have been erected at Hackney Downs, for the middle-class schools established by the Grocers' Company of London, were opened by Mr. Goodhart, Master of the Company, on Wednesday week. The proceedings took place in the lecture-theatre of the school. In presenting the Head-master, Mr. Courthope Bowen, with the key of the building, Mr. Goodhart said that, if the Grocers' Company had done no other act than the raising of that institution in the north-east of London for the education of the middle classes, it would have deserved well of society at large. This act would prove once again that the old City guilds were fruitful of good works and wisely administered the funds which they had inherited from past generations. The building has been erected by Messrs. Holland and Hannen, from the designs of Mr. Theophilus Allen, of John Street, Adelphi, at a cost of about 15,000l. It will accommodate between 500 and 600 boys, there being fifteen classrooms fitted on the Prussian system, a dining-hall to hold 200, and a lecture-theatre to hold 800.

28. A WHIRLWIND IN THE ISLE OF WIGHT.-A storm of unprecedented violence broke over Cowes to-day, and although happily its force nowhere extended for more than about 100 feet, reduced to ruin everything which came within its area. As early as six o'clock it was observed that the atmosphere was very oppressive, and an unusual number of birds were observed to be flying about. Between seven and eight o'clock a rushing noise was heard for a few seconds, and during that time the work of destruction everywhere within the area of the storm was complete. Some houses were literally blown down, and many others unroofed, and a torrent of bricks and tiles was flying about. A house in Tinker's Lane, about two miles from the town, was levelled with the ground. At Broadfields Farm, the barns were entirely destroyed, and the ricks of wheat, barley, and hay were scattered. The storm next swept over the reservoir field, rooting up large trees, and tearing down the protecting wall of the reservoir; thence continuing down Madeira Vale, blowing out the front of one house and destroying a building used as a sawmill, and two greenhouses. Union Terrace, just below, was entirely wrecked. At the railway station the sheds were blown away and the carriages standing on the line overturned. The telegraph wires, of course, were rendered useless, and despatches had to be sent to Southampton. In Sunhill the storm stripped from a bow window a piece of lead weighing 2 cwt., and carried it across the street. A large and well-known mulberry-tree was broken off about six feet from the ground, and the top carried to a considerable distance. The Roman Catholic church was much damaged. The storm appeared to culminate near the Parade. The Globe Hotel may be said to have been almost demolished, and the Marine Hotel has suffered very much. Dr. Hoffmeister's house suffered greatly, and the Pagoda, erected by the late Dr. Kernot, was entirely destroyed. A stone was thrown on the deck of the Earl of Wilton's yacht, though lying quite a mile from the shore.

30. FERRY-BOAT DISASTER.-A dreadful accident occurred at Youghal, county Cork, this afternoon. About half-past four o'clock a ferry-boat left the quay for the opposite side of the Blackwater. The boat was an open craft of three tons burden, and rowed with four oars. There were twenty-two passengers on board besides the boatmen, the passengers being all farmers and their wives returning from market in Youghal. A strong ebb tide was running in the estuary, which is nearly half a mile broad, and it was raining and blowing heavily from the south. A hundred yards from the shore the waves broke over the boat, and the passengers rising in panic she went over. Boats were put out at once, but the greater number of the people were swept away by the tide beyond the reach of rescue. Eleven were picked up, five of whom died from exhaustion. Two of the boatmen perished, and a third was missing. A fourth boatman was so drunk that he could give no information as to the cause of the disaster.

REMOVAL OF A CHURCH.-The old church of St. Michael, Queenhithe, is in progress of demolition, the materials of the building having been sold. Several portions of the building and fittings are to be preserved as relics, including a memorial stone which records that "This Church was burned in ye dreadfvl fire in ye yeare 1666, and was began to bee rebuilt in ye yeare 1676." The white marble font is also preserved. It stood in the former church destroyed by the great fire, and after the conflagration was found among the ruins uninjured, with the exception of some cracks from the heat of the flames. Having been repaired, it was replaced in the church as restored, and remained there until its removal within the last few weeks to St. Paul's Cathedral. The old oak pulpit has likewise been removed to the Church of St. James's, Garlick Hythe, and the stained glass windows are to be placed in a new church now in course of erection in St. Pancras. A number of the monuments have also been removed to St. Paul's. The remains of those buried in the church have been re-interred in a new vault made in the churchyard.

