The Illustrated Usk Observer and Raglan Herald

SHOCKING DEATH IN A RAILWAY TUNNEL, A young woman, about twenty-five years of age, of a swarthy complexion, almost like a gipsy, but well and neatly dressed, called at a cottage standing by it- self on tiie bank of the Leicester and Swannington :&ilway Qn Monday, and asked the children, who were alone there, for a. glass of water. She told them that she was tired, that she had come from Leicester, but had many miles to go before she should get to her journey's end.' She rested herself there about a quarter of an hour, and then left. The cottage is siteated near the Leicester end of the tunnel between Leicester and Glenfield. This railroad is one of the first ever constructed, and has only a single line of rails, it is very narrow, and the tunnel is no wider than easily to admit a train. Yet when the young woman left the cottage she walked directly down the bank and along the line towards the tunnel. The children, used to noting such things, could detect through the tunnel that a train was being shunted at the other end. They called to her and spoke of the danger, but she went on, only saying, Oh, I shall be all right," and ran into the darkness. Soon the children noticed the light shut from the other end of the tunnel, and presently a coal train came out from Glenfkld, and passed on to Leicester. The children were not able to stop it or give an alarm. They saw a train go in the other way from Leicester. They were alone then, and Enable to leave the cottage till their father returned from his work in the evening. Then they told him, a»d with another man he explored the tunnel. About halfway through they found the object of their search, ishe lay against one of the rails, on the carriage way, her head towards G-lenfield. Her clothes were torn and scattered to a great distance. Her right arm and left leg were crashed, and almost torn away; her head was cut frightfully, and ehe was otherwise mutilated. One of her fingers and a thumb were severed, and lying near. Both the trains had passed over and injured her, yet she was alive, after the long interval and the horrible loss of blood. She was quite insensible. She was taken to Leicester Infir- mary, where she died soon after, without having re- covered consciousness. In her pockets were found some blackberries, with two shillings and eightpence, but nothing whatever which would serve to identify her. It has not been discovered who she was. A coroner's inquest was held on Wednesday evening, and the following verdict was returned —" That deceased met with her death in the tunnel, but whether she entered it for the purpose of self-destruction or not there is no evidence to show."

DREADFUL SUFFERINGS OF A SHIP'S CREW. The following is an extract from the log of the ship Chariot of Fame, which rescued the survivors, six in aember, of the Sam Dunning: About four p.m. Sunday evening, the 24th April, passed a ship's topgallant mast not long in the water. About an hosar afterwards, our ship steering right be. fore the wind N.N.W., the man at the wheel informed the officer that he saw something like a boat about two miles off, on the port beam. Captain Clark came ON deck, and looking through his glass at the object pronounced it to be a raft with several persons on it, waving Bomekmdof a. sigBalof distress. Theshipwas then hauled to the wind, and when about half a mile from the raft a boat was lowered, which, in charge of the chief officer, went off to the rescue. On approaching, however, what was thought to be a raft, it turned out to be a part of a poop-deck, to which six men were clinging by means of a piece of rope made fast to two ring-bolts. They were in a most wretched condition, and nigh dead from hanger, thirst, and exposure to the elements, being drenched to the skin by the waves, which every moment dashed over their frail support. Their hands and feet were, inflamed and swollen to an enor- hiobs size with the action of the sun and salt water. They were got on board as soon as possible, and one of them, as soon as lifted over the rail, ejaculated, Thank God, you have saved our lives." and imme- diately fainted away. Everything that could be thought of to relieve them was done with all speed, and in a few ho«rs they had so far recovered as to be able to relate their own sad story. James Baines, one of the survivors, reports as follows: Left Rangoon on March 18, towed down the river by two atieamtugs came to inside the light. ship at 9,30 p,m. Hove up on the 19th; steamer towed us outside the lightship. Proceeded to sea with a fair wind and a small list to port, until reaching the line, when we get squally weather, variable winds, and &s far as 4 lat. at S. wind from W.N.W., then northing, and from that to west, breaking off to north. Con- tinued so until April 15, when a heavy cross swell arose from the S.E. to N.W., wind gradually increasing from that quarter until the evening of the 18th, when it increased to a hard gale. About ten p.m. it came upon us in a great hurricane, the ship labouring and pitching very heavily. People continually at the main and bilge pumps, but could not get them to bring water. Main- yard adrift on the deck, starting the timbers and bits. Wind still increasing. Hauled the foresail up at 8,30 to wear ship, but could not wear her. Hauled up on the starboard tack again. Meanwhile ship gradually sinking down, going over on her side more and more. Two a.m., Tuesday, April 19.