WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1850.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 460, 11 September 1850, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 185 0.

The Notifications issued by " Her Majesty's Commissioners for the promotion of the Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, to be holden in 1851," which have been republished here in the Government Gazette, and to which we promised in our last to recur, are so copious that it would be impossible within the space at our command for the purpose, to give more than a summary view of them, isuch a view, however, will probably, be sufficient to satisfy our readers, except the comparatively small number who may wish to make themselves acquainted with all the details of the project, and who may therefore be likely to turn to the Gazette for fuller information. After some preliminary remarks, pointing out how necessarily the scale on which the undertaking will be conducted must depend on the amount of support it shall receive from the public, the Commissioners make various statements, of which the following is the substance. The Exhibition will be opened on the Ist of May ; aiticles will be received from the Ist of January to the Ist of March, " after which no

further goods will be received." The building for the purpose is to be erected in Hyde Park, and to cover a space of from sixteen to twenty acres, or about a million square feet ; it is to be fire-proof. It will be provided to the Exhibitors free of rent and charges of every kind "Colonial and Foreign productions will be admitted without paying duty, for the purposes of exhibition, but not tor internal consumption. Her Majesty's Commissioners of Customs will consider all such articles as Bonded Goods, and Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, will make suitable arrangements for their reception." According to the regulations of the Board of Customs, "no Foreign goods liable to duty are to be on any account removed from the premises until the termination of the Exhibition, and then only on the payment of the duty, or for re-exportation." The goods are to be imported into one of the following Ports, viz.— London, Liverpool, Bristol, Hull, Newcastle, Dover, Folkestone, or Southampton. . . . The Commissioners urge the formation of local Committees, and in short, " complete local organization," to promote the object, and " think that the same system should be extended as much as possible to the British Colonies.". . . .But, as however large the building may he, the quantity of articles sent may exceed the space provided, the Commissioners reserve to themselves full power of rejection and selection. . . .The Commissioners were considering " the principles on which the Prize Fund of £20,000, should he appropriated, and the hest mode of adjudication." [This, we may note, was almost the only point on which any serious dissent from the plan was publicly expressed ; but some of the warmest supporters of the undertaking generally,strenuously contended that Prizes would rather hinder than advance the main purposes contemplated.] Six pages of the Gazette are occupied by an elaborately prepared " Classified List of Objects which may be admitted to the Exhihition." These " Objects" are arranged under four great headings or " Sections," which are almost minutely suhdivided. They include — I. " Haw Materials and Produce,— illustrative of the natural productions on which human industry is employed," as derived from the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal Kingdoms respectively : — II. Machinery, in its various applications to mechanical, manufacturing, agricultural and chemical purposes:— lll. Manufactured Articles, which, it is determined, "must he in their: finished state, as fit for use :" —and IV. Sculpture, Models, and the Plastic Art ; respecting which Section it is stated that " Objects formed in any kind of Material, if they exhibit such a degree of taste and skill as to come under the denomination of Fine Art, may he admitted." This outline it will he seen, presents opportunities for the exhibition of an almost infinite variety of products ; and of these opportunities, no doubt, multitudes in Europe and America will he eager to avail themselves. With a majority of the objects specified in the lists, however, we in New Zealand, have no direct concern. Many of the manufactured articles especially are beyond i anything that, for the present at least, we are in a position even to attempt producing. But we have, notwithstanding, much which we may so exhibit as to impress numbers who may congregate on the occasion with such a conviction as probably few of them have yet realized of the capabilities of the colony, and the extent to which capital and enterprise may be advantageously employed in the development of those capabilities. Our Flax, which, if the single obstacle to its universal application were removed, (as the success which has attended various recent experiments leads us to anticipate, will to a satisfactory extent, be soon accomplished), might not only compete with, hut would triumphantly hear away the palm from any similar product found in other countries ; — our mineral riches in copper, iron, coal, sulphur, &c; — our native woods, affording material for ornamental furniture of the most beautiful description, as well as for the rougher uses to which such timber as that of our noble Kauri tree may be applied ;— our rich dye woods, the value of which might soon he tested and appreciated by some who will be present ; and various other products, of different degrees of importance, which, we do not now stop to enumerate, might be exhibited in such a manner as could scarcely fail in securing attention in quarters, and to an extent, that would prove largely beneficial to the interests of the colony. The particular articles to be sent, and the mode in which they may best be presented, so as to bring their real character and worth into prominent view, would, however, be matter for the consideration of any Committee that might be charged with the undertaking. That such a Committee ought to be appointed, and appointed without delay, seems to. be the generally prevailing opinion, although, no efficient movement has yet been made to carry that opinion into practical action. However laudable the exertions of private individuals may be, yet they must— for reasons which will be obvious on a very little consideration, — fall iar short of accomplishing this object as it might and should be accomplished, — and, as we are confident it would be '-accomplished, by a judiciously chosen Committee, invested with such claims on general co-operation as nomination by a Public Meeting would confer, and

placed in possession of funds to carry out the purpose, (which, we suppose, need not be large, especially as the Government has engaged to forward the specimens at the charge of the Colonial Treasury). We have urged this course before ; but we feel it a duty thus emphatically to refer to it again, as the time within which the whole must be completed, if it be done at all, is now so short.

