music in every form, descending even to the cognate professions of acrobats, wrestlers, snake-charmers, and monkeydancers. Thirty-seven and a half millions, or three-fifths of the entire population, are engaged in agriculture; and 950,000 are concerned with elephants, camels, horses, cattle, &c., or gain their living as hunters, trappers, or fowlers. The commercial classes are estimated at 3,441,000 and the artisans at 8,747,000. The non-productive classes comprise 2,265,000, some of whose professions appear to be very singular:-22 have returned themselves as gamblers, five as pigeon-flyers, and 49 as spies, 361 are professional thieves, and 30 are budmashes-Anglice, rogues and vagabonds; but whether they so have described themselves, or have been so classified by their friends, we are not informed. There would appear, however, to be some improvement in this respect since the last census was taken; for Mr. Plowden, who drew up the Report for the North-West Provinces, remarks that "there are no flatterers for gain,' or 'sturdy beggars' recorded on this occasion, and the 'vagabond' who announced his calling as such in the Agra District has disappeared." Whether the "flatterers for gain" have entirely disappeared may, however, be doubted, for we find 103,000 persons whose occupation is described as "guests." If these are the representatives of the parasites who figure so conspicuously in early comedy, the definition would certainly apply to them.

No. 2.

AGRICULTURAL RETURNS FOR 1874. The facts and figures relating to agriculture which are yearly compiled by the statistical and commercial department of the Board of Trade give a fair index of the production of the year 1874 in this country, as well as of the wealth of the farmers in flocks and herds. On the whole, 1874 compares favourably with previous years in nearly all respects. More land was under cultivation than the year before, and there is strong ground for believing that a steady reclamation of waste lands is going on. At the same time, there is no distinct change manifested in the nature of crops grown, unless it be a slightly increased tendency to take to cattle-breeding. That, however, must be slight, for the wheat acreage last year was 140,000 more than in 1873, and but 9,000 acres below 1872 for the whole of Great Britain; and although there was a falling off in some of the

other cereals, such as oats, it was not, looking at an average of years, material, and cannot yet be pronounced permanent. Very little wheat is grown in Scotlandhardly more than in Wales; but almost as large an acreage of oats is sown there as in England, and the barley crop is also large, as well as those of potatoes and turnips. Scotland, again, on account of the predominant pastural nature of her agriculture, grows very large clover crops; but, on the other hand, the proportion of her arable land left either as fallow or in natural grass is very much less than in England. In the one country every resource has to be used, every device applied, to make the land yield its utmost, and the study is to rest the land rather by changing its crop than by allowing it to lie idle and become choked with weeds; but in England matters are taken more easily. Accordingly, arable land in "bare fallow" in England amounted last year to 4 per cent. of the whole; in Scotland, to only a half per cent. So, again, with land under permanent pasture. Over the whole kingdom the proportion of arable land to such natural grass land was 49.8 to 50-2, but in England the proportion was 43.5 permanent pasture to 565 arable, while in Scotland 75.8 was arable and only 24.2 permanent pasture.

In horses, cattle, and sheep, the wealth of the kingdom is slowly increasing. The high prices recently ruling for horses seem to have stimulated breeding, and the stock of horses used for agriculture, unbroken horses, and mares kept solely for breeding-the only kinds included in these returns-has increased by some 35,000 in the year, and is greater now by 66,000 than in 1870. The stock of cattle, again, had grown by 161,000, a less increase than in 1873, but the number had grown by about 15 per cent. since 1871, and there are indications in various directions that the country is recovering steadily from the crippling effects of the cattle plague. The stocks of sheep also increase slowly, but the full effects of the drought years, 1868 to 1871, when stocks decreased by 3,590,000, are not yet fully obliterated. The demand for pork seems to be falling off; at all events, the number of pigs is on the decrease in England, and in other parts of the kingdom grows but slightly. This is accounted for partly by the preference of the working classes for beef and mutton, partly by the dearness of pigs' food.

While the agricultural prosperity of the land is thus fairly steady in its growth, there is a singularly persistent

decline in the numbers of those who till it. By the census returns, English farm labourers had fallen in number from 958,000 in 1861 to 798,000 in 1871, or 17 per cent. The Scotch decrease was not so large, being from 105,000 to 93,000, or about 12 per cent.

