Miscellaneous.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 449, 21 February 1857, Page 7

Miscellaneous.

It was stated in October last, in the London Bankruptcy Court, that a bill of exchange for £1,000, bearing the names of Mr. George Hudson, M.P., (the late "Railway King,") and Mr. Mould, railway contractor, would not realise f.s much as £150.

Destruction of ait American Hotel.— The Mount Vornon Hotel at Cape May, Cape Island, was destroyed by fire on the night of Sept. 5, and Mr. Philip Cain, the lessee, with his son and two daughters, and the hotel-keeper Mrs. Albertson, lost their lives. The immense hotel was built by a company of gentlemen, at a cost of 125,000 dollars, upon which there was not one cent of insurance. "The building was first occupied in 1853; but Messrs. Cain and' Foster did not become the lessees until the past season. The hotel was celebrated for its size and superior accomodations. Although the hotel, in its late condition, was capable of accommodating;2loo;visitorp,wasnotfinished. The building was constructed entirely of wood. It was four storeys in height in the main, with four towers, each five storeys in height. Three •of these toAvers occupied the corners of -the building, and one stood midway of the only wing, In addition to these towers, there was an immense tower six storeys in height in the centre of the front. The entire structure, both outside and upon the courtyard, was surrounded with,wooden piazzas, that "extended 'from the ground to the roof, with floors at each storey. The wing was a quarter of a mile in length, and the front 'covered nearly an equal extent. The dining-room was 4-25 feet long, and 60 feet in width, and was capable of • accommodating 3,000 persons. There are 432 rooms in the building. It Avas claimed that the Mount Vernon was the largest hotel in the world. In addition to the main building there was extensive stabling. There Avas a tank in the centre tower of the Aving, capable of holding 20,000 gallons of water, forced into it by a steam engine. The furniture Avas valued at 94,000 dollars, upon which there was no insurance. The total pecuniary loss Avill not fall short of 150,000 dollars. . . The Misebies of a Heeo.—Lieutenant Dunham Massy, of the 19th Eegiment, in replying to an article which recently appeared in a London paper, accusing him of an excessive amount of foolish vanity, in believing himself a hero, denies, in a very proper tone of repudiation, this someAvhat damaging accusation. He devoutly" thanks God that he is not such a fool" as to think himself a hero; indeed, taking his own estimate of the 'persecutions to which a hero is exposed, there are few, Aye apprehend, except the most eager for the world's applause, and for the sAveet voices of the mob, who Avould consent to endure the civil attentions thus described by Mr. Massy:—" Sir, you do not knoAv the miseries of being a hero. Penny-a-liners arrest your servants as they go of errands, and ask where you were born, Avhere you were brought up, who was your grandfather, and who was your schoolmaster; and some day you see a hideous biographical caricature of yourself. A daguerrotype seizes you —an artist, pencil in hand, waylays you—an engraA rer puts your indentity upon proof— imitations to public banquets come in upon you, on cards as large as dinner-plates, young ladies in • prettily folded notes solicit your autograph. You receive an overwhelming supply of tracts from ladies of a graver age^-imaginary poets harrass you Avith doggrel verses —authors of bad books send you copies of their tiresome works—you are stared at in the streets'—when your carriage stops, your horse is provokingly patted on the neck—you are shouted at in the theatres. In fact, comfort and privacy are at an end. ISTow, all this is very well for a strong, able, idle Crimean hero who likes the thing, and Avho has health and strength to bear it. But it is a very different thing if, by chance, the unhappy victim, after six months lying on his back in one position, in a Crimean hut, should return home, and Avish to enjoy quiet, and to have time to nurse a leg some two or three inches; shorter and much feebler than "its.fellow—to think over the precautions necessary to preserve weak lungs in the moist climate of an Irish coming ■'winterj and should have occasion tAA'o or three times a week to endure a very ugly ceremony, namely, the insertion of a probe some eight or ten inches into an open Avound. For my part, I give every body notice that I am by no means the man to make a hero of, and that those that made me so should at once repent. . Much better may easily be had, The crop'is as plentiful as blackberries. Crimeans are everything noAv, are everywhere, and though wild-looking and hirsute animals, are easily caught. I-do not at all answer, the description. ,1 have not a shWe hair on my upper or lower lip. Ido not wear a Turkish cap when I travel', I, never smoke

