SCOTLAND.
It is stated in an Edinburgh journal that Sir William Molesworth Las agreed to place the management of Holyrood Palace under Govern- ment control. Instead of "the present most unsatisfactory mode of handing persons about from one exhibiter to another, and of leaving the amount of the gratuities to be given to the discretion of the visitors, a small fixed fee—sixpence, we believe—will be substituted : this will be paid to one receiver, and no other gratuity or payment will be requisite. One most important part of the arrangement, moreover is that the Palace will be open every Saturday without any charge whatever. Improve- ments will also be made in the grounds." This Edinburgh regards as "a boon."
At Edinburgh, last week, M'Callum and Corner, labourers, were tried for the murder of John Donoghue. All three appear to have been Irishmen. lii•Callum contracted to clear out an old coal-pit shaft, near Dalkeith; and he employed Donaghue and Corner to help him. One morning Donaghue was lowered down the shaft by his comrades; the rope parted, he fell, and was killed. It was found that the rope, a new one, had been cut nearly through : the evidence went to show that the prisoners cut it with an old razor. They accused each other of the crime. It is not clear why they wished to injure the deceased. The Lord Justice-General directed the Jury that they had not only to pronounce whether the two men cut the rope, but also as to their intent if they did so—did they mean to kill, or only to hurt their victim ? The Jury found the prisoners guilty of "culpable homi- cide" ; and they were sentenced to be transported for ten years. They have since confessed their guilt.
Hans Smith Macfarlane, and three women—Blackwood, Hamilton and Marshall—have been tried for the murder of Alexander Boyd, in the New Vennel, Glasgow. Decoyed into an infamous house, Boyd was stupified with drugged whisky, beaten on the head with "an earthen vessel," and pitched from the window into the street. The Jury returned a verdict of "Not proven" against Hamilton, but convicted the others, though they recom- mended Marshall to mercy. All the convicts were sentenced to death. During the trial, the man alone showed any concern. A servant-girl at Craighead, near Braco, has been killed by a four-year- old bull, which she had been directed to take home from a field. She was tossed into the air three times.
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