be Vrobintrs.

The nomination for Reading election took place on Monday. Five can- didates appeared on the hustings. Mr. Bowyer proclaimed himself the owner of 5,000 acres in Berkshire, and avowed his progressive Liberalism; Mr. Stanford, who showed decided Tory colours offered himself in marriage generally to the eligible young ladies of Reading. Mr. Norton, late Chief Justice of Newfoundland, a candidate brought forward on Saturday by the Radical party, sarcastically twitted Mr. Bowyer on his resemblance to a genius; and Mr. Stanford on the luxuriance of his imperial, coupled with the barrenness of his brain. Sir John Hare claimed votes on the ground that he and his father, in trade, had spent " thousands " upon Reading. Mr. Clarke gave utterance to a moderate version of Chartist principles. The show of hands was greatly in favour of Mr. Norton; and a poll was demanded,—Mr. Clarke, however, first "retiring." On Tuesday morning, Sir John Hare retired in favour of Mr. Norton. The voting began, con- tinued, and ended, altogether in favour of Mr. Stanford; and at the close of the poll the numbers were—Stanford, 507; Bowyer, 364; Norton, 107; majority for Stanford, 143.

A host of gentlemen have been named as probable candidates for Kid- derminster. On the Liberal interest, Sir W. Winnington, late M.P. for Bewdley, Mr. Thomas Gisborne, late M.P. for Nottingham, the Honourable Spencer Lyttelton, and Mr. J. H. Palmer' of the Chancery bar. A pre- liminary meeting of the Liberal electors, held on Tuesday, resolved that Mr. Gisborne, from his well-known opinions on the subject of free trade and financial reform, would be a fit person to represent the borough. On the Conservative side there have been mentioned, Mr. John Best, and Mr. W. IL Cooke, both of the Oxford circuit, Mr. J. H. Lea, the Honourable Captain Carnegie, formerly M.P. for Stafford, the Honourable Dudley Ward, and Mr. James Quin, a resident " umbrella-mender ": the last de- nounces "deceptive Whiggery, the political curse of the nation, who are but wolves in sheep's clothing." The constituency is upwards of 500, and about equally balanced in party.

A large meeting to express sympathy with the Hungarian cause was held at Exeter on Wednesday; and another one, numerous and influential, was held, on Thursday, at Manchester. At the latter, which was assem- bled on public requisition, the Mayor presided; and Mr. Bazley, President of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Alexander Henry and Mr. James Hey- wood, two of the County Members, Mr. James Kershaw, M.P., and the Reverend Dr. Robert Vaughan, took part in the proceedings. Dr. Vaughan joined in expressing thanks to Lord Palmerston for the manly utterance he had given to a sublime truth—the power of public opinion. " It is a sublime truth that public opinion should have this power in it. It is i

a power of its own order. It s without armies; it is without constables; it is without authorities of an artificial kind of any sort; and yet its very breath is law, its very look is penalty—the weakest, apparently, of all powers, it is by God's ordinances, the mightiest of all. If you ask me how this comes about, I think I see a little way to an answer. A man may not care greatly about being feared— there are proud men who like to be feared; he may not care greatly about being hated—he can bear that; but let him be despised—let him feel that he is loath ed—let him be obliged to admit that he is execrated by the intelligence and the virtue of man—and that, be sure, will be torture to the very centre."

It was resolved to petition the Queen to " protest ' against the Russian intervention, and to use all her "moral influence" in behalf of oppressed nations.

Most of the leading Leicester manufacturers have agreed to give an ad- vance of threepence per dozen upon all wrought hose sham knits; the ad- vance to be paid for all taken in on Saturday August 4. It is expected that this advance will be shortly conceded by all.—Leicestershire Chronicle. The principal mill at Blackburn has offered an advance of five per cent on the wages of the workers, on condition that the masters shall be at liberty to reduce the pay again by that amount if other towns do not adopt the increased rate. Some of the people want an advance of ten per cent; and a number have struck at one establishment.

