It was quite dark and raining: there is no
lamp near that part of the quay, and no protection
against stepping beyond it.

Two young ladies, Misses Isabel and Mary Russell,
were Drowned while bathing in the sea at Kincraig,
near Elie in Fife, on the 26th ult. The place they had
selected being betwixt two ridges of rock, and the time
being high water, with a considerable swell, it is
supposed that Miss Mary had mistaken the ground, which
suddenly dips into deep water, or had been drawn out
by the current, and her sister, seeing her danger, had
gone into her rescue, when both being beyond their
depth, and unable to reach the shallow water, they
perished together. Their bodies were found close
together within an hour afterwards, and although
medical assistance was promptly procured, and every
effort used to restore animation, all was ineffectual.

On the 4th inst., as some workmen were employed
pulling down some houses for the formation of the new
street leading from Farringdon-street to Clerkenwell-
green, at Great Saffron-hill, two houses suddenly gave
way and Buried Six Workmen beneath the Ruins. A
number of men were shortly set to work to extricate the
unfortunate men, and three of them were soon
discovered, and removed to St. Bartholomew's Hospital;
but, although upwards of thirty men were employed,
three-quarters of an hour elapsed before they succeeded
in extricating the fourth. Very shortly after his removal,
another was found and conveyed to the hospital
in an exhausted state. During the time the men were
engaged removing the ruins, the sympathies of the
spectators were engaged with a boy about twelve or
thirteen years old, who, crying most bitterly, held in
his hands the jacket of his father, who lay buried
beneath the ruins. This poor man was working at the
bottom of the house, and the whole portion of the top
fell upon him. It appears that two men had a most
miraculous escape, being at work on the top of the wall,
but on perceiving it giving way they jumped from it,
and although much shaken were not otherwise injured.

A fatal Accident happened at the Crystal Palace on
the 10th. A glazier was engaged in repairing the semi-
circular roof of the great transept: he had neglected to
secure himself by a rope; and slipping, he fell upon a
ledge which runs at the base of the arch, and was killed.
In his fall he broke but one pane of glass, and none of
the iron-work: had he rebounded from the ledge to the
roof of the nave, his body might have fallen on the people
in the building.

A terrible Boiler Explosion took place at Rochdale
on the 15th inst. at Mr. Williamson's calico factory.
The boiler was a small one, of only eight or ten horse
power. On the previous night the engineer got drunk,
and was taken into custody by the police. In his
absence, next morning, William Taylor, and Howarth,
the manager of the mill, proceeded to get up steam;
and if the explosion occurred by any mismanagement on
their part they paid dearly for it, for both perished.
Soon after the workers had all entered the mill—a one-
story shed—the boiler was torn to pieces, with a frightful
noise; part of the factory was destroyed; a neighbouring
cottage was demolished; a house was damaged;
and a shower of masses of iron, bricks, and other articles
descended for a long distance round. Across a road, a
short distance off, was another cotton-mill, belonging to
Mr. Bottomley. A broadside of bricks and iron entered
the windows at one end of this mill, traversed the rooms,
and shattered the machinery: a young woman was struck
on the head by a brick and killed; near her was found
the head of another young woman—the remainder of
the poor creature was buried in the ruins of Williamson's
factory. When those ruins were removed, the corpses
of six other men and women were found, and one young
woman who was taken out alive died the same day.
Besides these, thirteen of the workpeople sustained
fractures, bruises, cuts, and other hurts, and the cases of
several were pronounced dangerous. Mrs. Howarth,
who occupied the cottage which was destroyed, was
killed; her father and two of her children were in bed
at the time—bed and mattress and occupants were blown
into a river which flows by the spot, and the old man
and his grandchildren were seen floating on the water—
they were rescued unhurt.

SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL
PROGRESS.

THE reports of the Inspectors of Factories for the half-
year ending the 30th April have been issued. Several
breaches of the law, followed by punishment, had
occurred; but the opinion expressed by the inspectors
under this head is upon the whole favourable. The
accidents arising from machinery amounted to 1844; of
which twenty-one resulted in death, and two of the
sufferers were children. The accidents not arising from
machinery were 1950, five of which proved fatal. A
controversy had been going on as to the fencing-up of
certain parts of the machinery, the millowners urging
objections; but the inspectors have resolved to enforce
the precaution. In adverting to the Preston strike,
Mr. Leonard Horner benevolently suggests, as a remedy
against the recurrence of the like evil, the "cultivation
of a more kindly, more trustful, and more friendly
intercourse between the employer and the employed,
and a sound education." Sir John Kincaid, whose
superintendence extends over Scotland, notes with
commendation the providing of rooms for shelter before
beginning work in the morning and during meal-hours.
Up to this humane change, "the scantily-dressed factory-
girl was generally to be seen standing outside until the
hour of opening, shivering with cold, or dripping wet,
probably after the walk of a mile or two." Some of the
employers have gone a step further, and fitted up the
rooms with cooking apparatus.

The sixth annual report of the Poor-law Board brings
down the proceedings to the 31st December, 1853. The
amount expended for the relief of the poor for the year
ending Lady-day 1853, is £4,939,064; being an increase
of £41,379 (or one halfpenny per head on the
population) as compared with the preceding year. It is
believed that this increase is owing to the higher price
of provisions, and not to an increase in the amount of
pauperism. In fifteen counties the rates have actually
diminished. Although the expenditure of 1853 is higher
than that of 1852, it is lower than the expenditure of
any other year since 1842. The number of persons of
all classes in receipt of relief on the 1st January, 1853,
in the unions and places under the Poor-law Amendment
Act was 799,443; a decrease of 35,917 persons. On the 1st
July, 1854, the number was 743,639; a decrease of
56,533. The vaccination returns comprise 376,218 cases.
The number of persons assisted to emigrate is 488; a
reduction of 2783 as compared with 1852. Workhouse
and district schools are spoken of as advancing; and
the experiment made of applying the poor-law machinery
to the collection of agricultural statistics is deemed, all
things considered, successful.

The annual meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society
has been held this year at Lincoln. The showyard was
opened on the 18th inst. The stock exhibited is described
as unsurpassed by any previous exhibition. The entries
of cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs, amounted to 739, and
of poultry to 295. The horses and sheep are especially
mentioned as excellent. In implements the show is
quite up to the average, if not beyond it. The usual
dinner took place on the 19th; the Earl of Chichester
in the chair: Mr. Pusey, the president of the year, was
unfortunately prevented by illness in his family from
occupying that post. Speeches were delivered by the
chairman, the Peruvian minister, M. Yvart, a Frenchman,
sent over by the Emperor, the Earl of Carlisle,
the Earl of Yarborough, the Earl of Harrowby, Mr.
Miles, M.P., and Colonel Sibthorp. Lord Carlisle
mentioned an interesting fact. "Although the people
of the East, (he said), had shown considerable military
prowess, yet their farming processes and implements
did not exhibit much resemblance to those which were
to be seen in the show-yards of Lincoln, and he believed
they had undergone very little change since the days of
the poet Homer. But he felt that they ought not to
despond on that account; for it did happen to him, in
a very extensive farm, brought into cultivation by a
most enlightened and excellent English consul, Mr.
Calvert, with his own eyes to see on the classic plain of
Troy implements inscribed with the respective names of
Garrett of Saxmundham and Croskill of Beverley. He
believed that this was the real solution of the Eastern