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    Aug. 10, 1850.] ®|j * &£*&**? 4$l

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    THE TENANT-RIGHT CONFERENCE. The sitting...

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    THE NEW AMERICAN PRESIDENT. The papers r...

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    THE NICARAGUA SHIP CANAL. The recent acc...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Official Salaries. The Select Committee ...

    Lord , and the Secretary . The office of Master of the Mint is recommended to be discontinued as a Parliamentary office , and its duties performed by a responsible officer under the direction of the Treasury . With regard to the Chief Secretary for Ireland , the committee recommend that in case the contemplated changes in the local Government are not made , the salary of this office should be reduced from £ 5500 to £ 3000 ; the reduction to take effect at the next vacancy , or , in case of no vacancy , at the close of the present Parliament . In the department of the Poor-law Board , the Chief Commissioner of which receives £ 2000 , and the two Secretaries £ 1500 each , the latter only are proposed to be reduced to £ 1000 .

    In the salaries of judicial officers the committee recommend the adoption of the following scale of remuneration : —Lord Chancellor , £ 8000 ; Master of the Rolls , £ 6000- ; Vice-Chancellor of England , £ 5000 ; second Vice-Chancellor , £ 5000 ; Masters in Chancery , each £ 2000 ; Accountant-General , £ 2000 ; Chief Justice of Queen ' s Bench , £ 7000 ; ditto Common Pleas , £ 6000 ; Chief BaTon of Exchequer , £ 6000 ; 12 Puisne Judges , each £ 5000 . It is

    understood that the office of the Vice-Chancellor is to be abolished on the first vacancy . The retiring allowances of the judges , it is proposed , should be adjusted in proportion to the above scale . In reference to the large emoluments of the law advisers of the Crown , only a general recommendation for their reduction is made , and it is suggested that the Attorney and Solicitor General might be paid , without detriment and with a saving to the public , by a fixed salary

    instead of fees . The whole system , of the office of Accountant-General is referred to as requiring general revision , and the delays prevailing in the offices of Masters in Chancery are pointed to as easy of removal . These reforms would lead to economy , and give relief to equity suitors . The vigilant attention of the Board of Treasury is recommended to be drawn towards the enormous expenses of legal proceedings in behalf of the public , with a view to their reduction . All fees on appointment to office are recommended to be abolished . With respect to diplomatic salaries , the committee recommend that it should be proposed to the Governments of France and Turkey to convert the

    present embassies exchanged with those countries into first-class missions ; that a single mission at some central point in Germany should be substituted for the several missions now existing at Hanover , Dresden , Stuttgard , Munich , and Frankfort ; that the mission at Florence should be united with one of the Italian missions ; that no diplomatic salary should exceed £ 5000 per annum , exclusive of allowance for residence ; that the salaries of the whole diplomatic service should be revised with reference to this proposed maximum , and the relative importance of the various missions , the latter being united when possible , and in some cases consuls or consular agents substituted .

    The committee conclude by recommending that an investigation should be instituted next session into the consular establishments , which they have not had time to enquire into .

    Aug. 10, 1850.] ®|J * &£*&**? 4$L

    Aug . 10 , 1850 . ] ®| j * & £ *&**? 4 $ l

    The Tenant-Right Conference. The Sitting...

    THE TENANT-RIGHT CONFERENCE . The sittings of this important convention commenced on Tuesday morning in the City Assemblyhouse , Dublin . The attendance was extremely numerous , and included a strong muster of Roman Catholic and Presbyterian clergymen . Dr . M'Knight , editor of the Banner of Ulster , was called to the chair . After some discussion on routine matters , the Conference proceeded to the consideration of the report of the revision committee . Considerable discussion took place on the various paragraphs , and ultimately the following resolutions were passed : — " That a fair valuation of rent between landlord and tenant in Ireland is indispensable . "

    "That the tenant shall not be disturbed in his possession so long as he pays the rent fixed by the proposed law . " " That the tenant should have a right to sell his interest , with all its incidents , at the highest market value . " " That where the rent has been fixed by valuation , no rent beyond the valued rent shall be recoverable by any process of law . " ?• That cases of minors and other exceptional cases bo considered hereafter in any measure to be introduced into Parliament . "

    *• That it be an instruction to the League to take into consideration , at the earliest possible period , the condition of farm labourers , and suggest some measure for their permanent protection and improvement , in connection with the arrangement of the question between landlord and tenant . " " That an equitable valuation of land for rent should divide between the landlord and tenant the net profits of cultivation in the same way as profits would be divided between the partners in any other business where one of them is a dormant partner and the other the working capitalist who takes upon him the whole risk . " After passing these—a very good day ' s work—the Conference adjuurnod till next day . WHAT TO DO WITH LAND . A letter from Miss Martincau , in the Morning

