ENGLISH NEWS,

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 93, 13 March 1847, Page 2

ENGLISH NEWS,

By the John Bull, which arrived from Sydney on Sunday evening last, we have English intelligence to the sfch Novemher, brought by the ship Soubuhdar, Felton Matthew, Esq,, and Mrs. Matthew, had arrived by that ship at Sydney, and are coming on to Auckland iv the MauJrin. Mr. Matthew has been appointed Post Master General for- New Zealand; we trust that, with his appointment he has been insfructed to reform the abuses .now existing in the Post Office regulations of this Colony Much misery still existed at home in cosequence of ihe scarcity of that which formerly was the most plentiful and cheapest article of food ; but the state of trade was as brisk as the sepson of the year might expect* - Although not to the same extent as in Ireland, we regret to find that in the Highlandsof Scotland, great distress exists from the failure'of the potatoe crop. The Government were making arrangements for sending maize meal, and other food for distribution. Mr. Bancroft had been appointed United States Minister to England. Sir George CarroM was the new Mayor of London. We glean from the Sydney papers the following English News :— • • ' The Queen and Royal Family were in good health, and were residing at Windsor.

Tuesday, November 3, being the 69th anniver" sarv of the birth of her Royal Highness thePtiir ceis Sophia, the etent was signalised in the usual manner In the Examiner of the 31st October, we find the following political intelligence:— A Cabinet Council was held on Thursday afternoon at the Foreign office, at which all the members were* present. The Council sat two hours and a half. < We regret to find that the general, and we fear, the correct impression respecting the intentions of.the government, is unfavorable to the views and hopes of those who, with ourselves, had anticipated a prompt suspension, on ministerialresponsibility, of legislative enactments that artifi cially aggravate an acknowledged natural scarcity and dearth. The government have not, it is understood* deemed themselves justified, either in clearing away the four shilling barrier by which the state partially obstructs the ingress of those supplies for which the Church has been solicited to pray, or in relaxing the fiscal compulsion by which, at a heavy fisaal sacrifice, the legislature lias ordained a particularly wasteful use of our existing stores.— Chronicle* The London Official Gazette, of the 30th October contains her Majesty's Order in Couucil that Parliament, which stood prorogued to the 4th of November, was further prorogued to the 12th of January, but not for the despatch of business. Il was not very probable that it would meet before the usual time for that purpose, namely in February. Very great loss of life and damage and desruction of property had been caused by unparalleled inundations in France. Official documents declared that the loss at llounne alone, of houses occasioned by the late inundations, amounts to 200, and this number was being daily augmented, and not less than 2,000 persons were without food or raiment. It was dated in a letter from Cosne, dated 21th October, that the small town of St. Firmin, containing about 600 souls had been enguiphed, and that the whole population had perished J The little commune of Epercieu St-Paul, near Feurs, had lost forty-two houses out of ninety-one. Upwards of foi ty impoitant domains had been ravaged between Monfroud and Feurs, on the two banks of the Loire. At Vanchelto, all the inhabitants of fhft lower grounds were forced to fly, and scarcely hal they escaped when their houses were inundated. The water was declared to be in general, three feet higher than the great flood in November, 1790. We understand that Messrs. Waghorn, Mark Boyd, and S. Browning, had an interview with Lord Palmerstan in October, concerning the continuation of steam to the Australasian Colonies. The Royal marriages between the Catholic Queen of Spain, Senora Donna Isabella 11., of Bourbon, and his Serene Highness Don Francisco de A.6SL3 Maria de Bourbon : and of the Duke de Montpensier and the Infante Lnisa Fernanda, the Queen's sister, were solemnised in the Royal Palace, Madrid, on the 10th October. The Duke and Duchess de Montpensier, after the usual festivitiei, arrived at Paris on the 20th of the same mouth. A great Free-trade meeting took place at Birmingham, on Tuesday evening, Nov. 8. There were between 4,000 and 5,000 persons present. The object was to memorialize the Government to pass an order in couucil for the abolition of the present duty on corn. A deputation, on the morning of the 3rd Nov., waited, by appointment, upon Lord John Russell, in Downing-street, for the purpose of presenting a memoi ial to the Lords of the Treasury praying their Lordships to open the ports for the admission of corn duty free. Uefore the deputation retired the noble Lord stated that, " If I deem the measure necessary, if I see a probability that price s are about to rise, I will not, in thai case, hesitate to advise my colleagues to order the immediate opening of the ports." Sub-mamne Railways.— Mr. Dela Hayc, after the reading of a paper "On Ancient and Modern Modes of Travelling, " at ihe Liverpool Polytechnic Society, on Monday, in which he expatiated upon the advantages of railway transit and expressed his belief that by-and-by a daily communication would be established between China, India, and London, by means of t the electnc telegraph, alluded to his invention of sub-marine railways. We have before given full details of Mr. De la Haye's plan, which is to construct an immence iron tube, to be lowered from above, and rivited together by means of the divingbell. When completed, rails arc to be laid down, and locomotives, unaffected by external influences, arc to career beneath the bosom of the deep. His theory is, that the violence of the most violent storms is not felt lower than 20 feet below the surface, and that the pressure of ihe water together with the accu- j uiulation of sand, &c, would retain the tube in the position in which it might be placed. Mr.De la H aye is a British subject, of French extraction, and is very enthusiastic in his hope as to the adoption and sue* cess of his invention. When his assertions have been doubted or disregarded, he comforts himself with the assurance that nearly all great inventions have ] been at first exposed to ridicule. —Liverpool Standard.

Novel Scene in a Lunatic asylum.— A ball and concert were recently given at the Nottingham Lunatic Asylum, at which nearly all the patients were present. A very large and commodious room was fitted up with flowers and evei greens for the occasion. Benches were placed on each side of the apartments for the male and female patients. The entertainment com menced with glee tinging, which seemed much to attract their attention j and one poor man began to ling and recite verses in the most plaintive and melancholy manner : yet all vvai order and decorum. When dancing commenced, each person selected indiscriminately, his partner) and the country dances were danced with as much correctness as if seen in more rational circles j and really most of the patients seemed to enjoy the enlivening scene. The matron and several of the attendants and visitors danced with the patients, and there was not the least restraint or apprehension. Some few desponding patients were brought into the room, in the hope that the festive scene might rouse them from their wretchedness ; but their malady seemed to be too deeply seated for them to be relieved. The scene altogether was one of a most surprising and gratifying nature, fully proving the immense advantage the modern and humane treatment has over the brutal and cruel one of former days. Dr. and Mrs* Lowell have the management of the asjlum