At the end of these returns some interesting figures are given regarding agricultural wealth and progress in the colonies and in other countries. The dates are too varied to permit close comparisons to be made, but one or two interesting facts of an isolated kind are worth stating. France, for instance, returns 17,000,000 acres as under wheat, or about 8,000,000 more than Great Britain under corn of all kinds; but that vast total is beaten by the United States, which had over 22,000,000 acres under wheat in 1873, besides 39,000,000 under maize. The wheat yield of France, however, appears to be greater than that of the States, in spite of the advantage of the latter in acres, while Russia comes third in yield. Russia and Prussia, at a long interval, take the lead in the production of barley, and rye is a grain which finds favour with all European countries except our own to an extent few suspect. Rye-bread must form the staple food of the Germans, if we may judge by the fact that Prussia alone reared 150,000,000 bushels of that grain in 1871. In animals, Russia comes first with the prodigious number of 16,000,000 horses; the United States next, with 9,334,000; and then France, with rather less than 3,000,000. The total of "cattle" in Russia is rather under 23,000,000, or less by 4,000,000 than the number of the United States; but Russia comes first with sheep, having 48,000,000, against 34,000,000 for the States. After that comes England with 30,300,000, and then France with 24,600,000, Spain with 22,000,000 (but this was so long ago as 1865), and Prussia with 20,000,000. In sheep, however, there are no countries that can equal the aggregate numbers possessed by our Australian colonies, which together possessed 55,490,000 in 1873, an increase of about 8,000,000 over 1867, and no less than 32,000,000 more than 1861. This rate of expansion is something quite without parallel, except in the increase of cattle in the same colonies, which is proportionately nearly as great, the figures being 5,560,000 in 1873, an increase of 1,673,000 over 1867.

No. 3.

THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF IRELAND IN 1875.

The facts recorded by the RegistrarGeneral have been collected with great pains during a period of two months, and the enumerators, of whom nearly 3,800 were employed, were selected from the Irish Constabulary and Metropolitan police. They visited 600,000 holdings, and only one landed proprietor, a person occupying about 400 acres in the province of Leinster, declined to furnish information. He was the sole exception in all Ireland. The first important fact communicated by the return is that the total acreage under all crops has made a fair increase. Last year it was 5,269,004 acres; this year it is 5,331,655; being an increase of 62,651 acres. The total acreage under grass is nearly double this. Last year it was 10,472,422 acres ; this year it is 10,431,776 -a slight decrease. The increase and decrease of the respective crops form one of the most instructive portions of the return. Oats, barley, and green crops show an increase, and so do potatoes, for the present year. But a comparison of five years, beginning with 1871, presents a clearer view of the subject. There has been a marked diminution of the acreage under wheat. In 1871 it was 244,451 acres; this sank to 167,554 in 1873, rose again to 187,978 in 1874, and falls this year to 161,321. The cultivation of oats has been marked by similar fluctuations. In 1871 the area was 1,636,136 acres, which sank to 1,480,897 in 1874, and is this year 1,499,371. Barley remains nearly the same, with a slight tendency to increase. In 1871 the acreage was 220,979; this year it is 233,747. The cultivation of potatoes also varies but little. In 1871, 1,058,434 acres were planted, and in 1875, 900,277. The returns of live stock for 1875 compared with 1874 do not show any great advance. The horses and mules in the two periods were 547,372 and 547,676an increase of 304. The cattle decreased from 4,124,756 to 4,111,990—that is, by 12,766 head; and the poultry, which seem to be reckoned at only about 12.000,000, have decreased on the year by 12,607. On the other hand, the pigs have increased by no less than 150,049, the numbers being 1,009,186 and 1,249,235. The estimated total value of the live stock in Ireland is £37,925,832, being as nearly as possible the same as last year. The decrease in the number of emigrants from Ireland was very considerable, and the general

comfort and prosperity of the people is decidedly on the increase.

No. 4.

TRADE REPORTS FOR 1874 AND 1875. The Board of Trade returns for these two years deal with a very critical period in the commercial history of the country. The figures for 1875 and for the two preceding periods, with which they are compared, bear clear evidence of the stagnation of trade which has characterised recent years. In 1872-3 the trade of the country attained its maximum. It is as yet, too soon to say whether the reaction which has since occurred has reached its extreme; but the figures are very remarkable. Take, first, for the three years of inflation:

The total value of our export and import trade is still higher than in any year previous to 1872. The progress of our export trade was checked in that year, and the trade has never since recovered. The progress of our import trade was arrested in 1873, and our imports have ever since remained stationary.

