has been made. The proposal to connect Glebe Island with the present main railway line, and to construct on the island sale yards and meat stores, has undoubtedly gained force by the late news. If shipments of meat are to be made, the vessels should have wharves to rest at, and cool stores should be close to these wharves. If the business of sale of live stock, storage of countrykilled meat, and slaughtering can be carried out on one spot, it would appear well to allow the business to be centralised. The matter is not one to wrangle over, nor to hinder by idle talk. Prompt action is required, and late proceedings lead us to infer that such action must be taken by the Government. In average seasons the supply of meat from the increase of our flocks and herds far exceeds the demand. Last year alone, after deducting all the fat stock sent to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and other markets, there was an increase in sheep of over four million head. The boiling down process is a waste of food that ought to be avoided, if possible, and is only justifiable under the necessity of preventing a greater waste. Here it is cheap because we have an annual grass crop capable of feeding a hundred million head of live stock under proper management, and that grass crop would be absolutely lost unless annually eaten off and converted into wool and meat. Kill the meat close beside the pastures where it is grown, surround it immediately after killing with cold air at a proper temperature, maintain that temperature in railway cars and storerooms and ship all the way to London or Liverpool, and then distribute to the millions of English consarers the surplus produce of our rich natural pastures, and the whole problem is solved. Between the English and the Australian retail price there is a difference equal to about three times the cost of production in this colony at the place of production; and nothing but bad management or a corrupt combination of "vested interests prevent remunerative exportation in such a state of things. It is true "two swallows do not make a summer," and the experiment with the Strathleven may require to be followed by several more successful trips before growers can operate with confidence. But the conditions of success have now been well ascertained, and the result should be to bind together more closely than ever the Mother Country and her Australian Colonies by those ties of mutual dependence and mutual benefit which, more than all parchment treaties, tend towards the amity aud unity of mankind. can In the face of such testimony as the above, Mr. Bigot's statement, in a letter which appeared in the Standard April 5, that "on the whole, Australia cannot do much more than find her own beef-eating population," is a palpable absurdity. It stands to reason that countries Ike Australia, or Sonth America, which can grow cattle and sheep for the sake of the export value of their hides, wool, and tallow, can do more than find their own popalation; and even 1d. per lb. of the dressed carcase would be very nearly all extra gain in respect of the beef, and quite one-half extra gain in respect of the mutton. In Sydney has been proposed-1. The slaughtering of cattle in the interior, as near their pasturage and the line of railway as possible. 2. The chilling and setting of the meat where slaughtered. 3. The carriage to town And 4. A rein properly constructed refrigerator cars. frigerating depôt in town where the meat could be received, retained, and distributed to the trade. And yet nothing of the kind has been done in England, or even talked about. Treating the same subject the South Australian Chronicle (Adelaide) says:-"The news of the highly successful result of the experimental shipment of fresh meat from Sydney to London by the steamer Strathleven cannot fail to afford special gratification to squatters and others connected with the pastoral interest, and is also of great importance to Australians generally, as opening a new source of wealth. Notwithstanding the large growth of population in these colonies there must for very many years to come, except in seasons of general drought, be an immense surplus of fat cattle and sheep beyond what can be required for home consumption. Within the last few weeks beef in Sydney has been down to prices fully as low as in the old boiling-down days, before the diggings. The wholesale quotation was only about a penny per lb., and it was not unnatural that renewed efforts should be made to discover a mode of exporting what is so very cheap to a country where it is so very valuable. Australia is pre-eminently a fine pastoral country, but there are large tracts of country on which it is more profitable to grow sheep and cattle than corn, and even now fresh regions are occupied by the grazier with his flocks and herds. The increase of live stock is so enormous and rapid that it must necessarily far outstrip the local wants of two or three millions of people, or twice that population. How to get rid of the surplus is the question that has engaged the attention of pastoral settlers for more than thirty years. Before the discovery of the Victorian goldfields fat cattle and sheep were boiled down for their tallow, ali the lean of the carcase being of course wasted. At that time in this colony prime legs of mutton could be purchased at the boiling down works for sixpence each, and mutton generally was sold at from a penny to three halfpence a pound. In Victoria, we believe, the late Mr. Clark, afterwards