-The mate called all hands aft on the poop, asking the captain what was to be done, for he did not think the ship would last the night out, and asked if he should out the masts away. The captain said, "No; she will hold on till daylight;" but the mate contradicting, the assent was given to cut away, which waa counetrmanded. After waiting about a quarter of an hour we could feel the ship set- tling down gradually. Orders were given to cut away the mast; and as the mizenmast went, so did the ship. I was on the weather side corner of the poop- house, close to the captain, who got over the side and caught hold of the main brace, a heavy sea break- ing over us, and deluging the decks fore and aft. I 1 She was then in the trough of the aea, and sinking, J while I hold on to the brace for a considerable time. I then let go, and coming to the surface swam about for two minutes, got hold of a small piece of wreck c about six feet long, got on it, and was buoyed up for about five minutes. I kept in this position, following "j to see if there was any one alive until I got an answer j from the poop deck wreck, on which were six or seven j men. I left my piece of the wreck plank and went off > bo them, the gale still violent. It abated about two p.m., while we were left swinging in the sea, sur- rounded by pieces of the wreck, chests, chairs, hatches, bulwarks, &o. Saw a ship steering towards us on Friday morning. The carpenter, boatswain, Dunning, Tremond, Hunt, and Scholfield are the only survivors of the ill-fated ship I Sam Dunning, which left Rangoon with a crew of thirty-one men all told.

SOifF LONDON PLAGUES OF FORMER TiMES. Only six years after the outbreak of pestilence in 1563, we have accounts of another plague, which was so violent that it was necessary to adjourn the Michaelmas term to that of Hilary; and the Lord Mayor gave orders that all idle persons should be pre- vented from straying about, who might spread the disorder amongst the citizens. They also adopted some sanitary precautions, which were more likely to pre- vent the evil than the confinement of poor distressed wanderers. In 1603, another terrible outbreak of the plague occurred, which carried off in that year 30,578 persons, 3,090 of whom died in one week. If, for the purpose of roughly showing to modern London the extent of this mortality, we multiply the population of 1,603 by 10, thQ doatko in ono woaJc would be 30,900. Another attack of plague occurred, when great pre- parations had been made for the reception, in London, of Charles 1. On the death of James t., the Lord Mayor and aldermen repaired to Ludgate, where Charles I., having arrived on horseback, was there proclaimed, as well as at all other places in the City; but the joy was changed to mourning, for the plague raged so violently, both in the City and the suburbs, that it carried off 35,470 people, besides upwards of 18,000 who died of other distempers. On account of this calamity the coronation was postponed to the 2nd of February; this was in 1625. In 1635, the plague carried off 10,400 citizens, and in consequence of its occurrence, the fairs and* other large places of public assembly were stopped. There are many other accounts of pestilences of various kinds which have visited Old London; and amongst the records in the British Museum and Guildhall Library, there will be found many accounts of visitations which have not been especially noticed by the London historians; but there might be useful knowledge gained by an ex- amination of this most important subject—more in detail than has yet been done. In 1665, however, exactly 200 years ago, about the beginning of May, the greatest plague of which we have record in England broke out in London. It swept away 68,596 persons, which, added to the number of those who died from other disorders, raised the bills of mortality in that year to 97,306. Even at that time we do not think that the population of London was so much as one-eighth of the present. If, however, we take this estimate, the deaths in London from a similar plague now would number 558,768 (upwards of half a million human beings). From other disorders than the plague the death-rate was heavy; and the deaths in London, if we compare the past population with the present, would be in all 778,448.

