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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1254, 21 February 1872, Page 2

We are glint to. be able to. state that the rough weather reported in, our. two, last issues has. considerably abated. The gale has beep, very trying to. the vessels lying in the roadstead. This morning some Hi tie anxiety was occasioned when it was observed that the barque Rapido, moored at the Government anchorage, had dLifted, something like three quarters, of a mile from her original position. If the enormous mushroom anchor to which alio is attached |j,as moved that distance,, it will be a striking proof of the force of the gale. As soon as the state of the sea to-day permitted, the Harbor master put off to the vessels to find how they stood affected by the storm. The brigratitine Amherst was found to have parted one of her cables, but was holding on safely to another. The Rapido hat) ceased to drift, and there is no probability of her shifting further. The niQoriiigs will be examined and attended to as so.on as the sea is down. As we go to press, the wind is light, from the N.E., with a heavy ground swell rolling into the Bay. A fire occurred yesterday about 1 a.m. ftt QUve, by which a biiilding, formerly a piihlic-house biit latterly a stable, was destroyed, afld we regret to have to. add that the raceTiior^eDespatch ? the property of Mr Wheeler* was burnt to deati\, Mr Wheeler, at the fee of the tiie, was absent at Havelo.ck. J\\ the Resident Magistrate's Qourt tliis morning, Alexander Rhodes and Augustus Wood were charged with being drunks: and disorderly. The police reported that the aftendets had made a disgraceful row on the Spit yesterday afternoon. Rhodes, the principal of fender, was. fyied 10s, with as cab hire to the lockup \ and Wood was n>ed ss, with 5s gab hire. Vigorous measures are being resorted to by the Fijian Government to suppress the trade in, firearms with the natives. The Times anticipates, that such steps will greatly tend to, the security of out-settlers iij the group, an,d adds th#t "the Fijians have, up to the present time, had too great facility \r\ procuring offensive weapons, awl thus have been placed too much on a par with the white man/

A parade of the Napier Rifle Volunteers will take place in the bund roam, Hastings-street, at 7.30 this evening. The outward mails for Europe, &c.„ via San, Francisco, will be forwarded hence Lo,-niorrow,' per Nevada.. The British-Australian, Telegraph Qompany hA« worthily fulfilled its engagement. \o. have the cable laid to Port Darwin* South Australia, before the end of the year i. 871. On. the 2.oth. Nosembei? —forty days before the- expiry of the fcirae —-the work had been, completed;, and messages had passed; between Mr Finnis at Port Darwin and, the Company's, representatives in. Loiir don. Au,siva,lia Mas thus, for three months, been in direct telegraphic com.municatipn with. Europe.. A cuj'iotus bush ranging, case has been, tried at Roekhampton (Queensland). The Bulletin- thus refers to. it:-V'The country nmy be congratulated; upon the conviction of Madden, the Springsure mail robber. He has. shown-, himself! aix ingenious villain^and one not content to. rim in. the old grooves of! bush rangers.. H;e> forsooth, must have his operating banking account, and' boldly transmit to his banker the stolen cheques which wei'e- not otherwise negotiablei As William. Taylor, a horsedpaler-, as Jzolm, Lawler, a gentleman able to,draw npon h,ia banker, and as William Miadden, a robber of her Majesty's mails, the fellow no doubt anticipated a, merry an,d lengthened career." However, he received a, sentence pf 1,5, years' penal servitude?.

