1830.] Staffordshire, Berks, SussM, Shropshire, 



Ill 



' STAFFORDSHIRE. - The Roman Catholic 

 Bishops are at present holding a synod at Wolver- 

 hampton. At the chapel on Sunday, the whole of 

 the Roman Catholic Bishops in England partici- 

 pated in the celebration of mass. 



BERKS. A highly respectable meeting of gen- 

 tlemen inferes-ted in agricultural affairs, has been 

 held at Reading, to take into consideration the 

 necessity of petitioning the legislature on the high 

 duties on malt, hops, and beer, when resolutions, 

 praying their repeal, were unanimously agreed to. 

 The .petitioners state, that from these excessive 

 duties, the labourers are compelled either to 

 drink water, or to have recourse to the pernicious 

 us? of ardent spirits!* 



SUSSEX. A meeting took place recently, at 

 Battle, to petit'on the legislature for the repeal 

 of the Malt and Beer duties, when it was stated 

 by Dr. Lambe, "that he regarded beer as a 

 necessary beverage of the hardworking indus- 

 trious labourers, and that the high duties operated 

 as an absolute prohibition ; the duties levied a 

 tax of more than .10 on the produce of a single 

 acre of barley, and raised beer from 2d. to 6d. per 

 pot. Medical men in that neighbourhood knew 

 how necessary beer was to the health of the 

 labouring classes. He mentioned a melancholy 

 illustration of this fact. Five labourers were em- 

 ployed in Romney Marsh : only one of them could 

 afford to purchase beer ; the remaining four 

 drank water. Of these the whole fell ill with the 

 fever then prevalent, and died ; the beer drinker 

 alone escaped the malady !!!" Brighton Gazette. 



At the Lewes winter assizes, Mr. Baron Bol- 

 land said, in his charge to the grand jury, that 

 " he regretted the amount of the calendar, but 

 in looking over it, it appeared to him that the of- 

 fences were principally committed by persons 

 whose avocations were crime and immorality ; 

 and that it was, therefore, not to be attributed to 

 the temporary evils of the country, nor to be 



but Man I proud Man, ' 



Drest in a little brief authority, 



Most ignorant of what he's moet assur'd, 



His glassy essence like an angry Ape, 



Plays such fantastic tricks before high heav'n 



As make the Angels weep; who, with our spleens, 



Would all themselves laugh mortal. 



After a short exordium, he says, "It is the 

 bounden duty of all, high and low, rich and poor, 

 be their opinion of the Malt Tax what it may, to 

 flock to Lincoln, and, by so doing, show a deter- 

 mination to support the birth-right of English- 

 men HI Let the fair opinion of the county 



be taken, whether you will petition against the 

 Malt Tax, or be content to go on in the present 

 hopeful way, trusting to the relief those are likely 

 to give, who have, by their counsels, brought the 

 country into the present state." Lincoln Mer- 

 cury, Dec. 11. 



* It was not formerly the lot of the boasted 

 peasantry of England, alter their hard day's la- 

 bour, to go home to their families, and to regale 

 themselves with water, in the chilling months of 

 our dreary winters. We trust this iniquitous tax 

 will at length be repealed, so that every hard- 

 working man may again have his two pints of 

 good ale daily. It will have a better effect in 

 making them love their country, than in per- 

 suading them to emigrate, and preaching to them 

 the marvellous delights and comforts abounding 

 in those Elysian fields of modern puffing, Botany 

 Bay, Van Diemen's Land, and the Swan River 

 settlements, whore nectar and ambrosia may be 

 had, say they, at two-pence a-pint ! 



taken as a proof of the demoralization of the 

 people at large' 1 !! ! 



Dec. 3. The new road connecting the two cliffs 

 at Brighton, was opened \VitU a procession and 

 dinner. 



SHROPSHIRE.' A very numerous meeting 

 has been held at the County Hall, Shrewsbury, 

 for considering the best means of retaining th. 

 Irish road through that town, when various reso- 

 lutions were entered into, expressive of the great 

 injury the proposed alteration would occasion to 

 Shrewsbury, and forVhich, merely to save about 

 four miles of road, the extravagant sum of 

 ^100,000 of public money would be wanted 1 A 

 committee was formed, and a subscription entered 

 into for conducting, strenuously, their opposition 

 to the alteration.* 



SOMERSETSHIRE. Dec. 11. A meeting of 

 merchants, shipowners, and others, interested in 

 the port and harbour of Bridgewater, was held, 

 when it was unanimously resolved to apply to 

 parliament for a bill to carry into effect a plan 

 for the improvement of the port of Bridgewater ; 

 the accommodation it at present affords being 

 totally inadequate to the existing state of its 

 trade. In .1811 only 80,000 tons register entered 

 the port; this year there have been more than 

 112000. The amount of shares already sub- 

 scribed for exceeds .10,000. 



The annual meeting of the Bath and West of 

 England Agricultural Society, took place, Dec. 8, 

 when the various Reports relating to plough- 

 ing, orchard plantations, dairy stock &c., were 

 made, by which, it appeared, the society was in a 

 sound state, although the number of subscribers 

 had greatly diminished, owing to the depression 

 of the times. At the dinner the Marquis of Lans- 

 downe (president) descanted on the necessity of 

 ameliorating the condition of the English agri- 

 cultural labourer. 



DEVONSHIRE. An additional general ses- 

 sions wa? held at Exeter Castle, Den. 2, when the 

 chairman observed to the grand jury, that their 

 services were required at this additional sessions, 

 first, as regarded charges not proved on the in- 

 quiry in that court, tl.at the individuals should 

 not, for any lengthened period, be deprived of 

 their liberty!!! and secondly, in the hope that 

 crime might be diminished, if not suppressed, by 



* The magnitude of the loss which would occur 

 to Shrewsbury, from being deprived of the Irish 

 travellers, might be gathered from the fact, that 

 in 1828, there crossed over in the government 

 packets, from Holyhead to Dublin, cabin passen- 

 gers 8,659, servants and children 1,845, deck pas- 

 sengers 1,6/2, four-wheeled carriages 587, two- 

 wheeled carriages 46, horses 194 ; and in the 

 course of la-t year, 830 pairs of horses were em- 

 ployed in posting between Shrewsbury and Os- 

 westry alone, besides mail and other coaches. Of 

 the whole of this travelling, and the profits arising 

 therefrom, the tt.wn would necessarily be de- 

 prived, were the road diverted, as it is now pro- 

 posed. The second class of travellers, compre- 

 hending all tourists into Wales (who, since the 

 erection of the magnificent bridges at the Menai 

 and Conway, had greatly in.reased) would, of 

 course, avoid the town, as, were the new ruart 

 constructed, their journey would only le retarded 

 by deviating from the more direct line, towards 

 Shrewsbury. The third class the travellers 

 from the north to the soutli trt England would 

 necessarily go the new route ; and the town 

 would most certainly be deprived of the whole of 

 them. 



