Telegraphic Intelligence.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1326, 17 May 1872, Page 2

Telegraphic Intelligence.

FROM GRWILLFS TELEGRAM COMPANY, Renter's Agents. WELLINGTON. Friday, "May 17. Mr. Vogelj proposes a Press Conference to consider arrangement* for Press telegrams on the opening of telegraphic communication between Europe and Melbourne. It is said that he proposes the exclusion of. representatives of evening journals from the Conference. Mr. GifTord, editor of the Evening Post, has issued a circular proposing a Conference, to be held at Christchurch.

Referring to the commercial items received by the last mail, the Soul hern Cross says ;—" The unprecedented vUe in the price of wool will of itself lift many a colonist out of the Slough of Despond. Whatever may ,be the causes of this extraordinary advance, whether from the ordinary operations of trade and commerce, or v hether the agitation respecting the abuses of the system of wool sales has extended the area.of competition, hopes appear to be confidently entertained that the ad vance is not of an ephemeral but of a permanent character." A late Nelson telegram in the Auckland papers says:—"The Ocean Biid is now in Nelson harbor. The olothiug, &0., is all out The foremast appears to have been cm about twelve feet above the deck. The steamei Murray reports seeing a dingy, painted white." It will be remembered (says the Charleston Herald) that not long since a young man named Eugene Beda, attached to Murray's Circus Troupe, met with an accident while performing some feats in the ring at Christchurch and was removed to the hospital, where his leg was amputated. We are informed on good authority that Eugene Beda is no other than the Young American, or Master James Braham, who not long since pei formed the daring feat of crossing the Hokitika river on the punt wive, and who at one time visited Charleston with Seymour and troupe, [The unfortunate young man referred to in the foregoing paragraph was connected with Murray's Troupe whilst in Napier, and performed under the appellation of "Master James Braham."] The Thames Guardian, May 11, says:— "We hear that some of the Ohinemuri natives have agreed to purchase the steamer Effort for £1,400, and that they are now in communication with the Native Minister, who will be asked to advance the money the natives pledging laud as security. This may be regarded a-* a most satisfactory transaction on all sides. The Effort in the hands of the natives may be looked upon as another step towards the opening up of the Ohinemuri country. The New Zealand Herald, May 9, savs : —"Yesterday the Rangatira took away eight of our most dangerous prisoners, who are to. be conveyed to Bunedin Jail for the sake of additional security. It is well known that our jail does not alford that security which is requisite in the case of desperate criminals, and the batch of prisoners which has been sent away will be a most excellent riddance. The followin «• is a correct list of those forwarded by the Kangatira yesterday ;—Johnston, for murder ; Elcock, arson ; Herat te Hara, murder; Muirhead, murder; Haley, shooting with intent. The above prisoners are all under life sentences. Plummer, burglary and escape, twelve years ; and Bryant and Goldsmith, for garotting, *wh ten years. Some of these prisoners are notoriously desperate characters, for the safe retention of whom our jail is not considered sufficiently secure." A dark cloud, at present "not bigger than a man's hand," is again beginning to rise on the shores* of the Blaok Sea; and Russia, probably counting on the helplessness of humbled France, and the non-intervention and indifferentism *o, characteristic now of the foreign policy of England, proposes to rebuild uud to veai ut Sevastopol,

All the unappropriated lands in the township and suburbs of Gisborne, Poverty Bay, having been handed over by the General Government to the Provincial Government of Auckland, the same will shortly be offered for sale by public auction at Gisborne.

A Lodge of the 1.0.0. F., M IT., has been formed at Reeftou, the chief town of the newly opened Inangahua goldHeld (Nelson piovince.) We extract the following paragraph from the Daily Southern Cross, of the 13th inst. :—lntelligence has been received respecting the cause of the detention of the San Francisco mail steamer. A telegram from San Francisco, sent via Galle, was received by Messrs Henderson & Macfarlane, agents of the line, on Saturday. It has been kindly placed at our disposal, and was as follows :—" Steamer, twenty-seventh March, cracked steam-chest, tirst day out; sail again ninth April." The Moses Taylor was to leave San Francisco with the mail on March 27, and would in all likelihood, but for the accident mentioned, have reached Honolulu on April 6. T\ie Nebraska with the colonial mails left Auckland on the 24th March. She would pro bably, therefore, arrive at Honolulu on April 9. Supposing the Moses Taylor left on the date stated in the telegram she could not 1 reach Honolulu before the 19th. .Before that time the Nebraska may have left for San Francisco. The Moses Taylor arriving at Honolulu and rinding the Nebraska gone, would possibly continue the journey to Auckland, and might be expected here at any moment; but it is questionable whether she would be in a tit state to undertake such a voyage. No doubt Mr Webb would leave instructions at Honolulu for the guidance of the Moses Taylor. If he, knowing that the Moses Taylor was unfit for the long voyage, left instructions for her not to proceed further than Honolulu, he might on arrival at San Francisco, about the 22nd of April, despatch another steamer to pick up the Moses Taylor's mail at Honolulu and bring it on. In that case, allowing 26 days for the voyage through, we could not expect the mail before the 20th of May. In the event of no special steamer being despatched, the Nevada, which is due about May 26;, will bring on both mails.

