NEWS BY THE MAIL.

. 0 THE NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENT. ! The " Home News" says : — Accord- j ing to published assertion, a compact had been entered into between the Marquis of Salisbury, the Marquis oi Lome, the Earls of Lichfield and Carnarvon, Lords Lennox and Manners, Sirs John Pakington and Stafford Northcote, on the one part, and a, number of skilled workmen, including a joiner, an ironfounder, a bricklayer, one other joiner, in the person of Mr George Potter — who spends most of his time in assuring the ruling classes that the working classes will, by-and-by, do something very terrible if something else is not done fust of all — a fustian-cutter, a mason, an engineer, and a painter, on the other. The published purposes of the compact included all the good that the greatest lover of the human race could desire. Mr Ruskin's village paled before the intense simplicity included in what has been called the new social movement. According to it every man's house is not only to be his castle, but each tenement is to detached from all other habitations, Wholesome air and sunshine are to be perpetual, and children are to grow up "strong, healthy and pure," in well-ordered homes. "Local self-government" — how well New Zealanders will understand the signi6cance and value of the phrase and principle — is to be the Deus ex rnachina of the whole, and the results are to be, eight hours' work every day — Sundays excepted — a liberal allowance of schools, the extinguishment of the race of retail traders— everybody purchasing their goods in small quantities at wholesale prices — and the railways placed under Government management, so that individuals shall travel at the expense of the State whenever they feel inclined to take their ride abroad. — The effect of the announcement was diverse in different directions. The press j generally was thrown into a state of I delightful confusion. Liberal papers

claim the movement as a triumph for their party, m> did the representatives of Conservative opinion. ' Codlin's the friend, not Short,' was said on both sides. On one side Liberalism was absorbing all the wisdom and goodness of the world, and on the other Conservatism was the truo palladium of our liberties, and, abovo all things, the working man's friend. Disaster was however at hand. On both sides the wish had been father to the thought, and, as we write, the conclusion arrived at is ' that there is no such thing.' Repudiation is the order of the day. Lord Salisbury declares he never signed the compact or approved of its conditions, Lord Derby ' has no interest in the matter,' Sir Stafford Northcote is still more emphatic, and Lord Lome, in terse terms, denies all complicity in the affair, and so the last sensation rests for the time being, HOBRIBLE MURDER BY A CLERGYMAN. The " Home News" remarks : — " In the annals of crime for the month one record has to be made of peculiarly sad character. A clergyman of considerable reputation, an accomplished scholar, and a kind man, has slain his wife, and under circumstances of such brutal barbarity that the only consolation in connection with the affair is that at the time of the murder he was utterly irresponsible for his acts. He has been committed for trial on a charge of wilful murder, and so far not one word has been offered in his defence. The murder was discovered on October the 11th, in Stock well, the murderer being the Rev John Selby Watson, M.A., a clergyman well-known in London, having for upwards of twenty-five years filled the important position of Headmaster of Stockwell Grammar School. The victim of this lamentable crime is his wife, a lady of sixty-two or sixty-three years of age, and her body had been lying concealed in the house ever since October 8, when the murder must have been committed. Mr Watson resided with his wife and a female servant, named Jane Payne, who has lived with them for three years, in a large house in St Martin's lload, at the back of Stockwell Crescent, and from the statement of the young woman it would seem that on Sunday evening, October 8, she left the house and did not return to it until nearly ten o'clock. When she left Mr Watson and his wife were sitting in the library, and when she returned Mr Watson told her that her mistress had left for the country, and would be absent five or six days. She was a little surprised at the communication but made no comment, and, from her statement, did not seem to think much about it. Mr Watson retired to rest at the usual time. No disorder was manifest in the room, but the next morning the girl called the attention of her master to a large dark stain on the carpet and the floor at the library door, when Mr Watson replied with great coolness, ' Oh, there was an accident last night. I split a decanter of port wine there, and wiped it up as well as I could.' It now appears that the unfortuuate man attempted to commit suicide, by poison, on October 11, three days after the murder of his wife. Tho servant girl, finding her master very ill, went for Dr Rugg, saying that her master was in a fit of apoplexy. In a short time Dr Rugg was at the house, aud, on being admitted, the servant put the following letter into his hand : — 'ln a fit of fury I have killed my wife. Often and often have I endeavored to restrain myself, but my rage overcame me, and I struck her down. Her body will be found in the little room off the library. I hope that she will be buried as becomes a lady of birth and position, She is an Irish lady, and her name is Anne. The key is in a letter on the table.' And then follows a word which has been erased, but which is apparently a surname. On seeing this letter Dr Rugg immediately rushed upstairs to the bedside of Mr Watson, whom he found very weak and speechless, apparently suffering from some violent poison. He administered a sedative, and proceeded at once to the room indicated, in company with the servant girl. There they found the body of Mrs Watson in a corner of the room, with her knees touching her chest, her hands convulsively clenched, and her clothes saturated with blood, which still seemed to ooze from the body in a dark, almost purple, pool. On examining her, Dr Rugg found there was, in addition to numerous other wounds, a fracture on the occiput sufficient, probably, to cause death. Both temples were beaten in. Mr Watson recovered from the effects of the poison, and, after a preliminary investigation, was fully committed to take his trial for the murder." CRIMES AND CASUALTIES. Several cases of infant starving have been investigated, and the particulars elicited indicated deep poverty and want. In one case the mother, herself a mere child, had to support two infants, her earnings being derived from work in a lead factory, and limited to 9s a week. Partial starvation of mother and children was the natural result, and to this were added the poisonous effects of the material with which she worked. A man and woman entered a carriage on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, and whPQthey were next seen both were lying dead on the floor of the carriage. From the appearance I of the bodies, it is supposed that the man first shot the woman and then himself, a revolver being found in the catriage. At the coroner's inquest it was ascertained that they were man and wife, the husband being a mining overlooker; they had been living apart for some time, and a feeling of jealousy had taken possession of the man. Several accidents arising from the incautious use of firearms have taken place, and of railway accidents there have been several, none of them attended with very serious consequences. In one instance, however, it was the merest chance that the " fastest tram in England" was not, with its whole

freight of passengers, dashed to pieces. The fifty. niilu-an-lionr express came in sight of a tivelve-mile-an-houi" luggage. Thanks to the skill and courage of the express driver, a catastrophe was averted.