THE HOP CROP.-Hop-picking commenced in the Sittingbourne district yesterday, and picking will be started in neighbouring districts in the course of a few days. A scarcely average yield is expected, and in some parts the hops are so damaged by mould and insects as to be almost useless. A Faversham correspondent says the gale on Tuesday night did considerable damage, a quantity of poles being blown down and bunches of hops being broken off. The hops are not discoloured. The hop harvest commenced on Tuesday in two or three parts East Kent, the grounds entered by the pickers being those devoted to the cultivation of the "earlies." The crop of these is a fairly good one, but by no means heavy. With regard to the plantations generally in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, the prospect is decidedly less hopeful than it was a week ago. The alternations of cold west wind, with occasional gleams of hot sunshine, followed by dense raw fogs at night, have not improved the grounds. Whilst the Prolifics, Fuggles, and some other hardy sorts have made rapid advances, the Bramlings and Goldings have hung [fire] considerably, these latter requiring much more genial weather than has been experienced during the last week. The spread of mould has been rapid, and many plantations have succumbed to vermin blight. In Sussex the outlook is extremely bad, mould having wrought great havoc.
THE NEW ASSISTANT-COMMISSIONER OF POLICE.-Mr. Robert Anderson, LL.D., whom the Queen has been pleased to appoint to the office of Assistant-Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, in place of Mr. James Monro, C.B., resigned, is a member of the Irish Bar attached to the Home Office. He has hitherto acted as secretary to the Prisons Commissioners of England, who were appointed under an Act of Parliament passed in 1877, the chairman of that body being Sir Edmund Du Cane, who is also the Director of Convict Prisons. In the discharge of his duties as secretary to the Prisons Commission, Mr. Anderson has doubtless gained considerable insight into criminal jurisprudence and the ways of criminals. He is also possessed of considerable literary ability, and articles from his pen have appeared from time to time in the Nineteenth Century. Mr. Anderson's town residence is at 39, Linden-gardens, W., but he is described in the Law List as of Colchester.
