The Week.

judgment and execution obtained against the Great -Eastern by one of her creditors for £ 5350 . The debt was to have been covered hy an insurance at a given day , but the Court held that the directors did not keep their agreement , and the Great Ship is now , therefore , to be sold for a judgment debt of £ 5350 . Another illustration of the way in which friendl y

societies got up professedly for the benefit of the poor are managed was brought to light on Saturday . A young man was brought before a magistrate charged with embezzling the funds he collected for the Royal Victoria Friendly Society , and was committed for trial . In the course of the examination it appeared that there are several such societies , which , like the

Royal Victoria , allow their collectors 25 per cent , on their weekly collections , besides a salary of 6 s . a week , and that this society , though professing in one prospectus to have an assured fund of £ 20 , 000 , and in another of £ 2500 only , had in point of feet neither the one nor the other , their only hankers being the Post-office savings banks . In the Court of Exchequer , on Tuesday ,

Sir Hugh Cairns proceeded to show cause against the rule obtained by the Attorney General for a new trial in the case of the Alexandria . The case is likely to last some days . The court-martial upon Colonel Crawley was opened at Aidershot , on Tuesday . AVhen called upon to plead , the prisoner protested against the indictment , on the ground that it was so

limited as to prevent him from going into the substantial merits of the case . The court , however , decided to proceed , and Sir Alfred Horsford having stated the case for the prosecution , the examination of the witnesses was commenced . A . decision has been given in the Exchequer Court , which will make litigants in the matter of small sums cautious how they carry their plaints before the superior courts of law . A Mr . Smith sued a Mr . Edge in a matter which was eventually referred to

arbitration , and the arbitrator decided in almost every point for the plaintiff , bnt the compensation he awarded altogether did not amount to £ 20 . On this the defendant pleaded that the plaintiff was not entitled to costs , as the clauses in the County Courts Act provided , with a view to check litigation , that actions brought in the superior courts where the plaintiff did not

recover £ 20 would not carry costs . Tbe court adopted this view ancl refused plaintiff his costs . The Board of Trade inquiry into the cause of the accident to the Cunard steamer Africa , has resulted in the suspension of Captain Stone's certificate for six months . The Africa , it will be remembered , struck on a rook near Cape Race on the night of the 12 th of October , but

by able management she was got afloat , and safely beached at St . John ' s . The court considered that the accident was caused by " culpable want of caution , " but , hearing in mind the subsequent exertions of Captain Stone , and his long ancl successful career , did not treat the case with the severity it might otherwise have merited .

An inquest has been held on the bodies of the two brothers who were killed on the premises of Messrs . Myers , the builders , in Lambeth , by the explosion of a boiler . The evidence went to show that one of the deceased men who had the charge of the boiler allowed the water to get too low , and the jury returned a verdict accordingly . The coroner's inquest on the body of

the man Hunt , the alleged murderer of his wife and two children in London , resulted in a verdict of "felo de se . " The enquiry elicited several facts which tend to account for some of the apparent contradictions which the circumstances of the case had previously presented . Amongst the most important was the evidence of a hairdresser , who stated that the deceased

purchased a moustache a day or two before the committal of the ¦ murder . This fact supports the story of the cabman . The inquest on the bodies of Mrs . Hunt and her two children was

brought to a close on Monday night . The jury found a verdict to the effect that all three were poisoned by prnssic acid , administered to them by Samuel William Hunt , who put an end to his own existence on Monday night week . Another singular murder has been committed in London . A few evenings ago a Mrs . Gorman , who lived in Addingtonsquare , was found almost insensible , and bearing marks of

illusage , when hut a few minutes before she had been seen in excellent health . On recovering herself she stated that she had been to the house of a neighbour to ascertain whether anyone was at home , and when she knocked at the door it was opened hy two men , whom she believed to be housebreakers . They threw her down , and inflicted such serious injuries that after

lingering for several days the woman died . A coroner ' s jury have returned a verdict of wilful murder against some persons unknown . A story of a most shocking character was disclosed at an inquest held in Manchester . A woman , named M'Govarn , kept a second-hand hat and cap shop in Shudehill , and was assisted in her business by one Ann M'Cullough . These

two women , it appears , were in the constant habit of drinking to excess ; indeed , a man who was frequently employed hy M'Govarn stated at tbe inquest that " hs had not seen either of them sober a single day for the past twelve months . " Repeated attacks of illness , of course , attended the habitual gratification of their inordinate passion for strong drink , aud a woman who

waited upon them thought it nothing unusual when she fonnd them both suffering from sickness on Saturday night , the whole of Sunday , and again on Monday . Early on Tuesday morning , however , M'Govarn was found dead , and . soon afterwards her wretched companion , M'Cullough , also died . At first it was suspected that they had been poisoned , but the medical evidence at the inquest showed clearly enought that death

in each case had been produced by excessive drinking . Mr . Coroner Humphreys has opened an inquiry into the cause of death of a little girl who had lived with her parents in a place called Hollybush-gardens , Bethnal-green . The jury visited the house , ancl found the approach to it in a horribly filthy condition , while the stench from closets was most offensive . Witnesses who were examined deposed that at times the smell

which forced its way into the houses were almost unindurable . A complaint had been made to a collector , who had told the person who spoke to him that the place would he made better when the drainage was settled . The inquest was adjourned in order that the locality might be examined by some medical man unconnected with the district . Every one will read with re .

gret the report of the accidental drowning of a son of Mr . William Howitt , and brother of the celebrated Australian explorer . The unfortunate gentleman lost his life the upsetting of a canoe on Lake Brunner , in Canterbury , New Zealand . A charge against the Rev . Mr . Birch , of Slough , for libelling a gentleman , whose sons he had been educating , was before the

police-court at AVestminster on AVednesday . Mr . Arnold determined , notwithstanding the suggestion of the solicitor for his defence , on sending the case for trial . That post-mortem examinations are sometimes unnecessarily made , and that they are sometimes not made when they ought to be , is undoubted . An instance of the former kind has transpired , according to the

opinion of the deputy coroner for Middlesex and a jury which sat to determine the cause of the death of a child who evidently died by the action of fire . The father of the deceased feels aggrieved and indignant at the body of the child being opened without his sanction , but the jury confine themselves to a general condemnation of " unnecessary post-mortem examinations , without authority ; " while the surgeon who made the autopsy threatens to write to the Home Secretary ,