SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN IRELAND. (From Bell's Weekly Messenger, Sept. 22)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 405, 2 March 1850, Page 3

SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT IN IRELAND. (From Bell's Weekly Messenger, Sept. 22 )

The last Report of the Commissioners of Public Works In Ireland contain! a detailed account of the proceedings of the Commissioner* in carrying out the Land-Improvement Act. Up to the present time the totul turn applied for ou loan under that Act, amounts to £3,074,959, while the total advance sanctioned by the Treaßury hai been £1,431,860, leaving a balance of £68,140 still to be appropriated out of the original fund of £1,500,000. In their former report the Commissioner* shewed that the advances then made had been successful ; and they now announce that their anticipation! as to the extent to which the various works were likely to lead to an increase in the value of the land drained, and at tile tome time to an improvement in the ijstem of agriculture, promiie to be fully realised. Out of the total advance sanctioned, the instalments at present issued amount to £520,700, more than twothirds of which issue have taken place during the past year. Of this, £295,717 has been laid out in tholOUgh draining, subsoiling, fencing and making farmroads ; and the remainder is iv progress of expenditure. The number of acres that have been thoiough* drained since the commencement, in September, 1847, up to the present time, is 48,860, at an aver ge of £4 lOi. per acre ; and a great portion of the drained land has also been subtoiled. In fencing aud cleanup, and also in the diviiion of deserted lands into modeiatesized farms, adapted to a regular rotation of crops, much has been done ; and the system of superintendencu under which the whole hai been conducted, has worked in a satisfactory runnner— the cost of progresi inspections not having exceeded an average of £1 16s. per centi on the exieidi uro, nlthough Ihe inspectors

have had to perform tlieir duty in every pirt of the country, even to the mo.t remote of its western promontories—dealing with unbusinesslike proprietors, unskilful overseers, and labourers, whose spirit of induitry and self-reliance had been deadened, if not destroyed, by pauperism. In the wildest localities this operations, imperfectly executed at first, gradually auumed a better character ; the overseen, gratified by their own success, became zealous in the perform, ance of thtir duly ; and in the most backward dii,tricl« of the west, drainage works sro now being executed in a manner which two years ago would hare beeu considered in the best districts worthy of imitation. Owing to the increasing demand, new draining tile manufactories are multiplying rapidly, and excellent tiles can now be procured at upwards of 47 different places in Ireland, where last year there were only 25, and in the year 1840 only two. The introduction of task-work is in some places nearly universal, and is preferred to the ■Id system of day labour. The Commissioners remark, that in the humid climate of Ireland the direct benefit derived fiom drained land ig even more striking than in England ; and the neighbouring fanner, whote land is undrained, and whose ditches are full of water, looks with wonder at late Autumn or early Spring ploughing, which he cannot attempt, and still more at the double crops of corn, and more than double crops of turnips, raised on land which the previous year exhibited the same neglected and unproductive character as his own. By one Inspector it it reported, in il ustiation of the effects of imitation, that these improvements have acted like leaven on the whole agricultural community, and that " ttiere ssemi to be a determination on the part of the-tenant-farmers to meet dep ossed prices by an improved system of tillage, and more active and industriel habits." Another writes—" In the commencement I generally found the tenantry indisposed to drainage works bein^ undertaken on their farms at the instance of their landlord*. At present however, this feeling has quite passed away, and on every estate where works have been completed the tenants have expressed their conviction that drainage it the foundation of all improvements in agriculture. On lorno farms the occupiers sta'cd that the first crop obtained from lands drained, and which were previously valueless, has nearly repaid the entire expenditure." By a thiid it is reported—" The geueral impression among the proprietors and others interested (and in which I fully concur) is, tUat the increased value will in most, if not in every instance, exceed ten per cent, upon tho actual outlay." A fourth says—" In many instances, lands which, three yean ago, were not worth 2j. 6d. per acre, are now good value for 10s., either for tillage, or pasture." — Of course the advantages obtained from the loam have greatly depended on the clasi of persons who received them ; but while in some cases extraordinary results have been attained, a greater or lest degree of satisfaction appears to have been felt in all. hi ihort, the Commissioners observe, ♦' Adversity U « wholesome monitor : all now perceive, that he who would thrive must abandon the ancient lazy, slovenly system ; and, happily for the country, increasing energy and skill have become the order of the day."

