mmittee had been granted to investigate this subject. The report of
this committee was presented to the house on the 18th of June; and it
stated that the complaints of the petitioners were founded in fact,
in so far as they represented that, at the present price of corn, the
returns to occupiers of arable land, after allowing for the interests of
investments, were by no means adequate to the charges and outgoings. It
also acknowledged that the committee, after much anxious inquiry, had
not been able to discover any means calculated to relieve the present
pressure. The report, in fact, when made public, extinguished all hopes
which had been entertained from the labours of the committee. It stated,
"So far as the pressure arises from the superabundant harvests, it is
beyond the application of any legislative provisions; so far as it is
the result of the increased value of money, it is not one peculiar to
the farmer, but extends to many other classes of society." This was
essentially true; and our legislators, perceiving that they could not
alleviate the distress by legislation, left the matter to be ameliorated
in the progression of time.

THE NAVIGATION LAWS.

In the course of the last session ministers had proclaimed views in
favour of free trade; and these were more formally developed this year
by series of resolutions, proposed by Mr. Wallace, president of the
board of trade, the object of which was to pave the way for a complete
revisal of the navigation laws, and the removal of those restrictions
which forbade the free interchange of commodities in foreign shipping.
Leave was given to introduce bills for the enactment of these important
measures in the ensuing session.

THE SUPPLIES, ETC.

The total amount of supplies for this year was L20,018,200; and in aid
of the ways and means L13,000,000 were taken from the sinking-fund.
A sum of L500,000, also, arose from the pecuniary indemnity paid
by France. A preposition to repeal the malt-tax was negatived; but
ministers afforded some relief to agriculturists by removing the duty
from horses employed in husbandry. In the debates on the estimates of
expenditure, Mr. Hume pursued his plan of sifting and disputing almost
every item of supply; and though he did not succeed in effecting any
reduction of expense, yet by this system ministers were compelled into
the necessity of originating measures of retrenchment. Parliament was
prorogued by commission on the 1