fke Tirnuiartz.

• At a public meeting in Bakewell, last vreek, Mr. Paxton gave some in- teresting explanations of the construction of his design of a building for

• the Show of Industry and Art in Hyde Park. The Duke of Devonshire and the Earl of Burlington were present. Mr. Paxton stated, that it was not till after the rise of the squabble in the newspapers about the site that he had turned any attention to the matter. When his attention was fixed on the subject, he resolved, without knowing • anything of any other plan, or even obtaining a prospectus, to attemptsome- thiag which he thought suitable for tbc occasion.

• The building would be 2,100 feet long by 400 broad. The centre aisle would be 120 feet broad, or ten feet wider than the Conservatory at Chats- worth. So vast a struoture as Vas must necessarily be made as simple as possible in its details, else it would be impossible to carry it out : therefore the glass and its iron supports comprise the whole structure. The columns are precisely the same throughout the building, and will fit every part; the Same may be said of each of the bars ; and every piece of glass will be of the Mono size, namely, four feet long. No numbering or marking will be re- quired, and the whole will be lut together like a perfect piece of machinery. .The water is bronght down rallies on the roof, and thence-down the column; the water in no instance has further than twelve feet to run before it is deli- vered into the vallies or gutters ; and the whole is so constructed as to can-, the rain-water outside, and the condensed water ineide. The "bedding is di- vided into broad and narrow compartments, and by tying these together there is- little for the cross-ties of the centre to carry. It 113 entirely divided into twenty-four places—in short, everything runs to twenty-flour, so that the week ie-made to square and fit, without any small detail being left to carry out. The number of columns fifteen feet long is 6,024; there are 3,00a gallery-bearent ; 1,245 wrought-iron girders; forty-five miles of sash-bars; and 1,073,760 feet of glass to cover the whole. The site will stand upon upwards of twenty acres- of ground; but by a special arrangement the available space which may be afforded by galleries can be extended to about thirty acres, if neces- sary. With regard to the ventilation and the rays of light, he would say that the former was a very peculiar part of the plan. The whole building, four feet round the bottom, will be filled with louver or "luffer " boards, so placed as to admit air but exclude rain. On the inside of that there will be a canvass to move up and down, and in very hot weather this may be water- ed and the interior kept cooL The top part of the centre building is put up almost entirely for the purposes of ventilation ,- and he thought it would be found that if he had erred at all in respect of the means of ventilation, there would be found too much, rather than too little. By covering the greater part of the building with canvass, a gentle light will be thrown over the whole building; and the whole of the glass at the tap of the Northern side of the building will give a direct light to the interior. If more light be wanted, the means of affording it are provided.

The building will be covered in by the 1st of January next : he was as firmly persuaded that the contract would be accomplished to the day, as he was certain that he then addressed that meeting.

The gallery of the building will be twenty-four feet wide, and will extend a distance of six miles. Now if after the purposes of the exhibition are an- swered, it were thought desirable to let the building remain—and he sin- sorely hoped it would not be pulled down nor shipped to America—if they chose to let it remain, see to what a purpose it might be applied. There might be made an excellent carriage-drive round the interior, as well as a road for equestrians, with the centre tastefully laid out and planted ; -and then there would be nearly six miles of room in the galleries for a prome- nade for the public.

The Duke of Devonshire assured the meeting, that they might depend upon it there is no doubt of the success of this admirable plea "for Mr. Paxton has never attempted anything which he has not succeeded in fully carrying out." "But," said the Duke, "great as my admiration of the project is, and greatly as I feel interested in the exhibition itself, my pleasure is much en- hance 4 by the construction of that gigantic erection having devolved upon one to whose ability; whose exertions, whose services and friendship, I owe so much. The moment it was made known in London, all competition ceased, all difficulty was seen to be at an end ; and every one is now looking forward to a successful termination of this great undertaking." Mr. Paxton rose again, and observed, that simple as the details of the work might appear, people must not imagine that it was the invention of a dream—an Arabian night's entertainment.

