MILDNESS OF THE SEASON. - Two young gooseberries were seen by MR. J. DOUTHWAITE, growing in MR. TEASDALE's garden, at Dufton House, on the 10th inst.
 
A MELBOURNE TELEGRAM announces that Victoria is experiencing an intensely hot season, and the weather is very dry.
 
A COMMITTEE consisting of LORD LANSDOWNE, President, MR. CAMPBELL BANNERMAN, M.P., the Quartermaster-General,  MAJOR-GENERAL ARMSTRONG, SIR JOHN ADYE, and SIR WILLIAM DRAKE, is now sitting at the War Office, to inquire into the organisation of the Control Department.
 
M. DE CHAUDORDY, the new French ambassador to Switzerland, was officially received by the Federal Council on the 8th inst.
 
IT IS STATED that several well-known barristers have applied to the Lord Chancellor for "silk", and it is expected that early in the term, some appointments will be made.
 
DR. CAIRD, the Principal of the Glasgow University, is to be called over the coals for heresy.  His particular offence is differing from the belief of a certain elder.
 
THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES left London on Saturday night for Russia.  They travelled from Charing-cross by a special train to Dover, and a considerable crowd mustered on the platform to take leave of them.
 
MR. LAYARD will have another serious complaint to make at Madrid.  An English steamer, the ' Ellen Constance ', was fired into by the Spanish flagship as she was leaving Porman.  Not content with this, the flag-ship ran into her and sank her, drowning three of the crew.
 
THE REV. J. CROMPTON, Free Christian Minister at Norwich, who recently seceded to the Church of England, is about to seek orders in the diocese of Exeter.  Several of MR. CROMPTON's congregation at Norwich have joined the Church of England.
 
AT THE MANSION HOUSE POLICE-COURT, LONDON, a serious loss has been sustained through the death of the chief clerk, MR. G. C. OKE.  The Lord Mayor, in making this announcement, eulogised the ability and zeal which MR. OKE had always displayed as the confidential adviser of a long succession of civic magistrates.
 
THE CARPENTER, BOATSWAIN, and six seamen of the British barque ' City of Durham ', of Sunderland, bound to Rio de Janerio with a cargo of coals, were brought before the East Stonehouse magistrates on Saturday, and each sentenced to ten week's imprisonment in Exeter Gaol for refusing to do duty when at sea.
 
ASSAULT ON A HUSBAND WITH A HAMMER. - A woman named ANN FIELD or SANDERSON was accused before Sheriff HAMILTON, at the Summary Court, recently, of having assaulted her husband on the 4th inst.  The panel denied the charge, but as it appeared from the evidence that on the evening of the day in question, she dealt her husband two blows on the head with a hammer, the sheriff ordered her to be kept at hard labour for sixty days.
 
POISONING BY MISTAKE. - The village of Creek, the scene of the recent poisoning of MRS. GULLIVER seems unfortunate.  An inquest has just been held there on the body of an old man, named THOMAS SIMCOE, a small farmer, who died from partaking of a pudding in which "Cooper's Dipping Composition" had been mixed in lieu of egg-flour.
    It seems his wife, an old woman of 70, made the pudding, mixing with it the powder, which was in a cupboard with other condiments, and which she supposed to be egg-flour.  She and her husband and grand-daughter partook of it, and all became very ill afterwards.
    The old woman and her grand-daughter recovered, but the old man succumbed.  He was put to bed and went to sleep, but never woke again.  He was found dead by his wife's side.

THE YACHT, GOSHAWK, with MR. FERMOR HESKETH and party on board, arrived at Algiers on the 2nd of January from Gilbralter.
 
THE ACADEMY understands, from private sources, that the Sultan of Zanzibar has by no means relinquished his intention of visiting England in the spring or summer.  His Highness has, it believes, sent home an order for a steamer of considerable size, that is to cost some £40,000.
 
THE KING OF BAVARIA has had a fall from his horse.  In descending a slope, wishing to put on his paletot, he had taken the reins in his mouth, when the animal took fright, and stooping suddenly, jerked the rider over its head.  Fortunately the ground was sandy, so that the King escaped with only a slight scratch on the right cheek.
 
MR. HENRY GLASSORD BELL, sheriff of Lanarkshire, died last week.  He was fond of literary pursuits.  A volume of his occasional productions was published by MACMILLAN, under the title of "Romances and Ballads."  His literary fame will rest, however, on his poem "Mary Queen of Scots,"  written in his early years.
 
RIVALS IN BUSINESS.  Having manufactured and exposed for sale a certain mysterious adjunct of feminine dress, called a "Dolly Varden improver," MR. CHARLES MONTAUGE, managing director of Caoutchoue and Kamptulicon Company, found himself defendant in a police case, the charge being one of fraudulent imitation.  It was clearly shown that the prosecutors, MESSRS. BATTOCK, had claimed as a novelty an invention which has been in use for twenty years.  This being considered by the magistrate, MR. INGHAM, to end the case, he dismissed the summons, ordering the complainants to pay five guineas to the defendant, for costs.
 
ALARMING FIRE AT DUNDEE. - An alarming and extensive conflagration occurred in Dundee, whereby a warehouse belonging to MESSRS. A. and D. EDWARDS, containing thousands of bales of jute, the property of JOHN SHARP, was totally destroyed.  The damage will be £12,000, covered by insurance in the Queen, Northern, and Westminster offices.  The cause of the disaster is not ascertained.  Two men had been employed loading jute from the warehouse and, observing flames at the farther end of it, gave the alarm;  but before the brigade arrived, the flames had obtained such a mastery that they were only extinguished when the property had been totally destroyed.
 
SINGULAR CAPTURE OF A SPLENDID GOLDEN EAGLE. - The "Inverness Advertiser" says that as two men were engaged recently in repairing a house at Craiguanach, Lochaber, they observed a golden eagle on the ground, devouring what proved to be a rabbit.  One of the men cautiously approached the bird, which was too intent in swallowing the carcase of the rabbit to notice his movements, and threw down a bundle of brackens with which he was thatching the cottage on its back.  A severe struggle ensued, but the two men, assisted by MR. MACDONALD, gamekeeper, managed to secure their prize, which proved to be a fine specimen, measuring seven feet from tip to tip, a size which is seldom equalled in the golden eagle.