the well-known millionaire, could find no better use for hundreds of his horses than to send them to the melting pot. After the great diggings rush, however, a great change came over the position of squatting affairs. The influx of population caused the price of meat to rise greatly, and then for years afterwards there was an immense demand for sheep and cattle to stock the new country that was taken up in all directions for pastoral purposes. This heavy drain upon the established flocks and herds could not last for ever, and prices came down to something like the old standard. It was in South Australia this change was last experienced, as the cattledealers here always managed to outwit the consumers; but at last, in 1869, Adelaideans purchased mutton at about 1d. per lb., and soon aftewards we had both boiling-down and meat-preserving works in operation. At times we have a glut of fat sheep in South Australia, and as the Northern Territory is a good fattening country, the time may come when there will be large shipments of frozen beef from Port Darwin." New Zealand, too, is looking forward to joining in this new trade, and suggests that it might be cheaper to send the meat by sailing ves els. We do not know how that may be. The longer te journey the greater the cost of maintaining the process, but the extra time would not affect the meat in any way. The fact of fresh meat and dairy produce from the Australian Colonies having been successfully placed in the British markets has set American producers thinking. The Pacific Rural Press (San Francisco) of March 13, in discussing the event, says :-" It may be said in a word that the effort yielded success, and that meat slaughtered in Australia in November last was served on London tables during the first week in February, in good, fresh, and palatable condition. This cer tainly is one of the most notable events of the century, and one which will awaken the interests of stock breeders everywhere. This new experience in the fu nishing of fresh meat to England is calling for a recasting of cost of production, both among English cattle growers and meat shippers from our Atlantic ports. it is claimed that beef can be profitably produced in Aus tralia at 1d. to 14d. per lb., and shipped by the freezing process so that it can be laid down in England for 2d. per lb. Of the bearing of this experiment upon our coast, it can only be said that at present it is merely a matter of general interest, We cannot at present produce beef and mutton that would satisfy English consumers at two or three cents a pound. It is probable that the grazing regions of Australia and South America will enjoy this traffic, and our producers will perhaps be fortunate if the Australians do not dose San Francisco with cheap meat." one of the few things not known by that well-informed journal is the difference to the butcher between selling dead meat and slaughtering live animals. Nevertheless, it is not the butchers who will feel this competition most; those who live by farm rents will find their income reduced down to the level at which those who cultivate the soil can successfully compete with foreign importation their game and other privileges being, for the most part, done away with into the bargain. This is where the shoe will pinch. NEW ZEALAND NOTES. Our New Zealand correspondent writes under date March Our contemporary under estimates the cost of transit in the above statement. It is true that good meat can be profitably produced in Australia at from 1d. to 1d. per lb. of the dressed carcase, but when all expenses are reck-2:-The weather during the past month has been exceedoned it will probably cost 4d. in England. With regard to the butter sent by the Strathleven, the South Australian Chronicle (Adelaide) says:-"It is satisfactory to learn that a quantity of butter was taken in along with the fresh meat before the ship left "Australia, and that it arrived apparently in good condition. Our telegraphic information does not explain fully the condition of the butter as placed upon the market, and we have no particulars as to the quality of the sample when put on board ship, but the fact that over 1s. per lb. wholesale was realised, a price considerably over the ruling values of American parcels, is eminently satisfactory. During our spring season less than 6d. per lb. has to be accepted for the best fresh butter at the inland towns, and even at that rate a market cannot be found for all that can be made, so that many dairymen turn to cheese making, and others give over milking the cows as unprofitable. When however, more than 1s. per lb. can be realised for the produce of the dairy in England, the margin is sufficiently large to yield a handsome profit after paying for even a somewhat expensive system of exportation. Ships leaving here at the season of the year when our butter is a drug in the market would reach England towards the end of winter when the prices are generally high. It is probable, therefore, that a difference of nearly 6d. per lb. between the prices here and in England could be depended upon, and a much less margin than this should be sufficient to create an export trade which would do much to relieve our local markets and extend our dairying industry. With fresh butter preserved according to some such process as already referred to, and placed in tins instead of casks, all that would be necessary would be a sufficient degree of cold to prevent melting in the tropics. With the improvements in preserving and tinning