Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Week.
change should be made . AAlth respect to tho encroachments on Hampstead Heath , a resolution ivas passed requesting the chairman of the board to seek an interview with Sir Thomas SI . "Wilson with the object of ascertaining whether that gentleman ' . is prepared to negotiate for a sale of his interest in Hampstead Heath and adjoining lands to the public , and , if so , upon what
terms . The result of the interview will be communicated to the board in the shape of a report . The 21 st inst . being St . Thomas ' s Day , the municipal elections took place in the various wards of the City . They occasioned but little excitement , the fact being that just now tbe civic world is undisturbed by any agitating or troublesome questions . -Mr . Coronor Payne
opened an inquest into the cause of death of the three persons who were killed by the fall of a girder on to a ¦ carriage on the Metropolitan Railway . Much of the evidence taken was formal , but one witness was called who described how the girder fell . There seems to have been some neglect of tbe precautions whicli it had been ordered
should be taken . Tbe inquest was adjourned . ——A few clays since the steamer Velocity , from Calais , was coming up the river , when , oil Gravesend , the barque Mary ran into her . The steamer was sunk , and , unfortunately , a boy named Squire was so much injured that he died . The poor lad was coming home from school to spend Christmas with his parents . An
inquestwas held on the body at Gravesend , but was not completed . Two wretched people have been sentenced to death at Maidstone . Annie Lawrence was convicted of the murder of her illegitimate child . When asked lvhat she . had to say in arrest of judgment , she protested her innocence , and charged the man with whom she had lived with the murder . She left the dock declaring that she was not guilty . The other prisoner who was condemned was James Fletcher , who , while under sentence
of penal servitude at Chatham , had murdered a warder . The judge , Baron Channell , held out no hope that his life would be spared . A shocking accident happened on the 22 nd inst . in Somers-streef , one of the narrow thoroughfares between Leather-lane and Saffron-hill . The workmen had been engaged during the day in repairing the gas mains in the street . They left work about two o ' clock , when , as they
thought all was safe . There must have been , however , a formidable escape of gas which found its way into an adjoining house , for just before six o'clock an explosion took' place which tumbled to the ground Nos . 4 and 5 in the street . Several people were in the houses at the time , and were more or less injured . One poor lad—au Italian—was taken out of the
ruins dead , and two more of the sufferers—a man and a woman —died in the hospital . One more of the hurt men is not expected to live . No account is yet given of how the gas escaped or how it became ignited . There was a fire on the 22 nd inst . in the Protestant convent at Brighton . This is the establishment in which Constance Kent made her confession
of the Road murder . The building and its contents were much injured . Anew system of waylaying and robbing people at night has been introduced by some East-end garotters . At the Thomes Police-court , on the 21 st inst . ' , a person who was introduced to the magistrate as John Leighton , alias Lucy , was charged with assaulting and robbing William Kenny , an
ex-policeman . On the 23 rd inst . at half-past twelve o ' clock , the prosecutor was on his way home , quickly walking along the Bow-road when he met Leighton , another man , and three women : Leighton came suddenly in front of 'William Kenny , ancl commenced rubbing mud and gravel into his face , whilst the others woro trying to choko him . Tho ox-policoman mado a manful resistance , aud after suffering much rough treatment from tho highwayman and his companions , succoodod iu ofl ' octing
his escape , and soon after m accomplishing tbo capture of his principal assailant . Tho prisoner was remanded . According to statements made at tho Guildhall Polico-court on tho 24 th inst . whilst English butchers can bo summoned and punished for sending bad moat to tho London market , Continental butchers can soud it with impunity . Mr . Newman , inspector of meat at Noivgato Market , applied to tho magistrate in tho usual way for
tbo condemnation of somo carcases of sheep which had been imported from tho Continent , and ivhich woro unfit for human food . In making tbo application Mr . Nowmau stated that that morning ho inspected a crate of shoe ]) that had como from Rotterdam to a "Newgate Market butcher , and that ho found six of tho carcases woro rotten and totally unfit for human food . Ho also found that
fivo sheep had boon sent to another butcbor in Noivgato Market in a similar condition . Ho further stated that tho Commissioners of Sowers bad applied to tho Customs to stop meat of that description on landing , but that it appeared that thoy had no power to do so . Alderman Wilson , iu ordering tho condemnation of tho moat , expressed his groat surpriso that
