THE Manchester Ship Canal will be a stone-banked stream, 25 feet in depth, and at least 120 feet in width, supplied with numerous docks, crossed by lofty bridges for trains, and swing-bridges for road traffic, and forming a waterway in which the biggest steamships and sailing vessels will be able to pass one another at a fair speed. It will be wider and deeper than the Suez Canal, and will depend for its construction chiefly on the huge steam excavators, which are a kind of cross between cranes and the dredgers we see in rivers and harbours, and which remove a cubic yard of soil at a time. It will enable Manchester to send her calicoes direct to all quarters of the globe, and will tap the chemical region of Runcorn, and the salt districts of Cheshire, saving the present cost of transhipment of a million tons per annum of the latter condiment. Nearly 20,000 men will find employment for the next four years in the construction of this big canal for the passage of ocean ships between Liverpool and Manchester. The first sod has been quietly cut with a navvy's spade by Lord Egerton of Tatton, the chairman of the company, in the presence of twenty directors and a few shareholders, at Eastham, where the canal will lead out of the Mersey. HANOVER BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL, TUNBRIDGE WELLS.--The half-yearly meeting of the above school was held on Wednesday, October 26th. The meeting was presided over by the Superintendent, who in a few opening remarks urged the parents to try and send their children to school in time, and in the morning as well as the afternoon; after which the children recited their various pieces to the Pastor, Mr. Newton. Mr. Botten then proceeded to give away the rewards, which he said he hoped they would prize, and lend to their brothers and sisters to read if they wanted them; and he hoped they would never read the pernicious books and periodicals that found such favour amongst boys in our day, but, if they were offered a book to read, to show it to father and mother, and, if they did not mind their reading it, then all right. In conclusion, he wished the teachers God-speed in the work. Mr. Saltmarsh and Mr. House also gave parcels of books away, and a pleasant meeting was brought to a close by singing the hymn, "Around the throne of God in heaven," Mr. Newton concluding with prayer. Each child received a bun on departing. W. L. W. [Illustration: "PAPER, SIR?" (_See page 26._)] WHAT A TRACT MAY DO.