fresh butter which have been made, and the application of the refrigerating process, there should be no difficulty in the way of largely developing our dairying industry by placing its most valuable product in good condition upon the English market." The Daily Telegraph, commenting on the successful venture with frozen meat, says there is nothing at all extraordinary in the voyage of the Strathleven; what she has done other ships have done before," and the only novelty is in the freezing process. It is true frozen meat has been sent into Europe from the La Plata States, and successfully marketed, but the cargo of the Strathleven was the first fresh meat from Australia ever put on the English or any other European market. Herein lies the novelty, which is a very momentous one although it is not perceptible to the Daily Telegraph. That journal also tells its readers that England is mainly dependent on Denmark and Spain for its roast beef; a palpable error, as those two countries together do not send a third of the quantity we now receive from the United States of America. The Telegraph says "the butchers have little cause to be agitated about the incident "; but, evidently, ingly fine,and eminently favourable to the harvesting operatious in which all have been engaged during that time. Days of sweltering heat, in which, during the mid-day hours, the perspiration poured off the busy workers in the harvest field in streams, but almost invariably succeeded as the afternoon wore on by a delightfully cool and refreshing breeze from the sea, making the close of the day very pleasant. Scarcely an interruption took place, and with the extended use of harvesting machinery, the cutting and saving of the corn crop of 1880 has been got through in a marvellously short period. The general practice throughout the colony being to thrash on the field, weather permitting, whenever the cutting has been com pleted, much of this work has been got through also, the having been leading features in the landscape on all agristeam engine, and invariably accompanying straw elevator cultural districts during the past fortnight. Not only his much corn been thrashed, but large quantities have passed from the farmer to the merchant, and already the railways begin to feel the strain, which will keep them occupied day and night for the next three months, par ticularly in the Southern Provinces. At Port Lyttleton alone, no less than nineteen of the New Zealand Com pany's ships are already engaged for London, 50s. per tra being fixed as the freight rate for the season, a rate which cannot by any means be considered excrbitant at a time when there is such a pressure of business. Large growers of wheat complain of merchants forming a combination or ring to keep down the prices, and an effort has been made to defeat them by the farmers shipping on their own account, and taking their chance of the London market. In the great wheat-growing districts of Limaru and Oamaru a beginning has been made, and a few ships are chartered, but it is exceedingly do 1btful whether this pro cedure on the part of a few will benefit the great bulk of the farmers, who must of necessity sell to the colonial merchants by raising the price a few pence in the bushel. At present 3s. 9d. in the Southern, and 4s. 6d. in the Norther Provinces are about the highest rates per bushel of 60 15. for wheat, and even with the admittedly fine harvest, the best probably ever reaped in the Colony, there is a good deal of dissatisfaction with the prices, at least one-fourth more having been confidently expected. Thrashing has in a great measure confirmed the expectations formed of the crops when growing, and some remark ble returns have been disclosed; 80 bushels of wheat and 90 of oats to the statute acre seem to be the top yields, quality being superb. The latter feature of the season's crep causes no surprise, however, now that New Zealand has beaten the world at the Sydney Exhibition for both whe and barley. The price of live stock remains very quie indeed, unless for well finished beef, which may ma 32. per cwt. of 100 lb., but middling and inferior a not much account. Very fiue wedders, and superior lamba may at times go slightly over 2d. a lb. at the auction yard but for all ewe mutton the price is not more than a sha over a ld. a pound. New Zealand stock owners hatt watched with much interest the experiments instituted by their neighbours of Victoria and New South Wales in taking fresh meat through the tropics, and now that the difficult problem seems solved by the successful result attained by the Strathleven cargo, they hope at some time or other to benefit by the most favourable conditions. However, they cannot do so for an indefinite, probably somewhat extended period, as there is no direct steam service to this colony from any part of the United Kingdom, and so little prospect is there of its proving selfsupporting, that the Scotch shipping companies, with which this Government has been in communication on the subject demand to be guaranteed a subsidy of £80,000 a year before venturing to organise a line of steamships. This sum being considered too high for the present resources of the colony, the matter dropped, and the New Zealand trade will have to be conducted solely by sailing vessels for some time longer. The labour question still occupies much of the time, and very serious attention of the "Hall Ministry," and they have certainly grappled indefatigably with what has proved to be an onerous, difficult, and to some extent thankless labour. At the commencement, five shillings a day were offered to all who should present themselves for employment, a rate of payment which not one would accept. In Ashburton, where 200 men gave in their names, as being out of employment, six shillings a day were offered, and a free pass on the railway, to and from their work, and of the entire number but two accepted. At the Empire City of Wellington, where things were so bad that something should be done, the Government have begun to make roads, giving the married men 79. 