    Chronicle , contains an interesting account of a highly successful effort at farming on a small scale , by which she has been enabled to maintain two cows on about an acre and a quarter of land . Her object in making the experiment is sufficiently explained in the following passage : — " What I want to gain is not pecuniary profit , but comfort , while , at the same time , I cannot afford to lose by my experiment . There are months of the year ( and exactly the months when my friends come to see me )

    when I cannot be sure of being able to buy enough of meat , milk and cream , and vegetables for my table ; and the vegetables , and milk and cream can rarely be had good at any season of the year . If , without loss , I can provide myself with hams and bacon , fowls and eggs , vegetables ( except winter potatoes ) , butter and cream , I shall be amply satisfied , as far as considerations of the purse go . A much higher consideration is , that , if I can make my plan succeed , it provides for the maintenance of two honest people , who might otherwise have had no prospect but of the workhouse in their old age , and in all seasons of pressure meanwhile .

    "My land amounts , in the whole , to less than two acres and a quarter ; and , of this , part is mere rock , and a good deal is occupied by the house and terrace , the drive , and some planted portions . A year and a half ago , a little more than an acre of it , in grass , was let for £ 4 10 s . a-year , to a tenant who kept a cow upon it . This tenant never took the slightest care of the pasture , and it became so lumpy and foul a . 3 to be an eyesore from the house . I paid more than six guineas a-year to an

    occasional gardener , who could not even keep things neat in the time he gave to it , much less render my ground productive . If I wanted a ham , I had sometimes to pay £ 1 for it , and for eggs I paid during three months of the year Id . a piece . I never saw cream worthy of the name , and had to get butter from a distance . In the midst of this state of things , it occurred to me that it might be worth trying whether my land would not produce such comfort as I wanted , without increased

    expense . " Having satisfied herself that the experiment was worth a trial , she sent for a good labourer out of Norfolk , there being a scarcity of hands in her own neighbourhood , and bought two cows and a pig , to the great astonishment of her neighbours , who laughed at her for proposing to do so much with so small a piece of land ; the rule of the district being , to allow three acres of land to one cow . They said she was paying 6 d . a quart for her milk ; and that , so far as regarded economy , the experiment would be a faihire . How far their prophecies were fulfilled we leave any one to judge from the following statement of what was done by the well-directed industry of one man , on a farm of less than two acres : —

    " We laid out too much of our ground for household vegetables , having had a surplus after the following supply : —Fine green peas—from the 12 th of June till the middle of September — peas , lettuces , radishes , spinach , turnips and carrots , and onions , enough for the whole winter—five or six stone of early potatoes , vegetable marrow , a few cucumbers , abundance of cauliflowers , broccoli , and cabbages , and plenty of rhubarb and gooseberries . A strawberry bed is laid out , too , and we are to have plenty of apples , and pears , and cherries , and damsons hereafter . We used enough green vegetables for a family of five persons for the whole summer and autumn . " The average yield of the cows is about ten quarts of butter week

    per day each , i . e ., about four pounds per . The skimmed milk is eagerly bought , being as good as I used to buy for new milk . The buttermilk improves our bread and cakes very much , and the pig has what we do not use . The cows give sixteen quarts per day for some time after calving , and are dry for about three months before . One cow calved in October , and we sold the calf ( a cow-calf ) for a guinea at the end of a fortnight . The same cow is to calve again in September , and the other in May , and thus a continued supply of milk is provided for . We kill two pigs in a year , and , selling half each time , get our hams and as much bacon as we want for little or nothing . What we have to buy is three barrels of Indian meal in a year ( at an average of sixteen

    shillings each ) , some of which we use ourselves for puddings and cakes , and which goes far towards feeding the fowls ; a few trusses of wheat-Htraw after harvest ( when it is cheapest ) to chop and mix with the cows ' boiled , turnip-food in winter , a few pennyworth of grains per week , and two or three loads of turnips after Midsummer , and perhaps a little ( but a very little ) hay . As I consider that the cows maintain the rnan , this expenditure is all that I have to make in return for our large supply of vegetables , pork , bacon , and hams , eggs , and a few fowls , our gardening , and the keeping of the whole ground in high order , and , moreover , through the good nature of my excellent servant , our window-cleaning and coal-shifting . "

    Of course a great deal of the success of such an experiment must depend on the character of the man who has to do all this work . Miss Martineau was fortunate in having , an she says , " uman of extraordinary industry and cleverness , as well as rigid honesty . " But these are qualities which may all bo cultivated greatly by holding out a strong inducement to the labourer . How much this must have operated in the present instance is evident from what Miss Martineau fcuys : —

