The North Wales Express

EPITOME OF NEWS. AT the Shirehall, Dorchester, a man named Den ten, a pensioner, aud by trade a blacksmith, baa been charged with cruelty to his two children, by neglecting to provide them -with the necessaries of life. The Bench characterised it as a horrible case, and sentenced the father to six months' hard labour. They expressed an Opinion that the stepmother should also have been stand- ing at the bar. AIR. HENRY GRAY FITTER, town clerk at Stockton-on-Tees, has died after a prolonged and painful illness. Deceased was a nephew of the Rev. Frederick William Faber, once of tiie lirompton Oratory. EMMA ELDON, schoolmistress, Hoade, North- OMI)ton, has been fined 1:3 and His. 6d. costs, for as- Baulting a scholar, aged 8, who attended the Board School. Defendant, it was stated, caused bruises on com- plainants hand with a cane, bruises on the face with her fists, and had also dogged her. THE Hev. II. K. F. Sandford, her Majesty a Senior Inspector of Schools, has recently died at Shef- field. The rev. gentleman had been ill only a few days, and death was caused bv serous apoplexy. The de- Ceased, who was cousin of Sir Francis Sandford,Secretary Of the Education Department, and a brother of the Bishop of Gibraltar, had been a school inspector nearly thirty years. AT a meeting of the Warwickshire Chamber of Agriculture, among those present being the Earl of Cam- perdown, the Earl of Denbigh, Lord Leigh, and Lord Yarmouth, it was resolved, after much discussion, to Bnpport the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Agriculture, so far as they relate to railway rates, tithe rent char-es, adulteration, the land laws, and the law of distress, bnt limiting the power of distraint in the last case to one year. AT Aberdeen, the prizes and certificates won by the exhibitors at the recent exhibition of works of in- dustry and art, promoted by the Trades' Council, have been awarded by Lord Provost Esslemont in the Music Sail Buildings. The prizes consisted of medals, sums of tooney, and certificates. DURING the pantomime of Robinson Crusoe at the Leamington Theatre, the columbine had a narrow escape. When being lowered upon the stage, she was accidentally dropped upon the footlights, which were Unprotected. Fortunately, she was snatched off before her dress caught lire. AT Longton Sarah Taylor has been charged with stealing a child 2 years of age, named Alfred William Thompson, and afterwards taking its clothes. The prisoner picked up the child near to its parents' home. Wood-street, Longton, carried him a couple of miles away to an unfrequented dreary spot, and stripped Off his clothes and boots, leaving the infant in falling Bnow almost naked. Fortunately some one happened to pass, and found the child suffering badly from exposure to cold. The prisoner, who has been convicted of a limiJar offence, was remanded. A MEETING of the members of the Lincoln- shire Chamber of Agriculture has been held at Lincoln, the Hon. Murray Finch Hatton in the chair. The busi- Zless before the meeting had reference to Legislative recommendation of a Royal Commission on Agriculture, and several resolutions in reference thereto were carried. THE Macclesfield Town Council, at a special meeting have passed a unanimous resolution in favour of a tramway scheme. A GREENGROCER named W. Willett, while attending Derby market, fell beneath his cart, and died before medical aid could be secured. Deceased suffered from heart disease. Two more valuable horses belonging to the Corporation sanitary authority, Derby, have died from the disease known as pinkeye, making eight that have so Succumbed. Outbreaks are reported in other large etables. WHILE taking a two hours' steam trial trip off Plymouth Sound, her Majesty's ironclad Northumberland collided with the Russian schooner Secundus, 289 tons, from Tarragona for Cardiff, in ballast. The latter lost her jibboom, head gear, and topgallantmast, and was brought in to the Sound to repair damages. AT LONG ASHTON, Joseph Bailey, an auc- tioneer, of Weston-super-Mare, who wore the blue ribbon, has been lined ;£ I, in addition to one month's imprison- ment, for travelling on the Great Western Railway with- out a ticket, and, while drunk, assaulting the ticket- Collector, at Yatton. MRS. THORNTON WEST, of Streatham Hall, Exeter, has made a generous offer to one of the largest Of the county town parishes, having undertaken to build the chancel if the parishioners of St. David's will provide for re-building the remainder of their church. J OliN BAINES has been charged at Barrow-in- Furness with falsifying accounts at the Lancaster Bank, "Where he was employed as clerk. Evidence was given that the defalcations were of a serious character, but the only case gone into was one in which accused was charged with altering a credit note to Mr. Joseph Turner, Bharebroker, value t75 7s. lid., into JB5075 7s. lid., thus crediting Turner with £5000, which prisoner had promised to pay into the bank that day. Prisoner was xemanded. THE prize of twenty-five guineas, given by Lord Rosebery, Rector of Edinburgh University, for the best essay on the intluence of France upon Scottish life and character, has been awarded to Alexander Wood Renton, M.A. AT the Dartford Petty Sessions, Joseph Dierden, of Old Rectory House, Stone, Kent, was Charged with having obtained certain sums of monev -viz., JE527 7s. 7d., £ 51 18s. Id., and JESS 2s. 6d.