It is well-known (says the Francois) how defective the French cavalry proved during the war, notwithstand ing. it.ss heroic bravery,. The attention of the- Minister of War has been called to» that subject, and he lias naw just issued a-long circular introducing modi r fications ;n the instruction, given, to the mounjted: soldiers. He orders great attention, to, be paid, to the duty of making reconnaissances, and acquiring a knowledge of the country.." At Ivockhanipton a very fine view of the eclipse of the sun was atForded on Tucsclay, 12th December. The contact w,as first visible a lew minntes after % o'clock,. At< about a> qyarter past, three the-eclipse was, at its. height,, an,d, by half-past four the phenomenon, ha/1 disappeared. At the time of the greatest obscuration about half of the sun's disc was covered. At about ha]/-past three o'clock there was a perceptible diminution of light and heat, the weather having been up to that lime extremely hot and oppressive; then, however, a breeze sprang up which gave great relief to perspiiing humanity. During the first of the two last sieges of Paris, a .Prussian sold to, a French marauder a dozen oysters, fov a dozen francs. The marauder sold them to a Parisian restaurateur for a hundred, francs, and tb.e rcstaurateau.r sold them again to one of his most dainty clients at twenty francs the oyster. It was a high price to pay for the mollivsk, but the v ealthy gourmand was. able to say that he had eaten the only oysters that had found their way into Paris throughout the siege. He was wise enough to keep the shells, and they have just been sold by auction to a rich and enterprising American, Henry Stuart by name* for 32 franca. .£1 5s Gd for a dozen empty oyster shells beats the lampreys which Horace used to eat. The Fiji Times, 10th Jan., says s—« The great seal of the Kingdom of Fiji has arrived from Sydney, and is now ready to be affixed to public documents. It is neat and simple, about the size of half-a-crown. circular in shape, and bearing within a narrow ornamented border a regal crown arid t]ie initials 01$. comhined in a plain monogram, and surmounted hy the words " Kingdom of Fiji." By the same mail have also ariived a number of treasury note*, printed from steel plates by Messrs Lee and Co., of Sydney. The notes are some of the most artistical we have ever seen. They will be issued shortly, as soon as the revenue is collected, if all goes, well, and will form an excellent substitute for the miserable tattered rags now in circulation. A Wisconsin man reported that he couldn't find a word in the dictionary, because "the confounded book hadn't got an index."

i "N PROPOSED

[BRITISH TRA^ The success of the Muai»l prise has revived die longsnis ensiei- vject to connect Dover and O of p ro> submarine tunnel. One consKby $ obstacle still remains to be surnio)J>l e —-the formal grant of a concession fi.4 the French Government,, which should surely not be difficult to- obtain. The feasibility of the undei taking has been demonstrated for three years and more; Now that Mr Hawkshaw's name is the first name appended to the proposals for boring a tunnel between Dover and Calais, the Egyptian precedent has considerable weight; and the soundness of his views as te piercing through the desert gives credit to his opinion as to burrowing under the sea. The mining engineers point to Whitehaven and Northumberland, where, galleries are worked, under the sea* which occupy, in their turning -\ %! many times, the distance between. England and. France. The difference in, temperature between the two ends of a tunnel is the greatest security- fori its ventilation*.and ; many authorities insist that, so far from, air, shafts, being-, essentials, they, defeat the ends for. which, they are designed,. The Mont Cenis Tunnel, and the perfect current of air maintained there,.are striking examples of what may be done, without them. There are 800 feet in depth, of chalk under the sea between, ; Dover and Calais. Chalk can be worked as easily as a Dutch cheese,. The wells at Harwich, at Dover.- and at Calais aie said-to prove this geologiand a new tunnelling machine which was exhibited at the meeting o£ of the British Association, in 1,870, and" which the International Committeehave seen at work for months upon, the chalk at Snodland, near Rochester,, testifies to the rest. This machine wjjlj, and does, make- a hple seven feet in diameter eighteen yards forward} in the chalk strata in, every twenty-four, hours,. This being so, what are called? the driftways of, the proposed tunnel) can, it is, maintained,, be driven.in oneyear instead of five, as was calculated,, audi the enlargement and* completion will follow in two or thiee years more. One of the favorite proposals is that there, shall be two, driftways and« two separate tunnels, so, that tjie- trains shall, always* travel the same way-in the same tunnel. Tlus would not be more expensive,, for the difference in. cost through reduced size would fully compensate for the duplicate tunnel; and; while a very short time ago ten millions was put down as the pi obable cost, the= statistics and success of the Mont Cenis. Tunnel causes many competent peopleto reduce that figure considerably.. The Mont Cenis Tunuel has, cost some two, hundred, and 1 fifty thousand, pounds a, mile, with hard rock and blasting oper-. a.tions, almost throughout. A material: which can be scooped out like cheesewill cost fa/" le*s ; and the tonp. of, the promoters of the enterprise is that of; mfxo, whose- mind? are thoroughly made up, by.t who are tolerant of opposition and incredulity because of the ignorance of the outer world.. Looking a,t the subject by the light of recent experience and professional testimony, it is. not unreasonable to hope tlaat we- may travel to. and from. London and Paris without leaving our railway carriage, or experiencing a qualm* before the world, i& many years oldeii.