The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 442, 28 January 1857, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times.

Wednesday, January 2&th. The letters and papers due to this province from the. late English mails to Australia not having been forwarded, we are indebted to the Sydney and Melbourne papers for the items of European Intelligence which we publish. The late arrivals from A ustralia bring us a few extra particulars of the news: jier Royal Charter; the most important of which is the . record of the death of Lord Hardinge, on the 24th September. Sir Golin Halkett, Governor of Chelsea Hospital died on the same day.

Later news is brought from Melbourne. The Australian Royal Mail ship Oneida, with Governor Sir Henry Barkly on board, arrived in Melbourne at midnight, on the 23rd December, 64 days out, having left Southampton on the 19th October. Our own files of Victorian papers have a. gap ja?t at thatdate, but We have been favoured privately with a copy of the .' Melbourne Herald,'of the 24th December ; from which we take the news brought by the Oneida, reaching to the 18th October. Sir H. Barkly, we find, arriving at Melbourne just before midnight, landed Avithout any ceremony, and his public reception nest day is described as being respectful, but not enthusiastic. He. was sworn in on the , Friday following, the day alter Christmas. Mr. Waitt and Mr. James Smith we observe among the other arrivals per Oneida at Melbourne.

IjA.ter news still, for which we can give no newspaper authority, comes per Zingari, from Auckland. It is related to us that just before the departure of the Zingari news came to Auckland from Melbourne of the arrival there of the Simlah, P. and O. Company's steamer charter to the Australian Royal Mail Company), with dates to the 12th or 13th November, haying made the voyage in the wonderfully short period of 55 days. Even here the news is only seventy-six days old- The most authentic accounts which we have been able to gather inform us that from a dispute in the interpretation of the late treaty matters seem tending to fresh hostilities. There appear to be Wo Islands at the mouth of the Danube, either of which may be described by the name Isle of Serpents. Itussia continues to hold one and contends iht t the other is that named in the treaty. j - <■

France seems inclined to coincide. England, however, will not tolerate the Russian occupation of the mouths of the Danube in an Isle of any name whatever. Lord Palmerston is reported to have spoken at a public meeting, probably the Lord Mayor's dinner, pn the 9th November, with great warmth .on the subject, and England shows no disinclination to renew the war. Ausr tria, a power deeply interested in the freedom of the Danube and the Principalities, is alleged to be ready to take part with Great Britain ; but the attitude of the two powers with respect to the Neapolitan business at the latest authentic accounts forbids us to look upon a hearty union as probable. A stijl stronger argument of the same nature throws discredit on the report that France joins Russia on the other side. Speculating as we are in the dark, there appear to be symptoms of an alliance between Napoleon and Alexander which may cause the neutrality of France in a second European war, but nothing further.

Information has been given us from a reliable source that, in spite of prospects of war, the price of wool had actually risen Id. to 2d. per pound on the pi'evious high rates.