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Railway Board , in which it is shown that of fortyone bad accidents during the last official year , ending at Midsummer 1851 , only two were really accidental . ^ . .. The activity failing in polities is swn in science . Eminent archaeologists have been ^ siting Newcastle and its neighbourhood , inspecting antiquities , reading antiquities , and , lunching , with laudable assiduity . A new telescope , at Wancteworth , h $ s made great progress towards placing the heavenly bodies as much within reach of the curious in
London as if the said curious were in Parson stown ; which Lord Rosse has brought so near to the remote constellations . Mr . Hind reports the discovery of a new planet for our own solar system ; but a new planet is a drug to the newspaper-reading public . Discussions on the poison of a toad ' s skin , a plur / nomenon now duly transferred from " vulgar , Wror" to most select science , is expected to throw light on the nature of hydrophobia and other maladies produced by animal poisons . And the coming cholera is not less
gravely discussed ; steadily making way as it is doing through Poland and Prussia , with terrible mortality . For the third time sanitary reformers are urging those who have charge of drainage , and water supply , and other sanitary labours , to prepare for the coming pestilence ; but in vain . The energy gets no further than discussion . Crowded streets , undrained districts , unsluiced drains , bad water , dead bodies amongst the living , are still waiting to prepare us for receiving the pestilence that follows the potato disease ; Commissioners of Sewers , Board of Health , and other public'bodies ,
are still without power to remove nuisances , or to supply the means of health . " Three mulls are a spin : " our public men must have a third visitation of cholera before they can arrive at a comprehension of the fact , that preventive measures are desirable , not only in speeches and pretended " measures , " but in reality and in working order .
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SELF-SUPPORTING FARM OP THE SHEFFIELD UNION . We derive from the Slieffield F > -ee Press the following account of a visit of inspection to the Union Farm , which took place on Thursday week . By invitation of the farm committee of the Sheffield board of guardians , a number of gentlemen connected with the town and neighbourhood of Sheffield , as well as others from more distant places , accompanied the board of guardians on a visit of inspection to the Sheffield union farm at Hollow Meadows , which is situated about six miles west of Sheffield , on the Sheffield and Glossop turnpike road . The object of the visit was to inspect the domestic arrangements , to take a survey of the growing crops mid of the field operations of the labourers , and at the same time to receive the farm committee ' s rejxM-t . The number of gentlemen present on the occasion was about sixty . Amongst them were Viscount ( iodcricli , M . l \ , a member of the Poor-law Association ; the Rev . S . J . Lyon , incumbent of Moorficlds , Sheffield ; Messrs . Groves , Saunders , Atkinson , Crowther , Rhodes , Potter , Unssey , Crossland , and Sparrow , lneinlHM'H of the Sheffield Ixmrd of guardians ; Mr . W . V . Dixon , ex-incnibor of the lx > urd ; Mr . Watkinson , the union cleric ; Mr . Rogers , the governor of the workhouse ; Messrs . Stead and Grealiam , a deputation from the- Leeds board of guardians , accompanied by Mr . ' Heckwith , clerk to the guardians ; Mr . Holmes ,
Leeds ; Mr . Oral > troe , Leeds ; Mr . Palmer , ex-mayor of Hull ; Mr . Charles Clarke , Manchester ; Mr . Samuel Mitchell , senior vicc-chniriniui of the Ecclcsall board of guardians ; Mr . . James Willia Dixon , Mr . Stephen Martin ( merchant , « Su ; ., Norfolk-street ) , Mr . ( J . II . Palmer , Mr . Francis Iloole , Mr . James Hay wood , Mr . Skinner ( surgeon ) , Mr . H . Payne , Mr . A Hanson ( surgeon ) , M . H . Scholield , Mr . Munaiutcr , Mr . II . Ifawkslcy , Mr . K . H . Schofield , Mr . K . 0 . liroudhcnt , Mr . A llootli , Mr . F . Millns , Mr . Palfrey man , Mr . M'Turk , Mr . F . . K . Watkinson , Mr . J . Pryor , Mr .
