ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 833, 5 October 1870, Page 2

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.

Fever, small-pox, and cholera, have been prevalent of late in Batavia, but the latest accounts show that the public health was improving. It is stated that the United States exploring party has been unable to discover a feasible route for a canal across the Isthmus of Panama.

It is stated that Spain, England, and Holland have decided to organise an expedition to Oceania to put an end to piracy. The Spanish squadron will be charged to explore the Sea of Yolo and the Philippine Islands. Advices from Mauritius state that gold has been discovered at Madagascar, but the Government prohibited further search lest the rush of white miners should swamp the natives. The diamond mines of South Africa are flourishing. A sad accident, involving the loss of 14 lives, occurred in the Bay of Gibraltar on the 21st June. A trading boat left Gibraltar at noon on that day for Algeciras, having on board fifteen men aid three women, and when off the the Orange Grove she capsized, without auy person apparently noticing the occurrence. Four of the men on board, the sole survivors of the occupants of the boat, arrived at Algeciras the same night. Dr Hill, an Edinburgh professor of the last century, met in the suburbs of the city an inoffensive creature, who was generally regarded as an imbecile. Somewhat irritated by the creature's intrusion on the privacy of his walk, Dr Hill said to him, " How long Tom, may one live without brains? " "I dinna ken," said Tom; " hoo lang ha'e ye lived yersel' ? " The "good grey head" of a man who in his day has been the repository, probably, of more state secrets than any of his contemporaries, will be seen no more. Lord Clarendon, who for a whole halfcentury had been behind the scenes in the theatre of international politics, has died peacefully in his own bed. The ripple on the surface of society which his fall produces will spread far beyond the limits of his own country. Since Lord Palmerston's death Lord Clarendon has been the representative English statesman in the eyes of foreign powers, and there were continental courts where he enjoyed at least as much consideration and wielded as much influence as he did amongst his own countrymen. Four times Foreign Secretary, once minister at the court of Madrid, and on several great occasions plenipotentiary extraordinary for great Britain, the share which Lord Clarendon had taken in foreign politics during the last fifty years had been such as to make his name as familiar to political circles in Vienna, Berlin, or Paris, as it was at home. He was the trusted friend, the confidential adviser, of kings and statesmen of other countries • besides his own; more than once his good offices were sought and obtained for the settlement of questions on which —if they had not been settled-—a great war might have hinged; and appeals were constantly being made not only by political parties at home, but by the representatives of foreign courts, to an experience which extended back to a period when most even of the older members of the present generation were at school or in their cradles. Captain C. W. Peterson has invented a steam life boat, which is about to be put to the test of experience ; and, should it be successful, it will greatly increase our facilities for saving life in cases of wreck. The English Mechanic and Mirror of Science states that Captain Peterson is confident that his boat will be able to put to sea in all weathers, and that, if upset, it will instantly right itself without losing its motive power. The advantage it will possess both in respect to increased speed and power over the life boats now in use must, of course, be self-evident; but the great thing is to put the invention to the test, The cost of building a trial boat will be about .£6OO or £7OO, towards which the Committee of Lloyd's have subscribed =£so, the Salvage Institution £52 10s, the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society .£SO, the Royal National Life Boat Institution .£IOO, Miss Burdett Coutts £IOO, and about £SO has been contributed by merchants and others, making altogether a sum of more than £4OO. Should Captain Peterson's invention prove to.be as valuable as he. anticipates it will do, there can be but one opinion, as to the benefit which he will have conferred on the world.

Much energy is being displayed in the construction of a navy for the North German Confederation. The London Missionary Society are sending out 16 missionaries to reinforce the existing mission of twelve agents in the island of Madagascar. The Calcutta Englishman states that the young elephant presented to the Duke of Edinburgh by Jung Bahadoor, was made use of on board the Galatea at Galle to haul on board 300 tons of coal; saving the labor of about 30 men. A man residing in Dundee has a son in America, from whom he had not heard for seven years until recently, when he received a letter containing the intelligence that he had got married. The father bad himself within the last few years married a second wife, who had also been previously married. Shortly after her first husband'sdeatb, the brother of the deceased took one of the widow's daughters out to America along with himself and his wife, they having no family. It now turns out the son from whom the father has not beard has married the daughter of the widow whom the father had previously courted and married. Mr. George Tarrant, the celebrated cricketer, died on July 2, at Cambridge. •• Tear-'em " or " Pepper," as he was familiarly called, suffered greatly during the latter part of his ten months' illness, which was primarily caused by his extremely fast bowling. He was, it will be recollected, one of the last Australian eleven. The Herring Fishing on the Glasgow coast has lately been very productive, and the fish have been selling at from Is to 2s per 100. The Young Ladies of Dundee seem to take Punch as their book of fashions. The Dundee Courier states that the other day a lady appeared with a feather-.trimmed, costume, quill fringe; her parasol was made to match, and the chapeau was composed of ostrich and vulture feathers done off with marabout, the centre ornament a tiny humming bird. Mr Bushell, a Sydney rifleman, according to private accounts received by the mail, made the top score at the York EiHe meeting, and he had been invited to join the International Eight who were to compete at the Wimbldon Meeting. In Winterset, lowa, they have adopted the plan of having women make addresses to the Sabbath schools, believing that mothers and sisters know best how to interest children.

On the night of June 5 the Black Ball packet ship William F. v Storer took fire as she lay. at her dock in the East River, New York, and burnt till she settled iu the bottom of the slip. The vessel had arrived from Liverpool on May and was receiving cargo from Europe. She had just taken on board about 250 barrels of lard.