'THE WEATHER, The snow-fall of the previous 24 hours was succeeded by a keen frost on Thursday night, with the result that trodden and half-melted snow in the streets was frozen Friday morning into a compact mass, on which skating would have possible, en and even to avoid sliding was dificult. The thermometer fell to 19° in the Settlement, and we hear of a registry of 16° cut even 10° of frost in the country. There was good skating on the Hongkewr ice ponds in the mening There was 2 hard frost again Fr'tay night, and the ice on the Hongkew px on Saturday was two to three inches thiel. It bore well for skating up to noon,.0t-fanding the warm sun; but then rapid thaw set in, and before dusk it was completely rotten. The frozen snow in the streets also became rapidly converted into slush. A little snow began falling again, about 7 o'clock Saturday avenin but changed later on toa light rain, whi continued and grew heavier during 8unday, until in the afternoon it again char to snow. This ceased during the evening, and a strong North-westerly wind inaugurated another hard frost.
Another 48 hours of severe frost on Monday and Tuesday filled the ice-houses; and have certainly " shrammed" the majority of foreign, if not of Chinese residents. There is no way of keeping up the cir: tion but by constant movement; an: that is generally inconsistent with' earn one's daily brand, most of us sit a great part of the day in numb misery. ood feature about it is plenty of yur thermometer marked only 15' Monday lit, and failed to reach within 2 of freezing point during the whole of Tuesday. As we heard of a register of 10° in an exposed North verandah in the country last Thursday night, when 1% was registered in the Settlement, we propered to hear of a still lower figure having being reached this week. 17° is the lowest we remember to have regis': in the Settlement, before this winte:, similar continuance of cold. The Chinese predicted a severe winter, and we seem to be fairly in for one. Yesterday and to-day have shown no change. In fact it is becoming disagreeably monotonous, 'THE MUNICIPAL F- SCTION, The present election has excited more interest, and brought forth a greater number of candidates, than we remember on any previous occasion. Neither has it ben by any means deficient in the class of literature which elections specially evoke. The walls have happily not been disfigured by posters, inviting people to.vote for some particular ticket; but recommendations and squibs in the form of Expresses have been flying freely round the Settlement. If it were not so cold that all sense of humour is numbed within one, an amusing sketch might be given of these effusions. Not that there is very much in them, nor that they reflect very high credit. upon. the poetical genius of Shanghai; but it is amusing sometimes to look back on such mementoes of past contests; and worth while therefore to place a few of them on record.—Let us begin, however with a list—we will not say of candidates, but of the gentlemen who had consented to take the trouble of managing our affairs Artindale, R..H. Cowie, G. J. W. Hart, J.
Harrison, G. Hibbe, P. G.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.