giftiscellantous.

The- Select Committee appointed to inquire into the charges made by the South-eastern Railway Company have made their report; but it has not yet been printed. The Times thus. states the substance of it. "Captain Bolder* has incurred the animadversion of the Committee for having trafficked largely in railway. shares through Mr. Hignett, solicitor to the Board of Ordnance; who, it iestated, had no authority whatever to act on. behalf of the Board as repro- sented.by him in his letters to the railway authorities. The Committee also re- poit, that it had come to their knowledge that Mr. Bonham, in 1886, being then a Member of the House, of .Commons, had one hundred South-eastern Railway shares allotted to him, which he sold at 31. per share premium: The Committee lastly reprobate the conduct of Mr. Wray:, of the South-eastern Railway,. in con- nexion with some of. the transactions impugned; and strongly condemn the system of canvassing Members and public Boards, practised by railway companies:,

Tuesday's Gazette contained this formal anuouncement.of the newly-appointed Commission on Railway-Gauges-

" Whitehall; 5th July.

"'Her Majesty has been pleased to direct letters patent to be passed. under the.Great seat of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, appointing Sir John Mark, Frederick Smith, Llentenaut-Colonel.of the Royal Corps of Engineers, late Inspector- General of Railways,. George Biddell Airy, Esq., Astronomical Observator in her Ma- jesty's Observatory at Greenwich, and Peter Bartow, Esq., Professor of Mathematics In the Royal Military Academy at WOolwich, to bother Majesty's Commissiouere for in- quiring whether, in future private, acts of Parbiameutfor the construction of railways, provision ought to be made for securing an uniform gauge, and whether it would be expedient and practicable to take measures to bring the railways already constructed, or in progress of construotion, in Great Britain, into uniformity of gauge ; and to In. quire whether any other mode of obviating or mitigating the serious impediments to, the Internal traffic ofthenowitry, whichare represented as likely to arise from the want. of an uniform gauge, could be adopted."'

The Postmaster-General issued the following public " instruction."' on Tues- day.-

" General Post-Office, July 1845.

"Some inconvenience having-been experienced by-the inhabitants of Western Canada, in consequence of all the correspondence from the United Kingdom to the province of Canada being now sent in the closed mails to Montreal, ands desire having been ex- pressed thatparties in this °outdry should have the option of forwarding letters by the most direct route from Boston, all letters and newspapers for Canada, posted hereafter, specially addressed, by the United' States mail,' will not be transmitted by closed mails, but will be included in the mail for the United States, and will be delivered up to the last-office at Boston. NO British postage will be chargeable in this country on newspapers so forwarded. Letters will be subject to the same British rate.as letters for the United States—vie. he when not-exceeding half and 011.1100, and so on ; and title, rate must be paid in advance, or the letter, cannot be sent under this regulation. Post- masters are requested particularly to observe, that the postage on a letter not exceed- ing half an ounce, addressed to Canada, and marked.' by the United States mail,' will be is., which must be paid in advance ; the postage on a letter of the same weight, not marked • by.the United States mail,' will be.la. 2d., to be paid in- advance or not at- the opt-on of the eender.'•

There will be a fine sight at Spithead on. Tuesday next The experimental squadron now lying there will leave the anchorage, and, under.the command in

c of Rear-Admiral Hi,de. Parker, will -pre., on a trial-cruise to the Bay of Biscay-. The Queen and Prince Albert will witaiesethe departure- of the fleet, and will accompany the ships a short distance in the royal yacht Victoria. and Albert; the Lords of the Admiralty will also attend in steamers; and•a vast number of yachts, steamers, and other, vessels, will convey a multitude of spectators—some perhaps even to the Bay of Biscay.

Meetings are being held in most of the principal towns in the kingdom for the purpose of relieving the sufferers i by the late fire at Quebec. The Liverpool sub- ad Pt There on amounts to 8111. ere s by be a meeting in Manchester. Limerick has also its meeting; and even in Paris a subscription is about to be opened.— Morning Post

What would folks fifty years ago have said had they received a London paper with an engraving of a fire in Pittsburg before the rains had ceased smoking ? i yet such s the case now. We received a paper of this kind on the 4th, and lit a cigar among the rains on the same morning.—Pittsburg Age.

At the East India House, on Wednesday, the Honotuable William Henry Leslie Melville was elected a Director, in the room of Sir Jeremiah Bryant, deceased.

Captain Turner's company of Royal Artillery, 6th battalion, recently first on the roster for service in Canada, having been ordered to New Zealand, Captain Hender- son, with Lieutenant Honourable W. Yelverton, four non-commissioned officers, twenty-five gunners and drivers, the most part selected of those acquainted with stare-cutting and bricklayer's work, and one collar-maker, one shoeing-smith, and One wheeler, are to embark in the Castle Eden, hired convict-ship, expected down to 'moorings opposite the Royal Arsenal from Deptford, for a passage to New South Wales and. New Zealand. The other portion of the company is ordered to Wooden, for a short period, until an opportunity offers for their embarkation.— Morning Chronicle.

William Ferguson and Son have voluntarily reduced the hours of labour in their faotory at Dudhope, from sixty-nine to sixty-five hours per week; and since the reduction took place, the amountof work done has actually increased.—Glasgow National.

