21. A SCIENTIFIC TEA PARTY.-One of the unnoticed features of the meeting of the British Association was a tea banquet served in the Friends' Meeting Room, in connection with two papers on "Tea"-one by Mr. J. H. Batten, "On the Introduction of Tea Culture into the Province of Kumaon, in Northern India;" the other by Mr. A. Burrell, M. R. A. S., "On the Tea Consumption of the United Kingdom." There were on the tables, and in cases, forty-one samples of the finest kinds of tea from all the tea-producing countries in the world, which had been contributed expressly for the meeting by the growers or their agents or brokers, so that those present had only to ask to be supplied with any kind of tea. But perhaps the feature of the meeting was the choice selections of Indian tea, ranging from the exquisite growth of the Kangra Valley of the Punjab, through all the other sub-Himalayan districts of Kumaon, Dehra-Dhoon, Darjeeling, and Neilgherrie, progressively increasing in strength and pungency, down to the Assam districts, where the tea attains its maximum strength. The tea was of the lightest straw colour, and very fragrant, and was pretty freely sipped from tiny cups à la chinoise.

COLLIERY ACCIDENT.-Late to-night Bryan Hall Collieries, Wigan, were the scene of a shocking accident. Three men were waiting in the cage to be lowered down the shaft, and three men were in a cage at the bottom leaving work. Signal was given to wind, but the engine tender wound the wrong way, the cage was drawn to the head gear, the rope broke, and the cage was dashed down the pit. One man managed to jump out as the cage ascended, but two others -Lewis and John Blakeledge, father and son -were precipitated down the shaft, their dead bodies being found fearfully mutilated. The men at the bottom, having timely warning, escaped unhurt.

money

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-CONSTANTINE THEODORIDES, 30 years of age, and Paul Gorlera, 40, were sentenced at the Central Criminal Court, to seven years' penal servitude each for having attempted to extort Miss Augusta Ernestine Slade, niece of Admiral Slade, and residing with him at 3 Hyde Park Place. There had been an attachment between Miss Slade and the prisoner Theodorides, whose acquaintance she had made when travelling in Turkey, and an engagement to marry resulted, but this engagement was broken off, and subsequently the two prisoners endeavoured to extort money under a representation that Miss Slade's love letters, above a hundred in number, would come into the possession of other persons.

SHOCKING ACCIDENT AT JARROW. SIX CHILDREN KILLED.— An accident occurred at Jarrow to-day by which six children lost their lives. A number of children were gathering coals on a road made on the site of an old pit heap. It fell in, and eight or ten of them were entombed. Six were taken out dead, and another lies in a precarious condition. The ages of the dead range from seven

to seventeen.

MR. THOMAS HEDLEY, barrister-at-law, of Newton, Northum

berland, who died ten days ago at Newcastle, has bequeathed upwards of 200,000l. for the endowment of a bishopric for the county of Northumberland. The deceased gentleman, who has for many years resided in Newcastle, was largely connected with collieries in the north of England.

22. MR. H. M. STANLEY, we are this day informed, has discovered something of real consequence-no less than the fact that the Lualaba river, which begins about one hundred miles from Lake Nyassa, and which was discovered by Livingstone in his expedition of 1866, is part of the great Congo. The Congo-Lualaba forms one stream, second, if really second, in volume only to the Amazon. It is no diminution of Mr. Stanley's credit that other travellers had conjectured that which he has proved. He lost in

his painful march many of his followers, including Francis Pocock, who was swept over the Falls of Massassa. He fought thirty-one battles on the banks of the Lualaba, and he and his party managed to pass through the Cannibal regions with great difficulty, and reached the coast at Emboma, with many of his followers prostrated by dysentery, scurvy, and ulcers, after having made one of the greatest geographical discoveries of the age."

