MISCELLANEOUS.

Southland Times, Issue 1056, 13 November 1868, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

♦ The Grand Annual Show of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, which has been so ludicioualy held this year at Leicester, may be considered as one of the most successful on record, 96,653 persons havingpaid £6,740 Is for admission. The field trials of tillage implements lasted a week, under scorching weather all the time, and watched by large numbers of agricultural and other spectators. The horse-drawn ploughs have been through the most severe ordeal that they hare ever known. The judges have taken the greatest possible care and pains, intently watching every furrow, measuring and testing the work with rule, square, and level, clearing away the cut Boil for an examination of the unmoved bottom, taking by draft-dynamometer the motive-power required to draw each implement, and finally inspecting the- parts and construction of each selected plough. And moreover, the condition of the ground has been such that no second-rate tool could possibly gloss over a piece of work that might be pleasing to the eye, but wanting in soundness of execution. The result of the preliminary, second, and final trials has been to give Messrs. James and Frederic Howard, of Bedford, the lion's share of the honours ; Messrs Bansomes and Sims, of Ipswich, a second place and Hornsby and Sons, of Grantnam, a third place, "but cbntsiderably lower down in the scale of awards ; whilst ather makers are commended or nowhere. At Stanton Harcoart Church, Oxfordshire, there is one door for the men and another for the women of the congregation to enter, and the custom is strictly observed. , The Mew York papers state that Mr. Henry Meiggs, of San Francisco, has made a contract with the Peruvian government to construct a rail- , road from Islay to Arequipa, about 100 miles in length, for £2,400,000 (12,000,000 dollars), or at the rate of £24,000 per mile. The railway is to be "completed in three years. The Liverpool Town Council have resolved to increase the salary of Ma}or Oreig, the head cOßßtable, from £850 to £1000 per annum.