— between the months of October and December, 1882, from Mr. George Libbis Bokenham, a member of the Stock Exchange, and of 11, Warnford-court, Throg- morton-street, London, by false pretences. Witnesses Were called, and in the end the Bench decided to dismiss the charge. Mr. Bokenham thereupon entered into his Own recognisance of £ 200 to indict the defendant at the quarter sessions. THE death is announced at Padua of Herr Sigismund Svphilidiatride, the famous professor in the Vienna University, AT the Oldham PoKce-court, two rough-look- ing fellows, named Christopher Atkinson and William Harrison, were recently charged with burglary. Early in the morning they broke open the back door of the perby Hotel, Manchester-street, removed a safe contain- '1llg over JEOO from the bar into the kitchen, helped them- selves to wine, spirits, cigars, and a few shillings in money, and would probably have gone off with consider- able treasure had they not been disturbed in their depre- dations. They took to flight, Harrison leaving his clogs behind him, and his excuse for turning up at home with- out them was that he had fought a man for a pair, and had lost the battle and his clogs. The prisoners, who had Oothing to say for themselves, were committed for trial to the assizes. MB. ROTHERY, Wreck Commissioner, has de- vered judgment in the inquiry at Glasgow into thesink- of the steamship Chiapas, off Queenstown, on Dec. u- The vessel war insured for £ 40,000. The crew and passengers were saved, but one fireman was drowned. r. Rothery found that there was no want of seamanship, and that the captain, engineers, and officers were not to ame. He thought the heavy sea caused displacement cargo, which, floating in the hold, caused leakage in the hull. A DEPUTATION of the Midland Railway Com- ply s employes at Victoria Docks Station, London, and e new station, Poplar, E., recently waited upon Mr. ichrnond (who for twelve years was manager of the Stl • -Railway Company's Royal Victoria Docks tation) and presented him with a handsome silver cpergne, and with an illuminated address, bearing the aame of the contributors, and couched in terms expressive 0 the high esteem in which he is held by those over m he rules. Replying to the deputation, Mr. Ricli- ond thanked them for the unlooked-for presentation, stated that he looked back upon his term of office j* the Royal Victoria Docks with much satisfaction, P cially when he took into consideration the cheerful continued co-operation of the clerks and men under great difficulties, and concluded by saving that his owl edge of the employes now at Poplar led him to Jeve that the same measure of success would attend drew el*°rta *n t^le future- The deputation then with- All" DREW, the coroner's officer for Mile-end the I °^n' London, has informed Sir John Humphreys of toarp « °.f Cllaries F* Wilson, aged 4% years, whose dece'^3/03'^8^ at Dunstan's-road, Mile-end. The bavirf6 80n a lighterman, and his parents, about^'h"' 'nt0 l'le a^ove address, the boy was playing a ''e the furniture was being placed. Perceiving it to h°r bottle standing on the mantel-shelf, he put tents 'hank a large quantity of its con- agonv )onl-y afterwards he screamed out in great called iTi110' being ab,e to appease him, the mother Swallow* ri Cr°-V,!en> w^° that the child had Plumhp.-6 u &i <?nantity of spirits of salts, which the after f*i u!1'! imPru<ientIy left about. The child died IV lk •rS'intense agony. °spital Sunday collections this year in in 1882 0a have realised about 20 per cent. more than 82. I VICE-ADMIRAL LORD JOHN ILu. K.C.B., has embarked on board the Lively, despatch \essel, Com- mander A. A. C. l'arr, at Portsmouth, for Malta, at which station his lordship vll relieve Admiral Lord Alerter, G.C.B., of his duties as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean. Sm. ARTHUR GORDON, late Governor of New Zealand and High Commissioner in the Pacific, has ac- cepted all invitation from the Edinburgh Pnilosophical Society to deliver a lecture on Fiji, Sir A. Gordon, who was formerly Governor of Fiji, recently visited that group on his return from jXew Zealand. Ila\ing been appointed an extra member of the Legislative Council of Fiji, he retained a personal connection with the adminis- tration of those islands during his Governorship of New Zealand. THE DUlm OF CONNAUGHT has consented to preside at the festival din er of the Field-lane Refuges and Ragged Schools, to be held OIl the 25th April, at Willis's Rooms. THE next literary examination of lieutenants of Militia who are canciidates for commissions in the Line will Le held by the Civil Service Commissioners at the London University, Burlington-gardens, W. (by per- mission of the senate), on Friday, the l.'ith April, and following days. Applications for permission to attend mutt be made in accordance with the instructions con- tained in the regulations issued with armv circulars, January, 1881, and are required to be forwarded by com- I manding officers not later than the 10th inst. AT the County Police-court, Sunderland, it was stated that within five days after the outbreak of pleuro- pneumonia, at Mr. Hendersons farm at Harton, an out- break had occurred at Mr. Snowdon's farm adjoining, and all the cows affected had been destroyed. A serious case of the same disease had occurred at Mr. Dunn's farm near Whitburn, where 3ix cows had been slaughtered. Foot- and-mouth disease had broken out on Mr. Dryden's farm at Harton, and it seemed that Harton was a focus of disease. CATTLE DISEASE throughout the home division of Kent being now extinct, the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Committee at Canterbury have declined for the present to enforce the recent order of the Privy Council. The usual lean stock market was accordingly opened, but no animals were offered. Foot-and-mouth disease is spreading with alarming rapidity throughout Staffordshire. A fresh outbreak is reported at Greenway Bank, near Bucknall, in the northern division of the county, where thirty-two cattle on one farm are infected. THE principal feature of a temperance meet- ing held at Park Hall, Park-street, Islington, London, under the auspices of the Blue Ribbon Army, was a lecture delivered by Walt-Bun-Ali-Kee, chief of the great Wolf tribe of North American Indians—a delegate to the Government in respect of certain territorial difficulties in Canada. The chief traced the decay of his tribe, which in the time of Penn was one of the most im- portant, to the introduction of fire-water, which, he informed the meeting, was, during his own experience, to be had for the nure asking. He was very pleased to inform the meeting that a bill had been pas ed which imposed a penalty of thirty days' imprisonment and a fine of §50 on any pcrson who sold spirits of any kind to an Indian. The proceeding