Zbe - Vrobintes.

A meeting of "independent electors" of West Gloucestershire was held at Bristol on Tuesday, mutually to explain and consult on the state of the representation, in reference to the dispute between Earl Fitzhardinge and Mr. Grantley Berkeley, the Member for the Division. Nothing very conclu- sive is to be gathered from the speeches. Mr. Grantley Berkeley applied for admission, but was excluded, on the score that the meeting was confined to electors, who wished to deliberate freely; and also on the ground that Lord Fitzhardinge, who wished to be present, had abstained from coming. Mi.. Berkeley sent. in a brief letter, in which he protested against the meet- ing, as " unconstitutional," on account of its privacy, and as biassed against himself; the Chairman (Mr. Josiah Hunt) having written a violent letter against him. In the course of the proceedings, a letter was read from Earl Fitzhardinge, giving some further explanation of the dispute between him- self and his brother. It is addressed to the meeting, and is dated "Berke- ley Castle, November 2 "— " Ever since the contested election of 1832," says the Earl, "for the Western Division of this county, the entire expense of the registration of voters, and of defending their votes when objected to by the opposing party, has fallen on my- self alone. And I am not aware that the fact of my endeavouring to secure for a man the mere right of voting for his representative in Parliament can neces- sarily entail on me a moral or political delinquency. In the summer of 1845, Mr. Grantley Berkeley made a demand on me for money, which I resisted. I have no intention to follow his example, and to enter into a detail of private affairs, by discussing how far his demand was founded in equity, or whether I had not done more for Lim by pecuniary advances than he was in any way entitled to. It is only necessary for me to state that I refused his claim. The consequence was, that he acquainted me, and several others of his most influential supporters, that finless these claims were acceded to, he would immediately apply for the steward- ship of the Chiltern Hundreds, and resigu his seat for the County. I believed hilt] to be serious in this most decided and often-repeated declaration; and con- sequently earnestly, most earnestly, requested him to call his friends together, and to tell them that his means would not allow him to be at the expense of attending Parliament, (though he had the advantage of living in my house in London rent free, &c.,) but that he would hold his seat either till they could find a substitute to represent the Liberal interest or till a dissolution of Parliament. To these entreaties on my part he returned a positive denial; and in some of his communications he even went so far as to state that he would not wait for the result of the Game Committee, of which he Was a member, (and on which subject he appears to entertain very wild and The Earl of Radnor has seized an occasion, somewhat gratuitously, to deliver a lecture of political economy to his steward at Coleshill; in the shape of a letter published in the Reading Mercury. The letter begins thus— "Mr. Moore—I have just seen, in the last Reading Mercury, a letter signed Inquirer,' in which I read, Mr. Moore, steward to the Earl of Radnor at Coles- hill, informed his labourers, that, under the circumstances—that is, I suppose„ considering the dearness of provisions--although it was usual to lower wages at- this time of the year, he should continue to pay 10s. a week.'

" I trust that the words in Italics are not true. I hope so, not because I object . to your coutinuiug the wages therein stated, if you find it right to do so—that is,. if the work done is worth that sum,, and the men deserve- it—but because, if the-. words under the circumstances' meant, or were understood to mean, ' consider- ing the dearness of provisions,' you were then aiding a meat mischievous and unjust delusion, viz. that wages ought to be regulated, or can be regulated, by the price of provisions."

This position is maintained in the rest of the letter after the usual fashion,. of pure economists. Lord Radnor does not object to high wages: ho thinks that a high-priced workman is likely to be better worth his money than a low-priced one, just as a cart-horse at 301. is likely to be really cheaper. than one at 211.; but anything beyond the wages that the workman can obtain in the market is charity, and Lord Radnor will not have charity • and wages confounded.

Reports on the state of commerce in the manufacturing districts are un-,. favourable. At Manchester, trade continues dull, and prices are much de- pressed. The manufacturers were• quietly adopting the short-time system„ and generally with the concurrence of their workpeople. In Rochdale, matters continue in a very stagnant condition.

The same accounts are received from Leeds; the business done being- less than the average amount. Short time is prevailing. The Hudders- field market continued flat; and at Bradford the sales were very trifling. Here, too, many houses had commenced working short time.

The Manchester Examiner states that the extensive mills of Messrs. John. Bright and Brothers, in Rochdale, will commence working four days a week . on Monday, and that nearly all the establishments iu Rochdale aro prepared: to take the same course.

