Harbour the shock of the explosion was distinctly felt. Great alarm and consternation prevailed, the general opinion being that an earthquake had occurred. The older and more experienced pitmen, however, soon divined the real cause, and in a short time there was a rush towards the pit-shafts. It was found that the masonry on the south side of shaft No. 3 had been blown down and scattered to a distance, and the iron-work violently torn. No hope was entertained from the first of recovering alive the twenty-nine or thirty men and boys who were known to be in that pit. The other shafts were uninjured, and the miners engaged in them escaped.

NOVEMBER.

1. WRECK OF THE "RANGOON."-This Peninsular and Oriental Company's Steamer, with passengers and mails for Australia, struck on the Kadir Rock, about a mile from the mouth of the Point de Galle Harbour at 6 p.m. and sank six hours afterwards. The "Rangoon," an iron ship of 78,0007. value and 1780 tons burden, was commanded by one of the oldest of the Peninsular and Oriental Company's officers, Captain Skottowe, who upon this occasion was making his last trip before retiring from the service, having never previously met with a casualty. The purser of the ship, Mr. Liversage, was wrecked for the second time, he having been on board the "Colombo" when that vessel was lost. The wrecked vessel had taken on board the Australian mails and passengers arriving by the Indus from Suez on the previous day.

Intelligence of the disaster reached Leadenhall-street nine hours after its occurrence. We subjoin extracts from a letter of Lieutenant Bridges, which appeared in the Times of November 29.

"Leaving the harbour last night at 6 p.m., pilot on board, almost dark when we weighed, we struck on one of the numerous reefs at the entrance, and the ship sunk in 5 hours in 12 fathoms, about 41 miles off the mouth of the harbour. Most providentially there were (a most unusual thing) two ships at anchor out there waiting to come into the harbour, or, at the very least, the discomforts would have been very great, and probably great loss of life. We left at six, as I said, leaving the mail-boat behind. When we got about half a mile out she came out to us; we stopped about ten or fifteen minutes to hoist her up, and it was then the current drifted us broadside on out of the channel, and when we went ahead again straight, thinking, I suppose, we were still in the channel, she struck a reef on the right hand side of it, first starboard side forward, then the keel aft, and bumped very heavily, came off, and commenced filling. We anchored, but kept for a short time turning ahead to keep the engine-pumps going, and parted the cable, then

anchored again much farther off. Fires were put out, and she filled fast. . . . We got all the women away in the life-boat about seven, ... and then we got every body else away, and all went on board a ship at anchor outside. I left in last boat, but about nine borrowed one of the boats of the ship we were on board and went back. Found the ship deserted. ... Met the captain, and with the aid of, first of all, eight Lascars and one officer, and assisted afterwards by two stewards and two more officers, saved much of the cabin baggage and nine bags of mails. I left about 11.40 p.m. awfully and entirely done up,' and couldn't get my boat to stay longer; but I brought away as much as she would hold, and there was too much water on the main deck to do much, and a heavy swell rolling her so much. The most curious part of the affair is that we got no assistance, or a boat even, till ten, though close to the harbour; two Peninsular and Oriental ships and two Trinity Lighthouse craft, all with fires banked, in the harbour; and we fired four guns and burnt dozens of blue lights and rockets; but they thought we were communicating with the China steamer, the arrangement being that if we met the China steamer outside (which we ought to have met here, but she was overdue and we left), we were to attract her attention and take the mails from her; and in the harbour they thought we were doing this. Once a pilot went to the Master Attendant and told him the 'Rangoon' was on shore; he manned his boat and went outside to look, thought he saw the two steamers communicating, came in again, and went out to dinner, the pilot being also convinced it was a mistake and apologizing for spreading a false report."

The passengers and crew were all saved, but a considerable portion of the mails and baggage sank.