were enlivened by vocal and instrumental music, and at the close several pledges were taken. UNDER the auspices of the Council of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, a public conference will be held in London on Thursday and Friday, the 1st and 2nd of March, for the purpose of discussing the various systems of bringing up and edu- cating pauper children. The president of the conference will be Lord Aberdare, and the proceedings will take place, by permission of the Council of the Society of Arts, in their hall in John-street, Adelphi. THE watchmen at the Wolf Lighthouse have only recently been relieved, after having been de- tained in the lighthouse on account of the stormy weather for nearly three months. Their supplies had run very short, and for some time they had beea living upon only two meals per day. THE Rev. J. Elias jJughea, M.A., pastor of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel at St. Asaph, has received and accepted a call to the pastorate of the Welsh Church, Wilton-square, London. THE newspaper La Citoycnnc announces the foundation of a French National Women's Suffrage Society, on the model of those in England and America. Among the members of the new organisation are several deputies and members of the Parisian Municipal Council. Mine. Edmond Adam is one of the honorary members. AN address has been issued to the electors of Westmeath purporting to be from a Mr. Win. Pentland, stating that although he does not possess the merit of having'been in gaol, yet, if returned, he will make such a speech as will secure him six months in one of her Majesty's prisons. lie will support Mr. Gladstone as a tried friend, and if returned must be allowed -0200 a year and his hotel expenses." THE somewhat uncommon spectacle of an objection to marriage banns has been witnessed at the village church of Whittington, near Oswestry. The occasion was the third time of publishing the banns of marriage between a gentleman resident at Warrington and a farmer's daughter resident at Whittington, and the objection was laid by a solicitor on behalf of the father of the young lady. He was, of course, invited to state his "just cause or impediment" in the vestry after morning service. LORM PENRHYN has consented to be present to the Privy Council the ratepayers' memorial in favour of a Charter of Incorporation being granted to the borough of Bangor. The Local Board of Health have withdrawn their opposition to the proposal. ALDERMAN WILSON, of Cheltenham, a former Australian colonist, has offered a donation of Xl- CO to the Dean Close Memorial Fund, provided a portion of the funds be applied to a free library and a school of art. The rector, Canon Bell, on the other hand, is desirous of erect- ing a middle-class school, and promises 1100. The local press sides with the alderman. THE Manchester Chamber of Commerce, after an animated discussion has passed a resolution authori- sing that the name of the president be affixed on behalf of the chamber to the petition for presentation to the House of Commons asking them to set aside the decision of the Examiner with respect to the standing orders not having been complied with by the promoters of the Manchester Ship Canal Scheme in the deposit of their Bill. The secretary to the Manchester Chamber of Com- merce has received an intimation that the Lord Chancellor has agreed to receive deputations from the Chambers of Commerce and Law Associations of Manchester and Liverpool in reference to the proposal of those bodies in favour of continuous sittings of the Ilil-h Court of Justice alternately in the two cities named for the trial of Common Law, Chancery, and Admiralty cases. A MEETING OF INHABITANTS has been held at the Town Hall, Brighton, to make arrangements for the reception of volunteers taking part in the Easter Monday review. Alderman Davey presided, in the absence of the Mayor, who is unwell. A committee was appointed to arrange for a site for the manoeuvres, and to give a public welcome to the volunteers. Great satisfaction was expressed at the decision of the metro- politan commanding officers to go to Brighton, and 1;400 was subscribed in the room to defray expenses. THE memorial stone of the new nave of St. John the Evangelist's Church, St. Leonards, which was almost entirely destroyed by fire on the eve of Advent Sunday, 1878, has been laid by Mr. C. J. Murray, M.P. The ceremony was witnessed by a large concourse of people, and was prefaced by a choral service in the church, at which Canon Crosse delivered an address. MR. WATIS, of Hawthorn Lodge, Bridge-road, Barnes, London, went iuto the dining-room with a lighted candle to ascertain the cause of the smell of gas, and it was immed'ately followed by an explosion which slightly injured Mr. Watts and blew out the windows, causing considerable' damage to the furniture and building. THOMAS RHODES, a commission agent and commercial traveller, has been sent to gaol by the Dudley magistrates for twenty-one days for deserting two of his children. Defendant separated from his wife, she retain- ing three of the children and lie two. but he broke his part of the compact, and now pleaded that he thought the wife had all the children with her. AT a crowded meeting held at Macclesfield (one of the boroughs threatened with disfranchisement), a resolution was unanimously passed in favour of the Government Corrupt Practices Bill, and urging the in- sertion of a clause compelling the closing of the public- houses on election days. The speakers alleged that dis- grace had been brought upon Macclesfield through the public-houses being open and facilities thus afforded voters for indulging in intoxicants. FROM THE DISTRICT of Mymensingh, in Eastern Bengal, comes news respecting the proposed changes in the rent law, to the effect that discussions regarding those changes have given rise to a crop of wild rumours among the ryots. An idea has got abroad that the Government has passed an order fixing thirteen annas per Bigah as the maximum rent to be paid by the tenants. The ryots of several villages have accordingly stopped the payment of rent. 1