At Nottingham, the trade is described as steady and quiet.

It appears by Aris's Birmingham Journal, that even in the iron-trade- prices have lost their upward tendency, and that all talk of a further rise is at an end.

A turn-out of the coal and iron miners of South Staffordshire is threat-- ened unless an increase of wages be granted by the employers. The move- ment began at Shut End, on Saturday, by the men issuing a placard in which they say—" We think it highly necessary to give our employers four- teen days' notice of sixpence per day advance upon our wages. Our rea- sons for this rise are forced upon us from the present high price of pro- visions, and the severity with which all the parish-officers force all house- keepers to pay their levies of every description, and thus hindering us from- having any real benefit from the trade which our perilous exertions de- serve." They call upon their fellow-workmen in the district to follow their example; and it is supposed that they will do so. It is remarked, that such an increase of wages would be a very serious matter to the iron- masters, who have made extensive contracts to supply iron at the present.: rates.

Most of the milers in the neighbourhood of Dudley and Kingswinford have resumed work. A rise has been given by some nailers on small work, but the large Dudley masters have not agreed to the scale.—Slaibrdsliire- Mercury. extravagant notions,) but that before their report (i. e. the report of the Com- mittee) he would vacate his seat. This determination to resign was communicated, as I have said before, to several others; and therefore, extraordinary as his conduct. may now appear, the fact of the communication does not rest on my evidence our authority only. " In the end of 1845 and the beginning of 1846, Mr. Grantley Berkeley appeared' to have given up the attempt of inducing me to advance money by the threat of abandoning his seat; and I endeavoured to render the pressure of his pecuniary- affairs easier by the advance of a sum, the particulars of which Mr. Bloxsome of Dursely is acquainted with. This, however, proved but a temporary expedient,, and his demands in the summer of 1846 were renewed. What course, then, had to pursue? What other construction could be put on his conduct, than that if I did not yield to some demand for money, when elected at an ensuing Parliament,. he might turn short round and not only renew but carry into execution hie-t threat of vacating his seat, at a time when such a step might be fatal to the: Liberal interest of the Division? "

Lord Fitzhardinge took the advice of some influential gentlemen in the Liberal'. interest--" They viewed the case as I did, and took certain preliminary measures in order to secure their party from the peril to which it was unquestionably ex- posed. Their conduct, however, has been grossly misconstrued, and has subjectedl them, as well as myself, not only to the slanderous insinuations, but to the moat' personal and scurrilous attacks of Mr. Grantley Berkeley; who does not scruple, if he thinks it will suit his purpose, to invade and misrepresent (a harsher term- might be used) the rights of social and domestic life, and mix them up with matters purely public."

Mr. Grantley Berkeley had charged the Earl at once with deserting his party nud with improperly iniluencin,g his party: both charges cannot he true—they. refute each other; and the Earl proceeds to show that neither is correct. Lords; Fitzhardinge declares that he has no personal interests to serve—no patronage or place to solicit; he only seeks to advance Liberal interests: if he injures them, he I will abstain from interference; otherwise, gross and abusive personalities shall-. ' not induce him to desert the electors.

After some discussion, the meeting unanimously adopted two resolutionit'j one censured the part taken by Mr. Berkeley, also that taken by nine gentlemen who had met and echoed Lord Fitzhardinge's decree against his.. brother; the other resolution declared that the meeting viewed Mr. Grantley Berkeley's conduct in reference to the Game and Corn questions with dis- satisfaction, and that the necessary steps should be taken to procure a correct representation of the Liberal electors of the County.

which end it was pointed out to them, that Slater should be immediately summoned before a Justice of the Peace, and held to bail to answer the charge at the ensuing Quarter-Sessions. The subject was much discussed; but the Board exhibited considerable indisposition to move in it. Even- tually, on the suggestion of the Clerk, Mr. Jardine, it was resolved that a meeting should be convened for the following Friday, to consider the proper steps to be taken; the absent members of the Board, and Sir John Walsham, the Assistant Poor-law Commissioner, to be requested then to attend.