6d. and single men 7e. a day, it being impossible to rid the streets of idle men at a lower rate In the Mangere district, a few miles out of Auckland City, a number of the largest wheat growers arranged to assist the town authorities in clearing off the unemployed by taking them as extra harvest hands, offering 68. a day, and all found in food and lodging, as long as they required them. The then however had worked only a couple of days when thinking the farmers had got the best of the bargain, they struck work for another shilling a day, a demand which their employers indignantly refused, and they were at once allowed to return to their old quarters at the street corners in Auckland, to await higher wages on the next Government contract. It has thus become abundantly evident that men will not in this colony work for even moderate wages, nor for a high wase give more than a short day's work of eight hours, under almost any pressure, even that of positive destitution, and they at once fall back on the Government which by its system of free immigration brought them here in thousands, and demand to be supported. There is no getting out of their claim, as in a country where there is no special provision made for the poor or unfortunate, starvation would stare thousan is in the face at this present moment, even in this land of abundance, if not assisted to tide over a period of general depression by having work created especially for them. Anxious to do their utmost for the good of all, Ministry has even tried another plan to aid in the ution of the labour question by endeavouring to place en with families on Government land. Last session a bill was brought in, and successfully carried, to reduce the minimum price of land from 20s. to 10s. per acre, the payment to be made on the deferred system, which renders it a peculiarly easy burden. An association of working men has been formed to take advantage of these and other concessions relative to the settlement of working men on land but as with the wages questions, so with this, a difficulty was raised at the very outset which prevents any thing worth while being done. The leaders and advisers of the men demand two years support from the Goveinment, from the day they enter their holding, or as they are called by the words of the Act homesteads, a proposal at which the authorities stood aghast, being entirely origiual and without precedent. However unconstitutional such a demand may be, it is after all eminently consistent with sound reasoa and common sense, that a poor man going into the bush to do his best to carve out a home in the wilderness, should have himself and family fed, until able to reap the fruit of his own labour. It is evident beyond all dispute, that someone must supply him with the necessaries of life, otherwise, however willing he might be, small progress would be made in draining the swamps or clearing the forests, and the state whose property he is rendering productive by his labour, seems to be the likeliest to make this advance, making the repayments for this, as easy as the price of land. Large numbers of people continue to pour into the colony, soine ships recently bringing as many as 350 passengers paying full fare. Many of these are doomed to considerable disappointment on landing and freely express their indignation at those men who have taken it upon them to paint the prospects of the working man in this country in roseate hues. The New Zealand Press has been unanimous in condemning this failing on the part of those who have lectured or written on this country, as it has been the means of making many men give up comfortable homes in the old country, and permanent employment to come out here and find only enforced idleness. Splendid scenery and a magnificent climate are very well in their way, but house rent, food, clothing, take precedence even of these advantages, and no man who finds the latter deficient has the slightest enjoyment in contemplating the former, or gives himself any trouble about them. One recent lecturer whose style partook largely of embellishment, however unintentional or well-meant, has found himself in very hot water since returning to the colony, having been cou fronted by men, who, charmed by his representations, broke up happy homes, and came out only to swell the ranks of the unemployed in Dunedin and elsewhere, some of them haying been here for months without having done a single day's work. His book has been held up to him and quoted from, and he has been asked to point out now that he is on the spot where the abundance of work, and high wages were to be had, a very awkward predicament surely for anyone and especially so for a clergyman. Things have even gone so far in this direction, that a deputation has actually waited on the Premier, calling upon him to make arrangements to ship them back to England. The exclamation save me from my friends," is thus shown to be equally applicable to states as to individuals, and to all intending lecturers and bookmakers for some time to come, on the colony of New Zealand, its Press unites in cordially giving them the laconic advice "don't." WHAT'S IN A NAME?