‘gt Vrunturro.

The long-announced Conference of gentlemen interested in the preven- tion of Juvenile Delinquency, by means of Reformatory Schools, was held at Birmingham on Tuesday ; continuing that series of movements on the subject begun at Birmingham some time ago. The large room at Dees Hotel was completely filled ; and a bare enumeration of the names of the more conspicuous persons present, and of those who sent letters of excuse, shows the extent of the interest. The chair was taken by Sir John Pakington M.P. ; and gathered round him were Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Harrowby, Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Adderley M.P., Mr. Monckton Milnes M.P., Mr. M. D. Hill, Mr. Muntz M.P., Archdeacon Sandford, the Reverend Canon Wood, the Reverend Angell James, the Reverend F. Temple, Principal of Kneller Hall, the Mayors of Birmingham, Kidder- minster, and Gloucester, the Honourable Arthur Kinuaird M.P., Mr. Bates M.P., Mr. Spooner M.P., Mr. Samuel Gurney, the Baron de Bode, and other gentlemen. Among those from whom letters were read were the Bishops of Winchester, Worcester, and Oxford, Lord Brougham, Lord Lovaine, Lord Radnor, Lord Norreys, Lord Henry Cholmondeley, Mr. Cobden;Mr. Walter, Mr. Powell, Mr. Phinn, Mr. Smith Child, Mr. Stuart Wortley, and other Members of Parliament. Communications had also been received from upwards of forty Magistrates, many Chairmen of Quarter-Sessions, and Recorders. Lord Shaftesbury reported that he had received letters from the Speaker of the House of Commons, from Mr. Matthew Baines, and from Mr. Henry Fitzroy, all favourable to the ob- jects of the conference.

Sir John Pakington opened the proceedings. The Conference of 1851 had decided, be said, that the mode of treating juvenile criminals in this country was unsatisfactory and discreditable. They had met to decide whether the Legislature should not be called on to do something to rescue the country from that discredit; and it was gratifying to observe that the report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons almost en- tirely agreed with the recommendations of the Conference in 1851. Sir John explained, that it is not intended to relieve the parents from their parental liability ; nothing could be more injurious than that. Referring to the evidence given before the Select Committee, he showed, that while there are sound reformatory schools in Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, France, Wirtemburg, Bavaria, Saxe Weimar, Saxony, Prussia, Austria,

Hungary, Russia and the United States, yet in this country they are only just struggling into existence. The Houses of Refuge in Glasgow,

Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee, are examples well worthy of England to follow. Sir John strongly dwelt on the unfitness of a prison for the purpose of correction or reformation ; showing, at the same time, that by kindness and instruction a large percentage had been reformed in all cases where an experiment had fairly been made : at Edinburgh, '70 out of 100; at Mettray, 85 per cent ; in -Philadelphia, 80 per cent. All that the friends of the Conference now sought was that England should have the advantage of the reformatory system. The resolutions, printed below, were put seriatim, and spoken to by various members of the Conference,—Lord Shaftesbury, Mr. Adderley, Mr. Monckton Manes, Lord Harrowby, Mr. M. D.- Hill, Mr. Joseph

Sturge, Mr. Muntz, the Reverend Mr. Field, Mr. Jelinger Symons, and the Reverend Angell James. There was a discussion as to the propriekt

of inflicting punishment an children before attempts are made to reform them. Mr. M. D. Hill protested against corporal punishment ; but it was generally agreed that some amount of suffering must precede reforma- tion.

Mr. Adderley stated, that he intended, on the first day of the ses- sion, to ask Ministers whether they are prepared to introduce any mea-

sure on the subject of juvenile crime, in fulfilment of the promise made by them in the last session ; and if ley are not so prepared, he would at once give notice of his intention to move for leave to bring in his bill. He also said, that he hoped to extend the clauses of his bill so far as to enable a magistrate to commit a child to school rather than to a gaol.