2. STRANGE DISCOVERIES.-Some workmen making excavations while at Hampton Court Palace discovered two human skeletons lying within about two feet of the surface. The bones, those of two fullgrown male persons, were found in good preservation, considering that, from the condition of the skeletons, it is estimated that they had been buried not less than 150 or 200 years. The part of the palace in which they have been discovered, however, was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren in about the year 1690, and if they had occupied their present position at that time they could not fail to have been disturbed in the progress of the alterations. After this rebuilding by Sir Christopher Wren the palace was occupied by King William III. and Mary, who frequently made this the residence of their Court; indeed, it was, as is well known, at Hampton Court that King William met with the accident which caused his death in 1702. It seems probable, therefore, that the skeletons date from about that period. That the interment, whenever it was made, was performed hastily and secretly is evident from the position in which they were found, as well as from the fact of lime having been used to hasten the decomposition of the bodies. On the same day a curious discovery was made in Scotland of a perfectly clothed

skeleton. A labourer was engaged in trenching at Racks, about five miles from Dumfries, with a view of reclaiming a portion of the Lochar Moss, at that place, when he came upon what turned out to be human remains. Darkness coming on, further investigation was deferred until the next morning, when there was found the trunk of a man's body with the bones and clothing in a remarkable state of preservation, lying about nine inches below the surface. The coating of peat had been previously removed, so that originally the remains were embedded much deeper in the moss. The skeleton was headless; the garment in which it was clothed was of a coarse woollen texture, and the boots were of the most primitive description, resembling specimens displayed in the Antiquarian Museum in Edinburgh, each boot being one piece of leather, awkwardly drawn into the shape of the foot by stitching up the back and front, and tied with strong pieces of the same material. It is believed the skeleton must have lain in the moss from a remote period.

3. HAMPSTEAD SMALL-POX HOSPITAL.-A long and patient inquiry into the management of this institution was brought to a close this day. The hospital is a temporary building erected under the powers given to the Poor-Law Board in Gathorne Hardy's Act of 1867, to meet the epidemic of 1870-71. It was under the general management of the Metropolitan Asylums Board.

The details of the proceedings before the Commissioner occupied a considerable space in the daily papers from the period of their commencement on September 21st. Mr. Henley and Dr. Buchanan were the inspectors appointed by the Local Board. The inquiry originated in the loss of a child named Elizabeth Bellue, a patient who, as it appeared from the books, had been discharged on the 31st of May; she had never been restored to her parents, and there was no clue to her present whereabouts. In the course of the inquiry several discharged patients made statements of shocking acts of cruelty and negligence on the part of the medical officers and nurses, as well as of a general deficiency of proper accommodation and requisites for the inmates. These statements were contradicted by the medical officers and visitors and others examined. The Commissioners reserved their opinion. A further inquiry was entered into a few days later respecting the fate of the missing child, but without success.

TRANSFER OF COLUMBIA MARKET.-This building, the noble gift of the Baroness Burdett Coutts to the Corporation of the city of London, was formally handed over to the Lord Mayor this day. A portion of the market had been curtained in, and decorated with a few banners and exotic plants. On either side were ranged the children of St. Thomas's School, which adjoins the market, and beyond these were the Columbia Shoe-Black Brigade and the members of the Baroness Burdett Coutts' Sewing School. Among those who took part in the ceremony were the Lord Mayor elect, Lord St. Leonards, the Earl of Harrowby, and most of the leading members of the Corporation.

4. PROFESSOR HUXLEY AT MANCHESTER.-At the distribution of prizes to the successful students in the Oxford local examinations at the Manchester centre, Professor Huxley in an interesting address adverted to the great changes which have taken place in our own day in the Universities, and the further reforms which are shadowed forth in Mr. Gladstone's recent letter to the two Vice-Chancellors. He (the Professor) pointed out, in justice to the University of Oxford, that the reforms which had been effected therein have not been altogether due to external pressure, and that the Premier may look forward with confidence to influential co-operation from within the University in his attempt to give a wider usefulness to its great revenues. The Professor remarked that nowhere in the world was there a better school, so far as it went, for the teaching of all the great branches of physical science than was at the present time to be found within the University of Oxford. It was a fact that within the last ten or fifteen years that noble institution had devoted 100,0007. to the endowment of physical science teachers. The Manchester Grammar School came in for an emphatic word of praise from the Professor for the manner in which it is affording scientific instruction.

