Ebt Probinces.

The official declaration of the poll was made at Sunderland on Friday; when the numbers were pronounced to be—for Hudson, 626; Thomp- son, 498; majority, 128: and Mr. Hudson therefore was declared duly elected. None of Colonel Thompson's party made their appearance. In addressing the electors, Mr. Hudson averred that the only alloy to his gra- tification was that all could not be successful—that his honourable oppo- nent could not be elected as well as himself. He exhibited with great de- light a copy of the Times of the same day, containing the result of the poll on the previous afternoon. In conclusion, the Mayor announced that Mr. Hudson had placed in the hands of two gentlemen the sum of 300/. for the benefit of the charitable institutions of the town.

At a meeting of the Lancashire Central Short-time Committee, on Wed- nesday, a plan was adopted for obtaining petitions to Parliament, next session, in favour of a Ten-hours Bill, from the inhabitants, clergymen, and medical men, of as many towns and from as many millowners as possible, and for holding meetings in the agricultural districts to procure petitions, and also memorials to Agricultural Members requesting them to vote for the measure. It was likewise resolved to ask Mr. Henry Ashton of Bolton to procure a meeting of masters, to receive a deputation from the Short-time Committees, in order to agree upon the draft of a bill.

A meeting of about 2,000 colliers took place at Bilston on Monday. They were exhorted by divers speakers to join the Miners Association; and the advantages of a strike for the next three months were pointed out. It is said that the meeting evinced little sympathy with the orators.

The Birmingham Journal announces that a general turn-out of the Staf- fordshire paddlers, miners, and colliers, is imminent. A partial strike has already taken place, in consequence of a reduction of wages; and as the re- duction is to be general, it is feared all the men will strike.

At Carlisle Assizes, last week, Sir James Graham appeared as plaintiff in an action against Mr. Tweddle, a tenant, for breach of an agreement in the culture of land. The case had been referred to Mr. Otter, a barrister, as arbitrator. The landlord claimed half-a-year's rent, which had been paid into court: it was agreed on both sides that the arbitrator's award should include another half-year's rent, newly accruing; and thus the only claim of the landlord really in litigation was 1871., which was made up of two sums claimed as penalties for overcropping in 1843 and 1844. The tenant also had a cross-claim of damages for illegal distress and for seeds. The agreement had been concluded with the defendant's father in 1822: it contained twenty-two conditions, many of which were contradictory, and perfectly inapplicable to the land in question; for instance, the tenant was bound a to reside on the premises, insure and whitewash the building, consume the ves- tures on the land, reclaim the moor-land, and generally to comply with all and every custom, rule, and regulation established, or that might be established, by the lord of the manor or his agent, for the improvement of the country." The rotation cropping required by the agreement was what is termed among agricul- turists a "six-years course,"—that is, two white crops before fallow; m the fol- lowing year a green crop; fourth, wheat or barley; fifth and sixth, pasture. To follow out this course, supposing the fields to be of equal size, every alternate year Use tenant would have at least ten acres out of fifteen in tillage, and in every six years the whole would be in tillage; whereas a penalty (called, however, not a penalty, but a ".pactional rent") of 101. an acre washy the agreement imposed upon him for having in any one year more than one-half of the whole in tillage. The terms of the agreement do not seem to have been regarded by either party. It appeared by the evidence, that Sir James Graham had virtually concurred in the mode of farming adopted by his tenant, and actually held him up as an ex- ample after which his other tenants should copy, and his land as a specimen of excellent management. The defendant and his father, it was proved in evidence, had been selected from among the tenants, with a full knowledge of these breaches, as those who had cultivated their lands in the most praiseworthy manner; and at the meetings of the County Agricultural Society, presided over by Sir James Graham, premiums had been awarded to defendant for good management, and presented by the hands of the Baronet him- self. It was not even pretended that the slightest damage had accrued to the plaintiff from the alleged violation of the agreement. The land was shown to be in a superior state of cultivation : Mr. Birrell, a land- surveyor, stated that it "was in a more advantageous condition than it would have seen with the prescribed mode of cropping." Only one part of it (two acres and one rod) was in an objectionable state; and that was the only part which had been managed strictly in accordance with the rules of the agreement. Mr. Addison, the plaintiff's counsel, did not claim the penalty on the score of any practical in- jury. "He urged his client's right to recoverthe 101. an acre for the overcropping for the last two years. Ile did not mean to say they had suffered any damage. The defendant had violated his contract, and must be made to pay the penalty. It was not to recover damages, but to teach tenants that Fir James was not be set at defiance and Ids agreements set at nought, that this action was brought." A pacRage in the evidence of Mr. Henry Braithwaite, another tenant of Sir James's, is remarkable—" I know that the defendant received the Liberal candi- dates at his house last election; and I believe he voted against Sir James's party„ou that occasion. I know another tenant named Saunders. I did not know if he voted against Sir James's party; but he left his farm shortly after- wards." The award of the arbitrator was for the defendant—" The defendant to deduct from the half-year's rent (which became due after action brought, and formed no part of the sum sued for) the sum of 41. Se. for seeds, and 40s.damages for making a wrongful distress upon Mr. Tweddle's crop. The plaintiff to pay all costs of the action, and of the reference and award."

