English and foreign Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 750, 6 January 1870, Page 3

English and foreign Items.

EUROPEAN MAIL SUMMARY. The death of the Earl of Derby, which occurred on the 23rd of October, for a time entirely absorbed public attention. His great wealth and lofty social position ; his eminence in the political world ; and his distinction as a man of letters as well as in other varied pursuits, made his loss more than ordiuarily notable. Yet notwithstanding his brilliant talents, and the commanding position he occupied, his career as a politician was a comparative failure. Chivalrous and impulsive to a fault-—the Hotspur, rather than the .Liupert of debate —it was his fortune to be mostly the luader of " forlorn hopes," and to find himself on the side against which the inexorable decree of progress and fate were destined to pass j and although his parliamentary career has extended over nearly half a century, it is difficult to find one single permanently beneficial piece of legislation for which the country is indebted to his prescience—very few which it owes to his advocacy. Nevertheless, all parties in the country have concurred in sympathy for his loss, and a general feeling of reepeot is felt, as for one who did what he did,

i honestly believing it was for the good of his country. Lord Derby's death was hourly expected for some days-before ifc took place. A violent attack of his old enemy, the gout, was followed, according to the medical journals, by the symptoms of muco entente, which increased his depression. For nearly a week—from Sunday till the following Saturday morninghe lay insensible, without taking food or medicine; until exhausted nature gave way and the strong tnan ceased to exist early on the morning of the 23rd October. His lordship's funeral, according to his own injunctions, was strictly private, and ownly a few personal friends were present. It was thought that the Earl who was thrice Primo Minister of England, might with great fitness have found a last resting place in Westminster Abbey, but he preferred to be buried quietly in his own tomb at Knowsley, and there, on the 29th of October, he was laid t( among his own people." Another of the magnates of England, the Marquis of Westminster, died, after a short illness, on the 31st of October. His son, Earl Grosvenor, born in 1825, succeeds him. By the deaths of the Marquis and the Earl of Derby, two vacant Garters are placed at Mr Gladstone's disposal. It is rumored that these will bo given to Prince Arthur acd the young Duke of Norfolk, but without having any positive information on the subject, we doubt the likelyhood of the latter appointment. Great anxiety has been, and still is felt, sjs to the course of affairs at Erance. The Emperor while making larg? concessions to the opponents of his personal system of government, has delayed giving effect to them, by postponing for some weeks, tit I ihe 29ch of November, the meeting of the Legislative Chambers. These had been adjourned to the 26th October, and, the '• irreconcilable " party, as they may fairly be termed, the " L?ft," as they call themselves, gave notice of their intention to go through the ceremony of presenting themselves at the closed doors of the Legislative Chamber, by way of solemn protest against what they termed the "illegal" postponement of the day of meeting. Serious disturbances were expected, but adequate preparations for quisling them were made by the Government ; and finding " discretion the better part of valour," the dissatisfied deputies wisely stayed away. The feeling in Paris appears to have been very much like that which prevailed in London on the celebrated 10th of April, 1843 The uneasiness in the middle classes of Paris i 3 said to have been quite as profound, though, it did not show itself precisely as it did here. The Emperor came up from " Compiegne the night before, and went to the Opera, where he was well received ; and on the day itself he walked in view of the people collected on the Place de la Concorde, by whom he was loudly cheered. The day was wet, the threatened demonstration ended in a complete fiasco, and that most fatal of all weapons, ridicule, overwhelmed the movement. I'he well-known M. Easpail, who, as a French correspondent of a contemporary says, "is a capital chemist, and makes fairish soap," was among its leaders; li Cette chere Madame Raspail " became the cry of the French gamins, and the extreme party has been more damaged by this than it would by twenty serious reverses. The trade of Paris is very much injured by these alarms of insurrection ; travellers hasten from the city instead of staying in it, and shopkeepers suffer in the tenderest of spots, the pocket. Lt is this which strengthens the Emperor's position, and will secure him valuable moral suppart in any course he may feel himseif driven to pursue. The sense of uneasiness remains, and the date for opening the Chambers is looked forward to with great and unconcealed anxiety. Earthquakes are reported at Darmstadt, and other parts of Germany j and later severe shocks are said to have occurred at Sebastopol. When the last mail left (Jallao, the whole Western seaboard of South America was in a state of panic on account of earthquakes which were predicted for the begiuning of October. Very high tides occurred about the 6th October, and great injury was done to property by the ''tidal waves/' In this country the tides were not higher than on many previous occasions, but on the. 3rd November an extraordinary high tide took place in the Thames, which rose, at London JBridge, to within eight inches of the highest point recorded. At St. Petersburg a great part of the town ha 3 been submerged, and damage done to an enormous extent. No such flood has been known there for nearly half a century. The agitation for an Amnesty in favor of the Fenian Convicts continues both in Ireland and this country, notwithstanding the decided reply of Mr Gladstone to the memorial of the Limerick Amnesty Association. "While the Government," he says, " desire to carry clemency to the Fenian convicts to the farthest limit the supreme consideration of public safety permits, it is their decided conclusion that to advise the release of the prisoners would be contrary to their duty as guardians of the public security and peace. He fails to discover any proof that those misguided men have abandoned the designs against the public peace which were cut short by their.imprisonment, and this fact was mora important because it is knowti the Government that the Fenian conspiracy is nob extinct in the United Kingdom or America, wliiieMji is unhappily notorious that journals widely disseminated in Ireland continue to maintain a tone which must tend to engender discontent and disaffection, with the social and political dangers thatnecessarily follow." This is so well put. that no words can improve it.