It was the growth of a number of years of deep thought and practice; and sinless the conservatory at Chatsworth had been first made, this would not have been erected. The experience he gathered in the erection of that building had not been lost upon the one about to be erected ; which was a better design, in some respects, and constructed upon a more economical principle. Such a design, however, could not have been erected twenty- four years ago, on account of the cost of the glass, which would have been more than the whole cost of the proposed building. The erection of the con- servatory was the principal cause of introducing this particular form of glass into this country. He was anxious, in order to avoid the collection of dirt, not to have a lap in the glass ; and he went to the establishment of Chance of Birmingham, where he met with a French and a Belgianmanu- facturer, whom he prevailed on to make the glace for the conservatory four feet long. They did so; and the introduction of it led the Birmingham manufacturers to prepare the same, and they now make the best of any country,—a striking illustration among many that might be given, of the benefits to be derived from the exhibition itself.

Mr. Barker, who seems to be a local owner of mines and a manufac- turer, made an interesting speech in illustration of the benefits we have derived by admitting foreign competition : the fact is, we have more to gain than to lose by seeing the productions of foreigners.

The art of inlaying in marble was a striking illustration of the truth of this. It was practised to some extent in that neighbourhood, and the exe- cution of the work was far superior to the Florentine mosaic of that descrip- tion. But the fertility and' beauty._ of design among the Italians secured them a ready sale for their works in this country, to the exclusion of the productions of Derbyshire. He exhibited a beautiful table of black marble, inlaid with flowers of various colours the work of Mr. Woodruff of Bake- well ; and he showed, by some smaller specimens, the mode in which the inlaying is executed, and the extreme minuteness and accuracy with which the parts to be inlaid are fitted to the groundwork. Mr. Woodruff has asked for a design of some work which he desires to execute in a style worthy of the Show next year ; and he has no fear of being exeelled by foreigners in execution. Mr. Barker pointed to some products of lead, and declared him- self willing to explain their manufacture to foreigners. He had always found that those smelters and manufacturers of lead who kept their doors closed to their competitors in the trade were invariably surpassed by those who freely exchanged information at the same time that they carried on an honourable and vigorous spirit of emulation. Lately, at the laboratory of the Eccles des Mines in Paris, the chemical professors gave him the analyses of various metallic products, which he had never before seen analyzed' and with the utmost liberality they offered to submit to analysis all mineral substances which he would at any time send to them, and to furnish him with the results without any charge. Such an offer made him blush with shame to think that England, the richest country in the world in metals and minerals, was without any school of 'instruction in mining and metallurgy ; while France, so comparatively poor in her me- tallic products, possessed the finest school in the world. He felt that, stand- ing there with all his English associations and prejudices weighing upon him, he was not in so fit a condition to give an impartial judgment on the merits of this great exhibition as if he were on the Continent of Europe or in America among his Anglo-Saxon brethren. But if he might judge from what he had recently heard from enlightened foreigners of various nations, he should say, that this gathering of all nations was viewed by them as the grandest design which had ever been conceived by any nation in the world, and calculated to produce most important results, both in a social and com- mercial point of view, to the inhabitants of every country who may partici- pate in rt.

After a comparative immunity from fires for nearly a century, Gravesend has within the last few years been greatly ravaged by conflagrations ; aad