*

CONSPIRACY AMONGST POLICEMEN.-The charge of conspiracy against Chief-Inspectors Meiklejohn, Druscovich, Palmer, and Clarke, and Mr. Froggatt, solicitor, was concluded before Sir James Ingham, at Bow Street, to-day. Mr. Lewis called several witnesses to disprove statements made by the convict Kurr with regard to Chief-Inspector Clarke; Mr. St. John Wontner addressed the magistrate upon the evidence affecting Druscovitch; and Mr. Froggatt spoke upon his own case, and was proceeding to examine a witness when Sir James Ingham intimated his intention to send all the prisoners for trial. Mr. Froggatt, therefore, withdrew the witness, and said he should reserve his defence. The prisoners were then all formally committed for trial on the charge of conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice, and as accessories after the fact to forgeries committed by Kurr, Benson, and others; and Meiklejohn, in addition, was also committed as an accessory before the fact. Bail was accepted as before for Mr. Froggatt and Inspector Clarke, but was refused for the other three inspectors. The preliminary investigation in this case has occupied the time of the Court for twenty-seven whole days and one afternoon.†

THE STRIKE of the Clyde shipwrights is at an end, the men having agreed with the masters to submit the matters in dispute to arbitration. Work will be resumed on Monday next. During the time the strike has lasted from 70,000l. to 80,000l. have been lost in wages.

GREAT FIRE AT MILLWALL.-For nearly ten hours to-day a numerous body of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade were busy in extinguishing a fire that occurred on the extensive premises be* For further particulars see Science.'

+ See Trials."

longing to Messrs. Timothy and Green, jute merchants, West Ferry Road, Millwall. The property extends from the edge of the River Thames to the main thoroughfare, and it was at the former point that the fire was first discovered, Messrs. Timothy and Green's loss being estimated at between 25,000l. and 30,000l. Several of the adjoining properties have been damaged by water. It will, it is thought, be several days before the firemen can leave the place. 24. GREAT FIRE IN THE AMERICAN PATENT OFFICE.-The West and North Upper Halls of the Patent Office building, in Washington, one of the finest Government edifices, were destroyed by fire today. A large quantity of models, the number of which is estimated at from 50,000 to 75,000, were consumed by the flames. The loss includes models of some of the most important inventions extant, and a number of valuable records pertaining thereto. Drawings and records of a great many models, being in a lower storey, were saved. All offices subordinate to the Department of the Secretary of the Interior, except the pension office, were located in the building. Their documents were saved, but in such a confused state that business will be seriously interfered with. Many of the lower rooms were flooded. Help was summoned from Baltimore. The loss is heavy, but it is as yet impossible to give any estimate of it. The fire originated in the south-west corner of the building, and is believed to be owing to an accident.

25. GREAT FIRE AT THE EAST END.-One of the largest conflagrations that has occurred at the East End of London broke out last night at Millwall. The scene of the disaster was an immense pile of buildings belonging to Messrs. N., J., and W. Fenner and Co., oil and colour and varnish manufacturers, of West Ferry Road, Millwall. Messrs. Fenner's establishment consisted of several large piles of buildings, and besides having a large river frontage extended back into West Ferry Road. The different parts of the premises were filled with all kinds of inflammable and combustible materials, consisting of turpentine, tar, pitch, and Russian tallow, naphtha, and many hundred casks of resin, &c. The fire broke out about half-past one in the morning, and when discovered the flames had made great progress and spread with alarming rapidity, and in about twenty minutes large bodies of flame shot through the roof, illuminating the metropolis for miles round. The river floating engine moored off Millwall was soon brought to the spot, with a large body of firemen. Land steamers were also despatched to the scene, with about 100 firemen. By two o'clock there were fourteen land-steam and manual engines, besides the four floats, engaged playing on the fire. Loud explosions occasionally took place, and the burning material rushed along from one building to another, and the excitement became intense. The fire was not got under till late the next morning.

26. THE LONGEST RAILWAY BRIDGE in the world, that which carries the North British Railway over the estuary of the Tay, was formally opened to-day.

MR. MONTAGU WILLIAMS.--The Attorney-General has appointed Mr. Montagu Williams counsel to the Treasury for the county of Middlesex Sessions, in the place of the late Mr. William Cooper.

