manure. The effects of irrigation are enormous. It
has utterly changed a five-acre pasture by Tiptree Hall,
the soil of which has hitherto been bird-lime in winter,
cast-iron in summer. Irrigated grass, it has been
proved by chemical experiments, contains 25 per cent
more of meat-producing matter. The question of water-
supply is closely connected with these considerations.
Housewives should regard their slops with reverence;
sewers are mines of health and wealth, and their contents
the better for ample dilution. The difficulties in
rendering these treasures available exist merely in the
brain: already the Board of Health has done wonders.
By liquid manure he understood either that which is in
its nature liquid, or the solid rendered fluid by dilution.
These can be deodorised by the introduction of a jet of
waste steam into the tank above the surface of its
contents; and they will saturate and render productive
the now unmanageable subsoils. Mr. Mechi gave some
details of the machinery and implements required on his
system, costing in the aggregate about £6 per acre. He
deplores the want of Agricultural Colleges like that at
Cirencester; without which we cannot compete with the
more scientific Scots. He then called attention to a
model of a steam cultivator, invented by a Mr. Romaine,
and sent over by the Agricultural Department of the
Canadian Government. Finding the apathy and
prejudice with which it was received, he has himself
advanced funds for introducing it. The machine is of
40-horse power, admits of 240 revolutions in a minute,
and is provided with a seed-box set in work
simultaneously with the ploughing-functions: when not
wanted for these it is available for reaping and other
purposes. He ventured to predict, that within seven
years steam will be the grand motive power in
agriculture. Another steam-plough, of 6-horse power, has
been invented by Mr. Usher, a brewer of Edinburgh:
to the shame of England, Sydney has forestalled her in
ordering it. With steam Mr. Mechi counts on getting
over even 100 acres in a day. Consider (he said) the
frightful waste in horse-flesh. An express-engine is
of 1000-horse power. It weighs 38 tons; 1000 horses
weigh 750 tons; which shows that the difference is
actually of no use save to move the horses themselves.
In conclusion, Mr. Mechi urged, that with the
increasing population an imperative demand arises for more
scientific agricultural instruction. A great reform in
the clumsy processes for the transfer of land is also
needed.

The Queen has appointed to be her Majesty's
Commissioners in England to examine and consider the
Reform of the Judicial Establishments , Judicial
Procedure, and Laws of India, Sir John Romilly, the Master
of the Roils, Sir John Jervis, Chief Justice of Common
Pleas, Sir Edward Ryan, Charles Hay Cameron, Esq.,
John M'Pherson M'Leod, Esq., John Abraham
Francis Hawkins, Esq., Thomas Flower Ellis, Esq. and
Robert Lowe, Esq.

An inquiry into the system of appointments, promotions,
scales of salaries, number of officers in the General
Post-office, and the distribution of its business, is now
proceeding by a committee, consisting of Lord Elcho, Sir
Charles Trevelyan, Sir Stafforrd Northcote, and Mr. E.
A. Hoffay.

The Lords of the Admiralty have decided upon effecting
great sanitary improvements in the Royal
Dockyards. They have already issued a circular calling for
information as to the exact sanitary condition of Woolwich,
and have directed plans to be prepared for the
removal of nuisances and the immediate remedy of
imperfect arrangements.

Regulations have been adopted by the Admiralty for
establishing a more Uniform System of Punishments in the
Navy; and they have been promulgated by a circular
forwarded to all commanders-in-chief, captains,
commanders, and commanding officers of her Majesty's ships
and vessels, and to all the superintendents at all the naval
ports. Officers are strictly to avoid "abusive language
and degrading expressions," and to check "any tendancy
to the abuse of power." Punishments are to be definite,
"and no punishment is ever to be prolonged 'until
further orders.'" Great care is to be taken in giving
certificates of character; and the captain is to consult
the officer next in command to himself. The terms of a
scale of character to be adopted in future are given,—
"Very good; good; fair or passable; indifferent; bad."
Corporal punishment is to be rarely used, and when
inflicted, the fact and the attendant circumstances are to
be stated in the quarterly returns. The use of irons is
to be avoided as much as possible; and confinement in
coal-bunkers is forbidden.

