E lbe ffruniurrs.

Some of the leading participators in the Reform Conference at Man cheater reassembled on Tuesday, to receive Lord John Russell's refusal to meet a deputation, on the ground that it would be " from a particular district," "while the subject is of a nature in which the whole country is interested." Mr. Bright inveighed against what seemed like an intention in Lord John Russell to shut himself up in seclusion in Woburn Abbey, and confine himself to the little circle of party connexions ; and to con- tent himself with the meagre information of public opinion which any ...individual scout of his own may pick up in various parts of the country. s...Bright's motion, the following resolution was adopted- Ttiut"WiNgding regrets extremely that Lord John Russell has declined ./..""rfo receive the tation appointed at the late conference, and cannot but regarrttlie reasonossigned as evasive and unsatisfactory. That on a question an improve presentation, the opinions of a deputation appointed at a conference rep nting to a large extent the feelings of the population of the most Rio counties in the United Kingdom, cannot be without in-

fluence, and a strong claim on the respectful consideration of the Go. vernment; and this meeting expresses its apprehension that the course taken by the Minister is not calculated to increase the confidence of the Reformers of the United Kingdom in his intention to bring forward a substantial mea- sure of Parliamentary reform."

The mercantile community of Liverpool assists the movement begun in London for a reformation of the Customs department. A meeting of the bankers and merchants of Liverpool assembled in the Sessions-house at the end of last week,—the Mayor, Mr. T. Littledale, in the chair,—. and demanded the entire revision of the Customs system, and its more complete adaptation to the altered circumstances of modem commerce. Mr. T. B. Horafall depicted the state of things in 1845, when matters became so bad under the management of Mr. Dean, that Sir Robert Peel was induced to pass the censure of appointing fifty-five additional officers to the port ; and he said that there is reason to fear that things may actu- ally be worse now than it was then. "In 1847, we had 4598 vessels discharged in our port ; in 1850, the number was 5051, being an increase of 453 vessels; and the reduction of landing- waiters has been larger than it ought to have been. If the landing-waiters were sufficient in 1847, one would imagine that they would require more with an increase of 453 vessels ; but in 1849 the number of landing-waiters was 119, and in 1851 this number was reduced to 86. Of these there are 30 employed in the docks and on other duties, and we have therefore only 56 landing-waiters for twenty docks."

Mr. Horsfall answered some of the arguments against the reforms which are demanded. In a semi-official pamphlet, the Commissioners have ob-

bected to the assistance of merchants, on the ground that they are interested; ut there is no objection to five hundred merchants presiding as assessors of the Income-tax, and that is a far more difficult and delicate duty than the Commissioners of Customs have to perform. The Commissioners also object to officers rising : but it is a fact that those officers who have risen from the lower ranks make far better Commissioners than the others, who know no- thing of the details of business. The centralization of everything in London is full of evil consequences. In 1850, the number of cases remitted from Liverpool to London for decision was 3000; now of that number more than 2500 could have been more satisfactorily disposed of in Liverpool. Mr. Hornby, Mr. Shand, Mr. W. Rathbone junior, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. J. Aiken, addressed the meet- ing.

The resolutions concluded with one that a deputation should wait on Lord John Russell, to impress on him the absolute necessity to commerce of a total reform in the Customs system.

The inhabitants of St. Alban's assembled in public meeting at their Court-house, on Saturday,—the Earl of Yerulam in the chair,—to con- sider the best means of getting relief from the coal-tax which has been imposed on them by Parliament "for the benefit of the City of London." The Chairman declared that the town of St. Alban's had been dragged under the operation of the bill by a stealthy manoeuvre, which escaped the attention of Parliament, on the supposition that they were only con- solidating the existing law. Mr. Baillie, the Member for Inverness-shire, said that a similar manoeuvre, if practised by an individual, would be deemed the act of a swindler. He thought it a direct act of swindling on the part of the corrupt Corporation of London, which he hoped would draw down inquiry upon and a thorough reform of that Corporation. A peti- tion to the House of Commons was adopted.

A Midland Observatory is likely to be established at Nottingham. At a recent meeting of the Town-Council, the handsome offer was made from Henry Lawson of Bath, to present to the Corporation his valuable collection of philosophical instruments, with the view of founding a Mid- land Observatory for the promotion of astronomical and meteorological science, on condition that a residence and garden, and a salary of 2001. a year, were guaranteed to a resident curator. The collection cost 10,0001., and Mr. Lawson offered 1000 guineas more towards the endowment. The Town-Council thought it had not the power to provide, from the town's estate, the funds required ; but resolved unanimously to accept the gift, if the funds should be raised by private subscription. A committee was formed, and no doubt the fund will be speedily raised.