At Liverpool Assizes, on Monday, was tried an action to recover the sum of 9991. on a policy granted by the Argus Office, insuring the life of Mr. Louis Schwabe, a native of Germany, but for many- years a silk-manufacturer at Man- chester. The plaintiff was Mr. Schwabe's widow and administratrix ; the plea of the defendants was that Mr. Schwabe had committed suicide. Ever since 1848, he had been in a state of so much excitement, from hereditary predisposition and too great application to business, that for a time he was placed under the care of a keeper. In January last, he put an end to his existence, by drinking half a wine- glassful of sulphuric acid. The defendants rested much on the case of Borradaile versus Hunter: in that case, the Jury returned a special verdict, stating that Mr. Borradaile voluntarily threw himself over a bridge, knowing that he should thereby destroy his life, but that at the time of committing the act he

was not capable of distinguishing right from wrong: i but the Judges of the Com- mon Pleas held that the case came within the meaning of a clause n the policy which stipulated that it should be void if the party insured should die "by his own hand." In the present policy it was stipulated that it should be void if the party should commit suicide"; which the plaintiff's counsel contended to indicate a real felonious self-murder committed while in a responsible state of mind. The Jury supported that view, returning a verdict for the amount claimed.

An extraordinary investigation commenced at Bath yesterday week. Eighteen months since, in March 1844, Lieutenant-General George Dick died in that city rather suddenly; but the members of his family then with him, Mrs. Brigdal4 his daughter, and her son by a previous marriage, Mr. Thomas, would not allow an inquest to be held; and it is said that they did so at Mr. Thomas's instance. The eldest son of the General, Mr. George Dick, was in India at that time: when he left England a will existed in his favour; but after General Dick's death a testament was produced, leaving the property to his grandson, Mr. Thomas. There had been an affectionate correspondence between Mr. Dick and his father up to the time of the General's death. Mr. Dick has come from India to in- quire into the circumstances of his father's death. On Friday, a Coroner's Jury assembled, and in their presence the body was exhumed at the Cemetery. It was found very fresh, !ravine." been buried in lead. The brain was examined by several medical gentlemen; and the viscera were taken out, placed in ajar, sealed up, and delivered to Mr. Herapath, the eminent chemist, to be analysed.

The Coroner's Jury at Reading have returned a verdict of "Wilful Murder* against Spicer, the man whose wife was found dead in a cellar.

A desperate attempt at robbery and murder has been made at the house of Mr. Harris in Uxbridge. About noon on the 8th instant, Mrs. Harris went into the front-parlour, and was astonished to find a man there whom she had just before seen in the back-yard, and who then seemed to be begging: she asked what he wanted he told her his object was plunder, or even murder. He shut the door; and on the lady's screaming, attacked her with a bludgeon: her cries raised an alarm; and eventually the ruffian was seized by a journeyman tailor. He was tried at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday, convicted and sentenced to be transported.

Mr. Stephens a shoemaker of Ilfracombe, has perished in rescuing a lady from drowning. Miss Bailey, a good swimmer, had been carried away by the sea while bathing, and was in danger of perishing; when Mr. Stephens jumped in, brought her up, and enabled her to catch a rope which was thrown from the shore. A wave, however, struck the humane assistant, and stunned him no that he sank.

A dreadful coal-pit explosion, the result of a boy's culpable temerity, has occur- red in Tividale mine, near Dudley. The boy went with a lighted candle to a part of the mine where he should not have ventured with an unprotected light. Twenty persons who were in the pit were all injured, and four died soon after they were taken home; while the rest are in a precarious state.

The tall chimney of a cotton-mill at Blackburn fell down on Sunday afternoon, burying a number of women and children who inhabited cottages near it, and who were standing in the street at the time. It is feared that some of the sufferers will not survive.

There are many railway disasters to record this week. The first four occurred to fast-trains.

