31irtupotio.

The first meeting of the Society of Arts, the opening of the winter session, was held in the Adelphi on Wednesday. Lord Ebrington, the President of the Council for the ensuing year, delivered the inaugural address. He touched upon a great variety of topics connected with the business of the Society : the proposed examination of the members of the institutions in connexion with the Society for the purpose of certifying their acquirements—the Educational Exhibition—the coming Exposition at Paris, and the relation of exhibitions to the working classes—the Paris improvements contrasted with our lack—the relation between the health of labourers and their employments, lodging, and food—and a proposed exhibition of dwellings, furniture, and domestic appliances of all kinds, for working men—were among the more conspicuous themes. He an- nounced that her Majesty's Government are of opinion that the Educa- tion Exhibition should be rendered available as the nucleus of a perma- nent educational museum for the nation. It is proposed to give the members of the institutions in union with the Society facilities for visit- ing the Paris Exhibition ; but to carry out the design, it will be necessary that the French Government should relax the passport system ; and Lord Ebrington stated that they have shown every disposition to meet the ap- plication in the most liberal spirit. One thing on which he dwelt with emphasis was the necessity for the extension of some protection to the public against the adulteration of articles of food ; arguing that there is

no more reason why knowingly uttering false money should be punished than knowingly selling verdignsed pickles,—money being also equally a commodity, an object of purchase and sale, and its falsification being at least free from any danger or injury to life." At the Paris Exposition, he stated, the French Government propose to set apart one section as an exhibition for the display and comparison of the various kinds of dwell- ings, internal arrangement and fittings; furniture, beds, and bedding ; fuel, grates, and doves ; cooking apparatus, kinds of food and beverages, -and the modes of preparing them; materials, and form of clothing, &c.; arrangements for cleansing persons, bedding, clothes, &c., which in dif- lerent countries and in different parts of the same country, in different climates and in the same climate, to answer different purposes and the same purpose, under circumstances essentially different and circumstances essentially similar, are generally used and approved, more especially by the classes commonly known in England as the labouring classes.

Tire.fieographicalSaciety met on Monday, for the first time this season, at the' United Service Ituittution, Scotland Yard ; Lord Colchester in the ch -.. 4 great nurubcr of naval officers recently returned from the Arctic Seca wore present, and .PARae read a paper communicating the fate of S John Franlilet ,A, ,soaveisation ensued, with a view to discover tem

ether any livae might bjsientertained of the safety of any of the crews • g parly-are nietiecia ,., d for ; that there is no evidence of the loss

jdie Erebue and :Terror. Scoresby pointed out, that ninety of the of the two ships, wb10,4)apy still exist. Ai 1•: ‘ 1 — " There was nothing. inconsistent with thbraupposition in the circumstance of a portion of the crew being foundin the sad condition Dr. Rae bad de. scribed. The inference might be that some of the ships being detained in the way that Sir John Ross was detained, and there being no prospect of extricating them, some of the party might have taken the route, as no doubt they did take the route, which ended in the painful catastrophe which Dr. Rae had detailed. Another portion might 'have taken another route whilst a third party might have remained with the ships. It might almnei be like hoping against hope,- but he thought there was still the possibility that some of the brave adventurers might now survive."

Sir John Ross observed, that Franklin had promised to leave an indi- cation of which of three courses open to him under his instructions he had adopted. Sir John was of opinion that as Franklin left no such indi- cation in the channel where he was in 1845, he had then determined to return home.

The probability was, that Franklin got into the ice and was carried during the years 1846 and 1847 up and down Baffin's Bay until the month of March; that, on their provisions becoming exhausted, the party abandoned the ship, and were found in the condition which the Esquimau' were reported to have stated. Sir John would recommend the Government to have that part of Baffin's Bay which had not yet been thoroughly surveyed, examined. If a ship were sent out for this purpose, and began in the month of June, it might finish before the end of October.

Captain M'Clure and Captain Kellett concurred in the suggested sur- vey in Baffin's Bay. Dr. Rae " thought it scarcely possible that any of the party could have survived " ; but he recommended the search. Captain Inglefield said that records of the missing expedition must ex- ist somewhere ; and with regard to the search far them, there were two points still unprovided for. The one was by Repulse Bay, 120 miles in extent, to the spot where the bodies were found ; and a vessel might leave England in the ensuing spring and reach the end of Chesterfield Inlet, where a travelling party might go to the spot where the bodies were found, and return to England with the ship the same year. The course would be by Beechey Island and Peel's Sound.

At a Special Court of the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers, on Thursday, it was resolved to affix the seal of 'the Commission to a deed authorizing a loan of 160,0004. to be made to the Commission by the Rot* Life Assurance Company. As this was one of the last meetings of the present Court, Colonel Dawson made a valedictory speech, congratulating the retiring Commissioners on the satisfactory state in which they were about to.leave their affairs ; having provided a well-considered plan for the main drainage of the Metropolis, and an ample fund for the commence- ment of the works. Mr. Jebb, the Chairman, contrasted the position of the new Commission on entering office with that of the retiring Com- mission, and remarked upon the happier auspices of the new.

The names of the new Commission inserted in a portion of our im- pression last -week are—Mr. Jebb, Mr. Hawes, Mr. Redhead, and Mr. Spencer Smith, members of the late Commission ; Sir Jelin Shelley, Dr. Sayer, Mr. Pascall, Mr. Offer, Mr. Chalmers, Mr. Thwaltes, Xr. Evans,

and Mr. Wade, nominated by the Representatives of the Metropolitan , 1st..

by the Home Office.

