The Week.

Westminster ( Queen ' s ) Volunteers in Regent ' s Park , ou Saturday , which ivas unfortunately attended by an accident of rather a serious nature to Colonel Erskine , tbe inspector-general . In the course of their evolutions the regiment fired a volley which so -startled the high-spirited horse which the colonel was riding-, that he reared up , and being unable to recover his balance fell heavily , rolling over his rider , who Avas taken up stunned and

severely bruised . Ho Avas conveyed to a carriage which was near , but recovering himself he refused to leave the ground , ordered the manoeuvres to proceed , and at the close addressed io the regiment a fe-. v words of advice and encouragement from the carriage . Sir Hugh Rose , AVIIO played so conspicuous a part in the suppression of the sepoy mutiny , has arrived in this

country from India . He assumes the command in chief in Ireland—a more comfortable , if less distinguished , post than th-it which he has occupied for several years past in the East The annual meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society was held on Tuesday at tho society's rooms , in Hanover-square . Sir Edivard Kerrison , the president of the society , was in the chair ,

• and after the report Avas read , Lord Tredegar Avas appointed president for the ensuing year . It Avas stated that the preparations for the SIIOAV in the west of England is proceeding satisfactorily . The show next year is to take place at Bury t _ t . Edmunds . At the last meeting of the Metropolitan Board the congratulations of the members ivere expressed to

their Chairman on his knighthood—a compliment which , it Avas assured , was offered through him to the board of which he was chairman . Sir John Tinvaites expressed his gratitude , and a record of tne discussion was ordered to be entered on the minutes . Protests Avere received from several parish vestries against the proposed grant of . 610 , 000 to their engineers , over their salaries . The annual dinner of the Press Fund took place on Saturday

• night at the Freemasons' Tavern . Mr . Charles Dickens was in ¦ the chair , supported by Lord Truro , Right Hon . Spencer Wnlpole , M . P ., Mr . Scholefield , M . P ., General Boileau , Admiral Burney and several other distinguished persons . The speech of the chairman , in proposing the toast of the evening , Avas distinguished by more than his usual playful kindness of manner , and

contained some interesting reminiscences of his own early connection with newspaper reporting . Tho musical arrangements were of the first quality . The subscriptions at the close wore announced to be £ 1 , 200 . -Mr . Bright has Avritten a letter to a friend at Carlisle upon the course to be adopted by the Radicals at the next election . He expresses a hope that they " will

endeavour to bring their members up to tho point of refusing to support a Government not willing to fulfil the pledges of 1859 and 18 G 0 , " for , he observes , " when it is a question of reform or expulsion from office , the Whig statesmen will decide in favour of reform . " ' The inquiry into the case of the two paupers in the St . Pancras -. voi-khouse who had complained to the Poor-law

Board of their having been confined in an offensively smelling room of the Avorkhouso for several weeks together , has been concluded . Mr . Morrison , the master of the workhouse , Mr . Chapman , the superintendent of the ward Avhere the men wero confined , Mr . Roberts , the surgeon , and Mr . Parker , the assistant clerk to the directors , AVCI-O examined and cross-questioned by

the complaining paupers . Mr . Farnall , who conducted the inquiry , then went to examine the rooms for himself , and stated that he Avould report tho result of his inquiry to the Poor-law Board . There were some interesting experiments in gunnery made at Shoeburyness last week , when the 300-pounder Armstrong muzzle gun was fired against a granite wall representing the strength of the casemates in which our troops are to be covered in the fortifications now erecting at Portsmouth , Ply . month , & e . Three shots tore up the casemate , and a fourth

would have burst into it altogether . A fragment from tha granite struck an artillery cadet from Woolwich , inflicting upon him a severe Avound . The annual meeting of the Royal Geographical Society Avas held on Monday , under the presidency of Sir Roderick Murchisoii . The society's gold medal ivas presented to Captain Montgomery of the Punjaub Survey . The patrons' medal ivas awarded to Mr . Samuel Baker , the

Avellknown African explorer . A special testimonial Avas given to Dr . A ambery , who , disguised as a dervish , travelled through Turkistan . In the Upper House of Convocation the Bishop of Oxford moved an address praying the Crown to create three neiv sees , of ivhich , St . Alban's , Southwell , and Bodmin or Truro should be the cathedral cities . After a brief discussion

the address w * as adopted . The Bishop of Winchester , in presenting a petition which prayed for the extension of the episcopate , made somo interesting statements concerning his diocese . He recommended that Surrey and the Channel Islands should be erected into independent sees . Two petitions were presented in reference to a court of final appeal .

A curious dispute arose a shoit time ago between tho directors of the Bank of England and the managers of the Industrial Exhibition in the Floral Hall , Covent Garden . Among the many ingenious objects there exhibited ivere three specimens of penmanship , representing letters , publications , ancl other documents on a table , among which w * as a

£ a note so cleverly executed , that the directors of the Bank , under their act of Parliament , insisted that the particular object should be left out . The trustees of the Exhibition naturally demurred , unci tho matter was brought before Sir Thomas Henry , at Boiv-street , and as the law on the subject Avas very clear , the representation of the notes was obliged to be cut from each of the specimens exhibited . A man named

Richardson , AA-IIO had been cashier in the large establishment of Messrs . Holdsivorth , of Halifax , was last week brought up before the magistrates of that borough on the charge of having defrauded his employers to the extent of £ 8 , 000 . Witnesses were examined in support of the charge , and after hearing their statements the magistrates committed him for trial . A curious caso of alleged fraud ivas brought before the Lord

Mayor , in which a Mr . Spoltz , a merchant of Liverpool , was charged Avith liaving defrauded the Bank of Hindostan of tbe sum of £ 1 , 073 , which they had advanced him on the collateral security of invoices of six cases of quinine , valued at nearly £ 2 , 000 . The complaint ivas that these cases , instead of liaving 1 , 000 ounces of quinine each , only hold 250 ounces . The matter

ivas complicated by the failure of a foreign house , of which the prisoner , it was admitted , AIMS an agent . The Lord Mayor remanded the case ; but the prisoner , Avho had not an opporunity of entering on his defence , was allowed to find bail . At the Middlesex sessions , Eugene Mitkiewicz , a pretended Russian count , was tried on various charges of fraud . This

person appeared to have adopted the . career of a swindler as a profession , and had signalised himself not only in various parts of this country , but in Franco and the United States . During his residence in the latter country ho robbed more than one lady of her ring , and became a ' - 'bounty jumper . '' "The Count" having been convicted on three indictments , he Avas

sentenced to five years' penal servitude . —On Tuesday afternoon a soAver which passed under the North London Railway between the l . ingsland and Stoke Newington stations burst and flooded a portion of the line . Thc accident was due to the heavy fall of rain which flooded the seiver . The traffic was , however , soon resinned . A serious accident happened on Tuesday at the now station of the North London Railway now being built in Liverpool-street