The Week.

brought under the Poor-Law Board . Mr . Hardy was not prepared to equalise the rating of the Metropolis , but he proposes to put the district , certified , and industrial schools , the lunatics and the imbeciles , and the salaries of the medical officers , upon the common fund . The extra charge he estimates at £ 60 , 000 a year , which a penny rate will cover . A receiver

is to be appointed by the Poor-Law Board to receive the rates and disburse them . The new buildings are estimated to cost £ 100 , 000 , and they are to be paid for afc £ 40 , 000 a year , for which a rate of two-thirds of a penny will be required . -On the 11 th inst . the questions and preliminary business were very impatiently got through , aud at a quarter to five o ' clock the

Chancellor ofthe Exchequer got up , as the House hoped , to ex : plain all the Government propositions as to Reform . The House was inistaken . Mr . Disraeli began by declaring that the object of the Government was to remove this question from among those on whom tho fate of tho ministers hung . It was no longer to he a party question , which it had become in

1 S 59 , when the Derby bill was thrown out . The Government , therefore , proposed to proceed by resolutions . These resolutions would affirm what should be the character of the hill to follow . Reduction of the franchise must be in accordance with the English c ^ onstitntion , and must avoid the preponderance of any class . It would be proposed that rating should be the basis of

the franchise , and a measure would be introduced to remedy inequalities in rating . No borough would be disenfranchised . A boundary commission is to be issued to revise existing boundaries , with a view of eliminating the urban element from the counties . These are the chief features of the proposition made by the right hon . gentleman . He concluded by moving that on the 25 th February the House should go into committee to

consider the Reform Bill of 1 S 32 . Mr . Gladstone briefly commented upon the speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer . He said he should not oppose proceeding by resolution , hut he would oppose anything tending to delay the settlement of the question , and the rating proposal seemed to point to delay . There was no debate . The House agreed to the motion , and

tbe crowd of members quickly dispersed . The remaining business was soon disposed of , and the House was up by eight o ' clock . On the 12 th instant there was a large attendance of members to hear Mr . AA alpole's account cf what had been done afc Chester . Mr . AValpole spoke of the matter very seriously . He told fche House how , having received information on Sunday

from Liverpool that a Fenian rising was imminent , he sent down a messenger ; how he hacl received alarming telegrams from ihe Mayor of Chester ; how he had sat up till after four o ' clock waiting to receive a telegram from the general commanding the district : and how he had sent off the Fusilier Guards to

Chester . The narrative was interrupted not unfrequently by bursts of laughter , which wore not lessoned by tbe suggestion subsequently made that the whole affair was a hoax , nor by a telegram which Lord Elclio received from Earl Grosvenor treating the affair as one of some importance . —Mr . Hardeastle obtained leave to bring in a bill for the abolition of church rates .

—Mr . Ton-ens asked permission to bring in his bill of last session for the improvement of the dwellings of artisans and labourers . Mr . AValpole , on the part of the Government , expressed his approval of the measure , and leave was given to bring it iii . Leave was subsequently given to bring in " bills relating " to the commutation of church rates , the fellowship of Oxford and Cambridgeto provide better securitfor holders of railway

, y debet tures and other matters , and the House rose at half-past six o'clock . On the 13 th inst . the House of Commons sat for some hours discussing a bill brought in b y Mr . Ayrton , in reference to the Finsbury Estate . Tlie Bill proposed that at least half of the revenue from the Finsbury Estate , which is

vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners , should he devoted to the relief of the spiritual destitution of the metropolis . The bill was strenuously opposed , and finally rejected by 87 votes to 53 . The other business was unimportant . GEN-ERAL HOME NEWS . —Tho health of London appears gradually to improve . Tho excess of deaths over tho estimated number shown by tho registrar-gauorars return is only 40 , and

ovou that seams to bo covered by tho 40 lives lost in tho Rogont ' sp . ark by tho breaking of tho ice . Under tho influence of a milder tomporatui'o wo aro gradually approaching tho ordinary state of affairs as regards mortality . Tho list of tho forty persons drowned in Rogont's-park afc tho lato ico catastrophe is rendered curious and interesting by its classifying the sufferers under their respective social conditions . Tho annual rates of mortality per 1 , 000 wore—Birmingham 24 ; Bristol 25 Sheffield 20 Salford and

