The Week.

meeting at Wimbledon was opened on Monday , but the day was devoted entirely to the arrangement of preliminaries . Tho prize shooting commenced on Tuesday , and is not yet concluded-The Prince of Wales visited the ground on AVedncsday , and had several shots at the wonderful " running deer , " which has been prepared from a design by Sir E . Landseer . It is stated

that his Royal Hig hness was more successful in his hits than Mr . Edward Ross was at last year ' s meeting . The money value of the prizes offered this year by the National Association is double the amount contended for in 1862 . An important target trial has taken place at Shoeburyness . Hitherto the targets have been constructed on the principle

that the backing must be elastic , but this trial was to determine the value of the opposition or rigid theory . Up to the test furnished by the old-fashioned and still favourite 68-pounder , the rigid theory was sustained ; but a 1501 b . steel shot passed through the target and its supports , and a 3001 b . shell penetrated the target and set the filling of the cells on fire . One

of the Armstrong guns used at the trial burst—that is to say , the outer ring of thc gun gave way . There was no one injured . Some fifteen months ago a young girl , named Elizabeth Hunter , whose parents live in Hoxton , mysteriously disappeared . The Government issued a notice offering a reward for her discovery , but no trace of the girl could be found . At last ,

however , her fate seems to be cleared up . A lad was digging in the garden of a florist at Islington , on Monday evening , when ho came upon a decapitated body , which , there is every 3-eason to believe , is that of the missing girl . A youth , named Clarke , who was formerly employed in the garden , has been apprehended on suspicion of having murdered the girl .

An inquest has been held on the mutilated remains of a child which were fonnd in the Thames at Adelaide AVharf a week ago . The medical evidence showed that the child had been murdered and then cut up . As , however , there was no evidence to throw any light upon the authors of the crime , an open verdict was returned . It will be remembered that some time

ago AVr . Collingwood obtained damages against Mr . Berkeley , M . P . for Bristol , and the other directors of the British Overland Transit Company for not fulfilling their contract of carrying him ancl other passengers by the overland route to British Columbia . The directors appealed to the Court for a new trial , but the Barons of the Exchequer decided that the verdict of

the jury ought not to be disturbed , and the judgment was made absolute against the directors . In an action for false imprisonment before the Court of Exchequer , a police Serjeant , who was called as a witness , stated that he claimed and exercised authority to inspect the books of plaintiff . Baron Martin , who presided , rebuked him severely , and said not even the

judge had power to inspect people ' s books without warrant . An action against a clergyman has occupied the Court of Common Pleas for two days . There were two separate libels addressed to two different persons , reflecting on the conduct of the plaintiff while he resided in the defendant ' s parish . The defendant pleaded that the charges were true , and that thc

letters in which they were written were privileged communications . The jury with some difficulty found for the plaintiff 40 s . for each of the libels . The inquest on the bodies of the miners who were suffocated by the explosion of fire-damp in a colliery near Neath , a few days ago , was resumed on Monday , and again adjourned for a week . It appeared , ou the showing

of the managers employed about the pit , that there was a great deal of carelessness with respect to the use of the safety-lamp , though it was known that the workings were dangerous from gas . The case of Mr . Windham against his wife and Signer Ginglini has been discharged from th *; Divorce Court . Mr .

Y > lndham not only withdraws his charges , but pays the respondent and co-respondent ' s costs . A disastrous fire broke out early on Wednesday morning in tho offices of Messrs . Chappie Dutton , and Co ., shipbrokers , Water-street , Liverpool . Messrs . Chappie occupied the second floor of a large warehouse , and soon after the fire was discovered the flames were seen spreading through the whole building , part of which was occupied as a

store for cotton , grain , and other merchandise . The total damage done is estimated at about £ 160 , 000 . The value oi the cotton destroyed is put down at £ 110 , 000 . A serious collision occurred on the London and North-Westcrn Railway , at AVolverhampton , on Tuesday . An engine ran into a train that was standing at the ticket station , and did considerable damage

to one or two third-class carriages—some 30 of the occupants of which were more or less seriously injured . COMMERCIAL—At a meeting of the Union Bank of London an increased dividend of 18 s . per share was declared , clear of income tax for the six months ending 30 fch June . At a meeting of the Colonial Bank a dividend of 6 per cent , was

declared for the six months ending 31 st December last . Mr . Dion Boucicault is before the Bankruptcy Court . His debts arc stated to be £ 30 , 000 , but his assets arc estimated at £ 20 , 000 , besides a sum—on which the creditors will hardly place much reliance—of £ 38 , 000 which he expects when his project of a new theatre company is carried out . An application for the

release of the notorious Colonel W . Petrie Waugh was made on Thursday , but Mr . Commissioner Fane refused to entertain it until the affairs in connection with tho bankruptcy had been more fully gone into .- The annual report of the Accidental Death Insurance Company shows very satisfactory progress in its business . The premiums received from all sources during the year amount to upwards of £ 65 , 776 , against £ 47 , 878 in

1861 . The claims during the year were £ 34 , 579 4 s . 7 d ., giving a total since the commencement of tho society of no less a sum than £ 215 , 579 . The office of managing director has ceased , the duties now being performed by nine members of the board in rotation , in conjunction with their secretary , Mr . Oram . The entire business of the company is now carried on at the

offices in the Old Jewry . The year having terminated by a large reduction in the expenses of the company , and a large increase of premiums from all sources , it is not unnatural to suppose that the company will prosper , and maintain itself in the front rank of kindred institutions , of which it is the parent .

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE . —Tho Emperor of the French has left Fontainebleau for Vichy . In his absence M . Billault will preside at the Council of Ministers . Prince Napoleon has arrived in Paris . Mr . Roebuck ' s remarkable statement in the House as Commons respecting his interview with the Emperor Napoleon , and the controversy which they have provoked , have

elicited somo official " explanations" in yesterday ' s Moniteur . Mr . Roebuck and Mr . AV . S . Lindsay visited Fontainebleau for the purpose of engaging the Emperor of thc French to " take official steps at London for the recognition of the Southern Confederacy . " The Emperor saw no reason to refuse them an interview , but he did not attempt to influence the British

Parliament through them . " The Emperor , " says the Moniteur , " expressed [ his desire to see peace re-established in America , but observed that , England having declined his proposal of recognition in the previous October , he did not think he could submit a new proposition without the certainty of its acceptance . His Majesty further stated that his Ambassador should

nevertheless , receive instructions to sound the English cabinet upon the subject , giving it to understand that if England bought the recognition of the Sonth likely to put an end to