I ' alrickf ( I ' ond-street ) , Mr . Hodgson ( l ' emstonc ) , Mr . S . Saunderson , ju ' n ., Mr . Akeroyd , Mr . Palfreyman , Mr . Miluer , Mr . Oaken ( Victoria-ntreet ) , Mr . Bowltvy ( AUcrcliffi- ) , Mr . Christopher Thompson , M r . C . Thompson ( High-Hired ) , Mr . Fish ( Upperthorpc ) , Mr . . John Wilson ( Fargato ) , Ac . &c "After a lengthened interval wo iiro glad to find the Slii'lliold union farm again inviting public criticitun . Tho experience ) of Una union in bygone y « ar » having very graphically ubown tho need of a more wholosomo and a moro successful lubour toefc than woe afforded by tho
Btonoheap , the oakum fooni , a % ( if the intolerable hand flour - mill , we have frcjju . the firs * organization of the Sheffield union farm bee » anxious to see it so worked out as to realize the tajw ^ ld object of providing a more salutary instrument asa labour test , and q f economizing the poojtr lates . We nave ^ jaifays had bo vqweh faith in the scMeme as to believe it capable of acccwplishmg that important 3 » d , and hence it has been a sousece of grief to us to observe the course of the experimeni obstructed by personal jealousies and party feuds . All , anch peljtjy consideration * Its these wear © reafiredto exebafcfrom tobw , in order t&ajfc we may moi « e clearly discern the progress of an undertaking which , intimately concerns the interests not only of the Sheffield union but of the whole community .
" The simple plan of a land labour test , we believe , has been approved by all who have canvassed the subject , and it is not until the question arises as to how far the princi p le shall be carried that any material difference of opinion arises . Upon that question , however , public opinion in Sheffield is very greatly divided , one party maintaining that the operations of the paupers at the Sheffield union farm ought to be restricted to clearing and reclaiming the wild moorland which stretches far and wide before them a dreary waste , while another class of favourers of the land test would extend the principle a step further and keep a certain breadth of clear « d land in cultivation . A majority of the present board of guardians , if not the whole , it
appears , are of the latter class . Ajid we cannot deny that with these limitations they have the best of the argument . " If the principle of the land-labour test is to Be tried at all , the experiment ought to be made as fairly as circumstances will admit . Now , the mere clearing of land is defective , inasmuch as it affords suitable labour for only one class of persons—the able-bodied , and it necessitates an outlay in wages of superintendents , and other fixed charges , large enough for a more comprehensive system . It must be plain to every one who has thought a moment on the subject , that in the process of clearing there must always be some portion of the land ready for cropping before a sufficient br eadth has been cleared to make it worth while
to sub-lease it to a tenant of the union ; at the same time there must be a constant demand for food for the labourers on the union farm which that cleared land would yield , and which under ordinary management they might produce for themselves at a very cheap rate . Amongst the principal items of fo od at that establishment are milk and potatoes . The reclaimed moorland grows potatoes ' kindly , ' as it is termed , and it affords good pasturage for cows . It must require some strong reasons , then , to prove that it would not be right to put that machinery in motion , at least to the extent of making the union self-supporting in the two articles of diet just named . In a large union like this there are at all times in the ranks of the paupers
numbers , of persons unemployed who are capable of doing some simple , easy work on the cultivated portion of the farm , but who would be unfit for the rougher and heavier labour of r idding , draining , &c . And there are times and seasons when , if there were no work but clearing , there would be no resource for the pauper workers—nothing but dull and worse than unprofitable periods of idleness . " Until within a recent period the daily supplies of milk for the workhouse farm were purchased of a moorland farmer , resident several miles bevond the place of consumption , when there existed on the spot every facility for producing milk at home . So with regard to potatoes . A neighbouring farmer is desirous at the present time of renting a portion of the cleared land on the union farm .