Some time since we described a new style of abodes for the working classes which the Birkenhead Dock Commissioners intended to build: that project is now a reality, and the range of dwellings was inspected last week by Lord Morpeth, Lord Ebrington, Mr. Chadwick, Mr. Monckton Milnes, and the Honourable William Cowper. Their experiences are reported in the Times—

The visiters were accompanied by Mr. Laird and other directors of the Birken- head Docks, under whose auspices the dwellings had been constructed, chiefly for the occupation of those of the dock labourers who might choose them, and by Mr. C. E. Lang, the architect. " Without drawings or plans it would be difficult to give an accurate conception of the improvements. The buildings are four-storied, of red brick, with light sandstone window-sills and copings. Their external aspect would suggest to a Londoner the idea of a block of buildings constructed for professional persons, for an inn of Court or Chancery; and, with little addition and variation of orna- ment, they might match with the new hall of Lincoln's Inn. They are, in fact, Eats or sets of chambers, consisting of two sets on each floor. Each set consists of one living-room and two sleeping-rooms. The floors are of arched brick. The living-room is floored with a hard Welsh fire-brick tile; the sleeping-room floors are boarded. The staircases are of stone, with iron balustrades. The flat brick arches of which the floors are constructed are tied together with iron ties, and the whole building is fire-proof.

"The most important points of improvement are, however, those in which some principles of the Sanitary Report in respect to the means of cleansing and ven- tilation for the working classes are earned out. Each set of rooms is furnished with a constant supply of water, and also with sinks for washing and a water- closet, and means of communication with a dust-shaft from the whole set of chambers, by which all dust and ashes might be removed at once from the apart- ments without the necessity of the inmates leaving them. The party entered the rooms which were inhabited, and questioned the inmates as to their experience of them. One nursing mother, in a neat and well-kept set of rooms, attested to the superior conveniences of this arrangement, as a most important relief from the fatigue and exposure to the weather in a common town dwelling. She had now no occasion to leave her child alone whilst she went to a distance to fetch water; neither had she to keep dirty or waste water, or dirt or ashes in the room Mail she could find time to carry them away. She had now scarcely ever to pi down stairs and leave her child.' Each set of rooms was provided with one conduit for the ingress of fresh air and another for the egress of vitiated air. Those examined were newly inhabited; but the immediate sanitary effect of the ar- rangements was perceptible to those who have visited such abodes, in the entire absence of offensive effluvia or of close smell.' This observation was extended to the whole range of buildings. The sinks in each room were trapped with bell- traps, as were all the openings to the drains and the gully-shoots in the paved courts and thoroughfares. A 'constant supply of water was secured; the house- drains were well flushed with water; and cesspools were entirely abolished. This range of buildings is perhaps the first practical example of the entire removal of one chief source of physical depression and pestilence common to all the existing dwellings of the working classes in towns. "The price at which these objects were attained was the next topic of inquiry The rents charged were from 3s. Gd. to 5s. each set, according to its position. But this included a constant supply of water, and the use of one gas-burner in each set of rooms, and all rates and taxes, and moreover two iron bedsteads, and a grate with an oven, and convenient fixtures. Some of the inmates admitted that they had paid as high a rent in Liverpool and other towns for no larger apart- ments of the common inferior construction, but without any of the conveniences and additions. The directors stated that they conceived there would be little value in an example which was not fairly remunerative to the capitalist, and that for this class of town dwellings, considering the trouble and attention they re- quired, a less return than eight per cent on the outlay would not suffice as an in- ducement to their construction; and this return they should snake. Those who have lived in chambers in London would admit that they had in the essentials very inferior accommodation for double and treble and mach higher rents. Each set of rooms was perfectly 'self-contained,' and the arched brick floors gave them advantages in respect to quiet which few sets of chambers possess.

" The impression produced by the inspection of these dwellings was evidently one of satisfaction. Mr. Chadwick, whilst expressing his warm concurrence as to the advance made, stated his opinion that an additional room was required, and submitted that further improvements might yet be achieved, especially in the mode of warming and ventilation. The directors also stated that their own ex- perience had suggested to them further improvements in the details of construc- tion."

At nine o'clock on Monday night, Portsmouth and the neighbourhood were rfrightened from their propriety by the flash and roar of great guns. It was sup- posed that some serious calamity had happened—most probably, a ship on fire in the harbour. This was the impression on board the guard-ship, the Victory: the bands were turned up, boats manned, and a fire-signal hoisted at the peak. One boat pulled to the St. Vincent; it was then ascertained that the uproar was caused by the Excellent practising with shell on the hulk Leviathan. The Tiros re- porter proceeded to view the gunnery—which be had before averred the ship is not "excellent " for; and found that the gunners were firing away at the hulk by moonlight., and with the target illuminated from stem to stern! But the suc- cess was not very great. Another writer says only two shells out of fifty hit the mark. The unnecessary alarm caused by the non-announcement of the intended practice is ascribed to fear lest a reporter should be present!