bet Sunday mornine- the town suffered from the most extensive ea/amity of that nature which has yet befallen it no fewer than twenty-nine houses, having been destroyed., and eleven others more or less seriously damaged, in. a. part_ of the town. where valuable property was accumulated. The find alarm was raised at half-past two o'clock, when smoke and flames were observed issuing from the premises of Mr. Adlington„ a grocer living at No. 65 in the High Street; though it does not appear unite certain that the fire originated there. The High Street is a narrow and inconvenient thoroughfare ; but in it are the shops of the principal tradesmen, with the Town-hall and Market-place. The houses were mainly constructed of timber, and the flames rapidly tra- velled from house to house, proceeding down the street towards the pier, so that some of the inhabitants had difficulty in escaping with their lives. Before the town engines could be got to work, some time having elapsed be- fore water was obtained, a dozen houses on one side of the High Street were blazing, while the flames spread across the road to the opposite buildings ; houses in Church Alley and in lanes in the rear of the High Street also caught fire. The scene was fearfully grand; the town, river, and shipping, being brightly illuminated. The reflection of the flames was aeenin London, and some engines hastened to Wapping and Greenwich as the sites of the fire. Engines were obtained from Rochester, Chatham, Dartford, and Til- bury Fort; and at a later period two engines arrived by rail from London, with a detachment of the Fire Brigade. The contents of a tallow-chandler's shell and two spirit-shops helped to feed the fire and spread it. At one time, both the Parish-church and the Town-hall seemed to be in danger; but they escaped. The fire was so far got under or had burnt itself out by seven o'clock, that there was no danger of its further spread; at that time a wide extent of ruins presented itself. The latest information justifies the estimate that the damage will amount to 100,0001.; and this does not seem an exaggeration, for twenty-five individuals who have suffered were insured for 75,800/. Half-a-dozen insurance-offices will be losers ; one will have to pay 28,000/., and two others 18,000/. and 12,000/. respectively. The premises of the Lon- don and County Bank were consumed ; but the papers, books, and cash of the concern, were saved. It is reported that there was a difficulty in getting people to work the engines, the authorities not having paid those who thus la- boured on a former occasion ; in Leaden, the Brigade officers see to the pay- ment of all persons who pump, and they never lack assistance. The Magistrates held an inquiry into the origin of the disaster on Wed- nesday. Many persons gave evidence, but nothing decisive was elicited. The fire commenced either in Mr. Adling.ton'a house or in the next one, occu- pied by Mr. Reed. Some suspicion fell upon Mr. Reed at the beginning of the week; but the Bench has declared that there was no just cause for it.

. At tsineester Assizes, last week Henry Thompson, Samuel Tillotson, and Thomas Maddoeks, were indicted for conspiring, in 1841, to remove 29,367 gallons, of foreign wine without payment of the duty,. 11,9511. Mr. Thomp- son, is a wine-merchant and importer at Liverpool ; Tillbtaon and Maddocks were lockers in the Customs at that port. Thompson rented two compart- ments in a bonded warehouse ; here he stored, during a series of years, large quantities of wine; whenever he took any out, he should have gone through a certain routine and paid the duty ; but it was alleged that between Novem- ber 1837 and October 1842 begot 208 casks of wine from the warehouse with- out paying duty. This. wine, it was urged, could not have been removed without the connivance of the two lockers, who at the time, had charge of the compartments rented by Thompson ; they had keys, and he had a key, and the owner of the wine could, not enter the glaze without a locker attend-, lug with his key. The discovery was made iu 1848, when Government ordered ass inspection of stocks. When the order became public, Mr. Thomp- son suddenly paid. into the Custonaafor foreign wine, in three weeks, no less than 11,951/. duty,—an unprecedented amount during so short a time. On search, it was found that the wine was gone from the bonded ware- house, without the proper routine of entries; and that no claim had been made for leakage, such- as would have been due to Mr. Thompson if the wine had remained in the warehouses as long as he professed. He- thus forewent a sum of more than 3001., although the officers pointed out that it was due to him. This was the statement of the counsel for the pro- secution,. the Attorney-General for the Dutaky of Lancaster, Mr. Marti Q.C. ; and witnesses were called to substantiate it They were cross-examin in.= attempt to show that the lockers possibly had so much to attend to at Clines of pressure that the wine might have been removed without their privity. Mr. Cowling submitted that no case had been made out against iffedclocks. Mr. Justice Creswell agreed.; and after hearing the Attorney- General for the Dutehy, directed the Jury to acquit both kladdocks and. Tillotson, as it would be impossible for them, on the evidence, to say which,. at either of them, was guilty. For the prisoner Thompson, Mr. Serpent Murphy took three objeetiona,—that the act which, created the offence had been repealed ; that too long a. time had elapsed between the alleged offence and the prosecution ; and that Tillotson and Ifaddocke having been acquitted, *here could be no charge of conspiracy brought home to Mr. Thompson. The Judge reserved all three points for the Court of Criminal Appeal. Ser- geant Murphy then spoke in defence, the Attorney-General for the Dutchy