The resolutions adopted are as follows- " That before proceeding to the consideration of the legislative amend- ments imperatively called for in the national treatment of morally destitute and criminal children, this Conference fully concurs in the resolution of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, viz. That it appears to this Committee to be established by the evidence, that a large proportion of the present aggregate of crime might be prevented, and thousands of miserable human beings, who have before them under our present system nothing but a hopeless career of wickedness and vice, might be converted into virtuous, honest, and industrious citizens, if due care were taken to rescue destitute, neglected, and criminal children, from the dangers and temptations incident to their position.'

" That, properly to effect thergreat object contemplated in the preceding resolution, this Conference is of opinion that the country requires legislation for the establishment of reformatory schools for children convicted of crime or habitual vagrancy ; and that such schools should' be founded and supported in the manner pointed out by the resolution of the Committee of the House of Commons,—videlicet, partly by local rates, partly by contributions from the State.

"That in the opinion of this Conferenoe, every encouragement should be given to reformatory schools, supported by voluntary contributions, for the benefit of destitute and criminal children . and that power should be given to Government, and to counties and boroughs, to contract with the managers of such institutions for the education and maintenance of criminal children therein. Such institutions to be subject to Government inspection. "That power should be created for sending children convicted of crime, or habitual vagrancy, to reforoiatory establishments for sufficient time for their reformation or iedustrial training, or until satisfactory sureties may be found for their future good conduct. "That powers should be conferred ip certain cases to apprentice boys on their leaving reformatory schools, or to adopt other measures at the public cost for enabling them to commence a course of honest industry." A committee was appointed to carry out the resolutions ; and another committee to superintend the publication of the report of the Conference, and of such other documents as they might think would promote its objects. Mr. M. D. Hill announced that Lady Byron would pay the expense of a lecturer to disseminate the views of the Conference, if they thought fit to accept such aid. In the evening, a public meeting in the Town-hall ratified the views expressed at the official conference in the morning. The great hall was crowded by a respectable audience, evidently much interested. The speakers were, Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Harrowby, Mr. Adderley, Sir John Pakington, the Reverend John Clay, Chaplain of Preston Gaol, Mr. M. D. Hill, Lord Lyttelton, Mr. Wolryehe Whitmore, Mr. Arthur Kinnaird, Mr. Monckton Milnes, and Lord Calthorpe. The speeches were popular expositions of the resolutions of the morning; but, as reported, they do not afford new matter. Altogether, the meeting was extremely successful.

The students of the Wolvealey Training-School, and many school- masters of the diocese of Winchester and Salisbury, headed by the Go- vernment Inspector, the Reverend W. H. Brookfield, met Lord Ashburton last week, to hear from him an explanation of a plan he had in view for their benefit. There were also present, the Dean of Winchester, Arch- deacon Wigram, the Honourable and Reverend S. Best, Dr. Wilson, Canon Woodroofe, and other friends of education. A letter of sympathy And excuse was read from the Bishop of Winchester. Lord Ashburton prefaced a very eloquent speech by announcing, that at the examinations at Easter ho proposed to award a scholar's prize of 81. " for the most ex- tensive knowledge of common things" ; and two teachers' prizes of 151. and 71. for the most effective teaching of common things ; similar prizes to the female students of Salisbury Training-School, and the female teachers of schools open to inspection in Hampshire and Wiltshire. The Dean of Hereford, Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, Miss Burdett Coutts, Lord Lansdowne, and Lord Granville, intended to offer similar prizes in their respective localities. The Bishops of Winchester and Salisbury, and the Councils of the Training-Schools of Winchester and Salisbury, had sanctioned the plan. Lord Ashburton unfolded at greater length the ob- ject in view ; and a few paragraphs from his speech will enable the reader to form some idea of it.