A jGcrßiops Fact.—Some gentleman has jb#en writing to the papers concerning the excellent behaviour of the insane at church. ff o declares that, whereas sane people ins variably lounge about, yawn, and go to insane people listen with the gravest Mention to the most lengthy sermon, and p!ever by any chance betray a sympton of weariness. This is exceedingly gratifying, jbut the intelligence is not altogether ■Etrange. Newspapers a Necessity.—During the .examination of an insolvent at the Beechworth Insolvent Court, the solicitor who .appeared on behalf of some of his creditors remarked that he observed that the insolvent had indulged in the luxury of a newspaper. Mr Commissioner Hackett immediately remarked that a newspaper was not a luxury ,—it was a necessity. We quite agree with Mr Commissioner Hackett; newspapers are very necessary indeed. A Smart Preacher.—A writer in an Australian paper says : The best preachers are not always the best clergymen. The best preacher I ever heard in this colony lived near Ballarat. He was a powerful preacher $ but he got into trouble through mining speculation and horsedealing. When he left, one of the charges against him was that he had hired a horse and buggy, went away for two days, swapped horses thirteen times, and came back to the stable with the same horse he took out, having made £35 and an interest in the Band of Hope claim by the transaction. Flax Insurance.—-The following letter on flax insurance, addressed to the Editor of the Lyttelton Times, explains itself:— •'* Sir, —We beg to refer to a statement in the commercial article of your issue of this morning, to the effect that ' the insurance companies have not only advanced their premiums on flax, but on the whole cargo where this article forms a portion.' As agents for vessels now loading wool, with other produce, including flax, and in the interests of ilax producers we think it our duty to contradict this statement, and to assure you that, so far as we know, not a single insurance company here has made any such alteration in their rates as that referred to, and the ships Lord Eaglau and England are now loading the article in question. Your obedient servants, Matheson's Agency, Cobb & Sawtell. Christchurch, 11th Dec. The Kyneton Gfuardian, a Victorian newspaper, contains the following account pf a new patent cu tivator ; —A public trial pf Edwards's Patent Land Cultivator was made on Saturday afternoon' at Weeks's farm at St. Agnes Hill, at which a conpiderable number of our leading agriculturists were present. The land tried was a small field, thoroughly matted with weeds, which had been lying for a considerable time in a neglected state. The machine was a three-horse one, but on the present Occasion it was drawn by the pair of horses belonging to'Mr W. Thomson which had obtained the Board's prize on the previous ehow-day. The ease with which the machine could be lifted out of the land and regulated in respect of the depth to which it was desirable to open up the soil was very apparent, and the thoroughly effectual manner in which the sixteen teeth of the cultivator tore up the soil and scattered the weeds gave very general satisfaction. The cultivator covered a surface of four and a half feet, and was worked to a depth of live and a half inches. On the stiff matted soil on which it was tried two horses were not sufficient, it requiring three, but on lighter soils or on stubble land, two horses might prove sufficient, So satisfied were some of the gentlemen present with t'be result of the trial that they gave orders for machines on the spot, and several others expressed their intention of purchasing machines at an early date. The estimated value of the cultivator does not rest entirely on theory. Its advantages have been practically demonstrated, as will be seen from the following, which we quote from the Bendigo Advertiser: —"Be hind Mr Edwards's house is a paddock, the land surrounding which has not been thought worth anything, and has been allowed to grow trees as the only fit product. Well, Mr Edwards rung the trees, and this season sowed the paddock, a large part of which was never touched, only a small portion of it having been previously ploughed, and then passed the cultivator pver it. The consequence has been a splendid crop, one of the best in the district, which should at least go thirty bushels to the acre. The crop is one of the evenest we have seen, the blades springing up with almost geometrical exactitude. In another field close at hand the efficiency of the cultivator is even more strongly shown, as the crop has been put in by both plough and cultivator. Any stranger who knew nothing of the cultivator could at once point out a great difference in the crop; that put in by the cultivator being greatly superior to that put in by the plough, both in size and the uniformity with which it has come up. The farmers around, who were, as usual, sceptical at first, have come to acknowledge the superiority of the cultivator." This testimony is corroborated by that of the correspondent of the Argus. The Advertiser adds:—" It has been reckoned that the cost of working land with the cultivator is 4>\Q per acre j by the plough* reckoning according to the contract price of ploughing—£l per acre. Of course, if a farmer has his own horses and men, the cost should be much less, It is found that five acres can be done, at a depth of five inches, in a day. As the tines cut so small a furrow, the consequence is that the earth is .easily loosened as by a wedge, and not so much power is in reality required as where there is a dead weight, gtt'&ptod Without aPJ relieving powers,"

SCIENCE AND Art.-t-A striking instance of the immense value a small piece of steel may acquire by the great power of skilled mechanical labor is the balance-spring of a watch. From its extreme fineness and delicacy 4,000 weigh not more than an ounce, and exceed in value £I,OOO. A most interesting little work, describing the rise and progress of watchmaking, has been pub lished by J. W. Benson, 25 Old Bond-st. : and the City Steam Factory, 58 ana 60 Ludgate-hill. The book, which is profusely illustrated, gives a full description of the various kinds of watches and clocks, witli their prices. Mr Benson (who holds the appointment to the Prince of Wales) has also published a pamphlet on Artistic G/old Jewellery, illustrated with the most beau tiful designs of Bracelets, Brooches, Earrings, Lockets, &c, &c, suitable for Wedding, Birthday, and other presents. These pamphlets are sent post free for two stamps each, and they cannot be too strongly recommended to those contemplating a purchase, especially to residents in the country or abroad, who are thus enabled to select any article they may require, and have it forwarded with perfect safety. 24/6