lied, and the Judge summed up. The Jury at once gave a verdict of

&Wells Assizes, on Saturday, Mr. Thomas Paull, a young man, was tried for setting fire to a wheat-stack, near Dminster. The stack belonged to his mother, and was destroyed by fire, just as the- mother and her sons had quitted the occupancy of the farm. The chief witness was John Harris, a man who had been, in. the service of Mts. Paull. His evidence was given. rather too glibly. He pretended that Thomas had spoken to bins about setting fire to certain mows, as.the contents were bad, with the object of at once getting money for them from an insurance-office ; after the fire; Thome save Harris a sovereign, and promised him, more money if he did not tell anything ; butareward of 50/. had been ofibred, and Harris tried to get it bydeMiling his story of Thomas's guilt. In cross-examination, the witness repeated his narrative of long conversations word for word : it was evident he had got it by rote. Mr. Stone, for the prisoner, asked the Jury whether they- could- believe Harr]; and. whether it was necessary for him, to call wit- nesses. The Jury said they did not require to hear more. Mr. Justice Coleridge observed, it was quiteevident that the story must have been written. by Harris himself, or by some one more wicked than himself, and then learnt off by repeated readings. No motive whatever could. be assigned for the prisoner committing such an act. The Jury gave a verdict of "Not guilty " ; which was received with a burst of applause.

At Gloucester Assizes, on Monday, Elizabeth Bubb, a woman of forty, was 'tried for the murder of Maria Hook, a child four years old, by intentionally neglecting to supply it with necessary fo id and clothing: a second count charged manslaughter. Hook, a woodman, lived at Chureham, near Glou- cester; two years since, his wife died, leaving three children, of whom Maria Was the youngest Soon after her death, Bubb, her sister, who had two ehildren of her own, came to keep house for Hook Hitherto Hook's chit, dren had been healthy-looking, and had been well attended by the mothen. Now a sad change occurred to them : they were neglected, ill-trea starved ; Maria suffered the most. While Bubb and her children were we fed, the other children literally collected, from hunger, the crumbs that fell from the table. The trial lasted for twelve hours, and was of a shocking de- aeription. Many witnesses related. how the poor child had been misused : it was covered with filth and nearly naked ; it looked lost in ita mind, and afraid to cry out, from bad usage ; it was the picture of famine—a living skeleton. Neighbours gave the girl food occasionally, which she ravenously devoured. Bubb abused any one who interfered in behalf of the child. She swore at it constantly, threatened it, and exclaimed, "Damn thee ! thee wilt never die, and nothing will ever kill thee." The food that the woman gave to the child appears to have been little bits of dry bread which no one else would eat. At length nature was conquered, and the child died in convul- sions. A surgeon examined the skeleton. Four years old, and of a proper height, the child's remains, including a cloth, weighed only six pounds • a. new-born infant weighs from five to eight. The corpse presented a shook. mg appearance—eyes sunk, frame attenuated, ulcers on the joints, &c.. There were hardly any traces of food in the viscera. Death had been caused by in- sufficient food,. clothing, and necessary comforts. There was no organic disease. Proof was given that Hook was not in want ; he was in work, and enough food for the family went to his house: ten loaves and half a aide of bacon were found there at the child's death. In summing up, Mr. Justice Wil- liams told. the Jury, that if they believed the prisoner had undertaken the duty of supplying the child with proper food and clothing, and had wilfully neglected to feed and clothe it properly, with intention and desire to deetroy- its life, or to do it grievous injury, they should find her guilty of murder • if they believed she had undertaken the duty, and had culpably neglected to perform it, but without an intention to destroy life or to grievously injure it, they should find her guilty of manslaughter; but if they believed she either not undertaken such duty, or had not neglected to perform it, they should acquit her altogether. After a short deliberation, the Jury returned the following verdict— 4We find the prisoner guilty of an aggravated man- slaughter"; and she was thereupon sentenced to be transported for life.

