The North Wales Express

EPITOME OF NEWS. MAlOR. PORT En., presiding at the (Thnrcu ast-oral Aid Socieiy meeting in Exeter. alluded to the probability of an Atheist being engaged in forcing his aj into the Ho'.si- of Commons at that very moment, and exPlP-cl surpii.«e that such a thing should be Possible- ;n Christian England. IV poster twelve yards of a wall at Mr. caver's nursery fell -without warning on Charles Birch, aged seven year.-1, and John Dodson, aged five. Birch when recovered was dead, and Dobsou has sustained severe lDJuries to the legs. THE Crewe magistrates have sent a woman Dained Elizabeth Smith for trial, for obtaining varions sums of money by selling coloured water as hair-oil J beautifully scented" The Tvantwich magistrates had already committed her husband for a precisely similar Coence. THE contumacious crofters have arrived in Edjiiourgh to surrender themselves to meet the charges brought against them. Their sympathisers made their departure an occasion for an enthusiastic demonstration. AT the Petty Sessions, Hinckley, a sailor named Scott, from Plymouth, was committed for trial on a charge of stealing a watch, and obtaining £ 1 by false Pretences. Prisoner obtained board and lodging from a man tinned Bedford, to whom he represented that he was detective. A T'RKSENT OF SWEETS, contained in beautiful •Japanese bo -;e% was sent by a Jadv to Madame Katti ■banner's children at Drurv Lane Theatre, London, on the evening of St. Valentine's Day. They were distributed *n the stage immediately after the dolls' dance, to the great delight of both the children and the audience. THE report circulated of the recent accident to Mrs. Akrecnon E!wes, while out with the Cotswold Bounds, was exaggerated and incorrect. Beyond a cut some bruises no harm has been done. PRINCE WITTGENSTEIN, who is at present Bokhara, has been instructed to invite the Ameer of okliara to attend the Emperor of Russia's Coronation. AT LIVE RPOOL the return of the expenses of ? raldidates at the recent Parliamentary election has een lodged at the town dork's office. The expenses of "M successful candidate, Mr. Samuel Smith, M.P., were 6019, and those of the Conservative candidate, Mr. A. ■*>. Forwood, £ 6010. IT has been agreed to jtbandon the municipal ection petition at Longton, with the consent of the Vueen's Bench Division, and on condition that Messrs. mney and Colc.'ough, aga nst whom the petition was issued, resign and pay the expenses. AT the County Court, Oldham, Andrew Gill- pride, has sued Mr. W. Walnisley, contractor, for personal ^juries. Walmsley was the contractor for tha erection of a large wall for the railway company at Werneth in October last. Large stones, weighing a ton, were hoisted position by a crane, secu red by dogs,' the plaintiff being engaged "in putting the stones in their places when they were lowered. As one utone was being lowered the doga slipped, and it fell on his foot, causing injuries from which he was confined to his bed three weeks. The SUm of .£25 was agreed upon as a compromise. AN inquest has been hald at Wells, Yorkshire, fcy Dr. Walton, the county coroner, on the body of Richard Scurrah, blacksmith, aged 63. The deceased, Who lived in a hovel near the village, not having been Been for several days, the ho ise was broken into by the police, who found him dead in bed. On the premises being examined upwards of L3000 was found upon a beam in the kitchen, and mortgage deeds for several hundreds pounds were also found in an old chest. As the man had no relatives the whole of the money will go to the Crown. A BOARD OF TRADE inquiry into the wreck of the screw steamer Largo Bay has been held at North Shields. The vessel drove ashore during a severe gale Off Marbella Bay, Spain, and was wrecked. The Ceurt considered that the fteamer had lot sufficient steam power to make headway at the- time, and finding Captain Brown and Thomas Marshall, ih(: chief engineer, in default, suspended their certificata for three months, but recommended that in the case of the captain he should have a chief officer's certificate in the meantime. A DESPERATE AFFRAY betw3en salmon poachers and water bailiffs in the emplcyment of the Fishery Company has taken place on the Shannon, opposite Coo- Sagh, near Limerick. Two bailiffs were on duty in a boat, when they suddenl y camc uvion a large party of men in three boats, poaching fcr salmon. Finding themselves Surprised, the poachers attacked the bailiffs with oars. but they managed to escape to the shore, where they left the boat in the hands of the poachers. John Considine, one of the party, has been committed to prison. AN alarming f:re broke out early in the horning at a clothiers shop in the King's-road, Reading, belonging to Mr. A. J. Simuionds. The outbreak nearly had a fatal termination, six chillren and the wife of the proprietor beiul; hastily reseued in their night-clothes from an upper dtory window. A SERIOUS ACCIDENT has occurred at Bridg- Water. A lad named Lambert, in the employ of the Rev. W. Aldridge, of Wooiavington, was driviiig a spring- cart through Fore-street. The horse bolted, and came in violent collision with a carriage being driven in an Opposite direction, belonging to Mr. Evered, of Hill House, Otterhampton. The shafts of Mr. Evered's car- riage were broken, and '.he force of the collision threw Lambert against a shop window, smashing the plate- 4jlaw>, breaking his arm, and cutting his fa ■«. SIS BARTLK FRFIM has delivered a lecture at th" Pavilion, Brighton, on "The Pretoria Mission, the Transvaal, and South Africa." There was a large audience. UNDER the direction of Colonel Edgell, the 4Chief Constable for Shropshire, the police have prose- cutecl their inquiries ÍlLO the Wellington murder, and have discovered in some ashes in the kitchen grate at the hoes" of the prisoners Mayes, and in an a^h-pit, a number of human bones partial'y burned. A portion of the skirt (If a dress corresponds in material to that in which the head was wrapped has been found in the house. The water in Apleypool is,itill being drawn off, and the canal and ponds in the neighbourhood are being but flO far without result. A man named Kuscoe has given information to the police that, a short time ago, he saw the female prisoner Mayes on the footpath