The express-train from Leeds to Manchester ran off the line near Methley, on

Monday evening, while passing an embankment thirty feet high. The engine was dashed down the declivity, dragging after it one or two of the three car- riages which composed the train; the first carriage was broken to pieces, and the succeeding one greatly shattered. There were only eight passengers; and none received any fatal injury, though all were more or less cut and bruised by the concussion. It is wonderful that three persons in the first carriage, which was shattered to pieces with the exception of the flooring, were not killed. The stoker was hurt, but the engineer escaped uninjured. On an investigation of the rails where the accident occurred, the cause of it was soon discovered. It seems that one of the iron chairs on which the joints of the rails are secured had been split or broken, and this had allowed the end of one of the rails to become detached at the joint. The flange of the engine-wheel having forced the loose rail outwards, the engine ran off the rails and over the embankment. The express-train having no stoppages on that part of the line, usually traverses it at the rate of fifty or fifty-five miles an hour; so that the impetus would be very great.

A similar accident happened on the Northern and Eastern Railway, about seven miles beyond Cambridge, on Tuesday; when the mail-train ran off the rail near Waterbeach. The line there is perfectly level, and the engine had not travelled more than thirty or forty yards over the ballast before it completely turned over with the tender into a drain partly filled with water. By the sudden jerk, the luggage-van became detached, the wheels were perfectly embedded, and thus the remainder of the train was brought to a stand-still. The passengers were dread- fully alarmed, but no serious injury was inflicted on them. The engine-driver and stoker, who were pitched into the ditch, escaped with a ducking and a fright. On a strict examination to discover the cause of the accident, about three inches of metal was found to have been cut off one of the outer rails at a joint; and on searching about the piece was discovered. It is stated that the speed of the train was between twenty and twenty-five miles an hour. On Sunday, the passengers in the Leeds mail-train suffered much alarm and injury by the culpable negligence of the Railway-officers at the Derby statim. The train bad reached the ticket-platform in safety; when the highly reprehen- sible practice of detaching the engine from the front, and placing it at the back of the train , to propel it into the station, was adopted. 1 he engine not having been stopped in time or the break not applied, the train was forced Into the sta- tion-house with great violence, smashing the first carriage and throwing it ;)rgeoeil the platform, and breaking the strong iron and wooden balustrades that are

there to keep off the passengers. All the passengers were thrown from their seats by the violence of the shock. Fortunately, no bones were broken; but many persons received severe cuts and contusions; heads and faces were dreadfully die- figured, and one lady was sadly shaken by the concussion.

Another alarming collision has occurred on the Sunderland and Newcastle Railway; a line that has an unenviable notoriety for such disasters. A mail-train, consisting of an engine and tender, a truck, and one passenger-carriage, left Sun- &dead on the afternoon of Friday week: before it had gone half-mmile, it came into collision with a heavier train from Newcastle, at a place where there is only a single line of rails for general traffic, the other being used for coals. Every passenger in the Sunderland carriage was more or less bruised. The engine- driver saved himself by leaping from the engine; while the stoker, it is said, had his arm broken. The passengers in the other train were also shaken a good deal. .A1 the commeneement of the single line of rails the signal-flags for the Newcastle train to stop were actually hoisted at the time. When the engine-driver of that train, however, WAS asked why he did not stop, his only reply was, that he was

are he ought to have stopped, and did not know why he did not.

An accident which might have been fearful in its consequences occurred on Ifiunday morning on the Preston Railway. A train of nearly thirty carriages was darting slowly from the Preston and Wyns Railway station for Fleetwood, and was crossing the Lancaster line, which is close to it, when before it had got half Over a train from Lancaster dashed right into it. The engine threw up and damaged two of the Fleetwood carriages, containing nearly one hundred persons, got off the Mil, and was almost immediately brought to a stand-still by the weight of the Iwo carriages, which bung across it like a pair of panniers. These carriages are sneli as are usually employed for carrying goods and cattle, but were that morning crammed full of passengers. The consternation was great, but providentially the injuries to the passengers were not serious. The cause of the accident is attributed to the Lancaster train deprtiog much past its time, and coming almost into Preston at A speed of nearly thirty miles an hour, instead of seven or eight. Signals were made for it to stop; but the efforts of the driver were ineffectual to check the engine, which was a light four-wheeled one.

A train ran off the rails of the Gloucester and Bristol Railway last week. It does not appear that any one was injured.

A man has been killed at the Masborough station on the North Midland Railway, by some luggage-trucks which were moved from one line to another: they knocked him down, and cut off both his legs. The man was carelessly passing some side-rails and looking another way, when the buffer of the first truck struck him. A verdict of "Accidental Death" has been returned; the Jury adding an opinion that the Masborough station was too much cramped in *pace for the business transacted.

On Wednesday morning, the boiler of a locomotive engine exploded at the Walton station of the South-western Railway, and so scalded the engineer that his life is endangered. Several engines have burst on the Great Western Railway; but as the fractures in the tubes were only of small extent, the result was merely the delay of trains. A goods-truck attached to a passenger-train on the Birmingham and Bristol Railway was set on fire by a spark from the engine, the other day. The track and its contents were in a blaze when the train arrived at the Spetchley station; but the flames were soon extinguished.