ENGLISH & FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 719, 20 September 1869, Page 4

ENGLISH & FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

[PROM PAPERS BY THE JULT MAIL.]

The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company have announced an interim dividend for the past halfyear at the rate of 10 per cent, per

annum. It appears that on the 15th Sept. the creditors of Overend, Gurney, and Co. will receive another Is dividend, which will make it 2Qs in the pound, and that all that will then remain du*. %o them will be the interest on their claims. The amount of this was according to arrangement to have been paid concurrently with the final Is ol principal, but the liquidators having Jbund difficulty in realising the assets, have asked for an extension of time till the 30th of June next. re quired sum might be raised by calling up from the shareholders a part of the j£lo which still remains uncalled on jiheir <£5Q shares, but this would be a needless aggravation of their distress, since the assets still in hand are bejieved to be ample for the purpose. Mr John Stuart Mill, who has been for some time in Paris, has had a sharp attack of cholera. He is now [July 10] quite out of danger. Au order received at Chatham dockyard, from the Admiralty, directs the ?' owerfui armor clad turret ship Cererus to proceed with her refit in rea diness for commission, as she is required to be despatched to Melbourne for the protection of the Australian polonies. The Cerberus has accordingly been removed into one of the vacant docks at Chatham, where the work of preparing her for sea will be parried on with all despatch. The post of fitting; out the Cerberus will be defrayed by the Australian Government.

The Lord 3 of the Admiralty have paused a circular to be issued author ising officers, seamen, and marines on board her Majesty's ships to discontinue the use of the razor under certain restrictions. The hair of beard, nioustaches, and whiskers is to be kept well cut aud trimmed, and not too long for cleanliness. Care is to be taken that those officers and men who avail themselves of the privilege are not to be whimsical. lbs beard is not to be worn without moustaches, or the latter without the former. J±. beautiful and perfect mirage was visible from Hartlepool on Saturday afternoon, June 26. The whole of £he horizon of the sea was reflected in the sky, with several ships and screw steamers far out at sea going southwards, plainly visible, inverted on the surface. The town of Redcar, with some minor villages visible on the Pleveland coast, also presented a most singular and beautiful appearance in sbe air. '£he brother of Lord Farnham's yaletj who perished with his lordship in the fearful accident at Abergele, on j;he 2Qth August last, sued on tjune 25 the railway company for compensation. Ic was shown that the deceased was the support of bjs aged mother, and that he had lost the greater part pf hjs personal effects through the coljisiop. jury gave a verdjct for iSOQ, of which £225 is to go to the SBPther, while the value of the articles was assessed at J&75?

Captain iLambert has jbeen shot at Galway, Ireland. Arrangements for the great durbar at Agra, on the occasion of the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh, have been commenced,

The French Atlantic cable is now fairly Jaid between Brest and St. Pierre. In a iew days the new line will be in full wording order between France and America.

The great international boat race between England and America was to have come off some time in August. The American champions, with tbeir boats, were on their way to England at latest dates. The claimant to the Tichborne title and estates arrived at the Swan Inn, Alresford, near Tichborne Paik, on Friday afternoon, July 2, after an ab seuce of some months. He wa9 immediately called upon by many of his old acquaintances, and by the oldest and most influential of his tenants. The claimant has now been known for nearly three years in Alresford ami Tichborne since his return from Australia. Hardly a day passes without some fresh case of recognition between him and those who knew him in his younger days. He only awaits the arrival of the commission from Australia to try his case. The other commission, from Chili, has arrived, and is said to have ascertained that the claimant cannot be Arthur Orton, and that he is marked in so peculiar a manner as to settle that question to the satisfaction of any jury in Great Britain.

