case. He was of opinion that the Auditors could not legally pass the accounts, while so large a sum had been misappropriated. The Treasurer observed that he had only paid the orders of the Council. After some further discussion the following estimate was adopted:- .0 Recorder's salary One year 80 0 0 Police. Do. 303 8 9 Intercstonmortgage. Do. 82 5 6 Inspector Weights and Measures Do. 10 0 0 Serjpants at Iace Do. 10 13 4 Trumpeter Do. 1 0 0 Crier, Court Quarter Sc"ions Do. 10 0 0 Town Crier. Do. 5 0 0 Coroner's salary & probable expences Do. 100 0 0 Treasurer's salary Do. 30 0 0 Town Clerk's do Do. 20 0 0 Sword Bearer's do. Do. 10 0 0 IIallkeepcr's do Do. 5 0 0 Station House Keeper's salary Do. 10 0 0 Police Clothing. Do. 60 0 0 Proportion of borough to the county gaol. Do. 160 0 0 Prosecutions to come Do. 600 0 Po Law Expenses Do. 200 0 0 Coals Do. 20 0 0 Rev. D. A. Williams. Do. 15 0 0 Surgeon of Borough Gaol. Do. 10 0 0 Mr. John Williams, Attorney Do. 6613 4 Surveyor of Roads. Do. 10 0 0 Gas Lights Do. 20 0 « IncidentaI Expenses. Do. 100 0 0 New Water Pipes and Repairs of D°- 200 0 0 BUIldings Do. 200 0 0 E2179 0 11 CORPORATION RENTAL. Horsemead. £ s. d. £ s. d. Mrs. Edwards, Gelly, Llandefeilog 15 10 0 Phillip Phillips, Parkyswn U 0 0 Mr. Alfred Thomas 41 10 0 84 0 0 Lamb Public House. 26 0 0 Ciane and Quay Dues for the half-year ending 29 0 0 29th December, 181/ 20 0 0 100 0 0 Water Pipes ••••; 100 0 0 House and Pound in Lammas-street 2 2 0 Sheriffs Field g 0 0 Coach House under Parade. 0 5 0 f246 7 0 SYNOPSIS. Expendltnre for one year. 2179 0 11 Deduct Rents of Land, Tolls on Markets, (not yet a%-ailabIL) &c. &c. 246 7 0 Thus it was estimated that E2179 Os. lid. would be required for Borough purposes in the ensuing year, and after deducting £ 216 7s., the rental of the Corporation property, the sum of 1;1932 13s. lid. remained to be pro- vided for by a rate. A rate for that amount was ac- cordingly ordered. Mr. Simons said that £ 10 of the yearly salary paid to the Recorder could be saved if the Mayor's present Court was abolished and surrendered up to the Crown. For two years past there had been no business transacted in it, and it was reallv of no use in the world. Mr. Brigstocke said that he had intended to mention this subject, and made a memorandum for that purpose. He thought however they should not act precipitately, and it would be better to give a notice on the subject in order that parties might come prepared to discuss the policy of the proposed change. Mr. Simons then gave notice that,at the next Council meeting the propriety of abolishing the Mayor's Court will be taken into consideration. vacancy in the Priory street Free Grammar School Wife announced. The Mayor observed that he had received repeated applications for a policeman to be stationed in the Lower Franchise. The applications were discarded, because the ac- ceding to them would cause an increase in the force. The consideration of the bills before the Council were postponed until a more favourable state of the finances should enable them to be liquidated. A complaint that fish was allowed to be sold on the Quay instead of in the New Market, and a statement that va- grant boys were in the habit of lurking about the Quay when the Bristol traders were discharging, and ripping open bags of sugar and rice .for the purpose of stealing their contents, was met by instructions to the police to observe increased vigilance. The Council then adjourned. A WATCH COMMITTEE was afterwards held at which T. Burnhill was elected a police constable in the room of Richard Ilennessy, dismissed for exceeding his leave of absence. There were nine candidates for the vacant situation. APPOINTMENT OF MAGISTRATE'S CLERK.—At the meeting of Magistrates for this Borough, held yesterday, at which there were present The Mayor, John Wilson, Esq., Recorder, W. Morris, E. H. Stacey, and J. G. Philipps, Esqrs., the Mayor read a letter from Mr. P. G. Jones, resigning the office of Magistrate's Clerk, and requesting that the justices would be pleased to make such arrangements as they might deem proper previous to the next Petty Sessional meeting (this day.) The Recorder proposed that Mr. Geo. Thomas, solicitor, should be appointed to fill the vacant office, which proposition, meeting the views of the other magistrates present, Mr. Thomas was declared duly elected. In returning thanks for the honour, Mr. Tho- mas hoped that by a diligent discharge of the duties of his office, he should continue to merit the confidence they had placed in him. The usual document con- ferring the appointment was then signed by their worships.