Supposing the land to be so disposed of , it would most probably De made to grow potatoes , and a port ion of the crop would be purchased for the sustentation of the pauper labourers . The farmer would of course charge a profit upon the produce so sold , that produce having Been raised by the agency of independent labour . Supposing—which is a fact—that tho guardians of the poor could have grown those potatoes on their own land , with labour otherwise unproductive , it surely would requiro no legerdemain on their part to keep tho land in their own hands and raise tho food required for daily consumption at a cheaper rate than thoir tenant could afford to sell it to them : and the some argument app lies with equal force to the item of milk . Well , tho common-sense course is that which tho
present guardians ore desirous to pursue , lhey must be conscious , also , that collaterally it puts into their hands a moro powerful and flexible instrument for working tho land labour test , which was one of the primary objects aimed at by tho projectors of the union farm , Besides enabling them to vffiocb the grand doeidarnt . uTn of maltingpauper labour reproductive , they are enabled to apply tho form tost to ulmoBfc every class of applicants for relief . This gauge of pauper character has been made to work with tho utmost nicety . A sturdy applicant for relief , who is known to bo always ready to eat tho pariah loaf without compunction , is told that ho may go and work at tho furm , and his wages shall be paid to him at tho close of each day at Sheffield . Hia only aim when ho asked for
relief won ' to bo maintained without tho pain of working for his broad at Bomo independent labour : a life of nlothful ouho in tho workhouse would have suited him , at least for a season ; but a toiling walk of twolvo milea to perform a not vory light daily tank , and that for a bare subsistence , is a Htato of things that tho sturdy lazy-buck cannot put up with on any account . It wore infinitely oauior to give up tho idea of luxurious idloncsu at tho public coat and earn a livelihood like an honest man . So ho thinks , and bo ho acts .- But supposing a man ho tented wero ( o endure it would bo
tho ordeal for a modorute length of time , a fair presumption that ho was willing to work for his living , but was unable for a season to obtain employment . _ In that ense the ecrew would be slackened—the weight of the burden would bo ho adjuatod that wliile no inducement wuh held out to remain at tho pauper farm a single , day longer than wan necessary , thero tthoujd yet be such a relaxation of discipline as would admit of moderate comfort . In thin way tho union farm has been and still is an invaluable means of protection to tho honest ratepayers ugainut tho indolent and slothful . It affords a tost
iinmeas ^ ably mow , . utsceaaful than any other that has «„ , been ttfi j ff Mid ^ reoyer it contains within itself th « f * ments of « 0 $ 8 u |§» rt instead of entailin ^ Ta ; ™ 2 k i * bevond ttT « UUpe of thoS to ihoH Is a ° plied TafcWm vfew of the farm labour ^ hem « T would not wilWlv « tand in the wav of its Sk ' - * workjng ^ mt ^ sfall be at all time ? ready to 2 in clearing aw » y any misapprehensions or nrriniif which may existle to ' its efficiency . We know * Sat ? Sheflpd exj « rim ^> watched jy philanthropes « £ d ppHtaca * economists m all parts of the Empire On ft » account it assumes a more than local importance of AnU nr 4 » l . l ' o fkot if al , n 1 , U Vn XCi _ 1- ^ " ¦ " * "UP onlwfch is that it should have fib nd "
_ y play , anot be made a sacrifice to factious opposition . That the scheme might bo marred as much by ill directed zeal as by inveterif * hostility is obviously plain . But that is not to the point Boards of guardians are not selected by their fellow-rate payers because of their Utopian idealities or inaptitude fop business . In a general way they are men of good practical common sense : and upon the exercise of those qualities must depend the successful working of this and everv kindred scheme . We are glad to observe on the part of the present board a sincere desire to work the union farm for the benefit of all concerned , and for the good of the community at large . Economy is evidently their WAin ..