At a meeting of the City Sewers Commission, a letter was read from the Chairman of the East India Company complaining of the offensive state of Leadenhall hide and akin market. Mr. Taylor said that the nui- sance would soon be considered by the Corporation, with a view to its removal to Copenhagen Fields—the proper place for a skin market.

At a meeting of the Governors of the Charterhouse, on Saturday, the Earl of Aberdeen was elected one of the Governors.

The rectory of ilarylebone is vacant by the death of Dr. John Hume Spry. He was one of the representatives of the Lower House of Convo- cation, and a distinguished advocate for the revival of its powers.

Lord-Chief 'Justice 'Jervis and four other Judges, sitting in the Exchequer Chamber, decided two points on Saturday which had been reserved at the Central Z`riminal Court.

James .Beeston was tried for murder, and he was convicted of man- slaughter. The deposition of his victim was put in as evidence : when that deposition was made Beeston was charged with "wounding with intent"— could it be used as evidence on the capital charge ? The Court decided that it could, and affirmed the conviction.

William Simpson was convicted of stealing a gold watch and chain : he made a grasp at a gentleman's watch, and pulled the chain from the button- hole ; but the watch-key caught:in a button, and the gentleman's wife seized the thief's hand, so that watch and chain were not absolutely detached from . the prosecutor's person. Mr. Parry urged that this was only an attempt to steal : there was nothing to show that the watch had ever been taken from the person of the prosecutor. Mr. Baron Alderson—" When the watch was between the button-hole and the button, where was it but in the hand of the thief ? " The Chief instiee—" Suppose a man went into a shop and took up a sack from the counter and put it upon his back, but it was so large he could not get it through the door, would not that be a stealing ? " Mr. Parry submited, that until the watch actually got away from the waistcoat, it was not stolen from the person. The Court said, that a mere hairbreadth was a sufficient removal to constitute a stealing from the person. Conviction affirmed.

James Hayward, a dangerous lunatic, has been given into the care of the parish authorities of St. Luke's, Chelsea. He had been in confinement seve- ral times for stabbing relatives, but recently he was at large. The other day he went into Hyde Park, and stood on the foot-path of Rotten Row with a knife in his hand ; as a lady and a gentleman rode past, he sprang upon the lady and attempted to stab her ; Policeman Rowan seized him • the maniac cut him in several places—if one of the wounds on the breast had been a little deeper, it would probably have been fatal. Before the Marlborough Street Magistrate, Hayward rhapsodized, that he had been kept in rags by the aristocracy ; he believed the lady to belong to the nobility, and he thought he had a right to bring her also to raga. Letters were found on him plainly denoting his lunacy. The premises of Messrs. Berens and Blumberg, of Cannon Street, were phIndcred last week, by burglars, who carried off watches, rings, and other articles, valued at 20001., leaving behind them more bundles worth 5001.: they had been disturbed, apparently, while at work. One watch has been traced to Joseph Evans, a chandler's-shop-keeper, hitherto of good repute ; he says he bought it of one Britten.

Jullien Croroartie, the young man who personated divers military officers and passed many forged checks, has been committed by the Bow Street Magis- trate on three charges of forgery.

Two ruffianly-looking fellows, M•Donnell and Fleteber, on Sunday morn- ing chose a strange place in which to sleep—the balcony of the Rectory- house in the Lambeth Road. A Policeman noticed -them, obtained assist- ance, and secured them. Unluckily for the pretended seekers for a night's lodging in the balcony, it was found that they had been tampering with a window and shutter. They were without shoes, having left them in the Archbishop of Canterbury's grounds ; but the Police were not disposed to be- lieve that they had merely taken off their shoes with a view of retiring to rest. When before the Lambeth Magistrate the prisoners persisted in their story about climbing into the balcony to sleep.—Remanded.

Mr. Frederick Rollick, of Bow, a manufacturer of sulphate of ammonia, has been fined 51. by the Thames Police Magistrate, for causing noxious and offensive effluvia in the conduct of his business. The proceedings were ordered by the Home Secretary. Mr. Rollick pleaded that the stench was not caused by him, but by other chemical works. However, he is to be vi- gorously prosecuted, and his fine will be doubled on every fresh conviction- 101., 201., and so on.

The Bow Street Magistrate has liberated the 114 persons who were cap- tured in the Sun public-house, Long Acre, for being present in a betting- house. Superintendent Pearce thought it was sufficient to fiud them in a place where betting was going on to warrant their capture; but Mr. Jardine said it must be proved who were actually betting to warrant infliction of penalties under any circumstances, though the Police had been right in seizing these people : under the Police Act a fine of SI. could be imposed on betters, but the Betting-house Act did not refer to the Police Act—the object of it was to punish " managers" of betting-houses. The case of Robert Ryan, a waiter, was then taken : he was " managing" a room when arrest- ed ; so Mr. Jardine Sued him 501., with three months' imprisonment in de- fault. Notice of appeal was given.

Mr. Elliott, the Lambeth Magistrate, has fined Henry Simmonds 201. for keeping a betting-house in High Street, Newington. Notice of appeal was given also in this case. Three other men apprehended in the shop were set at liberty, as they were not engaged as managers in the betting.