English and Foreign Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 795, 13 June 1870, Page 3

English and Foreign Items.

The European Mail, March 25, says : Advices of the shipment of butter by the ship England, from Canterbury, New Zealand, are to hand by the la&t mail; should it arrive safe and sound, it will find a good profitable market. People here have almost given up expecting to have decent butter. The ordinary fat and tallow with which "real Dorset" and "prime Dutch" have hitherto been adulterated was bad enough, but the last development is the worst. Some clever chemist has succeeded in extracting a greasy compound from the filth deposited by the receding tide in the Thames, and this grease, it is said, is used for making cheap butter. It can easily be understood then how anxiously the new venture will be received. On Thursday afternoon, 17th March, (says the Hampshire Independent) the town of Southampton was thrown into much excitement by the rumor that the Normandy, one of the finest and fastest of the the South Western Company's fleet, had been lost in the Channel, with many of her crew and passengers. The intelligence was brought into port by Mr Penny, who was piloting the Douro, with the Brazil mails, and was soon afterwards verified by the arrival in the river of the disabled steamer which had been in collision with the Normandy, bearing such of the passengers and crew as had been saved. The Normandy, under the command of Captain H. B. Harvey, well known as one of the senior and among the bravest of the South-Western Company's commanders, left the Docks on Wednesday, at midnight, bound for the Channel Islands, and carrying altogether, it is believed, about 35 passengers—26 of whom arrived by the night mail train —and about 30 cr ew all told. About half-past three o'clock on Thursday mornimr, during thick weather, the large screw steamer Mary, of Grimsby, Captain Strannock, bound from the Danube to London, laden with 3,000 quarters of maize, ran stem on to the Normandy, cutting her down just abaft the midship section, and carrying away her lifeboat and davits. She immediately began to fill, and Captain Harvey having verified her condition, gave orders to man the two remaining boats, and called to the captain of the Mary to stand by him and man his boats, so as to save the lives of his passengers and crew. The orders to his men he accompanied with, strict injunctions that the ladies were to be p.aced in] the boats and saved first. The two boats were accordingly manned by five seaman and one fireman (who are saved), and contained eleven lady and seven gentleman passengers, who were placed on board the Mary, but upon the boats pulling back again to the scene of the wreck the Normandy had sunk, as it was but too evident when they left her she would do very soon, her forepart being just out ot the water and her stern fast settling down. When the boats left, Captain Harvey was standing on the bridge giving orders to the men at the engines to keep the Normandy s head to sea, so as to keep her afloat as long as possible, but the water was then all over her decks aft, and one of the saved passengers informs us that but for this at least one more lady might have been saved, as he begged her to wade across the midship section, but she seemed afraid to do so, and remained on the forepart, which Was ithen high out of water. It is estimated (that only ten minutes elapsed between the itime of the collision and the Normandy settling down, for before the boats could return loud cries were heard, and shortly !afterwards a portion of the cabin furniture, rockets, and rocket stays were fallen in | with, which led to the conclusion that the ship had gone down with those left on board. It is believed that these included four female passengers forward, ten deck and fore cabin passengers, and three firstclass gentleman, viz.;—Advocate Westaway, of Jersey: General Grantham, and Mr Kinloch—brother of a young lady of that name saved. Those of the crew lost were _ Captain H. B. Harvey, commander; Mr Ockleford, chief mate; Mr Cox, chief engineer; Mr Marsham, second engineer; Mr Richardson, carpenter; three seamen, seven firemen, and the ship's boy (son of Capt. Clement of the Courier). The crew saved are the stewardess, chief steward, second mate; four stewards, and six seajinen. These seamen and the fireman (as above-mentioned) manned the boats; the under-steward jumped into one of them as she was leaving the ship j the second mate jumped from the tafFrail; and the chief steward jumped overboard, and was picked up.—The account given by the survivors of the .Normandy as to the cause of this disaster is that sighting the masthead and red side light of the Mary, and seeing that a collision was inevitable, the chief mate called to starboard and hard astarboard her helm, and had not this been done the collision must have proved even more disastrous. It is believed that had the lifeboat of the Mary pulled direct to the Normandy—as those in the two boats meeting her urged they should do, as the Normandy was fast sinking—in all probability more lives would have been saved, but seeing these two boats they pulled back again to the Mary with them aud before they could return the shrieks before referred to were heard. They add, however, that all willingly pulled about for upwards of two hours, and blue lights were burnt on board the Mary with the view of rescuing those in distress ; and so pleased were the passengers with the conduct of Cap f ain Strannock, that they presented him with an address of thanks.— The Mary's version of the disaster is that she was coming up Channel under steam dead slow. The head of the vessel was E. by S., half S-, when they saw, apparently

about a quarter of a milo distant, on tha port bow the light of a steamer. The engines were at onee stopped, the whistle blown, and orders given to turn astern. Finding there was no headway on the Mary, the helm was put hard-a-porr, whereupon the Normandy came on at full speed, and starboarded her helm, and crossed by the bow of the Mary. At once the collision took place, creating a large hole in the bow of the Mary, whose lifeboat was immediately sent away to assist, but could not find the Normandy. Rockets were fired, and lights burnt, and the captain after waiting several hours, and finding his vessel in a sinking condition, made for the Needles, before reaching which the passengers presented him with a document, expressing themselves satisfied with his conduct and attention to them.

A proposal has been made in England for extending the postal telegraph system to the colonies, and by one continous cable 24,000 miles in length, uniting the British colonies with each other and with the United Kingdom. The scheme has, it is said, been submitted to the government.