ROMAN WALL.-Another fragment of the Roman wall of London has been laid bare by the demolition of five houses in Camomile Street. The works of excavation have revealed a length of thirty-six feet of ancient wall and a bastion. The wall is fully nine feet thick, but the rapid progress of its demolition has prevented exact measurement, both faces now being removed and the core only left. The bastion projects on the northern side, is rather more than a semicircle, and is solid. It measures about sixteen feet across. The heights vary from two feet to about four feet six inches, and the whole mass has been met with about ten feet below the present level of Camomile Street. The wall has had faces of roughly wrought stone, with a double band of the usual bright red tiles on the City side, but on the outer side much dark ironstone was used, and no tiles were observable.

SALE OF ALCOHOL.-Much has been said and printed upon

the frightful increase in the consumption of intoxicating drinks in the United Kingdom of late years; as a specimen of the extent to which it prevails we give a rough calculation made by a Liverpool magistrate of the amount of money spent upon drink in Liverpool per week and per year. He points out that there are 1,240 publichouses where drink only is sold, and 509 where food is sold in addition to drink. This latter number does not include hotels or eating-houses. Of these 509 houses he holds that at least a third -namely, 170-are drinking-houses pure and simple. He adds this number to the 1,240 which vend nothing but drink, making the total number of drinking-houses 1,410. He confines his calculations to these, and estimates their total weekly receipts at 54,450. This weekly total, multiplied by the number of weeks in the year, gives an annual expenditure of 2,831,400., which he considers under rather than over the mark.

- ADVERTISEMENTS.-It is stated that Mr. Holloway spends 30,000l. a year in advertising his pills. Messrs. Moses and Son have for years spent 10,000l. a year in advertising. So have Messrs. Rowland and Son of Macassar oil renown. A similar sum is yearly expended in advertising Dr. De Jongh's cod-liver oil. Messrs. Heal and Son spend 6,000l. a year in advertising their beds and bedding. Mr. Nicol, the tailor, spends 5,000l., and there are numbers of others who equal, and perhaps exceed, these amounts. Madame Tussaud pays the Atlas Omnibus Company alone 100l. a month for advertising her waxworks on their knifeboards. But the largest advertiser in the world is Mr. Hembold, the great New York chemist, whose advertising costs him 2,000l. a week. He has no less than 3,000 papers on his list. He has paid 750l. for a single large displayed advertisement, and once offered 1,000l. for a single page of the New York Herald on the day that the announcement of the fall of Richmond arrived, but it was declined because Mr. Gordon Bennett could not afford the room for it. It only needs a glance at the names we have mentioned to show that advertising to this prodigious extent must pay. Mr. Holloway is worth about 2,000,000%., and each of the others has amassed a great fortune.

OCTOBER.

3. THE CHURCH CONGRESS was opened to-day at Plymouth, under the presidency of the Bishop of Exeter, who in his opening address pointed out the dangers pertaining to such gatherings, arising from their constitution and duties. Neither learning nor wisdom, his lordship said, was an essential qualification for membership. The Congress was disproportionately composed of men of extreme views anxious to ventilate theories which they had not

the responsibility of carrying into practice, while quiet plodding workers absented themselves. Still the Congress was fruitful in suggestion and sympathy. The first subject discussed was the Bonn Conference and the Old Catholic movement, which was introduced by Bishop Perry. Among the papers read was an interesting one by Mr. C. A. W. Troyte, president of the Devonshire Guild of Ringers, on the art of church bell-ringing, and especially on the delights of "change-ringing," as distinguished from "common round-ringing." Many of his hearers, he said, were probably not aware of the gulf which separated what was called ordinary round-ringing and change-ringing. Any man, however dull his intellect, could learn to do what was called round-ringing. Change-ringing was different. He was a keen sportsman, but for the encouragement of would-be change-ringers he might say that some of his happiest and most exciting moments had been in the church tower. Let it be only understood that eight or ten men assembled in the tower, and that their object was to ring a peal, by more or less difficult methods, consisting of 5,000 changes, at the rate of about twenty-four a minute, and probably lasting over three hours. Effort, steadiness, science, courage, nerve, were all exercised in full in bell-ringing; and as for the pleasures of success, they appear to compare with those of a great violinist in charming music out of his favourite instrument.