near the pool, with a parcel under her arm. He saw her again, but she had not then got tie parcel with her. The police have discovered that the 6econd missing child of the prisoners is living with the parents of the female prisoner at ockleton village, near, Shrewsbury. This boy is a son Of the female prisoner, but the girl who is missing, and whose head is ideatified, was her stepdaughter. AT a recent meet" of the Hunt at "Wicker 9- levg near Sheffield, Farl Fitzwilliam said that lie intended taking a portion of his pack into Nsrthampton- fhire, out of consideration for the farmers. In conse- quence of the hunting country around Wentworth being so limited, thf. hounds had to go over the same fields time after time, to the detriment of the land, especially in a wet sense a like the present. The noble earl leave, at once for Milton, his estate in Northamptonshire, where he will hunt a couple of days a week. AT a recent weekly meeting of the London School Board a sum of £831 was ordered to be invested <)n accomt of an insaraace fund of .fl<),(MO, which, when obtained, will enable the Board to become its own insurers The half-yearly report of the School Management Com- mittee stated that the average attendance at the 165 per- manent schools had been 133,115, and of the 28 tempo- rary schools 7485, giving a total for the 193 schools of 140,000. Taking 175 schools of the first category, it Was shown that the per-centages of passe9 in reading, Writing, and arithmetic were higher than those stated in any previous report. In the schools reported upon for a year the gro_s average cost per child in average attend- ance was L2 6s. 5^d., and the nett cost £1 lis. 'il d. 4 t! The per-centaje of attendances during the half-year had been 81*0, wlereas it was 70-2 in the same period ending 1881, and HI 5 in the six months ending March last. The manager) of the Jessop-road school were exonerated from certain charges of "denominational bias" contained in a letter to a newspaper, headed, Can this be True ?" -and published in January last. AR,EUT:5R'S TELEGRAM from Vienna states that at the Kle;berg Menagerie, in Hernals, a suburb of Vienna, a lioness gave birth to four healthy cubs, a number unprecedented in the annals of the Zoological Gardeas. FOOTKAI.T. teams representing St. Thomas's hospital and Guy's Hospital, recently met, undei Associa- tion rules, on the ground of the former, at Lambeth, London, in showery weather. E.1rle was the first to score for the visitors, and this was the only item credited to •either side prior to half-time. After change of ends, however, ShirtlitT equalised matters, but the visitors were Dot to be denied. A pass from Earle to Jones gave the fecond, and another from the former to Koberts resulted ln a third for Guy's, who thus proved victorious by three goals to one. Taylor, Frail, Earle, Bice, and 13athurst P ayed well for their respective#i<ie3. (JRORGK PLUM i1 has been committed for trial y the Borough Bencii at Bury St. Edmunds on six Charges of burglary and theft committed within the last two years. At the same sitting Mr. R. l'otter, corn mer- chant, of Dereham, Norfolk, was bound over to keep the Pwce, hairing user! threatening language in the Com sohsoge here to Mr. Body, another merchant. t AT the County Police-court, Sur.d«r;an& William Morrison, tne manager of tli,% Si'iuerian.i iram- wpys 'ompany, was fined iUs. and costs for permitting cruelty to a tranuar horse at Southwie^. A LAD, aged lo, named John Evans, while dig- ging for,copper at Llanelityd, >ortu Wales, found wiial are state i to be several pi.-ccs of pure gold, and it is be. lieved that a gold mine exists in the neighbourhood. An exploring expedition has been formed and operations have been already commenced. AN Exchange Company's telegram from Berlin states that the result of the judicial inquiry into the cir- cumstances attending the loss of the C-imbria has been libri,'t 1),1-3 been such as to convince the German press that the Sultan or I her captain is not re.ponsiblc for the collision and the ter- rible disaster which bejel the German steamer. JVln. COPLAND, the labour candidate for the representation oi Newcastle has announced to a meeting ci his supporters tnat he had withdrawn fr.ni the contest. The sheriff required each candidate to deposit £ 250 that The sheriff required each candidate to deposit £ 250 that dav, and as they had been disappointed by gentlemen at a distance, their treasurer could not raise the money. It was announced that an organisation would be started to promote the return of a lauour candidate at the next I election. THE magistrates of Botherham have msdii I orders against a number of miners for absenting them- selves from work without leave. The men were employed at the Manvers Main Colliery, and had absented them- selves in order to restrict the output, the consequence being that the company sustained a loss of £ 395. A CORRESPONDENT of a London daily paper j signing himself Northamptonian," writes to state that instead of 2u¡) delegates attending the Bradlaugh demon- stration in Trafalgar-square from Northampton, as stated, only eighty passengers were booked from that town to go by trains airiving in London in time for the demonstra- tion. A local organ gives the names of thirty-nine only towards the 200. THE Dean of Canterbury, speaking at a public meeting in that place, alluded to the great amount of work the preparations for the approaching enthronisation involved. As an instance he mentioned the application for admission tickets. He promised the public that they would do the best they could, but it would be impossible to satisfy one-fourth of the applications. In addition to those already mentioned, the Bishops of Chichester and Ely, and Bishop Tufnell, have signified their intention of attending the ceremony. LORD FEVERSKAM has replied to the public protest issued by Sir Joseph W. Pease, M.P., and forty other members of the Society of Friends in Cleveland, against an alleged act of religious intolerance, in depriv- ing them of the custody of their district meeting-house. He repudiates the charge of having usurped their rights, i and states that an agreement exists giving the Vicar of Helmsley equal rights with the society to the use of the chapel. His lordship appeals