Vrauturts.

The retirement of Mr. Herries from the representation of Stamford has led to an election for that borough. Only one candidate appeared,—Lord Robert Gascoyne Cecil, second son of the Marquis of Exeter. In his ad- dress of thanks on his return, he promised to endeavour to obtain the ad- justment of local taxation, an equalization of fixed burdens, sanitary re- form, and church-extension; he would support full toleration, but oppose grants to hostile sects, and education not based on the Bible.

The election for Clithero did not pass so smoothly as that at Stamford. There were two candidates,—Mr. Starkie, Conservative ; and Mr. Jona- than Peel, Liberal. Both professed Free-trade principles. The nomina- tion-day gave the majority to the latter; but the poll, on Tuesday, showed that the voters slightly preferred Mr. Starkie—For Starkie, 210; Peel, 205.

The strike at Kidderminster virtually ended on Saturday. Earlier in the week a deputation from the Trades Union of Birmingham tried to effect an arrangement ; but they could not succeed—the masters were firm, and the men's " committee " urged their clients to stand out; there were rumours, however, that the men intended to act for themselves, and throw the committee overboard. They seem to have done so on Saturday ; when the weavers went into nearly all the manufactories to draw ma- terials to begin work on Monday : they gave up the demand for increase of pay, and agreed to work twelve hours a day, and to be paid when the work is finished: It was time for the strike to close—the masters had or- dered a hundred power-looms.

Meetings have been held at Merthyr, and a memorial has been drawn up, to urge upon the ironmasters that they should give increased wages, as, it was alleged, they get an increased price for their iron. The speakers condemned sudden strikes and misbehaviour on the part of workmen.

Mr. William Crawshay wrote an answer to the memorial, addressing it to Mr. Stephens, the chairman of the first meeting. He states that strikes injure workmen, not masters ; he will fix the price of labour, or his works may stop ; When an extorted increase of 10 per cent in the pay is taken off, the men will still receive a fair remuneration compared with the value of their produce: Mr. Crawshay gives his men a fair participa- tion in his prosperity. The workmen say that rails can now be sold 91. a ton : Mr. Crawshay denies it—he can barely obtain 81. 10s.: writing on Sunday, Mr. Crawshay offered to receive an order for 10,000 tons at 81. 108. up to Wednesday, and he would allow Mr. Stephens a commis- sion of 4 per cent, or 425/., if he could obtain him such an order.

Inquiries have been instituted into the loss of life and property by the recent floods in Wales. It is said that thirty human beings perished. Large quantities of cattle, sheep, furniture, and farm-produce, were swept away. Houses and works were destroyed or damaged. In the county of Brecon, sixteen bridges were completely demolished and fourteen mate- rially damaged. Other counties will also have large sums to pay for replacing or repairing bridges.

AtLiverpool'Assizes, on Saturday, some notable cases of compensation for loss of life or wounds by a railway " accident" were settled. The executor of Constantine Carati, a Greek, formerly a merchant and broker at Glasgow, sued the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. Mr. Cared died from hurts received at the frightful.disaster at Dixon's Fold, in March last, when the engine left the rails,, an axle broke, and there was a crash, attended with great loss of life. It may be recollected, that at the inquest Mr. Naamyth and other witnesses ascribed the accident to the bad state of the permanent way—rotten and splintered sleepers, loose bolts, and the gauge not main- tained : such a railway they considered it was imminently dangerous to travel over at a high speed. The train did run at a high speed; and it was drawn by a four-wheeled locomotive—a machine worse fitted for a defective line than a six-wheeled one. Probably the engine left the rails from their loose- ness and varying width, and then the axle broke, gradually. It was proved on Saturday that Mr. Carati had an income from his business ranging from 15001. to 2500/. a year • he left a wife aad two children, and a third child has been born since his death.

No defence was offered, but terms were come to between the opposing counsel : it was agreed that a verdict for 30001. should be taken—la. to the deceased's father and mother, a quarter of the main sum to the widow, and the residue to the three children.

Five other actions arising from the same accident were also compromised. In the case of " Tritton" the damages were fixed at 20001.; " Pugh," 1000/. ; " Sofiano et uxor," 150/. ; " Sofiano," 1001.; " Kay," 10501.; a total in the six eases of 73001.

In a cause of Ford versus the Midland Railway Company, a verdict for 500/. was agreed upon. The plaintiff had died during the Assizes. Mr. Sergeant Wilkins addressed the Court on the part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. They deeply deplored the sufferings of the plaintiffs. They had purchased the line six years since : it had been constructed in an inefficient manner. The traffic upon the line was immense, and it was impossible to close it altogether ; but from that time to the pre- sent the directors had kept relaying the permanent way and improving it. The directors had behaved with great liberality, and he hoped they would stand well with the public. Fewer accidents had occurred on their line than on any other, and from the damages they had had to pay for this acci- dent it would be seen that self-interest alone would induce them to keep their permanent way well.