4. THE 81-TON GUN.-The experiments on this monster piece of ordnance which have been carried on at Shoeburyness for some time past were concluded to-day. The results of the shooting were regarded with the highest satisfaction, evidencing as they do the great accuracy and power of the "Fraser gun," the correctness of the previous conclusions of our scientific artillerists, and the great capabilities of the Shoeburyness School of Gunnery. It was estimated that the damage done by the firing to the soldiers' quarters amounted to 600l. One of the projectiles fired was found at a distance of six miles from the gun. The final experiments consisted of the firing of shells, which exploded and caused a rain of bullets upon the sea, the discharge of shells with the Pettman fuze, and the discharge of several rounds of case shot.

8. GREAT FIRE AT ROTHERHITHE.-Probably the largest fire that has occurred in South London since the great conflagration in Tooley Street, took place this day in Lower Queen Street, Rotherhithe, on the extensive premises of Messrs. Woodbridge, Smith, and Co., fronting the river. The buildings contained six floors, and were used as stores, manufactory, workshops, offices, and mill. The fire broke out about eleven o'clock in the morning, and on the arrival of the first steam-engine the lower portion of the south wing of the wharf, containing many thousand quarters of grain, flour, and rice, was in a blaze. The first, second, and third floors were soon enveloped, and considerable apprehension was felt that the large timber and creosote works adjoining would

fall a prey to the flames. The firemen, however, managed to cut off the communication, and confined the fire to the mill. As the grain swelled with the enormous quantity of water thrown upon it, it forced the side walls outward, and a portion of the eastern walls came down suddenly with a frightful crash, and one of the firemen attached to the Deptford fire station was knocked down insensible. A second report followed, and a portion of the front wall fell, injuring another fireman. At twelve o'clock the sixth floor had become ignited; and, owing to the immense bulk of material stored there, the whole of the internal structure fell in, carrying the roof with it. At one o'clock a portion of the river frontage fell upon two barges laden with corn, &c., and sank them. The loss was said to amount to between 80,000l. and 90,000l.

10. GREAT FLOODS.-The heavy rain of October 8 caused the river Irwell to rise twelve feet above the low-water mark, producing a serious accident, and great damage to property near St. Simon's Church, Salford. A large intercepting sewer has been in course of construction for some time in Salford, and the sewer had been carried to the Irwell, the mouth of it being, however, closed by a dam. During the night the water forced the dam down, and rushing into the sewer burst it, and several extensive landslips occurred in consequence. The occupants of three or four cottages were awakened by the giving way of the walls of houses. They left the houses, and removed the furniture, and shortly afterwards the cottages and a beerhouse were partially wrecked. The walls and rails of St. Simon's Church fell with the subsiding earth, and grave fears were entertained for the church itself, which is only a few yards away from the landslip. The water and gas mains were also broken. The heavy rains had a disastrous effect in the Hereford district. A bridge on the Leominster and Kington line, between Kington and Titley, was completely washed away by the floods; but fortunately the accident was discovered in time to prevent any traffic approaching the locality. The passengers in the morning trains were delayed several hours. At Brecon the lower part of the town, containing some hundreds of houses, was submerged to the depth of four and five feet. The flood forced its way into the chapel of Christ's College, where it inflicted considerable damage. At Almwich, William Jones, a youth aged eighteen, while at work inside a mill, was struck by lightning, and so seriously injured that death resulted in about an hour.

AN ALARMING RAILWAY ACCIDENT Occurred on the London and North-Western line, near Bletchley, to an excursion train which was returning from London to Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham, and Wolverhampton. When near Bletchley a goods train, owing to some unfortunate oversight, ran into the passenger train, upsetting the engine, which rolled over the embankment, breaking the guard's van, damaging the carriages, and injuring the roadway. The greatest consternation prevailed for some time among the passengers, some of whom, indeed, through the violence of