Miscellaneous.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 545, 23 January 1858, Page 5

Miscellaneous.

From an abstract of the Revenues accounts,

made lip to Sept, 30, ifc'will be apparent [that there •is a fallihg-off of not far from a million on tKe quarter.! There is also a decrease in! the returns for the year;';: To'a 'certain extent (this may be attributed to reduction in taxation. j At the same ; time' 'the deficiency'is- larger than was anticipated. We take the* following; remarks on . the' subject from the ,'Morning Herald:— "■*'■ ■■■ ""■ "'■'"> '■■■■ ■ ll' 7; yi::' ■' ' '< -.-"

"The deficit on the quarter ranges-under five heads, and amounts 'to the formidable sum of £1,082,255. Of this total, the decrease in the Customs is £499,259 ; that in the Excise,' £148,000; in Stamps, £18,394; in Ci!own> Lands, £7 203;- and in i Property Tax,; £415,699. Iv the last mentionedj the' reduction, of taxation- has not yet; come: fully into operation, consequently the falling off is larger than might have been anticipated; •"■-Tiiis tax will furnish a much more formidablejitem fof; decline in. the next accounts. ,rThe (increase on the quarter is £200,095, under the heads Taxes, Post-office, and Miscellaneous;: leaving a net decieaae of £889,160. The returns upon the year are rather more favourable. .The decrease is £527,294," in the following proportions : Excise £U%778T -. Taxes \ ; 1,006 T' Property Tax ' 167J307 ,; /, Crown Lands... ... 6,203 ;. | "Against this^we may set an increase of I £367,888, arranged as- follows'•— ' ; " Customs..^ w;.;. £12;203 ; Stamps-;■.,-■ ... w 166,182 I •' i-- Post-office .;..,. 6;203 : Miscellaneous ; 26,660 \

■'■■•< Leaving a net decrease of £169,5)6. -'■?*> '.' The fact that ,the returns from certain taxes that had increased during the year, liave suffered such,, a sensible "decline during the quarter is ominous: The/deficit is much larger than; had been anticipated, arid coming before^ the5 reductions in taxatioii are in full opet-ation may^ be regarded as a sign.pf what is i*> follow. Whilst our expenditure m rashly provoked wars and a widely spreading rebellion" is growing -idky by day more >serious;: ctar to irieet: the same are being curtailed,- arid the sense of alarm and. insecurity, - that. prevails throughout j the kingdom exercises a .most pernicious influence upon those sinews of national power and importance —trade and commerce.". " i NewIExAMiTiKS of Sagacity in Beutes.--When in Ceylon many-1 yearsMago., a friend .of mi rie, who was deputy -quartermaster-general, consulted ■-me.'abput an elephant belonging to his department, one thathad a deep burrowing, sore, on^his'back, just^pyer the backbone, which -hVd'long resisted tnebrdihary-mode of treatment employed.'l After due examination, I re- . cpinmeuded- ,as , necessary ihe > free - use of i the knife, that issue might be given to the accumulated matter; but no. one of the ordinary atten> dants would undertake the operation. Being assured by my friend .that the brute would behave well .under it, I undertook it. ,The elephant was not bound; he was made to kneel down, his keeper at his head; with an amputating knife, using all my force, I made the incision requisite through his tough1 integuments | he, did not rflinchj but iriather inclined towards me, wJienusirigthe knife;,«uid uttered merely a Jlqw and suppressed grdaxi; in short, he behajved■■; very much like a human being; as if «conscipvis, ; J as I'believe lie was, that' theipain inflicted was ; [unavoidable, and that the operation, as Ijanr happy to say it proved, was for his benefit.Prom the elephant I^iU. P>ss to the dog. The, then Governor of Ceylon, the. late Sir-Robert : Browririg, had one of more than ordinary sagacity; he always accompanied his master being allowed so to .do, except on particular

