194 RUPORT — 1876. 



Measures to cany out these objects I would gladly see. But, doing so mucli, I 

 would still both retain in tins as in other things the services of the many experi- 

 enced local magistrates who in this country give so much time and attention to 

 local business, and leave a considerable latitude for some variety of treatment and 

 some facility of experiment in regard to the treatment of criminals. 



I do nol attempt to go into further detail on these subjects. I am sure that it is 

 betterthat I should not detaiuyoulonger, but should give place to the many interesting 

 papers which will illustrate this Section, and which will, I trust, lead to many im- 

 j)ortant discussions. If the scope of this Section is somewhat wide and perhaps 

 less defined than that of other Sections of the Association which deal with more 

 precise branches of science, it at all events includes a variety of subjects of much 

 practical and immediate interest. If only on the subject of silver currency some 

 light can be shed, great good will be done. That subject will be treated by very 

 able hands ; and we shall have the advantage of men of great pi-actical knowledge 

 in discussing it. Other subjects I might mention which will be brought before j^ou 

 in papers of great interest ; but they will speak for themselves, and I need not 

 enumerate them here. 



Agricultural Statistics. By William Botly. 



The author stated that this was a continuation of a previous paper " On Agri- 

 cultural Statistics and Waste Lands." The antiquity and utility of agricultural 

 statistics in the far East, where thej^ operated as a stimulus to production, gave a 

 knowledge of their resources and averted famine. The elaborate system thereof 

 now adopted in our Australian colonies lie considered worthy of imitation by the 

 United Kingdom and all its dependencies, remarldng that the entire cost of the 

 Bengal famine (£0,588,000). with the saciitice of life and its demoralizing effects, 

 might have been prevented had a thoroughly good mcord of cultivation and its 

 outcome been in operation in India. Of the acreage of Great Britain and Ireland 

 (77,500,000) there were in 1875:— 



In corn crops 11,.390,0.30 



Roots and green crops 5,057,029 



Flax, hops, fallow, and gi-asses under rotation 7,085,128 



In permanent grasses, exclusive of heath and mountain-land, 23,773,002 

 Unaccounted for 30,185,211 



Total ■ 77,500,000 



Cattle 10,162,787 ; increase in three years 444,282 



Sheep 3.3,491,948; „ „ „ 1,245,306 



Pigs 3,495,107 ; decrease „ „ 682,833 



Horses .... 1,875,851; „ „ „ 58,020 



The decrease in pigs is accounted for by the high price of barley «S:c. The import 

 of grain, flour, and meal in the fifty-two weeks ending August 25, 1870, was 

 116,018,504 cwt. It is estimated that we import about half the corn we consume, 

 and 14 per cent, of our consumption of .meat alive or cured. We consume 

 33,097,783 cwt. of beef, mutton, pork, hams, and bacon. Estimating the popula- 

 tion at 33,000,000, each man, woman, and child in the United Kingdom consumes 

 aununlly 114 lbs. weight of meat, exclusive of poultry, fish, game, and rabbits. 

 With reference to waste lands the author advocates legislative encouragement and 

 security for the outlay of capital, with skill and enterpiise in their cidti^ation, 

 where there was a reasonable prospect of a profitable residt. The returns showed 

 an increase of 171,479 acres in cidtivation on the preceding year, which, as far as it 

 went, was satisfactory. In conclusion, he observed the present tin;e is favourable to 



