all agreed to come to the school, expressing their willingness
to work. The ages of the boys were thirteen and
under—none being admitted above thirteen years of age.
On the opening of the school, twenty-two boys presented
themselves and were next day admitted. Since then,
the attendance has continued the same, and the attention
to work and study has been, with the aid of a little
corporal castigation, very satisfactory.

An act of Munificent Charity has been done by Miss
Howard, of York Place. She has assigned over to
trustees £45,000, for the erection of twenty-one houses
on her property at Pinner, near Harrow, in the form of
a crescent; the centre house for the trustees, the other
twenty houses for the use of twenty widows, who are to
occupy them free of rent and taxes, and also to receive
£50 a-year clear of all deductions. The widows of naval
men to have the preference, then those of military men,
and, lastly, those of clergymen; none but persons of
good character to be selected, to be chosen or dismissed
for misconduct by the trustees. The deed is now
enrolled in Chancery, and approved of by the Lord
Chancellor. The trustees are the Earl of Fingal, and
W. A. Mackinnon, Esq., M.P.

The Free Grammar School at Richmond, erected as a
testimonial to the memory of the late Canon Tate, who
was one of the most successful teachers in England, was
opened with much ceremony on the 3rd. The
Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Ripon, the Earl of
Zetland, the Earl of Lovelace, the Mayor and Corporation
of Richmond, with many other persons of distinction,
took part in the proceedings.

A general meeting of the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, was held on the 1st of October;
Archdeacon Sinclair in the chair. It appeared by a
letter from the Bishop of Montreal (Dr. Fulford), that
he had arrived in his diocese, and met with a gratifying
reception both from clergy and laity. Various letters
were read from several colonial prelates, including the
Bishops of Toronto, Quebec, Fredricton, Adelaide,
Newfoundland, Antigua, and Cape Town, and grants
were voted towards the erection of churches and other
objects in their several sees. On the application of
Dr. Gobat, Bishop of the English Church in Jerusalem,
a large supply of the Society's version of psalms in
Arabic was granted for distribution in the East. An
interesting letter from the Rev. William Armstrong,
chaplain at Valparaiso, respecting the exemplary
community forming the population of Pitcairn's Island,
was listened to with much interest. The sum of £1,000
was voted towards the new bishopric in the settlement of
Canterbury, New Zealand.; and £3,000 was placed at the
disposal of the Bishop of Toronto, towards the endowment
of a college in connection with the Church of
England in his diocese. Many schools and lending
libraries in England and Wales were aided with grants
of books, as were also poor emigrants quitting the
English shore.

His Royal Highness Prince Albert has Presented a
Donation of £50 in aid of the Association for the
Establishment of Evening Classes for young men.

On the 10th, the Common Council of London Voted a
Grant of one hundred guineas in aid of the Jews' Free
School, where 1100 children are well and morally taught.
A similar sum was granted to the Church of England
Sunday School Institute.

The New Stamp Act came into operation on the 10th
inst. The following are some of its most important
articles. An agreement, or memorandum of an agreement,
where the matter shall be of the value of £20 or
upwards, will be liable to a duty of only 2s. 6d. where
the same does not exceed 1080 words, and according to
its length, a progressive duty of 2s. 6d. On bonds not
exceeding £50 the duty will be only 1s. 6d.; and so on.
The ad valorem duty will be charged to 7s 6d. on £300,
and when the same shall exceed £300, then for every
£100, and also for any fractional part of £100, the charge
will be 2s. 6d. The several kinds of bonds known in
the law are set forth, and the duties prescribed according
to the amount. With respect to conveyances of property,
where the purchase or consideration therein or thereupon
expressed shall not exceed £25, a duty of 2s. 6d., and so
on progressively to £600, when the duty will be £3, and
10s. for every additional £100. As to leases of lands,
tenements, &c., at a yearly rent without premium, the
duty will be according to the yearly rent, from 6d. to
10s., which last mentioned duty will be when the rent
does not exceed £100. The ad valorem is charged on the
premium paid. On mortgages the duty will be 1s. 3d.,
where the sum does not exceed £50, up to 7s. 6d., for
£300; and beyond that sum, 2s. 6d. for every additional
£100. Settlements are liable to a higher rate of duty;
when the value of the property settled upon any good
or valuable consideration, other than a bona fide
pecuniary consideration, does not exceed £100, the duty
will be 5s., and an additional 5s. on every £100. Sellers
of receipt stamps are now allowed £7 10s. in the £100,
in lieu of one half per cent.

The New County Courts Act contains a provision
under which actions can be tried in the County Court for
more than £50. It is enacted by the 17th section, that
if the parties shall agree, by a memorandum signed by
them or their attorneys, the County Court may try
actions beyond the amount limited, or any action in
which the title to land, whether of freehold, copyhold,
leasehold, or other tenure, or to any tithe, toll, market,
or other franchise, shall be in question. It also contains
a provision respecting professional remuneration, whereby
an attorney shall be entitled to a sum not exceeding
£1 10s. for his fees and costs, where the debt or demand
claimed shall not exceed £35, or £2 in any other cause
within the jurisdiction given by the act; and in no case
shall any fee exceeding £2 4s. 6d. be allowed for employing
a barrister as counsel in the cause, and the expense
of employing a barrister or any attorney either by plaintiff
or defendant shall not be allowed on taxation of
costs unless by order of the judge.

A Temperance Festival was held on the 14th, at the
London Tavern. The company, between five and six
hundred, were entertained with tea, speeches, and
"temperance melodies." The principal speaker was
Mr. George Cruickshank, the celebrated artist, who was
vehemently applauded. He was there, he said, to
declare his adhesion to that great and glorious cause.
He had been a teetotaller three years and a half; he
was sorry he had not been so all his life; but he would
keep the pledge now as long as he existed. He had
twice had wine prescribed as a medicine, but he had
refused it at the risk of his life. In the room in which
they were assembled, all the great national interests had
been from time to time advocated; he had himself acted
as steward on occasions when the late lamented Duke
of Cambridge presided—great and glorious occasions, but
none of them surpassing in importance that on which
they were assembled. It was gratifying to behold
a meeting of teetotallers in one of the first rooms in the
City of London, where wine had flowed in torrents, not
to mention oceans of brandy and whiskey-punch. He
recently attended a costermongers' supper and ball, both
which passed off very pleasantly; two drunken men
forced themselves into the assembly with a view to
create a disturbance, but the good sense and sobriety of
the company completely defeated their object. He
regretted that he had not the means of rendering
pecuniary assistance to this cause, but he hoped to be able to
aid it with his pencil or pen. From his previous efforts
in this way he had not derived the least profit; but if
they had promoted the temperance cause in the slightest
degree, he was satisfied. It appeared by a statement
read by one of the secretaries, that it is intended to
make some characteristic demonstration at the time of
the great Industrial Exhibition of 1851.

A new mode of Appropriation of the Prisons of the
Metropolis to distinct classes of offenders came into
operation at the beginning of this month. All the female
prisoners, and all male prisoners under seventeen years
of age, were removed from the House of Correction at
Coldbathfields to the House of Correction at
Westminster; and all male prisoners above seventeen were
removed from the latter place to Coldbathfields.
Prisoners committed under the Hackney Carriage Act, and
for want of sureties, were removed from both those
prisons to the House of Detention. Nearly 900 persons
were thus transposed.

Negotiations have been entered into with the Lords
of the Admiralty and Government authorities for the
establishment of a Submarine Telegraph across St.