..-..-... ^ I I PAVING AND…
I I PAVING AND LIGHTING COMMISSIONERS. I An adjourned meeting of the Paving and Lightin Commissioners for this Borough, was held yesterday, the Mayor in the chair. The Clerk laid a general, statement before the sioners, showing that their gross revenue for the rc¡¡t ending the 31st of December next, is 92323 7s. 6d. which if there be deducted £ J00 for poor and vacancies there will be a net revenue of JE2023 7s. 6id. Tbe amount collected of the rate to that day was fU56 9- I 34d., but the sum paid into the Treasurer's haD 5 (including the sums realised by the sale of the manlle) was £ 1177 4s. 10,id. The orders on the Treasurer amounted to EIIOI l'2s. 6d., and E100 had been advanced by the Treasurer. The amount to be provided for the claims then due was £ 430 iSs. 4d., and the amount 0 expenses to January 1848 would be t 150. This TvOuld leave the Commissioners without any surplus it was true, but still they would be out of debt, and this for the firS time for many years past. He would impress upon the111 the desirability of keeping out of debt as in the ne Session of Parliament, the Health of Towns Bill woul*' in all probability be passed, which would entail a heavY expense upon the town for the next 6 or 7 years. e Considerable satisfaction was expressed by all the Commissioners at the present prosperous condition 0 f their affairs, but fears were entertained that the prog' nostications of the Clerk respecting the Health of To\fns Bill would inevitably be realised. Geo. Thomas, Esq., solicitor, qualified as a Co&' missioner in the usual manner. He then called attenti011 to the disgraceful state of the drainage in Barne's nof; in consequence of which the roads were invariaW flooded in wet weather and rendered impassable. The Clerk reminded the Commissioners of their restil lution not to commence any new drains until the-passing of the Health of Towns Bill, lest their work shou require to be done twice. E. H Stacey, Esq., complained of the filthy and dis' gusting state of the Church lane, which not only emitte an intolerable stench, but was prejudicial to the health of the neighbourhood. After some conversation, it was ordered to adopt temporary remedy in each case complained of, at a expense not exceeding JEo. Mr. W. Morgan very justly complained that the g lamps were not lighted in the Backway until 7 or n o'clock, which rendered them useless, especially Oil Saturday and Sunday nights. The back parts of the town ought to be lighted before the main streets, wbere the shops rendered gas lights almost unneces:sar): in the earlier peiiod of the evening. After some discussion, Mr. Thomas Lewis agreed tí make all necessary arrangements to meet the wishes 0 the Commissioners and to accommodate the public. A number of bi!ls were then passed after a deduction had been made from a bill for extra gas supplied duriBe one month in the summer. A bill from Mr. P. G. Jones for JE25 16s. 6d., bein# for costs for an indictment against the owners of a dila- pidated house near the old Cross occasioned some coná versation. There were several items in it, which appeare. rather inexplicable, and iNIr. Jones was sent for to eS plain them, Mr. George Thomas observing that E9 of the bill was for costs out of pocket. Mr. Jones, in explaining the matter said that after the indictment had been preferred, Mr. Gwynne of Haver* fordwest, called upon him and agreed to abate the nul^ sance complained of, and upon this he (Mr. J.) droPPla all notion of proceeding with the indictment, believi"9 the affair would be settled amicably. To his astonish ment, however, he received a notice of the intention 0 f the defendants to traverse the indictment, and ,Nlr' Gwynne came to Carmarthen and complained that h Mr. J.) was pushing the matter on. He in reply clared that he had not moved an inch in the mattCr since the receipt of Mr. Gwynne's assurance that the nuisance should be abated. Mr. Gwynne then sa.1 that he had received a letter from Mr. Henry LewIs, stating that unless the defendants appeared to plead tfr the indictments, bench warrants would be issued to apprehend them, and bring them as prisoners to Cay* marthen. This letter he (Mr. J.) had now in his possession, and he declared that Mr. H. Lewis had rlo instructions for writing it, and he supposed he wanted to put costs in his pocket. He had paid Mr. LewtS E5 18s. costs, and he believed the whole affair would not have cost more than £10 if the defendants had not traversed the indictment under the impression that bench warrants were to be issued. All the expense9 subsequent to the bill of indictment being found, were incurred in consequence of Mr. Lewis's letter. After a brief conversation," in which considerable silrl prise was expressed by Mr. Lewis Morris, Mr. Georg Thomas, Mr. W. Morgan, and other Commissioners that Mr. Lewis should without authority have written to defendant's attorney, the bill was ordered to be pa? and the meeting adjourned. THE SUPPLY OF WATER in Lammas-street and throughout the Western Ward, is now and has been during the whole of the past summer, miserably ineffi' cient. We have received numerous complaints UPOO the subject, and deem it proper thus to call the atten- tion of the Municipal authorities to the matter, in order that so lamentable an evil as the want of an ample- supply of so important an ingredient of man's comfort and necessities may be promptly and effectually remedied. CARMARTHEN POLICE.