17.—The provisions of the new Licensing Act came into operation in Norwich. A notice had been issued by the Chief Constable that on Sunday, Christmas-day, and Good Friday, licensed houses were not to open before 12.30 at noon and to close at 2.30 in the afternoon; not to open again before six in the evening, and to close at ten o’clock. On week-days they were not to open until six in the morning, and to close at eleven o’clock at night. “This application of the Act came on the city suddenly and unexpectedly, the general opinion having prevailed that everything would go on as usual until the next annual licensing-day. In Union Place and King Street many people determined to have their own way as far as they could, and accordingly just before closing time they made a great demand upon the can accommodation of the houses. Large cans and small cans, when filled with beer, were borne off in triumphant defiance to the pavement outside, or to the men’s private gardens or houses, where friend and neighbour remained drinking, and, in some cases, singing, together long after the lights of the various public-houses had been extinguished. In two or three instances some ill-advised publicans persisted in keeping their houses open.” Several licensed victuallers were fined for infringing the regulations of the new Act, and in the early days of its operation the Norwich magistrates were very liberal in granting extensions of time on the occasion of the Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun holidays. At East Dereham the justices permitted the public-houses to remain open until twelve o’clock during four months of the year. 19.—The first really notable journey upon a bicycle was performed by Percy Everett, of Ryburgh, a lad aged 16. He started at 4.45 a.m. from Ryburgh station, and rode to Newmarket, where he had breakfast; thence to Whittlesford, where he lunched; and at 5.30 p.m. he reached Ware, in Hertfordshire, having accomplished the distance of 110 miles in about 12½ hours. Everett rode one of the first of the rubber-tyred bicycles—a machine of Coventry make, known as the “Aeriel.” 20.—Died, Mr. Edmund Harbord Lushington Preston, Mayor of Great Yarmouth. Mr. Preston was born in 1806, at the period when the Hon. E. Harbord (second son of the then Lord Suffield) and Mr. Stephen Lushington were returned to Parliament as members for Yarmouth—hence two of his Christian names. After the passing of the Municipal Reform Act, he was one of the first burgesses returned to the Town Council on Conservative principles, and, with the exception of a short period, from November, 1868, to November, 1869, he continued to be a member of the Corporation. Mr. Preston was for twenty years one of the magistrates of the borough, and a member of the Port and Haven Commission.