MULTUM IN PARVO.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 183, 1 March 1848, Page 3

MULTUM IN PARVO.

(From late Australasian papers. } Mr, Kitchen, formerly connected with the press in this colony and New Zealand, is lecturing on stenography in Van Dieraen's Land. — Sk thousand tons oC ore are laid to be lying at the I3urra Burra mines* it being impossible to get it carted down to the port na fast as it is raised. At a meeting of the members of the Geelong Mechanic's Institute it was unanimously reiolved that, on account of its revolutionary and infidel principles, the London W'eclly Dispatch should not be included in the papers ordered by the Lsititute. —•The Board of Customs have sanctioned the request; of the inhabitants of Portland, that that town may be declared a free warehousing port. — A dinner, attended by upwards of two hundred persons, was held at Mel- ' bourne in commemoration of the birth diyof Burns1 Kellett's Inn, at the Sultwater Punt, near Melbourne, wa* destroyed by a lire a few days since, through a drunken servant letting fire to bis bed clothes The lois is estimated at .£4O '.—lee prepared by machines is sold at Port Phillip. — TheMoieton Bay "Indian Labour Association" havt received applications for upwards of three hundred servants, quite enough for one shipment — Mr. Prout has published a series of street views of Geelong and Melbourne.— The powder magazine at Williams Town is now completed, and the gunpowder removed from Melbourne is placed in it— Mr. Webb, formerly Sub-collector of Customs at Melbourne, hai been acquitted of the charges preferred against him, and is appointe) chief clerk in the department at Sydney.— Sydney Herald New System of Colonial Defence. — Who should not tbe colonies of England be called upon ty asiist in their own defence ! Numerous as are our land and sea forces, and costly as the charge of them to the revenue, they are insufllcieut for the purpose, and worse paid than men in any othc- calling in life. The system of colonial defence is the cause of this anomaly ; and therefore if any plan can be suggested by which the colonies can assist in payment or support of the troops requisite for their defence, it will be hailed on all sides as an improvement. Such n system has been recommended by Eail Grey to Sir Henry Pottinger. It consists of the establishment; of a kind of military colonists on the disturbed frontier of Caffieland. The soldiers of the 27th, and the first battalJioa of the 91si regiment, now at tbe Gape, ure to be discharged if they will accept seivice iv the local militia* These men are to be settled on the frontier of the disturbed district, and allotments of land to be assigned to them, so that henceforward the charge of their maintenance will be partly at their own cost, and partly, we preiume, at that of the Colonial Treasury. If the plan should answer, of course it will be unnecessary to maintain to large a force at the Cape as we have hitherto done, and the Imperial Exchequer will be proportionably relieved. In considering this scheme ws must not take it limply at its commencement. Beyond all doubt the soldiers of her Majesty's 27th and gist regiments of foot will turn out excellent militiamen, and will retain their allegiance to their native Sovereign intact. But what will happen when it comes to the turn of their children to shoulder the colonial muiket under the orders practically of the majority of an assembly sitting at Cape Towu ? They will have a deeper inteiest than their fathers in the prosperity and tranquillity of the land of their birth ; but what will be their feeling towards the land of their forefather?, whose customs, religion, and language, they have been appointed to establish and maintain iv South Africa ? It does not, however, follow, hecause the defence of colonies is henceforth to be much entrusted to colonial corps, that therefore they are to be entirely denuded of European troopj, It is not only at the Cape, but m New Zealand, that the new system may be said to be already in progress. We certainly have in its favour the experience of the defence of India by 'the Sepoys, and the gallant conduct of the West India regiments. When this plan— if it shall be found to answer — comes into full operation, we shall be enabled to concentiate a much larger foice at home at a much diminished expense, and the hardship of military service will be infinitely lessened to the soldier by the cessation of the long colonial service. There can be no doubt that the Cape has been wisely chosen for the experiment, and under no auspices could it have been more foitunately tried than under those of Sir Harry Smith. We have already had more than enough of Caffre raids and forays. The. war has already cost Gieat Britain upwards oE .£1,000,000, and we take it that on the whole the Caffres have inflicted far more injury on us than we have upon them, and that the frontier settlers aie just in as disturbed a state as they were eighteen months ago. If this new Cape Militia shall actually put an end to a war so cosily and inglorious, the new system, will be carried out elsewhere. This is not merely a Cape question, but one which points to a fundamental alteration in our system of colonial defence. Mental Talent Rewarded. — If any persons wish to know what encouragement is given to those who get their living by mental labor, let them pciuse such advertisements as the following which appeared in the Times a few days 8go — (l Wanted a footman, tobe in livery, who will have occaiional help from a page. Wages £24 a«year'' — And then, in the tame day's paper— " Wanted a Nursery-Governess in a gentleman's family. A lady about thirty ye&>s of age will be preferred— one who has been accustomed to tuition, and is capable of instructing little boys and girls in the elements of a solid education. She will also be required to teach tbe rudiments of muiic, dancing, drawing and French. She must belong to the Church of England. Salary £20 a-year." The footman who is employed to clean boots, wait at table, &c, is to have occasional help from a page, and is to receive for his valuable services £'2i a>year. The lady, who is required to teach the rudiments of muse, dancing, drawing and French, muit be satisfied with £4. a-yeai' less, and without any assistance whatever. Such is the difference between the remuneration for mental and bodily labor. — Atlas. Kissing. — The Editor of a New York p^per, with, a great want of gallantry, says, " Probably there is no moment when a man or woman look* so supremely, utterly, and hopelessly simple and foolish as when engaged in that most poetically foolish of all occupations — the act of kissing. Whenever they happen to be; seen, they look as if caught with a stolen sheep— and no wonder." Naval Anecdotx — One of his Majesty's frigates being at anchor on a winter's night, in a tremendous gale of wind, the ground broke and she began to drive. Tbe lieutenant on the watch ran down to t v .e cabin, awoke the captain from bis sleep, and told mm tlie* anchor had come home. <• Well," said the captain, rubbing his eyts, " I think the anchor's pu-^ctly right ; who would stop out such a night as tins ?'' At a late meeting of the Royal Asiat»c Society, Mr. Gutzlaff mentioned a curious instance or the administration of Lynch Law in China. Some outlaws, srho were said to be employed by the Government to kidnap the English soldiers, settled themselves at Cbusan where they committed all kinds of depredations in the neighbouihood They were warned off, but they treated the. warning with tuch contempt that tbe popular indignation was roused ; the ruffians weie seized, 'put, on board a boat, with stones tied round, their necks, and then quietly dropped into the »ca.