The decline in our exports is in some cases, however, rather apparent than real. The rapid rise in prices which took place in 1872 .has been followed by an inevitable fall. Our exports have in consequence fallen in value where they have really increased in quantity. For instance, the export of coals has increased from 12,617,566 tons in 1873 to 14,475,036 in 1875; but the value of the coal thus exported has fallen from £13,188,511 to £9,645,962. The export of cotton yarn has increased from 214,778,827 yards in 1873 to 215,489,700 yards in 1875; but the value has fallen

£131,856,321 £121,307,600

From these tables it will be seen that four commodities, which together make up not quite one-half of the whole value of our export trade, are responsible for about two-thirds of the total decline, and, in the case of three out of four of the articles, the quantity exported has increased, while in that of the fourth the decline in quantity has been twice as marked as the decrease in value.

The import trade has not been affected to the same extent as the export trade by a decline of prices. Our imports, as a rule, are less susceptible to variations in price than our home produce. But very considerable fluctuations have, nevertheless, occurred in the value of some of our principal imports; and, but for these variations, the totals of our trade which have been already quoted would be very different from what they actually are. We imported, for instance, 43,751,630 cwt. of corn in 1873 and 51,786,393 cwt. in 1875; but we paid £28,446,689 for the smaller quantity in the former and only £27,418,970 for the larger quantity in the latter year. We imported 13,693,472 cwt. of raw cotton in 1873 and about the same quantity, or 13,360,686 cwt., in 1875; but the price paid fell from £54,887,323 to £46,320,361. We imported 6,527,464 cwt. of rice in

1873 and 6,678,452 cwt. in 1875; but the value fell from £3,238,387 to £2,991,354. If the value of these articles in 1875 had been as high as in 1873, there would evidently have been an appreciable addition to the value of our import trade. The fall of prices has made both our import and export trade look worse than it has really been.

In regard to British shipping, a subject which concerns our national as well as our commercial position, these returns are hardly so promising as we could wish. The great expansion which this branch of business has had for so many years past has produced the usual result of excessive competition. The contention for the carrying trade of the world is still chiefly among ourselves, though foreign nations are every day pressing more eagerly into the struggle; but the continued reduction of freights even where there is no proportionate decline of business showed that an over large amount of capital had been directed to this branch of enterprise; and this, with the decline of our export trade, told heavily on shipowners. The Trade Circulars report numerous lines of vessels as having gone out habitually this last year in ballast, the only chance of the owner's profit being the freight of the return cargo, but even in this direction some improvement is now reported, and the rate of freights on the Clyde has risen considerably.

in 1875. The number of persons at work in these five great classes of factories in 1875 is as follows:-Children between 8 and 13 years of age-66,900 in cotton factories, 8,588 in wool, &c., 29,828 in worsted, 12,678 in flax, &c., 6,871 in silk, total 124,865; males between 13 and 18 years of age-38,557 in cotton factories, 13,972 in wool, &c., 11,259 in worsted, 15,195 in flax, &c, 2,381 in silk, total 81,364; females 13 years of age or upwards-258,667 in cotton factories, 66,324 in wool, &c., 69,388 in worsted, 112.570 in flax, &c., 27,841 in silk, total 534.790; males of 18 years of age or upwards-115,391 in cotton factories, 49,169 in wool, &c., 31,622 in worsted, 31,344 in flax, &c., 8,466 in silk, total 235,992. Comparing these numbers with those for 1850, we find that the great increase in the number of hands employed has been in the two classes whose labour is cheapestnamely, children under 13 and females of 13 and upwards. The number of males between 13 and 18 has increased but little; the number of males of 18 and upwards has increased about 60 per cent., or by one-half, but the number of children under 13 is trebled; and the largest class of all, constituting more than half the whole number of persons employed-namely, the females of 13 and upwards-has increased above 60 per cent., or by nearly two-thirds.

No. 5.

CENSUS OF FACTORIES.

The return prepared by the Inspectors of Factories, stating the number of textile factories and of the persons employed in them, shows the continued progress of trade, and shows also that the power of production is increased by improved machinery and processes, to make up for the increasing scarcity of manual labour in the manufacturing districts. The number of cotton factories, which was 1,932 in 1850, 2,887 in 1861, and 2,483 in 1871, has become 2,655 in 1875; the number of wool, &c., factories, which was 1,497 in 1850, had increased to 1,949 in 1871, but is only 1,925 in 1875; of worsted factories, 501 in 1850, 630 in 1871, and 692 in 1875. Adding the flax, &c., factories, numbering 620 in 1875, and the 818 silk, we find the aggregate number of factories in the five great classes of textile fabrics 4,600 in 1850, 6,308 in 1861, 6,356 in 1871, and 6,710

No. 6.

