The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1854-01-31 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

TIE WAGES MOVEE'ENT IN TEE WEST.—The vgitation in favour of an increase in the amount of wages, consequent on the high price of "provisions, is not 'yet settled in the...west of England. At Sturrninster-Marshall the whole Sfablie agricultural labourers struck for an.aclvance a few days since. The farmers met together, .aid, after consultation, agreed to give the men an additional. is. per week. In the parish of Piddletown, in Somerset, the attempt, to obtain an advance by the agricultural ilabourers assumed ii most riotous cLaracter. About 40 mentwent in a body to"Waterson farm, in the occupation of Mr. James Hartling,f-and endeavoured to get the la! ,rers there to join theanin making a demand on that person for as, increase of .wages. They failed, however, to disaffect the men tamales their master,-one of them declaringthat he was perfectly satisfied with his wages. In spite ,of This they went to Mr. Harding, and demanded that 'he should pay his meraas another farmer, named Geago, had promised to do--,namely, to give them 12s. per week. ',This Mr. Hackling refused to comfly with, and it was only hy threatening-to-send for the Da-lice that lie got rid -of them Warrants were subsequently issued for the apprehenSion of the principal offenders, and one of the ringleaders laas since 'been 'committed for trial. At Exeter, the Town Courell'have determined on giving the police force of that city ail:vddition .cf 2s. per week to their present wages, which are now :18s_. This arrang?ment, however, is only intended to be continued during the existence of the present higi prices of provisions. NEM' CAUECII AZ READING, picas.—In the centre of the Castle Hill estate, fronting the Bath-road, in Reading, a plot of ground:had been apportioned by the original proprietor .of the property, for a square, which was surrounded by:a very •handsome iron pahsading, with large gates at each corner. The land having been recently purchased for the Conservative Land Society, the executive committee have decided that the ground in the centre of the square shall be givenfor the erection of a new church, the increasing population of Reading rendering the gift very useful and beneficial to the locality. This is the second grant of land for the building of a church by the Conservative Land Society,  TIIE RUSSELL INSTLTUMN IN GREAT 0c,8.A.M-STREET, LONDON, has sought to be exonerated from ,parish rates, under the Parochial Assessments Act, as being instituted for the purposes of literature, science, and the fine arts exclusively." After hearing arguments in the Queen's Bench on Wednesday, Lord Campbell gave judgment against the institution. He •noticed that newspapers were taken in there, that politics Were -studied as well as,science, and a magazine or Bradshaw's Railway Guide found more readers than " Newton's Principia." The objects of the establishment were highly laudable, and its utility great ; but it was not entitled ;to exemption from the ordinary parochial burdens. Mustnms IN DEAN FostEsx.—At okocking murder thas been committed in the township of West Dean, a blatlicsmith, *Lamed Henry Jones, having fallen by the hand of a man of the same name. The deceased had, after finishing his day's work, been drinking at a public-house, called the British Lion, and left that lilac,* of entertainment about eleven o'clock for his home. He had got within a short distance of his home, when the prisoner met him and accused him of waylaying him in the highway for the purpose of robbing him. The deceased denied that he had any such intention, and blows followed between the parties, when the prisoner drew a knife from his pocket and plunged it into the deceased's abdomen, causing his bowels to protrude to the length of three or four feet. The groans of the wounded man were heard by his wife at her cottage, and he was taken home, where the surgeon was promptly in attendance, but the deceased died in a few hours afterwards, the intestines having also been cut. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against Henry Jones, who was committed for trial at Gloucester Assizes.