They could show, not only by their lessons in school, but still more powerfully by their example out of school, how the garden could best be cultivated, how the dwelling might be most efficiently and economically warmed and ventilated, upon what principles food and clothing should be selected, how chronic ailments might be averted by timely attention to pre- monitory symptoms and recourse to the physician. They could teach the measurement of work, the use of the lever, the pulley, and the windlass. They could, in short, expound those methods, suggested by ever-advancing science, by which toil might be lightened and subsistence economized. All this was capable of being taught, and well taught. Why was one mother of a family a better economist than another ? Why could one live in abundance where another starved ? Why, in similar dwellings, were the children of one parent healthy, of another puny and ailing? Why could this labourer do with ease a task which would kill his fellow ? It was not luck or chance that decided these differences ; it was the patient observation of nature that suggested to some gifted minds rules for their guidance which had escaped the heedless- ness of others. Whv should not these rules, systematized by science, andg- lustrated by their didactic powers, not be imparted to the pupils of their schools, to enable youth to start at once with the experience of age ; or if Cris were not in all cases possible, why should not all be taught betimes to read those lessons in the book of nature from which some had derived such unquestionable advantage ? Remember that it is by daily use of the powers of nature that man feeds and clothes and houses himself. He employs fire in a hundred ways, for a hundred. purposes ; why should he not be taught the doctrine of heat? For some purposes he might learn to use it better, and he might lei= to use it for more. Again, he passes the livelong day in the application of the mechanical powers; should he not be instructed in them also ? It is true that princes in tis land are ignorant of them as well as peasants. In this progressive country we neglect all that knowledge in which there is proeress, to devote ourselves only to those branches in which we are scarcely if at all superior to our ancestors. In this prac- tical country, the knowledge of all that gives power over nature is left to be picked up by chance in a man's way through life. In this religious country, the knowledge of God's works forms no part of the education of the people—no part even of the education of a gentleman The operatives of our great towns had long felt the degradation of the me- chanical drudgery to which they thought themselves condemned ; they felt a craving for some intellectual pursuit which should beguile its monotony; but their struggles for relief had taken a wrong direction. They had sought to develop their understanding& in something out of and above their daily oc- cupation ; instead of first mastering the principles which govern its exer- cise, they had thought only of quitting their own sphere, under the notion that they could only raise themselves by doing that which those above them did, and learning that which those above them learned ; whereas that which really elevates a man is the cultivation of mind which follows upon its en- lightened application to his work. They were like Naaman the Syrian, who scorned the little stream at his feet, and would fain go off to Abana and Pharphar, rivers of the distant Damascus, to find a remedy for his afflictions. Lord Ashburton pointed out, that he had distinguished in the assignment of the prizes the merits of the scholar and the teacher ; because he wished to familiarize to the youngest among them this important truth—that no know- ledge, however profound, could constitute a teacher; and he eloquently showed that teachers require peculiar attributes of character. Their business includes an important part of oratory : they have not, indeed, to work on the passions ; they have not to subdue an antagonist ; but they have to reduce their ideas into the simplest and most elementary form; they have to culti- vate the. power of illustration ; they must be fluent, simple, graphic, ani- mated, Judicious, patient; they must, moreover, have an intimate knowledge of the class they address. . . . . It would be observed that he asked for no facts ; he asked for the principles which are to govern action. His object was also to stimulate the pupil to observe and collect facts for himself, which, however trifling they might be in intrinsic value, would still have exercised and improved the mind by the exertion their acquisition had called forth. We are all, however, too much disposed to despise little gains; yet little money gains store most wealth ; little moral gains triumph over petty tempta- tions—make the firmest characters. So, also, little intellectual gains, made hour by hour and minute by minute at every step in life—the result of early habit and wise education—does more to ripen the intellect, and even to ma- ture the character, than any instruction that could be hammered in from without.

Lord Ashburton was eagerly listened to by his auditory ; and the Dean of Winchester, the Archdeacon of Winchester, and Mr. Beat, spoke in the warmest approval of the plan.

All doubt about Lord Paget's intentions as regards the representation of South Staffordshire has been set at rest by the publication of an ad- dress to the electors, signed by him. The maintenance of Free-trade, and " the necessity of a well-considered measure of Parliamentary Be. form," are the leading topics.

A crowded meeting was held at Bristol on the 16th, to receive a demi. tation from the Ballot Society. of London. Mr. Coates, one of the City Magistrates, occupied the chair. The resolution in favour of the use of the ballot was carried unanimously. The chief speakers were Colonel Perronet Thompson, Mr. H. J. Mills, and Mr. Whitehurst. Colonel Thompson said, that the great question of the Corn-laws having been dis. posed of, the question of the Ballot had taken its place. Mr. Henry Berkeley was suffering from indisposition, and unable to attend the meet. ing. A similar meeting, with similar results, and attended by the Bo. rough Members, was subsequently held at Bath.

