Zbe Vrobinces.

s. d. a. (1, s. d.

70 0 2 8 10 8 69 0 1 0 13 8 68 6 1 0 16 8 Mr. Christopher threw out a suggestion, with a view of eliciting in- formation ; for " there is no very simple or very effective mode of curing this evil "-

" I believe that the most simple mode would be, to exclude all the head- quarters of large consuming-districts, such as Wakefield, London, Liverpool, Hull, &e., from making any return to the head office in London of the sales which took place in such places. I think, too, it both necessary and proper that the averages should be made jointly by the buyer and seller in every mar- ket-town throughout the United Kingdom."

Some objections to this plan were met-

" By taking the averages from the grower, we should incur certainly the im- putations which we now direct against the corn-factors and millers, of entering into combination as agriculturists to regulate the averages : but, gentlemen, I do not think that that objection could practically apply to us, because it is well known to you all that the operations of the agriculturists are extended over a large sphere. It is impossible for the farmers at the market in Lincoln to com- bine with .the market at York, or at Haddington in Scotland, with the view of keeping up the prices or depressing the averages. It is well known, that with the single exception of men of large capital and large occupiers, in the course of the year the great mass of corn must be gradually brought to market to pay the rent, the labourers' wages, and the necessary outgoings of the farm; so that any thing like a combination among the agriculturists is absurd." With respect to the precise mode of taking the averages, Mr. Chris- topher had " received from a gentleman who is in communication with the Government a very simple and effective method"— "The gentleman in question proposes that in every county-town an average office should be established, and ' that each office should be furnished with a double set.of blank books for each kind of grain, of which returns are required to be made, entitled respectively, " Wheat," " Barley," &c. Into these the returns made should be pasted, according as they are made, by producers or dealers—each sort in its respective book. From the producer's return the aver- age should be made oat, once a week, or as often as may be determined upon, and sent to the general average office in London. The advantages of this plan would be, that much time and labour in writing will be saved at the offices, and the original returns will be effectively preserved in the handwriting of the par- ties malting them ; and the returns of the dealers will serve as a check on those of the producers, so as to prevent the possibility of fraud in any case sufficient to influence the market. Producer's and dealer's cheek-book, ruled according to prescribed forms, with printed directions on one side of the first leaf, and ex- amples of the necessary forms on the other, would be easily procured, as also envelopes with directions, all printed, except the name of the county.'" Mr. Christopher then came to the question of the scale of duty. He quoted returns to show that the price had varied less in England than on the Continent ; a circumstance which fortified them in upholding the principle of the present Corn-laws, as advantageous to the consumer as well as the producer. The present scale of duty, however, promoted a gambling sort of trade. Whenever wheat is 62s. and under 63s., the duty is 248. 8d. ; and at each rise of is. in the price, the duty falls is., Mr. Christopher, the Member for the Parts of Lindsey in Lincoln- shire, paid a visit to his constituents on Friday, at Lincoln, and they en- tertained him at dinner. Among the company were fifty-six farmers, occupying and working 36,800 acres of land. Mr. Thomas Brailsford took the head of the table. Mr. Christopher's speech of thanks, after he had unburdened himself of a few sarcastic remarks on Mr. Handley, was devoted to the Corn-laws. The people, (addressed by Mr. Chris- topher in the second person, as " you,") he observed, had had two pro- positions before them, Mr. Villiers's, for the entire repeal of the law, and that of the late Government, for a fixed duty of 8s. Both had been rejected, as being at variance with the best interests of the country. But since that time a very material circumstance had occurred, and Parliament could no longer resist the discussion of the subject ; for the Address complying with the recommendation of the Queen's Speech to make inquiry, had been supported by many gentlemen who had always professed themselves desirous of maintaining agricultural protection. Here Mr. Christopher said, that he understood Lord Worsley, who had presented the Address, now objected to all alteration except in the mode of striking the averages : but how, after voting for the Address, could he refuse all inquiry ? By inquiry, Mr. Christopher meant " a fair, calm, and dispassionate inquiry into the whole of these laws ": inquiry into the averages would be a mere mockery ; that part of the matter alone might be settled by at once bringing in a bill. It would, how- ever, never lead to a settlement of the question, any more than the Whigs, if they had returned to power, would ever have allowed a settle- ment of the question by a moderate duty, or even a fixed duty of 8s. ; for no such Government could be formed without an understanding between Lord John Russell and the Anti-Corn-law League, and the total repeal of the laws would follow. From the principle of the existing laws Mr. Christopher was not prepared to sanction any departure ; but he thought it was their duty and interest, under a favourable Government, to en- tertain the question with a view to remove whatever is objectionable, and to retain whatever is essential to the maintenance of British agri- culture. He disclaimed, however, the being what Mr. Handley had called him, a pilot-balloon to Sir Robert Peel. The first thing that struck him as requiring alteration was, the very fictitious mode of taking the averages ; which, in conjunction with the low duty, gives great en- couragement to persons of speculative and dishonest habits to embark in the corn-trade : " under the present system, dishonest men are the only parties who reap any benefit." This position Mr. Christopher illustrated by returns of averages which he held in his hand, from Wake- field, for the 29th July, 19th August, and 2d September. Quoting the prices in detail, he showed that the average returned was uniformly higher than the real average of prices in the market. In July, for in- stance, the lowest price of wheat was 60s., the highest 74s., the mean ear proper average 70s., the average returned 76s. sp. The effect in lowering the duty, below the amount which the real averages would have given, is shown in the following table—

