The Week.

and it was unanimously determined to wind up the estate by private arrangement . Mr . Laundy , an accountant , was chosen manager . A meeting of the North Staffordshire iron workers and their masters in the presence of Lord Lichfield took place on AVednesday ab Stoke . It seems to have ended abortively . The masters insisted as a sine qua non that the men should go to work at the reduced rate of wages , and that

then the differences between them should be referred to arbitration . To this the men . declined to agree . They would not go to work at the wages the South Staffordshire men had accepted , and the quarrel seems now as far from being healed as ever . The masters will now probably introduce men from other districts to North Staffordshire , and thus get their works

open again . Meantime , the London trades' delegates have met and passed resolutions approving of the conduct of the North Staffordshire men , and promising them support . The Davenport Brothers appear destined to occupy the public attention to an extent to which they are not entitled . On Monday the liability of their agents to return the sums received in

connection with the seance which was broken up at Liverpool was decided in the local county court . The judge said that he considered that " the manifestations" were an indispensable part of the contract , ancl thab as these had not been produced , as advertised , the money must be returned . ——A very sad accident happened at the Dover Harbour Station of

the London , Chatham , and Dover Railway , on Friday , the 24 th ult . The agent for the Belgian Government and mail packet service was on the platform when the express train came in , about half-past ten at night , ancl running along tho platform he come violently in contact with a post which threw him by the shock over the platform , and right in front of the advancing train . He was taken up shockingly mangled , and survived only

a short time . A fatal accident took place on Sunday morning near Croydon . The Brighton Railway Company , desiring to take down a bridge on their line in that neighbourhood and replace it by a more convenient one , employed a number of men to weaken the supports , while a locomotive was to haul it down . Whether by mismanagement or by accident it happened that the bridge fell while the men were working under it , and six men

were buried in the mass of brickwork . Two were taken out dead , another has s ' uico died , and the others were seriously injured . Another railway accident more startling in its character than any of the others , though happily unattended with loss of life , took place on Sunday afternoon at the Ludgate-hill Station of the London , Chatham , and Dover Railway . Few

Londoners can have failed to notice the spacious and lofty station which was rising witli almost mushroom rapidity on the north bank of the river , the counterpart or fac-simile of that which already graces the south side . The building was approaching to completeness . The iron girders and ribbed work to support the work had been thrown over , ancl the glass

roof was inserted when , all of the roof that had been raisediron work , beams , ancl glass , fell in with a tremendous crash , striking against ancl more or less injuring the side walls in their fall . As it was Sunday , no workmen were present , which was the cause of saving many lives , as on week days the men may bo seen clustered about the building like bees . Most of

the mass fell inward , some fell into Union-street , but no passenger was injured , and little damage was done . AVe regret to have to report the total destruction of tho Sheffield Theatre by fire . The catastrophe took place between two ancl three o ' clock on Saturday morning . One of the pieces played on the previous evening had been ' The Streets of London . " In it a house is burned down , and the supposition is that some of the fire used in this representation had been

in some way communicated to the building , and after burning unobserved for some time , at length burst suddenly out into flames . The theatre was only partially insured . Bethnal Green keeps up its unhappy notoriety for deaths from destitution . On AA ednesday Mr . Coroner Humphreys held an inquest on the body of a poor man named Imas , who died from disease of the lungs aggravated by want of necessaries .

His wife said he had received relief from , the parish , and intimated that the parish surgeon had neglected him . This was , liowever , strongly denied . When the poor fellow was in ' extremis he was removed to the workhouse , and died a few hours afterwards . The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the facts . An inquest has been held on the body of an

aged woman named Cooper , who was found floating in the river Lea . The evidence went to show that , while she had probably fallen into the river by accident , she had previously met with some ill-treatment , and had certainly suffered greatly from want ancl exposure . The jury returned an open verdict . The Messrs . Barry and the three men in their

employment , who are charged with frauds on certain insurance offices , were again brought up before Alderman Stone at the Mansion House , when several witnesses were examined . Some dispute took place respecting the production of the pass aud other bank books ofthe defendants Barry , but it ended in the consent of the counsel for the defendants to give up all the hooks in

their possession or relating to their business into the hands of a neutral custodier , to be named by the alderman , and with the understanding that both parties should have access to them . The defendants were then remanded on bail , ancl the day for their future appearance is to be fixed hereafter . The prisoners in the case of the jewel robberies were brought before the Lord Mayor again on Monday . The principal witness was

a woman named Price , who lived with Brown as his wife , and who is understood to have given the information which led to the apprehension of the prisoners . In the course of her examination she broke into an altercation with her former paramour and charged him with being concerned in robberies of which apparently she had not before accused him . They were all committed for trial , ancl some of them were further charged

with having been concerned in the silk robbery from Messrs . Bennoch , on which charge they were remanded . ——Morgan , alias Ellis , whose astounding robbery of Mr . Charles Ash worth , of Manchester , will he fresh in the recollection of our readers , has been tried at the Shrewsbury assizes . A defence quite as extraordinary as the swindle itself was set up .

It was alleged that the prisoner was merely the tool of some gentleman who had been outpaced by Mr . Ashworth in a race for the heart of a young lady , and that the main object was to secure possession of a ring which the lady had presented to the favoured suitor . Mr . Ashworth denied that the ring ( one of the articles stolen ) had been given to him by a lady , and

the learned Judge characterised the defence as a baseless invention . The prisoner was convicted , and sentenced to seven years' penal servitude . The prosecution against the manager and secretary of the Unity Bank has now been formally abandoned . It appeared that the parties to the prosecution having discovered that the funds of the bankrupt estate of the bank

were not legally applicable to the expense of the trial , applied to the Government for assistance ; but Sir George Grey replied that he was not aware of any peculiarity iu this case to call for the special interference of the Government . A curious charge of perjury has been tried at the Lewes Assizes . A man who proposed to effect an insurance in the Accidental Death Company gave to the agent of the company at Brighton a cheque for £ o in mistake for