Miss Finch, only daughter of MiFinch, governor of the county gaol, Morpeth, has eloped, the object of her choice being a convict recently imprisoned in the gaol under the surveillance of her father. At the time of the elopement Mr Finch was attend ing at the Northumberland Quarter Sessions at Hexham. A conveyance was obtained, and the fair runaway was seen driving towards Newcastle As soon as she was missed, a hue and cry was raised, and a search set on foot. A telegram was sent to her fa ther, who immediately came to Newcastle, where he learned that the parties had been married on Thursday morning, July 8. The bridegroom's name is John George Smith, and he is an engine fitter ; he has been in prison in Morpeth—having been tried at the Newcastle assizes and sentenced to 9 months' hard labor for cutting and wounding. There is no doubt that the intimacy which culminated in marriage began while Smith was undergoing his sentence of imprisonment hi Morpeth gaol. The London correspondent of the Wellington Independent writes as follows under date July 16 : —A new line, called the "Merchants' Line of Ships to New Zealand," is advertised. I fear it has but a poor chance of success, The commencement does not seem auspicious : I am told that a ship lately left here for Canterbury with room in her for 700 tons of goods. . . The weather has suddenly changed round from cold to heat, and we have jumped into summer all at once. The crops promise well; hay, potatoes, roots of all kinds, peas and beans—all first-rate; oats and barley—very good; wheat —a fair crop, a month later than last year. So far, the harvest prospects are looking well. . . We are now in the middle of the Wimbledon shooting season. It has now become a regular institution, like the Derby, or the Oxford aud Cambridge boat race, or the grand cricket matches at Lords and the Oval. All these in turn attract tens and thousands of curious sight-seers. The popularity of the camp at Wimbledon seems to increase froni year to year, and certainly the shooting improves vastly. There are now hundreds of crack shots among the volunteers, where, f|ve years back, there was not a score. With the improvement in the weapons of precision, the improvement in shooting keeps pace. The largest scores ever made have been those of the present season. The Scotch have peen most fortunate this year. They have carried off the Queen's Prize aud the Elcho Challenge Shield (the highest trophies of the year)—to say nothing of smaller game gathered iuto the cannie Scot's wallet. And, strange Jo say, the Queen's prize has been gained t-his year by the same man who won it iii 1866. He is now only 22. Jlis name, I believe, is Angus Cameron,

The opening of the Sue? Canal has been postponed to November. The Spectator suggests that the Queen should make Manning a peer, to represent the Catholic Church in the House of Lords. Lord Rolls has been raised to the peerage of the United Kingdom by the title of Lord-Dunning, ftutuor has it that Sir F. Kelly will receive a peerage. The first re-marriage of a Hindoo widow has just taken place in Calcutta, and several Brahmins who took part in the ceremony have been excommu nicated from their caste.

The promoters of the tunnel under the English Channel have had an interview with Mr Bright, who promised to bring the.scheme under the consideration of the Government.

The King of Prussia has inaugurated a new naval port on the North Sea, called Wilhelmshayen. Uorth Germany now possesses a powerful iron clad navy on the Baltic. The threatened demonstration of the penian Amnesty Committee has Leen prevented by the police. Meetings have been hejd in various Irish cities to demand the release of the prisoners. Several riotous disturbances have taken place in Ireland. A fire, caused by the explosion of a cask, burst out on board the Great Britain during her passage home. By the promptitude of Mr Chapman, the chief officer, the ship was saved from destruction. The passengers presented him with a testimonial in admiration of his conduct. Hakodate and Miaco have been captured by the Mikado's troops. Several French officers and men were captured amongst the rebels. The Japanese refused to give them up without a very heavy ransom. The French Miuister threatened to bombard Yeddo within twenty-four hours unless they were handed over. The authorities ultimately surrendered the prisoners.

An unfortunate case of divorce, as sociated with the name of tho Prince of Wales, bas been occasioning some amount oi public scandal. The proceedings were instituted by Sir Charles Mordant, in order to annul his marriage with his wife. The plaintiff proposed to include the Prince's name among the co respondents, on account of revelations made by the lady while in a state of temporary insanity. The Prince has assured the plaintiff upon his honor that there was no pretext for the statements. The Prime Minister sent for the plaintiff and told him the course he contemplated adopting was regarded by the Queen as being unfriendly to royalty. Sir Charles was thereupon induced to abandon his determination.

A letter from St. Petersburg announces that Komissarow, who in 1866 saved the life of the Emperor Alexanauder by turning aside the arm of an assassin, has hanged himself in his ho tel, at the age of 35. A mere journeyman hatter, he owed to the chance which placed him in the path of the Czar his elevation, at one stroke, to the highest pinnacle of fortune. His plebeian name was replaced by that of ICostromski; the emperor's munificence gave him a landed estate. He was named colonel of a regiment of the guard, and the emperor authorised the opening for him of a national subscription, which produced nearly 2,000,000 francs. In spite of this abundance ol honor and riches he has committed suicide. The abuse of spirituous liquors has been considered the cause of his lamentable end.

Lloyd's agent at Buenos Ayres reports the following accident on the 24th May, at the fete given in com ineuuoration of the anniversary of freedom : —An aeronaut named Baraille, made an ascent in a balloon from the ceutre of the Piazza. It remained stationery over the city for some time, there being no wind, and on descending fell into the harbqr. A number of boats, and a small steamer named the Cavour pi|t off to the rescue of the aeronaut, who was drowning in his car. By some misfortune the balloon in rolling about came in contact with the fuunel of the steamer, and, the gas getting ignited, exploded with terrible force, blowing the crew overboard, as also those in the boats. The steamer was set on lire and sustained much damage, guenos Ayres papers state that eight persons were fatally injured, and were much burnt and injured,