The Admiralty yacht, Black Eagle, having recently visited Grimsby Dock, it is presumed that Government intend to fortify the port. hull is at present the only fortified place on the Eastern coast.

The funeral of Dr. Harington, late Principal of Brazenose College, took place at Oxford on Tuesday. The body was buried in a vault in the Col. lege chapel ; the pall was borne by the six senior Fellows ; and besides the College authorities, the Vice-Chancellor, the four Pro-Vice-Chancel- lors, the Mayor of Oxford, and some relatives and friends of Dr. Haring. ton, assisted at the solemnity.

The friends of voluntary education in Wales are actively stirring to promote and secure the revival of the Normal College, in order to obtain the strict moral and religious training of teachers for the Principality. For this purpose, meetings are to be held in all the principal towns ; when several gentlemen who have formed themselves into a committee will attend, for the purpose of expressing their views and sentiments respecting the necessity of securing efficient and well-trained teachers for the Principality.

The Norfolk Magistrates have engaged a house and forty acres of land at Buxton. for the purpose of an industrial institution for the reception of juvenile offenders on their discharge from custody. The establishment has been opened under extremely favourable circumstances, and entirely at the expense of a few private gentlemen and clergymen.

Four years since, Madame Otto Goldschmidt—then Jenny Lind—gave her gratuitous services at two musical entertainments in Norwich, the proceeds of which were to be applied to charitable purposes. The fame of the celebrated vocalist attracted immense audiences, and a clear sur- plus of 1200/. remained after payment of all expenses. The late Bishop of Norwich, Dr. Stanley, strongly advocated a plan for establishing baths and wash-houses with the money ; but, after considerable discussion, a hint thrown out first, we believe, in Household Words, that the diseases and necessities of "little children" were wholly uncared for throughout the country, has been acted upon, and a building engaged, which from the 1st of January next will be devoted exclusively to the alleviation of infantine sufferings.

Mr. Tweed, the Mayor of Lincoln, has presented to the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society the sum of 1001. to be distributed in extra prizes at the distribution in 1854. The premiums are to be offered for blood-horses.

The Vicar of Sheffield has received 501. as a thank-offering from a thriving tradesman " for the blessings which he has received at the hands of Providence." The money is to be applied, of course, to charitable objects.

Smithfield Market in Manchester—an area of two acres and three- quarters—is to be covered with a roof, open on three sides. The cost of this and other improvements, and of the enlargement of the market to some extent, will be 30,000/. The "first stone ' was laid last week.

The Kingswinford, Stourbridge, and Dudley Savings-Bank has had a large increase of depositors and money during this year, notwithstanding so many persons investing their small savings in freehold land and build- ing societies.

Messrs. Baird and Company, the extensive iron-masters in the North of England, have agreed to pay ld. per ton extra on the quantity of iron produced at furnaces wrought on total abstinence principles. The expe- riment appears to have been attended with satisfactory results to all parties.

Mr. D. W. Harvey, City Commissioner of Police, delivered an inte- resting lecture on Tuesday, at Kelvedon in Essex, on "the Rights and Duties of Labour." The occurrence is remarkable on account of the po- sition of the lecturer, and the nature of the audience, "many neighbour- ing agriculturists being present." Mr. Harvey dwelt on the necessity of effecting better relations between masters and men ; urged upon the former greater attention to the comforts of the latter; and insisted that if the rights of the labourer were recognized, the recognition would speedily be followed by the cheerful observance of recognized duties on the part of the working classes. At the close of the lecture, Mr. Mechi moved, and Mr. Varenne seconded, a vote of thanks to Mr. Harvey ; which was car- ried by acclamation.

