At Norwich and elsewhere there were frequent magisterial proceedings against dealers and others for contravention of the Orders of Council; medical men and veterinary surgeons suggested many remedies for the disease, and quacks advertised their nostrums, but the end of the year found the fatal rinderpest more rampant than ever. Science seemed confounded by the insidious character of the outbreak, and precautionary measures appeared to be vain to prevent its extension. It was officially announced that from September 6th to December 20th compensation had been given in respect of 1,486 animals, to the amount of £9,448 3s. 11d. (_See_ February 23rd, 1866.) 8.—A barque named the Edgar, of 600 tons burthen, built by Messrs. Fellows and Son, for the South American trade, was launched from their shipyard at Southtown, Great Yarmouth. 11.—The Earl of Leicester issued to the tenants on his estate an address, in which he referred to an election circular sent out to them during his absence in Norway, the spirit of which he described as “a flagrant contradiction of the principles and practices that have been professed and followed on the Holkham estate for nearly a century.” His lordship had counselled not coercion in any form, but the adoption of every legitimate measure to achieve the return of Mr. Gurdon and Sir Willoughby Jones at the West Norfolk election; but the zeal of his agent (Mr. Shellabear) in carrying out instructions which were only indicated and not given in detail led him to issue a circular which had caused much scandal, the impolicy and unfittingness of which no one now saw more clearly than his lordship himself. 12.—Died at Kew, Sir William Jackson Hooker, K.H., F.R.S., F.L.S., &c., Regius Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow. Sir William was a native of Norwich, where his father, Mr. Joseph Hooker, a manufacturer, took much interest in horticulture, and possessed a rich collection of succulent and other exotics. Hooker spent some of his earlier years in the study of agriculture with Mr. Robert Paul, of Starston Hall, but the death of a relative enabled him to devote himself to his favourite pursuit, natural history. With his brother, Mr. Joseph Hooker, the Rev. James Brown, and other naturalists, he thoroughly explored the rich district of the Norfolk Broads in the study of ornithology. He was the author of several works, and editor of the “Botanical Magazine.” Resigning the appointment of Regius Professor for the curatorship of the Royal Gardens at Kew, he received the honour of knighthood in 1835, and in 1845 had conferred upon him the degree of D.C.L. by the University of Oxford. He married a daughter of Mr. Dawson Turner, of Yarmouth. His eldest son, Dr. Hooker, F.L.S., was no less distinguished than his father for his valuable works in natural history and for the scientific explorations with which his name was associated.