THE WEEK AT HOME.
POLITICAL.—On Monday last Earl Russell, supported by Lord Lyveden, Sir J. Shuttleworth, Sir Walter Stirling, and other nota- bilities, delivered his first presidential speech at the annual meeting of the British and Foreign School Society, having been requested by a resolution to fill the office of president in the place of the late Duke of Bedford. He •referred to the successful efforts made by himself in -connexion with the Marquis of Lansdowne and Sir J. Shuttleworth for the promotion of unsectarian education, the adoption of good models and standards of education, and the introduction of county schools into remote villages where they were unknown. Referring to the Education Commission, he disagreed with a statement attri- buted to Mr. Walpole, who "entirely approved the efforts of the Assistant Commissioners who were employed, but could not approve the report." Earl Russell, on the contrary, very much admired the report, and did not admire the Assistant Commissioners. Perhaps some of the Commissioners had in mind certain lines, which said :
"The man who fired the temple outlives
The pious fool who raised it," —Lord Lansdowne, Sir J. Shuttleworth, and Lord Russell " being the pions fools," but the report was a very fair and useful report for rdl that. Earl Russell proceeded to consider the general question, how those schools were to be improved which either could not or would not receive Government grants. The number of these schools was very great. The difficulties to any plan were twofold : one of local control, the other of local rates. Those who paid local rates de- manded local-control. If local control and local rates were given by Act of Parliament the usual bitter contention must arise between Churchmen and Dissenters. The Commission had suggested two kinds of support—the present one by grants for general efficiency ; the other upon examinations founded on the three r.s by county officers. The scheme, though approved by Earl Russell, was open to 'the objection, that here also the question of control under a county or parish rate would arise upon religions grounds. The Earl con- fessed his opinion "that rating, as it does not extend to all species of property in the county, is hardly the proper mode of support for that which is a national object ;" and in the next place, that rating would involve control. " But if this be so, you must still continue to look to national funds." All he wanted to show was that whether we approve or disapprove of the Revised Code, one of the greatest tasks before us—" one of the greatest tasks which any Government or 'any Legislature can have to perform"—remains, that of extending the benefits of education throughout the country.
The Tories profess to be grievously scandalized because the Lord Chancellor has appointed his son-in-law, Mr. Skirrow, solicitor, to the office of taxing-master of the Court of Chancery. if Mr. Skirrow was equal to the post, why not? If he is not equal let them say so.
The petition against the return of Sir John Hay for Wakefield has been abandoned, and the petitioners are said to have spent some 1,5001. in vain. The Yorkshire Gazelle's remarks on the occasion are more than usually edifying.
Socum.—" A student," writing to the Times, complains, reason- ably, we think, of the large number of mere pleasure readers and schoolboys who infest the reading room of the British Museum. The room is calculated to accommodate 300 people. As many as 670 have of late attended it in one day, of which nearly two hundred are young persons who come to make use of translations and keys, and many others mere novel readers. He tells the case of a single crammer living near Bloomsbury who sent no less than 15 pupils to read in the Museum daily to save them the trouble of buy- ing books. Surely some means could be devised in order that the room should be kept for those who really deserve to use it. On Saturday last the Society for the Suppression of Mendicity held their anniversary meeting in Red Lion-square, the Marquis of West- minster in the chair. In the first five months of the past year there had been an increase of 155 per cent. in the number of applicants for relief as compared with that of the preceding year. The registered cases in excess were 446; unregistered, 7606. In like manner, the meals given by the society had increased from 42,192 in 1860, to 73,077 m 1861.
.A surgeon, writing to one of the daily papers uporsarsenical green paper-hangings, calls attention to the following facts, not elicited at the recent investgation at Limehouse :
(1.) Of four children who died, every one had been healthy until the green paper was first placed on the walls at Christmas last.
(2.) The father, mother, and all the children then began to sicken. The symptoms were smarting of the eves, irritation of the nostrils, headache (over the brows in particular), soreness of the mouth and throat, with occasional sharp pains over the bowels, constant rubbing of the upper lip, and picking of the mouth. (3.) The antiseptic properties of arsenic are well known. Seven days after death the body of the child was undecomposed. There was neither effluvium nor discoloration.
