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means of communication , and persons who shall interfere with the means of communication so provided shall also be subject to penalties . He would leave to the discretion of the directors of railway companies the mode of communication that should be adopted , subject , however , to the sanction of the Board of Trade . If the House thought that the metropolitan railways should be

excluded from the operation of the bill , he should make no objection to their exclusion in committee . Mr . Cave did not object to the second reading , but remarked at the same time that the bill could not be passed in its present shape , and therefore reserved to himself the right to oppose it at a future stage in case the objectionable parts should not be removed . The bill read

was a second time . —A long discussion took place on the motion for the second reading of tho Turnpike Trusts Bill , and after the second reading it was arranged that it should be referred to a select committee . The order for the second reading of the Public Houses Regulation Bill was withdrawn , Mr . Graves stating that tho Home Secretary had given him an assurance that a bill on the subject should be prepared next year . —After a long discussion , the Promissory Notes ( Ireland ) Bill was thrown out by 70 votes to -16 .

GENERAL HOME NEvs .-The health of London is again reported as satisfactory , the deaths last week being 121 ° less than the estimated average . The annual rates of mortalit y in thirteen of the principal places per 1 , 000 were as follow : — Hull , 19 ; Leeds and Birmingham , 20 ; Bristol , 21 j London and Salford , 22 ; Liverpool and Sheffield , 21 ; Edinburgh " 3 Dublin and

Glasgow , 28 ; Manchester , 31 : and Newcastle-on-Tyne , 32 . On the 25 th ult . Mr . Justice Blackburn delivered a significant charge to the grand jury . it Westminster . He said he had been obliged to call them together , although their duties were now of a purely formal character . It was , however possible , that before the end of the term proceedings which would take rank with

a State prosecution would be brought before them . This remark was in allusion to the prosecution of Mr . Eyre under the Colonial Governors' Act . In the Court of Exchequer , on the 26 th ult ., a trial commenced which is likely to excite more than ordinary interest , involving as it does the question of the validit y of two marriages and the possession of a title . Sir Marcus Shule , formerl y governor of Guernsey , claims to succeed his twin brother , the late Sir Frederick Slade , the well-known lawyer , on the "round that

Sir Frederick ' s marriage with Miss Mostyn , the sister of tho present Lord Vaux , was invalid . It appears to be admitted that Lady Shade ' s first husband was living at the time of her second marriage , but it is contended that as he was an Austrian minor and a Protestant , while the lady was a Roman Catholic the marriage was illegal according to the laws of that empire ' The SolicitorGeneral

- opened the case , aud the arguments and examination of witnesses will probably occupy several days . — It is to be hoped that some further inquiry will be instituted respecting one of the cases brought before the Clerke-nvell rolice-courfc . It appears that on the 20 th ult . a poor man , out of work , applied to . Mr . Cooke , one of the magistrates , for an order compelling tae '

parish authorities of St . Panci-as to bury his child , who had died some days previously , and who = e corpse was "beginning to smell . " Tho magistrate granted the order The applicant attended the court again , and stated that the relieving overseer had refused to take any notice of the magistrate ' s order . As the " corpse was getting bad" and the

very , place in which he lived was onl y a few feet wide , and almost every room occupied by a single family , he feared some conta-nous ( fiseawould break out . He , therefore , went again to the relievin " officer , but could not get the order . Mr . Flowers , the presidin g

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magistrate , ordered the overseer to be sent for . Mr . James , tt overseer , quickly attended , and denied the truthfulness of ino : of the applicant ' s statements . The result was the granting < the order , about which there certainl y was an amount of dela which calls forsome investigation . The death of Lord Llanove is announced . The deceased nobleman was probably bette known

as Sir Benjamin Hall . He represented Marylebone fo many years , and whilst in office , as First Commissioner of Works carried the bill by whicli the Metropolitan Board of Warks wa constituted . Another blow was struck at the prize ring oi the 27 th ult . A large party of ruffians were conveyed by rail way from London Bridge to Redhill for the purpose of witness

ing a fight for tho championship between Wormald anc O'Baldwin , or Baldwin , as his English admirers prefer to cal him . Wormald was in the train and ready to fight ; but the Irish giant was invisible , and the fraternity , howling their execrations , were compelled to return to London with their brutal tastes ungratiiied . Baldwin "missed" the train , and oddly

enough went to Farnborough , which is on the South Western line , and , therefore , in another part of the country . ——The young man Watkins , who stabbed Matilda Griggs at Buckhnrst Hill , was brought before tho magistrates at Waltham Abbey on the 30 th ult . The evidence taken was of a purely formal character , and the prisoner was remanded to enable the young woman to be present . The medical man said she would be able to attend at the next sitting , unless she suffered a relapse . Mr . Abram , who appeared for the defence , made

application that Watkin might be admitted to bail , and quoted a precedent which will horrify the Eyre Defence Committee : Sir Thomas Henry had , he said , admitted Colonel Nelson and Lieutenant Brand to bail , although the person in respect of whom they wero charged was deadj while in this case the doctor said the wounded girl would live . The magistrates , however , declined to

act upon tho precedent , and bail was not granted . A shocking murder was perpetrated on the 30 th ult . in Lambeth . A mechanic , named Samuel Belcher , has resided for some short time in a street adjacent to Astley ' s Theatre , with his wife and an infant . Ever since her confinement , some three or four months ago , the wife had been suffering from illness , and fears were entertained respecting the state of her mind watch

. A was therefore kept on her actions . Of late , however , she appeared to have much improved in health , and her perfect recovery was looked forward to . On the 30 th ult ., however , when the husband returned home he was horrified to find his wife and child lying in a mass of blood , both their throats beinofearfull y cut . The child was beyond all hope . The unhappy woman had murdered her child , and then attempted suicide . MrWal has issued

. polc his ukase , forbidding the holding of the proposed Reform meeting in Hyde Park . The meeting , it i = declared , will interfere with " the object for which her Majesty has been pleased to open the Park for the general enjoyment of her peoplej" therefore all persons are warned from attending or aiding m such meeting , and from entering the Park with a view to attend it . This does not seem to imply that the entrance to the Park will be barred as it was on the former occasion .

To Correspondents .

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

V ; All communications to be addressed to 19 , Salisbury-strcef Strand , London , W . C . J » ueet , WE regret that our former requests to our correspondents that they would write their communications only on one side of the paper have been unattended to . We must a-ain ur 4 this upon them , or the neglect of doing so may necessitate the omission of some articles which wo should otherwise be ; M ( i to insert

_ , . T ' ™ im ° pMr lith i ^" - i ° " 1 S " » co « arily limited to