Average True Duty Proper returned. average. charged. duty.

s. d.

July 30 72 64 August 19 76 101 September 2 74 1

until the price is 70s., when the duty is 10s. 8d. : at each rise of Is. from this point the duty falls successively to 6s. Sd., 2s. 8d., and Is. Every person buying wheat at 25s. or 30s. in foreign ports, by entering into combination with persons who have the control of the market, en- deavours to sell it at 73s., and so to pay Is. instead of 10s. Sd. duty. " 1 should be happy to see a more regular scale—should be glad if we pos- sessed a sliding duty, in preference to the present jumping duty. I think it would be a very desirable thing to regulate these duties so as to have a maxi- mum and minimum duty : whatever that maximum duty might be, it should be levied when the price reaches 50s.; the minimum should be levied when the price reaches 65s. By the present scale, we undergo a great deal of obloquy from the superfluous protection which we receive. For instance, when the price falls as low as 50s., the duty is 36s. 8d. ; 40s., is 46s. 8d. ; and at 36s. is 538. Sd., being actually more than the price of the corn. Now this fact ren- ders us liable to a great deal of obloquy. Here is 150 per cent levied on the food of the country without the agriculturist deriving any benefit. It appears to me that when prices fall so low in this country as 508., 40s., or 30s., it arises, not from an immense importation of foreign corn which we therefore seek to check by an extravagant duty, but from the great production that takes place in this country; and in these periods we are competing with each other instead of with the foreigner." To prove this, Mr. Christopher cited returns of average prices in England, Dantzic, Rotterdam, and Hamburg, in the years of English abundance, 1833-6 : had wheat been imported then, allowing 20s. for duty and Gs. for freight, the prices would have stood thus—

England. England. Rotterdam.

s. s. d. s. d.

Hamburg.

1833 49 52 0 52 0 51 0 1834 40 51 0 56 0 47 0 1835 36 46 0 52 9 46 9 1836 36 47 10 53 7 47 1 Mr. Christopher thought a minimum duty of 5s., to be imposed when the price reaches 65s., would satisfy all : with respect to the maximum, he could not say whether it ought to be 20s., 25s., or 30s., until he had more authentic information.

An Anti-Corn-law meeting was held in the Guildhall at Bath, on Monday, at which there was a coalition, said to have been the result of a previous bargain, between the " Whig-Radicals " and the Chartists ; the former having stipulated to be allowed to carry their petition, on condition that the Chartists were in turn allowed to declare their own opinions by resolution. The joint resolutions declared for repeal of the Corn-laws, and for "a full, fair, and entire representation" of " all classes of the people " in the House of Commons, as the only means of "over- coming the selfishness of the Monopolists." The resolution forming the first half of this declaration was moved by the Reverend Thomas Spencer, of Hinton Charterhouse, and seconded by Admiral Gordon ; the latter half by Mr. Henry Vincent and Mr. Philp. About two thou- sand persons were present. Thanks were passed to the Mayor for granting the use of the hall, and to Mr. William Hunt, the late Mayor, for his able conduct as chairman on the occasion.