The New Passengers' Act. — Her Majesty's Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioner* had issued, the following notice for the information of parties engaged in the conveyance of emigrants to our different colonies :—" The Consolidated Paasengeri' Act (12 and 13 Vie. c. 33), which received the Royal Assent last session, will come into operation on the Ist of October. It extends to all vessel*, whether British or foreign, which shall carry more passengers than in ths proportion of one to every 25 tons of the ihip's registered tonnage (defined in the Act as ' passenger ships'^ reckoning two children under fourteen years of age at one passenger, but excepting infants under 12 months, who are not to be reckoned at all. The master of every passenger ship must, out of the provisions to be laid in at the expenie of the ship, (isiue to each, passenger throughout the voyage, including the time of detention at any place, not less than lOf lbs. of bread-stuffs per week, with lb. of sugar, i lb. molasses, and 2 ounces of tea. If any person shall, through the default of the contractor or of the owner, charterer, or master of a vessel, fail to obtain his pastago with his family either in the ship in which he engaged it, or within forty-eight hours in some other equally eligible ship, the passage-money mint bs returned, with compensation not exceeding j£lQ. All existing passage brokers' licenses will expire on the Ist Feb., 1850, and no penon can then act as a passage broker to any part of North America, un'eis he shall have previously obtained a license for that purpose from tha Petty Sessions held for the district in which he ha* his place of business ; and before obtaining such licance it is necessary that he should give an unstamped bond in duplicate to the Crown, with two suieties in the sum of .£2OO, and fourteen days' notice to the Colonial Laud Emigiation Commissioners of his intention to apply for such license. No passage»broker will be at liberty to receive money without giving in return a contract ticket, in the form prescribed by the Act, hop to act as agent without having a written au.hority for the purpose from his principal." Union or the Landed and Colonjal Interests —We are credibly infoimed that a junction is on tho tapis between influential members of the agricultural and colonial interests, to biinjj about a comparative system of protection, and limiting free trade for the future to Gi eat Britain and her colonies, instead of Great Britain and all the world, as at present. It u not proposed by those parties that the import duties on corn, and all other agricultural produce, should bo reimpostd, save on the production of those countries which refuse or neglect to take our goods and manufactures equally fne. This plea, it i« said, b.is been propoundet 1 by a learned gentleman, who has held lii^h office in Australia, and who has succeeded in inducing many disiingui&hed public men to adopt his views.— Such a system, if adopted, would be au increased boon, to the colonial interests, but would meet with determined opposition from the freetraders.— Sunday Times, Sept. 30. His Grace the Archbiihop of Canterbury has presented the Treasurer of the Colonial Bishopric Fauci with a donation of £500. The admirers of the late Reverend Dr. Chalmers are contributing to the erection of a memorial to him at Anstruther, in Fife, the place of his birth. The memorial is to consist of a handsome free -church, with a lofty tower. An anonymous donor, under the signature of " Z," has presented to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parti, tue munificent donation, of £2000, in the Three-and-a-Half per Cent. Consols, "to be applied towards the funds of the Colonial Bishoprics Endowment Fund." New Omelet.— Break four eggs in a basin, add two salt-spoonsful of salt, half a one of pepper, and two table-spoonfuls of fresh grated Parmesan cheese, beat all well ; put two spoonfulg of French beans, cut small in the usual way, well boiled. Put your omelet pan on the fire, with two ounces of butter, and finish. If not Parmeian, any mild cheese may be used.— Af. Soyer. Hogan, the Sculptor.— This distinguished Irishman has arrived in Dublin from Rome.w-Sefl's Wetkly Messenger,

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