ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 889, 10 December 1870, Page 2

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.

A new cork helmet for the use of the offieors of the Boyal Artillery while serving in India t has just been approved. Its color is white, and it is surmounted by a brass spike two inches in length like the Prussian helmet v

A French steamer named the M'Mahon has arrived at Southampton with several hundred French refugees, men, women, - and children, with an immense quantity of baggage. Most of them appeared to be well-to-do persons. Placards have been posted through !Qublin for some days past asking for recruits for an " Irish Ambulance Corps," to be devoted .exclusively t# the relief of the French wounded, and the readiness with which the call has been responded to attests the depth of the sympathy with the French which prevails in Ireland. i The European Mail says:—The 3luriouncement in a morning contemporary that about .£1,250,000 was on its way from Australia to the Bank of England had a wonderful effect upon those sceptics who are doubtful of the desirability of continuing the colonial connection.The Lancet says:—-The fact that one of the Siamese twins has recently suffered from a paralytic seizure gives warning of the event which will in all probability occur some day, by which the living Eng will be attached to his dead brother Chang, It has been theoretically held that death would probably occur simultaneously ; but there is no real foundation for this and the fact that Eng's health has been unaffected by the paralysed condition of his brother goes far to snow that they enjoy distinct vitalities. Separation, no doubt, might be readily and safely effected should one brother pre-decease the other.

The European Mail says: —The passive current of events which prevails here in England was not a little ruffled the other day by the announcement that the ex-Empress Eugenie had arrived at Hastings. At first the news was scarcely credited, as it was believed that she was on her way to join the Emperor. At length, however, the fact of her arrival was established beyond dispute, and we are told that the meeting of this illustrious lady and the Prince Imperial was of a nature to excite the deepest sympathy and respect. The Empress and the Prince have since removed to Chislehurst. The Emperor's horses were sold at Tattersall's the other day, and realised 454 guineas. Alexandre Dumas, who is staying in the neighborhood of Dieppe, is not expected to recover from the iliess with which he has been afflicted since the present troubles broke out in France. His daughter is likely to seek a refuge in England. A very beautiful monument, consisting of a recumbent figure in statuary marble, with canopied superstructure and solid brass traceried standards, is about to be placed in Carlisle Cathedral to the memory of the late Bishop, Dr Waldegrave^ A year ago the trustees appointed by the subscribers to the Hudson Anuuity Fund invested a sum of ,£4OOO, which purchased a life annuity for the ex-Rail-way King of <£s2o. It is now announced that a further sum of ,£BSO has been placed, making the annuity .£635 per annum. This is strictly reserved for Mr Hudson's personal benefit, and is amply secured against any claims of litigants. Mr Hudson is in excellent health and resides in London. The sisters at Clewer have had their attention drawn by several applications to the number of distressed French and Germans in London, and have (says John Bull), with the sanction of the Archbishop, proposed to give the use of their house in Soho Square, not only to make up a few beds, but for the use of any central committee or laymen who may be formed under his grace's auspices. The Sisters desire that there should be a general scheme, and the details mauaged by laymen.

A young tradesman at Llandudno, a wine and spirit merchant, has eloped with a ladj visitor from Kidderminster, aged 16, the niece of an M.P. She had been staying at Llandudno with her guardians for the lust three or four weeks. It is stated that she will.be entitled to considerable property in her own right when she comes of age. Warrants were issued for the apprehension of the couple, but the proceedings have been stayed. The European Mail, says:—Great activity prevails in the naval and military departments of the State. Yf oolvvich and