A meeting was held in the County Hall at Northampton, on Thurs- day week, to congratulate the Queen and Prince Albert on the birth of the Prince of Wales. The address was moved by Earl Spencer ; who made the significant remark, that he should display very bad taste if he were to enter upon any political subject. He was not deterred, how- ever, from observing, that it was an advantage to the country that the Crown should be held by a Sovereign unconnected with any foreign state ; for England had derived no benefit from the connexion with Hanover, but only inconvenience, being obliged to enter into the quarrels of the weaker German state. Mr. Harrison, a Chartist, rose to move an amendment, which comprised a prayer for the pardon of Frost, Jones, and Williams. The amendment was declared to be nega- tived ; an announcement that produced a great disturbance among the Chartists. The original address was put and carried in dumb show ; and the meeting was dissolved. The Chartists, however, staid behind, moved their own chairman, and carried their own addendum.

Lord Howick having been asked to contribute towards a subscription for four Sunderland pilots, who lately lost their boats, replied, by letter- " I regret that having., in conformity with the advice of my principal friends in Sunderland, determined to make a general rule of not contri- buting, as Member for the borough, to any of the subscriptions for local objects which are from time to time raised in the town, I must now beg to be excused from any pecuniary contribution towards making good the loss of these poor men ; for which, however, I am sincerely sorry."

We have received, at too late an hour for insertion in our present number, a report of a speech delivered by Mr. Fielded, M.P., at Tod- roorden, in reference to an anonymous letter, in which a threat of as- sassination is conveyed against Mr. Fielden or some member of his family ; the ground of offence being that Mr. Fielden's mills are not at present working full time. Mr. Fielden, in an address of some length, enumerated to his people that in the present position of affairs it was more to their ultimate advantage to work short time than long, since to work seventeen hours a day would bring down the money wages of that amount of labour to what they were now receiving for eight hours' labour.—Manchester Advertiser.

A fraud was committed on the Bank of England at Liverpool, last week, to the extent of 1,3301., by a foreigner named Ranyier, by means of forged checks upon a Belgian bank called " La Societe General pour favoriser l'Industrie Nationale." Ranyier is supposed to have gone off to America. The Police have been on the alert to trace a confederate, who was thought to have gone to Leeds ; but he has not been disco- vered.

A murder and robbery were committed on Emma Evans, an old maiden shopkeeper, at Chirk in Shropshire, on the night of Thursday week. She was found lying in the kitchen with her head nearly cut off ; and her shop and house were plundered of all their more valuable contents. The murder has been traced to two men named John Wil- liams and Joseph Slawson ; from whom a publican and his nephew, sus- pecting some wrong, seized a bundle which they carried containing the old woman's property; but the men have escaped for the present.

Two lads endeavoured to rush across the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, at the Newton junction, on Tuesday evening, before an ap-

proaching passenger-train. A pointman called out to warn them of their danger, but too late to stop them. One passed the line in safety : the other jumped right in front of the engine ! he was struck with fright- ful violence ; and his body was picked up, without the legs and the head smashed, thirty-six yards from the spot where he received the blow.

An accident happened on the Birmingham Railway, at Chigington, below Aylesbury, on Saturday afternoon. William Gilley, one of the officers of that line, was coming up as a passenger by the third-class or goods-train. At a short distance from the station, and before the train stopped, Gilley jumped out as the York passenger-train was coming up at the rate of thirty miles an hour : before he could reach the ground, the buffer of the engine caught him, and carried him along to a distance of thirty or forty yards, when he was again hurled on by the front of the engine. He died a few minutes afterwards.

Mr. Ball, brass-founder at Southampton, sent two apprentices, on Monday, to repair a gasometer at the gas-works on the Itchen river. When he went to see how the work was going on, be found one of the lads insensible on the ground, and the other suspended over a reservoir of water through which the gas was passing. In attempting to drag the boy away, Mr. Ball lost his senses, from inhaling the poisonous gas, and relaxed his hold : the boy fell into the water, and remained an hour before he could be got out. Means were used for his recovery, but he was dead. The Jury returned a verdict of " Died from suffoca- tion," and declared, "that Mr. Ball was deserving of censure for suffer- ing. two youths to work in a dreadful atmosphere without causing assistance to be immediately at hand in case of an accident."