to their Christian character, and adds that, he yields to none in his love for religious liberty and toleration. NOTICES have been posted in the Forest of Dean at the collieries of the leading proprietors, that an immediate redaction of 10 per cent. in the rate of wages will takc place. THE Upper Mill on St. "Winifred's Stream, Holywell, ilia property of the Welsh Flannel Company, has been totally destroyed by fire. The whole of the valuabJe machinery was lost, and tils, :mmense building are a complete ruin. The d.imge is e^ti.'iited at from £10,000 to £ i5.000, and is partly covered oy nice. THE Queen has sent, through General X sonbv, £ 3 to the Hev. Gallon Stocke, Gulmorc, co. Tyrone, for Mrs. Eliza Smith, of that place, who recently gave birth to three children. A. SAD case of death from an overdose of laudanum has been investigated by the coroner for Eqst Kent, Mr. T. T. Delasaux, the deceased being Miss Helen Tyrrell, a spinster la 'y of independent means residing at Ileine Bay. She had suffered from nervousness for years, and tiken composing draughts at night in conse- quence. When found dead in bed two Lotties containing laudanum were by her sidi, some of the contents of which she had evidently tiken. A verdict of Acci- dentally poi Oiled" was returned. LLOYD'S AGENT at Salcombe states that there has been found ill a cove east of Salcombe Bar a life- buoy marked "S.s.Copia,Loudon,i!so a top deck- house painted drab, white under (dimensions, ten fee< by nine feet), some ceiling, no doubt from an iron-built vessel, cabin fittings, part of top-mast, awning, boom, deals that had beeji in use on board the vessel. The Copia, s., sailed from Shields for Messina on thaf;Gth Janusrv last, and was off the Isle of Wight on the 31st Jannary. THE finding of the court-martial which has been investigating the eircumstance3 under wliijh her Majesty's despatch vessel Iris got aground at Fort Augusta, Sicily, reprimands Captain. Hice [.nd the Navigating Lieutenant Williams, and orders the latter to be discharged from his ship. IT is said that the Attorney-General, without altering the limit of prescribed expenditure by Parlia- mentary candidates, has agreed to withdraw the special reference to advertising oittay in the Corrupt Practices Bill. Alariv newspaper proprietors took exception to the clause, which seemed to associate advertising with corrupt expenditure: and it is in deference to their re- presentations that Sir Henry James has agrees, to have out the specific reference to advertising. This concession has been made to the Provincial Newspaper Society through Mr. P. Stewart Macliver, M.P. THE schooner which was reported ashore at Break Sea was the Fairy Queen, of New Yor-, not the Fairy Belle. She has been towed into Pcnarth Roads. The captain and crew are on board, all well, the reason they were reported missing being that thjy took shelter in the hold from the storm. HER MAJESTY the Queen having conferred the Albert Medal of the First Class upon Mr. R. Smallman, mining engineer Mr. Stokes, inspector of mines Chas. Day, and Chas. Chutwynd; and the A'bert Medal of the Second Class upon Mr. Samuel Spence, mining engineer Mr. Marsh, colliery manager; Mr. Mottrin, colliery manager; Wm. Morris, Wm. PicKering, and Joseph Chetwvnd, for bravery displayed by them on the occasion of the "tire and explosion of the 1st and 2nd of May last. Lord Leigh, Lord Lieutenant of the county, has presented the medals at the Corn Exchange, Atberstono, in the presence of a large and influential company. THE City Press states that the land in South London has increased enormously m value. At Norwood a plot which was valued at £ 5u0 ten years ago is now worth £ ">000. And this is not e iceptional. MAJOR TUCKER and eighteen other members of the Salvation Army have bee-i arrested for persisting in marching in procession, with bands of music and banners, through the streets of liombay. LIEUT.-COL. Dl1 PLAT TAYLOR, commanding the 24 th Middlesex (Post Of ice) Hide Volunteers, has received instructions from the Secretaty of State for War to form an Army Telegraph Corps, which might take the field in time of war. The nucleus of this sister service "to the "Armyrogtid Corps" is a company raised principally from the Postal Telegraph Branch, which will be recruited to a strength of 200 rank and file, and supplied with the necessary field equipment. AN extraordinary demonstration took place recently at the funeral of the five victims of the Radford fire. The Nottingham cemetery was crowded by thou- sands of persons, the coffins of the two women being car- ried from the hearse by relatives, and those of the children by young girls wearing white sashes. Palls were not used, the coffins being covered with wreaths and flowers. The officiating chaplain addressed the crowd on the awful nature of the catastrophe, and a painful inci- dent then occurred, the only sister of Mrs. Knowles faint- ing at the grave side. THE strong feeling which has been aroused "3 by the projected Br iiihwaite and Buttermere Mineral liaihvay has taken the practical shape of an influential organisation for active resistance. A committee has been formed of sympathisers resident in the Lake country and other parta of England, to co-operate with the Commons Preservation Society, and to r ise a substantial guarantee fund towards the expanses of a determined opposition to the bill." The list comprises the names of Mr. Tennyson, Mr. Euskin, the Duke of Westminster, the Bishop of Liverpool, Profe-sor Knight, Miss Oetavia Hill, and twenty-eight other gentlemen and ladies. IT has been resolved to establish a Grand Master's Lodge of Oddfellows in the Bridgwater district. THE annual prize distribution and concert in connection with the 1st Derbyshire Rifles has been held in the presence of a numerous and fashionable audience. The prices were presented by Major-General Sir D. C. Drury-Lowe, K.C.B., who in the course of a few well- chosen remarks pointed out tha it should be the ambition of everv volunteer to become a lirst-class shot, and not to be satisfied with being merely etlicient. He further emphasised the importance of such an advantage in the field, concluding by complimenting the corps upon the high position it had attained. AT the Police-court, Great Yarmouth, a