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. Terrible Warfare. At the Cape the chief event of the summer has been the commencement of hostilities between the Free State Boers and the Basutos. The beginning of the campaign has been marked by the usual feature of savage war- fare. Uncivilised hordes, inflamed by motives of revenge and hatred, had been let loose upon the country; a large number of farm houses had been burnt, and the lives of many isolated farmers sacrificed incoldblood; while in several instances where a spirited resistance had been offered by groups of farmers, the Basutos had retreated without doing any injury. Several of the murders of the farmers had also resulted from their too great faith in the honesty of the Basuto character, having been treacherously cap- tured under flags of truce assumed by the Basutos. A considerable quantity of sheep and oxen had been driven off by the Basutos, and although some portion of it had been recovered, the farmers in a large tract of country had been greatly impoverished. The result of this war was therefore looked forward to with much anxiety in the Cape Colony, where the merchants and tradesmen were very large creditors to the Boers. The procla- mation of his excellency the governor, forbidding British subjects from proceeding to the territories of the belligerents, or in any way engaging in the war, had not been received with much satisfaction on the border districts, where the colonists felt they were bound to go over and help their brethren the burghers of the free State, and it was stated that several volunteers had proceeded from the colony to join the conflict. In addition to the very serious com- mercial difficulties that it was considered anything like a defeat of the Boers would cause in the Cape colony, it was believed that such an event would also have a general effect upon the minds of the frontier Kaffirs very prejudicial to the interests of the colo- nists. Something like a coalition of the native tribes in a demonstration against the colony might be expected. The inroad of Molappo into the Rlip River country Natal already pointed to the difficulties there would be to maintain a neutrality. The Natal people were in, a ferment at the event, while it was said that the in- road was caused more immediately by hostilities on the part of farmers, who, although residing in the colony, had considered themselves as belonging to the free State. It was not known whether Moshesh had sanctioned this act of aggree sion. Three farmers were killed, a woman killed or carried off, and many thou- sand of pounds worth of stock destroyed or carried off. The general commanding, Sir Percy Douglas, being on spot at the time, orders were issued for every available man to march to Ladysoruth in support of the oivil power; and it was expected that the column would leave D'Urban on the 3rd of July. During the past month trade had been moderate in the colony, nevertheless business was doing on a legi- timate footing and sound basis. The war, it was ex- pected, would tell very seriously upon the future trade ,of the colony, especially of the Eastern Province, oc- curring as it did just as Port Elizabeth was passing through a monetary crisis. The Eastern Province Herald says the wool season had been late, and the unsound position of affairs there having become known throughout the country, a comparatively small amount of wool was offered on the- market. Failures continued to occur, and confidence, the very life and soul of business, was gone. An extraordinary check had been given to trade, and although the immediate result was unpleasant, yet it was hoped the balance would be by-and-by restored. Meanwhile merchants were doing nothing, and shopkeepers were do- ing little but looking at the goods on their shelves. Notaries and trustees in insolvent estates were the only persons who were busy. The Herald, in ac- counting for this state of affairs, says:—"Each day opens up more and more the fact that the trade of this colony has been grievously overdone. High prices at home for wool might have enabled shippers to put off the evil day, and thus tide over for a time the revelation of the losses that have befallen them- while at the same time they mitigated those losses— but the eventual result was not to be averted by any human agency. Losses amounting to insolvency had involved many wool shippers for years past, and one or more favourable seasons would not have restored the heavy balance which repeated losses had ab- stracted. It was merely a question of time when the announcement should be made, and it is to be feared that the delay of every season only made the ultimate loss more severely felt." A Singular Telegraphic Blunder.-One of the office-bearers of the Grand Lodge of Scotland who had to attend the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the memorial to the Duke of Athole at Logie- rait, the other day, left Edinburgh without his cocked hat. On discovering the omission he telegraphed from a station on the Inverness and Perth line to his wife in Edinburgh, "Send my cocked hat with to- morrow." Oar readers may judge of his consternation when on the following day his friend put into his hand not the missing article of attire, but a parcel of "cooked ham," into which words it appeared the telegraph clerks had transformed the message!