-The London correspondent of the Suffolk Chronicle writes:--I hear a good story about the new members for a Potteries constituency. One is a gentleman of position in the town, the other is Mr. Broadhurst, a working man of high personal character, who is likely to do credit to his class and his constituency. The brother of the first member lives in London, and on the morning after the election was congratulated by a friend on his brother's success. But," said the friend, "what a pity he should have as colleague a man like that-a notor ous Atheist." "Why, what do you mean? Who ?" said the astonished brother. Mr. Bradlaugh," said the friend confident in his accuracy. An hour later, whilst yet pondering on these things, the brother met another friend, who repeated the congratulation. "But," he added, "what a pity your brother should have a colleague like that-little less than a murderer." "Why, what do you mean? said the bewildered "Why, Mr. Broadhead." Tableau. man. MANIT ОВА. TO THE EDITOR OF THE MARK LANE EXPRESS. SIR, I believe there is no part of this continent where good lands can be had on easier terma than in the vast north-west territory, which the Dominion of Canada purchased a few years ago from the Hudson's Bay Company. About one-third of the rich valley of the Red River is in the Canadian province of Manitoba, and that is merely the eastern extremity of an immense fertile belt nearly 300 miles in breadth, which sweeps in a north-westerly direction along the Assiniboine and both branches of the Saskatchewan, for nearly 1000 miles, to the base of the Rocky Mountains. For about 500 miles north of the international boundary line along the Peace River to the Great Slave Lake, the land for the most part is rich and fertile, and on account of the warm south-west winds which sweep along the slopes and through the passes of the Rocky Mountains, the climate is temperate for a great part of the year. In many districts round the Hudson's Bay posts and the missionary stations there are the nuclei of settlements, and in connection with the Canadian Pacific Railway, now in course of construction, the entire country has been thoroughly explored by scientific men and practical agriculturists, who have ascertained beyond doubt that it contains fine pasturage and at least two hundred million acres of the finest wheat land in the world. The long and rigorous winter will no doubt deter people accustomed to mild and temperate climates from settling in those northern countries. Still but for the in ense winter frosts the soils of the river valleys here are so deep and rich that people who would settle on them could not enjoy good health. This winter has been excep tionally severe all over the north-west. In several parts of Minnesota and Dakota the thermometer at times registered more than sixty degrees below zero, and in Manitoba during December the minimum ranged from five to fifty-eight degrees. Many persous travelling on the open prairie or working in exposed situations h. ve been badly frozen, and several persons perished with cold. But while the howling blizzard sweeps across the open prairie, and all the lakes and rivers are ice bound, it is some satisfaction to know that the frost, which penetrates the earth for several feet, and the inteuse cold which at times prevents out-door work, are largely contributing to the fertility of the soil and healthfulness of the climate. However, since the new year the weather has been moderately temperate, and many days were clear, bright, and beautiful. I have seen men work out doors in Winnipeg during very cold weather, and it is very noticeable what little fuel will keep a well constructed house warm, the air is so clear and dry. I believe the rain interferes with out-door work in Great Britain quite as much as the cold does here, but be that as it may, the farmer in Manitoba bas fine weather enough to cultivate the land and sow his crops, and he has plenty of employment during the winter to house and tend his cattle, and good sleighing to haul his fuel and other supplies. The variations of the seasons are opportune. In June or July, when the sod is soft and friable, the farmer breaks his prairie land, and the following spring, when the frost is out of the ground a few inches, he reploughs aid puts in his seed. The gradual thaw of the deep-frozen earth moistens the roots of the plants until the rains in early summer, after which there comes dry warm weather to ripen and harvest the crops. The average yield of agricultural products in Manitoba last ranged as follows per acre:- Wheat 23 bushels, barley 42 bushels, oats 50 bushels, potatoes 290 bushels, and turuips 662 bushels. Other crops were good in about the same ratio, and two years ago the Mennonites sowed about 240 bushels of flax seed in their settlement near Emerson, from the product of which they saved 8,000 bushels last year. I think these returns are very fair for a new country, where very little capital and labour are expended ou the cultiva tion; and the land appears to be more prolific as you go farther to the north-west. At the farm in connection with the mounted police station at Battleford, 600 miles from here, on land broken last spring 492 bushels of oats were raised on twelve acres, 109 bushels of barley were raised on four and a half acres, and 602 bushels of