The Strike of the Preston Operatives still continues,
and there is no prospect of its speedy termination. There
seems to .be little, if any increase, in the number of
applicants for work at the closed mills; indeed the
registration of the names of those seeking employment are
scarcely ever mentioned. The reports show that there
has again been a large increase in the number of persons
relieved by the various committees. The income,
however, has more than kept pace with the increased
demands on the funds. During the week ending on the
17th inst. 15,502 persons were relieved at the cost of
£2,908 7s. 9d. In the previous week the number
relieved was 14,972, and the cost £2,820 8s. This sum
disbursed by the respective committees since the
commencement of the strike now amounts to close upon £30,000.

As an illustration of the condition to which some of
the unemployed are reduced, it may be recorded that at
a meeting of spinners held in the Temperance Hall on
the 16th inst. an operative named Giles Howarth, in
seconding a resolution pledging those present to "stand
firm for ten per cent. and a strict adherence to their
union," made the following statement:—"There is
suffering (said he) in the town of Preston, and such
suffering as few have any idea about. I myself know a
family who have visited a slaughter-house regularly and
fetched blood and used it, without having anything like
groats or bread to mix with it. There is also another
man who has been without food until he has been seen
picking the bits out from the wash that was put by for
pigs. These statements are not made at random; they
are the result of observation; and (added the speaker)
they brand the manufacturers of Preston with infamy."
—At Wigan, the manufacturers have opened their mills
to such of the operatives as were willing to return at the
old wages. At Messrs. Eckersley's about 400 workpeople
went to work on the 19th inst. and about 200 more at
Ryland's mill. At most of the other factories a few
operatives went in, and on the whole about 1,000 of the
6,000 on strike resumed work. The trades delegates
from other towns, as well as the leaders of the movement
in Wigan, were watching the factories from
4 o'clock in the morning and did not fail to use all the
persuasion of which they were masters and where that did
not succeed even threats, to keep back the operatives, or
probably more would have gone to work. The
magistrates have exerted themselves to prevent intimidation
and several persons have been taken into custody by the
police.

A conference on the subject of the Prevention of
Juvenile Delinquency was held at Birmingham on the
20th inst. The chair was taken by Sir John Pakington,
M.P.; and gathered round him were Lord Shaftesbury,
Lord Harrowby, Mr. Adderley, M.P.; Mr.
Monckton Milnes, M.P., Mr. M.D.Hill, Mr. Muntz, M.P.,
Archdeacon Sandford, the Reverend Canon Wood, the
Reverend Angell James, the Reverend F. Temple,
Principal of Kneller Hall, the Mayors of Birmingham,
Kidderminster, and Gloucester, the Honourable Arthur
Kinnaird, M.P., Mr. Bates, M.P., Mr. Spooner, M.P.,
Mr. Samuel Gurney, the Baron de Bode, and other
gentlemen. Among those from whom letters were read
were, the Bishops of Winchester, Worcester, and Oxford,
Lord Brougham, Lord Lovaine, Lord Radnor, Lord
Norreys, Lord Henry Cholmondeley, Mr. Cobden, Mr.
Walter, Mr. Powell, Mr. Phinn, Mr. Smith Child, Mr.
Stuart Wortley, and other Members of Parliament.
Communications had also been received from upwards of
forty magistrates, many chairmen of quarter-sessions,
and recorders. Lord Shaftesbury reported that he had
received letters from the Speaker of the House of
Commons, from Mr. Matthew Baines, and from Mr.
Henry Fitzroy, all favourable to the objects of the
conference. A series of resolutions were moved and
supported; the principal speakers being Lord Shaftesbury,
Mr. Adderley, Mr. Monckton Milnes, Lord
Harrowby, Mr. M. D. Hill, Mr. Joseph Sturge, Mr.