Dickeu's life, by Mr Funster, proves the oft repeated assertion that many of the incidents in the novel of David Copperfield were little more than a te capitulation of events in the early life of the author But it is not po generally known that the journey of young Copperfield from London to Canterbury is a very slightly exaggerated nat ration of the adventure of two school boys, who ran away from an academy near Turnham Green, and made for the cathedral city in which the most famous of their name lies interred. The sale of the waistcoat at Chatham —the "Gorrn, liver, and light<" episode, actually occurred. The onlv difference is that, instead of finding Betsy Trot wood at their journey'n end, they came across a friendly bookseller, who communicated with their father, and a messenger was sent haste to take them back to school. One of the lads (says "Atticus' 1 in the Leader) eventually became Chief Justice of Victoria, and it, was from his brother, a distinguished comic historian and grammarian, that Diekens gleaned the facts which he subsequently interwove with his own autobiography. The lad was of course the late Chief Justice a'Beckett, brother of Gilbert a'Beckett.

The Stamford Mercury lately reports a a striking instance of the ioolislmess of going to law. The Vestry of Whist lessey quarrelled with the Isle of Ely authorities as to which should repair Briggote Bridge. The Whitlessey vestrymen l-esolved to go to law, and the result is that after six years' argument, the case has come 10 nothing." There is, hov evei», ,£1,500 to pay, for half of which it seems that tho 27 parishioners who attend the Whitlessey vestry are personally responsible. ' Ft seems that the outlay of a few shillings would have repaired the actual damage to the bridge, and a few pounds would have put' it in good repair.

The settlers of the Patea district areagitating for separation from the Province of Taranaki.

Plain needlework and knitting areundertaken at the Auckland jail by the female prisoners as a means of making the institution self supporting. At Fqxton, there died at an advanced age "William Chapman, a miserablemiser, worth .£50,000* which he has left to an illegitimate son of his. His last wish was, that his stick might be put in bis coffin, that he might give " Old Stratford ,: a thrashing with it when he met with him, because he disappointed him of buying some land many years ago ! The Philadelphia Ledger says that a naval court-martial is now sitting in Brooklyn to try the commander of the United States 'sloop-of war Plymouth,, on charges ot inflicting cruel and unusual punishments upon his crew. The condition of affairs upon the Plymouth, il is alleged, had become so unbearable, that while the sloop lay in the roads of of Rio Janeiro there were 100 deserters and guard-boats were stationed around the vessel, with orders to shoot any of the crew attempting to go on shoie. Punishments for the most trivial offences were inflicied, by hoisting the culprits, tied hand and foot, into the boats, and exposing them for long hours to the blazing sun Men, it is asserted, were also punished by being placed in sweat boxes, three feet long and eighteen inches dee]>; and one culprit, it is alleged, was kept in this cramped condition for 120 hours. Although the aboveaccount is probably an exaggerated description of severe discipline, yet there are sufficient proofs of unusual punishments to demand a rigid investigation as to the treatment ot the crew of the Plymouth. The Bombay Gazette, November 18> says that the Serapis, on her voyage to that port from Aden, after passing through the Suez Canal, encountered a fearful storm when she was 290 miles from the land. The rain was incessant, and between three and four o'clock the ship seemed enveloped in one continuous sheet of ligl tning of intense brilliancy. All sail was hauled in. The ship heeled steadily at 30 degrees j a sea was sdiipped which extinguished some of the furnace-room fires; the foresail, which, had. been furled tightly,, was. blown right off the yard, the second g\<? was torn from its davits astern, and blown far over the sea; most of the troop boats were damaged, and some of the massive iron davits on which they hung were strained and twisted like screws. The women and children were greatly excited, and not one or two alone of the men imagined that thenlast hour had come.. She carried 1,310 souls.

The yak, a singular aminiftl of the bovine family, whose habitat is themountain regions of Thibet,, has lately been subjected to a series of experiments. in France for the purpose of ascertaining whether its propagation can be made profita! »10. Some years since the French, Consul-General of Shanghai brought home a flockof vaks, which were placed! under the charge ot the Societe dlAcclimation, which ai its last sitting offered: several prizes for rearing and training; this animal. The yak combines some* of the characteristics of several domesticanimals. It resembles the ox, but has. a bushy tail like the horse ; its hair curls like some kinds of wool, and it indulges in a peculiar grunt which might easily be mistaken for that of a pig. The wandering tribes of Tartars hold the yak of high value because it is a sure-footed beast of burden, and the female yields a rich miik, the butter from which has become quite an article of merchandise. The hair is made into, rapes and cloth, and its skin is convertel into clothing. The bushy tail is extensively used in India as a brush.. Its horns curve outward from the occipital ridge, and are sometimes white as, ivory. The meat of the yak has a flavor somewhat resembling that of venison,, which is not diminished by domestication ami acclimatization. The wild yak of Thibet isjfound neai the snow line of the mountains-, and it is not improbable that this animal would be found useful \ if introduced into the mountain regionslof other countries. The domestic animal is generally about four feet high aud. seven ieet long.