potatoes on two acres. At another farm in the vicinity of Battleford, the second year after breaking the land, 1,300 bushels of potatoes were raised on less than two and a quarter acres. One tuber, smooth and well shaped, measured 14 inches in circumference one way, by 151 inches the other way, while twenty taken without special selection, averaged over three pounds each. At Edmonton 180 miles east of the Rocky Mountains, the grain crop of one farm of 180 acres was estimated at 6,000 bushels, of which 4,000 bushels were wheat; and at the exhibition held there in the fall, carrots were shown which measured from 3 inches to 4 inches in diameter, and from twenty to twenty-four inches long. The average yield of Manitoba is not surpassed by any of the United States. Minnesota, one of the best wheat-growing Sta es in the Union, according to the latest return available, only produced 17 bushels of wheat to the acre, 32 bushels of oats, and 26 bushels of barley, while the average for the entire Union gives only 13.9 bushels for wheat, 31.6 for oats, and 21.3 bushels for barley. Wheat can be easily raised in Manitoba at 11 dollars per acre, including the breaking of the prairie, and at 8 dollars per acre after the land has been broken, so that at the present average yield the cost at the outside will not exceed 40 cents a bushel, and in about two years, when the railways now in course of construction are completed, wheat can be shipped to Europe through the great lakes and the St. Lawrence at 45 cents a bushel, that is, wheat can be produced in any part of Manitoba and delivered in Liverpool, including all charges, at 85 cents a bushel, or 28s. 4d. per quarter. However, some time must elapse before there will be any surplus to ship, for, although there was a large area under crops last year the yield will scarcely meet the home demand and the requirements of increasing settlers; but there is a good deal of new land broken, and the cultivated area will be largely increased this year. Stock raising is a profitable pursuit farther West, especially in the Bow river and Edmonton districts where the cattle can graze during winter, and many farmers in Manitoba are now engaged in the business, but only in a small way as yet; still all over the province there are excellent grades of cattle which were imported from Ontario and Quebec. The grasses, which are highly nutritious, will sustain stock from the middle of April until the end of Noven ber. Good hay can be cut and saved for a couple of dollars per acre, and fine roots and grain for winter feed can be raised at a moderate expense. There are few large farms specially devoted to wheat raising and a few to stock raising in Manitoba; but the great bulk of the farmers combine wheat and stock raising, which enables them to have a rotation of crops and manure for 1 that may require it. I think they are wise not to put their eggs into one basket, for if the sun shines bright c the British Isles this year wheat will probably be cheap on this continent, which produces so large a surplus for exportation. There are about 400 townships already surveyed in Manitoba and the North-west, each of which comprise thirty-six sections of 640 acres each, and these are divided into half and quarter sections. The Gover ment give a quarter section or 160 acres free as a homestead to actual settlers with the right to pre-empt 160 acres more at a dollar an acre. Last year 8,000 home steads and pre-emption entries were made in the land offices, and the Government, the Hudson's Bay Company, and speculators sold more than half a million acres. Many of the settlers are experienced farmers with sɔme capital, but it was so easy to acquire land which was easily cultivated that a number of energetic industrious men without capital settled on it, and, although they had to struggle hard at first many of them have now fine homesteads. Still to ensure success an emigrant from the old countries should have at least 100 dollars when he takes up land wherewith to build a small house and to purchase oxen, some farm implements, seed, and food until he saves his first crops. But an agricultural emigrant with £1,000 may safely take up an entire section of 640 acres and make a good farm and homestead in a few years. An emigrant should not be encumbered with luggage, for on his arrival here he can purchase articles suited to the country cheap enough. In Manitoba, which is only about 100 miles square, nearly all the good lands are occupied by settlers, or in the hands of speculators, but there are many townships surveyed west of the boundary where there is plenty of free land. Last year a large number of people from the old countries settled the little Saskatchewan 180 milest of Winnipeg, and built about 40 houses, a grist mill, a saw-mill, a good hotel, and a newspaper office, and there are a large number also settled in the Pembrina district, a fine section of country close to the International boundary line, and although many of them are young men who had not been trained to industrial pursuits, they take to farming very well. In the neighbourhood of towns and projected railroads the value of land is rapidly increasing; still good farms can be purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company, and from speculators at from five to ten dollars an acre, but the intending settler can get land quite as good a little farther west at a dollar or two an acre. Good town lots command very high prices, and outside the bounds of this City they ask 100 dollars