The Week.

thus bringing the total of the week's outlay to £ 6 , 815 , irrespective of any assistance in money or in goods that may have been administered by the local relief committees . At the weekly meeting of the Central Executive Belief Committee , Mr . Farnall reported that in the week ending on the 5 th inst . the number of persons receiving parochial relief in the 27 unions

included in his return had increased by 3 , 348 . At the date mentioned , the average per-centage of pauperism on population was 5 - 5 ; in the corresponding week in 1861 it was 2 ' 5 ; and in tbe corresponding week of 1863 it was 6 * 4 . The amount of money at the disposal of the Central Committee has sunk to about £ 90 , 000 . Mr . Eawlinson's report gives most interesting

information with reference to the public works which are in course of execution in the suffering districts . Parliament has been further prorogued till the 13 th of January next . The Lord Chancellor and other Commissioners represented the House of Lords . Mr . Ley , one of the chief clerks , did duty for the Commons . The full ceremonial of prorogation was nevertheless

observed ; but there were no members and few spectators to witness them . A meeting of the Cabinet on Monday marks the close of the ministerial holiday . -Sir Henry Storks , tbe last of the Lords High Commissioners of the Ionian Islands , has been recently gazetted Governor of Malta . Colonel Erskine , deputy inspector , will succeed Colonel M'Murdo

as Inspector General of A ' olunteers . Lord Russell was on Monday installed as Lord Hector of the University of Aberdeen . His inaugural address was an elaborate attempt to answer the two questions—first , is there any law or general rale by which the decline of states is governed ? and secondly , what is the general aspect of the world at present , and does it teach us to hope or to despond . Earl Spencer has with great liberality proposed a plan for the conversion of Wimbledon-common , or

at least about 700 acres of it , into an ornamental park . The cost of keeping it in order he would take upon himself and his successors , on condition that the right of pasturage was secured to them . He would , in virtue of his present position as lord of tbe manor , assume the name and functions of protector of the park , with an officer of Government associated with him , in

order that the public may not suffer from any caprice of himself or his successors . The plan , which was submitted to the residents in the neighbourhood , appeared tobe generally approved of ; but a committee was appointed to examine it , ancl an Act of Parliament will be required for its realisation . On AA ' ednesday evening the session of the Society of Arts commenced .

Mr . AVm . Hawes , the president of the council , delivered an inaugural address , in which he reviewed generally the field of the society ' s operations . At the close of his address a brief discussion ensued . Earl Granville presided the other day at the distribution of prizes to the fortunate competitors in London in the Oxford Middle-class Examinations . In a brief

address the noble earl pointed out the advantages of these examinations and their progress in public favour as shown in the number of candidates . The proceedings were of an interesting character . Mr . Gladstone presided last week at the annual dinner of one of the divisions of the Queen ' s ( AA'estminster ) Volunteers , ancl made a speech on the volunteer movement ,

which he highly eulogised . The first British Minister to the Empire of Mexico has been appointed . The honour of representing her Majesty at the Court of the new Emperor has been conferred on the Honourable Mr . Scarlett , lately Minister at the Court of Athens . A curious custom prevails at Bristol . The 13 th of November ( or ,

when , as on this year , that clay falls on a Sunday , then the following clay ) is devoted to the commemoration of a local worthy named Colston . But instead of its being the occasion for all

parties to meet together on common ground , AA'higs and Tories make it a day for mustering their respective forces , while a third party adopt neutral colours . The struggle assumes the laudable shape of vyeing with each other who shall raise most for their party . Monday was rather a more than usually animated anniversary , for Sir Morton Pcto , the new Whig candidate , made

his first appearance at the one gathering , and Mr . Fremantle , the Conservative , was present at the other . The consequence was that more money was raised on this occasion than on the former year . The Metropolitan Board of Works held a special meeting ou Tuesday to consider the report of the Main Drainage Committee in reference to the utilisation of the

sewage . That report recommended that a concession of the sewage should be made to Messrs . Napier and Hope , whose plan for its utilisation has been fully described . Several amendments were moved , with a view of obtaining further delay before a decision was »; ome to , but they were all voted down . Eventually the report was adopted by a majority of 26 votes to

9 . Messrs . Napier and Hope will now doubtless make application to Parliament for the necessary powers to carry their plans into execution . At a meeting of the Court of Alderman on Tuesday , the Sheriffs brought before the Court the paper which Muller had left behind him , which they said , far from being a confession , was but a repetition in the main of

what has already been put forward by the German Protection Society . The Rev . Dr . Cappel has applied for this document , but the Sheriffs declined to part with it . Some discussion took place on a letter which a clergyman who was admitted to see Muller had published in the columns of a contemporary . The letter was unanimously condemned , ancl the matter was referred to the gaol committee . The case of this wretched murderer seems to have caused no little interest in Germany . A petition

in Muller ' s favour was got up at Frankfort , and the Grand Duke of Saxe-AVeimar directed his representative in London to support the efforts of the German Society . It is also asserted that the King of Prussia and the Duke of Saxe Coburg Gotha telegraphed to the Queen in support of the memorial for a respite . Muller was , on Monday , executed at Sewgate , in the presence

of an immense mob . AA'hile on the scaffold the convict repeated the declaration that ho was innocent of tlie crime for which he was about to suffer ; but being further pressed by a German clergyman who attended him , he confessed what the evidence adduced at the trial hacl already placed beyond doubt —that he was the murderer of Mr . Briggs . Lord Albert

Pelliam Clinton—a midshipman on board Admiral Dacres ' flagship—has been dismissed the service for desertion . This scapegrace , who is nineteen years of age , had been placed under arrest for desertion , but meanwhile his father—the late Duke of Newcastle—died , and he was liberated , on parole , in order that ho might attend the funeral . He neglected , how

ever , to return at the proper time , so that two charges were preferred against him at the trial . To the first lie pleaded guilty—the second the court-martial held to be proved . There seems to be good ground for believing that the Federal crimp has been again at work in the cotton districts ancl other parts of England . Eighty men , who had been engaged

by an American agent to proceed to "N " e \ v York to work in a glass manufactory , left Ashton-undcr-Lyne for Liverpool on their way to the United States . On arriving at Liverpool their case became known to a gentleman who seems to have been well aware of the sort of work to which men of this class , and sent out as they were being sent out , were put to on their

arrival at ivew York . He disclosed his suspicions that they were unconsciously selling themselves into the service of President Lincoln , and the majority of them , seeing the force of what