young woman named Elizabeth Skeyles lvas brought up for I grossly neglecting her four children, whcreby their health became seriously affected. The evidence in sup- J port of the charge disclosed shocking facts, and the magistrates committed the prisoner for trial at the next ? quartrsessious. -— > THE FUNERAL OF RICHARD WAGNER. The morial remains of Richard Wagner reached nay- reuth in the carriage in which they had been placed at Venice, and were received by the Municipality ard those personal friends and admirers of the deceased w;90 had already arrived to attend his funeral. At the station of Munich, whither the corpse had been conveyed from Innsbruck by two representatives of the King of Bavaria, the musical and artistic societies of the capita! had assembled with draped banners and torches in honour of the dead, and as the train which Lore his body glided up to the platform it was greeted with the solemn strains of the Dead March in Saul." The vocal and in- strumental societies intended to have chanted a requiem, but tiiis part of the programme was omitted at the urgent request of Frau Wagner, who was bowed dovvn by iuer .1- solable grief, and mad" the journey from Venice in great mental ai,rony. She had to be assisted oui. of the Italian saloon carriage in which she had made the homeward journey, and was too ill to be present at the final cere- mony. Under the tiia'ge of a civic guard of honour, the I cotlin remained all night at the railway-station in its transport carriage, which was thickly festooned with the memorial wreat lis that had been heaped upon it on its way from the chores of the Adriatic. It was a lovely morning, almost redolent, of thf breath of spring, but by four o'clock in the afternoon, which was the time fixed for the funeral ceremony, the north-east wind had clot' edthe sky with leaden-coiour^d clouds and brought anifping air which chilled and gave an addi- tional look of misery to the vast crowd of mourners that had gathered round the carpeted steps of the railway- station'to hear the burgomaster speak the last farewell of the sorrowing citizens to the ashes of Richard Wagner. The vast crowd contained all that is best and foremost in ths musical world of Germany and, indeed, of the Continent. From all quarters the mourners ha I come. Every theatre of importance, every Wagner Society, every ait- loving German Prince (the Kingof Bavaria foremost among them) had sent their military and musical representatives, whi'e many, including not a few students of music and professors from Lcipaic, were here in the commission of no other master than their own enthusiastic admiration. Among the English mourners there was a Mr. Cyriax and a Mr. Hatton, from London, the latter, a son of the well- known composer of the same name. Several handsome wreaths were sent from London. The wreaths and gar- lands filled two capacious waggons. The railway-station was fronted by a semicircle of Venetian poles, topped by sable streamers, and connected by fesroons of crape, from which depended escutcheons bearing the names of Wagner's immortal works. Slowly, to the strains of the Mourning March in Siegfried," the open lit ai>e, drawn by four black steeds, came round and halted jefore the burgomaster. In point of richness and taste, the wreaths sent by the King of Bavaria and the City 01 Venice were certainly the best, but the palm of mere bulk must be accorded to the artistic and musical societies of Munich, who combined to contribute an enormous garland of immor- telles. All the crowd uncovered when, with much visible emotion, the venerable burgomaster stood forth and dilated on the civic and artistic merits of the deceased, saying how the greatest citizen might well envy Bayreuth her greatest citizen, who had himself been the ojjectof much malicious envy, and the cause of much contention in his life, but wai nov victorious in his deaih. The burgomaster was followed much in the same strain by the member for the German Parliament, who described his city as having witnessed the very highest triumphs of tier man art, and assured the mourners that it wnull do everything in its power to continue and per- petuate the performance which had given it a world-wide name (it being understood that" Parsifal" will be re- peated this suii.i'ier). The funeral oratory over, the proces-ion formed, and, amid the toiling of the bells, slo vly moved away through the quaint old streets of Ba\rettU),t,aicn wure all draped in black and crowded with silent spectators — those streets once trod by Jon Paul Richter, who lived and worked there, and whose monument ado ns a public place not far from the spot where Richard Wagner now lies entombed. First came a detachment of the fire brigade, followed by two death heralds and a military band; then two waggomoads of evergreen wreaths and immortelles; then the hearse, flanked by torch-bearers and followed by the clergy (for Wagner, though a Mystic, was not, like Gambetta, a Materialist) then the representatives of the King of Bavaria, with Siegfried, the youthful son of deceased, and the family relatives then the various musical and artistic mourners and deputations, officers of the garrison, the Municipality, and a band playing a Dead March. Half-an-hour brought the procession to Villa Wahnfried, an English-looking edifice, whose ownership could be doubted by no one who beheld a colossal bronze bust of the King of Bavaria in the garden before the door and aT fresco scenes from the'' Nibelung on the wall over it. In tbe garden behind this villa, and facing his own working room, Wagner, with a cynical expectation of death, had constructed a sort of family mausoleum, and in this corner of his own ground, which was on the funeral day consecrated by and in the name of the Holy Church, he is now laid. During the brief religious service before the coffin was lowered into its vaults it was touching to see the way in which the big Newfoundland dog, that used to follow its master about like his shadow, fawned upon the various members of his sorrowing family, as if it really under- stood their grief. Darkness was now beginning to fall, and as each mnurner left the tomb he plucked a laurel leaf or a snowdrop from the wreaths that lay piied around in affectionate memory of Richard Wagner.