Returning to the files of papers last come to hand, we find intelligence from India, received by the Lord William BentincJc, to the 16th February, and received, via California, to the 16th March. The interest of the Indian news centres chiefly in the energetic steps taken by Sir Ciiarlcs Napier to restore military discipline, which in some regiments he found defective to an extent that could scarcely he credited if the report rested on less unexceptionable authority. Patt of the Bengal Army encamped at Lahore was found in a most disgraceful state ; and after a review on the plain of Meean Meer, Sir Charles is sued a general order, the purport and tone of which will appear from the following extract, which would deserve to be recorded, if it were only on account of its being so fstrikingly characteristic of the brave and uncompromising veteran General : — " sth. Bad as this was, it was not the worst. When these regiments chose to ' charge,' the Commander.inChief, to his astonishment, beheld the men discharging their firelocks straight up in the air, and he saw some men of the rear-rank actually firing off their muskets to the rear over their shoulders, as their bearers (he will not call them soldiers) were running to the from ! He feels assured that no snch scene could have occurred in any other regiments in the Army : if ever such again happen, he will.expose the cammanding officer of any regiment that so disgraces itself, in public orders, to the whole Indian Army. In the course of his service he never before witnessed Buch a scene. No commander could go into action with a regiment capable of such conduct without feeling certain that it would behave ill. The Commander inChief will, therefore, hold commanding-officers responsible (for they alone are to blame) that any soU dier who shouts, or charges, or fires, without orders, be instantly seized, tried at once by a drum-head court* martial, and the sentence executedjon the spot. Courtmartials which tiy such dangerous offenders, will, the Commander-in Chief has no doubt, uphold military discipline and military honour against outrageous and criminal disorder. This order may be deemed severe— the Commander-in Chief means it to be so ; for he will not pass over without animadversion faults which if tolerated, would in the event of war, produce certain defeat to this army. The reviews which the Commander-in-Chief n.al<es of the troops are not to be taken as so many ' chips in porridge.' They are made for the purpose of ascertaining what officers arc fit to command battallions; and there being no want of such in the Indian Army, he will feel it to be his bounden duty to remove those who are not; whenever he finds a regiment 'fire,' 'shout' or 'charge,' without oiders from its commander, lie will, after this warning, remove the latter from his command." This is the style of the whole order. While Sir Charles admits that there are " abundant first-rate soldiers and first-rate regiments in the Indian Army," he censures with unrelenting severity the want of that "perfect obedience without which any army is an armed mob, dangerous to its friends, and contemptible to its enemies." The fault he repeatedly declares to rest mainly with the commanding officers. It appears, from a subsequent account, that his threats were not, any more than his reviews, " chips in porridge," as several officers whom was Lieutenant-Colonel Ouseley, late Agent to the Governor-General on the south-west frontier) were awaiting trial on various charges. A mutinous spirit had been displayed by the 66th Bengal Native Infantry, forming the garrison at Umritser. The alleged cause was a deprivation of extra batta, which they said pressed heavily on fthem, on account of the high price of provisions. Sir Charles had dealt with this case also according to his high standard of discipline. The regiment was disbanded, and its colours handed over to the Nussaree battalion, which was thenceforth to be denominated " the 66th, or Goorka Regiment." The Governor-General had been at Bomf bay, where he was received with extraordinary demonstrations of welcome. He met there the Gnacower of Barroda, first Prince of Western India, who had come from the interior to arrange for the construction of a railway, foity miles long, from his capital to the seaport of Tankaria. A significant evidence of the progress of civilization in India ! •'Pity" — as a London contemporary remarks — "Pity is it to see this Prince about to squander on a village of prostitutes in the Deccan as much almost on elephants, horses, and women, or gifts to the idle and dissolute, as would cover all the outlay he proposes to incur in public improvements !" The results of a census taken last year in Bombay show that in that little island there are no fewer than 566,119 inhabitants,* of whom 354,090 are males, and 212,029 are females. The Europeans were less than one in a hundred of the whole population. An expedition sent from Peshawar against the hill tribes, with a view to clearing the passes and restoring the communication between Peshawar and Kohat, had not proved so successful as was anticipated. In a defile 150 of all ranks had been killed or wounded — a loss supposed greatly to exceed that sustained ' by the enemy — and the passes still remained closed. A second expedition on a larger scale was spoken of. The Nizam's dominions were in a state of anarchy and bankruptcy.

Sir T. Turton, late ecclesiastical registrar at Calcutta, had been sentenced to imprisonment for two years under the penal clause of the Insolvent Act, after the expiration of which he is to be allowed the benefit of the Act. There was little of importance from China. The Portuguese had given up the three Chinese taken at the Barrier for the murder of the Governor of Macao (of which we formerly published an account); and, in return, the Chinese had yielded up the head and hand of the late Governor. Both the relics had been well preserved, and were readily recognized; the skull, however, had been severely fractured, and one linger lexnoved, probably for the sake of a gold ring worn on it. A fire at Amoy had destroyed 450 houses, and much other property. The loss was estimated at £170,000. Valuable assistance in checking the conflagration had been rendered by H.M. Steamer Reynard, Capt. Craycroft.

Resident Magistrate's Court. — Saturday, September 7. — James Naylor, whose daring attempt to rob Mr. Keigiitley, watchmaker, in Queen Street, on the preceding evening, was reported in our last number, was brought up. The offence having been clearly proved, the prisoner was sentenced by the Bench to Le imprisoned for twelve months in the common gaol of Auckland, and kept to hard labour.