The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-14 00:00:00

lIUNGARY.

Herr Ilazman, who for some years past has
been a refugee in New York, has been elected bur-
gomaster of Pesti'.

llerr von Beust has arrived here.

AGRAM, May 13.
A dissolutio❑ of the Croatian Diet is expected.

The Hall

Sciences.

The following is the programme of the ceremony
for laying the first stone of this building by her
Majesty, on Monday, the 20th inst. :-
1. The Queen will leave the Paddington station
of the Great Western Railway attended by a cavalry
escort, and, passing through Hyde-park, will arrive
at half-past 11 o'clock at the site of the hall, oppo-
site the Memorial to the Prince Consort in Ifyde-
park, where a guard of honour will be drawn up
and receive her Majesty with a royal salute.
2. Her Majesty, on alighting from the carriage,
will be received at the north end of the tent cover-
ing the site of the Hall by his Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales, the chairman of the provisional
committee, with the other members of the commit-
tee, and be conducted to the spot where the stone
will be laid.

3. During the procession the military band will
play.

4. Upon arrival at the spot the National Anthem
will be sung.

5. The Prince of Wales, after a shorl; address
from himself, will hand to her Majesty the Report
of the Provisional Committee recording the under-
taking, and the measures taken to carry it iato
effect.

6. The Earl of Derby will hand to the Queen the
coins and inscriptions, and Earl Granville the glass
vessel in which they are to be enclosed. Her Majesty
will then place them in the vessel.
7. Mr. Lucas, the builder, will hand to the Queen
the trowel, and Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, the
director of the works, will hand the line and plum-
met and assist her Majesty in placing the glass
vessel in the stone.

8. During this operation and at the lowering of
the stone into its place a flourish of trumpets will
be given and a Royal salute fired in Hyde Park.
9. The Archbishop of Canterbury will offer up a
short prayer.
10. The " Invocazione all'Armonia," the compo-
sition of the late Prince Consort, will be given,
under the direction of Mr. Costa, and at its con-
clusion the National Anthem will be sung.
11. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and
the Provisional Committee will conduct the Queen
through the south-east exit from the tent to the
east door of the conservatory of the Royal Horti-
cultural Society, where her Majesty will be received
by the Council of that Society, and be conducted
by the north-western terrace of the Gardens to her
carriage at the Prince's entrance in Albert-road.
12. The line of procession in the parks will be
kept by the Household troops.

THE ALTERATIONS AT THE MANSION
ROUSE.

The alterations in the front of the Mansion
House, consisting of the removal of the iron railings
and the zebuilding of the steps, are now completed.
The result is on the whole very satisfactory, as the
public gain about 400 superficial feet, the railings
formerly projecting on the average 4ft., while the
appearance of the Mansion House is little, if at all,
impaired. It has long been resolved to widen the
Poultry and to make a new street from Blackfriars
to the Mansion House. The increased throng
which would thus converge to a point already most
blocked by foot passengers rendered it necessary that
some steps should be takenfor givinggreater accom-
modation in front of the Mansion House. This
was at first attempted in a very clumsy manner by
rounding off the lower steps and cheating the balus-
trade and piers of their fair proportions, as shown
by a temporary wooden model which for come weeks
was " tried up." It may be remembered that at the
time we protested against this mutilation, and we
are glad to see that the removal of the railings has
enabled Mr. Horace Jones to correct a deformity
which he could never have sanctioned, and to produce
as good a result as the difficulties of the circumstances
permitted. The jointing of the balustrade, strings,
and rail is constitutionally correct, differing in this
respect from the majority cf modern works, among
which it is with regret that we must include the
raking parapet to the steps of the Thames Embank-
ment at Westminster. It is of little moment that
the staircase balustrade of Dorchester House in
Park-laue, should be thoroughly wrong, as being
inside the house few see it ; and though at Baron
Rothschild's new mansion at Hyde Park-corner,

