The Week.

Layard said the report of the capture of Herat hacl not been confirmed , while the accounts as to the death of Dost Mahommed ivere conflicting . Mr . Ayrton endeavoured to secure the rejection of the Bill ivhieh makes it a misdemeanor to falsely assume an Exhibition medal or an Exhibition certificate of " honourable mention . " Tbe lion , gentleman was supported in this effort by Lord Robert Cecil ; but on a division , the Bill ivas

read a third time by a large majority . On Tuesday in reply to a question from Sir G . Bowyer , Mr . Layard stated that Captain Melville AVhits ' s claim against Peru still remains unsettled-,. —Lord Palmerston , in answer to a question from Mr . Darby Griffith , said there were agencies at work to prevent Prince William of Denmark ' s actual assumption of the crown of

Greece , but it would be desirable to remove every difficuty and embarrassment which stood in tbe way of the realisation of the wishes of the Greek nation . —In reply to another question from the member for Devizes , the noble lord said the order abolishing forced labour in Egypt ivould , as a matter of course , put an end to the present system of employing forced labour in the

loading and unloading of the cargoes of the Peninsular ancl Oriental Company's steamers at Suez . —A new writ was moved for Pomfret in . the room of Mr . Monckton Milnes , who is to be made a peer , as Lord Houghton . GENERAL HOUE NEWS . —The Select Committee of the House of Lords on Prison Discipline have sent in their report . They

are of opinion that the penal element . of gaol discipline ought not to be weakened ; that legislative measures . should be taken as speedily as possible to render the adoption of the " separate system" obligatory in all prisons and houses of correction ; that the time allowed for sleep should be limited to eight hours ; that all prisoners sentenced to bard labour should , unless exempted on medical grounds , be subjected to a regular amount

of crank and tread wheel ivork ; that corporal punishment is of great value as one form of disciplinary correction ; that school should under no circumstances become a substitute for labour ; and that during short sentences , or the earlier stages of a long confinement , the prisoners should be made to sleep upon planks . AA'ith regard to tbe subject of diet , the committee suggest the appointment of a commission to examine the medical and

scientific questions as to the effect produced by confinement upon prisoners , and as to the necessity of certain ingredients in the food , which require further investigation . The Duke of Cambridge has presented his report upon the review and sham light at Wimbledon . He praises the manner in ivhieh the volunteers acquitted themselves , but urges greater punctuality

in future on the part of the several corps in reaching the drillground . The report of Mr . Farnall to the Central Executive JRelief Commltte shows a further decrease in the number of persons receiving parochial relief in the cotton manufacturing ¦ districts . During the week ending the 18 th ult . the numbers ivere 144 , 636 , being 3237 less than during the previous iveek ,

ancl a decrease of 127 , 347 on the return for the week ending the 6 th Decevnber . Mr . Farnall also reports that he has , ivith Mr . Rawlinson , had personal conferences with the local authorities of 149 places ivhere the Public AVorks Act may be made available . The great majority expressed their satisfaction with the measure , and their readiness to adopt its provisions . A

murderous affray tool-: pliice on Saturday afternoon in Whitehall . The lodge-keeper at Richmond-terrace is an old man named Davio :., ivhose daughter lived with him . On Saturday afternoon they quarrelled , and appear- to have used knives to each other . Before the police found out what ivas goin" - on , they were both most seriously wounded . They were removed to the hospital , ivhere they are now lying . Tho Marquis of Normanb y—a nobleman who held several posts of the highest

importance under more than one Liberal Government—died on Tuesday . He is succeeded by his eldest son , Lord Mulgrave , who at present fills the post of Lieut .-Governor of Nova Scotia . The Roupell forgeries have been the subject of an eight days ' trial in an attempt of Richard Roupell , as heir-at-law , to recover one of the mortgaged estates ; but though AVilliam Roupell sn'ore that he forSed the deed of g ift to himself , the evidence

was very conflicting as to old Roupell's signature , and the jury could not arrive at a verdict . A curious trial , not unlike in some of its features to the Roupell case , took place at Maidstone on Saturday . It was an action , brought by a man named Richardson , to recover possession of four acres of land near Canterbury . The land had belonged to the plaintiff's father ,

and had been left by bim to his wife , to be divided on her death between the plaintiff and a brother . JRichardson sold his share in 1844 to a Mr . Cross , a solicitor , for £ 130 . Now he came forward and swore that he had never sold it , and that the conveyance produced by Mr . Cross was a forgery . The jury found for the defendants , and the plaintiff ivas ordered into

custody on a charge of perjury . Alfred Holden , a private in the Royal Artillery , was sentenced to death on AVednesday , at the Maidstone Assizes , for the murder of child . He persisted in pleading guilty . It may be remembered that when he committed the murder he gave himself up to the police at o .-. ce , saying that he wished to die . Some one asked why in that case

he had not killed himself . His reply was , that if lie had clone so , he should have left his ivife Avith a child to maintain , and he therefore killed the child first . Another fatal accident has happened through crinoline . A woman returning from the Crystal Palace attempted to leave the train before it had stopped . Her distended dress caught the stops of the carriage , she was flung down , and death ensued—death AA'hich the jury

can but return as " accidental . Ihe inquest on the body ot the poor woman ivho was killed at Birmingham last week by the breaking of a rope on which she was performing has resulted in a verdict of " accidental death , " to which is added a strong expression of opinion that " all dangerous or degrading performances by either sex should be discouraged . " The inquiry into the abduction ancl murder of the little girl at

Islington has been resumed . The young man Clarke , who is accused of the murder , ivas present mid cross-examined some of the witnesses Avith a fierce and defiant air . A man who was near the spot at the time of the murder deposed that he saw a young man , whom he thought he should know , take a little girl up in his arms and run across the street with her ; but he was

unable to identify the prisoner ivhen shown to him along Avith several other men . The prisoner was remanded . The case of Colonel Waugh was before the Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday . An application ivas made for his release from custody . He ivas examined at considerable length , and made some curious statements . Mr . Commissioner Holroyd , however , declined to

order his release unless he gave heavy bail . FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE . —The Emperor of Austria is about to make a journey to Ratisbon in order to escort the Empress home . The King of Sweeden has left Copenhagen . The King of Denmark accompanied his Royal visitor to Ellismere , where the latter embarked . -The Ophuone of Turin has a

letter from Caprera , stating that Garibaldi ' s wound is healed ; that he is beginning to ride on horseback , and will soon , it is hoped , be able to walk with a stick only . -The Italian Foreign Minister has communicated to the Chamber of Deputies the nature of the arrangement made with the French Government regarding the brigands arrested at Genoa . The Italian Government ivill hand over the brigands to the French authorities , ancl the latter will obligingly hand back the prisoners when a forma ]