—Before the Mayor and E. If. Stacey, Esq. George Brown was committed to the House of Correction for 14 days for tearing up his clothes in the Union Workhouse. Mr. George Cott"ell was summoned upon an information charging him with having sold game without having previously provide" himself with a license to do so. William Lewis, VIIs also charged with a similar offence. It appeared, hoO' ever, that both parties had since taken out gaple licenses, and Mr. Corbett, the Surveyor of Taxes, kindly allowed the information to drop on condition of the defendants each paying 6s. his costs, and 6s. the gistrate's Clerk's costs. This having been do-- the complaints w<?re dismissed, the magistrates that Mr Corbett had acted with great leniency all a kindness, as if the charge had been pressed, the penalty for each offence was £ 20, and the bench had no power to mitigate that sum. Jo/in Harris was charged by P.C. John Davies, with assaulting him on the preceding evening whilst in the execution of his duty, and was fined 10s. and 4s. 6d. costs. John Jones was committe to the House of Correction for seven days for refusing to break stones in the Union Workhouse. On Monda), IJacid Rees, a farmer, was charged by Serjeant F. HeeS, with having been drunk and disorderly at 3 o'clock the preceding morning in Lammas Street. Having been confined in the station house, he was discharged with caution. Evan Evans, was charged by Esther Evans, his mother, with being drunk and disorderly and thread tening her life. The complainant did not appear and the defendant was discharged. D. Thomas, charged itti being drunk in King Street, was reprimanded and dil- charged. Dennis Morris, a railway labourer, was on Tuesday fined El and 5s. 6d. costs for being drunk and assaulting P.C Birch, on the previous night On Thurs- day, Rachel Thomas, a pauper, was committed to the House of Correction for 7 days, for disorderly behaviour in the Union Workhouse. COALS BY WEIGHT.—It is not generally known, but the intelligence cannot be too extensively diffused, that by an Act of Parliament passed in the year 1836, any person vending coal by any other method than by weight, is liable to a penalty of £10. Now that Car- marthcn is furnished with that very useful article, a weighing machine, there can be no excuse for any dl" viation from the strict letter of the law. THE CAKMAUTHEX MONTHLY MARKET was held on Wednesday last. The number of prime fat beasts was but small, prices ruled from 4 Jd. to Gd. according to qua- lity sinking offal. The shew of sheep and lambs of all descriptions was unusually large, and a great many were sold at high prices; pigs were also in demand at late- rates. We consider that this so mnch desired mart IS 's so much desired ti?art is now fully established, and that much benefit will result from it to the neighbourhood at large. CATTLE FAIR.— Abergwilly fair was held on the 2nd I Brechfa on the 4th, and Cayo on the 6th inst. The shew of small store cattle was a very large one at all those fairs. Very few were sold and those at still lower rates than of late horses, sheep, and pigs, continued in fair demand at stationary priu s. THE SALE OF STOCK AT DOLGABREG, the seat of Charles Bishop, Esq., took place on Friday last, and passed off in an extremely satisfactory manner. Mr. George Goode being the auctioneer, and the stock being of a very superior description, "s a necessary con- sequence the attendance of purchasers was large and the competition brisk, so that good pi ices repaid the care of the breeder and the skill of the auctioneer. SOUTH WALES RAILWAY.—It is we believe the intention of the South Wales Railway Company, to alter the western terminus of their line from Fishguard to St. David's Head. It has been ascertained that at least two hours will be saved in the communication with Ireland by this arrangement, while an equally efficient roadstead can be secured. A 'marine survey of the channel in the neighbourhood of St. David's Head is now proceeding under the direction of the Companf8 engineersand surveyors, and it is stated that power to make the intended diversion will be applied for in the next Session of Parliament. THE GREAT SOLAR ECLIPSE.-An eclipse of the sun will take place to-morrow morning, which will be annular to the whole of South Wales and partial to North Wales. It will present to observers out of the annular zone all the varieties of the crescent phase. The distance of the moon from the earth will be 255,000 miles. The length of the moon's shadow will be 231,000 miles, ending in a point 24,000 miles above the earth. At that time the sun and moon will be nearly over the islands called Sechelles in the Indian Ocean. Mr. Hind, the astronomer, writing to the Times thus cal- culates the period of the appearance of the eclipse at various places, the first column containing the com- mencement of the annular phase, and the second co- lumn indicating its duration :— h. m. s. m. s. Brighton 7 23 17 a.m 5 23 Bristol. 7 13 14 4 46 Cardigan. 7 5 25 3 30 Dorchester. 712 31 6 11 I)() ver 7 31 18 2 49 Exeter. 7 7 37 2 49 Falmouth 7 0 21 o 56 Gloucester. 716 36 1 59 Greenwich 7 27 18 1 12 Lannceston 7 3 34: 623 London (Itegcnt's-park).. 7 26 22 0 38 Plymouth. 7 4 25 6 19 Portsmouth 7 18 47 5 45 Reading. 721 27 3 35 Salisbury 7 16 8 5 35 S,vansea 7 7 17 5 2 Winchester 714 24 5 12 The beginning of the partial phase will not be genei, rally visible in this country, but the end may be ob- served throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. The eclipse will be annular in the north of France and Italy, in Turkey, Asia Minor, the Persian Gulf, part of Hindostan and Cochin China and more or less visible through Europe, the greater part of Asia, and the noitk of Africa.