There has been a fearful coal-pit explosion, at Rawmarsh, near Rother- ham in Yorkshire attended with a lamentable loss of life—fifty men and boys have perished. Warren-dale pit, leased by Messrs. J. and J. Charles- worth from Lord Fitzwilliam, has been worked not more than twelve months. At six o'clock on Saturday morning, Mr. Sylvester, the underground- steward, went into the pit to examine the state of the air : it would seem that he found nothing amiss, for the men were allowed to descend and pro- ceed to work : Mr. Sylvester was among those who were killed. The num- ber of men and boys who descended the shaft was seventy-three. " To out- ward appearance, everything went on as usual until a few minutes before se- ven o'clock. At that time, not only those near the pit, but the whole neigh- bourhood around, were astounded and horrified by an irruption like that of a volcano. Smoke and flames burst out of the mouth of the pit in an appalling volume. Two corves which were being drawn out of the pit were projected upwards with volcanic force, and lodged in the gearing over the shaft. A quantity of coals, stones, and other matters which had been carried high into the air, descended all around the pit in a terrific shower. So fearful and perilous was it, that the persons employed near the pit-mouth were com- pelled to take shelter under the platform of the tipplers for loading the carts ; and it was only by this precaution that they escaped fatal injuries. The country all around the pit was blackened to a distance of three-quarters of a mile by the descent of dust and smoke. Amen who was standing at his cottage- door two fields from the it found his face blackened as if he had been work- ing in the pit itself. The report of the explosion was heard a distance of three miles."

Crowds immediately hastened to the spot, in search of relatives or to render aid. The damaged gearing in the shaft was repaired, and by half- past nine fourteen persons who had collected at the bottom of the shaft were got up alive, but more or less hurt; by half-past three, more persons had been drawn up yet alive, and fifteen corpses. Those of the men who were least hurt were eager in their efforts to assist their fellows still below. The search was continued without intermission. On Sunday night, the number of dead—who were killed in the pit, or who died after they had been got to the surface—was forty-nine. Two or three were supposed to be still missing : it was surmised that they had been buried beneath a mass of roof which had fallen in the North working. This fall was considered to have been the cause of the disaster; a great body of gas having been liberated, which took fire at the candles of the miners in another part of the pit.

On Monday, the remains of Mr. Sylvester—who was torn to pieces by the explosion—were collected together, and this completed the number of vic- tims. Fifty had been killed ; nine survivors were grievously maimed or hart ; and fourteen escaped with slight wounds. Many of the bodies could be recosn„ ized only by the remains of the clothing—in one case by the buckle of a belt alone.

One of the men had a most singular escape. After the explosion, he made his way to the bottom of the shaft, and in a desperate effort to escape from the after-damp, by which he was then almost overcome, climbed by the con- ductors several yards up the shaft, to a small recess in the wall. He was then so much exhausted, and suffered so much from the after-damp, that it was only by placing his mouth to a crevice in the wall, through which the water oozed, that he was kept alive. He had not been many minutes in this position before the rope and chair were lowered from the top of the shaft. This he seized, and he was one of the first that were drawn up. The Coroner's inquest began on Tuesday. The " view " by the Jury was a shocking duty : in two rooms were collected forty-one corpses, many of them much disfigured; the rest of the bodies were at houses in adjacent villages. After the forty-one bodies had been viewed, they were interred in the village churchyard, which the many excavations made to look like " the works of an incipient railway." The Coroner, in his opening address, ex- pressed a fear that others of the colliers, now in Sheffield Infirmary and other places, would not recover. The first witness was John Roebuck, the engine- tenter. He stated—"It was the duty of Sylvester to go down the first to see that the works were all safe. I was never cautioned not to let others down till he had reported that the pit was safe. It was not his duty to re- port as to the state of the pit. I did not know whether the pit was safe or not. The practice of this pit was, that as soon as Sylvester had gone down, any other man could follow, without waiting for any report as to the state of the pit. No notice has ever been given to me as to the men going down, excepting that I was not to let any one down until after Sylvester. I have regularly let the colliers down along with or after Sylvester. I do not re- collect that he ever went down alone the Brat thing in the morning. It has not been considered the duty of Sylvester or Kay, the underground-steward, or any other person, to go down into this pit before the workmen, to report as to its safety. Sylvester made it a practice to go down every morning at half-past five; but he was later than usual. The men at this pit are net furnished with Davy lamps, the pit being considered safe to work with the naked candle."

Mr. Goodison, the superintendent of the colliery, stated—"It was Sylves- ter's duty to use a Davy lamp, He had one furnished to him ; but I cannot say whether he used it or not. I know there were more than two Davy lamps." [The Coroner—" That is a very poor number."] "I use a candle when I go into that pit. No one ever intimated to me an apprehension of ' danger in that pit from want of ventilation. I never go to examine as to the safety of the exhausted workings. There may be explosive air in those places." The Coroner—" Can you account for the explosion ? " Witness—" No. I cannot even form an opinion, unless it has been caused by a trap-door being left open."