Richard Hook, the hither of the same poor child, was also tried for the man- slaughter, in omitting to give her proper food and clothing. It appeared that the treatment of the child was much better when he was at home than when she was loft under the solo care of Bubb. The Jury therefore acquitted him.

Hannah Curtis was tried for the murder of her late husband, Thomas Harris, on the 30th April, by the repeated administration of arsenic. The incriminatory facts were not so numerous nor so direct as in other cases which have lately occurred. There is no doubt that Harris was poisoned by arsenic. He was a hale man till the 19th of April ; on the 20th he walked with a stick, and leaned against the wall, pressing his hand on his stomach- he

threw up blood, and constantly afterwards he threw up all his food and medicine. He died on the 30th of April, and was buried on the 5th of May without suspicion. But his body was disinterred ; and Mr. Ilerapath of Bristol found large quantities of arsenic in the stomach and viscera—more than enough to have caused death. Mrs. Curtis—then Mrs. Harris—had. bought arsenic, ostensibly to kill strange cats : before her husband's death, she informed neighbours that a gipsy had told her her fortune—" Her hus- band would be bad, be worse, and be took off very sudden; but she would not be a widow long, for she would soon get another offer, and it would be her own fault if she refused him " ; on the day of her hus- band's death, as she herself told a neighbour, John Curtis, shoemaker, called and made her an offer, and on the 26th of May she married him. When the inquest was first mooted, she was much alarmed, and on suspicion' turning against herself, she repeatedly fainted, and essayed to make some con- fession to a neighbour; but was first put off by the neighbour, who was un- willing to hear, and was afterwards checked by her own daughter. On the other hand, however, her purchase of the poison had been unconcealed ; her treatment of her late husband had been very kind at all times • he at least had not the least suspicion against her, and much of his food and medicine was given by her before witnesses who were equally without suspicion. Cur tie was an old acquaintance of whom Harris had always been Jealous, and the story of the fortune-telling was matter of gossip as unconcealed as was the purchase of the arsenic. The alarm at the inquest was not unnatural, and the alleged offer of confession was very vaguely vouched. The Jury de- liberated half an hour, and found a verdict of "Guilty." Prisoner—" My Lord, I am quite innocent."

Holywell and the neighbourhood have been in a state of great excitement from the outrageous proceedings of a number of miners, Captain Francis, the agent of the Milwr Mining Company, had arranged with the miners that they should work on the Cornish eight-hour plan, which really exacts only six hours of labour per day ; he also put an end to a plan of working by the men, called "bargains." The lIalkin and Talargoch minors; who work on the-six-hour system, or four hours of work daily, resolved to compel the Milwr Company to adopt the same plan. On the 20th of last month, they, assembled in great numbers, went to Captain Francis's house, threatening to- murder him, tarrying a sack to put him in' and digging a hole as if to bury him alive. They obtained admission into his house, but he had eseap They extorted a written promise from Mr. John Lightoller, a shareholder In the mines ; and Mr. Charles Lightoller, a solicitor, was savagely beaten with bludgeons. Two of the ringleaders were arrested, and taken to Mold; the- miners assembled, went to the town, and determined to release the men; but they were privately conveyed away to Northop, where the Magistrate were sitting. Thither the mob followed, filling the Court-house, threaten.- ing„ and creating general disorder. The consequence was, no evidenee could be got against the prisoners ; so they were liberated, and were escorted to. Holywell in triumph. Matters now grew so serious that an application wax made to Cheater for the military. A detachment of the Thirty-eighth Foot arrived at Holywell, and the rioters cooled down. Two men have been. arrested; and at the late Flintshire Assizes true bills were found against. them and four others for riot and conspiracy.

The Sheffield Filesmithrs' Soo:ety has been robbed of 1201. by a clever rogue.. The funds of the society were deposited in an iron safe, to which there were three looks, the keys being held by three members of the com- mittee. Samuel Paley, a. file-forger, was recently one of the three. On the evening of the 23d of last month, the society met at its rooms ; a good deal of money was received, 120/. in bank-notes was placed in a case and 1201. in coin in a bag, and bah deposited in the safe, which was then locked by the three committeemen holding keys. Subsequently, two sovereigns more were paid in ; Paley remarked, that these should be put in the safe, and asked his fellow key-bearers for their keys ; he then knelt down in the dusk, opened the safe, appeared to deposit the gold, and relocked the chest. On a subsequent evening, Paley did not attend as he ought to have done to re- sign his key, his period of service having expired. The safe was now brokers open, and it was found that the 1201. in notes had vanished. Paley has a very large hand, and he seems to have grasped the paper in. it am he deposited. one of the sovereigns in the coin-bag, and -held the notes concealed till he. had an opportunity to thrust them in his pocket, the second sovereign he, stole. It seems Paley absconded from Sheffield with a woman, dese ir wife and four children : it is supposed that he has gone to Hamburg, wa• he will be pursued. It has been discovered that a fire which recently destroyed a dormiterf Parkhurst Priem was the work of some of the young criminals confined. in the gaol. Amelia Snoswell, a girl of twenty, living at Gravesend, has murdered the intent of her sister, Mrs. Cooper. After the infant bad been put to bed with.

another child, the girl went into the room with a knife and cut its throat; then she returned to her sister, and said, "I have killed her now, and she is happy." The girl had previously exhibited symptoms of a disordered mind, and her behaviour after the murder and before the Magistrates strengthened the supposition of her insanity. She has been committed to prison.

The Jury that sat on the bodies of the people killed by the fall of part of a cotton-mill at Stockport have returned this verdiet—" The deceased, Wright Barker and others, came to their deaths accidentally, through the

MILfalling of the floors of the Brinksway factory, belonging to Mr. Cephas , which were supported by a cast-iron beam of an imperfect con- struction, and of an improper calculation, considering the weight it had to bear."

Puddy, the master of the Red Rover Bristol steamer, died in the Infirmary on Saturday last—the fifteenth victim of the explosion. Both his legs were fractured, and he was severely scalded ; "but the principal cause of death, it is said, was the violent shock given to his nervous energy, and which so much affected his mind that he could not be brought to believe that there had been any accident, and laboured under the delusion that he was in the Infirmary for a chill or rheumatism in his legs."

A boiler 'exploded in the mill of ,Messrs. Lees and Mills, at Oldham, on Monday afternoon; causing the death of one man and severely scalding two others. One of two boilers was undergoing a slight repair, under the direc- tion of Mr. Fox, a boiler-maker; as he was passing through the boiler-house, the "flue tube" of the boiler which was in work gave way, the water rushed into the fire, there was an explosion, with a great escape of steam, and Mr. Fox was scalded to such a degree that he died next day.

Mr. J. Longbourne, agent for Lord Milford in Pembrokeshire, has been accidentally drowned. He went in a phaeton, accompanied by a servant, Ito Maenclochog fair ; after transacting his business, he set out homewards in the afternoon. To shorten the distance, he resolved to pass through the river Cleddy by a ford near Egremont ; he was warned that heavy rains had made the ford dangerous ; but he persevered. In the stream he discovered the correctness of the warning : the current was ,so strong that the horse could not resist it ; the animal plunged about, and the shafts broke ; Mr. Longbourne leaped from the vehicle to swim ashore; the servant clung to the horse, and gained the land, but Mr. Longbourne perished.

Five colliers were returning home in a boat from Milford ; their vessel shipped several seas ; they became so terrified that they leaped into the water, and were all drowned.

r Two brothers, sons of Mr. Wilkinson, a grocer at Leicester, have been drowned while bathing in the river near the town. Same men at work on a railway-bridge noticed a great splashing and struggling, but thought the brothers were merely at play.

Mrs. Juggings, the landlady of the Wheat Sheaf at Sunderland, has died of hydrophobia, the consequence of a bite in the hand inflicted by a cat some four or five months before the malady appeared.

The female servant of a farmer at Pantglas in Wales has died from wounds inflicted by a bull, which attacked her as she was passing through a field.

An Irishman, a woman, and two children, have died at Wisbeeh Fen, near Thorney, after eating a quantity of fungous plants which had been gathered in the fields for mushrooms.