(4.) The undertaker noticed that all the three preceding chil- dren, after being four days dead, were in a like condition. (5.) After the green paper was removed, all the symptoms ceased in the remaining occupants. He attributes much baffling disease to the unsuspected effects of arsenical papers, especially throat complaints. A singular case of infanticide occurred on Sunday night. The porters at the London Bridge station, according to custom, searched the carriages of a train that had just arrived from Woolwich, and in a second-class carriage found a parcel, which on examination proved to be the body of an infant child, the marks on which gave rise to strong suspicions of its having been :murdered. No trace on inquest could be found of the perpetrators. In a letter to the Times, entitled "Lancastrians for Lancashire," S. G. 0., while bearing witness to the kind and wise spirit displayed by the nobility and gentry, asks, " Is it nothing to have seen Lanca- shire reasoning, not rebelling, in a day of deep trial ? Is it nothing to behold men, working men, and girls, their children, struggling, not for alms, but to be independent of them—willing to pawn or sell the books, the musical instruments, every stick of that small store of luxuries hard industry and self-denial had won, rather than be paupers?" The report of the select committee, appointed by the House of Commons, on the motion by Mr. Hankey, has been printed. After calling attention to the fact that the number of fires in London has increased from 458 in 1833 to 1,183 in 1861, and noticing that "London" now, taking only the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works, covers about 170 square miles, and has 360,000 houses, the committee express their opinion that the parochial arrangements required by law for the extinction of fires should be discontinued ; though maintained at a cost supposed to be nearer 10,0001. a mar than 5,0001., they are useless, or worse. The Fire Brigade establishment of the insurance offices is also totally idadequate to the general pro- tection of London from fire, nor can the offices be expected to under- take the task ; their object is the especial protection of those parts where the largest amount of insured property is to be found ; they are, moreover, anxious to give up the brigade. But its efficiency is such that the committee consider that the services of the existing staff ought to be made available in connexion with any new system which may be adopted.
Law AND JrarricE.—While the workhouse system is under the fullest strain in Lancashire, occasional instances force its operation upon our notice at our own doors. Mr. Thomas Russell, formerly a performer at Astley's, fell down in the street and died of starvation on his way to the hospital, in the East of London, on the day when the wealthy crowd was pouring into the "World's Fair" at the West- end. Upon inquest it was found that in spite of a certificate from the surgeon of the Union declaring the poor man unfit for work, he was harassed by the guardian until he abstained from calling for the loaf which had been three or fonr times doled out to him. And so he died. The guardian who visited his wife, and saw her at work over two shirts, for which she received three-halfpence a-piece, had
reported her in full employment. The jury found : "That the de- ceased died from natural causes, but recommended to the board that in future a more generous diet should be given to those poor who brought from the parish surgeon a certificate that they are unable even to pick oakum."
'A delicate-looking sempstress, Clara Fuller, in company with three friends, was lately brutally kicked by a policeman for relieving her pent-up spirits by singing on her way home. The brute, after giving her a first kick, ran after her and gave her another, with the observa- tion, " Now say I've killed you." The poor girl had merely said on being kicked the first time, " Good gracious, you've killed me !" How naturally she may have said it may he inferred from the fact that the second kick left her insensible at the time and unable since to return to her work. The magistrate properly sent up the prisoner, Hugh Sikester Kiokham for trial. Two appeals from the kaster of the Rolls in the case of the Bank of Deposit have been decided in favour of the appellants. The Lords Justices decided that neither Mrs. Davies nor the Marquis of Aber- corn were contributories to the Bank, inasmuch as there was no evidence to show that they intended to be so. They also decided, that a director is not bound to know what the office of a director involves. In spite of this decision, however, Lord Abercorn was refused his costs, which were granted to Mrs. Davies.
FINANCIAL.—A more convincing proof of the estimation held in this country of the resources and honour of Turkey could not be afforded than the fact that out of the Eight Million Loan which that country lately contracted little more than a quarter of a million sterling remains unpaid—the greater portion of the whole amount having been paid up in full. The same result has attended, also, both the Moorish and the Egyptian Loans. The course of financial affairs here this week has been such as to lead to a belief that the Bank directors would raise the minimum last Thursday; there was, however, no change made, and in consequence the open market has become easier. If left to itself, the market would not yet show an upward tendency, and notwithstanding that this week's Bank returns are not favourable, but the contrary, the bullion showing a decrease of 346,598/., and the reserve of notes a decrease of 1,194,625/., while the other securities are 1,014,8831. more. This change indicates a pressure for both discount, -notes and gold, the latter for shipment to the Continent in payment of silver purchased there for the East, and in connexion with the settle- ment of the late loans. Of fresh Joint Stock Companies there have been none to influence the Money Market, but it is known that seve ral are in course of formation, with capitals in the aggregate of some few millions sterling. The English Funded Securities have been very weak this week, in consequence of the increased pressure for money, but a rally has set in. Consols fell to 94, but have recovered to 94 • for money. For the account they are at 928 ex. div. The New and Reduced Three per Cents. fell to 91k, but have recovered to 9181. Exchequer Bills have re- ceded to 14s. 17s. prem. Bank Stock 237 39. The Indian Securities present no important change worthy of notice. The Old Stock keeps at 227 29; the New, 109 8; the Five-and-a-Half per Cent. Rupee paper 1091 1; the Five per Cents., 103k Railway shares have fluctuated in value, and present prices show in many instances a fall and in others a rise. North Western are at 911 ; Lancashire and Yorkshire, 1081 1; Midland, 124 29; Great Western, 73+; South Eastern, 841 1.
The Annual Meeting of the Universal Life Assurance Society i was held on the 14th nst., when a reduction of 451. per cent. on the premiums of all policies entitled toparticipate in the profits, and a bonus of 11. 18s. 6d. per share, were declared.
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