TWO SAD CATASTROPHES IN AMERICA. A terrible disaster has occurred at Braidwood, Illinois, U.S. A coal mine beneath the prairie was suddenly flooded with water,and seventy-live miners were drowned. The rains and floods had transformed the prairie into a vast lake, and the pressure of the water broke through the earth above a section of the mine, letting the water into the galleries, where it spread from one to another with noiseless and frightful rapidity, cutting off all the avenues of escape. Many ga leries were so low that the miners worked lying on their backs, picking out the coal above their heads. They were drowned without warning. Engines are pumping out the water, but it will take twenty-five days at the present rate to reach the Tictims. Another catastrophe has occurred at JefTeraonville, Indiana. Three hundred people driven from their homes by the Hoods were domiciled in a brick building formerly used as a soldiers' home, whpll the foundations, under- mined by the water, gave way, and the wails fell suddenly with afiightful crash. The air was filled with the shrieks of wonn-n and children and the groans of the injured. A hundred citizens immediately began to remove the ruins. Seven dead bodies were found, and many injured. The remainder escaped miraculously. A mother was found fatally injured, with her bo iy bent into an arch over her infant, whom she was shielding from harm. The child was uninjured.

SENTENCE OF DEATH. At the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, with Lord Justice Clerk Moncrieff presiding, a young man of 19, named James Smith, alias Archibald Thomas, was charged with the murder of James Hennie, assistant gamekeeper to the Earl of Stair, while in Balcrachv Wood, near Girvan, on Nov. 29 last. It was stated in evidence that the prisoner was found by the deceased and another gamekeeper in the act of poaching, when the accused tired at Rennie, who was only ten or fifteen yards distant. Smith, in his declaration, denied taiat he had ever been out on the evening in question, btt the evidence showed that footprints near the spot corres- ponded with his boots, and a hat and bolt, which were also found in the vicinity, were spoken to aa being those of the prisoner. It was further stated that he had told .1 labourer in Girvan that he had been at the wood when the keepers came upon him, and he fired his gun. The jury returned a verdict finding the prisoner guilty of murder, but recommending him to the mercy of the Crown on account of his vouth and the suddenness of the at. Lord Justice Clerk Moncrieff, addressing the prisoner, said lie would forward the recommendation of the jury to the proper quarter, but he warned him not to be buoyed up by what might prov e a vain hope. He could only pronounce sentence of death, which he.fixed for March 12th in the prison of Ayr.

I STATE OF IRELAND. Another successful attempt has been made to poison some of the hounds belonging to Mr. Gubbin's pack in the county Limerick. The hounds met recently near Coleen Gate and a successful daysrportwasexperienc e!. In the evening, while drawing a covert, it was found that seven of the dogs had eaten poisonous food, which ap- peared to have been carefully strewn over the ground. The animals died in a short time, and it was discovered that t!.e fox for which they were in search had also been po'soned. Great sympathy has been expressed for Mr. Gubbins for this last outrage, Since the commencement of the season twenty-two foxhounds have been destroyed by poison. The late heavy rains have caused serious floods in the south of Ireland. The water in the river Lee has probably reachi-d its highest point. It overflowed its banks, and spr«ad over the low-lying lands until the valley presented one great sheet of water. The roads were covered to a depth of 4ft., and the mail carriage way four miles above Cork was rendered quite impassable, even after the flood had subsided, in consequence of a great dyke furrowed across the road by the action of the water. The houses and the police-station at Victoria- cross were submerged to the extent of 3ft. Some houses at Wellington-bridge had oft. of water in them, and ome difficulty was experienced in rescuing one of the occu- pants who had been for some hours imprisoned. A pnb- licgn named Forde, residing at Innescarra, was obliged with his family to abandon his house and effects, iha water having risen from 5ft. to (ift. In the west of the County the railway line between Dunmanway and Balli- neen was 4ft. under water. The morning train from Skibbereen was unable to proceed further than Ermiskean until the flood went down in the -voning. Agricultural operations have been suspended in consequence of the constant rain. Harvest preparations are very backward, and the potato crop will be very late. An inquiry has been held in Galway Gaol into the charge against a policeman named Muldooney, for com- plicity in the murder of Doherty, at Craughwcll. It transpired that the prisoner was one of a protection party to Regan, steward at Rahassane, when Mr. Walter Burke was shot. Prisoner and Regan were seen coming from Craughwcll with gunB. They met five others, and proceeded towards Doherty's house. Shots were then heard, und the party were seen running away. Regan went to America, as also did the other policeman, nitmed Lee. Five men were arrested, one of whom has turned informer against Muldooncy, who was again remanded. The strike against paying rent is again spreading in the south. Lord Sandwich's Irish