The Express.
London, England, 1867-03-16 00:00:00

The Australian ad riees yesterday give a very
favourable account of the harvest, and state that wheat is
being shipped to England in considerable quantities.
THE ENGLISH MONTHLY TRACT SOCIETY. —The
annual meeting of the English Monthly Tract Society was
held at the large hall, Red Lion-square, W.C., on Thursday
evening last. J. K Matheson, Esq., presided. The report,
which was read by the secretary, Mr. J. Stahl), stated that
during the past year 457,113'J tracts had been mimed. The
greater part had been sent by post monthly to the middle
and upper classes in our own country. Large numbers
were also sent to agents in the various nations on the
Continent, by whom they were forwarded by post and
otherwise to the English residents. Parcels had likewise
been sent to our colonies, where they are distributed in
the mune way. Grants had been made of Italian tracts
for distribution in Italy, and of English tracts to several
institutions and individuals. A polyglot tract in four
languages—viz., French, Italian, German, and Spanish—hug
been prepare' for distribution at the Paris Exhibition. The
chainuan having made some remarks on the report, the
meeting was addressed by Rev. S. Bird, Rev. B. Beddow,
Rev. John Matheson, and Mr. Moody, from Chicago, who
gave some remarkable information respecting the United
States of America in connexion with tract distribution.
He said it was worth ooming from America to hear what
the report had stated in regard to its peculiar sphere of
operation, and on his return to his own country Ise should
introduce the plan employed by this society for reaching
the middle and upper cMiises.
LENT PREACHERS. To-morrow (being St.
Patrick's-day), the sermon at the 12 o'clock service at the
Clumel Royal, St. James's Palace, will be delivered by the
most Rev. Dr. Butcher, Lord Bishop of Meath. At the
11 a.m. service at the Chapel Royal Whitehall, the Very
Rev. Dr. Stanley, Dean of Westminster, will be the
preacher ' • and the famous course of annual Lenten Sunday
afternoon sermons will be continued at Whitehall by his
Grace the Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of all Ireland
and prelate of the most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick.
At the 7 p.m. service beneath the dome in St. Paul's
Cathedral, Dr. Graves, Lord Bishop of Limerick, will
preach the sermon. These preachers are all appointed by
the Bishop of London, dean of her Majesty's Chapels
Royal. Full and complete lists of the Lent preachers are
publiabed in " The London Diocese Book, 1867," published
by Messrs. Rivington.
LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS FOR THE
East ING Weee.—Monday, Society of Arts, at 8, " Music
and Musical Instruments," Mr. Haab ; Entomological
at 7 ; Royal Academy, at 8, " Sculpture," Professor West.
macott. Tuesday, Royal Institution, at 3, " Botany,"
Professor Henslow ; Statistical, at 8, " Elementary Edu-
cation," Mr. Sargent ; Engineers, at 8, " Steep Gradients
sad Sharp Curves on Railways ;" " Memoir on the River
I.'yne," Mr. Brooks. Wednesday, Society of Arts, at 8,
• Successful Oyster Culture," Mr. Lobb ; Meteorological,
at 8 ; Geological, at 8, " Recent Discoveries of Gold,
New Brunswick," Mr. W. S. Shea ' • " Discovery
of Coal on Western Slope of the Andes," Mr.
Wheelwright ; " Presence of Purbeck Beds at Bril, Buck-
inghamshire," Rev. P. P. Brodie ; " Abnormal Conditions
of Secondary Deposits connected with Somerestabire and
South Wales Coal Basins," Mr. Moore ; "Lower Lim, or
Liss Conglomerate, of Glamorganshir," Mr. Bristow.
,e
Thursday, Royal Institution, at :1, ' Coal Gas," Pro-
fessor Frankland ; Numismatic, at 7 ; Linnean, 8, " Melee
tomacere," M. THAD* ; " New Genera and Species of Neu-
ropterous Insects," Mr. M'Lachlan ; Zoological, at 4, gene-
ral business ; Royal, as 8A ; Antiquaries, at Friday,
Royal Institution, atB, " of Flight and Aeronautics,*
Dr. Pettigrew. Saturday, Royal Institution, at 3, "Coal
Gas_," Professor Frankland.-4tAratrusa.
RAILWAY TRAFFIC RECEIPTS. —The traffic re-
ceipts of railways in the United Kingdom amounted, for
the week ending March 9, on 12,745 miles, to 657,378/.,
and for the corresponding week of last year, on 12,498
miles, to 636,437 ~ showing an increase of 247
miles and of 20,9411. The gross receipts on the fol-
lowing 14 railways amounted, in the aggregate, on
9,2130 miles, to 550,9191. end for the correspond-
ing week of 1866, on 9,039 mike, to 534,396!., showing
en increase of 161 miles, and of 16,563/. The in-
crease on the Caledonian amounted to 491. ; on the
Great Eastern to 1,5531. .• on the Great Northern to
516/. ; on the Great Southern and Western to 713/. ;
on the Lancashire and Yorkshire to 2,3701. ; on the Lon-
don and North Western to 3,051 r. ; on the London and
Brighton to 1,443/. • on the Manchester, Sheffield, and
Lincolnshire to 1,0461. ; on the Midland to 555/. ; on the
North British to 869/. • on the North Eastern t 03,7211. ;
and on the South Eastern to 1,4441.—t0ta1, 17,333/. ; but
from this must he deducted 1131., the decrease on the Great
Western, and 657/. on the London and South Western,
leaving the increase as above, 16,563/. The goods and
mineral traffic on those lines amounted to 340,8041., and
for the oorrespontling week of 1866 to 532,0371., showing
an increase of 8,7671. The receipts for passengers,
parcels, he., amounted to 210,155/. against 202,3591.
showing an increase of 7,7961. The tes/Bc receipts on 52
other lines amounted, on 3,54.5 miles, to 106,4191., and for
the corresponding week of last year, on 3,459 miles, to
102,041/. showing an increase of 86 miles and of 4,3781.
The total receipts of the past week show an increase of
3671., as compared with those of the preceding week,
ending the 2nd of March.