SUPPOSED SUICIDE AT WHITSTABLE. A coastguard at Whitstable, named Major, recently discovered the dead body of a lady partially submerged, lying on the high water mark, between Tankerton and SivaleclilTe. Information being given to Instructmg- constable Dunk, Kent County Constabulary, the body was removed to the Steam Packet Inn. From inquiries subsequently instituted, it appeared that deceased was a spinster lady, named Ready, who resided at Faversham with her two sisters. She left nome ostensibly for the purpose of going to Hastings to her brother, but travelled by London, Chatham, and Dover Railway to W hitstable. She was subsequently seen wandering about the beach, and is believed to have committed suicide about dusk, I her body being afterwards washed in by the tide. De- ceased, who was of eccentric habits, committed the rash act, it is believed, in consequence of domestic troubles. She was about GO years of age, and a su icidal mania I appears to have existed in the family, deceased's brother having drowned himself about eight years ago by jump- ing out of a barge at Faversham.

BRUTAL MURDER NEAR LINCOLN. John Newton, a farmer, of Great Hole Fen, near Boston, has been murdered by a man known as Irish Joe," who for the last eight months has been an inmate of Newton's house. The deceased was a total abstainer, and quarrels with the Irishmen were frequent in consequence of the letter's drinking habits. On the night of the murder Joe went home drunk, and one hour afterwards returned to the public-house. The next morning a neighbour found Newton lying dead on the kitchen lloor with his throat cnt and a gun-shot wound in his left shoulder. The gun lay on the floor, and the knife on the table. Irish Joe had left the neighbourhood, but was apprehended in the evening, when he declared it was of no conse- quence, "The old man was as good dead as alive."

THE RESULTS OF DRINK An inquest has been held at Widnes, near Runcorn, by Mr. Barber, county coroner, on the body of Margaret Percy, age 1 68, w;fe Qf William Percy, farmer, Moss Bank. Percy was present in the custody of the police, who charged him with the wilful murder of his wife. From a long statement made by a woman named Roach, who had been domestic servant with the prisoner foi eight j ears, it appeared tiiat at eleven o'clock at night Percy returned home under the influence of drink. On entering the house he immediately began to quarrel with his wife, and struck her about the head with a heavy oak stick. The servant tried to get between them, but her master used such serious threats that she left the house. Percy then fastened the doors, and whilst Roach stood at one of them she heaid a violent struggle take place between deceased and theprisoucr. Mrs. Percy screamed loudly. Witness only obtained access to the house on the following ni; Tiling, when she found her mistress (on the back kitchen lloor unconscious, and her head covered with blood. Deceased never recovered consciousness. Dr. Cooper, who made a post-mortem examination, was of opinion that the deceased had died from concussion of the brain, which had been caused bv wounds indicted with a stick similar to the prisoner's. The jury returned a verdict of Wilful murder agaiust Percy, who was formally committed to take his trial at Liverpool Assizes.