occasions, as ongoing to church, or council, or to inspect the troops, when the general always wore'his sword. Now,'when he saw the sword girded on, he would givehis attendance no further than the outer door; without a word being said, he would return arid wait the coming back,of his master, patiently waiting up stairs at the, door of his private apartment. Here is another instance. Once,* when fishing in the Highlands, I saw aparty of sportsmen and their dogs cross the Wream, the men wading, the dogs swimming,-with the exception of onewho, stopped on the; Hank1 piteously howling ; after a few niinuties; lie, suddenly ceased, and started off fujl speed;in; vievv; and he did not -atop till he-reached a spot'where a plank connected the banlcs, on which he crossed dry-foot-ed, and soon joined his compariionß.--.Dr. Davy's "Angler in the, Lake District." Anecdotei of thi* ElJectbic Telesbaph.--I think the most curious fact, taken altogether, that I ever heard of fjhe electric telegraph, was ;t6ld- me; by ■>& cashier of the Bank of England: —^"Once upon a;time,:then,,ona certain Satur-day-night, the^folks : at'the Bank could not make; the balance . come right by just £100. Thi'a is a.serious.matter in that little establishment ; I do not mean the cash, but the mistake in arithmetic; for it occasions a world^of scrutiny, An error in 'balancing has been known, I am told, to s keep a. delegation of clerks from each office at work1 sbtnetimes through the , whole nfght. A liue-and-cry was, of course, I made after'this £100, as if the old lady in Threadneedle street would be- in the ' Gazette' for want of it. Luckily, on the Sunday morning a clerk (in the middle of the sermon;, I dare say,"if the truth were^known) felt a suspicion of the truth dart tlirough his mind quicker than.any flash of the telegraph itself. He told the chief cashier on Monday morning^ bhat per-haps-the .mistake miff At have occurred in packing' some, boxes of specie for the West Indies, which been jsent to. Southampton for shipment; ' 'tfie suggestion was immediately acted upon.' ' Here was a race—lightning r against steam !_and steam with _eight : and-forty hours' start giyen. - Instantly, the wires asked, ,*. Whether .such a vessel had left the harbour ?' •' Just weighing anchor,' was the fanswer. '' Stop her!' frantically shouted the electric tele-1 gragh. It was done. '"Have up on .deck certain-' boxes marked so and'so;' and one-^-the delinquentl—was found heavier, by just one packet of a hundred^ sovereigns, than it ought to be. ' Let her go,* said-" the mysterious tele?, graph. The West Indian folks were debited with just £100. more, and the error" was corrected without ever looking into the boxes, or delaying the voyage;by an hour. Now that is what may be called ' doing business.' "v*- . Weeping foe of Wobds.—-Dr. Pitcairn, going about the streets of Edinburgh one Sunday, was obliged by a sudden pelt of rain, to take refuge in a place he was not often in-rr-a church. The audience was 'scanty, and he sat down in a pew where there was only another sitter besides—ra"quiet gr^ve-looktng countryman, lis- . tening to the* sermon with arface of the utmost composure. The preacher was very emphatic-— so much so, that at one passage he began to shed_tears copiously, and to use his handkerchief. Interested in this as a physiological fact, for which he could not in the circumstances' see any sufficient cause, Piteairn turned to the 'countryman, and asked in a whisper, " What the.deevil gars the man greet?" "Faith," says the man, slowly turning round, " Ye wad, may be, greet yoursel, i f ye was ■up there, and had as little to s&y."-^-Westminster. Mevieic. We are in a position to state, that by far the most extensive and important secession which has yet taken place from the Clmrch of England to the Church of Rome; may be confidently looked for in a few weeks.at,the furthest—very probably before the close of the present week. IWe can state, indeed, that so far as regards six 'or seven clergymen, it was actually determined that the process of going over from the. Anglican Church to Popery should be gone through on Thursday and Friday, but at the very urgent ! entreaties of some Tractarian friends of the embryo seeeders they have agreed to- defer the formal step for a few days longer. It was thought by, those Puseyites who object to their going openly over to Rome, that they 1 would have.been more useful in sending''others over to tWlComish Church, by nominally remaining a little longer,in "the .Church .of England. But they say" they are in quest of repose, which they unaginethey "will" obtain ..where they have genuine Popery^ and not the spurious thing.called Puseyism.i It is a curious fact, that at least; ten of .the; clergymen in the category to; whichi we ailudej .who are determined to throw; themselves /.into the:arms of the Romish Church, are vn r ' married, so that they will at once becomePopisji priests..;: We Relieve that a majority of their number are members of the University of Oxford • and yesterday the. propriety; of .postponing the .step was matter of serious,deliberation .among the leading-tractarians in Oxford. Soinfc* Puseyite clei-gymen left London for. the express purpose of attending the private meeting referred to. Among the laymen whose counsels have been sought in this matter is a well-known Tractarian who occupies a high position in monetary circles, and who has been at, the head of ,the /affairs. of" the Bank "of Englaudv! Several of the embryo sefleclers are clergymen /of? standing in the literary; as well as ecclesiastical world. In a few day&we shall be at,liberty; to be more unreserved in our revelations on .the subject.— looming Adver,tiser,\Se]>t 30..< > „ ; Y. A' Vebbati^i REPOETBK.~-V:Welli : Cuffee,' said-a«! minister ,to his coloured servant,.'what were you doing; in meeting this afternoon? ' 'Doing massap Taking notes,' was the reply. 'You taking notes,?' exclaimed the master. ' Sartaiu, mosaa; all the gentlemen take notes.' •Well, let me see them/^said he. Cuffee there-

