ENGLISH NEWS.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, 23 April 1842, Page 27

ENGLISH NEWS.

tn The Exchequer Bill Fraud. — Mr. Beaumont Smith has been brought up for trial, and pleaded guilty.. He was sentenced to transportation for life. In consequence of gaps in. the file of papers, we see notjuMrof steps taken for punishing the less pHhnent, but more guilty participators in thefraud. We hope that they will not be allowed to evade the arm of the law, for they belong to a .class with whom more villany originates than almost any other — accommodation bill-brokers. A set of more unredeemable scamps do not exist : they live by the misery of their fellow creatures, and thrive by urging them to crime. In every English paper we see accounts of tremendous rains, destructive winds, and deVvastating floods.. The distress' which must I follow from these visitations, must greatly j «nhance the difficulties of the present ministry. I It is a consolation to remember that the misery I thus caused may produce eventual good, if it force upon them with added strength the abso- ! late necessity for taking steps to relieve the i Bother country of its superabundant popuflction, and at the same time to increase the prosperity of the 'colonies by establishing a permanent system of emigration. The Thames has again overflowed its banks. <0n Wednesday, December Ist, the tide rose tajHy as high as on the 18th and 19th of Octo■T>er, and the damage done above bridge was I tcarcelr less in amount. On the Middlesex ' gids all the wharfs along shore, at Pimlico and , Chelsea, -where completely flooded; at the lat- , tar place, juct above Batteraea Bridge, aevetal

walls enclosing gardens were washed away. .Near Mr.. Rettsworth's wharf several boats were/ by the morning tide, driven loose — one belonging to a person named Cottingham was swamped and sunk. At Fulham a long wall bounding the gardens of Mr Matyear, which had just been rebuilt, was washed' down, and the water in the Kensington Canal was so swollen that near the bridge on the Fulham road both the carriage-way and footpath were at the afternoon tide nearly a foot under water, and all up the canal to the bason, near the Great Western Road, the cellars and lower rooms of the houses were flooded. At Hammersmith the high road, near the mouth of the creek, was, in the afternoon, for nearly two hours, under water to such a depth that persons were rowed in a boat from one side to the other ; and at the bottom of Webb's-lane, near the Thatched-house, leading to Acton, the road was quite impassable. On Hammersmith Mall the Old Ship and the Doves public-houses suffered most severely, every thing being afloat in the cellars. The houses abutting on the creek were also inundated, as were likewise the cottages in the passages leading to the West Middlesex Waterworks, and the kitchens of the houses on Hammersmith Terrace. At Chiswick most of the houses near the waterside had the lower rooms' under water, and all the furniture, &c, afloat. At Strand-on-the- Green the road was entirely under water, and in some parts it was full three feet, while at Kew Bridge it was a foot deep. All the lower parts of Old Brentford were also inundated, and at New. Brentford, owing to the gre.at rise in the water 'of the river Brent, from the effects of the late heavy rains, the damage done was considerable. At Isleworth the road opposite the church was completely flooded and quite impassable, except in vehicles. The London Apprentice and other public-houses near the waterside sustained considerable damage from the eruption of the waters, and at nearly the same spot a Guildford bargSj laden with coal, was swamped, and went down with her cargo. Inland, beyond Isleworth, the waters were also so' muc*h out that on Wednesday night some of the police were unable to perambulate some portions of their beats.