"HE LONDON and RAMSGATE MURDERSJ q Adjourned Inquest. j On Tuesday morning Dr. Wm. Hardwicke presided £ iver the jury in the Board-room of the Holborn Union, 6 or the further investigation of the deaths of the three j shildren found dead in bed at Starr's Coffee-house and I Sotel, Red Lion-street, Holborn. Mr. E. T. Smith, ] barrister, instructed by Messrs. Gold and Son, of ] Sergeant's Inn, Chancery-lane, appeared to watch the proceedings on behalf of the suspected murderer, and Mr. Inspector Tanner, of the Detective Force, Scot- land-yard, and Mr. Superintendent Serle, of the E division, were present on the part of the police. Dr. Anthony Roberts being recalled, said he had made a post-mortem examination of the children, and he described their external appearance. At this stage of the proceedings Inspector Thom- son, of the Detective Force, Scotland-yard, brought in a little girl, Eliza. Annie, the surviving daughter of Mrs. White. Dr. George Harley, Professor of Medical Jurispru- dence at University College Hospital, said on the 9th instant he visited Starr's Hotel. The children lay as though their deaths had been rapid and painless. The nails of the two younger children were of a blue- ish cast, and the extremities livid. The eldest boy's finger nails were of a livid colour. The jars contain- ing the viscera of the deceased were subsequently analysed, and prussic acid was found. The liquid also from the bodies contained prussic acid. He then ex- amined the bottles and tumbler found in the room. The first bottle contained chalk and paragoric, and the second contained about four drops of copaiva, which had given the peculiar smell in the róom. On that bottle there was human hair on the mouth of it. The tumbler had also contained copaiva. From the analysis which had been made he came to the undoubted conclusion that the deaths of the three children were caused by prussic acid. Sarah Petty, of 2, Cornelia-terrace, Battersea, said: Last Friday week Southey came to her house and said if they did not let him know where Mrs. White was gone some harm would come of it. She would not let him into the house any further than the stairs. The child which Mrs. White had left in her charge on the 20th July knew Southey, and appeared to be afraid of him. Mrs. White had gone to Liverpool with the view of sailing for Australia. Mrs. White had frequently spoken to her about Southey, but said, for the sake of her children he must know nothing about her, and that she hoped to lead a better life. The child Eliza Annie, not yet seven years old, was too young to be put under examination. Inspector James Thomson of the Detective Police, Scotland-yard, said on Friday he went to Mrs. Petty'a residence, where she handed over to him some papers, amongst which was a letter, unopened, addressed to Mrs. White. It was in Southey's handwriting, and dafted August 5.' He opened the letter, which urged upon Mrs. White that if she did not join him some- thing more terrible would happen than she could imagine. Mr. John Searle, superintendent of the E division of police, said on Wednesday morning last Inspector Pearce had informed him of what had taken place at Starr's coffee-house. He went there and saw the children, as had been described. Since the analysis he had made an inquiry of a Mr. Blaxhall, chemist, 309, High Holborn, as he found that address, on a label on one of the bottles. He understood that a man answering the description of Southey went there on the Tuesday morning (the 8th), and said he had under his charge a little boy about ten years old, who had been staying with some friends, and they had neglected him. The child was suffering from diarrhoea. He asked him to make up a chalk mixture, and to put in some paregorio and chloric ether, which led the chemist to believe that he was a medical man. While the mixture was being prepared he asked him the wholesale price of a pound of Schiel's hydrocyanic acid. He told him. He did not ask for any. On re- ceiving the bottle of chalk mixture he held it up, and in a very offhand manner said, What are you going to charge for this ? still further inducing the chemist to believe he was a medical man. He charged 8d. for it. Now that the poison had been discovered further inquiries would be instituted. The Deputy Coroner said that as an adjournment was desirable such a course had better be adopted. The jury agreed, and trusted that in the meantime the Home Secretary would be written to, so that steps might be taken for the production of the supposed murderer, as he had not yet been identified. Mr. Smith thought it would be advisable that the letter which had been referred to by Inspector Thom- son should be produced at the adjournment. The inquest was then aJjomnoJ to TuoaJay, the 29th inst. The three murdered children were buried on Satur- day in the Victoria-park Cemetery, at the expense of Mr. White. The funeral was managed very quietly. During the night of Friday three coffins were brought to the Star Coffee-house in Red Lion-street, and be- tween nine and ten o'clock next morning, the police having withdrawn, a hearse and a solitary mourning coach were driveu up, the remains of the three hapless victims wore placed in the hearse side by side, and conveyed to their last resting place.

