The Week.

Aveather , " the total number in the two preceding Aveeks being 1 , 436 and 1 , 437 respectively , Avhile last Aveek it was 1 , 891 ; and that , therefore , " the change of temperature has killed about -455 people in London . " In such weather to give fire , food , and clothing is to give life . The deaths attributable to phthisis and bronchitis in tbe previous week were 356 , and last Aveek

584 . At a meeting of the Bethnal-green Board of Guardians held on the 11 th iust ., the conduct of Dr . Massingham , the parish surgeon , who was alleged to have neglected a patient under circumstances of a very inhuman character , came under discussion . In a letter sent to the board by the foreman of the coroner's jury tho conduct of Dr . Massingham was strongly

denounced , and his instant dismissal urged . Dr . Massingham was present , prepared with a written defence , which was read to the hoard . After duly weighing both sides of the story , the board unanimously decided that Dr . Massingham should be suspended from his office , and that the evidence and the written statement in defence should be forwarded to tbe

Poor-law Board . The law courts reopened on the 11 th inst ., and several cases of interest were heard . The Lord Chancellor had before him an appeal from the court below in the case Walters A ' , the Earl of Shaftesbury . Mr . Walters had been steward for the Earl , and bad carried out severs ! works , for which he had charged as contractor for them . Lord

Shaftesbury contended that he was simply rgent , and bad no right to charge as if he Avere contractor . The Lord Chancellor held that Lord Shaftesbury was right , and that the decision of the court below , which had been tbe other way , was wrong . Charlotte King , the married woman who was tried at the Central Criminal Court on a charge of murdering her infant , and acquitted , was brought up at the Clerkenwell Police-court charged with uttering a counterfeit five-shilling piece to a

licensed victualler in the Farringdon-road . After her dismissal on the 10 th inst ., she was apprehended on the second charge , and soon after being relocked up she was caught in the act of attempting to destroy herself . This , it appears , is the third time the unfortunate woman has attempted self-murder . The passing the coin was proved , ancl she was committed for trial . The gang of fellows captured cock-fighting in a den in

South-Avark , on the 11 th instant , have made their appearance at the bar of the police-court . Like one of their conquered pets , they were crestfallen . They had not much to say in defence of their cowardly and brutal sport ; ancl the magistrate , dismissing some of the smaller fry , fined tbe rest in various sums . A much more fitting punishment Avould ' undoubtedly

be the treadmill . Forty shillings or five pounds as a fine jeaves no painful recollections behind ; the treadmill and spare diet are not likely soon to be forgotten by those who experience them . On the 15 th inst . a meeting of the Law Amendment Committee of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science was held , when an important

discussion took place upon the present state of the law as regards contracts between masters and servants . An able paper on the subject was read by Mr- Edgar , who criticised the resolutions . which were passed by tbe Select Committee of the House of Commons . In the discussion which ensued , a pretty general opinion was expressed that it was unjust and harsh for the

master to be able to bring the criminal law into force for the fulfilment of a civil contract when the workman had no such remedy , however wrongly the master might act towards him . A frigbful accident happened on the 15 th inst ., on the ornamental water in front of Sussex-place , Regent's Park . There mere , about four o'clock , a large number of skaters on the ice , Avhen suddenly it broke in the middle , and in a few moments

what had been a smooth sheet of ice was broken into minute fragments . The skaters Avere all immersed , and fearful struggles for life Avere witnessed by those Avho stood on the shore- Many persons succeeded in getting to the land : but many also sank .. The number of the drowned is estimated at between twenty and fifty , but it is to be hoped that this estimate is in excess of the truth . The scene is described as most distressing . It is

said the ice was notoriously very rotten . Surely , if that were the case , there was culpable negligence on the part of some of the authorities ill allowing so many skaters to go upon it . ¦ The question of the condition of the streets during the late snowstorm has formed a'fruitful source of discussion at a

meeting of the City Commission of Sewers . Mr . Raymond , the City engineer , presented a report , which he had specially prepared for the occasion . It is stated that the whole of the main thoroughfares were cleared on the morning of the 7 th of January , the first day of the great snow lodgment , and that every street ancl alley in the City was entirely cleared tbe same

evening . The report was considered satisfactory . During the discussion which it elicited , it was stated in tbe years 1854-5 the cost of cleansing the City was £ 9 , 127 , and at present it is £ 22 , 650 ; so that no expense is spared to have the thing performed effectually ancl quickly . The healing of the summonses against the cleansing contractors , Avhich were to

have been heard , bad to be postponed in consequence of the length of the discussion respecting the recent disgraceful state of the metropolis at large . Dr . Markham , a poor law inspector , lately held an inquiry into the charges against Dr . Massingham , one of the medical officers of the Bethnal-green Union . Dr . Massingham is said to have neglected a woman

named Ann Ferry , who died in consequence of the absence of proper medical attendance . AVitnesses were examined both in support of the charge and in defence of Dr . Massingham . The doctor will , of course , report the result of the inquiry to the Poor Law Board . The case of the rival " Belgravias" has been before the Lords' Justices , and two decisions given

respecting them . As to Mr . Maxwell ' s " Belgravia , " it Avas hold that no amount of advertising a book or a magazine gave anyone a prior right to the title , unless the book or magazine was actuall y iu existence when the announcements were made . As to Mr . Hogg's " Belgravia , " the decision was , that it had been

improperly registered when it had no existence , and that Messrs . Hogg only published it when they found Mr . Maxwell announcing a " Belgravia . " The injunction asked for by each party was therefore refused with costs . A young man named Henry Baker has been brought before Sir R . W . Garden , at the Guildhall Police-court , charged with forging the name of Messrs . Kentledge ancl Co . to a cheque for £ 8 12 s ., stealing a cheque-book from tho counting-house of Messrs . Northcote ancl

Co ., St . Paul ' s-churchyard , and abstracting therefrom two blank cheques and one signed cheque , and filling up the latter for the sum of £ 17 13 s . The accused went into Messrs . Northcote and Co . ' s establishment , and succeeded in getting exchanged for the cheque , purporting to be drawn by C . kentledge , an open cheque on Martin ' s Bank . Soon after a book containing about a dozen signed cheques on the Bank of England was missed . The

pay ment of them was , of course , at once stopped . The next day the book was returned by tbe Parcels' Delivery Company , minus one signed and two blank cheques . Tbe signed cheque was subsequenuly filled up for £ 17 13 s ., and presented by an liotcl-I . eepcr , to whom it was given by Baker , but payment was refused . The hotel-keeper ' s solicitor insisted ou the firm of Northcote and Co . ing the amount of the cheque to which

pay their genuine signature was attached , and they had to do so . The payment , however , resulted in the arrest of Baker , and the exposure of the whole affair . Baker was full y committed for trial on the two charges of forgery and for stealing the chequebook , and was held liable to be brought up again on other charges of a similar character , which the counsel for the prosecution said he could bring against bim .