One Donahow, an Irishman, got drunk at Penrith on Sunday week, and behaved in a most outrageous manner—burning chickens alive, hacking and burning his furniture, and preparing water to scald a pig to death: he was at length taken into -custody; but while the police were conveying him along the streets, a quantity of blood gushed from his leg, and be died in ten minutes; the drunken excitement and the struggles with the constables having caused an old wound to break out anew with extraordinary violence.

Four poachers were out the other night at Fillingham, near Lincoln, looking for game, and they encountered the keeper of Mr. John Dalton. A struggle en- sued; in the midst of it, Fisher, one of the poachers, made a blow at the keeper with a gun; it went off, and the charge passed through the body of Fisher who died in a few minutes. A Coroner's Jury has returned a verdict in accordance

with these facts. • - Another incendiary fire has been perpetrated at S0113111, in Cambridgeshire. A straw-stack and the roof of a malt-house were destroyed, and 100 combs of malt spoiled. The criminal has not been discovered.

White, a Bristol policeman, has been murdered by a jealous woman. The man , 'edged in the same house with a Mrs. Ferris and 'other persons; Mrs. Ferris was I enamoured of the policeman; on Sunday evening, when she had been drinking, her jealousy was aroused by his conduct towards another woman, and she stabbed him with a knife in the neck, so that he died soon after. The murderer went to a police-station and rendered herself up a prisoner. A Coroner's Jury has re- turned a verdict of " Wilful murder."

Wright, the man who shot and robbed Mr. M`Gill, near Knutsford, has been committed for trial. The wounded man still survives, though in a very weak condition.

That part of the North-western Railway lying between Birmingham and Man- chester presented on Saturday afternoon a continuous series of accidents. The first disaster was occasioned by a luggage-train running into a ballast-train, thus causing a total stoppage of the traffic. Two down passenger-trains were forced to return to Stafford and wait. After two hours they started again; and about ten miles further on were brought up by another luggage-tram which had got off the line. A second detention of two hours and a half bad now to be suffered, during which six trains (four down and two up) were prevented from proceeding. The two down trains were joined at Crewe, and arrived at Chelford nearly five hours behind the proper time—at nine in the evening. While stopping at this station, the train was run into by a down luggage-train. No lives were lost, but several persons were severely hurt, and much damage was done to the carriages. Some members of Mr. Robert Hyde Greg's family were among the sufferers. Mr. Greg and his daughter had alighted at the station, but his son and a servant who remained inside were a good deal bruised and cut with the broken glass. Mr. Greg's private carriage was thrown up in the air, and the horses were cut and bruised. The accidents are ascribed to the culpable carelessness of the drivers of the luggage-trains.

A young man, finding he had got into a wrong train on the Midland Railway, near Sawley, foolishly attempted to get out of a carriage while the train was in motion: he fell, several wheels passed over his left leg, and be died shortly after the limb had been amputated.

A stoker on the Brighton and Chichester Railway was oiling the wheels of an engine on Monday morning; and while his arm was through the spokes of the driving-wheel, the engine-driver, unconscious of his fellow's position, put the ma- chine in motion: the stoker's arm was instantly snapped in two.

Allen, a brewer at Reading, having fallen head-foremost into a vessel containing eighteen inches of scalding liquor, has died in dreadful agony.

The boiler of a cotton-mill at Ashton-under-Lyne exploded last week, with fatal results. The building in which it stood was ruined, and four persons were buried in the rubbish; one was dug out almost uninjured, but the others perished. Two of the sufferers—a father and daughter—were passing along the street to work at another mill when the boiler exploded. Some cottages in the neighbourhood were greatly shattered, but the inmates escaped unhurt. The boiler was an old one, the premises having been untenanted for some time: they had been recently taken on lease by Messrs. Bailey and Dewburst, who have lost a large sum by the destruction of the machinery.

The Coroner's Jury which sat on the bodies of the three persons killed by the boiler explosion at Ashton, have returned a verdict that the deaths resulted from an explosion, " the consequence of an over-pressure of steam, which over-pressure was the consequence of the safety-valve being fastened down; but that by whom and by what means the fastening down was effected, there was no evidence to show.