HOP-PICKING.-The Maidstone Journal, reporting on the hop harvest, says that picking has now finished with the majority of the growers. Contrary to expectation the hops have fallen wonderfully fast, while the quality is very inferior to that of previous growths. The cause may doubtless be traced to the terrific storms that prevailed in that part of Kent some time since. Altogether the crop, both for the growers and the pickers, has proved very unsatisfactory. In many of the grounds hundreds of poles are standing as monuments of unfruitfulness. The last of the hops

will have been gathered by about the middle of this week. Since Wednesday 7,000 hop-pickers have been despatched from the Maidstone station of the South Eastern line, and 2,000 by the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, on their return home.

THE PENGE MYSTERY.-The trial at the Central Criminal Court, before Mr. Justice Hawkins, of Louis Staunton, Patrick Staunton, Elizabeth Anne Staunton, and Alice Rhodes, charged with the murder of Harriet Staunton, at Penge, was concluded this day. The learned judge began to sum up at 20 minutes to 11 o'clock in the morning, and finished at a quarter to 10 o'clock at night. The jury, after an absence of an hour and twenty minutes, returned into court with a verdict of guilty against all the prisoners on the capital charge, but recommended the two female prisoners to mercy, the younger one [Alice Rhodes] strongly. The learned judge commented on the barbarous character of the murder of which the prisoners had been convicted, observing that he considered it without parallel in the annals of crime, and went on to remark that he had no doubt whatever that they were also guilty of the murder of Harriet Staunton's child. He then sentenced all the prisoners to death in the usual form.

THE GERMAN MASONS who had been brought over to this country by the contractors for the new law courts to take the place of the men on strike, and who worked on Monday and Tuesday, did not appear at the building yesterday morning, and on inquiry being made it was found that they had all left by the Hamburg steamer.

27. INDIAN FAMINE FUND.-The Lord Mayor received the following telegram to-day from the Secretary of State in attendance upon the Queen :

Balmoral, 9.15 A.M.

I am desired by Her Majesty the Queen to thank your lordship for your telegram stating that the Indian Famine Fund now being raised at the Mansion House already exceeds a quarter of a million sterling, and that your lordship hopes and believes that it will largely increase. Her Majesty feels deeply the readiness with which the sufferings of her people in India have touched the hearts of her people at home.

SUBMARINE TUNNEL.-Operations connected with the submarine tunnel have been begun on the other side of the Channel, several pits having been sunk to the depth of about 110 yards. At the same time the French and English committees have drawn up the conditions of working for the route. The property of the tunnel is to be divided in half by the length-that is to say, each company will possess half of the line, reckoning the distance from coast to coast at low tide. Each company will cover the expenses of its portion. The general work of excavation will be done, on the one hand, by the Great Northern of France, and on the other by the Chatham and South-Eastern Companies, the two latter having each a direct route from London to Dover. All the materials of the French and English lines will pass through the tunnel in order to prevent unnecessary expenses and delay of transhipment, as in England and in France railway companies use each other's lines, and goods can pass from one line to another without changing vans. It is understood that an arrangement will be established for a similar exchange of lines between all the English and Continental railway companies when the tunnel is completed. The tunnel will belong to its founders. At the expiration of thirty years the two Governments will be able to take possession of the tunnel upon certain conditions.

OCTOBER.

1. CLAPHAM BURGLARIES.-A very serious, not to say alarming, state of insecurity has established itself during the last few weeks in certain districts of South London, more especially Clapham Common, Balham, Dulwich, Putney, and the parishes immediately contiguous, arising out of the swift succession of a series of daring and well-planned burglaries. Towards the end of July there were four burglaries in one week on the Wandsworth side of Clapham Common. In three of these ladders were used to reach bedroom windows, and property was carried off. During the last three weeks there have been six more burglaries in the same immediate neighbourhood, and at Balham, Dulwich, and Putney there have been during the same time about twice as many. Hitherto there has not been the apprehension of a single offender for these systematic depredations, notwithstanding the fact that a gang of at least several persons must have been engaged in them. This is a state of things which necessarily excites distrust of the police arrangements, and creates in the several neighbourhoods a degree of alarm and suspense most harassing and disagreeable, especially considering the nearness of short days and dark nights.

RELICS. The American Consul at St. John's, Newfound