At a special meeting of the Haslingden Board of Guardians, Mr. Far- nall, the Poor-law Inspector of the district, called their attention to the fact, that in the Haslingden Union there are no means provided for ap- plying a labour-test to applicants for relief. He pointed out, that, there was an increase in the recipients of relief of 1705 over those of the cor- responding period of 1852. This had arisen from the strikes. Now, ablebodied men ought not to be allowed to dip their hands into the pa- rochial purse in aid of their combinations while on strike. Mr. Black, the chairman of the Board, and several other members, said it would be unreasonable to apply a labour-test to those who demand relief under such circumstances. Finally, this resolution—" that we carry on as we are, and relieve them as we have relieved them "—was carried unani- mously.

The applications for work at the Preston mills have hardly at all in- creased. Last week, 29081. was distributed among 15,502 locked-out workpeople. One firm not connected with the Masters' Association— Messrs. Napier and Goodair—have continued to employ 400 hands they were obliged recently to work short time from want of yarn; but they are now about to open another mill, which will give them a greater gamily ee yarn, and full time has been. resumed. At the usual Saturday Cowell stated that the men of Burnley have now forty-eight looms of their own, on which they can employ men marked by the mas- ters—he is promised a situation when the agitation shall have closed. Be produced five printed notices, all varying in some particular, given to the men by the masters of Burnley when they looked-out their people : the variations denoted to the initiated what sort of men the holders were, so that other masters might know whether they had been active in trade movements or not—these papers showed " the tyranny, the imposition, and the rascality" of the employers.

The factories at Wigan were thrown open on Monday, and one thou- sand people resumed work—about a sixth of the whole body of factory- hands. It is said that more were prevented from returning by intimida- tion; which is also extensively practised to force from the unwilling contributions for the turn-outs and locked-outs.

Monday will be a general holiday throughout the Eastern counties.

There have been several trials at York Assizes possessing points of consider- elite interest. Three men were tried for a "garotte" robbery at Leeds, and "wound- ing" the prosecutor. The robbery was perpetrated soon after five o'clock in

the evening of the 19th November, on the outskirts of the town. The vic- tim was Mr. Edmonds, manager of gas-works. He was treated with great violence, and was so much hurt that he kept his bed for three weeks, and even now he is not but of danger. The Jury found Charles Connor guilty, but acquitted the others : the Jury believed they were concerned in the out- rage, but the evidence did not warrant a conviction. Sentence of death on Connor was recorded ; but it will be commuted.

Close and Hodgson were charged with night-poaching on the Earl of Hare- wood's estate. The keepers, who encountered them, had a dog, but it was muz- zled; there was a sharp conflict; the poachers shot the dog. Verdict, "Guilty." Mr. Justice Coleridge strongly deprecated the use of dogs by keepers on such occasions : nothing is more likely to excite the passions of men than setting dogs at them ; it is most likely to bring about a conflict. The pri- soners were sentenced to four years' penal servitude. The Judge refused to allow the costs of the prosecution. On a subsequent day, Mr. Overend again applied for the costs. The Judge observed, that preserving such large quan- tities of game was a direct incentive to the commission of such offences as the prisoners in this case had been convicted of committing. So far as his awn opinion went, such a practice was quite contrary to good sporting. At all events, to ask for costs in such prosecutions, was to ask the community at large to pay for the private pleasure and amusement of those who chose to preserve such quantities of game ; and this he could not sanction.

There was another poaching case, tried by Mr. Justice Wightman. Six men were indicted for night-poaching, and for wounding Thomas Phillips, a keeper. Eight keepers encountered eleven poachers. The keepers had a bull-dog and a terrier with them. The poachers called out to shoot the dogs. They fired at the keepers, and Phillips was wounded. The keepers fired in retaliation. A desperate hand-to-hand fight ensued. During the struggle, one of the poachers, Scholefield, by some means discharged the contents of his gun into his own thigh, and he died in a few days afterwards. The whole of the prisoners were convicted. The Judge commented on the fact of theprisonere having wantonly fired on the keepers; and he sentenced the whole to four years' penal servitude. On an application for the costs of the prOsecution, he refused to allow them : " he was only surprised that any person should purchase his pleasure at such a price."

• George Fairest, a man of fifty-five, was convicted of a hideous offence— rape upon his daughter, a widow, the mother of four children, who had eaughtarefuge in his house after her husband's death. Sentence, trans- portation for, life.