Chatham are especially busy and orders have been received at Colchester from the Horse Guards, directing commanding officers and corps to make immediate requisitions! for arms, accoutrements, clothing, and other requirements which may arise from the increased establish" ments of regiments. The subject of national defence is still the theme of comment.. It has been argued that any arrangements .. that are made should be made with a due regard to the public interest, and that as the purchase system deprives the State of " the services of the young men with more brains than money," who form the pith of the, law and other active professions, it should be abolished. General, Sir John Pennefather has been appointed Governor of Chelsea. Hospital. There has been a marked di« minution of late in the number of recruita offering for enlistment. It is said that the authorities have decided to introduce the Gatling small-bore mitrailleuse iqto the British service. A salmon has been caught off Greenwich by some boys who saw. the i}3h oo the top of the water close to the shore, - Upon/being taken to the scales it was found to weigh Tjibs. This circumstance affords another evidence that the. salmon may again become an inhabitant of the Thames. Erom the fact of the fish having been caught by the hand so near the surface of the water, it is evident that the sewage of the river .had taken effect. More has yet to be done in cleansing our river before we can expect frequent visits from the salmonidje. On September 24 a young gentleman named Bishop, a boarder at the Qallington Grammar School, met with his death in a sad and remarkable manner ou the Callington cricket ground. He had only just arrived on the ground, and incau-* tiously stood near one of the players at the wickets, who, striking with full force at a ball, struck the deceased with the bat just behind one of his ears, causing almost instantaneous death, Dr. Kemp* thorne was almost instantly in attendance, but only to find life extinct. The ceased was much esteemed and beloved, A couple of Belgian sailors, in making an attempt to smuggle tobacco from a. vessel in the river, were overtaken by the police: they threw the tobacco overboard, thinking thus to escape punishment. The magistrate told them that was a great mistake ; they could be proceeded against in three different ways. He fined them .£25 each, or six months' imprisonment, for obstructing the police in the execution of their duty, By the arrival of the Cape mail we have particulars of the destruction by fire of the Liverpool ship Vanda, 1,146 tons, Captain Laing, while on a voyage from Newcastle to Calcutta, with a cargo of coals. The coals took fire, and though every effort was made to save the vessel it was all of no avail, as after smoking for some hours a sudden explosion place, and after the ship had been burn-* ing all night, she suddenly foundered, All the passengers and crew, who had, taken to the boats, were saved. On September 23 a box containg some £SOOO belonging to Messrs. Pumbell, Son and Howard, bankers, was being shipped on board a steamer at Douglass, Isle of Man, for Liverpool, when the porter accidentally let it fall off the truck on to the quay. The result of the fail was that the box burst, and the contents, amongst which was gold coin to the extent of 44,000, were strewn about the quay. Notwithstanding that an immense crowd collected around the treasure, the whole of the money was recovered, A mysterious affair is reported from Leicester. On October 1 a Belgian marble merchant was travelling on the Midbud Railway, and when near the Melton, Mowbray Station was struck on the head with a stick by a fellow-passenger seated opposite him. A severe struggle took; place between them until the assailant, cried for mercy, and was released. On the train approaching Brooksby he suc-i ceeded in escaping from the carriage, but, left a carpet bag and parcel behind him, which will probably lead to his identity. The Cerberus is at last in a lair way to take her departure for Melbourne. She has taken in her stores, and received her crew on hoard, and as soon as she ships her powder and coals, will proceed on her voyage.