How little (says the Pall Mall Gazette) do we realise to its full extent the sufferings too often endured b& domestic servants. The shabby pedestrian who is nearly run over as he stands in the road appalled at the vision of a carriage with emblazoned panels, drawn by high stepping horses, little thinks, when skipping on to the pavement, that the fat coachman on the box and the two giant footmen standing bi hind have their troubles like ordinary mortals. Yet such is the case. These creatures are not exempt from human trials, and the hearts which beat beneath those gorgeous garments are frequently torn by emotions none the less violent because they are necessarily suppressed when engaged in the performance of their duties. There is perhaps nothing they feel more keenly than the prolonged abstinence from beer which is entailed upon them when their masters or mistresses are attending her Majesty's courts. There are, as we all knuw, no public houses in St James's Park, and it will hardly be credited that the British coachman and footman are liable to wait in the Mall for upwards of an hour without an opportunity of refreshing themselves with a pot of porter or stout. Certain philanthropists, commiserating the condition of these unhappy men, lately adopted a plan of retailing beer to them out of large cans, which were carried into the park. Unfortunately this creditable movement has received a check, and there is too great reason to fear that unless Mr Lowe consents to legislate specially for the relief of the victims, they will in future be unable to quench their thirst until the ceremonies of the court are concluded. It seems that the purveyers of beer to coachmen and footmen are not provided with excise licences, and consequently two of them were fined by Mr Flowers at Bow-street on Saturday, one £SO, and the other £25, with the option of three mouths' imprisonment each, the magistrate remarking that it appeared necessary now for publichouses even to be brought to everybody's mouth. Yet what are these liveried sufferers to do ? They must have their beer. As one of the defendants said, he only served the coachmen because they could not leave their horses. It certainly seems a case for Government interference. The State, which has taken the savings 1 banks and telegraphs under its charge, might surely open a small publio house in front of Buckingham Palace. Such an ' establishment could not, if properly con- • ducted by a Junior Lord of the Treasury, 1 be otherwise than a profitable concern. 1 It is a bad policy to let the elite of the servants' hall congregate in enforced idle- • ness without even instructive books to ; occupy their thoughts, since they will then be sure to amuse themselves by talking scandal.

The Preston Herald, relates the following incident:—A widow lately interred her husband in the cemetery at Blackburn. During the ceremony she wept bitterly, at the same time holding her right hand under her left breast, as if for suppressing those heart-felt emotions that are sometimes evidenced in paroxysms of uncontrollable grief. She lingered by her husband's grave side, until the officiating minister and most of the mourners had retired from the spot. Suddenly she drew something from underneath her left breast, which proved to be her late husband's clogs, ironed at the sides. These she threw into the open grave, exclaiming, " Heer, tay thees wi tha,fur tha's punshed me w' urn oft enough." The clogs, which would weigh from six to eight pounds, fell with a heavy thud upon the coffin, the joiner's work of which xt was very likely they would injure. After leaving this token in the grave of her husband, the bereaved widow momentarily dried up her tears, and soon after regained the mourners.

While the Maine Legislature was vacillating oyer the question of attending the Peabody funeral, a member from the back country said: "Mr Speaker, I am disgusted with the conduct of this House, this funeral at Portland is agoing to be a great affair; but" when I see this House a-tetering and see-sawing, as if it didn't know its own mind, I declare I wish Mi? Peabody hadn't died." ' A, widow named Crook, aged 70, has just died at Waddesdon, near Alesbury. She was a most eccentric character. Twentyfive years ago she had a quarrel with bee husband; she afterwards went to her room, declaring she would never come down again till she was carried down, and all these years she steadfastly kept her word, even her husband's death not altering bee determination.

A strange incident has just occurred at Jjerida, in Spain. The banker Jose "Nunez had two strong rooms, one in ordinary use, a-nd the other which was only had recourse ' to when any heavy payments in gold had jco be made. Originally two keys were provided for the latter, but some rime ago one of them was lost. A few days back a necessity arose to visit this reserved safe, and to the intense astonishment of the cashier he found a key in the lock. He immediately informed his employer, and the two together opened the door, when they found inside the corpse of a man who had formerly been employed in the bank He had probably stolen the key, and visited the depository with the intention of robbery, but the door had accidentally closed, and, as it fastened with a spring, he had died miserably in the*midst of the wealth which he had desired to appropriate. A farmer in the East Neuk o' Fife, in snug circumstances, had fixed his attention on a young woman of considerable pergonal charms, but found that hi 3 suit did not prosper as he wished. He had not fortitude enough to declare his passion, so he tried the effect of diplomacy, and despatched a sympathising friend to the lady. A brief message was sent by the lover to his ladylove—" Tell her," he said, " that gin she doesna' have me I winna kill rrvysel', but I'll pine awa'! " The damsel thought over the matter and accepted the offer. " Gibraltar " is once more becoming a cry in Spain. A newspaper has been <• started for the special purpose of agitating the question of the restoration of the famous rock, and it is reported that the Minister of State has intimated that the Spanish Government intend to open negotiations with the Government of England on the subject. The inhabitants of New LVlaval and Wewshara collieries were greatlv alai'med the other evening by a rumbling noise, which was immediately succeeded by a vibration of the houses. The people rushed out of their dwellings, and many made straight for the colliery, the general impression being that the pit had fired, which fortunately proved not to be thtf case. As there hare been no explosion* anywhere in the neighborhood, the only solution of the phenomenon seems to be that of an earthquake.