GREAT BOAT.RACE BETWEEN KELLY, CHAMBERS, AND COOPER. This event, so interesting to the aquatic community, ,came off on Friday, at Lynn. Several other races came off interesting to the locality but not elsewhere, the contests being .chiefly between rowers of the neigh- bourhood. The town had made quite a holiday fcr the occasion, and some of the ships lying in the stream were dressed with flags from stem to stern and from the deck to the masthead. There was an enormous gathering of spectators from all the" country-side." and a large number from London. These had an excel- lent view of the race on the sloping but rather soft- banks of Lynn Water. The water is wide and for near a mile and a half straight from one end to the other. With its railway bridge and ample width it bears some resemblance to the Tyne near the Scotswood course. The afternoon turned out very fine, and the very thieves, thimble-riggers, and sharping knaves, some of whom attended from London, seemed delighted to bask in the unwonted sunshine. The already declining sun was shining pleasantly on the town of Lynn before the umpire's boat was rowed over the course by the following cockney crack rowersRobert Bain, Frank Kilsby, George Cannon, John Caffyn, Picke, J. Dove, Bevan, and Joseph Sadler, stroke-Mr. Brickwood, the referee, steering. There was a fair sprinkling from canny Newcastle, in- cluding Messrs. Blakey, Wilkinson, Pickett, Dunlop, &c. By five o'clock Cooper was waiting on the one bank of the Ouse for the start, Kelly on the other. Kelly was busy touching up his boat and nailing a washboard round the well to keep out spray in case the wind rose. Chambers soon after rowed his boat up to the starting place, landed, and, like Kelly, at once busied himself with looking to his boat. When the tide began to ebb, and the referee, Mr. Brickwood, called upon the men to take to the water. All three were soon darting like martins about the boats moored for the start; stretching their muscles for the race. A stream with a width of from 80 to 100 yards of clear uncovered water was at the disposal of the men, and with but one gentle half-felt bend in the whole 3,300 yards. One false start was made, Cooper going off with a tremendous bound, Kelly declining. The rowers started from three separate boats moored near the middle of the stream. Kelly had got the best. berth in mid stream, Cooper nearly as good in the tide way on the one side (west), Chambers in the slackest water, and therefore the worst place on the other. At the second call of the starter the men got off well, Cooper again with a spring like an aquatic bird that shot him ahead of his fellows at once. Kelly was smart, but Chambers lagged from the outset. His long, strong, but more tardy stroke did not seem to clip the ebbing stream so effectively as the more tripping rowing of the other two. He seemed too slow as the other two evidently discounted the shorter distance of the course and were putting out their strength at once, trusting to their being able to hold out. The pace for a quarter of a mile was very smart. Cooper, leading Kelly by half a length, was gradually pressing on the cockney, who was his boat's length ahead of Chambers. At the slight bend Chambers went bodily over towards the other side of the stream, to where the ebb was strongest, and was forty yards wide of the other two, for the rest of the race. At the half-mile Chambers was two lengths astern; Cooper still half a length ahead of Kelly. A more beautiful contest never gladdened the lover of boating than was now seen between Cooper and Kelly. The men were rowing exactly in the same time and ap- parently the same length of stroke, and moved like parts of the same machine, the head of Kelly's boat just reaching the well" of Cooper's. At three- [uarters of a mile Kelley had drawn a little on Cooper J md was then pretty near level with him-the cockneys ubilant indeed! Chambers being three or four lengths istern, but having more tide under him out in the stream, and rowing his old characteristic stroke, 1 hooper again exerted himself and got half a length in idvanoe, but no more. With little variation this was kept up for another half a mile. Chambers, now aided by the tide, lassened his distance in arrear, and was much watched. Cooper drew his boat nearly clear of Kelly, who" was thereupon called on by his friends on the bank to L" pull out." Kelly answered the appeal, and so kept Cooper from getting clear of him. Cooper rejoined by another effort to shake off Kelly, and in doing so committed the fatal blunder of rowing right in front of Kelly, taking his water under the very nose of his boat. Kelly was too good a waterman-too thorough a graduate of the Thames-not to seize such a chance, put on an effort, and just tipped Cooper's stern, and then for two or three strokes stopped rowing. This mute appeal to the referee was not made in vain! Kelly then, having let Cooper get ahead, and out of his immediate path, rowed out into the stream, there being still half a mile to the winning post. At a quarter of a mile from home Kelly was under two lengths astern, while Chambers was not much more behind on the other side of the stream. Cooper finally, amid a tremendous noise and bustle, rowed in first by a length and a half ahead of Kelly; Chambers about as much behind the champion. Of course an appeal was immediately made to the referee for his decision as to Cooper taking Kelly's water, he (Cooper) not being a "clear length in advance." Mr. Brickwood, the referee, at once declared that the "foul" invalidated Cooper's claim and put him out of the race. So Kelly wins the race and Chambers gets second prize, Cooper being literally nowhere." The friends of Kelly contended that their man would not have been in arrear of Cooper had he not been forced into the slack water by the manoeuvres of the Tynesider. Against this it waa fairly urged that the ebb had not set in very swiftly and that Cooper foolishly lost nearly as much of it as Kelly. It would have been more in accordance with the general wish to have a fair race" that assembled the first rowers in England on the broad open waters of Lynn, instead of the steamer-ridden Thames. Cooper has suffered the full penalty, ahd is properly thrown out of the whole race for violating a law more essential to fair rowing than any one in the whole oode. The jubilant winners by Kelly's good fortune, who saw the race, will have no disposition to underrate the merits of the unfortunate Cooper, who has again' let the prize slip through his fingers. Time of race, llmin. 37seo. Betting at start; 6 to 4 on Kelly, 3 to! against Chambers, and 4 to 1 against Cooper.

