The Week.

ficio . The rev . defendants have appealed to the Privy Council . It appears from the proceedings of the Central Relief Committee that the destitution in the cotton-manufacturing districts is still on the increase . In eight out of the twenty-seven unions included in the weekly tabular statement of Mr . Farnall an improvement seems to have taken place , but taking the whole number together the Commissioner has to announce an increase

of 3014 persons in receipt of parochial relief . The total amount received by the Central Committee up to the 10 th inst . may be given in round numbers at £ 360 , 500 ; and on Saturday last there was a balance at the bank of rather more than £ 233 , 500 . The parish of St . George's , Hanover-square , have met on the question of the Lancashire distress . The Earl of

Camperdown , one of the churchwarderns of the parish , occupied the chair ; and resolutions were moved by Lord Calthorpe , the Rev . Dr . Howarth , the rector ; Sir John Shelley , the Hon . Mr . Cowper , and other speakers , and letters enclosing subscriptions , were forwarded by the Marquis of Landsowne , the Duke of Grafton , and others . Several handsome donations were received

in the room , and there is little doubt that the amount of the subscription will be worthy of the wealth and public spirit of this the most aristocratic parish in London . At the last weekly meeting of the Metropolitan Board of AA ' orks , the principal business was a report from the engineer , recommending that a subway should be formed along the Thames

Embankment , and setting forth the advantages which would accrne to the public interest from its formation . The additional expense of the roadway from the construction would be about £ 20 , 000 . The board unanimously agreed to sanction this great improvement .- ——At the last meeting of the Royal Geographical Society , Captain Sherard Osborn and Mr . Lay explained the objects of the service they have undertaken to conduct in

China . Mr . Gladstone was present , and on being invited to state his views with reference to the expedition which is about to leave our shores , the right hon . gentleman , in his own name and on behalf of his colleagues , bade our gallant countrymen "God speed" in the work upon ivhich they are about to enter—¦ feeling confident that , under their direction , such a mission must add to the name and character of England in the far

East . . The proposal to make another effort to lay a telegraphic cable between Ireland ancl Newfoundland appears to have been taken up considerable spirit . The surveys recently made for the old Company are hold to have satisfactorily settled the practicability of the scheme ; and at a' meeting of the shareholders it was determined to raise , if possible , a fresh capital of

£ 600 , 000 . The chairman of the Company , Mr . Stuart Wortley , stated that the directors had issued circulars on the subject , and that iu three days the respectable amount of £ 75 , 000 was subscribed . The Crystal Palace Company have held a general meeting , at which a dividend of 3 s . per share was declared . The management of the Palace underwent some varied criticism ,

hut upon the whole the policy of the directors met with the approval of the meeting . Lieut .-Colonel Young brought forward his usual motion against opening the Palace on Sundays . It met , however , with a very unfavourable reception , and an amendment of the previous question was carried hy a large majority . The great Christmas Smithfield Cattle-market

was held on Monday . It may with pride be compared to any former year ' s exhibition , and with equal pride may the world he challenged to produce its equal . AVhatever may have been the character of some of the garotte stories which have recently been published , it would seem pretty clear from the police reports that the streets of London are infested with a body of ruthless desperadoes . On Monday two were reported from Bradford and two from Hull ; while an outrage of a most

daring character was committed in the neighbourhood of AVigan on Saturday morning . During an interview with a deputation of the magistrates of London , on Monday , Sir George Grey gave official confirmation to a statement that a commission is about to inquire into the whole subject of tbe treatment of criminals . The deputation strongld urged a recurrence to trans portation , but the Right Hon . Baronet guarded himself against any definite expression of opinion on the subject . Meanwhile , the discussion to which the crimes of violence in

London have given rise continues to he carried on in the newspapers ancl Grand Jury rooms . Sir AValton Crofton , in a letter to the Times , expresses his entire approval of a well-developed system of " deportation , " but he believes that our present convict outlet , Western Australia , can , by the exercise of great care , be made capable of receiving as many convicts as we may find it necessary to send . He is also of opinion that our present

legal machinery , if wisely employed , is sufficient to meet the difficulties which have arisen ; but , he adds , " our practice must be more in accordance with our theories , and ,. the protection of the public be more considered than the interests of the liberated convict . " The Grand Jury at Chester made a presentment on Saturday condemning the ticket-of-leave system . Mr . Adderley pronounces strongly against the proposal to fall back upon the system of transportation . He not only views a recurrence to

this form of punishment as utterly impossible , but contends also that banishment would be less certain and terrific than even penal servitude . Ho urges that , before flying to other resources , we should endeavour to give certainty and vigour to existing punishments , and he ventures to assert " that if the first infliction in the process of punishing a garotter were only 50 lashes , such as our soldiers and sailors undergo for less appropriate offences , we should hear no more of garotting than we do of

shooting at the Queen . " On the other hand , Mr . Justice Mellor , in charging the Grand Jury at AVorcester , argued in favour of a return to the system of transportation .- A sad state of things appears to exist in and about the town of Chesterfield . The English and Irish inhabitants of the lower class are at open war , and for some time past the district has been the scene of most disgraceful disturbances . The local authorities seem to be wholly unequal to the task of mamtaiuing public order against the two factions , to whose feuds at least one fatal outrage is attributed . There appears to be little doubt that the present state of things may be traced to a visit

paid to Chesterfield some , time ago by the person who calls himself the " Baron de Camiu . " At the Central Criminal Court , Frederick Pearce , a smith , charged with the manslaughter of Thomas Searle , arising out of circumstances of great provocation , was found guilty , but recommended to mercy , and was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment ; Salome Newman , indicted for the wilful murder of her child at Dalston , was found guilty of concealing the birthand was sentenced to IS months '

, hard labour ; AA'illiam Crane , found guilty of embezzling £ 2 10 * ., was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment ; Frederick Layton , found guilty of being " feloniously at large before the expiration of a certain sentence of penal servitude , " was relegated to the same condition for a term of 15 years ; Edward AVood , convicted of stealing £ 80 , was condemned to two months ' imprisonment . An old man , named Ockold , was sentenced to

death at the Worcester assizes , on Saturday , for the murder of his wife , at Oldbury , in November last . The Jury , while finding a verdict of guilty , recommended the prisoner to mercy on account of his advanced age . An Austrian , named Petrina , has been sentenced to death at the AA'inchester assizes for murder on the high seas . Petrina was second mate of the British ship Winthrop , and it seems that on the 4 th of October , while on the voyage from San Francisco to Monte Videohe

, murdered the captain , the captain's wife , and the first mate . At the Liverpool assizes , a man named Edwards was sentenced to death for the murder of a young woman with whom he had been living for some time . The jury recommended the prisoner to mercy on account of the provocation he had received before making the fatal attack on the deceased , but the learned Judge held out but little hope that Edwards's life would be spared . Ruxton , the Liverpool shipowner , who was indicted for

conspiring to destroy one of his own ships at sea , with the view of defrauding the underwriters has been acquitted . He was no sooner discharged , however , than he was re-apprehended on other charges . Mr . Norris Taylor , the registrar of the Rochdale