PROGRESS OF BUSINESS.

House of Lords.—Nov. 30th.—Oaths in Chancery Bill read a
second time.

Dec. 2nd.—Lord Clanricarde's Free Trade Resolutions adopted
by Lord Derby.

6th.—Lord Clanricarde's Resolutions withdrawn, and Lord
Harrowby's Amendment carried.

9th.—Oaths in Chancery Bill read a third time and passed.

16th.—Royal Assent to the Bank Note, West India Colonies,
Loans Acts Amendment, and Commons Enclosure Bills.

27th.—The Earl of Aberdeen's explanations of the
circumstances which had induced him to undertake the task of forming
an Administration.

House of Commons.—Nov. 29th. Irish Common Law Reform
Bill read a second time.

Dec. 1st.—County Courts' Bill passed through Committee.—
Derby Bribery Case, Committee named.

3rd.—The Budget, Mr. Disraeli's statement.

6th.—Committee of Supply, Supplementary Estimates voted.
—Railway Amalgamation, Committee appointed.

7th.—Supply, Report of Supplementary Estimates received.
—Irish Improvement Bills referred to a Select Committee.—
County Expenditure, Mr. Milner Gibson's Bill reintroduced
and read a first time.

8th.—Sir De Lacy Evans's Ratepaying Clauses Bill thrown
out on second reading.—County Polls Bill considered in
Committee.—Committee of Ways and Means.

9th.—Railway Amalgamation, Committee named.—Ways
and Means, resolution reported.

10th.—The Budget, Debate adjourned.—Board of Health
Bill read a second time.

13th.—Budget Debate continued.

15th.—Tenants' Compensation (Ireland) Bill referred to
Select Committee.

16th.—Derby Bribery Case, Report of Select Committee.—
Budget Debate concluded; House Tax Resolution rejected by
305 to 286.

27th.—New Writs ordered to supply vacancies caused by
acceptance of offices under the New Administration.

THE seat for Durham City, vacant by the death of
Mr. T. C. Granger, has been filled by the election of
Lord A. Fane, the Conservative candidate. His
competitor was Mr. H. W. Fenwick, of Chester-le-Street.

Mr. Stuart, who has vacated the seat for Bury St.
Edmunds by his appointment as Vice-Chancellor, has
been succeeded by Mr. Oakes, the Conservative candidate,
who carried the election against Mr. Hardcastle,
the candidate on the liberal interest.

Mr. W. J. Fox has been elected for Oldham, in
preference to Mr. Heald the Conservative candidate. The
election was attended with very riotous proceedings; at
one time it was found necessary to read the Riot Act
and call out the military, but no serious consequences
ensued.

The Abingdon election was also of a riotous character.
Lord Norreys, a Peelite, was the successful candidate,
his opponent being Mr. Burr, an adherent of the
Ministry.

Mr. Whalley has been elected for Peterborough,
beating Mr. Cornewall Lewis by a small majority.

Mr. Bruce of Dyffryn, nephew of Sir James Lewis
Knight Bruce, has been elected, without opposition, as
the successor of Sir John Guest in the representation of
Merther Tydvil. He is a "Conservative Freetrader."

The following are the Members of the new Government:—

The above form the Cabinet.

AT the Marylebone Police Office, on the 27th ult.,
George Bellamy, a young man of twenty-one, was
committed for Stealing jewelry worth £5000. A girl
who was arrested with him was liberated, as there was
no evidence to prove her connexion with the robbery.
Mrs. Goodwin of York Place, Portman Square—a very
aged and infirm lady—on leaving England for the
continent, deposited her jewelry in a cellar, the door
of which was secured by two locks, and seals were
attached. The butler was left in charge of the house.
Bellamy had formerly been in the lady's service; he
visited the butler, got possession of the keys, furtively
opened the cellar, seized the box of jewelry, relocked
the door, joined the broken seals with Chinese glue,
and returned the keys to their usual place. Nothing
amiss was observed, and the criminal got away from
the house unsuspected. One day the butler was
startled by the police informing him that the valuable
property had been stolen. Bellamy, after selling some
of the plunder in London, went to Dublin. There
he attempted to dispose of a quantity of broken
gold settings; the police were informed; and he was
arrested with the remainder of the jewelry, whole or
broken, in his possession. He confessed the crime and
described the manner in which the robbery had been
committed.

Conflicting decisions have been given on the subject
of Cabs plying within Railway Stations. At the
Marylebone Police Court on the 2nd inst., Mr. Long
gave a judgment at variance with the judgment
previously given by the Southwark magistrate, Mr.
A'Beckett (see Household Narrative for last month,
p. 253); a cab-driver had been summoned before the
Marylebone Court for plying for hire within the Euston
Square terminus. There was no doubt about the fact
of the hiring. After the case had been argued at great
length, Mr. Long pronounced an elaborate judgment
deciding against the summons. He incidentally expressed
an opinion that a change in the present system would
be disadvantageous to the public. As to the law, he
held that the words in the act meant plying for hire
in public places, and in public places only: and that
the legislature did not intend in any degree that the
act should apply to or interfere with private property,
which railway stations are. The summons must be
dismissed, as the plying for hire in this case was not
plying for hire within the meaning of the Act of
Parliament. Mr. Hammill, the Worship Street
Magistrate has pronounced a decision similar to that
of Mr. A'Beckett, in the case of a driver plying
at the Shoreditch terminus. Mr. A'Beckett, on the
7th inst. reaffirmed his previous decisions, in disposing
of summonses against cabmen plying and taking fares
at the Brighton and South-eastern termini. He
suspends execution of the judgment for six weeks, in order
that the question may be tried elsewhere.

In the Court of Queen's Bench on the 3rd inst.,
Lord Frankfort was tried on the charge of circulating
Libellous Letters injurious to the character of Lord
Henry Lennox. The letters bore the name of that
nobleman and several other persons as the writers,
and represented them as engaged in infamous designs.
The indictment was for conspiracy and libel; the latter
charge was held to be fully proved. The jury returned
a verdict of "Guilty of defamation," and the court
sentenced Lord Frankfort to twelve months imprisonment
in the House of Correction.

Mr. Lionel George Thompson, the shipping-agent,
was finally examined at the Mansion house on the
7th inst., on a charge of conspiring to Defraud Emigrants.
A number of persons proved the payment of passage-
money for berths in the South Sea, which berths were
never provided for them. It appeared from the evidence
of other parties, that Thompson was authorised to
dispose of berths—that is, if he transmitted the money
to Liverpool for any passages, the owner would have
received the emigrants on board his ship; but Thompson
did not trasmit the money. The firm of "Thompson
Brothers" consisted of the accused alone; though his
father drew checks upon the son's bankers, had formerly
paid large sums to the Liverpool brokers of the ship South