MR. TIDD PRATT AND THE GARI- BALDI FRIENDLY SOCIETY. At the Mansion-house on Wednesday Mr. Tidd Pratt, the Registrar of Friendly Societies in Eng- land, waited upon the Lord Mayor for the purpose of putting the public on their guard against joining a certain friendly society, which he said carried on busi- ness not many yards from his lordship's magisterial residence. The society in question had been brought under his notice, and he had made the necessary in- quiries in reference to the parties who had instituted it. The title was The Garibaldi Mutual Life Assur. ance and Sick Fund Friendly Society." The rules were certified by him on the 13th January, 1863, and business was stated to be carried on at 58, King William-street, City. In pursuance of the Act, a notice was sent to him containing the names of the parties who were trustees of the society, and by a resolution of the society, dated the 8th Octo- ber, 1863, they appeared to be Isaac Fair- weather, of Holly-cottage Muswell-hill; Thomas William Horner, of 58, Copenhagen-street, Isling- ton, said to be a beer-retailer at that time; and Abraham Smith, of 2, Dockhead, tailor. That docu- ment reached him in the usual way, and everything appeared to be going on correctly. Having given a detailed account of the working of the society during the last two years, Mr. Pratt said, a few days ago his attention was drawn to a printed paper purporting to emanate from this society, but which had not any printer's name upon it. In that paper they said, This society is established to moots the requiiomtsuls of tho working as well as the middle classes; to pro- vide for sickness, accidents, old age, and death. Its members may receive the following benefits by pay- ment of Id. per week and upwards:—Weekly allowance in sickness to males from 1Oa. to 20e.; and to females from 4s. to 8a. Endowments in sums from .610 to £ 200, payable in five. years and upwards, for children or persons of any age; sums payable at death from X2 to £ 200; persons insured from infancy to seventy years of age. Agents for the Government for the pur- chase of endowments, annuities, &o." That last state. ment was wholly untrue. In the first place, the Government did not grant endowments. Tim* 4!1.y omploj- agents for annuity purposes. Annuities were granted through the National Debt-office, and also, latterly, under Mr. Gladstone's Act, through the Post- office. The Lord Mayor was not perhaps aware that by Act of Parliament if the tables of a society were certified by an actuary he (Mr. Tidd Pratt) was bound to state so in his certificate. On the other hand, he was equally bound to state the fact in his certificate that the tables were not prepared by an actuary. In the case of the Garibaldi Fund, without mentioning names, there were two trustees, one of them being a clergyman, seven directors, an auditor, bankers, a surgeon, a solicitor, and a secretary, and on the back of the prospectus there was printed in large letters, < £ 100 will 'be given to any one who can prove that the Garibaldi Life Assurance and Sick Fund Friendly Society had not always promptly paid all its claims." The numbers of the policies ran up to as high as 7,316, though they never had more than 600 or 800 members; besides they were not en- rolled until 1863. He believed there was not so much done in London as in the country. It appeared that the society had agents in all the provinces. He held in his hand an agency application, in reply to which the secretary in London stated that the society had a reserved guarantee fund of .£25,000, although, as he had shown from their accounts, they had only a balance at their bankers in December, 1863, of .£51, and in the following year of .£49 (a laugh). He found the agents were allowed on ordinary assurance business -first, the entrance fees second, 50 per cent., or one-half on all business till the policies were 13 weeks old; third, 25 per cent., or one quarter permanently on all business done when the policies were over thirteen weeks old; fourth, when an agent showed his capability to conduct a large business an office would be allowedand paid for. He supposed that meant when the agent had induced a number of poor wretches to come in (a laugh). Then, as regarded the persons stated to be trustees, it appeared that one was a Welsh tailor in Bermondsey. He declared that he never was a trustee to the society, and never sanc- tioned the use of his name. Another of the trustees was put down as William Adams, Esq., Derby, but no such person could be found there. The next was E. D. Evans, Esq. This was a commercial traveller, who was persuaded to allow his name to be used, but he was believed to know nothing of the society. The treasurer was a draper in Southwark. He advanced money, which he lost, to one Stratton. That Mr. Stratton instituted a society, and he suffered for a swindling transaction twelve months' imprison- ment, at Newcastle, he believed. The bankers were stated to be the London and County Bank, Borough branch; but the society had now no account at that bank. They had such an account at one time; but the account, which was described as a miserable affair, and constantly overdrawn, was closed in 1863 or 1864. Mr. C. Robertson, said to be tho soli- citor, had never acted for the society, and never autho- rised the use of his name. He was much obliged to the Lord Mayor for having afforded him the oppor- tunity of making that statement. He had thought that, holding the office he did, when so flagrant a case as that came before him, it, was his duty to make it public, and to endeavour to protect, as far as he could the industrial classes from being deceived in that manner. He held in his hand a picture which adorned the front of the prospectus, which represented Gari- baldi with a sword in his hand, which he waved over the heads of a number of widows and children, but with which he looked as if he were going to cut their heads off instead of protecting them. The Lord Mayor said he was greatly obliged to Mr. Pratt for the statement which he had made, and he had no doubt the public would feel grateful to him for the exposure. He had had a great deal of experience as a magistrate, and his opinion was that most of these loan and discount offices were some of the greatest swindles of the day. Mr. Pratt said it was important to endeavour to stop the career of such societies at once but he might say it was not unlikely that further proceedings might be taken.

