maintained their hold firmly for some time, and repeated
efforts were made to bring them to the top again, but
they were in vain, and one after the other, the poor
creatures were obliged to let go their hold, and were
dashed to the bottom, a distance of 180 feet. They
were killed upon the spot. They had been drinking,
and had taken a bottle of porter to the workmen at the
top of the chimney.

A fearful Thunderstorm occurred near Ipswich on
the 9th inst., when three children were killed by
lightning, and twelve others injured. From the statement
made by Mr. Alexander, school-master to the
National School, Capel St. Mary, it appears that about
three o'clock in the afternoon, a class of thirty boys was
standing near the windows of the school-room, and the
master was standing in the middle of the room, when a
heavy clap of thunder burst over his head, and the
lightning entered at the west end of the gable, passing
through the ceiling of the room just by the window,
knocking the window-frame completely out, and splitting
the end of the house from top to bottom. The school-
master was struck by the lightning and blinded for
some seconds; he ran out of the room; and, fearing
that some accident might have occurred in the girls'
school-room adjoining, he ran there, but happily finding
that no injury had been sustained, he hastened back to
the boys' room, where a dreadful scene presented itself.
All the children, amounting to about thirty, of from
four to twelve years of age, were lying upon the floor,
some of them screaming and others too frightened to
speak or to move. It was not long before one or two of
them saw their master amongst them, when they called
out to him for assistance, clinging round his legs in a
frantic state. By this time the school-room and the
whole building was in flames. The master, however,
and his wife were ignorant of the fact until made
acquainted by a neighbour, who ran to their assistance,
and by whose aid the children were removed from the
house. Three little boys, named J. Kettle, ten years
of age; W. Scrivener, eight; and D. Cook, between
seven and eight, were found lying upon the floor, dead,
with scarcely any marks upon their countenances or
bodies. The flames spread rapidly, and in a short
time the house was a mass of ruins, together with the
furniture belonging to the master. The poor children
who were killed were standing not a yard from their
master, and reading at the time they were struck.
Almost all the children injured, but not killed, were
scorched on the right side of their bodies.

There was a Fatal Railway Accident on the North
London line on the night of the 14th instant. In the
evening, much confusion had been caused by a train
breaking down at Kingsland, and the consequent
accumulation of passengers at the stations. At night, a
heavy luggage-train left Haydon Square for Camden
Town; near Ball's Pond Bridge, the two engines
drawing it proved insufficient to carry it forward on a
steep incline, and the train stopped. A guard ran
back to warn an approaching passenger train; but on
his way he was terrified by seeing the luggage-train
running back down the incline and round a curve; at
that moment the passenger-train came up, and a collision
was unavoidable. There was a great crash; the
tender of the passenger-train was crushed and turned
up, and a break-van and a waggon of the goods-train
were broken to pieces. The engine-driver was taken up
dead, two guards were much cut and bruised, and the
stoker was frightfully scalded. Several of the passengers
were hurt: two had ribs fractured. The cause of the
disaster was this: the driver of the goods-train had
incautiously unhooked their engines, that they might
pump water into the boilers to get up steam, and the
waggons instantly started down the incline on which
they stood. A coroner's inquest was held; and the jury
returned a verdict of "Accidental Death," with a
recommendation that the company should make
provision for the widow and family of the deceased; and
also suggested that a longer time should be allowed
between the starting of passenger and goods trains, and
that a sufficient supply of steam power should be
provided at the starting point.

A dreadful Railway Collision took place on the 21st
inst. on the South-Eastern and Brighton line, at the
Croydon station, between an excursion train from Dover,
proceeding to the Crystal Palace, and a ballast engine,
belonging to tthe Brighton Company. It appears that
the ballast engine was overtaken by the excursion train
running at express speed. The ballast engine was hurled
along the line, and the driver and stoker who remained
on it were stunned by the shock, and remained almost
unconscious of their position until the train had nearly
reached Forest-hill, where they succeeded in bringing
up. The engine of the excursion train recoiled the
instant it struck. It turned round and met as it were
the train, smashing the whole of the carriages, and
throwing them on to the up and downline in confusion.
There were between 300 and 400 passengers, few of
whom escaped without injury. Two were killed. One
was the Rev. Mr. Wallace, rector of Horsemonden in
Kent. He was only 26 years of age, and had been
married but a few weeks. The other was a gardener, named
Gammon. Others had suffered injuries expected to be
fatal. The engine-drivers and firemen of the excursion
train and the ballast-engine have been taken into
custody; and investigations have been commenced
before the coroner, and also before the magistrates, at
Croydon.

Early on the morning of the 19th instant, a man
named William Hall was Found Dead on the Railway,
near Netherton Station, Worcestershire. He was
horribly mutilated, his head being completely severed
from the body; both arms and legs were also cut off,
one of the legs being found at some distance. He was
recognised as guard to a coal train from Stoke. It
appears that he came up with the train as usual on the
previous evening. He got off at Brierly Hill, and left
his under guard to take charge of the train. He
remained behind himself, bargaining about some fowls,
and the train went on about nine o'clock without him.
He appears to have spent the remainder of the evening
drinking. About one o'clock in the morning he was
seen walking along the line toward Netherton. About
two o'clock the driver of a goods train passed over
the body. The driver noticed a jerk, and suspecting
that something was wrong, went back from the Netherton
station, accompanied by the watchman, and had
not gone far when they came upon the frightful
spectacle of the mangled body.

A fatal Colliery Explosion took place on the 22nd inst.
at Lund Hill colliery, near Barnsley, in Yorkshire. It
occurred in the morning, soon after the people had gone
down to their work. The first thing that was noticed
after the shock of the explosion was the body of a brick-
layer named William Davey flying in the air, at a
height of ninety feet, and subsequently falling upon a
wall elevated eighteen feet from the surface of the
ground for the purpose of increasing the height of the
pit mouth; from this he was taken quite dead. James
Batty, who was on the boards placed across the mouth
of the pit for the purpose of landing the material sent
out, was blown from his position, and fell to the bottom
of the shaft. The plank upon which he had been
standing was found at a distance of three hundred feet
from the place where it had been originally firmly
nailed. The bodies of two other men, William Mozley
and Matthew Pollar, were found at the bottom of the
pit; and two more were dangerously hurt.

SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL
PROGRESS.

THE Registrar-General's Quarterly Return of
Marriages, Births, and Deaths in England. It
comprises the births and deaths registered by 2,191
registrars in all the districts of England during the
spring quarter ending June 30, 1854; and the
marriages in 12,039 churches or chapels, about 3,504
registered places of worship unconnected with the
Established Church, and 625 superintendent registrars'
offices, in the quarter that ended March 31, 1854.
All the returns present a favourable view of the state of
the country. The marriages in the first quarter of the
year exceed the average proportion. In the quarter
ending June 30, the number of births that have been
registered greatly exceeds the numbers returned in any