The Week.

of " The County and Borough Members , " the right lion , gentleman gave some sound advice to the farmers who were present , and managed to invest with great interest a subject ivhich has been worn threadbare . At the Court of Common Council on AVednesday , Alderman Waterlow brought forward as a question of privilege some extra expenditure made by the special

committee appointed to superintend the restorations at the Guildhall . After some discussion it was agreed , with the consent of the members of tbe committee , that the order of the court should in future be obtained before such expenditure ivas again incurred . In the cases of tbe Royal entertainment committee aud of the " special lunatic committee "—a name which

for purposes of future reference might be advantageously modified—it appears sueh an order was obtained . After passing through countless dangers in the interior of Africa ancl elsewhere , Captain Speke , the discoverer , in conjunction with

Captain Grant , of tbe source of the Nile , has been killed while beating up game in the west of England . The gallant officer was out shooting on Thursday week , and was endeavouring to get through a hedge , when his gun wont off . The charge entered his heart , and death would , of course , be instantaneous . He was only 3 * 1 years of age ; and bis life has been cut short at

a time when , as has generally been understood , be was preparing for another expedition in the direction of the Nile ' s source . The British Association closed its meeting on Wednesday at Bath , where a floral fete was very well attended . On Thursday there were two excursions , one of them being to tlie new Clifton Bridge , over which the Association passed for the first time .

The savans then parted with mutual felicitations , hoping to meet in Birmingham next September . In his address before the Association on Monday night , Dr . Livingston stated that in his second exploration of the country through which the Zambesi

and the Shire run he found "much more cotton than he had previously any idea of . " The quality was fine , there was no danger of frosts nipping the plant , and planting was necessary once only every three years . Notwithstanding the unfortunate results of his late expedition , he said he had made up his mind to try again , —this time , liowover , to the north of the territory

held by the slave-hunting subjects of the King of Portugal . Another African traveller , Dr . Baikie , of the Niger expedition , writes to the Foreign-office , from a place called Lukoja , that cotton was being received there , and that "if inquired for , it would soon greatly increase in quantity . The Association will hold its meeting next year at Birmingham , with Professor Phillips as President . Mr . Turner , of Richmond , who has given to the public careful estimates of the

result of each harvest for several years past , states that this year we have a "full average" crop of wheat , and " above an average" crop of barley . Oats are under an average in bulk , but " their condition is unusually good . " The turnip crop is a failure ; and with few exceptions the grass land has been " completely burned up . ' * On the whole , although there is grsat

irregularity in the crops , Air . Turner thinks there is " very much to be thankful for . " There is a fair crop of wheat , which may now be said to have all been secured sound and good ; and the late showers of rain , though too late to do much good to pastures , will put the land intended for autumn wheat into good condition to receive seed for the crop of another year .

An IOU does not require a stamp , but a written agreement to pay , or a written acknowledgment of a debt to be paid at a given time , does . At the Sheriff's Court a plaintiff was nonsuited for producing such a document , and the judge told him that perhaps the debt might have been proved without the paper , hut its production obliged the Court to dismiss the case . ¦ Mr . Tyrwhitt has given his decision on the question whether

tho use of the word "surgeon-chiropodist" is abroach of the Medical Act . The magistrate held that the word " surgeon , " even in conjunction with " chiropodist , " was such an offence as to call for the infliction of a penalty ; but he offered to grant a case , which Mr . Lewis , for the defendant , determined to take to the Queen's Bench . In another case , at tbe Thames

Policecourt , the magistrate declined to convict a Mr . Feiitimaii , although he used the words " surgeon-dentist and chemist" on his shop bills . Air . Paget , therefore , on the strength of a case decided four years ago in the Common Pleas , refuses to convict on what seems a more palpable offence than that for which Sir . Tyrwhitt imposes a heavy fine . It is stated that Baron Deasy

ancl Judge Christian will hold the special commission to try tho Belfast rioters . The ship carpenters who struck work because their employers would not dismiss some Roman Catholic fellowworkmen , who were alleged to have played tho part of spies , have returned to their labour , as they were assured that their suspicions of their fellows were unfounded ... It is to be hoped that both parties will now consent to live in peace and

quietness . There is no reason in the world why an Orangeman and a Roman Catholic should not find it possible to exist in the same city without wishing to cut each other ' s throats . A most extraordinary case of locking up a wife for two years has been heard before Air . Norton , at the Lambeth Police-court . After three sittings , during which the evidence

has been gone into at great length , Air . Norton having patiently listened to the witnesses , committed the husband and bis servant or "housekeeper" for trial at the Surrey Sessions . Captain Tuthill again appeared in the Clerkenwell Court , on Saturday last , as a plaintiff , and took nothing by his motion . Then came the "housekeeper" who lives in tl ' -e same house with "the gallant officer" and his wife ; and , though she exposed her

manner of life , she did not succeed in establishing the assault of which she complained . A woman , charged on Saturday last , at the AVestminstcr Court , with an outrage on the assistant matron of Chelsea Workhouse , revealed the interesting fact that in gaols prisoners have to pick two pounds of oakum per day , in workhouses paupers have to pick three pounds in the same

time ! Truly there seems to bo no crime like poverty . Charles Brown , a boy of fifteen , has been charged before , the Lord Alayor with forging and uttering a cheque for £ 350 . The prisoner ' s accomplice , a boy of sixteen , is undergoing penal servitude for his share in the crime , and was examined on habeas as a witness , disclosing their well-laid plots and effectually involving his friend , who stands committed for trial at

Newgate . Aluller , the supposed murderer of Air . Briggs , was conveyed from Liverpool to London on Saturday . He was violently booted at the Camden Town and Euston stations by the crowds which had collected to catch a glimpse of him , and a similar demonstration of popular indignation awaited him at Bow-street . Aluller was examined at Bow-street on Monday ,

amidst a scene of extraordinary excitement . The small court was densely crowded , and among those who occupied seats ou the bench were Prince Humbert of Italy and the Italian Ambassador . The only fresh evidence given was that of Air . Briggs's sou , who affirmed that the watch found in the prisoner ' s possession when he was arrested on board the Victoria

belonged to the deceased . He was , however , unable to swear positively to the hat which the police officers also found among Midler ' s luggage . Matthews , the cabman , repeated the evidence he had previously given , to the effect that the hat found in the railway carriage after the murder was Mailer ' s , and Air . Death , the jeweller , identified the prisoner as the man who brought Air . Briggs's watch chain to his shop , and exchanged it for another , 'two days after the murder was committed . Aluller