NORTH-EASTERN LONDON EXHIBITION OF ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. The opening ceremonial of the above exhibition book place on Wednesday afternoon at the Agricul- bural- hall, Islington. The attendance was re- markably goad, all the reserved seats being fully occupied, added to which an ambulatory crowd of great numbers filled all the outer spaces of the vast hall. The organ gallery was occupied by Mr. G. W. Martin's choir, augmented for this occasion to a thou' sand choristers, by whom the music usual on such occasions was sung with great impressiveness and precision. ^ord Chancellor arrived at three o'clock, accom- panied by uhe Marquis of Salisbury. At the sam0 time came also the Lord Mayor, attended by Aldermas and Sherif fBesley, and the usual civic retinue. The Archdeacon of London was also present on the plat- form, with Mr. Winkworth, of the Society of Arts, Mr. Bennett. and the majority of the manufacturers and employers of the district. The Lord Chancellor was received on his arrival by Mr. King, the chairman + £ /outtee, and his colleagues, and conducted to tne aa*s, where the simple ceremonial of the day imffl0, diately commenced. Mr. King, with a few appropriate observations, invited the Lord Chancellor to inspect the contents of the exhibition, and took that oppor- tunity of recording his grateful sense of the courtesy and promptitude with which the two noble lords present had acceded to the wish of the committee by assisting at the opening ceremonial. A procession was formed, including the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Salisbury, the Lord Mayor, and the members of the committee, and a complete circuit and careful examination made of the exhibition. After which, on returning to the dais, an impressive prafer was read by Archdeacon Hale, and the Lord Chan- ceilor, at the request of the Lord Mayor, declared the exhibition opened. The next proceeding was the singing by the choir of the chorale composed by late Prmoe Consort—" Awake my Glory"—and at its conclusion the Lord Chancellor wished, before parting* to address a few words to the company. He had, he said, when first asked to preside on that occasion) expressed, in all sinoerity, his doubts of his fitness for the task; but subsequently, when he remembered hoyf few of our leading personages were in town at this season of the year, he determined, however reluctantly; to accede to the request of Mr. King. Most of them who heard him were old enough to remcmbet the Exhibition of 1851, which owed its existence to the practical wisdom and judgment of the late Prince Consort.^ Providence, in its inscrutable wisdom, pr#* vented his Royal Highness from witnessing the triumph of this work, but one result was the establishment os a more extended basis of the Kensington his judgment a. most valuable institution, as enabling the working man to study the best models in the finer mechanical arts. However, it was idle to suppose that the 300,000 working men living in the north- east of London could go to Kensington; indeed, 1% calculation had been handed to him showing that, four visits to Kensington would cost the working man equivalent to two and a half days ot his working time. Such being the case, it ha4 been suggested that greater facilities for art studio might be given by the establishment of looal and it was the proud distinction of the district in which he then stood that it had taken the initiative is this most important movement. After some further observations, his lordship concluded his impressiy0 and judicious address with a Scriptural quotation il- lustrative of the dignity of labour. The Marquis ot Salisbury followed with a brief expression of thanks to his lordship for presiding, and the proceedings ter- minated with the National Anthem, sung in fnU chorus by the entire company,