THE ELCHO SHIELD.-The Elcho Shield won this year by English marksmen, was, with some ceremonial, entrusted to the keeping of the Corporation of London. A muster of the various rifle corps took place in Finsbury-square, and they then marched to the Guildhall, where the Lord Mayor, in the name of the City of London, took charge of the shield. It was won by the Scotch team last year.

OPENING OF QUEEN VICTORIA-STREET.-This day the new street, from the Mansion House to the Thames Embankment at Blackfriars Bridge, was opened to the public. There was hardly any ceremonial, but a large number of spectators congregated. The Lord Mayor, in civic array, and Colonel Hogg and the leading members of the Metropolitan Board of Works were present. In the evening the Board of Works entertained the Corporation at a banquet at the Albion Tavern.

Queen Victoria-street may be regarded as the last and completing portion of a commodious thoroughfare which extends from the Houses of Parliament to the Mansion House, and thus connects the centres of legislation and commerce. The western section is represented by the Victoria Embankment, which is a mile and a quarter in length, and the roadway throughout which is 100 feet in width. The length of the eastern portion, from Blackfriars to the Mansion. House, is about two-thirds of a mile, and the width of the road is 70 feet, except for about 80 yards between Trinity-lane and Cannonstreet, heretofore known as New Earl-street, where at present the width is only 50 feet. The new thoroughfare was opened to the public in sections as its construction advanced and different portions of it became available for use; and the present ceremony must be regarded rather as the celebration of the completion of a great

undertaking than the mere opening of a street. In the course of the excavations which were necessary for the construction of the works, several memorials of antiquity were discovered. The most interesting example was found at the eastern end of the new street near the Mansion House, where, in the valley of the Walbrook, formerly a pure tributary of the Thames, but now a foul sewer, was uncovered a large slab of tesselated pavement, which it is supposed had been the floor of a Roman bath attached to a villa situated upon the banks of the stream. This relic was carefully removed, and presented by the Metropolitan Board of Works to the Corporation.

6. AGITATION FOR SHORTER WORKING HOURS.-A meeting of about 700 railway-guards, shunters, breaksmen, engine-drivers, and firemen connected with the London and North Western, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire companies, was held in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, for the purpose of agitating for shorter hours of labour and an advance of wages. The speakers all complained of the long hours during which they had to labour, and the small amount of remuneration received. A letter was read from Mr. Bass, M.P., expressing great interest in the movement, towards which he has contributed 1007. A resolution was unanimously passed recommending a day of ten hours, and overtime at the rate of eight hours a week, with a general advance of 2s. 6d. per week in the amount of wages.

9. LORD MAYOR'S DAY.-Alderman Gibbons, the newly-elected Lord Mayor, having been admitted into office with the customary formalities, the day of the procession or "show," proved unusually fine for the occasion. The Thames Embankment, which for the second time was selected as the route, was thronged from end to end. Its great width and the open spaces abutting upon it afforded ample room for spectators. Along the whole line the Lord Mayor was loudly cheered. On arriving at the Court of Exchequer his lordship was presented by the Deputy Recorder (Mr. Chambers), and congratulated by the Lord Chief Baron on his elevation to so high a civic distinction. The oaths were then administered, and the procession returned by the same route to Guildhall. A banquet took place at the Guildhall in the evening, at which several of her Majesty's ministers were present.

The Queen subsequently announced through Mr. Gladstone her intention to knight the retiring Lord Mayor, Alderman Dakin, in acknowledgment of his services during his mayoralty. The Court of Common Council on the 16th of November passed the following resolution on this subject, "That the best thanks of this Court are due and are presented to the Right Hon. Thomas Dakin, late Lord Mayor of this city, who has discharged the duties of the mayoralty with singular judgment and urbanity, maintained good order and freedom of debate in this Court, has been vigilant and judicious as a magistrate, a liberal patron of all accustomed charities, and who has been able to collect munificent funds mainly by his skilful organization and superintendence for the relief of a series of excep