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published , and a discussion then ensued . There was much recrimination , and some strong observations on Sir S . M . Peto's conduct were made . He was present and addressed the meeting , contending that iu all he had done he had been actuated by a desire to serve the best interests of the company , and he denied that any one was in the least injured by what he had done . Eventually the report of the Committee of Investigation

¦ was adopted , and a reconstruction of the board of directors determined upon . It appears that the inhabitants of Poplar entertain a laudable desire to provide the teeming population of that great and busy district with a public park , the nearest open space being Victoria Park , which is distant three miles . An excellent site has presented itself , and the ratepayers and

others have memorialised the Metropolitan Board of Works to assist them in completing the purchase of the land . The petition was very favourably considered by the board . A railway accident took place at Hitchin on the 11 th inst . A passenger train ran into a goods train , which had stopped , instead of passing through the tunnel . Several of the

passengers sustained bruises , bnt none were fatally injured . The charge against the churchwardens of the parish church of Stoke Newington , of brawling in the church , was further heard and decided upon on the 13 th inst . It will be remembered that there bad been disputes in the parish as to the manner in which the musical part of the service was conducted , and the

churchwardens removed by force the organist appointed by the rector of the parish , in order to put in his place one appointed by the vestry . The magistrate dismissed the charge of brawling . He was asked to give a decision on a further charge of assault , in order that the whole matter might be taken before a superior court . He refused , however , and suggested that the matters in dispute should be referred to the Bishop of London . A

woman named Scott or Burgess , seems to have been brutally murdered in the Bethnal-green-road . She was married to a man named Burgess , and while he was still alive she married a tradesman named Scott , with whom she lived until the 11 th inst , when she died . Tho cause of her death appears to have been injuries she had received at the hands of Scott . If one witness is to be believed , he behaved in a most brutal manner to

the deceased . He is in custody on a charge of murder . The journeymen bakers of London held a meeting on the 13 th inst ., to consider how best they might be relieved from the exhausting night-work which they now perform . The meeting was chiefly remarkable for the speech of a Mr . Wright , a master baker , -who strongly counselled , the men to

strike . " Fancy London without bread for forty-eight hours , " said he . Well , it is not a pleasant thing to fancy . When Hood wrote , " Rattle his bones over the stones ; he's only a panner whom nobody owns , " he could not have imagined anything so revolting as the tale which a poor woman had to tell last week to the Bethnal Green Guardians . Two of her

children died in July , and , having obtained an order for their burial , she took it , to a contractor for pauper funerals in the district . She and her relatives accompanied the bodies to the Great Northern Cemetery in a Shillibeer hearse . Underneath the carriage in which they sat there were seven bodies , , two more were under the driver's seat , and two more came

behind in a cart . The bodies were , with one exception , those of persons who had died of cholera . The exception was a fever case . Matter ooxed from one of the coffins , and the stench was fearful . No wonder slie was made ill ; the real ground for astonishment is that she is now alive to tell the story . But the indecency of the business did not end here . At the cemetery the coffins were covered with

The Week.

earth without any grave being dug , and no religious service of any kind -i \ as performed . The board of guardians have had the contractor before them , and virtually he admits the truth of the woman's statement , excusing himself on the ground that , owing to the cholera , he was very busy just then with his ghastly work . The guardians seem to have reprimanded him ,

and to have written to the Great Northern Railway Company for an explanation of the reason why no funeral service was performed over tho bodies . An ingenious fraud was exposed on the 15 th inst . at Clerkenwell Police Court . A man , calling himself John Young , was charged with obtaining money under false pretences . He had gone to a house and stated that a

telegraph message for the householder was waiting in an office in King William-street , City . A member of the family was sent to fetch the message , having been first assured that there would be nothing to pay . As soon as he had seen the messenger clear away he went back to the house , said he had made a mistake , that there was £ 5 to pay for the message , and that

he had been sent for the money . He got it . Of course there was no message . He was committed for trial . On tho 15 th inst . an inquest was held at Old Ford on tho body of a French merchant named Felix , who shot himsolf on the 11 th inst . Tho deceased lived with his wife and family in a house of his own , but latterly he has been greatly depressed in his mind by business losses . The jury found that ho committed

selfdestruction whilo in an unsound framo of mind . Mr . Samuel Morley has mado an announcement which will be hoard with much rogrot . It is that "he does not think ho shall seek again to ontor Parliamont . Very many earnest mou will hopo that Mr . Morloy may reconsider tho decision , especially after the spooch . which ho deliverod at Newcastle on the lGth inst ., and which we report elsewhere . On Tuesday the Queen opened tho Aberdeon

Waterworks . Tho works are admirably constructed , and aro designod to supply six million gallons of water por day . The ceremony was of the simplest description . There has been much talk about the want in certain quarters—Ministerial and otherwise—of au adequate appreciation of tho services rendered by tho naval officors omployod in the Atlantic Telograph .

expedition . It now appears that tho tribute which it was supposed had beon altogothor withheld , was really paid to thoso distinguished men by Captain Anderson at tho Liverpool banquet ; but as , oddly enough , that gallant officer ' s remarks were not reported at all , it was practically of no more value than if it had nevor beon delivered . Sir James now supplies tho defect by a letter , in

which he gives a generous mood of pi-aiso to his various naval colleagues ; but tho public will probably think that it should not havo boon left to tho commander of tho Great Eastern to render tardy act of justico to men who have dosorvod so well of thoir country .

To Correspondents.

TO CORRESPONDENTS .

% ;* All communications to be addressed to 19 , Salisbury-street Strand , London , W . C . F . J . A . ( Nassau ) . — Your correspondence and five shillings worth of postago stamps duly received . Wo will take the necessary stops to havo tho matter thoroughly investigated , and will inform you of tho rosult . SUBSCRIBERS IN ARREAR . —The following brethren and lodges

having beon written to repeatedly , and payment of tbe accounts due by them not being forthcoming , they are hereby fraternally requested to at once discharge their monetary obligations , so long overdue , as under , viz .: Bros . J . D . Nordon , Queen's Town , Cape of Good Hope ; J . C . Frank , Belleville , Canada West . Lodges : St . John ' s Lodge , Secundarabad , India ; Lodge of Strict Observance , Canada West ; and Zetland Lodge , Cape of Good Hope .