t4t 3Ertrnpulig.

On Thursday afternoon' a Royal Commission, of which the Lord Chancellor was at the head, attended in the House of Lords and formally prorogued Parliament from that day, to which it had stood adjourned, until Tuesday, the 5th of February, then to meet for the despatch of business.

The hop-growers are taking vigorous steps to secure that on which there now appears to be a general agreement among them—the -total re- peal of both Excise and Customs duties on hops. Acting on the advice of Mr. Beresford Hope, at a recent meeting of Kent and Sussex planters, a "Central Hop Duty Repeal Association" has been formed, having an office in London.

Mr. Thomas Dakin, of Abchurch Lane, has been unanimously elected Alderman of Candlewick Ward, in the room of the late Sir George Carroll.

A share of public bounty flowed this Christmas towards the Leicester Square Soup-kitchen, in the shape of beef, plums, currants, bread, biscuits, brandy, and tea, with sufficient cash to subsidize the services of butchers, bakers, grocers, and others, so that 670 families were rendered happy for the day in spite of penury and distress. Each family received 4 lbs. of good roasting beef, 2} lbs. of plum-pudding, boiled in the soup-coppers, a half- quarteni loaf, 2 oz. of tea, I lb. of sugar, and some biscuits.

Dickens, a messenger at the War Office, committed suicide on Tuesday morning by drowning in the Serpentine; he had previously penned a letter to a relative informing him of his intention. This is the third suicide that has been committed by lower officials of the above office within the last twelve months.

The Post Office Library 'and Literary Association is now so large that a niece commodious reading-room is required. To provide funds for the fur- niture and fittings of this new room, the committee, with the sanction of the Postmaster-General, have made arrangements for the delivery of a course of lectures to the members of the association and their friends.

Entrance to these lectures will be by tickets, the money paid for which will be applied to the purchase of the furniture. Mr. Anthony Trollope, Mr. Hughes (author of Tom Brown's School-days, &c.), Mr. G. H. Lewes

(author of the Biographical _History of Philosophy, Seaside Studies, &c.),

Mr. George Grossmith, Mr. T. A. Trollope (author of the Girlhood of Cathe- rine de Ifedici, A Decade of Italian Women, &o.), Mr. Thomas Hood, Mr. Edmund Yates, Mr. West,sind Mr. Scudamore have consented to take part in the course. The first lecture, "On the Civil Service as a Profession," was delivered last night by Mr. Anthony Trollope ; the second, for the 18th instant, "On Good Authors at a Discount," by Mr. Edmund Yates. Bath these gentlemen are members of the Post-Office service.

"A Templar" complains of the tiresome prolixity of the sermons at the Temple Church; the clergy are not advancing with the age, which has shortened pleadings and almost extinguished demurrers. There are other places besides the Temple where sermons might be advantageously short- ened.

The want of large covered spaces for the drilling of Volunteers in the evening is much felt. It is difficult to find buildings sufficiently spacious, and the mat of erecting them has been beyond the means of most corps. Captain Fowkes, ILL., has lately constructed a shed at South Kensington, for the use of the 1st Middlesex Engineers, which seems to have solved the problem of economy. The shed is 90 feet long by 40 feet wide, and about 25 feet high ; it is made of wood without framing, covered with felt- and oiled canvass. The cost bus been only 82/., Which has been paid by the Volunteer Engineers, o t of their own subscriptions. A large meeting is to take place on the 12th df January at the South Kensington Museum, in aid of the building fund of the Lambeth School of Art ; and it is proposed that this occasion shall be used to exhibit this drill shed to the public, in order to show Volunteers at what a trifling cost they may be provided with covered spaces.

A joint meeting of the shareholders and bondholders of the Grand Trunk of Canada Railway Company was held on Wednesday. Mr. Newmarch ex- pounded with great clearness and force the claims of the bondholders upon the Canadian Government—" There is a strong feeling-in this country that they have a fair right to look for assistance to the Canadian Government. On the faith of the prospectus, they had subscribed 10,000,0001., and the

Canadian Government hail shown their patronage b • subscribing 3,000,0001. There were two leading London mimes, agents and directors on the part of

the Canadian Government. It was on the faith and reliance of the Govern- meat that the subscriptions were obtained. The Government have contri- buted not more than one-third of the estimated cost of the line. The ex- penditure of 14,000,0001. has taken place in Canada in the course of seven years, to the great advantage of the country, and a first-class line of 1000 miles in length has been constructed, Comparing the support given to gush undertakings in India, Ceylon, Brazil, and other countries, where guaran-

tees of 5 per cent or 6 per cent were given on the total outlay, it would be seen that they have a morelright to the assistance they require. He trusts they will be able to show the Legislature that it would be for the advantage of Canada in mane respects that the requisite aid should be granted. Ile would be able to show the people of Canada that their interests and those of he Grand Trunk are identical. It will be placed before them purely as a commercial undertaking, and they will tell them that it shall be managed with a view to making a profit on the outlay. The postal subsidy is 20,000/. a year; and every one kneel's. the-service is worth four times that amount. Ifit is fixed at 80,000/. a yam there will be founcLa considerable arrear due to them, and that is one mWS of relief. If they had means to provide proper accommodation for the traffic, he believed the amount of receipts would be considerably increased." A committee was appointed to investi- gate the affairs of the Company; it is composed of shareholders and bond- holders ; and there appears to be a prospect of harmonious action between all parties interested.

The commercial failures in London in 1860, produced bad debts to the ex- tent of 3,674,6411.; the assets, subject to the expense of collection anddie- tribution, showed an average dividend of 7s. 6d. in the pound.

Joint Stock Companies of various kinds and designs were started in 1880, the amount of whose proposed capital was no less than 17,230,000/. Only one-fourth have been withdrawn from the share market ; the rest are in prosecution.

Mr. Warde, of Clopton House, Warwickshire, has been removed from the commission of the peace by the Lord Chancellor. After receiving an answer to a letter addressed to Mr. Warde, calling upon him for his defence, the Lord Chancellor decided that, in his evidence given in a recent trial, Mr. Warde showed a recklessness of conduct, and an unconsciousness of the dis- tinction between right and wrong, which proved him to be a person wholly unfit to be intrusted with the power of taking part in the administration of the criminal law.