The Week.

than in the autumn quarter of 1861 . On the 2 nd of this month , 136 , 719 persons were receiving parochial relief in the -unions included in Mr . Farnall ' s weekly report . As compared with the previous week , this shows an increase of 2 , 830 ; but when compared with the corresponding week of last year , we find that a decrease of 117 , 381 has taken place in the twelve

months . We have to announce the death of the Bishop of Ely . His lordship died late on Thursday , the 7 th inst . Dr . Stanley has bean installed into the office of Dean of Westminster . A proclamation has been issued summoning Parliament to meet for the despatch of business on the 4 th of next month . The Rifle Conference held its first meeting in the hall of

King ' s College , Mr Forster , M . P ., presiding . After an introductory address from Captain Mnegregor , the chairman of the committee , the business was formally opened , and three papers read on the preliminary arrangements of rifle matches . Along and animated discussion followed the reading of the papers . Mr . Massey has addressed a meeting of his constituents at

Salford . The hon . gentlemen spoke chiefly on questions of foreign policy . He did not believe that tbe American Union could be re-established ; he sympathised with the Poles , but was of opinion that they were unequal to the contest upon which they had entered ; and with regard to the quarrel between Denmark and Germany , he could not see that it was the

duty of England to interfere either on one side or the other , unless , indeed , on the outbreak of a war , fresh complications rendered a policy of non-intervention on our part impossible . A very influential gathering of landowners and farmers of the Midland Counties has been held at Market Bosworthunder the presidency of Lord Howe—for the purpose of concerting measures for a more vigorous agitation in favour of the repeal of the malt tax . The meeting was unanimous in

demanding the abolition of this impost , and it was resolved to memorialise the House of Commons on the subject . Mr . Packe , one of the members for South Leicestershire , could not attend the meeting , but he sent a letter , in which he ventured to tell the honest truth about the matter . The hon . gentlemen , like most other people , would be very glad to have the tax repealed ,

but how was it to be done ? It produces some six millions sterling , and Mr . Packe thinks that the country would object to a shilling income tax ; for that , in reality , is what the repeal of the malt tax means . The Globe states that the Duke of Cambridge ' s memorandum on the Aldershofc court martial will shortly be made public . Our contemporary gives a few hints as

to the contents of the document . Colonel Crawley having been "fully and honourably acquitted" will of course be retained in command of the Iuniskilling Dragoons , although , as our readers will remember , the Commander-in-Chief , in his memorandum on the Mhow court martial severely censured Colonel Crawley's conduct , and intimated that he remained at the head of his

regiment only " on trial . " But while this good fortune awaits Colonel Crawley , it will go hard with not a few of his officers . The Globe , iu point of fact , states that the " anti-Crawley party " among the officers will have disappeared from the regiment before the publication of the next Army List . The official inquiry into the stranding of the steamer Anylia , at Galway ,

"which was instituted at Greenwich , has closed . Captain Prouso presented himself for examination , and stated the circumstances under which the stranding took place . Captain Harris , one of the commissioners , observed that the only error he could see in ptain house ' s conduct was in attempting to take the vessel through such a narrow passage at night without a pilot . Mr . Traill ,

theothereommissioner , concurred in this opinion , and stated be had greatpleasurein returning Capt . Prouse his certificate of competency . The Capt . thanked the court and the proceedings

terminated . A meeting of the National Shakespeare Committee was held on Tuesday , Mr . Godwin in the chair , at which , after a good deal of bickering , the address of the sub-committee to the English people explaining why and how the committee meant at this time of day to honour the memory of Shakespeare was rejected ; and it was agreed that four members of that ^ subcommittee should meet , with four gentlemen named by the

meeting , to draw up a new one . Various other matters of detail were agreed to , and a programme of the grand things to be » done on the 23 rd of April next , Shakespeare's birthday , was submitted to the meeting and adopted . It is reported that the Channel squadron , on its return from Madeira , will proceed to one of the Eastern ports , where it will await further orders . The Court of Exchequer has given judgment in the case of the Alexandra . The Lord Chief Baron and Mr . Baron

Bramwell were of an opinion that a new trial ought not to be granted , while Mr . Baron Channell and the junior Baron ( Pigott ) decided iu favour of the application made in behalf of the Crown . Mr . Baron Pigott , however , as a matter of form , withdrew his judgment , and the rule for anew trial was therefore discharged . The Attorney-General gave notice of appeal . The convict Townley has been removed from Derby to

Bethlehem Hospital . Luke Charles , the policeman , has suffered the last penalty of the law at Kirkdale . The scene at the execution of Samuel Wright , aud the excited efforts which had previously been made to obtain a commutation of the convict ' s sentence , prove how strongly the idea has seized the public mind that , after all , " there is one law for the rich and

another for the poor . " At the meetings that have been held on behalf of the wretched criminal , Townley ' s case has been again and again referred to ; and the cries of " murder" that broke from the crowd , when Wright ' s body was seen suspended from the beam , showed clearly enough that Sir George Grey ' s recent conduct hasrightly or wrongly , produced a painful impression

, upon the minds of those who belong to the class from which Wright sprang . A serious explosion took place last week at the City Gas Works , in Whitefriars . It appears that an accumulation of water under one of the gasholders in these extensive premises had become frozen , and one of the workmen placed a fire below to thaw it . This was clone , but unfortunately the

water was impregnated with gas , which , coming in contact with the fire , exploded , and caused great alarm and consternation in that thickly populated neighbourhood . Some of the workmen were scalded . The great fire in the High-street of Birmingham , a short time ago , will not have been forgotten . It seems that some persons have been attempting to defraud the insurance companies by making false statements of the losses they

sustained on that occasion , for a respectably-dressed man , named Lowden , carrying on business at Leicester , has been brought up before the magistrates on a charge of having , along with another man named Beeton , defrauded some fire insurance companies of the sum of £ 1 , 485 . The prisoner was remanded in the hope that Beeton also would soon be in custody , when the

charge will be fully gone into . A dreadful accident has oe-. curred at a coalpit near Dudley . While six men were being lowered down the shaft , a horse which had broken loose from one of the colliery stables ran towards the pit-mouth . Losing its foothold the animal fell down the shaft , striking the descending cage , which was precipitated to the bottom of the pit . The

six men wore killed . A betting case has been tried in the Bail Court , before Mr . Justice Shee . The defendant urged that as betting was illegal the action would not lie ; but the judge refused to take that view of the case ; it was rather whether the defendant , having received £ 100 on behalf of the plaintiffas plaintiff alleged—was bound to pay it over to him , it being