William Birch, master of the whaler Germania, of Hull, was tried for the manslaughter of Shewson, a sailor. The mate of the vessel alleged that Shewson had perished of cold on the ice in Greenland, from the master having refused to allow him to come on board and change his clothes after he had fallen into the sea. The ship's carpenter perished with Shewson. They certainly died of cold on the ice ; but it was not clear that the master had led to the exposure of Shewson. The mate appeared to be prejudiced against the master. The surgeon gave a totally different version of Mr. Birch's behaviour to Shewson. The Jury acquitted him.

George Booth, William his eon, and Esther his sister, were arraigned for conspiring to defraud the creditors of George Booth and his partner of 4061. This was the ease noted some time back in which the elder Booth pretended he had lost a check ; he had really handed it to his son, who got it cashed, and took the proceeds to his aunt : the intent was to appropriate this money to the detriment of Booth's creditors and partner. The Judge directed the acquittal of Esther, upon cogent reasons urged by her counsel ; but the others were convicted. The young man was sentenced to imprisonment for three months, the father for two years.

Mr. John Hall, of Swainton New Inn, near Scarborough, has been mur- dered at York. He went there to attend the Christmas show of horses ; got drunk, and fell into the company of two bad girls; early in the morning they were seen to push him into the Ouse; he was drawn under a vessel, and a long time elapsed before the body could be recovered.

The Reverend H. F. Hewgill, Curate of Crofton, has been committed by the Fareham Magistrates on a charge of fraudulently obtaining money from a tradesman. Mr. Hewgill, a man of thirty-five, has a wife and four chil- dren. During the Vicar s illness he became very intimate with Miss Mac- farlane, mistress of the pariah-school; and at last, after getting money from two tradesmen, he eloped with her. They went to Brighton, Boulogne, and thence to London ; where the reverend delinquent was captured. He told the officer he was glad he was taken, as the suffering he had gone through had 'much reduced him. Miss Macfarlane was given into the care of a friend, Lord H. Cholmondeley.

At Colchester, Mrs. Bathia Webb of Great Bentley and Miss Elizabeth Holley of Thorpe-le-Soken, sisters respectably connected, and very well dressed, have been committed to take their trial for a series of detected at- tempts at shoplifting. Some of the property which they had picked and Stolen was found upon them by the female by whom they reluctantly sub- slatted to be searched.

• Another collision on the Great Northern Railway ! Early on Wednesday morning, a coke-train ran into a goods-train at Peterborough : there was considerable destruction of property, but no person was hurt.

Another railway accident from the breaking of an axle is reported. As an up goods-train was proceeding on the Great Northern Railway, near Bawtry, on Saturday morning, the axletree of one of the trucks broke, and part of the train was thrown off the line, the rails were torn up, and some of the carriages were broken. The guard was bruised. Fortunately, the down-line was not encumbered by any of the wreck, when a down mail- train came along at full speed, a few minutes after the accident. A man in a state of intoxication has lost a leg at the Milford junction of the Great Northern Railway, by attempting to get into a train which was in motion : he fell, and ten carriages passed over him.

Charles Allen, a porter at the Windsor station of the South-Western Rail- way, has been crushed by some goods-waggons which he was moving by means of a horse. He was found alive, with a wheel resting on his leg ; but death soon terminated his sufferings.

Heavy rains on Sunday and Monday caused the Teo and the Creedy, tribu- taries of the Exe, to overflow their banks. The Exeter and Crediton Railway was flooded. On Monday evening a train left Exeter ; at Newton St. Cyres it was found that the line was impassable. The train put back for Exeter ; but at Newbridge the rails sank, and the engine was thrown off the line: All around was a wide lake ; and for ten hours fourteen passengers, several ladies among them, were prisoners in the carriages; the attempts made to reach them with other vehicles having been fruitless. At four o'clock in the morning the flood subsided sufficiently to permit of horses draggiug the car- riages to Newton St. Cyres. For a time traffic on part of the railway has been suspended.

Smallpox has been very prevalent in Peterborough for some time past, and many individuals are suffering from it at the present time. The disease is supposed to have been introduced into the town by a stranger.