Mr. Justice Erle said, he thought the damages now paid would be a mat- ter to quiet the public mind with respect to proper care being taken to avoid railway accidents. A great desire had been manifested to make railway directors felons, by prosecuting them for manslaughter in oases of death from railway accidents: it had, however, always been his opinion that civil actions and the costs imposed consequently would secure proper care.

Boyle, Coyle, and Hill, were tried for the assault on Mr. Crompton, the dyer of Pendleton, whose promises were invaded by a body of turn-outs. Mr. Crompton was badly hurt on the head, and received a dangerous scalp- wound. The Jury acquitted Coyle, but found Rcyle and Hill guilty of " wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm." The sentence was seven years' transportation ; at which the prisoners seemed astounded.

The villa of Lord Denman, at Stony Middleton in Derbyshire, has been plundered by burglars. The property stolen is valued at 400/. ; but some of the articles were more precious than their intrinsic money value from the associations connected with them,—ex. gr. an oak and gold box containing the freedom of the City of London, presented in 1820, coronation medals, and a silver inkstand the gift of the Judges of the Queen's Bench when Lord Den- man retired. The Police decided that the robbery had been effected by in- mates of the house, and suspicion fell on several of the servants. Tomlin- son, the butler, was arrested : two purses were found on him, which he admitted he had stolen from Mrs. Hodgson, a daughter of Lord Denman, who was residing in the house ; but ho protested that he had not taken the articles that are missing.

Three days after the robbery—on Saturday last—a man was seized at York with nearly all the stolen property in his possession. Henry Simpson, who says he is a mason, had offered a fragment of silver plate for sale ; this led to his arrest, and on his person or at a public-house where he was stopping most of the other articles were found. He says that he was wandering near Lord Denman's villa at night ; he saw a man quit the house, leaving the gate and a door open ; he entered, walked through some rooms, pocketed whatever he thought most valuable, and made off.

The departure of the Euxine steamer with the India mail from South- ampton, on Saturday, was signalized by a tragical incident. A handsome young lady had been seduced by a gentleman who intended to depart for India by the Euxine ; the lady followed him to Southampton, and remained on board the Euxine till removed to the shore by force. But she saw nothing of her seducer, for he had arranged to get on board the vessel from a boat some distance down Southampton Water. When the Euxine left the quay, the young lady, threw herself into the dock. A seaman, who happened to be upon the jib-boom of the Euxine preparing to set the canvass, instantly let go his hold and dropped into the water for the purpose of rescuing. her. This he ell'ected, having managed to lay hold of her, notwithstand- ing her struggles, and to keep her above water till a boat came, into which she was hauled, and taken on shore ; where the necessary attentions brought about a gradual recovery.

There was a fatal accident on the Hull and Bridlington Railway on Monday afternoon, between Beverley and Cottingham stations. While the train was proceeding at thirty miles an hour, a third-class carriage got off the rails, apparently from the tiro of one of the wheels coming off; the passengers informed the guard, and he made a signal to the driver; but be- fore the speed could be slackened the two hindmost carriages broke away, turned over, and were crushed together. A young woman was taken frees the debris, dead—part of a carriage had fallen upon her neck : other pas- sengers were badly hurt. An inquest has been held. It appeared that the victim of the disaster was Margaret Ak?, a young unmarried woman. The Jury gave this verdict- " We are of opinion that the death of Margaret Ake was caused by the breaking of the tire of the wheel of a third-class carriage on the Hull and Bridlington Railway, which tire had a flaw in the welding, not capable of being prevented by any human foresight : but we are further of opinion that the upsetting of the carriage was accelerated by the breaking-in of a bridge over the drain separating the parish of St. John, Beverley, and the parish of Skidley ;_ and ,sve, recommend to the Company a careful inspection of all the bridges on lh'e line, for the purpose of their being protected and made suffi- ciently secure." • , Mrs. Sellers, an elderly widow, and Mary Bowers, a young woman, were badly hurt, and are now in Hull Infirmary.

A frightful collision occurred on Monday afternoon at South Shields. The Sir John Easthope, a screw-collier, proceeding up the Tyne from the sea, ran into the William, a passenger-steamer, and cut her into two por- tions, which quickly sank. Thirty-five persons were rescued by vessels that were near; some of them badly hurt. It was supposed that no one was drowned.

A pilot has been killed at Lundy Island, in the Bristol Channel, by falling from a high cliff: while standing on the edge of the cliff, he threw a stone at a bird, which caused him to lose his equipoise, he fell over, and was dashed to pieces.

At the village of Stoke Gabriel, near Totnes, a boy of fourteen has shot a younger brother. The father had carelessly left a loaded gun in the corner of a room ; the two boys entered the room, and the elder took up the gun, not thinking it was charged, exclaimed, in fun, "I'll shoot you!" and

the trigger—he was horrified to see his brother fall dead, the charge pulled the

entered his mouth.