FATAL AFFRAY WITII POACHERS. A serious affray with poachers has taken place on the estate of Harelaw, about a mile from Port Glasgow, in the county of Renfrew, whereby two gamekeepers have lost their lives. The unfortunate men, whose named were Robert Fyfe and David M'Caughtrie, were known to have been most energetic in their efforts to put down poaching, for which the district is somewhat notorious. On the day preceding the affray, it appears, a gang of poachers, accompanied by a black dog, were observed on the estate, and the next afternoonabout four o'clock four men and a dog, supposed to be the same party, were again seen proceeding towards the locality. Fyfe and M'Caughtrie left their homes between three and four o'clock with the view of taking the men into custody, and, proceeding in the direction of Port Glasgow, it is believed they saw the poachers approaching by a bye-road. The keepers had no guns, but both carried walking-sticks, and Fyfe had besides a pistol. I' Shortly after five o'clock a farmer in the neighbourhood heard several shots fired in rapid succession, and three hours later his wife, on proceeding towards her home through the fields, camo upon the lifeless body of M'Ca ghtrie. The alarm was raised, and the bodv of the other man was found about fifty yards away. M'Caughtrie's head was horribly disfigured, the ,kul1 being 'own away by a shot, and the brains were found on the snow several feet off. Fyte, it was found, had been shot in the mouth. Several persons were appre- hended. but all of them having satisfactorily accounted for themselves at the time the murders were committed they were subsequently liberated. Important evidence, it is said, has been volunteered, such as is sure to lead to the apprehension of the murderers. Meanwhile, the greatest excitement prevails in the town and neighbour- hood, crowds of persons having visited the scene of the murder. Later on another man was arrested, and spots of blood having been found on his vest he was detained.

= THE Lord Mayor of London, with the Sheriffs, Under-Sheriffs, Alderman Staples, the deputy and mem- bers of the ward of Aldersgate in the Court of Common Council, recently attended Divine service in state in the parish church of St. Anne and St. Agnes, Gresham-street, where a sermon was preached on behalf of the Royal Asylum of St. Anne's Society, by the Rev. Dr. R. W. Forrest, vicar of St. Jude's, South Kensington, who described the charity as one of the oldest and most time- honoured institutions in the metropolis, having been estab'' 'bed for nearly 150 years,during which lengthened period countless thousands of deserving children had participated in its benefits. It was the only society in the co intry which aimed at the relief of those who, once in prosperous circumstances, found themselves reduced suddenly, through misfortune or sickness, from compara- tive a uence to dire indigence and distress. At the present time 400 children found shelter within the walla of the institution at Streatham-hill; and the rev. preacher asked, who could overestimate the comfort tc the striken and all but despairing parents to know that the m'sfortunes which had overtaken them would not overwhelm their family in a common ruin, but that theii children at least would be well and carefully brought up and fitted for the battle of life in which they themselves had ? ered defeat? A collection was made at the close of the service. TIIE annual meeting of the Leicestershire and Rutland Lunatic Asylum has been held at Leicester, under 'he presidency of Sir Arthur Hazlerigg, when a most «-'tisfactory report was presented, which showed that e total expenditure during the past year had been 10,627 17s. 2d. The average weekly number of pa .ents in the asylum during the year had been 466, Miss MACCWORTH, the lady who has just been electe matron of the hospital, Weston-super-Mare, at a salary of £ -10 a year, is a sister of the baronet bearing the same name. DURING a Jhigh wind which prevailed in Bombay, a large quantity of dust was blown into one of the rooms of a wool factory. This caused a panic among"t the people who were at work there, and they rushed headlong down the staircase. In the block which ensued twenty-three of them were killed, mostly by suffocation. Twenty-eight others were found to be injured. THE Marquis of Stafford, eldest son of the Duke of Sutherland, and master of the Staffordshire hounds, has met with a somewhat severe accident whilst following the hunt at the Kennels, Trentham. In taking a gate his lordship's horse came in contact with the topmost bar, and came to grief, pitching its rider His lordship, whose shoulder was dislocated by the fall. was immediately conveyed into Newcastle-under-Lvme. where his injuries were attended to, and later in the afternoon he was conveyed to Trentham.

ELOPEMEN? WITH A GROOM. The elopement of a young lady, the daughter of a Wealthy Liverpool merchant, resident in Cheshire, is announced, her companion in night being her father's groom. Both are under 20 years of age. It is stated that the young lady had only left school about a year, but was a general favourite in local society. She was fond of horse-riding, and had acquitted herself with credit in the hunting-field, the groom being in the habit of attending her in her equestrian exercises. The run- away couple are now, it is stated, in the south of France, where, by the injunction of the almost heart- broken father of the young lady, they are to remain. A relative of the lady lately deceased was an alderman and ex-Mayor of the city of Liverpool.