SUPPOSED MURDER AT WINDSOR. At the Windsor borough petty sessions, Mr. Alder- man Hansom and Mr. Holderness, the sitting magis- trates, were engaged for some time in investigating 9 rather mysterious affair, which was brought under thek notice by Superintendent Eager, of the borough police. From the statement of Police-sergeant Smith, Noble, and others, it appeared that on Tuesday aftet' noon about three o'clock, while some boys were play- ing beneath the arches of the viaduct on the Western Railway, a short distance from the Windsor Gas Works, one of them, named John Turner, found paper parcel, whioh contained a tweed waistoo»t> a pair of workman's corduroys, and a silk handkerchief with a yellow border. The boy carried the clothes home to his parents, and on their being it was found that the insides of the waistcoat and trousers were almost completely saturated with what appeared to be human blood. There were great clots of. blood on the lining Of the waistcoat, while the waist of the trousers waS also deeply stained with KlnnrL whioh had flvidflwtlf run in a stream down to the ankles of the man, who- ever he may have been. Tho clothes were produced in court, and Mr. Holderness, having looked at the stains, said that, without a more minute examinatioa he could not say whether they were those of human blood or not. Unfortunately, the newspaper and piece of brown paper, in which the garments had bees wrapped, were thrown away, but as it was possible that these might afford some clue to the personwBO had worn the clothes a constable was dispatched with the boy turner, to endeavour, if possible, to find them. In the meantime, the police have instructions to sift the matter, as it is supposed that either a murder may possibly have been committed in the vicinity of Windsor, or that a hoax has been practised. The attair, however, has a serious complexion about it, and has caused quite a sensation in the town.

GENERAL LANGIEWICZ ON THE POLISH STRUGGLE. General M. Langiewicz, the ex-dictator of Poland, having been lately travelling in Switzerland, the citi' zens of Lugano availed themselves of the opportunity to present to him an address, expressing their sympa- thies with the cause of Poland, and their admiration of the distinguished part taken by that general in the brave but unsuccessful battle for Polish independence. In reply the general expressed his gratitude for the fraternal welcome with which they had honoured him, and his joy in receiving it as a new proof of their sym- pathy with his unhappy country. Whilst the contest raged the ardent wishes of the Swiss were for Polish success, and now to the Poles dispersed they offered hospitality in the bosom of their families. But though the Poles wore forced to succumb under the weight of their country's misfortunes, the hope must not be relinquished that the day was not fat distant in which they would achieve that inde- pendence which the Swiss now enjoyed That hope was not an illusion. During eighteen' months some warriors, unselected, clothed in rags, half fed, half armed, held out against the krmieS of a colossal monarchy, supported by two powerful empires which for a century had taken part in a great crime. Diplomacy, always astute, cast the ser- pent into the Polish camp, and by ministering to the unworthy predilections of men whose proud ancestors had imbued them with a lust for power, paralysed the initiative of the popular struggle to which the Atlantic only would be the limit. The general then proceeded to say that the European dynasties felt that on the banks ef the Vistula was initiated the battle of coming revo- lutions. From the Seine to the Neva oppression pre- vailed, supported by two millions of bayonets and by myriads of satellites, ready in their alarm to combat legions as yet invisible. In conclusion, the general, in referring to the future, says:—"A generation had grown up under our eyes-a. generation which had in the Polish insurrection shown the power of men whO desire to be free-in the great American Republic and in the Helvetian Republic they upheld the proximate institutions of their own country—a generation in fine, which will take the Swiss Confederation for'the model of its international programme." ■ — — — Termination of the New Zealand Wf.r.- At last the war in New Zealand is reported to be at as e?-"c T. Thompson, the indomitable Wslkato ehief, M smreiidered to Brigadier Curry, and is the rebellion is now deprived of its animating spirit, it is only fair to assume that it will gradually cie out. Although not the Maori King, William Thompson was the New Zealand king-maker. He impressed every one by his honesty, intelligence, and sagacity. The Rev. Dr. W. Jacobson, who has been nominated to the Bishopric of Chester, rendered vacant by the death of the Right Rev. Dr. John Graham, and elected by the Dean and Chapter, in ac- cordance with her Majesty's cong6 d'dlire, will be con- secrated by the Archbishop of York in York Minister, on Thursday, the 24th instant, being St. Bartholo- mew's Day. The Archbishop will bo assisted by tho Bishops of Manchester, Durham, and Ripon.