The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COUIM .. —Her Blajesty and the younger branches of the Eoyal Family continue at Osborne . The Queen has taken another step out of the seclusion in which she has so long remained . By her Blajesty ' s commands , the Admiralty have issued an order , directing the captains of men-of-war as they pass Osborne House to renew tho firing of their salutes in her

Blajesty ' s honour , ivhich have been discontinued over since the death of the Prince Consort . Tho Prince and Princess of AVales have returned to Sandringham from their visit to the Sari and Countess oi Leicester at Holkham .

GE - TEKAI . HOME NEWS . —The deaths m London were last week 1660 , or 102 above the average of the corresponding weeks in the last ten years . From the Registrar-General ' s report , from ivhich we take this number , we observe that the capitals in the continental kingdoms and several of our largest toivns are about to adopt our mode of birth and death registrations ; and this extended list of observation will , no doubt ,

materially enhance the value of these reports . A meeting of Privy Council was held on Saturday , at u hich it was resolved that Parliament should be summoned to meet on the 7 th of February next " for the dispatch of business . " AA o are happy in being able to announce a further decrease of pauperism in the cotton manufacturing unions . AVe find from

the statistical report of the Poor-law Board , that six unions had more paupers , comparing the first week of the present month with the last week of December ; that twelve had remained as they then were ; but that ten had a smaller number . The net decrease is 1 , 170 in the districts generally . The four unions which are most conspicuous for diminished pauper lists are

Ashton-under-Lyne , ivhich has decreased 350 ; Haslingden , 370 ; Manchester , 130 ; and Preston , 360 . More than half the number of persons who went off the poor rates were adult ablebodied . The guardians distributed in out-door relief , . 66 , 181 , or £ 2 , 563 less than in the first week of January , 1 S 64 Several legal changes of importance are announced . Bir . Justice Ball , of the Irish Bench , retires , and will be succeeded

by Bir . O'Hogan , the Attorney General for Ireland , by whose elevation a vacancy is caused in the representation of Tralee Lord Bfackenzie , one of the Scotch judges , retired some time ago , but his place has only just been filled up , the new judge being ) Mr . Mure , the member for Bute , who held the office of Lord Advocate under Lord Derby . Mr . Justice Williams , who has been suffering from illness , is not expected to resume

his seat on the Bench , and " it is thought" that the vacant judgeship will be offered to Bir . Bfellish . There is also a rumour that Chief Justice Erie is about to be raised to the peerage . It is stated that Garibaldi will visit Liverpool in the course of the coming spring . He will be the guest of Bir . J . R . Jeffery , and it is intimated that the visit " will be simply

one of personal friendship . " A numerous and brilliant company was assembled in Westminster Hall on Saturday evening ,. to witness the presentation of prizes to the Queen's AA estminster Rifle Corps . The prizes , which amounted in value to between . 31 , 100 and . ' £ l , 500 , were presented by Lady Constance Grosvonor , who was loudly cheered . The corps was addressed

by Earl Grosvenor and by Colonel BI'B'lurdo , who , in taking leave of them , congratulated them on their efficiency , but urged on them and on all corps greater rapidity of movement , and announced tho formation of a new body of volunteers , consisting for the most part of engineers , who would take the command of our railways in case of invasion . The report of the Council of the Lancashire Rifle Association

for 186-1 just issued is a document of much interest to those who recognise the national importance of our possessing a reserve force of skilful marksmen . The number who competed at Altcar last year was certainly not so large as might have been expected from so considerable a body of Volunteers as Lancashire can put in the field , but it is nevertheless something to be able to report that the number of individuals entering for

the various prizes increased from 275 in 1863 to 516 in 1861 , exclusive in both cases of those prizes for which squads were entered . The average score shows a slight change for the worse , but , from the altered conditions of the shooting , the deterioration is apparent rather than real . It is , indeed , stated in the report that , if individual scores are taken as the

test , that of the winner , in nearly every case , is higher than in 1863 . There seems to be solid ground for the hope expressed by the Council that the permanence of the volunteer force of Lancashire , and the promotion of rifle shooting throughout the county , the objects which it has in view , will be steadily maintained . The Lord Chancellor has written a remarkable letter

to Bir . Paget , M . P ., on the administration of the bankruptcy law . He says there has been no efficient superintendence—an evil which he attributes to the want of a chief judge . He has endeavoured , but imperfectly , to do the duty of a chief judge himself , and it is most painful to see the amount of dishonesty , neglect , and abandonment of duty which has been brought to

light . But there is another evil ivhich he cannot reach . Creditors will not put themselves to the trouble or the expense of looking after bankrupts' estates , and thus the property is eaten up by attorneys , brokers , and every description of unnecessary persons . He could establish , a board of official administration which should be bound to manage every estate at a maximum charge of 10 or 12 per cent , ; but " were I , " he says , " to propose such a measure , I should have the opposition of

every solicitor . " He asks in despair , "How is this to be met ? " At the last meeting of the Bletropolitan Board of AVorks , it was stated that £ 3 , 500 , the sum originally proposed to be levied by the Board to meet the claims of the houseless poor—which duty has been cast on the Board by the late Act of Parliament—ivould not more than half suffice for the wants of these houseless persons , as new buildings for the purpose

were in many instances necessary . It was , therefore , agreed to levy £ 7 , 000 for the purpose . A report on the progress of the sewers , and of the Thames embankment , was read by the engineer , from which it appeared that all were advancing with more or less rapidity , and that the middle level sewer was so near completion that it ivould be brought

into use towards the close of the present month . At a meeting of schoolmasters and others interested in the work of education last week resolutions were passed in favour of a system of " scholastic" registration , similar in principle to that which regulates thejinedical profession . An Act of Parliament will , of course , be required , and a deputation was

appointed to represent the views of the meeting to the Royal Commissioners who have been charged with an inquiry into the state of middle-class education . The magistrates of the Salford hundred have decided to send another memorial to Sir George Grey , " stating the objections entertained to the holding of public executions iu Manchester and the neighbourhood . '"

A singular case was brought before Bir . Selfe , the Westminster police magistrate , last week . A woman , named B'I'Dermott , complained to his AVorship that her daughter , a girl of sixteen or seventeen , had left her , that Mr . Bowden , one of the "Fathers" of the Brampton Oratory , knew of her hidingplace , and that the rev . gentleman declined to say where she was . Bir . Selfe put himself to a good deal of trouble to ascer-