nothing could be done to prevent Continental butchers importing such dangerous stuff . Everybody reading the ease will no doubt share the same feeling of surprise : but it is equally , if not more astonishing , that our London butchers so easily get rid of the responsibility of having meat of this description on their premises . If there was no demand in
London for the article , the foreign supply would soon cease . The question may well be asked in such a case , ivhich of the two is most to blame—tbe Continental butcher , who sends his bad meat to the nearest and best market , or the London butcher , who encourages such a disreputable trade . Christmas Day brings with it much rejoicing , but very little news . In London the day was observed as a strict holidav , and in all the
churches there were services . It is to be feared that , owing to the want of employment in the East of London , many poor people had but a scanty apology for a Christmas dinner . A somewhat remarkable correspondence has taken place between the Aborigines Protection Society ancl Mr . Walpole , on the subject of the exhibition of the so-called " Wild Men of Jesso . "
That society , moved by the representations of many influential persons residing in various parts of the country , requested the Home Secretary to take steps to release "the wild men , " on the ground that they were improperly confined in a cage , where they Jived and slept , and that tbe exhibition was in every respect a degrading one . Sir . Walpole replied in a letter the
plain meaning of which was that the supposed savages were not savages at all , and that the public wero " deceived . " This is certainly very singular . Commander Ellis , for example says that they are Asiatics , and a Japanese gentleman , who recently had an interview with them at the request of the society , is of the same opinion . The great ocean yacht
race from New York to Cowes has been won by the Henrietta . She arrived off Cowes on the 23 th inst ., at twenty minutes to six o'clock , The Henrietta is the property of Mr . James Gordon Bennett , the son of the proprietor of the New York Herald . She is described as being a most beautifully modelled schooner . She was not at first entered for the race—the
match being made between the A esta and the Fleetwin ° -. However , on paying clown her stakes ( 30 . 000 dollars ) she was admitted to the race , and , as we have seen , has won it . Boxing Day was kept pretty nearly as a holiday . The streets during the day were full of pleasure-takers . The Crystal Palace had thousands of visitors , and in the evening
the whole of the theatres were densely crowded by audiences eager to witness the burlesques and pantomimes which most of the managers had prepared . The Fleelwing and the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Week.
change should be made . AAlth respect to tho encroachments on Hampstead Heath , a resolution ivas passed requesting the chairman of the board to seek an interview with Sir Thomas SI . "Wilson with the object of ascertaining whether that gentleman ' . is prepared to negotiate for a sale of his interest in Hampstead Heath and adjoining lands to the public , and , if so , upon what
terms . The result of the interview will be communicated to the board in the shape of a report . The 21 st inst . being St . Thomas ' s Day , the municipal elections took place in the various wards of the City . They occasioned but little excitement , the fact being that just now tbe civic world is undisturbed by any agitating or troublesome questions . -Mr . Coronor Payne
opened an inquest into the cause of death of the three persons who were killed by the fall of a girder on to a ¦ carriage on the Metropolitan Railway . Much of the evidence taken was formal , but one witness was called who described how the girder fell . There seems to have been some neglect of tbe precautions whicli it had been ordered
should be taken . Tbe inquest was adjourned . ——A few clays since the steamer Velocity , from Calais , was coming up the river , when , oil Gravesend , the barque Mary ran into her . The steamer was sunk , and , unfortunately , a boy named Squire was so much injured that he died . The poor lad was coming home from school to spend Christmas with his parents . An
inquestwas held on the body at Gravesend , but was not completed . Two wretched people have been sentenced to death at Maidstone . Annie Lawrence was convicted of the murder of her illegitimate child . When asked lvhat she . had to say in arrest of judgment , she protested her innocence , and charged the man with whom she had lived with the murder . She left the dock declaring that she was not guilty . The other prisoner who was condemned was James Fletcher , who , while under sentence
of penal servitude at Chatham , had murdered a warder . The judge , Baron Channell , held out no hope that his life would be spared . A shocking accident happened on the 22 nd inst . in Somers-streef , one of the narrow thoroughfares between Leather-lane and Saffron-hill . The workmen had been engaged during the day in repairing the gas mains in the street . They left work about two o ' clock , when , as they
thought all was safe . There must have been , however , a formidable escape of gas which found its way into an adjoining house , for just before six o'clock an explosion took' place which tumbled to the ground Nos . 4 and 5 in the street . Several people were in the houses at the time , and were more or less injured . One poor lad—au Italian—was taken out of the