an acre for land. The progress of Winnipeg has been marvellous, no city in the Dominion has a more intelligent and orderly population, and there is no place of its age on the Continent has better shops and stores, or more commercial activity. Many wooden structures were replaced by substantial brick buildings last year, and they will commence extensive building operations again when the season opens. The Hudson's Bay Company will build a large store on Main Street, and Mr. Ashdown paid 15,000 dollars for a plot of land opposite the Post Office, 50 feet front and 200 feet deep, on which to erect a hardware store. Mr. Ashdown, who commenced busiDess eight years ago with 100 dollars and a kit of tinkers' tools, has the most complete hardware store in the Dominion, and branch stores in several parts of this province and the north-west. Winnipeg is well situated for a trade centre, being on the left bank of the Red River, near the confluence of the Assiniboine. A branch railway 63 miles connects it with the railroad system of the United States, but its terminus is on the opposite bank of the river at St. Boniface, where an important Roman Catholic mission has been long established, hower there is a bridge in course of construction to connect th places, and before the close of the year the railroad ill be built 100 miles west. The immigration of last year must have added fully ten thousand to the population of Manitoba and the North-west, but there is plenty of good land for many millions here beneath the "Old Flag' amongst a kindred people. I am, Sir, &c., THOMAS CONNOLLY. Canadian Pacific Hotel, Winnipeg, March 12, 1880. THE DUBLIN SPRING CATTLE SHOW. (FROM A DUBLIN CORRESPONDENT.) The annual Spring Show of the Royal Dublin Agricul tural Society was opened to the public on April 13, though the exhibition was open to those officially inte rested on the previous day. There was every element in the Show to ensure a success equal to anticipation, although, for obvious and unavoidable reasons, it cannot be fairly numbered amongst the distinguished successes that have characterised some former years. These reasons, it is almost superfinous to remark, are unfortunately to be found in the terrible, if not unprecedented, crisis or crises through which this country, agricultural and commercial, has passed. The end, indeed, of the untoward contingencies referred to has not as yet arrived. The fact remains that the disastrous and depressing consequences of the immediate past, so far from being obliterated, are daily apparent, and they cannot fail in making themselves acutely and disadvantageously and widely felt in agricul tural affairs, for a period whose limits to prescience can define. With reference to the Show under notice, however, there were features suggestive of encouragement, the only matter for surprise being that such a collection of animals of merit could be got together in the Metropolitan City at a time like the present. The breeding cattle were exhibited in the Agricultural Hall, and the arrangements in this department, as throughout the Show, were admirable alike as regarded the comfort of the exhibits and the facilities afforded to the public for inspection. The entries of Shorthorn bulls numbered 154, as compared with 197 in the previous year, and this class was divided into three sections. There was a stilt more conspicuous falling off in the show of cows and heifers, as the entries numbered only 17, as compared with nearly double that number last year. In the section of Hereford bulls there were four competitors, but in one class there was no entry. The other miscellaneous entries numbered ten, against eight last year. For the best bulls of this breed a special prize of £20 was offered, a special condition of the premium award being that the animal selected must be considered by the judges to be of superior merit. In the Hereford cows and heifers class there were but three entries, being one less than last year. In Polled Angus bulls there were three entries also, being an increase of only one on those shown at the immediately previous exhibition. Of this breed there were also two heifers entered. and the entries last year numbered two. The Devons and Ayrshires were not, in the strict sense of the word, competing, as there was but one solitary heifer shown. This pretty nearly reflects the state of things at the Spring Show of 1879, when there was not a single Devon and only one Ayrshire exhibited. In the Kerrys the state of affairs was much more inspiriting, as the numbers were eleven buils and eighteen heifers and cows, as against eight bulls aud ten cows and heifers in 1879. The Dexter bulls entered numbered five, and cows and heifers fifteen, whereas last year in the same class the numbers were three and eight respectively. One bull represented the show of West Highlands, but last year no specimen of this breed was presented. There were one Alderney bull and four heifers, as against two bulls and three heifers last year. The fat cattle were exhibited on premises adjoining the Melbourne Hotel. Amongst them were two Shorthorn oxen and ten heifers, as against two and fifteen respectively last year. There were one Kerry ox and four heifers and cows, showing a slight increase on the previous year, when only one cow and one heifer were shown. Herefords were conspicuous by their entire absence, whereas last year four oxen and five cows and heifers put in an appearance in this class. section set apart for the best oxen, cows, and heifers of In the |