by festoons of vegetation and flowers hanging from the
roof and trailed along the pillars.

Last year during the period of the Great Exhibition,
an association was formed, composed of some very
distinguished men, native and foreign, for the purpose of
promoting a Cheap and Uniform System of Colonial
and International Postage. But since the latter days
of the Exhibition, when one meeting was held, the
association appears to have slept, until this week. A
meeting was held, at the house of the Society of Arts,
on the 10th inst., and the following resolutions were
unanimously adopted—

"That it appears to this association, that all the arguments
used by Mr. Rowland Hill in favour of the justice of a uniform
rate of postage apply certainly to colonial and probably to
foreign correspondence. That the cost of conveyance, as was
proved by Mr. Rowland Hill, depends upon the number of
letters, and not upon the distance; and that therefore the justice
of a uniform rate is evident. That the association welcomes
the recognition of this principle in the recent adoption of uniform
rates for printed papers to some of our colonies. That the
simplicity and convenience of prepayment also appear to apply
to colonial and foreign correspondence."

Earl Granville has consented to become president of
the association.

The Royal College of Physicians has received a new
charter, by the provisions of which some important
changes are introduced into its constitution. Its
designation is changed from that of "Royal College of
Physicians of London" to that of "England," and its
"licentiates," no longer so termed, but "members."
All medical practitioners will be eligible to its membership
who possess the degree of "M.D." from any
university in the United Kingdom, or have received
licence to practise from the Universities of Oxford or
Cambridge, Dublin or Edinburgh; and, under certain
conditions, medical practitioners who exceed forty years
of age, and are in practice.

The Annual Show of the Northumberland
Agricultural Society was held at Belford on the 10th inst.
It was an average exhibition in respect of stock, and
superior in point of implements. There was afterwards
a dinner at the Railway Hotel. Earl Grey presided.
Among the guests were Lord Lovaine, M.P., Sir
George Grey, Sir Mathew Ridley, the Honourable
H. T. Liddell, M.P., Mr. H. G. Liddell, M.P., and other
gentlemen. Lord Grey complimented the county
generally; spoke warmly of the great improvements
made in agriculture of late years, and in the dwellings
of the labourers. On this latter topic all the speakers
were especially eloquent. Mr. Liddell complimented
the Duke of Northumberland, and Lord Lovaine
returned the courtesy by praising Earl Grey. "The
progress of agricultural science might be traced in what
was going on at Howick, and it was written in the crops
there as plainly as in any book that ever was printed."
Sir George Grey testified from his own observation to the
"great, marked, and rapid improvements which had
taken place of late years in the skill and industry, and
general progress of the northern division of the county
of Northumberland." The prizes were distributed by
Earl Grey.

A Return has been published of the sales in the
Encumbered Estates Court in Dublin, from the opening
of the commission until the 9th instant, when further
sales in Dublin were suspended until after the summer
vacation.

"The number of estates sold was 777 in 4083 lots.

An instance of the good that may be done in the way
of improving the Sanitary Condition of Towns under
the Public Health Act, has been exhibited in the little
town of Sandgate in Kent. For £2850 the town has
been supplied with good water and thoroughly drained.
The water is obtained from the Greens and Hills,
immediately in the rear of the town, by deep under-drainage
of a small area; it is received into two small covered
reservoirs, and distributed by gravitation on the principle
of constant pressure. It is softer than the water
hitherto obtained from wells. Every house is drained
by means of stone-ware pipes; and the sewage is carried
into the sea at low-water mark. Sandgate has a
population of about 1500: the money has been raised on
the security of the rates, and the debt will be liquidated
in thirty years by a charge of 1s. 1½d. in the pound
upon the present house property—of course to be
reduced as building extends.

The cattle-show of the Royal Agricultural Society of
Ireland held at Galway, has far surpassed any previous
exhibitions in the quality of the stock. The Earl and
Countess of Eglinton and many distinguished persons
were present; among them, the Duke of Leinster and
Lord Clancarty.

The half-yearly general court of governors of the
Royal Asylum of St. Anne's Society, and the election
of 15 children, viz. 5 girls and 10 boys into this asylum,
was held on the 13th, at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-
street. Mr. Henry Pownall presided. The report,
which was read by the secretary, after setting forth the
benefits which have been derived from the institution
since their last meeting, states that as the charity is
solely dependent upon voluntary benevolence, and as
the claims of families, suddenly reduced from prosperity
to destitution, are still hourly increasing, the committee
finds itself compelled to make an earnest appeal to the
benevolent public for further assistance. The report then
states that their claims upon the benevolent are still
further strengthened by the late disastrous calamities to
the orphan school at Paris, and to the ill-fated ships, the
Amazon and the Birkenhead, and concludes by stating
that two donations of £50 had been promised to meet a
certain sum by similar amounts; and with the unanimous
resolutions of two general courts, an important
alteration in their rules would take effect at the ensuing
election, whereby every vote would be carried to the
credit of the candidates for three successive elections.
The report having been adopted, Mr. Henry Pownall,
Mr. Alderman Wilson, the Hon. Win. Ashley, and Mr.
John Carr Glyn, M.P., were elected as trustees.

The first meeting of the Metropolitan Board of Sewers,
as re-constituted by the new commission, was held on
the 31st ult. Major Dawson described the task which
awaits the Commissioners, and the means which they
possess of accomplishing it. In the ensuing year they
will be required to meet the ordinary expenditure on
works of sewerage, amounting to nearly £50,000. The
new works urgently needed in various parts of the
metropolis will demand £280,000; while the main
arterial system of drainage must still remain untouched
until the commission can find the means of raising an
additional fund considerably exceeding a million sterling.
After paying the current expenses, the Board will have
at its disposal only a balance of about £96,000; and
consequently, not only will no progress be made with a
comprehensive system of sewerage, but works, which
are even more immediately necessary, and which are
estimated at a cost of more than £180,000, will be
unavoidably neglected.

Mr. Benjamin Bond Cabbell, the member for Boston,
has lately completed a most extensive purchase—the
whole of the town of Cromer with the exception of two
houses, and about 12,000 acres of land. The purchase-
money amounts to upwards of £60,000. The property
was lately possessed by the Misses Wyndham, two old
ladies, who were much averse to improvements and
alterations. To the inhabitants of Cromer the change
of proprietorship is likely to be most beneficial, as Mr.
Cabbell has given orders for the laying out of new
streets, and other extensive alterations and improvements.

A portion of the Census Returns of Ireland, showing
the area, population, and number of houses, by townlands
and electoral divisions, in the County of Wexford,
has been printed by command of her Majesty. It appears
by the poor-law valuation of Ireland, made in 1851, that
the unions in the county were valued at £330,537 2s. 3d.;
but, by the government valuation of the county, made
by Mr. Griffiths in 1847, the value was stated to be
£390,177. 11s. 7d. The area of the county contain