ruins dead , and two more of the sufferers—a man and a woman —died in the hospital . One more of the hurt men is not expected to live . No account is yet given of how the gas escaped or how it became ignited . There was a fire on the 22 nd inst . in the Protestant convent at Brighton . This is the establishment in which Constance Kent made her confession
of the Road murder . The building and its contents were much injured . Anew system of waylaying and robbing people at night has been introduced by some East-end garotters . At the Thomes Police-court , on the 21 st inst . ' , a person who was introduced to the magistrate as John Leighton , alias Lucy , was charged with assaulting and robbing William Kenny , an
ex-policeman . On the 23 rd inst . at half-past twelve o ' clock , the prosecutor was on his way home , quickly walking along the Bow-road when he met Leighton , another man , and three women : Leighton came suddenly in front of 'William Kenny , ancl commenced rubbing mud and gravel into his face , whilst the others woro trying to choko him . Tho ox-policoman mado a manful resistance , aud after suffering much rough treatment from tho highwayman and his companions , succoodod iu ofl ' octing
his escape , and soon after m accomplishing tbo capture of his principal assailant . Tho prisoner was remanded . According to statements made at tho Guildhall Polico-court on tho 24 th inst . whilst English butchers can bo summoned and punished for sending bad moat to tho London market , Continental butchers can soud it with impunity . Mr . Newman , inspector of meat at Noivgato Market , applied to tho magistrate in tho usual way for
tbo condemnation of somo carcases of sheep which had been imported from tho Continent , and ivhich woro unfit for human food . In making tbo application Mr . Nowmau stated that that morning ho inspected a crate of shoe ]) that had como from Rotterdam to a "Newgate Market butcher , and that ho found six of tho carcases woro rotten and totally unfit for human food . Ho also found that
fivo sheep had boon sent to another butcbor in Noivgato Market in a similar condition . Ho further stated that tho Commissioners of Sowers bad applied to tho Customs to stop meat of that description on landing , but that it appeared that thoy had no power to do so . Alderman Wilson , iu ordering tho condemnation of tho moat , expressed his groat surpriso that
nothing could be done to prevent Continental butchers importing such dangerous stuff . Everybody reading the ease will no doubt share the same feeling of surprise : but it is equally , if not more astonishing , that our London butchers so easily get rid of the responsibility of having meat of this description on their premises . If there was no demand in
London for the article , the foreign supply would soon cease . The question may well be asked in such a case , ivhich of the two is most to blame—tbe Continental butcher , who sends his bad meat to the nearest and best market , or the London butcher , who encourages such a disreputable trade . Christmas Day brings with it much rejoicing , but very little news . In London the day was observed as a strict holidav , and in all the
churches there were services . It is to be feared that , owing to the want of employment in the East of London , many poor people had but a scanty apology for a Christmas dinner . A somewhat remarkable correspondence has taken place between the Aborigines Protection Society ancl Mr . Walpole , on the subject of the exhibition of the so-called " Wild Men of Jesso . "
That society , moved by the representations of many influential persons residing in various parts of the country , requested the Home Secretary to take steps to release "the wild men , " on the ground that they were improperly confined in a cage , where they Jived and slept , and that tbe exhibition was in every respect a degrading one . Sir . Walpole replied in a letter the
plain meaning of which was that the supposed savages were not savages at all , and that the public wero " deceived . " This is certainly very singular . Commander Ellis , for example says that they are Asiatics , and a Japanese gentleman , who recently had an interview with them at the request of the society , is of the same opinion . The great ocean yacht
race from New York to Cowes has been won by the Henrietta . She arrived off Cowes on the 23 th inst ., at twenty minutes to six o'clock , The Henrietta is the property of Mr . James Gordon Bennett , the son of the proprietor of the New York Herald . She is described as being a most beautifully modelled schooner . She was not at first entered for the race—the
match being made between the A esta and the Fleetwin ° -. However , on paying clown her stakes ( 30 . 000 dollars ) she was admitted to the race , and , as we have seen , has won it . Boxing Day was kept pretty nearly as a holiday . The streets during the day were full of pleasure-takers . The Crystal Palace had thousands of visitors , and in the evening
the whole of the theatres were densely crowded by audiences eager to witness the burlesques and pantomimes which most of the managers had prepared . The Fleelwing and the