The Express.
London, England, 1866-03-13 00:00:00

EGYPTIAN-HALL.

MIL ARTHUR. SLEICILIAT'S.
After a short retirement devoted to rest, rethoorasion of
the hall, and reconstruction of an entertainment which
has rivalled in enduriog popularity anything ever given by
the late Albert SMith, Mr. Arthur Sketchley again ap-
peared before his friends the public hat night, and was
welcomed by an appreciative audience. His new venture
is called Mrs. Bressli.ost hone mid Abroad, and gives a
light graphic aaooaat, illuetratesi by-very effective soenery,
of a voyage down the Thames and, up the Rhine, the
old lady from St. George's-in-the-Lit whe has so long
amused the public in the west being, of cow se, the centre
figure. Other characters are introduced—a Frenchman, I
proud of his knowledge of Eaglish, which is very imper-
fect, who makes a wonderful jumble of the Rhine legends,
and Mr. Brown, who is the type of an obstinate " working
man;" but Mrs. Brown, with her constant references to
the humbler features of Landon life, is still deservedly the
chief attraction. No single character, tot even excepting
Mr. Albert Smith's celebrated "engineer," has borne so
much reproduction without becoming tiresome, and her
appetrance in the midst of new scenes and ssicciatione is
likely to tiff the hall for many n,ghts to come. The views
which Mr. Sketchley has bad painted to illustrate Mrs.
Brown's journey are admirably adapted for a miniature
stage, and the murk is supplied by an ingenious mechanical
piano which performs brilliant operatic selections with un-
erriog preccsion. The new decorations of the hall are neat
and agreeable, and care has been taken to make the audi-
mos comfortable.

Tits TELLTB.ICAL Domani° BYSTIII.—The fol-
lowing parliamentary committee have been appointed by
Sheigovernment to inquire into the present theatrieal licen-
sing system preparatory So imp roved legislation on the sub-
ject :—Lord Ernest Brume, Sir A. Boller, Lord Endue
Caul, Mr. Clay, Mr. Olken Mr. Du Cone, Mr. Gosches,
Mr. Locke, Mr. P. J. Miller, Mr. Link, Mr. O'Beirne, Mr.
Powell, Mr. Selwyn, Colossi Stuart, and Mr. Walpole.
The committee meg* for the first time to-day to appoint a
ebairipaa, and arrange the mares of procedure. The chair-
man, basil probability, will be Mr. Goseben.