At the time of the inquiry that originated the amended Poor-law of 1834, an important branch of the subject slipped out of view—the productive employment of paupers. Occasionally, facts come out which show that it is still susceptible of investigation; and this week we find in the Daily It but abridged from the Sheffield Times, a very interesting account of an industrial farm. It seems to have been established as a "labour-test"; but it illustrates some further points, especially the question how far a poor- law might be made self-supporting. "At the commencement of the recent depression of the trade of Sheffield, which had ita origin early in 1847, the proposition to commence a farm in connexion with the Sheffield Union Workhouse was originated with Mr. Watkinson the Ilion Clerk; who, besides having a knowledge of agriculture, had previously de- signed and carried into operation a similar plan while acting in connexion with the Guardians of the Chorlton Union. Mr. Watkinson's proposal, when first broached at Sheffield, met with the opposition of several members of the Board of Guardians; but, encouraged by the approval of other members, he persevered, till the Board at length consented to make the experiment. The design was to rea- der pauper labour reproductive by the reclaiming of waste land,—a 'description of work upon which unskilled workmen may be employed to advantage. To this end, a negotiation was early last year opened with Mr. Ellison, steward to the Duke of Norfolk; the result of which was that a tract of moorland, fifty acres in extent, the property of his Grace, was transferred to the Guardians on a lease for twenty-one years, at a yearly rental of 4.1. per acre. This land is situate at Hol- low Meadows, some six or seven miles West of Sheffield, and on the road to Gies- 801% The aspect of the site is as sterile and unpromising as can be imagined; and

it is obviously of such a character, considering also its distance from any con- siderable town, as to deter any one from attempting to bring it into cultivation un- less it were insured to him at a very low rent, and he had at command an abund- ance of unprofitable labour.

" Operations were commenced at the Udon Farm in May 1848. That part of the country is but very thinly peopled ; and the first requisite, therefore was a house for the labourers. A substantial building, situate near the Eastern ex- tremity of the new possession, within a few score yards of the Surrey Arms, WU forthwith erected, at a cost of about 1,0001., and in the month of October had ar- rived so nearly at completion as to be partially habitable. At this period there were nearly 400 able men receiving parochial relief; for the employment of whom there existed only very inadequate provision, consisting of grinding corn by hand- mills, and picking oakum, both of them branches of employment at once irksome and unprofitable. In the month of October, then, a qualified superintendent of farming operations having been engaged, some fifty men were drafted out of the ranks of the able-bodied paupers, and sent to the farm. The mode of employ- ment, although to many entirely novel, was greatly preferred to the corn-grind- ing and oakum-picking; and the farm consequently became, in a short time, the abode of the privileged, scarcely any being sent thither besides those whose ge- neral conduct was deemed worthy of reward and encouragement.

"At present there is no farm-yard; the operations having yet scarcely advanced so far as to require the erection of that part of the plan. The farm is enclosed on one side by a good stone wall, upon which an immense amount of labour has been bestowed. It is 880 yards in length, five feet high, and about a foot and a half in thickness. The whole of the stone was bared and quarried by the pauper labourers, and by them conveyed to the spot where it was required; the only la- bour having to be paid for being the dry walling. The opposite or South side of the area is bounded by the turnpike road, which previously was walled on both sides; and a short wall at each end encloses the entire farm. There is plenty of stone on the land adjacent, the free use of which is allowed. To facilitate the conveyance of the stone from the quarry, a tramroad has been laid, along which the stone for the erection of the house was conveyed, having been got by the men themselves, and laid on the building-site ready for the Masons. They have in a similar manner contributed to the erection of a spacious shed, about midway be- tween the house and the quarry, intended to be occupied during inclement weather by the men in the rough-dressing of stone for the numerous out-buildings yet to be reared. Another important operation performed by the labourers is the con- struction of the water-works ; a line of pipes having been laid under-ground to the house from a fine spring of pure water, at the distance of several hundred yards. The work of clearing has been accomplished upon about eight acres, adjacent to the homestead. The superficial stone, which is only too abundant, has been used in the formation of deep under-drains. These eight acres, having 1 en well broken up by the spade, thoroughly cleared, and efficiently drained, are now for the first time under cultivation. With the exception of a garden plot, the land is cropped with potatoes, oats, wheat, barley, turnips, and mangel wurzeL The tillage used has been carted from the Union establishment at Sheffield. The produce of these crops generally promises to be quite an average. The oats in particular, as they appear in certain places, would do credit to a well-managed farm in the best cultivated part of England. The portion of the fifty acres not yet broken up is used as pasturage for the farm-house, and a number of cattle, taken in to gist; the receipts from which exceed at the end of the season the year's rent of the whole fifty acres. The main force is still employed in clearing the land; every small portion of which, as soon as prepared, is at once made available for produce. The hours of labour are from half-past seven in the morning to six in the evening, deducting the usual meal-times. The week's ope- rations are brought to a close at noon on Saturday ; when each man, after par- taking of dinner, returns to his family and friends, with whom he is at liberty to spend the Sabbath, but he must return to the farm by Monday at mid-day. When we visited the farm last Saturday afternoon, the men had left off work ; we had not, therefore the advantage of observing whether or not they appeared cheerful and contented. Of this, however, we were assured, that while com- pelled to remain dependent on the parish, they greatly prefer being at the farm. More than this is not desirable. The active labour and corresponding food snit well their habits and constitution; and almost every man when sent to the farm speedily becomes healthy and rolinst The superior treatment here administered has the good effect in most instances of effecting a reform in the character of those stubborn spirits who in the workhouse were refractory and ill-behaved; and many who, while remaining in the workhouse or at the flour-mill, found it im- possible to obtain employment at their trade become so far improved in character after a short residence at the farm, that they experience but little difficulty in gaining the sort of employment which previously they had solicited in vain. In this manner their withdrawal from the farm makes room for others.

