The Week.

twelve months . When we come to examine the items of the return , however , we shall see that Mr . Gladstone has good reason to congratulate himself upon the net result of the taxation of the year . There is an increase of £ 2 , 104 , 000 under the head of Excise , while Stamps , Taxes , the Post-office , Crown Lands , and Miscellanous , show together an improvement

of £ 1 , 027 , 562 . It was to be expected that the Customs and the Income Tax would figure for a ' large decrease , and the total falling off under these two heads is £ 3 , 252 , 000 . On the quarter , as compared with the corresponding period of last year , there is a net increase of £ 380 , 985 . The return of pauperism in the cotton manufacturing districts ,

published by the Poor-law Board , shows a very large increase this week . Since the commencement of September , 7 , 660 paupers have been added to the union relief lists ; and of that number , 4 , 210 are due to the past week . Nineteen unions

" have more paupers . " The largest accessions took place in the Ashton-under-Lyne union , 400 ; in the Blackburn union , 300 ¦ in Manchester , 520 ; in the Preston union , 760 ; and iu the Stockport union , 370 . Nearly half the new additions to the pauper ranks last week were adult able-bodied , ( 1 , 796 ); aud that class is now swollen to 21 , 400 . The out relief disbursed by

the Guardians was £ 362 in excess of the expenditure for the third week of September . Some important facts respecting the condition of Ireland are given in the agricultural report of the Registrar-General for that country , wliich has just been issued . It appears that at the present time the extent of land under " corealo and green crops" is less than that of last year

by 124 , 754 acres , while " meadow , clover , and flax" together show an increase of 135 , 247 acres . As compared with last year , there is thus an increase of 10 , 493 acres in the total area under crops of all descriptions . In the value of the stock of sheep and

cattle there has been a great advance—so great , indeed , that after deducting £ 162 , 947 as the money value of the diminution in horses and pigs , Ireland is in the respect of live stock richer by £ 632 , 411 than it was this time last year . As regards emigration , there has ( to tho end of July ) been an increase of 4 , 080 as compared with the previous year . Lord AVoodhouse , we are informed , has definitively accepted the office of Viceroy of

Ireland , from wliich Lord Carlisle has been obliged to retire in consequence of ill-health . The Under Secretaryship for India thus becomes vacant . At the Clerkenwell police-court , Mr . Charles Lloyd was charged by the Metropolitan Railway Company with leaving the carriage of one of their trains while the train was in motion . The incident occurred on the 10 th of September at King's-cross Station , and the defendant had suffered severe personal injury , in consequence of wliich the

magistrate inflicted the nominal penalty of one shilling . ——At the Surrey Sessions Joseph Beal , a carman , was tried for injuring William Whilby , at Battersea . He was found guilty , and sentenced to three mouths hard labour . An Irishman named Cornelius Murray was convicted of a brutal assault upon a potman at the Black Dog Tavern , Vauxhall-walk . The fellow , it

appeared , had been drummed out of the army some time ago . A sentence of nine months' imprisonment with hard labour was passed upon him . A curious point of law was raised at the Middlesex Sessions on Friday last , whether a prosecutor is at liberty to adduce evidence as to tho bad character of the prisoner . Mr . Payne held it to be settled law that evidence as

to good character might be rebutted by evidence of a contrary description ; and Mr . Bodkin , the assistant judge of the Middlesex Sessions , agreed with him ; but , on account of tho importance of the question , it was agreed to reserve the point for the Court of Criminal Appeal . Two inquests were held in the course of Saturday—one at the London Hospital on the

body of a Spanish sailor who was stabbed in a quarrel by one of his countrymen ; the other ou the boy who was shot by another boy in Epping Forest . In the first case the verdict returned was one of manslaughter ; in the other the jury returned a verdict of death from accident and misadventure . An inquest has also been held on the body of a Frenchman , who drowned

himself on Saturday in the River Lea . It seems the poor man had formerly been in good circumstances , but had fallen into distress , and become of intemperate habits . He had left a letter to his wife expressing his determination to drown himself . The jury returned a verdict of unsound mind . A fearful explosion of gunpowder occurred on the banks of the

Thames on Saturday morning . Messrs . Hall and Son , of Dartford , and the Tranmere Company had two magazines for the storage of gunpowder at a place called Low Wood , between Plumstead and Erith . On Saturday morning two barges

laden with gunpowder were moored opposite this spot , and it is supposed that the cargo of one of these boats exploded . The second barge immediately afterwards blew up , and this was followed in an instant by the explosion of the two magazines , which contained a large quantity of gunpowder . The shock , as may he imagined , was terrific . It was felt

for many miles round , causing a vast destruuction of property , and leading most people in London and the neighbourhood to suppose that a violent earthquake had taken place . The precise number of persons killed by this disaster had not been ascertained . The names of five are known , but there were four ' persons in the barges when they blew up , and

one or two others are missing , whilst six or seven are seriouslyinjured . A good deal of damage was done to the river embankment near Low AVood ; and it was only by the most strenuous exertions that it was sufficiently repaired to keep

out the rising tide . Several thousand persons have visited the scene of the catastrophe , and approached as near the spot as the guards stationed round it will allow . The main efforts of the workmen have been directed to the strengthening of the river embankment . Their efforts , it is satisfactory to state , have been crowned with complete success . Monday ' s was the highest tide of the month , and the flood rose to a great height ,

but nothing beyond the wash of the higher waves went over the embankment . The excitement of the populace on Sunday led to a shocking accident . There was an immense crowd of persons at the little side station of Belvedere on the railway , and the most frantic efforts were made to get into the carriages as they arrived , which the police were unable to restrain . One gentleman fell between the carriage and was dreadfully

mangled . He has since died . The coroner's inquest on the bodies of the sufferers was opened on Tuesday morning , but as yet there is no explanation of the cause of the accident . A shocking accident in a mino , causing the loss of nine lives , took place last week , near Ironbridge . It seems that the last relay of workmen were ascending the pit , having left off work for the day , when some part of the machinery gave way , and the

men were precipitated to the bottom . Three men and six boys lost their lives by this accident . The causes that led to it will be investigated before the coroner ' s inquest . A melancholy accident occurred a day or two ago at an hotel in York . A box containing a loaded pistol was found under the pillow in one of the bed-rooms . It was brought into the bar of the

hotel with a view to find out the owner , and while a gentleman there was examining , it the" pistol went off , and the ball lodged in the temple of the barmaid . The gentleman who fired th p istol is in custody , but it is not believed to be done by design . It was supposed that the whole of the " rick-burners" who caused such devastation on the Yorkshire wolds some twelve