The Week.

Wednesday at Battersca . The bridge is intended to be used by tbe London , Chatham , and Dover Railway Company , the present bridge being found insufficient for their traffic . The Davenport brothers presented themselves before a Huddersfield audience ou Tuesday night , but it so happened that the two o-eiitlemen appointed to neb as < i " committee" hail been

initiated into the mysteries ofthe " tom-fool" knot which stopped the performances at Liverpool ; and the brothers objecting to be tied up in such a manner , the seance was abruptly closed . According to the Observer , a meeting is about to bo , held in London with the view of ascertaining Avhether somethin" - cannot be done to render trades unions and other

" working-class organisations , " available for raising a popular feeling in favour of a Reform Bill . Mr . Cobden , Mr . Bright , Jlr . W . F . Forster , Mr . Stansfeld , and other members of Parliament and other gentlemen of influence are said to support this movement , and it is added that they are prepared , if they see the working classes themselves moving earnestly in the

matter , to put down the sum of £ 5 , 000 to carry on the agitation . The hardship upon special jurymen of having to hang about courts of law , sometimes for several days together , has often formed the topic of complaint . Chief Justice Erie adverted to the subject in his own court on Tuesday , and recommended that the system prevailing in the country should be

adopted in London — that is to say , instead of summoning 21 jurymen in each particular case , it would be better to sum- ' mon 36 jurymen , who would try all cases that came before them for a period—say five or six days . The proposal appeared to commend itself to those jurymen to whom it was addressed . — A ease , which has been before the Lord Chief Justice of England and a jury for five or six days , was determined on Saturday . The Rev . Mr . Moore , a clergyman in Leicestershire , sued

certain gentlemen , tho directors of a company established to work some mines in Servia , which in the end turned out to be a failure . The ground of the action was , that the defendants had deceived the plaintiff by putting forth a prospectus containing a statement which they knew to be not true , or at least , wliich they did not know to be true . A great deal of

evidence on both sides Avas taken , and the Lord Chief Justice , in summing up , laid down the principle that it was not necessary for the directors of a company to know of their own personal knowledge every statement that might be put forth in their prospectus ; it was . enough that they honestly believed , and had fair grounds for their belief , that the statements were

true . The jury found a verdict for the defendants . Another insig ht into the manner in which some joint-stock companies have been got up has been afforded by a case tried in the Court of Queen ' s Bench . Captain Antrobus and a Mr . Hughson sued a solicitor named Wickens and a gentleman named Folch for £ 10 , 000 . It seems that the defendants and some other persons

had made an agreement to purchase Mr . Craw-shay Bailey's ironworks for £ 253 , 000 , and they wero seeking to got up a company to be called the Aberaman Iron Works Company , Avhich was to pay them £ 350 , 000 for the Avorks , thus leaving them a clear profit of nearly £ 100 , 000 . Thoy had difficulty , however , in getting together

the deposit money for the purchase , and in getting a sufficient number of shares taken to give the company a good appearance before the public . The plaintiffs say that they agreed to get both for a commission of £ 10 , 000—namely , £ 5 , 000 for the advance of £ 10 , 000 , and £ 5 , 000 for the placing of 8 , 000 shares . They induced the London Bank of Scotland to advance the money and take tbe shares on a heavy premium , and thus claimed the commission . The Lord Chief Justice , who tried the case , repeatedly interrupted the evidence Avith

exclamations of astonishment at the revelations made . Evidence was called for the defence to prove that the deposit of £ 10 , 000 was obtained without the interference of the plaintiffs . The jury returned a verdict for the defendants . A most scandalous action w-as tried in the Court of Exchequer on Tuesday . A woman named SiJicer brought an action against a Mr . Moss for breach of promise of marriage and refusing to pay £ 200

which he had agreed to pay her . According to her own case she had cohabited with the defendant , who when he got married , promised to pay her £ 300 , of which he had only paid £ 100 . The defence ivas that the action Avas an attempt at extortion ; that Moss had known the plaintiff as a prostitute , and that she had taken advantage of their

acquaintance to get money from him under threats of exposing him to his wife . The counsel for the plaintiff retired from the case , and she was nonsuited . Two men , named Munday and Dunks , who were charged with receiving a portion of the morocco skins recently stolen from the premises of Mr . Epstein , the leather merchant , have been

re-examined at the Guildhall . Both of the accused were anxious to be liberated on bail , that they might , as they said , afford Avhat information they could to the police , hut Sir James Duke , in committing them for trial , declined their request , The brothers Barry and their Avorkmen , who are charged with attempting to defraud the fire insurance offices , have been

again before Mi . Alderman Stone at the Mansion House . From the evidence given it appeared that the list of goods saved from the fire which the prisoners handed to the insurance offices did not represent the whole amount which has since been discovered ; but the point in dispute is Avhether this under-estimation was deliberate and wilful , or whether it Avas the unavoidable consequence of the confusion that prevailed at the time or

the urgency of the insurance companies to know at once the full extent of their losses . Tho prisoners Avere remanded , and bail refused . The prisoners Meyer , Noble , Gray , and Shore , who are in custody on the charge of conspiring to burn down the house of a man named Picon , in Soho , over whose furniture Meyer held a bill of sale , and which was besides insured , Avere

all examined before Mr . Knox at the Marlborough Police-court , on Saturday . The prisoner Gray made a statement to the effect that Picon had asked him to join in accusing Meyer of an intention to burn down the house , and threatening him with violence Avhen he refused . The magistrate expressed his opinion that Picon was as guilty as those he now accused ; but still there was

so much evidence as to prevent him from dismissing the prisoners , and therefore he sent them for trial , but offered to accept bail . Six of the persons in custody on the charge of having been concerned in the robbery of Mr . Howard ' s shop , in Marketstreet , were brought up at the Manchester Police-court , on Monday , but on the application of the solicitor for the

prosecution , two of them—John Moores and Lucy Mooves , husband and wife—wero discharged , and put in the witness box . The two Moores gave very important evidence against the other prisoners and a man named Barker , who is still at large . The case was again adjourned . A Russian sailor Avas murdered at Swansea on Thursday lveek by some foreign sailors . It appears that

some foreigners had been drinking together in a public-house , and on coming out into the streets a quarrel took place , provoked in a great measure , it must be said , by the deceased himself , when lie Avas stabbed with a stiletto , and died shortly afterwards . Two Italians are in custody on the charge of having committed the crime , and the case is under investigation .

The man Murphy , charged with the murder of his two sisters at Balbriggan , has been acquitted by the jury . The evidence was Avholly circumstantial . The trial lasted eight days .