MR. W. WOODALL, M.P., A" MACCLESFIELD. Speaking recently at the annual meeting of the School of Art, Macclesfield, Mr. W. Woodall, M.P., member of the Royal Commission on Technical Education, said, referring to the English silk trade and the fact that this country imported from Europe itself, exclusive of what came from China and the East, silk manufactures of the annual value of twelve millions sterling, that no one would challenge the assertion that the relative position of our silk trade, as compared with that of the Conti- nent, was humiliating, and the more unsatis- factory, because silk manufacturers could not plead, as might their neighbours in Yorkshire and the Potteries, that they were handicapped by Protectionist tariffs. Referring to the silk- pro.lucing countries on the Continent, he said that at one place alone, Crefield, the trade in silk goods and velvets was estimated at over two millions a year- about the annual value of all our exports of such articles. They heard much of long hours of labour and low wages of the workmen in France, Italy, and Germany, and of the intermittent work and low diet which made the Lyons weavers the prey of ill health and of political anarchy, but this was only one part of the truth. The employers most competent to judge declared to him that in the main the value of the work done for a given wage there was not much more than in England. He asked them to look at other considerations, and amongst the agencies at work must be regarded the action of the Chambers of Com- merce there, of voluntary societies of various kinds act- ing in co-operation with the Stlte, and with the munici- palities, animated by a spirit at once commercial and benevolent, and applying themselves equally to the comfort and culture of the workmen, to the develop- ment of improved methods of manufacture, and the extension of trade. Everywhere the duty of increasing the skill of those engaged in manufactures, whether as superintendent, designers, or har.d workmen, appeared to be paramount, and schools of every variety for technical education were maintained by the State at a cost which would startle most Englishmen. He pointed to Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Saxony, Wurtembnrg, and other German States, where, besides a splendid system of primary instruction, there were secondary and special technical schools, and, what appeared to be a natural result, manufactures flourished often under unfavourable conditions. What seemed most needed in districts like Macclesfield and Leek was a state of things of this kind, and he hoped that the time would come when. with increasing intelligence, it would be determined that what was for the common good should be efficiently done at the common charge. Mr. T. Hughes, Q.C., also took part in 1 proceedings.

DEATH THROUGH DESTITUTION. Sir John Humphreys has held an inquest at the Leigh Hoy tavern, Hanbury-street, Spitalfields, London, on the body of John Mahoney, aged 35, who died from des- titution. Police-constable Thomas Rose, 172 H, stated that he was on duty in the Whitechapel-road, when he noticed deceased standing in the centre of the pavement. As he appeared to be very ill and destitute, witness con- veyed him to the Whitechapel Union Infirmary, where he was at once admitted. He told witness that he had friends living in the City, but did not know where they lived. Charlotte Nixon, paid nurse at the Whitechapel Infirmary, stated that when the deceased was admitted into the institution he was destitute, exhausted, I and very ill, and was also in a dirty state. De- ceased told witness that he once possessed a go,)d deal of money, but spent it all. He also added that ha had slept in common lodging-houses for a number of years past. Dr. John James Ilott, resident medical officer at the Whitechapel Infirmary, stated that when he saw deceased he was in a dying condition, and had evidently suffered great privation. Everything that was possible was done for deceased, but without effect. Witness had since made a post-mortem examination, and there were no marks of violence on the body. The brain was softened, and contained a quantity of serum. Deceased had been a heavy and confirmed drinker. The cause of death was effusion of blood on the brain, brought about by destitution and exposure. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.

COLLIERY EXPLOSION IN WALES. A rather severe explosion of fire-damp has occurred in No. 3 seam of the Old Coedeae Pit, Rhondda Valley, resulting in five individuals being burnt, two of them boys, named Joseph Henry Holman and William Jones, very seriously. The pit is 120 yards deep, and there are employed in it 230 men and boys. The workings, which intersect each other in all directions, extend, calculating in a straight line, a distance of 2510 yards from the bottom of the shaft. Two men named Thomas Jones and William Jones, who bad como from a steam coal colliery higher up the valley, were employed at Coedeae for the first time. They had worked all the morning, and a short time before the explosion Thomas Jones had left his brother, William Jones, and had walked back along the heading, leaving his brother busily engaged in cutting coal. Soon after this Holman had occasion to visit William Jones, and as he approached him the gas fired from his (Holman's) candle. It is supposed that the reason why the gas had not fired from William Jones's candle was that it was placed on the ground, while that of Holman is supposed :0 have been carried fixed in the front of his cap, and thus came in contact with the gas. The explosion pro- duced a strong concussion throughout the colliery. Two ventilating doors were smashed to pieces, and many other dcors were hurled open. A haulier named Edward Moore, who with his horse happened to be on the main heading at the time, was badly burnt, as was also the animal, by the fiery hurricane which for a few seconds enveloped them. The following is a list of the injured: Henry Smith, 14, Brittania-village: Joseph Holman, 18, Clifton-terrace; Edward Moore, 22, haulier, Taff-street, Porth; William Jones, 32, 1, Lin- coln-street, Cymmer; Theophilus A. Salter, 13, Brit- tania-village. Holman has been badly burnt on the head, face: hands, and upper part of the body Smith on the face, and hands, Moore on the face and hands; William Jones on the head, face, and upper part of the body and Salter on the hands only. The injuries sus- tained by William Jones and Joseph Holman were deemed very serious. It has been ascertained that the explosion was caused by some person at present un- known, leaving open one of the doors on the intake heading.