tenants have refused to pay unless granted an abatement of 15 per cent. An offer of 10 per cent. was declined. Mr. Arthur Cleary has withdrawn his candidature for Dublin County. He was to have been catechised by a de- putation, headed by Mr. T. W. Russell, as to his sound- ness on the temperance question but when the deputa- tion met u was announced that Mr. Cleirv had retired from the contest. Another candidate for Colonel Taylor's vacant seat has appeared in the person of Mr. Edward M'Mahon, a guardian of the poor, distinguished as the originator of the recent movement for the revival of Irish manufacture. He promises to co-operate with the Irish party in the House of Commons. He advo- cates Home Rule, the Reform of the Land Act so as to bring leaseholders with its benefits, and prevent tenants being mulcted on their improvements denominational education, and the extension to In land of the English franchise. He an opponent of coercion, and believes that the < nly tr le solutioa of the the land question lies in m; king the occupier the owner of his land on equitable tor.ii. Nothing has yet been heard from Mr. Doherty nor from the evicted tenant farmer," said to have been adopted by the Parnell- ites. It is stated that a difficulty has arisen in connec- tion with the succession of the Hon. Bernard Fit-patrick to the Castletown peerage. The patent of the peerage has "een either mislaid or lost, the result being toat the heir c.am.ot establish is right to it, at least without some tedious legal formalities. This has delayed the issue of the new writ for Voru.i'iisgton, as Mr. Fitzpatrick cannot resign on the ground of his succession to the peerage until his succession has become an accomplished fact. As the Earl of Meath was cro-sing i. street in Dublin, he was knocked down by a dray, and sustained fracture of the hand. His lordship is doing well, and no operaUen will be necessary. At Limerick a policeman was assaulted with oars, and almost drowned, while attempting to seize poachers fish- ing for salmon. Before daybreak the house of a labourer near Middlcton, named O'Brien, was attacked by a party of Moon- lighters," and wrecked by stones. O'Brien and family escaped by a back passage to a farmer's house in the vicinity, from whence the police were communicated with, and two men, M'Clean and Breen, supposed to be of the party, were subsequently arrested concealed in a hayloft. The only cause assigned is thatO'iirien refused to join the Labourers' League.

THE HARLOW BURIAL SCANDAL. The Rey. Charles Edward Taonton, vicar of St. John's, Harlow, Essex, was recently charged before the Harlow magistrates (Mr. C. W. F. Glyn in the chair) with wilfully and unlawfully obstructing the burial of Mrs. Hannah Graves, a member of the Baptist connection, who died on the 17th of November last. Mr. Jeune, Q.C., appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. Fitzgerald for the defence. The deceased had frequently expressed a wish to be buried by the Baptist minister in the churchyard of the parish, and her daughter, after the death, served upon the vicar the notice required by the Burials Act, fixing the funeral for the 25th. On the day previous to the interment, Mr. Taunton, in company with his curate, visited Mis.s Graves, and informed her that from conscientious motives lie should keep the ordinary gateway to the churchyard locked on the day of the funeral, but had provided a new entrance near to the grave itself. She made no objection then, but later in the day she forwarded a letter to the vicar, claiming as a right entrance by the usual mode of ingress, and stating that he must hold himself responsible for any legal consequences. On the day fixed for the burial the funeral procession, headed by the Rev. F. Edwards, Baptist minister, marched to the great gates, which were found to be locked and bolted. The mourners, after having applied in vain to the vicarage for the key, obtained admission to the graveyard by a small gateway made for the purpose, by order of the vicar, a day or two previous. The corpse was handed in over the gates of the main entrance, and the funeral set vice was proceeded with. The large crowd, however, which had assembled signified their disapprobation of the action of the vicar by un- hinging the gates and leaving them upon the grass. The vicar had been appealed to by the committee of depu- ties of Protestant Dissenters, who have taken up the case for Miss Graves, to express some regret at what took place; but lie declined all overtures, and these proceedings were taken. Evidence was given in support of these facts, which were not disputed, and Mr. Fitz- gerald contended that the defendant had not in any way obstructed the funeral, inasmuch as he had provided a gateway much nearer to the grave thar the main entrance was. He added that his client had no intention of hurt- ing the feelings of anyone. The Bench held that the Burials Act was devised for the express purpose of allow- ing a peaceable and orderly funeral to Dissenters through the ordinary gateway of the churchyard with or without the service of the Church of England. Mr. Taunton, in this case, announced his intention 0: keeping the gate- way closed, and he did so. Therefore, they held that he wilfully obstructed the entrance to the churchyard, and he was accordingly committed for trial at the Essex Assizes for misdemeanour. There were two other sum- monse3 against the defendant arifing out of the same circumstances, but they were not proceeded with.