tobacco. Therefore, where! others maybe had for the asking, I beg to be allowed to abdicate the honours of heroship, and to remain in quiet." During the recent prevalence of the cholera at St. Vincent, the dead bodies had to be collected into a pile three times daily, and burnt; there being no time to inter them. Letters from Paris allege that the Bank of France have lately contracted with Messrs. Rothschild to supply them with gold to the amount of £6,400,000. : ; . The 'New York Courier,and Enquirer' narrates a case in which a very fine athletic negro, who ran away, was caughtj and his owners, to prevent him running away again, cut the tendons off his heels. Since the establishment of the Irish Encumbered Estates' Court, in 1849, the gross sum obtained by the various sales amounted to £18,299,350 14s. 9d., of which English, Scotch and foreign purchasers paid £2,510,306. Thirty persons were killed at the people's banquet, given by the Emperor at Moscow, on the 20th September.'.. There was a great rush about nine o'clock, and not only have the lives of thirty been destroyed, but many more have been seriously injured. . „ ' ",/A pension of £100 a-year has lately been conferred on the widow and children of Mr. Gilbert a'Beckett. '- American asd English Shipping.—Our tonnage already exceeds that .of any other nation, and at the ratio of increase during the past fifteen years, we may, at no very distant period, boast of more shipping than England and France combined. Let us glance at the progress of the mercantile marine of this country and of the world. N"o longer ago than 1830, the tonnage of American vessels was 1,191,776 tons j the number of seamen and watermen under the American flag, including those in the navy, a little over 90,000. In 1855,; the tonnage had increased to 5,212,000 tons, and the number of seamen to nearly- 400,000, both more than quadrupled in one-fourth of a. century. In 1814 the tonnage of the British commercial marine was 2,616,965 tons, employing 172,786 men and boys. In 1854, forty years afterwards, the tonnage had increased to 5,043,270, and her seamen, ; including the 62,000 in her navy to nearly 400,000, both having doubled in less than half a century. The commerce, tonnage, and seamen of the world have much more than doubled during the. last forty. years. Everything indicates a more rapid increase in the future. . This century.', shall not end ere the 150,000 vessels of the civilized world shall have become 300,000, with swifter wings, and stronger power to do the bidding of the commerce, and their 15,000,000 of "tonnage shall have become 30,000,000, and their million and half of seamen shall have become three millions, a number of men larger than this whole nation three-quarters of a century since—larger than the whole Anglo-Saxon race two centuries ago. A nation dwelling on the sea, drawn from every other, uniting every other, diffusing its life, and spirit, and energy through . every other; yet peculiar to itself, a unit in itself, separate from all the rest, dwelling on the sea.— Nexo YorTc Coiomercial and Shipping lAst. The. following daguerreotype from the {New York Tribune' is amusing, if not instructive :— " The Right Hon. Robert Lowe, vice-president of the British Board of Trade, and the chief editor of the ' London Times,' took a seat on the general term bench of the Supreme Court, by the side of Judge Clarke, yesterday morning. His stiff collar and cravat, white hair, and red full face, gave him a decidedly English appearance, which the frequent raising of his gray eyebrows makes still more striking." The Queen of Oude has found some spokesmen on her behalf at the Board of the East India Company. At the quarterly Court of the Directors on Wednesday last, Mr. Lewin moved and Mr. Jones seconded a resolution condemning as unjust "the seizure of the territories of Onde, as one of the worst examples of Indian spoliation." The Court attentively listened to their dissertations, without saying one word of reply. Colonel Sykes, on the part of the directors, explained that they had given every facility tp Mr. Jones and Mr. Lewin, by not bringing into operation the law that required the presence of twei\ti/ proprietors at any discussion. They were willing that the opinions qf those proprier tors should go forth to the world. Both the directors and the Government have approved and supported the of Lord Dalhousie, and'that fendered it unnecessary to argue the question. The resolution was negatived without a division.

New sixpenny postage stamps have been issued. They are of an oblong form, and of a purple color; the word " postage" is on the top margin, and the words " six pence" at the bottom. ; The stonemasons' constant strikes; have led to the invention of a stone cutting machine, which is capable of. dressing twenty superficial leet of limestone per minute. :.■:■'; The guns taken at Sebastopol by the French have been placed in front of the Invalides ; and it is asked—"Why should not the two lions from K'ertch be put, as trophies«to be seen by all, at the foot of Nelson's pillar, : facing down Parliamentstreet, instead of being buried in the1 British Musem. Sir Benjamin Hall, Bait, M.P., as Chief Commissioner of1 Works, has given notice that it is the intention of her Majesty's Government to erect a monument in St. Paul's Cathedral to the memory of,the late Duke of Wellington, and has invited designs from artists of all countries. . \ The monster bell for the Westminster Clock Tower has arrived at its destination uninjured. It is proposed to christen it ' Big Ben,' in honour of Sir Benjamin Hallj President of the Board of Works, during whose tenure of office it has been cast! '.-.-/•-'■■'■■- :-.'■.:■■■: ■■■ ■ \ . :■.'•' Mr. John Foster, late editor of the' Examiner,' and Mrs. Colburn, .widow of the late eminent publisher, were married lately, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. W. Elwyn, editor of the 'Quarterly Review.' " . • The ' Gazette', of Nov. 4th announces that the Queen has been pleased to appoint the Rev. Henry Cottefill, M.A., to be ordained aud consecrated Bishop of Grahamstown, in the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, in the room of the.Right Rev. John Armstrong, deceased. , ' It seems that all hope of recovering or tracing the lost^plate of the Duchess of Cambridge has been abandoned. Thus, of three remrrkable robberies, the police havefailed in detecting any clueviz.,, those of the Countess of Ellesmere's jewels, the Royal Nursery plate, and that of the Duchess of Cambridge. * Three more stone coffins have been discovered in the Cathedral of Cbristchurch, Oxford. Professor Jill.' Hind writes to the ' Times' to announce that '.the reappearance of the great comet of 1556 is near at hand.' He writes—' Let me suggest to those who are provided with suitable telescopes, and are1 desirous of searching for this long-expected cornet, that no time should be lost in commencing operations. Greater vigilance will be necessary in the winter months than during the summer. . ■ - , The remains of Dr. Bnckland were deposited in a most characteristic resting-place—in the solid rock below Islip. The rock was blasted and the body was interred in a cavity lined with Portland cement to keep out the water. He has left by his will his museum at Oxford to the University. It is positively stated at Berlin that the marriage of Prince Frederick William of Prussia with the Princess Royal of England will take place on the 18th of October, 1857, which is the anniversary of the birthday of the Prince.. His ' t Royal Highness is expected on a vist to Windsor Castle soon after the return from the Court. Much anxiety isbeing felt respecting the fate of Mr. G. Agustus : Sala, the talented contributor to the 'Household Words,' who set out for Russia immediately upon the conclusion of peace, for the purpose of writing sketches of Russian life and mariners for the journal with which he is connected, and from whom, since he crossed the Russian frontier, only one communication has been received. It is feared either that he is ill, or that he has given offence to the Russian authorities and been deprived of his liberty. — . ■ . ■ ,