THE annual meeting of the Devon and Corn- wall Chamber of Agriculture has taken place at Ply- mouth, Lieutenant-Colonel Sterling presiding. Mr. Michael William de Courcy was elected president, and Lord Blachford vice-president for the ensuing year. Con- siderable fault was found with the Central Chamber of Agriculture, one gentleman stating that had the Central Chamber paid sufficient attention to the tenants' inte- rests the Farmers' Alliance would never have been started. Mr. William Snell, a leading tenant farmer, also loudlv complained that there appeared no signs of Govern- ment dealing at once with the question of tenant rio-ht. County government, he said, was practically of small importance when compared willi security for the tenants' capital. AT the Provincial Grand Lodge of Free- masons of Hampshire, held at Basingstoke, under the presidency of Provincial Grand Master W. W. Beach, M.P., Bro. J. Rastrick, of Southsea, was elected treasurer. Two hundred and fifty guineas were voted from the pro- vincial funds to the Masonic Institution for Girls. AT the Police-court, Newcastle-under-Lyne, John Farrell, forgeman, was charged with an aggravated assault upon his wife by kicking her brutally. The woman has been in prison seven days for refusing to give evidence. The chief constable said" FarreJl had been con- victed forty-five times, and his punishment costs upon the county and borough amounted to X546 19s., exclu- give of railway fares. He was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. AT the Petty Sessions, Plymouth, two men named respectively Stephen Jackson Ckapman and Wm- Martin, believed to be professional swindlers, have been charged with committing frauds npon Plymouth pawn- brokers by gilding articles and then obtaining money upon then on the allegation that they were made of gold. Prisoners were committed for trial upon two charges. It is stated that a large number of other pawnbrokers have also been imposed upon.

J STATE OF IRELAND. The annual report of savings in Ireland, which is furnished by Fr. Hancock, shows some unexpected results for the past year. The deposits and cash balances in the joint stock banks increased by £ 2,585,000 from £ 30,161,000 at the end of 18S1 to £32,746,000 at the end of 1682. S6 large an increase, which has only been surpassed in the prosperous years of 1864, 1865, and 1871, is highly satisfactory. The other statistics of savings are all favourable. The trustee savings banks situated in twentv-eight towns show an increase of £ 36,000, from £ 2,042,000 in 18S1 to £ 2,078,000 in 1882. The bank note circulation of Irish banks in December, 1882, shows the large increase of £ 858,000, from £ 7,47 6,000 in 1881 to £ 8,334,000 in 18S2. The only years since 1859 when there was anything like similar increase were 1865 and 1874, and then the increases were JES19,000 and £ 816,000 respectively. The recent recovery has been £205,000 in three years. In the former crisis—1860-63—it took eight years to recover, as it was not until 1870 that the amount in 1859 was reached. The Post Office Savings Banks present a more satisfactory return than any year since they were introduced in 1871, an increase of 1205,000 from £1,513.000 at the end of 1881 to XI,78,9,000 at the end of 1882. The investments in Government and Indian stocks on which dividends are paid at the Bank of Ireland show favourable results, an increase of £ 193,000 from £ 31,611,000 at the end of 1881 to £31,804,000 at the end of 1882. His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant has left Dublin for London. A dealer in marine stores at Cork, named Myers, has met with a curious accident, by which he was near losing his life. The cartridge of a Gatling gun had in some unaccountable way got into his possession. The case was full of rust, and Myers, ignorant of the nature of the article, proceeded to examine it. Placing the cartridge in a vice, he attempted to open it with a chisel and hammer, when it exploded. The bullet was held firmly in the vice, but the metallic I case burst, and the pieces, striking Myers in the left arm, inflicted a deep wound and severed the artery, from which he was near bleeding to death. The police were attracted by the loud report, and learning what had occurred, had Myers, who was ,in ajjvery weak state, removed to the hospital. A meeting of the Executive Committee of the intended Industrial Exhibi- tion in Cork, has been held. It was decreed to advertise for contracts for the erection of the exhibition buildings, the work to be finished by May 19. A sub-committee was appointed for the purpose of carrying out one of the objects the promoters originally had in view- namely, the establishment of a permanent technical school of instruction, with mechanical lecture-hall and reading- room. It was reported in a recent meeting of the Agricultural Society that the aiTangements for holding their cattle show in connection with the exhibition had fallen through. The Lenten pastoral of the Bishop of Cork, which has been read in all the Roman Catholic churches, refers to the interest taken by the present Pontiff in the country, and says his warning voice cannot be unheeded when, from his prison, he denounces secret societies, which have brought a succession of tribulations on the Holy See. The wicked madness, which, for a while, startled the country by the perpetration of murder and violence in some localities we may hope has passed away, and if the Pontiff's voice be heeded there will be no danger of a re- currence. Addressing some constituents who had gathered to meet him in the Blacklion district, Mr. Biggar, M.P., warned them against joining secret societies, but advised them to become members of the open and Consti- tutional Society, the Irish National League. In the Lenten pastoral of the Most Rev. Dr. Gillooly, Bishop of Elphiu, which was read in St. Peter's Church, Athlone, his lordship said the relief of the present distress was altogether beyond the power of local or private efforts, and that it could only be adequately sup- plied by the State. He denounced the atrocious crimes which had polluted and disgraced the country, and which wicked men, with abominable malice, had been trying to propagate among Catholic people. Secret societies must not be listened to, as Catholics who joined them would be excommunicated.