THE POST OFFICE REPORT FOR 1874.

The Postmaster-General, in his report for the year 1874, states that the number of letters posted in the United Kingdom during the year was 967,000,000, being an increase of 63 per cent. on the number in 1873, and showing a proportion of thirty letters to each person in the country. The number of post-cards was 79,000,000, which was an increase of 93 per cent., and the number of book-packets and newspapers was 259,000,000, which was an increase of 2 per cent. The number of registered letters in the United Kingdom during the year was upwards of 4,000,000, or about one in 250 of the total number of letters.

The business of the Post Office savingsbanks continues to increase steadily. Last year there were 178 new offices opened in England and Wales, 23 in Scotland, and 14 in Ireland; the total number in the United Kingdom at the end of the

year being upwards of 5,000. Since the establishment of the Post-Office savingsbanks, thirteen years ago, the number of old savings-banks has diminished from 638 to 476, which latter number is less by one hundred than the present number of Post-Office savings-banks in the London district alone. The number of depositors has increased by about 112,000, making the whole number at the end of the year nearly 1,670,000; while the amount of deposits, including interest due, was upwards of £23,000,000, being about £2,000,000 more than in 1873. whole sum deposited during the year was upwards of £8,300,000, as against nearly £6,900,000 withdrawn.

The

The interest on the money placed in the hands of the National Debt Commissioners on account of the savings-banks was last year £743,000, while the interest credited to the depositors was £524,000, and the expenditure (exclusive, however, of postage, which, if charged, would have amounted to about £36,000) was £100,000; making a total of £624,000, and leaving a profit of £119,000.

With reference to the telegraph department, the report states that there were above 19,000,000 telegrams sent last year, exclusive of newspaper messages, which were about 10 per cent. more than in 1873. On one occasion, the report says, when an important debate took place in Parliament, and when, in addition, there was an unusual number of interesting occurrences in different parts of the country, nearly 440,000 words, equal to about 220 columns of the Times, were transmitted from the central station in London in a single night. The rental from private wires has increased from about £47,000 to £53,000, or about 12 per cent.

No. 7.

POLICE AND CRIMINAL STATISTICS.

From the Annual Report for 1874 of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, Colonel Henderson, we extract the following statistics :

The total police force at the end of the year was 9,958-an increase of 75 over that of the preceding year.

During the year there were built 7,764 new houses and 145 new streets, and two new squares were formed; the length of

the new streets and squares being 22 miles and 862 yards. 3,542 new houses were in course of construction. The length of new streets and squares opened during the last quarter of a century is 1,181 miles and 54 yards. There does not appear to be any immediate prospect of a cessation of growth of buildings; the tendency is rather the other way.

was

The total number of persons arrested by the police during the year 67,703, being a decrease of 6,154 persons as compared with the preceding year. The chief items of decrease are among the drunk and disorderly characters, which were 26,155 against 29,755 in 1873-a diminution of 3,600.

Vagrants and suspicious characters diminished 1,211, and persons charged with simple larceny by 649.

The general results of the year 1874 are that it records the smallest number of serious (indictable) offences against persons and property during this decade. In 1865 they were 10,612; in 1868 they were 14,316; in 1874 they had fallen to 10,185. The large proportion of these are simple larceny; this year 6,674, a large reduction as compared with 1873, when they were 7,213.

In

Burglary, house-breaking, and larceny to the value of £5, in dwellings, which are all of one class of crime, show still a decrease; a small one as compared with 1873, but a very considerable one as compared with former years. 1867 there were 1,540 such crimes; in 1873 they had decreased to 826, and in 1874 to 808; while robbery and attempts to rob have decreased from 118 in 1865 to 57 in 1874. The particular offences of stealing from shops and warehouses had, however, increased.

The number of accidents caused by the overcrowding of the streets was much the same as in the previous year, the deaths so occasioned amounting to 124, and less fatal injuries to 2,568.

We add a few comparative tables of criminal statistics for the last ten years throughout the United Kingdom.

In England the movement of committals for offences in general has been as follows:

1865, 19,614; 1866, 18,849; 1867, 18,971; 1868, 20,091; 1869, 19,318. Annual average, 19,368. 1870, 17,578; 1871, 16,269; 1872, 14,801; 1873, 14,893; 1874, 15,195. Annual average, 15,747.

The following table gives the movement of murderous cases: