Cif Vruntuits.

Lord Granby, announced as chairman of the annual meeting of the famous Waltham Agricultural Association, which was held on the 15th, honoured the gathering by his absence. Not one of the Manners family attended. Sitting at three tables ranging down the middle of a 4 hall" twice too large for their numbers, were some sixty farmers ; and in the chair, at the cross table, sat Lord Berners as president, with only four supporters—three laymen, and the Rector of Waltham.

The usual toasts having been drunk, the labourers were called in to re- ceive the prizes awarded to them for their skill or good conduct. In making his speech to them, Lord Berners remarked that the farmers' sons carried off the silver sups for their superior ploughing. He also noticed that in their district wages had not been reduced ; that although the com- pany were few in numbers, there was a brighter prospect for them; and that as he looked from right to left, in going through the distriet, " he saw many, very many more stacks of corn than used to be seen twenty years ago."

Being the hero, at least the orator of the evening, the health of the Chairman again called up Lord Berners. He again alluded to the " brighter prospects" under -which they had met : and he, gave as a reason, that " the discovery of gold was to a great extent counteracting the mischief of the Bank Restriction Act of 1844, and also the miscalled Free-trade system of 1846." But now they had a Go- vernment composed of men of principle, who would carry out "a system of justice to all classes," without withholding justice from the agricultural class ; although " it was not the time for them to force upon the Govern- ment their opinions with regard to protection." Free-trade, he was sure, was no 'benefit to the poor man ; for free trade meant cheap labour. Man- chester men began to be afraid that as they had free trade in corn and- cattle, so they would have free trade in labour—for labour was leaving the country : and he denounced the idea of bringing Flemish and German labour into the country, as un-English. Referring to corn and cattle importations, he pointed out that mutton had risen in price, while there was an increasing importation of sheep ; and he did not attribute this to "prosperity,"—but to the short supply of sheep in the country. [A mistake corrected by a subsequent speaker.] After some reference to burdens on land, he said that " now pro- tection was removed, it was a matter of simple justice that every class in the state should bear the burdens of taxation in proportion to their properrttyy."

The notorious Mr. Chouler delivered a speech, in tendering thanks behalf of the judges. He made some remarkable statements.

He agreed that "the country was thin of stock" ; and one of the causes was the "ploughing-up of grass-lands, enabling the parties to dispense with part of their stock, which gave them money to go on with and grow more corn." He demanded the repeal of the Malt-tax ; and liberty for the farmers togrow what they like, and use it as they like, " without the interference of the excise- man." Quoting a statement from the Times respecting the great extension of factories in Lancashire, and more especially the description of Mr. Titus Salt's gigantic factory near Bradford, he asked, had any of these colossal buildings been raised in agricultural districts ? had the agriculturalists had the means ? And, reading a statement, that working men were constantly rising to be master manufacturers, he wanted to know whether agricultu- ralists could go and do likewise ? The practical deduction he made was, that "the manufacturers were in a position to pay a greater share of taxation." The geld-discoveries had raised prices, it was true, but then they had en- ouraged emigration.

Upon this subject Mr. Chouler holds peculiar views. " What was the cause ? That they were net sufficiently paid for their labour here. Who would stay here for seven or twelve shillings a week, when they could get double or triple in another country ? But there must be something wrong as a system or a state where a large part of the population were compelled to labour at such low wages, while in other districts—the manufacturing— they could get three or four times as much. What constituted the difference .between the Hampshire labourer and the Lancashire manufacturer ? Were they not both Englishmen ? Was it well that one portion of the labouring population should be on low wages, and another get three or four times as much, and wallow in luxury and ease ?" Not the least peculiar• of these speeches was the last, made by the vice- chairman, Mr. Beasley.

He controverted Mr. Chonler's position, that the increased price of mutton is referable to diminished supply. For whereas 20,000 sheep in Smithfield used to be considered a large market, he saw that there were now, exclusive of importations, 30,000 sheep in the market. It was the prosperity of the manufacturing districts and the consequent demand which had raised the Price. "He could not shut his eyes to the fact, that where there was such great piuspurity in the large manufacturing towns of Lancashire and York- shire, and in the neighbouring town of Nottingham, the eonsumption of beef and mutton and flour very greatly increased."

Mr. Booker presided over the banquet of the Herefordahire Agricultu- ral Society, held at Hereford on Tuesday. Mr. King Bing and Captain Hanbury, the other County Members, Lord Batemen, Sir Robert Price, and others, were among the notables of the company. Political speech- making was avoided, and agriculture was the theme. Mr. Booker hoped that the " dawn of improvement was at last bursting on the British farm- er." Lord Bateman avowed himself "favourable to tenure by lease, or an equitable tenant-right" ; a statement which called forth a hearty cheer. For the rest, the talk was of stock, manure, and drainage; and an excellent feeling seemed to pervade the meeting.

The Chertsey Agricultural Society met on Tuesday. Colonel Sitmner presided: among others, there were Mr. Henry Drummond and Mr. Evelyn, the County Members. After the agreeable relaxation of dinner, came the harder work of the evening—the speechmaking. A labourer, who had grown a sheaf of barley from a single grain, afforded Mr. Henry Drummond a text. " Sinking the County Member," he spoke as a farmer ;. and rated his colleagues in. that line for allowing themselves to be beaten by the labourer. Why, you never got 5000 for one-5375 grains from one grain of barley. Now, till we can all do that, don't let us fancy we have finished learning to farm. That's what we have got to do. What one man can do another can —can't he ? To be sure he can. He's got just as many hands and legs. I remember a labourer once talking to a gentleman who seemed to know what he was about, and when he left him, some one said to the la- bourer, That's a sharpish sort of fellow.' Oh yes,' said the labourer, a gentleman's got a head as well as another man, if he only knew how to use it.' Well, now, so has a farmer got a head, and if he only knew how to use it he might get 5000 grains from one." "We are all manufacturers : one makes an elegant silk dress from a nasty yellow spider-looking web, and the other makes a loaf out of a dung-heap ; that is what we have to do. It is true that farming is the poorest trade carried on, but that is because it is the moat agreeable?' He recommended the use of improved machinery. Mr. Evelyn was mournful. He hoped the French President would carry out the noble sentiments he had expressed at Bordeaux : ho " re- gretted that he had not the pleasure of meeting the company under favour- able auspices " : he was afraid that "great distress is prevalent, and that the good time which was said to be coming appears indefinitely post- poned" : he hoped machinery would make up for some of these evils. A gentleman observed, that it-is all very well for " rich men " to talk about machinery, but it is the duty of rich men to experimentalize and prove what is useless. Mr. Drummond concurred. The last toast was " The Labourers."

Cranbrook Agricultural Association celebrated its annual ploughing- matches, with prize-giving and dining festivities, on the 15th. In the absence of Viscount lieresford, the President, Mr. Alexander Beresford Hope presided. The after-dinner oratory had no political significance ; but it afforded another instance of the favourable reception of the chair- man's advice to the farmers to trust to themselves, to drain and to manure their lands, &c. Mr. Hope especially impressed upon his audience the necessity of building cottages for the poor in which the requirements of decency should be more looked to in the provision for sleeping-rooms.

At the annual distribution of prizes to the pupils of the Sheffield School of Design, in the Music-hall, on Tuesday, a large party of ladies and gentlemen were gathered together, to witness the proceedings, and hear the speech of the chairman, the Duke of Newcastle. Among the company, were Viscount Milton M.P., Mr. James Montgomery, Mr. Carr the Mayor, the Reverend Mr. Sale the Vicar, and Mr. Hunter the Master Cutler.

The proceedings opened with the reading of a report by Mr. Wightman, the honorary secretary. As respects the local school, the report states that " it maintains the satisfactory position it has occupied for some years. The debt has materially decreased; the attendance of pupils continues steady" ; and no alteration has been raado in the mode of carrying on the studies. The report concluded by stating that the medals acquired by the Sheffield pupils at Marlborough House, and the high testimony accorded to the school •by the report of the Juries of the Great Exhibi- tion, were abundant proofs of the school's artistical progress.

After the report was read, the Duke of Newcastle delivered a long and masterly speech. He had hesitated at first to accept the chair, because he did not feel com- petent to instruct others on subjects of art, and he could rather have wished that the chair had been occupied by one of the aristocrats of art and science to whom this country is beholden in a great measure for the success of the Great Exhibition. He felt, however, that every legislator is bound to take an active interest iu this movement. The cultivation of art in this country in every branch of trade has now become a matter of vital necessity ; and if the people intend to carry their great trade successfully to the ends of the earth, they must do it by promoting the arts which can alone maintain suc- cessful rivalry. The pupils of the Sheffield School of Design had distinguished themselves in obtaining prizes ; there had been acts of individual liberality in the town towards the school ; but satisfaction at those facts was not unalloyed. The rooms in which the School of Design is held do not come up in any degree to what might be expected from so great and flourishing a community. The

" principal room" bad enough.' The room called "the Geometrical School" made him say to himself, "Is this a place in which to educate the rising Newtons of Sheffield ?" The eun was streaming into the "Figure Room" at that moment, and every figure was in false shadows. "You have received 6001. a year from the Government, and the whole contribution which this town has made is 2001. This is not giving a fair trial to the experiment." The 6001. is expended entirely in the payment of masters; who are not over- paid; the means and appliances of the school are dependent upon that small aura of 2001. "You want a better room and a better libfary. You ought to have a fund out of which to devote 501. a year to the increase of the library and the purchase of works of art, to form a museum of art. Out of forty or fifty great firms in the town there are many that could contribute 1001., which would be but a drop in the ocean of that enormous capital which is turned over every year in Sheffield." He urged this upon the ladies as well as upon the gentlemen around him. He bide them look at America, whero if you go into any great establishment for the manufacture of• silver goods it is ten to one that you will find the most elegant piece of workmanship an English order.

He regretted the comparative failure of the scholarships. People say you are educating two or three hundred pupils in drawing and the fine ride-- what is to become of them hereafter ? Now, they intended to instruct in art, but not to make artists. At the same time, there is something in the objection. Engaged at work ten hours a day and two hours in school, it is not to be expected that the students in general could possess that state of mind which would enable them to master art ; but the scholarships would enable those who have proved their natural excellence to go beyond, and to become designers and artists—the English Raffaelle or Cellini for British fabrics.

The assertion that the schools have been a failure because they have not fully succeeded at once, arises from an ignorant impatience. " You compare them with similar establishments in France ; but look at the schools of Lyons, SZvres, and various others in the territories of France, and consider how long those have been established. That of Lyons has been established perhaps a hundred years, and I believe it is not by any means the oldest school of that kind in France. And canyou expect from these infant esta- blishments the same results that you get from those which have existed for so many years, and which have been supported by very large contributions of money from that source which in France does everything—the public funds ? There is no royal road to art either in this country or any Aber. You cannot create either the taste or the power of artistic excellence in a day, or a year, or ten years." There is another reason for the comparative slow success. "In this as well as other trades the laws of supply and demand equally, apply ; and you have been creating a supply and have not been fostering a demand, because you have not been educating the manufacturers to understand, to appreciate, and to employ the clever, able and cultivated workmen. I go further, and say that there has been a defect in the education of those classes which are the purchasers of those articles; and that those in the highest walks of life want that amount of education in art which shall enable them to appreciate that which is excellent, and to purchase that which is good and beautiful, instead of that which is vicious and ugly. I do not mean by this that they are all to become pupils in these different schools of design, although I do thinly that there are many who live within the circuit of these schools who would do well to enlist themselves and their children in them. There are ,plenty of hours in the day for such classes; but I say my noble friend on my right, and I, and everybody else—though, perhaps, some of us may be a -little too old now, but at any rate our sons—ought to be sufficiently edu- rated in art to appreciate that which the skilled workman shall produce." " I have gravely heard it objected to the extending of art education, that wherever you perceive the arts greatly extended, studied, and appreciated by all classes, there you will, in that very fact, invariably perceive the signs of the decline and fall of empires. Now, I utterly disbelieve that statement. I believe that anything more fallacious never was produced. It arises from a little inaccuracy in chronology—a superficial and insufficient reading of history. On the contrary, you will find that empires have thriven and have stood upon their greatest eminences when the arts have been the highest— when all have appreciated them. You will find that the arts have declined, and a vicious taste and style of meretricious ornament and faulty con- struction have been introduced, in all instances, in the gradual decay and demoralization of kingdoms. I need not carry you back to the early Assyrian and Egyptian empires ; but if you study the records of those kingdoms, you will find the facts I state to be true; and if you visit the remains of those kingdoms, you will see with your own eyes the truth of the assertion, and that everything that is vicious and bad was erected in those times when the governments were fading and their kingdoms vanishing from the face of the earth. The same will apply with regard to Athens and Rome. Will any one tell me that the works of Pericles led to the downfall of Athens —I mean his artistic works ? Will anybody tell me that the glorious beauties -of the Parthenon, and all the other magnificent buildings which even now astonish the eyes and excite the envy and admiration of those who cannot imitate them—will any one tell me that that was what led to the end of Athens ? Far from it. But it was soon after that time that increased licen- tiousness and the thirst for unjust war and undue aggrandizement led to the downfall of Athens. And I believe, that but for the attention which was de- voted to the arts in that city, its destruction would have come before. And if the fame of that empire and the fame of an individual are of any value, let me compare the state at this moment of Athens and the pinnacle of repute on which she dill stands, although denuded of those who founded that city —let me compare that state and that city with the more rigid and stern people of Sparta, whose town at this moment can scarcely be discerned—in fact, there are disputes as to the position in which it stood." "I have been led into these observations with a view of enforcing upon you the important results of art-education for all classes. It would be most valuable as enabling you, the manufacturers, and the workmen, to exercise such knowledge as you may possess, and such taste as you may possess, in the production of good articles. It will enable you to discard that odious taste for fashion and novelty, which is now injuring the trade of this and many other towns. It is this vicious taste for novelty which leads manufac- ..turcrs always to be running after something new—which makes them, in- stead of looking for what is beautiful and good, only seek that which isnovel, and, discarding that which is really of good and sound construction, look only to some tawdry ornament, or to some form or adaptation of a form, which has hitherto been unappropriated to any purpose to which either nature or art, or anything except the morbid brain of such men, ever intended such article to be applied." He deprecated what may be justly called robbery of French designs, " by .picking to pieces the works of French designers, and putting them into some new and fantastic form, to produce what they call some new English de- signs, and perhaps register them accordingly. Let me impress upon you to discard this practice, and to employ instead those men to give designs for you which shall enable you to enter the race of competition. You will have already found that I am no flatterer. I hope that what I have said are truths; but if they are truths, I am afraid they are somewhat unpalatable. But I have not yet done. I rejoice in the great success of the iron and steel trade of this town, but regret the same cannot be said of the silver trade. It is in this branch of the trade that the services of the School of Design have been undervalued and repudiated ; and I firmly believe, looking to the admirable qualifications of Precious metals for works of art—looking to the fact, which I think all must feel, that there is something peculiarly inappropriate, I had almost said dis- gusting, in seeing in a material of this value a mere effort to amass a huge quantity of silver with a view to expense, entirely repudiating all taste and delicacy of touch,—when we look to what has been done in the works in precious metals it all former ages, we must feel it is a disgrace to this town and to the country that they should not bring the art in this respect to a higher pitch of excellence than they have." Repeating his exhortation to provide ampler funds, the Duke insisted on the value of art-education as one important element in that great structure of moral and intellectual discipline of which religion must indeed be the basis, 1,1It of which the ornamental arts are the apex. " I believe, if you will ex- amine this subject, you will find that those who in whatever walk of life, Inse devoted themselves to the studies of the fine arts, have been among not oily the beat fathers, the best brothers, and the best sons in the community, Ic:t also among the best and wisest members of the great family of man."

Several other speakers addressed the meeting, and the proceedings closed w:th the distribution of prizes.

Upwards of a hundred clergymen attended a meeting in favour of Dio- cesan Synods, at Warrington, on Thursday. There were also present Lord de Tabley, Sir Stephen Glynne' and other laymen. The meeting was one of a series held successively in Derby, London, and Gloucester; and the upshot of it was, that after passing two resolutions strongly in favour of Synods and facilities for consultation, they resolved "that the meetings in behalf of Diocesan Synods be suspended at the discretion of the com- mittee " ; clenching that recommendation with a reminder that consider- able pecuniary liabilities had been incurred, and that the financial com- mittee would be glad to receive the means of discharging the same.

Prince Albert, assisted by the Bishop of Oxford and the Provost of Eton, laid the foundation-stone of a new chapel of ease at Eton, on Thursday.

The institution called the Liverpool Free Public Library and Museum was opened to the public on Monday. Mr. Thomas Littledale, the Mayor, Mr. William Brown M.P., Mr. Turner M.P., Mr. Thornely M.P., Land Mr. Councilor Picton, were the chief persons who assisted on the aus- picious occasion. The Library contains ten thousand volumes ; and it is expected that four thousand more will be added in the current year. The valuable collection connected with natural history belonging to the late Earl of Derby, and bequeathed by him to Liverpool, forms the Museum.

The newly-raised Militia will soon be in actual training in divers coun- ties. The South Devon corps have indeed already assembled : they met at Plymouth on Monday last.

Judgment has at length been delivered by_the Bishop of Rochester, as Visitor, in the case of the Reverend Robert Whiston, Head Master of the Rochester Schools. Mr. Whiston was removed from the Mastership in 1819, for publishing Cathedral Trusts and their _Fulfilment, a pamphlet which ex- posed with searching severity the dealings of the Dean and Chapter of Ro- chester in certain parts of their administration. The Bishop pronounces the pamphlet "libellous " asregards the Dean and Chapter ; but he thinks Mr. Whiston may have been misled by "legal opinions of high authority, though given on erroneous data, upon the main charge against the Dean and Chapter of having illegally taken to themselves a disproportionate share of the revenue of the Cathedral property." Having recorded this opinion, the Bishop re- instates Mr. Whiston in the office of Head Master, on the 1st of next Janu- ary ; on condition that Mr. Whiston " shall have no right or claim against the Dean and Chapter, or any one else, for any profits or emoluments accruing from the 19th day of October, the day of his removal from the office, up to the 1st January next,"—the Visitor being of opinion that Mr. Whiston "de- served to be suspended during the time aforesaid." The judgment also cau- tions Mr. Whiston not to publish any more editions of his pamphlet.

An important decision, upon a point never before settled in England, has been given in the County Court of Yorkshire, in Hull. The plaintiff was Mr. Raikes the banker, and the defendants were the York and North Mid- land Railway Company ; one of whose trains, being a "heavy " one—that is, unusually full of passengers—had arrived at Milford Junction half an hour too late for the Great Northern quick-train for London. The Jury gave 51. damages.—Huld Packet.

An attempt has been made to " burke " a young woman at Yarmouth. Mary Ann Proudfoot was found at night by the wall of a mill, all but suffo- cated; her clothes were torn, and there were marks of a struggle on her per- son ; while over her face was fastened a plaster made of pitch and tar. She stated that the man who had beaten her and placed the phister over her mouth was Samuel Howth, a corn-porter, by whom she was with child. She was a servant in the family of the merchant who employed Howth. The meeting was sought by Howth, on pretence of providing money for the wo- man's lying-in. Howth was apprehended by the Police, and examined by the Magistrates on Tuesday. He is a man of forty, with a wife and family. May Ann Proudfoot is thirty-six ; she has had two illegitimate children. " Her ap- pearance produced quite a sensation of horror in the court. A more hideous form probably was never witnessed. Her head and face were swollen to nearly twice their original size-' the features appeared to be completely destroyed, the face presenting a blackened pulpy mass, produced by fearful blows inflicted by some blunt instrument while on the ground. She was greatly exhausted, and almost bent double." From the poor creature's evi- dence and that of other witnesses, it appears that the plaster was a very large one, sufficient to cover the face, head, and neck ; it was made of Stock- holm pitch and coal-tar spread on canvass. The woman stated that she tore off the plaster when Howth first threw it over her face; but he replaced it. Her screams brought persons to the spot in time to save her life. At Howth's house a kettle was found containing tar and pitch, and a piece of canvass similar to that used for the plaster. One of his hands had a smear of tar upon it. A brace was found near the woman; Howth had but one brace to his trousers when arrested. The prisoner was remanded for a week.

John Spear, a dissipated shoemaker of Bristol, has killed his wife. He had pawned her gowns, and she found him at a public-house spending the money ; she upbraided him and flung a plipe at him; he suddenly struck j her in the abdomen with a clasp-knife, inflicting a wound which quickly proved fatal.

Thomas Archer, formerly an engine-driver on the South-eastern line, was tried at Maidstone Quarter-Sessions, on Wednesday, for negligently driving an engine on the night of the 26th July, whereby he perilled the lives of passengers and others. The man had himself a narrow escape from death, having been thrown from the engine : he is hardly yet convalescent. On the 26th July, Archer drove a "tidal train" from Folkstone—a very fast train. As he approached Headcorn station, the up-line was blocked up by a "pick- up train" of waggons, put there out of the way of the down mail-train. In- to this pick-up train the man drove his train ; the collision was violent, but, fortunately, no passenger was fatally hurt. The crash obstructed the down- line with ruins, and the mail-train ran into them, altogether producing a terrible scene of confusion. The question for the Jury was, did Archer cause the disasters by his negligence ? Railway officials asserted that danger-sig- nals were exhibited at the station, and a man was sent forward with a red light; and if Archer had taken heed of these signals there would have been no danger of a collision. The night was rather wet and dark; the engine driven by Archer was a new one, and stiff in working ; Archer slackened speed somewhat as he approached the station - no fog-signals were placed on the' rails, as would at least have been highly desirable. The station-master at Headcorn has since been reduced to a booking-clerk. The prisoner perilled his own life; he had always been a careful driver. Archer's counsel made the most of these facts. The Jury consulted for a considerable time • and then found a verdict of guilty, but with a recommendation to mercy because it was "a very dark night." The culprit was sentenced to prison for six months, but without hard labour, on account of his delicate health.

The Bath Magistrates have inflicted two fines on Sir James Francis Rivers, Baronet, for assaulting a policeman and a porter at the railway station. Sir James drove a dog-cart to the station, and occupied part of the ground sP- propriated to omnibuses ; when requested to remove to the proper place, he refused, and struck the porter on the hand ; and on the policeman trying to remove the dog-cart, the Baronet lashed the two horses so as to pmil the liceman's life, and then belaboured the officer with his whip, and struck with his fist.

The class of "accidents" most fashionable on railways just now appear to be the running of fast-trains into luggage-trains. An instance occurred at the Miles Platting station, near Manchester, on Monday night ; when a mail-train, much behind time, ran into an extra luggage-train, which had been blocking the line for a good while. The shock was not very violent, and it would seem that no one was seriously hurt. It is said that the night was very foggy, so that the driver of the mail-train could not see the tail-lights of the other train.

A large quantity of agricultural produce, with barns, implements, and some live stock, has been destroyed by a fire on the premises of Mr. Petley, at Ash, near Sandwich. The farmer's loss is estimated at 15001., only 8001. of which is covered by insurance. There seems reason to believe that the fire was wilfully caused ; yet Mr. Petley is acknowledged to be a good master.

A man has met with a frightful death at Messrs. Bury and Son's works at Salford, in consequence of intoxication. Jackson, the stoker, was observed by the foreman to be in liquor ; and he ordered him from the place, as was usual in such cases. Some time after this, Jackson returned, not quite so- bered, and he went to look how some of the gear was working ; he fell into the midst of very complicated machinery, and was literally torn to pieces.

A large ship, the Marian Moore, has launched itself at Liverpool. An hour before the appointed time, and while numbers of men were under the vessel, it was discovered that the timbers which kept her fast were giving way ; the men were called out, and the huge mass soon rushed into the water with a lurch, and a strong tide carried her two miles away before a steamer overfooiher. Mr. Tweedie, the master of the ship, was going on board by means of a ladder when the timbers gave way ; the ladder slipped, but Mr. Tweedie saved his life by clutching hold of the main-chains. All the work- men escaped safely from under the ship.

According to the Halifax Guardian, the lesson of the Holmfirth disaster has been quite lost upon the Reservoir Commissioners. The Holm Styes reservoir was pronounced months ago to be in a dangerous state, and it re- mains so still. Whenever there is a large fall of rain the people of Holm- firth are alarmed. Last week it was expected that the crazy embankment would give way under the pressure caused by the great accumulation of water. "This terrifying fact was announced to the public in the course of Monday evening, through the medium of the Holmfirth bellman ; and the alarm thereby produced may possibly be imagined—it beggars description. Scores of affrighted families left their habitations for the night, and sought security in the houses of friends, perched in enviable because safe situations on the hill-sides. Others sat up the livelong night, not daring to go to bed ; they remained tremblingly watching and waiting for the dreaded catastrophe. All was anxiety, commotion, excitement, and alarm ; nor was the tumult in any degree quelled until a number of the townspeople proceeded to the seat of danger, and compelled the parties interested, as having a superabundance of water for manufacturing purposes, to draw the shuttle, and thus, by al- lowing as much-water to run off as was pouring into the reservoir, insure comparative safety to the dwellers below. It is monstrous that the commu- nity should be kept in continual excitement touching this matter, when the outlay of a comparatively small sum would suffice to lower the bywash to forty feet, and so obviate even a remote risk of danger. This step, however, has not been taken. In the case of Bilberry, it was given in evidence at the inquest that an outlay of 121. 10a. would have prevented the sacrifice of eighty-two human lives, and a quarter of a million of property !"