AMUSING EPISODE AT THE CHESTER ASSIZES. At the Chester Assizes, before Lord Justice Brett, Joseph Johnson, 20, fireman, who was charged with burglariously entering the dwelling-house of Wm. Starkey, at Stockport, and stealing a number of articles, caused great amusement by two letters which he addressed to the judge, and which were read in court. One of them began, Dear sir,-I write these few lines, hoping you are in good health, as it leaves me at present," a sentence which caused loud laughter. The prisoner stated that he had been employed on board the steam ship Kiversdale at Liverpool, and added, I hope your honour will do your very best for me, and God bless yo i, bccause I was left an orphan when very young." (Laughter.) The I risoner was found guilty, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. He stoutly resisted the warder who removed him, and on being re- called stated the.the had been insulted, kicked, and treated shamefully by the warders. The chief warder denied that there was any truth in the statemeut. The judge warned him that if he cause.! any further disturbance he would have more severe punishment.

THE^ City Press (London") states that the Homers' Company purposes presenting to the Queen a copy of the history of their company from the earliest to the present time, together with a catalogue of the re- cent successful exhibition, bound in a horn cover and further, that through Sir Henry Ponsonby the Queen has expressed the pleasure it will give her to accept the gifts. THE annual meeting of the North Riding1 Liberal Association has been held in York, and a dinnS was subsequently given, Mr. G. Howard, M.P., President of the Association, in the chair. Sir J. W. Pease, M.P., proposing the toast of The Association," said the work of the present Government contrasted favourably with that of the last. The present political position of the country was very encouraging to Liberals. Resolutions endorsing the policy of the Government were moved or supported by Mr. Ralph Creyke, M.P., Mr. Bowlandson, the defeated candidate at the recent North Riding elec- tion, Mr. E. L. Stanley, M.P., &c. The health of Mr. Gladstone was drunk with three cheers. A PARLIAMENTARY RETURN lately issued shows that under the Irish Land Act there had been up to the end of last November 85,723 applications to have fair rents fixed 18,692 of these rents had been fixed, 3675 applications had been either dismissed or struck out, and 2427 were withdrawn, while 19,006 agreements fixing fair rents were registered. A total of 5057 appeals had been lodged, of which up to the date named 1031 had been heard and 269 withdrawn. A MEETING has been held in the Town Hall Old eldrum, N.B., when the Earl of Aberdeen addressed some 300 farm servants, and suggested the formation of evening classes among them as a means of improving their social position. Lord Aberdeen was accompanied to the platform by the countess and a number of the clergymen of the district. His lordship, in the course of a lengthened address, sketched the nature of the classes to be formed, their ob'ect, and the means of carrying the scheme into operation. A LABOURER named Andrews has been com- mitted for trial at the Cambridge Assizes on a charge of setting fire to stacks at Stapleford, doing damage to the amount of £200. He has been twice previously con- victed of arson, and in 1874 was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude. Prisoner only recently left Chatham on ticket of leave. THE following letter from Mr. Fawcett has been received by the secretary of the London and Counties Liberal Union, in acknowledgment of the reso- lution pas-ed at the last meeting of the Executive Com- mittee Dear Mr. Noble,—Your kind letter, conveying the resolution of congratulation on my recovery, from the London and Counties Liberal Union has given me very great pleasure. I trust you will accept, and will convey to the committee, my very cordial thanks. I am glad to be able to tell you I am getting on most satisfactoritv and I quite hope to be able to go back to work soon after the opening of Parliament.—Again thanking you, believe me, yours very truly, HENRY FAWCETT." CONSIDERABLE SENSATION has been caused at Mortimer, a village about seven miles from Reading owing to the burial of a woman named Gregory having been delayed at the last moment, on the supposition of the family that she was in a trance, and not dead. The undertaker was ordered not to sc-ew the body down, and Dr. Davis was sent for, and though he did all in his power to persuade the daughters that life was extinct, they were not to be convinced, but avowed that they had seen their mother move when in the coffin. The vicar W;lS also unable to dispel the hallucination v!" f m 8 family, and two days elapsed ^ere convinced that the body wa3 lifeless, and then the funeral took place. *n rlnf ^ELETT. » painter, has been admitted Chester Infirmary, suffering from a fearful gash in- meted on hii throat in an endeavour to commit suicide. The affair occurred at Pantasafd, in Flintshire.

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