MR VOGEL AND THE PROTECTION POLICY*

[evening news.] If Mr Vogei is to he taken at his word, he is no protectionist. He is only for stimulating colonial industries by tariff arrangements, by bonuses, or otherwise. And he would not stimulate these indiscriminately, not even to the extent of applying only temporary aid. Here are his own words on the subject at Tuesday's meeting as reported by himself:—" We take as the basis of the stimulating aid vfjaieh we desire to see given, that the industries chosen to be aided shall be only such as the circumstances of the country will make so successful that we may feel* convinced, that, within a reasonable period after these industries have been helped to obtain a fair footing, the articles produced by those industries will be more cheaply supplied to consumers without a continuance of aid, than would have been the case had temporary aid not been given/' Little as we are disposed to agree with much of this, the views embodied in it are surely not the views Mr Fox understood Mr Vogel to hold when he said in the house in the debate on the customs bill, that ** his honorable colleague held protectionist views, which he did not hold." Aud it would certainly be hard to reconcile it as a whole with Mr Vogel's declaration, that " every man was a protectionist at heart, according to his own theories," when Mr Hall's native industries resolutions were under consideration, and with much else that followed. But Mr Vogel's protectionist views sit lightly on him. They admit of modifications, like his gigantic borrowing scheme. Chameleon-like, they take their hue from surrounding circumstances. In the. South, they put on one shape, assume one color : in the North, another. What would suit Canterbury, will not do for Auckland. That, however, is not the only objection we have to the foregoing exposition of Mr Vogel's tf protectionist views." It is based on the false principle of affording protection to one industry, and withhold ing it from another. It is as specious in appearance, as it is false in fact. It is not only belf-contradictory, but it is flatly opposed to the use that is afterwards made of it. For instance, one of the industries Mr Vogel wishes to stimulate is agricultural industry, and it requires the utmost stretch of charity to suppose that he is not deluding himself, or seeking to delude others,, when he speaks of. stimulating that industry by protective duties, with the view of supplying articles produced by it to consumers more.cheaply, without a continuance of that aid, than would have been the case, had not temporary atf heen given. The obvious intention of the proposed duty on wheat and flout* was to raise the price in the Auckland market, by shutting out foreign supplies. And its obvious tendency to benefit the Canterbury producers, and to give to one or two large Auckland dealers in Canterbury flour the advantage over importers from other countries, was such as to have secured for this proposal the unqualified support both of one and the other. In seeking the accomplishment of what would have been disastrous to this part of the colony, there where wheels within wheels at work, with which the. general public are little acquainted. But as the discussion advances, all will come out, and the alleged disinterestedness of this proposal will then be found to have had less of reality in it, than of mere seeming. We are not bound to take Mr Yogel's surface view of things, while keeping to feimself what he neither chooses nor finds it convenient to reveal. Among the better informed in Auckland, it is well known by whom the wires are pulled, and the producer will find this out in time. But suj-pose this duty on wheat and flour to be intended solely for the benefit of the Auckland producers, —which would be to suppose the very reverse of the fact, —the consumers would never submit to it, —Mr Vogel's specious pleading as to its making no appreciable difference in the price of the loaf to the contrary notwithstanding. Mr Vogel's account of what one of the principal bakers of Auckland told him is too good to be passed over, if only for the historical allusion it suggests. To Mr Vogel's question, " whether the proposed duty was such as to increase the price of the loaf, and so become a tax on food," this person replied, " A duty of £1 a ton on flour has no effect on the price of bread: we never raise the price of bread, unless there is a rise of <£2 to <£2 10s a ton on ftaur, which we deem to warrant an increase, of |4 iq the, pice, of the 21b

loaf." ', Who is Mr Vogel's chief baker ? Whfit a pity some one did hot askhira,, when'-he-told this grotesque, this apocryphal story! For a less crime than this, as we read in an. old-fashioned hook, one of the Pharoah's " hanged his chief baker," as Joseph had predicted. But supposing the story of Mr "Vogel's chief baker to have been as truthful, as all must know it to be apocryphal, why should the producers of flour be protected, while other producers are left unprotected ? If we are to have protection, why not have it all round ?

If Mr Vogel should venture on a repetition of his chief baker's story, let him stick to wfiat he is told, and not, as in this case, 3how his utter disbelief in it. This he' does when he assumes that the proposed duty might have the effect of adding |d to the price of the 21b loaf, and seeks to wheedle us, as some persons wheedle birds oft the bushes, into a belief that it would be for our good, because we should thus make the Waikato district a great flour-producing country again. To this, the short answer is, that Jd on the 21d is equivalent to Id on the 41b loaf, and if the Waikato farmers cannot produce flour at such a price as will pay, without robbing us of Id on every 41b loaf we consume in the week, why should we not be allowed to protect ourselves against this robbery by declaring our ports free ? We have only a very dim perception of what Mr Vogel means in this connexion when he says, " Labor is the great law of life,"—something very fine, no doubt, on the omne igwtum pro magnifico principle, if we could only soar to its heights. But this we see very clearly, that Mr Vogel has no more right to rob us for the benefit of the Waikato settlers, than for the benefit of the Canterbury farmers, or for the benefit of one or two large Auckland dealers in Canterbury flour. In the discussion of this question, he affects to laugh at the theories.of others, but he is evidently laughing on the wrong side of his faee. He throws himself into contortions over them, but his contortions are those of the Sybil, without any of her inspiration.

A woman named Kilner was brought up at the Besident Magistrate's Court, Hokitika, the other day, for using threatening language to her husband. On leaving the Court, she drew her wedding ring off her finger, and threw it into a grass plot, were it could not be found. This little episode did not increase the love existing between them, and on the following day, after again appearing at the Court, Kilner struck his wife several times with an axe, inflicting serious injuries, though it is hoped she may yet recover. He has been committed for trial, and is defended by Messrs Button and Smith. He seemed deeply affected by his position on being placed in the dock.