Hague, a collier examined on Wednesday, gave his view of the disaster. " I think it has been caused by the breaking down of the roof in a benk [the exhausted workings] where Joseph Bugg, Charles Cousins, and Thomas Sylvester were found dead. This benk had been on the ' weigh,' as we call it—that is, threatening to come down—for several days. I know that only from others. It had been complained of among the men." There were no rules, printed or written, for regulating the colliery or defining the duties of any person employed. Burgin, another collier, speaking of the origin of the explosion, said—" No man will ever know the secret; but, in my judgment, the third benk had broken in, and driven the sulphur to the candles."

The inquest is adjourned till Tuesday next.

Seven men and six boys have also perished by an explosion of fire-damp in the colliery of Mr. Halliburton, at Ince, near Wigan. It is called the Deep Pit, or Arley Mine ; and the shaft is more than 900 feet deep. About a hundred people descended to work on Monday morning ; seventeen went to the South- east levels; in a short time an explosion occurred there, and only four of the seventeen escaped alive. The miners in other parts only suffered by the choke-damp, and none fatally. The cause of the explosion is supposed to have been a fall of the roof in an old working, from the removal of props for use in another spot.

At York Assizes, Joseph Oldfield, an old man, ground-steward of Wood- thorpe colliery, near Sheffield, was tried for the manslaughter of Samuel Bacon. Bacon and two other men perished by an explosion ; Oldfield should have seen to the proper ventilation of the mine; it was alleged that he had neglected this, and thus been a cause of the explosion. It was proved in evidence, that the means of ventilation for a " fiery " pit were very in- efficient, and the workmen seem to have been allowed to neglect precautions. The prisoner had four sons and two grandsons working in the mine : his counsel said, it could not be supposed that he had been wilfully negligent with the lives of these sons and grandsons in peril; it wasleft to the miners to do what they thought was required. The Jury acquitted the old man.

James Wilkinson and John Ackroyd were tried and convicted of " un- lawfully wounding" Robert Mortimer, at Leeds. There was a " turn-out " of most of the workers of Messrs. Kitson and Co., engineers; Wilkinson turned out ; Mortimer remained. One morning, Mortimer was set upon b) three men, beaten, and knocked into a ditch; Mortimer was armed with a revolving pistol, which he repeatedly fired at his assailants. One of them, Holmes, was wounded in the thigh. This man turned approver : he stated that he and the prisoners were paid by a trades union to attack the prose- cutor. Mr. Justice Mcule sentenced the convicts to one year's imprisonment. Wilkinson fainted on hearing this.

There has been a conflict between keepers and poachers at Bagley Wood, in Berkshire, the property of St. John's College, Oxford. Five keepers came up at night with the same number of poachers, who were armed with an air- gun, a pistol, and bludgeons. Blows were exchanged freely ; there was some firing; and one of the marauders threw quick-lime into the eyes of an oppo- nent. After a time, two of the poachers ran away, and the remaining three surrendered. A fourth was taken during the night, while reentering Oxford. The four have been committed for trial by the Abingdon Magistrates.

Seven men of the gang of poachers who were engaged in the rencontre with keepers and police at Letton have been committed for trial.

Mr. William F. Gilby, an under-graduate at Oxford, has been drowned near Ifiley lock by the upsetting of an outrigger. The boat was seen bottom upwards ; the water was dragged, and after a considerable time the dead body was found.

Mr. William Aizlewood, of Rotherham, ironfounder, attended before Dr. Robinson of that town, for examination preparatory, to insuring his life in the Standard Life Office ; and on Saturday week he appeared before Dr. Shaman, the medical referee of the office, for inspection. The doctor had examined him, and when he was in the act of placing on his neckerchief, he was seized with apoplexy, and died in the course of an hour or two.—Preston Pilot.

There has been a fatal fire at Almondbury, near Halifax. DavidBerry, a dyer, had been out of work for some time; the family was !supported by the wife's taking in washing. One night she placed a quantity of linen round the fire to dry, and the family retired to bed, three children sleeping on

the ground-floor where the fire was. Very early in the morning, Berry was awakened by a sensation of choking, and on descending the stairs found the lower room in flames. He managed to escape into the street, though the fire scorched his hands and face. Neighbours soon came to his assist- ance, and the rest of the family were got out of the house ; but two of the children were dead, and a third died in a few minutes. The sufferings of the mother, her fright, and the death of her children, produced premature labour, and she has since died.

A prisoner, under a constable' convoy by railway to Reading, at night, opened the carriage-door, leaped out, and got away. He had a handcuff on his wrist and a leglock and chain attached to his foot.