upon produced his sheet of paper, and his master found it scrawled all over wrth all'sorts of marks and lines, as though a doren spiders', dipped in ink, had marched over it. "'Why this is all nonsense,' said the minister, as he looked at, the notes. ' Well massa,' Cuffee replied, _' I thought so all the time you were preaching.' Mobmon Secbetiveness.—The new " DeBeret Alphabet" is completed, and a fount of pica type has been cast in St. Louis. Sped--raens of the type are published in*the St. Louis papers, but they are unprodueible in types that common people use. The typefounders have supplied the Mormons with moulds and other apparatus for re-casting; their, old metal. So the' ' Deseret News' will probably hereafter be a profound mystery, at least in part, to all but the initiated. The new characters are forty-one iii number, and.bear a striHng resemblance to those of theEthidpic alphabet: The ukases of Brother Brigbam will hereafter Be. a sealed letter, literally, to Gentile eyes.— New. York Paper. ,'"'■' "■ ~[' y ■ " ■ ■'*■"■■■■..

CHiVAtßbtrs RoMANCK.-^Scliblars divide the romances into families or cycles. But the clas«ifi cation is, for the most part, only approximate ; and, as in some tropic wood, thick grown witli parasitic plants, po it is with the growth-of fable; many a tree is found supporting leaves and flowers which belong to another plant, and are ranged in a widely different species. Indeed, the dispersion of ideas among the races of mankind resembles not a little the dispersion of seeds among the regions of the earth. Some seeds are. transported by the winds of great tempests- others washed far away by inundations. Some are lightly borne away, with songs by the birds; others cross fell and flood, adhering to the smoking flank of the hunted deer. So with the conceptions, the incidents, the personages, from which a story grows. Some are carried from their legendary seat by migration or invasion. Wandering minstrels sing some in camp arid court, "while others are the tribute of the fugitive to- the land of his; exile. -But we may leave it to the learned to dispute concerning the genealogy of fiction. Let us for awhile believe these stories, and for half an hoar become once more children. - Let us in this way bathe with Sir Huonin the Fountain of Youth, and renew" the simplicity! of childhood. Old Time has robbed us of many things. He has a hoard of treasnres^-rieher far than that.,which wrought the woe of- the Niebelungen—in a certain cavern of his which men call the Pasi. Let us despoil the enemy, and,-bringing. up from the depths those old fancies and inventions which he has sunk in oblivion, build them into a summer-house for our "delectation. Let us do as the Lady pf-the Hidden Isle, did, who built, her a gorgeous palace out of the treasures tamed in the ships sent against her by her" enemy. .Let us read:the- old tales, remembering, that 'they were once -the delight of jnen of like passions.with ourselyes-^that the jongleur tokhthem amidst the rapt attention or the fiei-ce applause of, knights .and squires, stretched on the greensward in the summer,- or lounging on the rushes before the great hall-in-e in the weav risome winter time.— British Quarterly :i£e-~ view. ■ '■ -. _ -"r< (■■* ... i ■ *