which must have been expended within the past 10
years. Mr. Hadfield's return forms three principal
heads. Under the head of sums of money expended or
due by the several railway companies in the United
Kingdom for establishing such companies and their
undertakings, and for branches and additions thereto,
£12,543,715 is stated as the total amount; under the
head of sums expended in obtaining acts of Parliament
for purchasing other railways, or amalgamating with
railway and canal companies, £852,202 is stated; and
under the head of costs, charges, and expenses incurred,
and occasioned by any actions, suits, and other
proceedings at law or in equity by the said companies,
£685,193; making together the £14,086,110. It is
believed (says the Times) that the legal, engineering,
and parliamentary expenses of the numerous companies
that failed in their attempts to obtain parliamentary
powers, cannot be estimated at less than £5,000,000,
making in the whole about £20,000,000 as the cost of
railway legislation, so far as it has been carried.

A meeting was held at Devizes on the 3rd inst., to
establish a Juvenile Reformatory Institution for
Wiltshire. The Marquis of Lansdowne presided; and
among the gentlemen present were the Marquis of
Bath, Sir John Audry, several members of Parliament
connected with the county, the Dean of Salisbury, and
the Recorder of Devizes. It was resolved that a school
should be established, on the basis of economy and
practical utility.

The fiist stone of a New Hospital, in Quay-street,
Manchester, was laid on the 3rd inst., by the Bishop.
The hospital is to be called St. Mary's, and to be
devoted to the diseases of women and children. Miss
Atherton of Carthill Castle gives £500; Dr. Radford of
Manchester, his medical library and museum.

The Early Closing Association held the first of a series
of autumnal meetings, at Exeter Hall on the 5th inst.
The chair was occupied by Mr. Mechi, of Tiptree Hall, who
stated, that in his own business the great bulk of the
work was effected before five o'clock, and what is done
after does not really pay for gas-light. Mr. Lilwall
stated that many of the principal London houses [in the
linendrapery trade?] are now closing at one o'clock on
Saturdays, others at two, and very few later than three
o'clock. Resolutions for pursuing the movement passed
as a matter of course.

The Trade and Navigation Returns for the month
ending July 31, as well as for the first seven months of
1855, have been published, and from them we learn the
following results: For the month for which the returns
are made up, the declared value of articles of British
produce exported was £8,150,383; for what may be
considered the corresponding month of 1854 it was
£9,439,643. From January 1 to July 31, 1855, the value
of our exports was £51,262,705; and if, for the purpose
of comparison, we add the value of the average exports
for five days more, so as that the time may be equal in
both cases, we find that for the first seven months of
1855, we exported to the extent of £52,830,085 and for
the same period of 1854, to £58,612,645; the decrease
being £5,792,560. The column of quantities entered for
home consumption shows that in the past month,
contrasted with the corresponding period last year, we
have consumed 457,000lbs. of cocoa as compared with
332,000lbs.; 3,691,000lbs. of coffee as against 2,965,000lbs.;
85,000lbs. of rice against 64,000lbs.; 323,000 proof
gallons of spirits compared with 349,000 proof gallons;
1,049,000 cwts. of unrefined sugar against 728,000 cwts.;
8,570,000lbs. of tea against 5,086,4l5lbs.; 2,630,000lbs.
of tobacco compared with 2,397,000lbs.; and 587,000
gallons of wine contrasted with 556,000 gallons; thus
showing a considerable increase in the consumption of
nearly every important article generally used for
purposes of domestic comfort. As regards the navigation
returns, they show that in the foreign trade the total
amount of tonnage entering inwards during the last
month was 765,000, as compared with 749,000 last
year; clearing outwards the quantity was, in 1855,
863,000; in 1854, 765,000. In the coasting trade the
totals of tonnage in the two months were—entering
inwards in 1854, 1,181,000; and in 1855, 1,089,000;
clearing outwards in 1854, 1,271,000; and in 1855,
1,172,000 tons.

The Library and Reading Room of the London
Compositors was opened in Raquet-court, Fleet-street, on
the 10th inst. The library contains nearly 2000 volumes
of sterling literary merit, and many of the most valuable
works have been contributed by compositors themselves.
Amongst the donors to the institution are the Earl of
Harrowby, the Earl of Shaftesbury, the Right Hon.
Mr. Gladstone, Major-General T. Perronet Thompson,
Messrs. Chambers, the Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, and a number of gentlemen known for
their zeal in the cause of educational progress. On the
day on which the library was opened a munificent
donation of valuable works, amounting to 165 volumes,
was received from his Royal Highness Prince Albert.

A large and influential meeting of coal-owners, and
other gentlemen interested in the Education of the
Children of Miners in the counties of Durham and
Northumberland, has been held at Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, to take into consideration a scheme of education
proposed by the honourable and Reverend J. Grey
The chair was occupied by the Earl of Durham; and
the list of other gentlemen present included Lord
Ravensworth, the Honourable H. G. Liddell, M.P.,
Mr. T. E. Headlam, M.P., Mr. R. Ingham, M.P., the
Mayor of Newcastle, and the Mayor of Gateshead.
The plan was explained by the Reverend G. R.
Moncrieff, Government Inspector of Schools. By the
last report of Mr. Norris upon the schools in Staffordshire,
it appeared that the average age of children in
the first class of schools was scarcely more than ten
years, and in pit schools only nine; and that fact was
thoroughly confirmed by experience in other districts,
especially Yorkshire, where but for the operation of
the Factory Act the average age of children at school
would hardly be above nine. These facts showed the
necessity of further exertion. An experiment,
however, had been tried in Staffordshire, which showed
that more may be done; and Mr. Moncrieff briefly
explained this plan. In this first instance, a prize of £1
was proposed to be given to every boy and girl under
ten years of age (this limit being only fixed for the
present), who should bring certificates showing that he
had attended school for two years, and certificates of
good character; and who should be able to pass
satisfactorily an examination, which would be of a very
moderate amount of difficulty indeed, only including
subjects of the ordinary elementary character. Along
with this prize would be given a card or ticket, as a
kind of testimonial to the pupil's good conduct and
perseverance. At the end of the next year, the same
child might come up, and if again successful, receive a
prize of £2 and so on. And they might, after having
left school, again present themselves for a larger prize,
on producing evidence that they had attended a Sunday
school, and some other school during the week, and
thus kept up their education. Mr. Moncrieff then
showed, by reference to reports, that the way in which
money had been expended by the prize scholars in
Staffordshire had been most satisfactory; while the
cards were carefully preserved, and regarded as honourable
testimonials to merit. Mr. Moncrieff was careful
to explain that Government in no way interfered in the
local management of such schools.

The British Association for the Advancement of
Science opened its twenty-fifth meeting on the 12th
inst, at Glasgow. About mid-day, a business meeting
was held, in the Merchants' Hall, the Earl of Harrowby
in the chair; when the minutes of the Liverpool meeting
were read and approved, and Colonel Sabine
presented the annual report of the Council, also
unanimously adopted. The statement of the accounts, showed
receipts amounting to £2365 10s. 8d., and payments
amounting to £1548 9s. 1d., leaving a balance of £817
1s. 8d. In the evening there was a public meeting for
the purpose of hearing the inaugural address of the new
President, the Duke of Argyll. Among the listeners,
were the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Hamilton,
the Earls of Eglintoun, Elgin, and Harrowby, Lord
Wrottesly, and Prince Bonaparte. The address was
descriptive of the great advances made in science since
the British Association visited Glasgow fifteen years ago.
The annual dinner took place on the 18th and the
proceedings terminated on the following day. The papers