12.*—“There appears to be some probability that the absurd system of inspection of weights and measures at Lynn by a ‘jury of headboroughs’ going round the town in a posse and discharging their functions in such a manner that the innocent only are punished and the guilty easily escape detection, is about to come to an end. Several persons have refused to admit the headboroughs on their premises, and others have declined to pay the fines imposed on them by the ‘jury’; and as the authority of this jury is based on ancient charters of very doubtful legal force, and there is no prospect of that authority being respected or enforced, the jury have refused to be sworn in again on the Court Leet by which they are appointed. It may be hoped, therefore, that the farce has come to an end, and that very shortly a proper and efficient officer will be appointed under the provisions of the Weights and Measures Act.”
14.—The newly-erected chancel of St. Mark’s church, Lakenham, Norwich, built at the cost of about £1,000, was consecrated by the Bishop of Norwich.
24.—A severe gale occurred off the Norfolk coast. Many shipping casualties were reported. The screw steamer William Hutt, 530 tons, employed as a transport during the Crimean War, was lost off Yarmouth with her crew of sixteen hands, whilst on a voyage from Sunderland to London, with coals.
DECEMBER.
17.*—“Mr. Thomas W. Rutland, carpenter, West Wymer Street, Norwich, has invented a very ingenious means of communication between the passengers and guard in a railway train. It has the additional advantage of acting also as an extra break when required. By its use a passenger can at once communicate with both guard and driver, and at the same time a signal is exhibited which shows from what carriage the alarm is given.”
20.—At a special meeting of the Norwich Town Council, a communication was received from the Dean and Chapter as to the giving up of their interest in Mousehold Heath, with the view of enabling the Council to convert the Heath into a people’s park.
26.—The Christmas “burlesque and comic pantomime” produced at Norwich Theatre was written by F. C. Burnand, and entitled, “Snowdrop, King Bonbon, and the Seven Elves, or the Magic Mirror and the Fatal Sewing Machine.” At Sanger’s Circus, on the Castle Meadow, was produced “the equestrian pantomime,” entitled, “Jack the Giant Killer, or Harlequin and the Fairies of the Crystal Fountain.” A great novelty at the Christmas Fair was “the striking feature of a roundabout worked by a steam engine, which at the same time turns a barrel organ.”
30.—Died at Dunston, John Fish, aged 100 years and 10 months.