the council with deep regret. The society felt an equal
interest in the well-being of the masters and men.
Experience of the past evils of former strikes was found
insufficient to prevent their recurrence; but it might
be hoped that, when we had a real education of the
people, these lamentable spectacles would be no more
seen; and it was worth conjecturing whether, when
education was improved, an amendment of the law of
unlimited liability, and the introduction of partnerships
en commandité , by placing the men in the position of
masters in such partnerships, might not have some
effect towards restraining workmen from taking up, as
such, a position which was inconsistent with the essential
conditions of mastership, and had an inevitable
tendency to destroy the means of employment. The
council was thoroughly convinced that an improved
education for the whole people, rich and poor, adult and
child, was the first requisite for the improvement of
manufactures, commerce, and arts; that a liberal
measure of science must enter into that education;
and that it was the duty of the society to promote
vigorously this great object. In the pursuit of this
purpose they ought to be powerfully aided by the
associated institutes. It was important that they should
continue to do what they did at present; but they
might do it better, and do more. They generally
lamented that they were unable to maintain in
efficiency their classes for systematic instruction. The
council was of opinion that the mechanic, artisan, or
labourer, had at present no sufficiently obvious inducement
to pursue continuous studies in his local institute.
His previous education had not prepared him for it.
There was little or no emulation to incite him; no
examinations to test his progress; no certificates nor
diplomas to record it; no present and tangible rewards
for his success. Wanting such encouragements, the
youth who, after his daily work, purely for the love of
knowledge, pursued it in regular attendance at his
institute, was a hero of no mean order; and such youths
were not abundant in any class of society. It was
hoped that during the present session the council might
be able to establish a system whereby examinations
might be held in several districts, and certificates of
progress and attainments, and possibly prizes, might be
awarded to the class-students of the institutions in union
with the Society of Arts. It was hoped also that an
exhibition of educational apparatus, foreign as well as
British, might be opened when the present very
interesting exhibition of "useful inventions" was closed.
The address concluded with some allusions to the
present exhibition. The secretary announced that before
Christmas a collection would be exhibited of all the
drawings which, as young beginners, the greatest artists
of the present day had at different times sent in to the
society. The exhibition would, he said, be most
interesting, and would include specimens by persons who
now enjoyed European fame. The meeting concluded
with an inspection of the various articles included in
the present exhibition.

Sales of land to an immense extent are going on in
the Irish Encumbered Estates Court. The extensive
Mayo and Galway estates of Mr. Patrick Kirwan, of
Dalgan Park, were set up for sale on the 17th inst.
in 17 lots. The property, which is held in fee-simple,
contains nearly 13,000 statute acres, and yields a net
rental of £5,086. per annum. It was sold for the gross
sum of £88,850., equal to 17½ years' purchase. After
the estates had been disposed of it transpired that but a
few days previously the sum of £107,000. was offered for
them on the part of his Grace the Duke of Bedford, and
refused by the Commissioners, under the impression,
doubtless, that a still higher amount would be realised
by a public sale. Two small estates were also sold on
the same day—one in Carlow, which brought 30 years'
purchase, and the other in Tipperary, 27½ years'. In
one week landed property to the value of £582,000. has
changed hands under the salutary operations of the
Encumbered Estates Court. The figures are, in round
numbers, as follows:—the Glengall estates, £200,000;
the Maxwell estates, in Wexford, £75,000.; the
Mornington estates, £204,000.; the Kirwan estates
and the two small estates above mentioned, £92,000.
An official report of the proceedings of this court,
since its first establishment, has just been published.
From it we learn, that from the filing of the first petition
on the 21st of October 1849, to the 21st of October
1853, no less than 2,922 petitions have been lodged, of
which 273 were lodged during the little more than two
months during which the Act was in operation in 1849;
1,200 in the following year; 627 in the year 1851; 480
in the year 1852; and 342 during the first nine months
of the present year. The total realised value of the
property disposed of under the authority of the court, is
£10,430.463. 5s. 1d., of which £6,832,874. 12s. 8d. is the
produce of sales by public auction in court, while
£1,828,384. was realised by public auction in the provinces,
and £1,769,204. 12s. 5d. by private contract sales
sanctioned by the court. The aggregate amount of acres
which changed hands by these sales, is 1,691,702; the
gross rental £729,337. 0s. 9d., subject to tithe and other
rent-charges amounting to £93,613. 12s. 3d. The last-
named sums, however, afford no accurate criterion of the
average rate at which the land was sold, partly because
the rentals of the earlier sales are given according to
the rents paid in 1845, previous to the famine, and
partly because the total amount of sales includes the
produce of sales of much house property, building-
ground, mills, stores, manufactories, mines, and other
property, besides land. Out of the 2,922 cases brought
into the court, 974, or exactly one-third, related to
property which had been previously the subject of litigation
in the Court of Chancery, for periods varying from 3 to
50 years, in the following proportions:—over 50 years,
9 cases; between 40 and 50, 10; between 30 and 40, 39;
between 20 and 30, 77; between 10 and 20, 256; and
under 10 years, 583, of which 364 had been litigated
for upwards of 5 years. The remaining two-thirds were
cases in which no previous litigation had existed, or in
which the proceedings had commenced within 3 years
before the filing of the petition in the Incumbered
Estates Court. As regards the owners of the property
disposed of, we find that out of the 2,922 petitions, 92
related to the property of persons of title and members
or ex-members of Parliament; of which 92 petitions, 31
were presented by the owners themselves, and 61 by
creditors. Among these were 3 marquesses, 17 earls,
4 viscounts, 7 barons, and 8 courtesy lords, honourables,
and right honourables; 27 baronets, 5 knights, 2 counts,
and 19 untitled persons, who were serving or had served,
in Parliament. The property sold was divided between the
four provinces in the following proportions;—Leinster,
£2,768,210. 6s. 2d.; Connaught, £2,218,762. 10s. 4d.;
Munster, £3,270,287. 19s. 11d.; and Ulster,
£2,173,202. 9s. 8d. The counties in which the largest
amount of property was sold, or, rather the largest
amount of money realised, are the county of Galway, in
which the sales amounted to £1,260,855. 13s. 4d.; and
the county of Cork, in which they amounted to
£1,147,714. 4s. 11d., the next largest amount being
£682,082. 0s. 6d., the amount of sales in the county of
Limerick. With respect to the persons into whose
hands this enormous amount of landed property has
passed, it appears that out of 4,214 purchasers there
were only 180 from other parts of the United Kingdom
and its dependencies, and only one foreigner, an
American. Of the 180 purchasers from other parts of
Her Majesty's dominions, 153 came from England, 21
from Scotland, 3 from the Isle of Man, and 3 from
Calcutta; and they, including the American, are thus
classified, 79 gentry, including 8 titled persons; 62
manufacturers and merchants, including 8 firms; 7
insurance and land companies; and 33 farmers. Of the
English purchasers, London furnished 73, and Lancashire,
including Liverpool, 27; the highest number
furnished by any other English county being 9, from
Devonshire.

A meeting for the purpose of bringing before the
public the details of a plan for the establishment of an
Institute of Science and Art for Birmingham, was held
in the Town-hall on the 18th instant. The Institute is
to consist of two departments—one a general department,
the other schools of industrial science. Under
the former head will be embraced—1st, the literary
branch, comprising general and reference libraries,
reading-rooms, accommodation, as far as may be practicable,
for the literary societies of the town and lectures