principle : no expensive machinery or utensils—no high fanning in any sense—but everything conducted as faras possible in the way in which men would proce ed on their own individual account . Their proceedings thus far have inspired them with the hope , that in the course of another season the farm will make some returns for the outlay which the incipient processes necessitated , and that the reproduction will thenceforward be progressive . While they diminish the cost of maintenance at the farm by home-production , they will persevere with the reclamation of the waste , always keeping steadily in view the advantage which will ultimately accrue to the union from the balance
which will arise from the rental at which they will let the reclaimed land , as compared with the nominal rent which they have to pay to the original lessor . We are glad to learn that this source of income is likely to commence as early as next year . " But , after all , the great question for the ratepayers is purely a question of pounds , shillings , and p ence , and we know of no means of satisfactorily elucidating that point except by the aid of figures . This brings us at once to the report of the farm committee of the board of guardians , which professes to supply the necessary arithmetical index . This document is greatry too long for us to copy into our columns : we must therefore be content to notice its more
salient features . A great portion of it is anticipated by the foregoing remarks , which touch upon topics which fairly come within the scope
of" THE BEPOBT . " The committee express regret , at the outset of the report , ' that they are prevented from presenting the accounts in a form so satisfactory to themselves as they could wish , ' for the reason that a previous board had taken the control of the farm affairs entirely out of the hands of the union clerk . The report goes into various details of alleged mismanagement under their predecessors , and for their
which the committee adduce as a reason inability to present the affairs of the farm in a more intelligible form , ' and to exhibit a yearly debtor and creditor account . But , says tho report , ' proceeding in the best way the committee are able , they find the expenditure for inanitfe , &c ., up to September , 1850 , to have been 210 Z ., and from thence to September , 1851 ( including 4 , 21 . for three years rent ) , 112 Z . ; total expenditure , 3121 . The receipts tor farm produce and agiatment for the years 1849-60-1 , are 1 in lavour
estimatedat 350 Z ., leaving a balance of 371 . odd of the manure , seed , and rent account . The wages of tno superintendent of labour and the rations of hunselt anu wife are sot down at 22 < M . for three years , from which deducting the 37 ? . profit , there is a loss of 182 Z . odd , or 01 * . a-year , attendant upon the working of the labour t « u Tho committee leave the public to judge whether any other labour tost could have been worked at alc 8 S ^ - Tho committee are satisfied that the loss has been connot in a
stantly diminishing , though the accounts are suco state aa to demonstrate the fact . They then »«{«* " « tion to tho appearance of the crops in support ot tne i lowing estimate set upon this year ' s produce by «» ° J ^ intentent of labour :- < The hay in stack , nine tons , worth of eddish ; wheat growing , ton k > ads poi-aero , «> , seven quarters per aero : potatoes , 20 ? . per acre ' . *«« " » , ; valun il . Us .: oat straw , li ton per acre ; wheat di « £ > ditto . But tho committe © , to guard against am ^ mont , submit tho following reduced statement . AT . ™™ Dn « r 1 nrni r « nf . n / wmint for tho year enumt , i
,, W , er ; Y 853 ; cost of manure and s ** I from Septcniu , 1851 , to March , 1852 , 421 . ; cost of carting manure , y > < litto of workhouBo manure , 81 . ; rent , 141 . ; «>>« , ^ deduct lime as useless for the present crop , l » *• . l f the of manure , seed , and rent , 78 ? . Or . = Estimate < rt . quantity and value of the crops for tho year ***** * ^ £ * jj tons of hay at 85 s . per ton , 30 ? . ; 7 acres otoaW * quarters to tho acre , at 18 * . per quarter , 4 U-, * at oat straw , 16 ? . ; 2 * acres of wheat , 26 busheb por acr . ^ 6 * . per buHhol , 14 ? . ; 4 tons wheat straw , at ^ m-i ^ ' ^ acres potatoes , at 19 ? . per acre , 42 ? . 15 * . ; t urmi > ^^ irround . 4 ? . !<)« . ; profit on cow , 3 ? . ; » gi » tmon '' ?' I' i «« a-
107 ? . ' The foregoing account is followed r > y m » -r j w . tory remark : — ' % thia it in nhqwn that the > rux pendituro for manure , seed , and rent , for the' 1 " **™ , ¦> , on ia 78 ? . 10 * ., and tho estimate of the value ot tlio c ^ . ^ the land , 107 ? ., leaving a balance in . labour o * for flU . account of 88 ? . 10 « ., and , aftox deducting 7 d '; ^^ h < jr 80 perintendenco of labour , tho sum ot 16 « . *?• _ unted account for 1861-2 i « taken at 36 ? . a-year : *»» " J ' accoun * * for by charging 20 ? . 14 * . to tho manure and neoa ^ and allowing to . M . a-wook for carting proved * Ialn ) ur « r 8 at the farm . - , furnit » ir < J > " The stock account ( tho expenditure iar t *^* ' 186 j . a , forming implements , &c . ) up fc ) I 860 w 41 U ., w ^ 22 ? .: total , 438 ? ., flubjoot to depreciation w vaiu ,
Untitled Article
814 THE DEA DER . [ Saturday
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 28, 1852, page 814, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1949/page/2/
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