    « ' His ambition is roused , for he knows that the success of the experiment mainly depends on himself . Heis living in comfort , and laying by a little money , and he looks so happy that it would truly grieve me to have to aive up ; though I have no doubt that he would immediately find work at good wages in the neighbourhood . His wife and he had saved enough to pay their journey

    hither out of Norfolk . I give him 12 s . a week all the year round . His wife earns something by occasionally helping in the house , by assisting in my washing , and by taking in washing when she can get it . I allow hei the use of my washhouse , copper , & o ., on condition thai the copper is kept clean for the boiling of the cow-food in winter . I built them an excellent cottage of the ston ^ of the district , for which they pay Is . 6 d . per week . Thej know that they could not get such another off the premises for £ 5 a-year . " We are glad to see that Miss Martineau has turned her excellent practical understanding to this branch of rural economy , and we trust that she will see its connection with * certain questions in political economy which still require elucidation , and which she is so well qualified to elucidate .

    The New American President. The Papers R...

    THE NEW AMERICAN PRESIDENT . The papers received from America this week contain the official appointment of President Fillmore ' s Cabinet , which fully bears out the anticipations formed last week . The prevalent idea is that its policy willbe so shaped as to give confidence to the public and settle the slavery question definitively . The difference appears now to be narrowed down as to what shall be the boundary line between Texas and New Mexico . In this there is a marked resemblance to the famous Missouri compromise , where the great principle was brought down into subjection to a line of latitude . The following are the parties appointed : —

    The Hon . Daniel Webster , of Massachusetts , Secretary of State . W . A . Graham , of North Carolina , Secretary of the Navy . James Pearce , of Maryland , Secretary of the Interior . Mr . Crittenden , Attorney-General . Mr . Edward Bates , of Missouri , Secretary of War . Thomas Corwin , of Ohio , Secretary of the Treasury . Mr . Hale , of New York , Postmaster-General .

    The Nicaragua Ship Canal. The Recent Acc...

    THE NICARAGUA SHIP CANAL . The recent accounts from the United States announce the departure from New York of the steamer Director , for the navigation of the San Juan river , in connection with the steamer Nicaragua , which will ply upon the lake of that name , thus marking a new era in the condition of central America . The preparations for establishing a regular communication between the two oceans are now nearly completed . The first route will be that from San Juan , on the

    Gulf side to the Bay of San Juan del Sur , on the Pacific . The Director , which is a boat of 120 tons burden , and calculated to carry 400 passengers , will run from the port of San Juan to the Castillo Viejo , a distance of fifty miles , where she will be met by the Nicaragua , which will convey travellers to the ancient city of Granada , on Lake Nicaragua , and within fifteen miles of the Pacific . The carriages for the last part of this route are now being made in Newark , New Jersey . The elevation to be overcome by the road is but 1000 feet . The New York Courier and

    Enquirer thinks it probable , however , that in the beginning of the enterprise the port of Iiealejo will be made the terminus of the line on the Pacific side . Howard and Sons' steamers , as well as those of Laws ' line , on the Pacific side , will hereafter touch at Kealejo , and the ships of the former company on the Gulf side will run to San Juan , where they will connect with the river steamers of the Nicaragua company . It is expected that the line through to San Francisco will be in operation in less than two months , when , the voyage from New York to California will be shortened by about six days .

    The next advance in this undertaking will be the construction of the Nicaragua Ship Canal , which is now in a fair way of being started at least . A very complete set of maps and drawings of the ground over which the canal will pass is stated to have been made by Mr . Squier , the United Status charg 6 d ' affaires to Central America , who is now in Now York , and who is said to have devoted much , attention to the subject during his residence in Nicaragua . Among these is a panorama of the country between Lake Managua and the Pacific at Itecilcjo—a level tract of forty-five miles in length—in which the

    elevation to be overcome is only seventy-three feet , and the cutting of this depth would be little more than half a mile in extent . The . preferable route , however , would appear to be that leading northward from Lake Managua to the Estero Real , an estuary or inlet from the Gulf of Fonscca , by which , the lino of canal would bo of the same length , as to Realejo , whilst the highest elevation is but fifty feet . Another marked advantage is , that while the harbour of Kealojo , though secure , is very small , the Gulf ot Fonsecu , according to all accounts , "would ' float the navies of the world . " Its entrance from , the sea is

    guarded by two lofty volcanoes , between which rise throe island cones from the water , leaving deep channels between . Inside of these opens the spacious gulf , in the centre of which , another volcanic cone , rises the island of Tigre , about which so much has been said of late . The situation of this island , as commanding the finest harbour of Central America , and the probable terminus of the Atlantic and Pacific Canal , gives it a political value which -was . perhaps ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 10, 1850, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10081850/page/5/