SEPTEMBER 9—The Government Commissioners made their inquiries at Worcester into the Charter and Corporation of the city. The forty-eight members of the old Corporation were, of course, self-elected, and the nomination virtually rested with a few of the body. They rigidly excluded all professional men and all Dissenters. The income of the body was stated to the Commissioners to be £2,100 per annum, and the expenditure about £2,000; this included subscriptions and donations for charitable purposes, amounting to about £300 a year. It was accidentally discovered, during the inquiry, that the sword bearer charged one penny per pot on all fruit brought into the market, though the toll was only one farthing. A complaint was made that the £20 charged upon persons, not freemen, who wished to trade within the limits of the city, had the effect of discouraging young men from entering upon small businesses. OCTOBER—The _Bridgwater Treatises_ presented to the Rev. George Redford, by some members of the Worcester Literary and Scientific Institution, for “his just castigation of their scandalous libeller, ‘O. S.,’ for his refutation of the assertion ‘That the diffusion of useful knowledge leads to atheism,’ and for his defence of the anti-sectarian principles upon which the London University is founded.” OCTOBER 25—A prisoner, named M‘Kenzie, confined in the City Gaol for robbery, made his escape—slipping out of his cell just as the turnkey was locking up. He had to make a jump of eleven feet from the top of one building to another; and he afterwards said that, before making it, his courage failed him, so he knelt down and asked God to assist him, and, by God’s help, he succeeded! A truly curious instance of superstitious profanity. He was retaken at Bridgnorth. NOVEMBER 14—Mr. Cockburn, the Government Commissioner for inquiring into Municipal Corporations, attended at Bewdley. The burgesses and capital burgesses of the borough were all elected, or chosen by the Corporation, and, before the passing of the Reform Act, the privilege of voting was thus confined to some thirty or forty persons. Previous to Mr. Robarts being elected the member, it was customary for the candidate who found favour to give some £300 or £400, and then there never was any opposition to his taking his seat. It was said that these “compliments” had always been applied to public purposes. Fifty guineas were allowed annually, out of the Corporation funds, for the bailiff’s feast. No satisfactory account was rendered of the Corporation property and receipts; and the corporate officers refused to answer any questions about the Bridge Trust, or the tolls taken thereat. The toll on foot passengers, it appeared, had been discontinued for eighteen years; but £400 a year was raised from the toll on carriages and horses. LOCAL ACT—To enable the Stratford and Moreton Railway Company to make a branch to Shipston-on-Stour. 1834.