A living-monument of intelligent industry exists in Mr. John Britton, the end tient antiquary and topographer; to whom a public dinner was given at Richmond, en Monday, Ins seventy-fifth birthday, by several cultivators of the liberal arts. In the table-talk it came out that Mr. Britten was of humble origin. Having been' confinedfor six, years of his youth to a wine-merchant's cellar,, he en upon his literary-inquiries without knowledge of grammar OE dictionary; bought both for the purpose; and while yet apprentice; devoted four hours tedity to men, tal improvement. He has produced 66 volumes, gontaining, 1,e66 engravings,of noted accuracy, and costing in the. outlay 14,0004." AS subscription hasheen opened for a memorial to be prescribed to the, venerable Meographer; awl .300k has been collected.

hL Victor Hugo is reported to be inaserape—detected last 'week M an intrigue, with the wife of ,a well-known painter.

The weather has been very tempestuous lately. Mere was a violent thunder- storm with hail and rain in torrents, at Birmingham, on the morning of Thurs- day week. Several buildings were struck by the lightning, and many persons received severe shocks; though, luckily, they were- only frightened. The rain which fell did more injury: the streets resembled rivers, and a great number of cellars. were flooded, much merchandiseand.other proper4yetored in them being seriously damaged; while in some of the lower parts of the town goods were washed out of the houses, and floated away. The atom .was widely extended: it was very violent at Andover, and a farm-labourer was struck dead by the light- ning about three miles from the town. It was.also felt iu London, where, a great quantity of rain fell.

Another storm raged on Sunday night and early -on- Monday morning. At night, the lightning was very vivid in London, but dintant; and between three and four o'clock in the morning the rain fell copiously. At Erith, the tempest did a good deal of damage; a heavy showerof hail 'telling. 'fhe. conservatoriea suffered greatly ; at Lord Saye and Sete's, 4,000 or 8,000 paces of glass were broken. At Nottingham, on Sunday night, the storm was fearful: for an hour thalightning formed one lurid blaze; great damage was done by the rain, cellars and the lower apartments of many of the houses being flooded. In the surround- ing districts, much injury was done to the crops as well as to the buildings. In the town a young man was struck blind. It is related, that, he was behaving with great profanity at the moment, ridiculing the fears of- his companions, who were • with him at a public-house, and expressing a wish that they inight be all struck blind ! He has since partially recovered his sight. In ,Wereestershire, great in- jury was done to crops, trees, and conservatories, by rain, hail, and. wind. The next day, the rivers rose to a considerable height. Suffolk arid Staffordshire alai- suffered.

The rain hies occasioned some fears among the agtieulturists in all parts of the. United Kingdom; but as yet no serious mischief appears to have been done. The grass crop has turned out well, and the wheat crop is.very. promising.

A pis*ot has been formed for, uniting the Great Western Railway with the. Eastern Counties. line, by a tunnel from Paddington to. Shoreditch, tunic: the. New Road to Finsbury Square, and then turning off. By means of branch- tunnels, Tottenham Court Road, Senior's Town, King'sCross,Islington, and other districts are to be benefited. Mr. Robert Stephenson is the engineer. A prospec- tus of this remarkable project will come before the -public- in a day or two.— Morning Post. [A few weeks ago a scheme was propounded for superseding. omnibuses by tunnelling London in . the line ofi Regent Street, Charing Cross, the•Strtud, and so on to the City, with stations.at the principal points.]

The report made by Major-General Pasley, the Inspector-General of 'Railways. respecting the aecident which occurred on the.17th, June near -Sough, has just been published. It contanie no information, or suggestion which has not been forestalled by the press.

One of the counsel in the London and. York Grozip,of. Railways, now before a Committee in the House of Connuons, stated. that thaexpense of the inquiry to the various projectors whose schemes weresubuitteclio_diecuesion in that room. amounted to about 8,000/. a day.

The guarcls.who ride outside on the express trains have some difficulty in pre-, serving their sittings, so strong is the rush of air they experience. Last Tues- day several of the guards complained of. the danger the were exposed to from, the aide-wind.—Liverivol Courier.

So greatly was the population of Gravesend increasedly the immense influx, of visiters on Sunday last, that a partial famine was Oieletelj and many persons

had to depart without of either dinneror tea,, As a proof of the demand, ham was sold at six shillings per pound, and half-quertern loaves at sixpence each.

The war-brig Rapid has arrived at Plymouth, with part of the crew of a captured slaver, charged with ,murdering ,Mr. Palmer,. a midshipman, and eight- of the crew of the Queen's sloop Wasp. The prisoners are ten in number, eight Portuguese and two Spaniards. An examination has been begun before the. Mayor and Magistrates of Plymouth. A. native of Bahia, master of a slave- schooner captured by the Wasp, who was present at the massacre, said he tried to dissuade the murderers from it. According to his evidence, the Englishmen were put on .board the schooner; and the accused, who .formed part of the crew of the Echo brigantine, which had been captured, were placed under their charge.. They resolved to murder the Englishmen; and, seizing.= unguarded moment, killed them all, though not without receiving some. mantle themselves; and they threw' the bodies into the sea. They then. fired upon the brigantine, which was in company, and sailed away. A short, time after, however, the vessel was captured by the sloop Star; and the prisoners were sent to England for trial. Yesterday, they were fully committed;