"The recent improvement in the staple trades of Sheffield has rapidly led to the absorption of a large portion of the able-bodied paupers into the ranks of the employed artisans; and on this account there were lad week only about forty men remaining at the farm. [This week, we understand, that reduced number has been considerably diminished; whilst about the time when the Union farm was projected, there were between five and six hundred able-bodied adult males dependent on the parish for support.] The fluctuation in the number of la- bourers, however, creates very little if- any inconvenience in respect of the sys- tematic progress of the operations, inasmuch as the chief work is the reclaiming of the land, a process which can be easily suspended or recommenced at any time. The attempt to bring under cultivation a tract of waste land by means of surplus pauper labour, has, we can state from personal observation, been completely suc- cessful. It now remains to be seen, whether as respects pecuniary considerations the result is such as to warrant an extension of the plan. Without entering into details, we are enabled to state, on the best authority, that the experiment proves that, in addition to supporting the labourers employed at the farm—and this of itself is no mean consideration—the return yielded by the various sources of in- come will fully balance the interest of the capital expended."

Hayes, Bovrey, Alexander, and Codling, the officers of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway, who were accused of conspiring to embezzle the company's money, were tried at the last Newcastle Assizee. They had been employed on the Newcastle and Tynemouth branch, two as station-clerks, another as guard, and the fourth as ticket-collector. A falling-off in the receipts was noticed; a watch was set, and it was found that the accused were engaged in a system of issuing the same tickets twice in a day, by which means they would be able to appropriate one fare on each ticket without the officers at York being able to de- tect it. On Bowey's person and in his house 4001. was found; fifty tickets upon Hayes; in Alexander's house 501.; and in Codling's 151. 108. For the accused, Mr. Grainger objected to all the counts: there was no proof that money had been received for the tickets on their second issue. Mr. Justice Patteson held the ob- jection to be fatal: the evidence generally did not support the various counts . So the verdict was "Not guilty."