AT the rolice-court, Accrington, an elderly man has been committed to prison for seven days for begging. The chief-constable applied that 7d. found in his pockcta should go towards his maintenance in prison, remarking that that was the only way to put a stop to professional begging, which was a good business. The magistrates granted the application, and the chairman said lie was informed by a Isutcher that beggars were the worst class to please in joints of meat. AT the County Police-court, Derby, a young woman named Sarah Jane Swann was committed for trial for the murder of her illegitimate child. THB Birkenhead stipendiary recently called attention to the shocking condition of the police offices at the Bridewell. Owing to defective sanitary arrange- ments the Bridewell keeper's wife was dangerously ill of typhoid fever, from which there had been previously two deaths. He characterised the state of the building as a disgrace to the Corporation authorities. In future he would send remanded prisoners to Liverpool. MR. BARNARD, President of the Plymouth Liberal Association, lecturing upon the political outlook, read this letter from Mr. Macliver: Very little is known of the Corrupt Practices Bill, except that it is to be a stringent measure in the direction of purity, materially reducing expenses incurred at elections. I believe it will contain a clause which I suggested, restraining anyone who has been unseated for bribery from again becoming a candidate until seven years from the date of his offence has elap td.

) THE SALVATION ARMY. General Booth has had an interview with Lord Gran- ville, when he was introduced by Mr. W. S. Alien M.P. and. presented the following statement: Miss Catherine Booth and Miss Maud Charlesworth, British subjects and oncers of the Salvation Army, having been expelled from the "!iiiton of Geneva upon frivolous pretexts, but really for hr.ving taken part in private, meetings of the Salvation Army in that canton, after the issue of a decree of the Council of State temporarily to suspend the exercises of the Salvation Army,' desires (1) permission for our officers to live in any psrt of the Republic until they have been convicted before some competent tribunal of some offence against the laws of the country which would render them amenable to expulsion. (2) Liberty for our representatives, as British subjects, at least !o hold meet- ings in such buildings as may be obtainable for such persons as may wish to attend, even if admission be by I ticket only. (3) Vie wish to be. allowed to use the building which we have hired in Geneva as a bookshop for the sale of our publications. (4) We wish to have liberty to sell our publications to those who may desire to purchase them in any other place in the Republic, provided, of course, that all be done in accordance with the laws of each locality. It is specially important that we should have this liberty since some person has endea- voured to stir up the most extreme hostility against us by a phamplet containing most misleading and even falsi- fied translations from our Order Book,' which, if believed, would make every good citizen desirous of I driving our officers out of the country as being worse than Jesuits and mere adventurers, using religion as a trade. (5) We should like such a declaration to be made in some way by the Government as would con- vince the authorities abroad that the Salvation Army is a movement which onght to command the respect and sympathy of every reasonable man-a movement for the ¡ good of the people directed and carried on by disinterested persons who have no aim but to make those who are now disorderly and vicious into good subjects."

A SHARP DETECTIVE. A clever find has been made by a London detective with reference to the two absconded" bankrupts who were arrested on board the Asiatic on her arrival at Plymouth from the Cape. Their names are Samuel Bawmau and Isidore Sherman, two Jews. The Plymouth detective who arrested the prisoners found only tS on the one and £ 16 and two gold watches on the other. Inspector Langrish, of Scotland-yard, applied that the prisoners might be handed over to him for conveyance to London, and he also asked leave to again search them. He went down and said to one of them, Let me leok at your necktie, will you ?" The man demurred, but the detective persisted, and on obtaining possession of the necktie he found £ 110 of Bank of England notes and a quantity of diamonds, and a similar sum and other valuables were found concealed in the neckerchief of the other prisoner. Langrish says the idea of examining prisoners' neckties was the fact that he noticed in court one of the prisoners kept putting his hand to his neck to adjust his tie.

EXECUTION AT LINCOLN James Anderson, 50 years of age, has been hanged at Lin, olri for the murder of his wife at East Ferry, near Gainsborough, in December last. In a quarrel between the parties Anderson struck his wife. and then stabbed her in the throat with his pocket-knife. The jugular vein was severed, and the unfortunate woman bled to death in a few minutes. This was the first execution at her Majesty's new prison at Lincoln, and the gallows was so erecle I that the convict stepped out of his cell and on to the scaffold without leaving the premises. Marwood, who I was the executioner, allowed the man a fall of eight feet, and instant death was the result. Anderson, who had been attended by the superintendent of the Wesleyan Circuit, died very penitent.

EXHIBITION OF IRISH LACE. A meeting of the commit:ee of the Exhibition and Loan Collection of Irish Lace, to be held in the Mansion House, Loudon, in June nest, has taken placc in the Venetian Parlour. Mr. W. Lindsay, of the firm of lles-rs. Copestake, Hughe?, Crampton and Co., presided, and amor.?, the firms represented were Messrs. Lewis and Allenbv, Ilc'vell and James, Debenham and Freebodv, Swan and Edgar. 130 leti and Tidswcll, Haywards Higgins and Eagle, Hubel an' O-'he.'9- A letter was read from General Sir Henry Po.iBonby sitting that it gave the Queen much pleasure to accede to tne Lord Mayor's request to be patron of the exhibition, an t 'nil. "Majesty desired to know the details in connec.ion with it as tiù;ÿ arose. Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales also consented to be a patron, and offered to lend two or three very fine specimens of lri-b lace in her possession. The Princess Beatrice, the Duchess of Connaught, the Duchess or Albany, and the Princess Mary Adelaide (Duchess of Teck), likewise agreed to be patrons. The Lord Mayor, who was present, was elected president of the committee. The movement, it was said, was being taken up with great spirit, and it was determined to invite ladles willing to lend choice specimens of Irish lace and traders and others wishing to exhibit, to communicate with the hoii. sec. of the committee (Mr. C. H. Biddle) without delay.