the handsome columned porch is supplemented
by a mean iron 'ailing, it matters little to
the public. The Thames Embankment, on the
other and
public property, is seen by all,
and
nhotrO is
trouble should be spared to make the
necessarily simple features as good as possi-
ble. Before it is too late it may be well to call
attention to the very ugly proposed balusters, a few
of which may be seen near the Temple Pier. Per-
haps in no single architectural feature is there a
greater difference than between baluster and
baluster. Those of Sir Charles Barry were always
appropriate to the character of the work. The
best are perhaps those in Trafalgar-square, which
being in granite might have afforded the Metropo-
litan Board of Works an idea of the proper method
of treating balusters in that material. Indepen-
dently of improper treatment as regards the ma-
terial, those at the Temple Pier to which we refer
are of as bad proportions and as badly spaced
as misguided ingenuity unaided by technical knot-
' ledge could devise. It is not too late to effect some
improvement in these balusters, so few having been
made. The coping or rail of the parapet is not
good in design, and even the balusters have not
even the rigid propriety of those of Waterloo-
bridge in the same material. It is evident that in
this particular no architectural or artistic know=
ledge has been brought to bear, which, considering
the nature of the work, is as contemptuous to the
public who supply the money as it is discreditable
to the board that should supervise its expenditure.
—Building News.

THE AMERICAN MAILS.--Advices just received
from America state that the Post-office department at
Washington has contracted with the New York and Bremen
Steamship Company and the New York and Havre Com-
pany, both under the American flag, in pursuance of which
those companies have undertaken to despatch a steamer
from New York every Saturday with mails for Europe, and
also to maintain a weekly communication from this side to
New York. In accordance with this arrangement the
steamers from Bremen will in future be despatched thence
on Saturday, to sail from the Weser on Sunday, and to
leave Southampton on Wednesday. The Now York and
Bremen Company have announced their intention to de-
spatch the Northern Light, formerly one of the well-known
Vanderbilt line, in succession to the Western Metropolis,
which is now on her voyage across the Atlantic, having left
New York on the 4th inst. They are also making arrange-
ments to place new steamers of greater speed on the line.
The contract above referred to is independent of that re-
cently commenced with the North German Lloyd, by which
a weekly mail is carried, leaving New York on Thursdays,
and Southampton on Tuesdays.

MACKEREL.—An immense quantity of mackerel,
estimated at 350 toes, was caught on the Cornish coast
during the past week. Upwards of 170 tons were sent from
St. Ives to London in a single day, and the large provincial
markets wero also extensively supplied. Prices varied
from 12s. to 30s. per six score, according to the condition
of the fish when landed. The mackerel have moved a long
distance from Penzance and St. Ives, and the fishermen
have to arrange with the largest and swiftest boats to get
the catches on shore in time to be despatched by the
morning and mid-day trains. A steamer is called into re-
quisition when available. The fishery has for some time
given constant and profitable employment to a very large
number of people.
ARBITRATION VERSUS STRIKES.—During the past
week the manufacturers of hosiery in the town and county
of Leicester have resolved upon following the example of
the hosiers of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, and have
arranged with the working men for the establishment of
a Board of Arbitration for that district. In thelace trade of
Nottingham and Notts, which has suffomod so frightfully,
and which has Leen partially driven from the country by
long-continued struggles between master and workman, the
operatives, attracted by the excellent working of the hosiery
Board, are contemplating the formation of a similar Board
for all the branches of their own trade. Mr. Mundella, the
president of the Nottingham Chamber of Commerce, and
the originator of the scheme of arbitration in Nottingham,
has had protracted interviews with the Council of the
Laeemakers' Society on the subject, and they have decided
to invite their employers to form a Board. Should this
effort prove successful, the staple trade of three counties
(Notts, Derby, and Leicester) will be free from the
ruinous effects of strikes, the men at the same time pre-
serving their unions intact.
GENERAL ROBERT LEE is Writing his history of
the recent civil ivar in the United States.