At Bridgewater Assizes, on Friday and Saturday last, Charlotte Harris was tried for the murder of her former husband, Henry Merchant, lathe vicinity of Bath, on the 2d April last. The evidence in the case the particulars of which have been already briefly mentioned, was of greatlengtg. 5Iarchant was a quarryman ; he was a strong bale young titan; the couple had one child. The man was taken ill suddenly, and died a day or two after. Urged by other people, the wife had a doctor from the parish; but it would seem that she did not administer the medi- cines sent. Mr. LloYd attended the patient. He thought he was suffering from an acute disease of the stomach, and prescribed accordingly. He opened the body: there were appearances of inflammation ; the viscera were sent to Mr. Herapath ef Bristol. Mr. William Herapath deposed that he received the remains from Mr. Lloyd—" the heart, liver, portions of the intestines, and the stomach of a man. "I found nearly three grains of white arsenic in the solid form in the stomach. I then examined the fluid contents of the stomach, and found solid arsenic there. I then examined and tested portions of the liver, intestines, and stomach, and found arsenic there." Several witnesses described the illness of Merchant. Susan Smith stated that the prisoner wanted her, a few days before the husband's sickness' to buy her twopennyworth of arsenic, which she refused. Francis Book deposed, that on the 3d April, the prisoner came to the shop of Mr. Bright, a chemist, and asked for a pennyworth of arsenic; the chemist refused to serve her unless she brought a witness; presently she returned with a woman, and obtained the poison: ski said she required it to kill rats. Charles James corro- borated this; but when questioned by the Judge, he admitted that he did not see the woman's face. Mr. Bright remembered nothing of this matter: it would seem from his statement that the evidence referred to another woman who purchased arsenic at the latter end of March. This woman and her witness were called at the instance of the prisoner's counsel. From the narrative of Hannah Todd, a woman who "sells things in the market-place," it appears that the prisoner kept some kind of stall. While doing so, she became acquainted with Mr. Harris, the "old gentleman," her present husband: he bought oranges of her. Subsequently, she went about the town with him, shopping and drinking. This was in March. Before her former husband's death, the prisoner went to Harris's lodgings, inspected a house into which he intended to move, and seemed to be making arrangements for their married life. They were married very shortly after Merchant's death. On Saturday, the first witness was Hannah Shaylor a woman who worked for Mr. Harris. She first saw the prisoner and Harris together OD the 22d March, at a tavern. Then they had tea together at Harris's. The prisoner consulted with Shaylor about Harris. She asked Shaylor if she thought he would make a good husband. Merchant pretended that she had a sister who was averse to her marriage; subsequently, she said that sister was dangerously ill; and it was not till after Henry Merchant's death that she told Shaylor that she had had a husband. This witness declared that the accused had positively told both her and Mr. Har- ris that she "had no encumbrance "—she had only a sister. The real sister was called. She was not ill at the time spoken of. Several witnesses repeated a con- versation which they bad with the prisoner in gaol, in which she had imputed criminality to the Shaylors—that their " persuadance" had brought her there. But a female turnkey gave a rather different version of what was said. Mr. Saunders addressed the Jury for the prisoner, and commented on the evi- dence. After Mr. Justice Creswell had summed-up, the Jury retired. In twenty minutes they brought back a verdict of "Guilty." Sentence of death was passed. Mr. Saunders then stated that the convict was quick with child. A Jury of matrons gave a verdict that she was; and execution was respited. Two Irishmen, John and Robert Eager, brothers, took premises in Liverpool to deal in inferior kinds of grain; they quarrelled about the business, and made accu- sations against each other at a police-station; the officer in charge told them that be could not receive their complaints about the appropriation of property, as they were partners; and he advised them to make up their differences by an arbitra- tion. Soon afterwards,. Robert attempted to remove some corn from the ware- house; high words arising between the brothers. John took a pistol from his pocket and discharged it at Robert: two slugs lodged in his body. The wound was not fatal at the time, and one of the balls has been extracted. When arrested, John expressed no regret for what he had done.

Mr. Joseph Liddell, for fifteen years Mayor's Sergeant at Oxford, has absconded, after embezzling some 1,500L, principally the monies of the Corporation. Liddell had hitherto held a high character for integrity.

Mrs. Cusworth, one of the midwives employed by the Sheffield Public Dis- pensary, has been committed to prison on the Coroner's warrant on a charge of manslaughter. Mrs. Cusworth attended a Mrs. Mappin; after a time, she called in Mr. Moor, a surgeon, to assist. This gentleman deposed that he was sent for too late to be of any service: he found the patient in a most dangerous state, and he had never seen an instance of grosser ignorance and want of skill, or a case of more brutal treatment.

A shocking case of murder and attempted suicide has occurred at Liverpool. Culkin, an Irishman, who had acted as schoolmaster, and who is said to be a man of considerable attainments, had been recently in much distress. Amidst his sufferings, his wife and one of his children died, of cholera. This was a dreadful blow to him. A parish-officer, who went to the place to see about the burial of the dead, found Culkin lying beside his wife's corpse; and remonstrated with him on the danger he incurred. Subsequently, on the place being entered, a scene of greater horror presented itself,—beside the dead wife was Culkin with his throat cut, while two children who had escaped the cholera were lying in different places murdered, their throats gashed. The man was still alive • and be was removed to the hospital, with some chance of recovery. It was stated at the inquest, that Catkin had not appeared to be himself since his wife's death. A verdict of" Wil- ful murder " was returned against him.