, , ; , ; London , 2 7 ; Leeds , 28 ; Hull , 20 ; Edinburgh and Manchester , 30 ; Liverpool and Glasgow , 32 : Dublin , 37 ; and Nowcastlo-on-Tyne , 44 . A deputation waited , on tho 9 th instant , upon the Earl of Derby , to impress upon his lordship tho necessity of something' being dono to relievo the distress in tho east of Loudon . Some suggestions and statements woro mado which deserve attention . AYhat , only for tho action of tho police authorities of tho City , might havo proved a very

profitable swindle , was exposed on tho 11 th instant , at the Mansion House . The attention of the police having been called to an advertisement inviting applications for employment in the Paris Exhibition , the only condition being the sending of a stamped envelope to "No . 12 , Great Trinity-lane , Cannonstreet , City , " they instituted inquiries , and discovered that the office named in Great Trinity-laue consists of two empty rooms -, that the individuals renting them cannot be discovered ; and that tho next step , after the reception o £ the stamped envelope , is to send tho applicant a form to fill up respecting his

qualifications , and a demand for 2 s . Gd . as a registration foo . Tho action of tho polico authorities seems , however , to havo deterred tho would-bo swindlers from further operations : and tho caution given by tho Lord Mayor will , no doubt , have the offoct of putting tho public on their guard . At Bow-street , on tho 12 th inst ., Colonel Nelson and Lieutenant Brand , charged with tho murder of George AYilliam Gordon , again surrendered . As Mr . Bristowo , tho Admiralty solicitor , and Mr . Claudo

Scott , solicitor for the War Department , appeared for tho respective defendants , it would socui that their defence is to bo conducted by tho Government . After somo evidence had boon taken tho case was remanded . The ancient and usually quiet city of Chester has experienced tho refreshing excitement ol a threatened Fenian " invasion . " Large numbers of strangers , mostly young mon of the working class , commenced arriving in Chester on tho 11 th inst . —many from Liverpool—tho news of

thoir departure thonce being' telegraphed to Chester by tho polico . Telegrams of a very alarming character reached London in tho course of tho evening . The local authorities took prompt and energetic measures of defence . Volunteers and soldiers arrived from neighbouring towns , and a strong detachment of Scots Fusilier Guards was sent down from London . At the Clorkenwell police-court , on tho 13 th . instant , Antonio Galioni , Mattoo Dacola , and an Italian named Ciocci , wore again

brought up on tho charge of having entered the dwelling-house of Mr . . 7 . Votiori , and stealing several onyx stones , valued at sixty pounds , and with assaulting a young lad , the only person in tho houso at tho time of the attempted robbery . Some additional evidence having boon adduced , tending to tho suspicion thatsome dishonest bill transactions , involving the forgery of Count Saffi ' s signature , had been perpetrated , the magistrate decided on sending tho case to a jury , and ho accordingly committed the prisoners for trial .

To Correspondents.

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

* * * All communications to be addressed to 19 , Salisbury-street , " Strand , London , AY . C . Bro . Hughan , P . M . 9 . "i 4 , and Bro . A . Oncal Hayo are thanked by our correspondent , AV . B ., for tho information given by them as to tho Masonic song . :: AYomoot upon tho Level , " etc . J . . 7 . S . —Received with thanks . J . R . B . —Thanks for your suggestions . J . D . —Tho work to which you refer as having been mentioned

to you by your friend , a BvothorjJMason , is doubtless " Tho Antiquities of Freemasonry ,, ' by tho Venerable Bro . Dr . Oliver . You will obtain tho work from Bro . R . Spencer , 25 , Grea . Queon-stroot , Lincoln ' s Inn-fiolds , AY . C .