THE CHINESE NAVY. Germnn naval men who have had opportunities of going on board some of the latest additions to the Chinese Navy cannct refrain from expressing their surprise at the evident predilection of the Chinese Government for com- plicated machinery. From all accounts, remarks a mili- tary contemporary, the officer who may be blessed with the command of one of these vessels will certainly hold a position as yet unknown in any serviee-vil., one in which he will be perfectly free from envy. One large engine-room is the best description that can be given of them, as almost every modern naval invention has found a place on board. For instance, electric light and telegraph, steam, hydraulic, and hand-power boat-lower- ing gear, torpedo apparatus, steam winches, pumps of almost evcl.7 kind, .and many other complicated contri- vances, too numerous to mention. If German officers turn pale at the sight of such clock-work, what must be the feeling of a Chinese captain with a comparatively undisciplined crew? The Chinese Government is there- fore wise in trying to get British officers to command their ships.

A NAVAL RELIC. The Rryal Gazette (Demerara) states that a curiosity has turned up at the Stone Dep ';t in the shape of a round shot embedded in coral which came among a quantity of stone ballast now being landed from a vessel lately arrived from Martinique. From the appearance of the'surface, there can be little doubt that it had been in the sea for a considerablc number of years. It measures five inches in I diameter,>nd bears evidence of bring one of the identical cannon-balls fired by that gallant admiral, Lord Rodney, in 17!-2, when he encountered the French fleet, commanded '¡ by Count de Grasse, and totally defeated it, taking five ships of the line besides making a pri-ioner of their admiral Antiquarian students can see the ball bv calling at the Town Superintendents office, as fortunately it was not broken by the stone crusher.

ARRANGEMENTS have been completed for quartering the volunteers during the Easter Review at the Board Schools in Brighton. The 4-th Middlesex will be stationed in Circus-street; the 1st Bucks in Finsburv- road the 3rd Kent Artillery and 4th Kent Rides in Hanover-terracc the 23rd Middlesex in the Lewes-road the Liverpool Brigade, the 12th Middlesex (Civil Ser- vice), and the bth Middlesex in Middle street; the 8th Surrey, the 2nd Gloucester, and the 2nd City of London in Pelham-street; the 2nd Bat- talion of the Queen's Rifles in Preston-road; the 16th Middlesex (London Irish) in Richmond-street; the 3rd Middlesex in Sussex-street; and the London Scottish at Hamilton's Warehouse, Ship-street. The total number accommodated in the Board Schools will be 2630. IT is proposed to hold a chess tournament with living pieces, under Royal and distinguished patronage in aid of the We t-end Hospital, Welbeck-strcet, Loudon' as soon as preliminaries can be arranged. AT the Police-court, Newcastle, Peter Dun- nignn. 65, was committed for trial on a charge of having murdered his wife, Agnes Dunningan, by cutting her throat with a razor -Joseph Mills, 17, was charged with having caused the death of John l'rancis, a young man by striking him with his fiat while in the Ouseburn Engine Works. The prisoner and deceased qu..rre!)ed, and the prisoner struck deceased, who fell and died A remand was ordered. A r>isco\ ERY of a horrifying nature has been made by a man whilst working in Martin-street, Leicester. The man was loading a cart with manure from a heap in a held at the back of Martin-street, when he came across a suspicious-looking bundle bound about with rags. An examination of the package disclosed the fact tint it contained the body of an infant. The man at once com- municated with the police, who are investigating the matter.

The tremendous struggle between France and Germany still forms the key to the present state of Europe, and the death of M. Gambetta seems, as THE TIMES re- marks, "to change in a moment the destiny of nations, and to turn aside the course of the World's history." At this time, therefore, the desire will be universal to read the stirring narrative of a War which has profoundly affected the course of European History, and an opportunity will be afforded of so doing by the immediate publication of a NEW SERIAL Edition In MONTHLY PARTS, price 7d„ of Cassell's History of the Franco German War. With about 500 JLLUSTHATIOXS, consisting of Battle Leslies, Portraits, and Plans of the Battle Fields. FALXT 1 now ready, price 7d.. including LARGE PRESENTATION PLATE. (To be completed in 24 PARTS.) Prospectuses at all Booksellers', or post free from Cassell, Petter, Galpin d: Co., Ludgaie Hill, London. CIT The commencement of a New Year is a time for beginning many fresh things, and few of these can be more important than the judicious selection of books for household leading. There can be no doubt that the difficulty of doing this I:es chiefly in the choice, for of books there is no end, but we think that our readers will not make a mis- take if they include in their selection these four Magazines—THE QUIVER, CASSELL'S FAMILY MAGAZINE, LITTLE FOLKS, and THE MAGAZINE OF ART." MONTHLY, 6d. The Quiver, For Sunday and General Reading. A safer and more interesting Magazine we do not know than THE QUIVER. "—Stand a rd. An outlay of sixpence upon THE QUIVER will not be reg retted." -G uardiaJt, "THE QUIVER is widely know. as one of the very best of Magazines."—Record. MONTHLY, 7d. CASSELL'S Famiit/ Magazine. 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