Yesterday a deputation from the Board of Works,
Poplar district, counting of the following gentlemen, viz.,
Mr. Edward Rider Cook, representative at the Metropo-
litan Board of Works, and Messrs. Edward Coleman, Henry
Green, William Trauma* Corselios Hoare, John Sutton
Blaby, James Hale, Edmund Symnioce, sod Charles C.
Ceely (clerk of the board), waited epos Earl de Grey and
Rig on, at the India-office, upon the subject of the disposal
of the late East India Company's chapel ground, he., at
Poplar.
Miami Cwenro or SHOP9.—The principle of
as abridgement of the hours of business has been adopted
to a coosiderable West by the proprietors of trading
establishments in Oxford-street, Piccadilly, Gray's Inn-
' road, and Poplar. At the West-end fifteen leading houses
In the toilet-brush trade now close at 8 o'clock, instead of
9, as heretofore ; and more than twenty houses in Grey's
lan-road and its vicinity have bees indueed, through the
=Yof the Early Claims Association, to slant up their
►at the same hour. The Saturday half-holiday tom-
meocing at 2 o'clock has been adopted by some of the
leading Manchester houses in the City.
THE REPRESENTATION OF KERRY.—A corre-
poodett of the Dublin Express writes—" After all, we are
sae to have • couteat for this county. Captain Herbert has
put Serward his address, in whin he pledgee himself to
equality, and to support a good measure of tenant-
r i
eigarProm this gentleman's large connexion with this
county, and more particularly from the liberality of his
address', it was plain that he had the greeted chance of sus-
ems. Mr, Y. D. Kavanagh also pat forward his address,
but when he found that Mr. Herbert had promised as much
as he hail he withdrew. Sir Rowland Bleonerhassett will
not stand, and therefore Mr. Herbert will have • quiet
walk-over. The election is to take place on Friday next."
THAMES Ancitmo.—A correspondent of the West
Surrey Tames writes—" I have heard of some excellent
takes at the close of the fishing season, especiallyin the
beautiful piece of water running between .be two locks of
Idonleey and Sunbury, a distance of about three miles. One
angler, who had been perch fishing for several dem took on
en average 20th. of fish each day, one day's capture reach-
ing 331 b. Others, whilst fishing with Clark of Sunbury,
have been equally successfuL Angling for roach has also
been satisfactory, one gentleman taking ten dozen excel-
lent fish In good condition in one day. There have been
seine good baskets of perch taken from the neighbour-
hood of Teddington Look by some of the fishermen
there. The water has been in a bad state for Jack
fishing, and consequently angling for them has been
useless to attempt. The high state of the river has carried
shoals of small fry into the ditches, but the assistant riva-
keepers of the Thames Angling Preservation Society have
been employed is returning them to their proper place. It
will be satisfactory to those interested in fish culture to
know that the young fry in the hatching apparatus at
Hampton are doing well, sad that they have not in any
way suffered from the severity and changeableness of the
weather ; but this is not to be wondered at, from the care
and interest which Mr. Ponder bestows upon his young
family. When I was over there on Saturday last, I found
that that gentleman bad received a box of trout sus from
Pianos in capital condition, which on being planed in the
trough looked very healthy. The eggs were very fine, and
shout the size of those taken from the Thames trout ; they
were from river trout, which are not of, e migratory cha-
racter."
Borrmi or THE DODO.—A single foot and an old
painting in the British Museum, • head in the Ashmolean
Museum at Oxford—such have been for many years the
only °video:ea on which naturalists have had to rely to
prove the existence of that singular extinct bird, the Dodo
of the Mauritiva. On this alight foundation anatomists
have built up a superstructure reconstructing the entire
bird, evolving the remainder, as a German would say, out
of the depths of their liner coescionsness. It is quite true,
as subeemieut discoveries have proved, that some of their
suggestions were erroneous : thus Professor Owen formerly
maintained that the dodo was an enormous wingleasvultuni.
But the more elaborate investigations of Messrs. Strick-
land and Melville proved that the bird really was a gigantic
ground-pigeon, doubtlees feeding its young with the milky
sscretioe of its crop, like the whole of the columbine
birds of the present day. The views of Messrs.
Strickland and Melville as to the structure of the
dodo have been remarkably borne out by the discovery of •
large number of the bones of the bird in a until morass in
the Mauritius, known as the " Mare aux Souses,' which
had been drained for agricultural purposes. These bones
have been carefully examined, and an elaborate and very
valuable paper descriptive of the oeteolou of the animal
was recently read before the Zoological Society by Profes-
sor Owen. Is addition to a complete set of the bones re-
tained for the national collection in the British Museum, a
considerable number of duplicates have been obtained.
These will be sold by auction by Menus. Stevens, of King-
street, to-day. They are arranged in eight lots, so as to
make each one as complete as possible. This sale, like
that of the eggs of the great ink and dinornir, will doubt-
less excite much interest amongst naturalists.
A BOY Blonmr.ar.s.—On Sunday afternoon last
• boy aged 11 years, named Frederick Mason. was
taken into costody at Bessecar, near Doncaster, on the
charge of attempting to murder Patrick Davies, aged 5,
and Margaret Davies, aged 3 years, brother and sister.
The attempt was most determined and deliberate. In the
neighbourhood of Ressingtos • number of navvies are em.
ployed by Messrs. Smith, Knight, and Co., the contractors
for the Doncaster and Gaineborough Railway, and the ehil.
dren Davies, as well as NYC'S, are the offspring of parents
residing there. Mason was employed by • neighbouring
farmer to tend one of his fields to keep the crows away ; and
he went on Sunday and enticed thechildren Davies with him.
It appears that about 2 o'clock Meson began to beat them
with • stick upon the head, and when both became insen-
sible be threw them into the River Toro, which runs close by.
The children began to cry, and he took them out and coin-
s:mooed average assault upon them, inflicting fearful wounds
on the head and face. When he had made them insensible a
second time he threw them again into the Torn, but
fortunately the water was not more than six inches
deep. The water revived them, and Patrick held his
sister's head above water ; end as soon as Mason bad
gone away he began to call for resistance, and his
ones attracted the attention of one of the navvies in the
locality, who, knowing them, removed both to their father's
hat, between Remington and Besmear. A messenger was
sent to Doncaster for Mr. J. Lister, surgeon, who, wilier
at Bouncer, found the children greatly injured. The little
girl was unable to speak for more than two hours, sad the
boy on being rescued was even in a more dangerous state.
The former told her parents that Mason bad beaten them
sad thrown them twice into the river ; and, acting upon
this information, Policeman Cowen apprehended him, and
he at once, and with a careless indifference, admitted that
he bad done as the girl bad said. The boy was in so
dangerous • state yesterday morning that it wee feared he
would not survive. Mason will be brought up this morning
(Tuesday), but for remand only until Saturday.
CHARINO-CROBE HOTEL COMPANY.—An extraor-
dinary general meeting of the shareholders of this company
was held yesterday at the hotel, for the purpose of confirming
certain resolutions passed at a previous meeting, giving the
directors power to borrow an additional sum of 20,0001. to
enable them to extend the premises, which bad bees found
to be too limited for the demands upon the accommodation
of the establishment. The Hon. J. Byeg presided, and
formally moved the adoption of the resolutions, which were
unanimously adopted, and the proceedings terminated.
A Rarnag ram( Roars—The Record announces
the return of Mr. Hemens, son of the poetess, from the
communioa of the church of Rome.