VAN DIEMAN’S LAND.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 23, 18 October 1842, Page 4

VAN DIEMAN’S LAND.

(From the Colonial Observer).

The Legislative Council continues its sittings; but the public seem to take remarkably little interest in its proceedings. Sir John laid on the table a dispatch from the Secretary of State in reference to his application, at the recommendation of the council, for an increase of salary from £2,500, to £4,000 per annum, rendered necessary by the prospect of increased expenditure in procuring paid domestics when the system of assignment shall have been discontinued ; and in providing for the increased state of the new government house. Lord John’s reply is short and cutting, “ I think it will be proper to reserve the consideration of the question until the anticipated changes shall have been made.”

The Estimates for 1843 is the principal topic of discussion. Murray's Review of the Ecclesiastical Estimates, (15,647/.), indicates the hold that Voluntaryism is rapidly acquiring on the public mind. “ This is another leviathan abuse of the rightful appropriation of the produce of the taxes. The great principle of a Voluntary Church, (adopted by the certainly highly-talented Dr. Lang), notwithstanding the virulent opposition which it has to encounter, is progressing rapidly all over the world. To that it must and will come at last. The clergy may assure themselves that the common sense of mankind is rapidly opening the public eye to the great evils of the “ adulterous" connexion between church and state. In Van Dieman’s Land the above sum is out of all proportion to the services rendered. Its distribution is also wholly disproportionate. Church of England £10,365, Church of Scotland £2,993, Church of Ireland [!] (Roman Catholic) £1,833. So that the Church of England, like Aaron’s rod, swallows up all the others. The glebe system is also shamefully unjust. Independent of the universally adopted opinion, that no clergyman ought to have anything whatever to do with land beyond the permitting to a country clergyman sufficient to depasture a cow for his family —independent of this now universally acknowledged principle—the distribution of the glebes here is extremely unequal. Some of the chaplains have glebes very valuably productive, others have either none at all, or such only as are valueless. The glebe system requires that thorough revision, which a representative government will assuredly effect. The whole, being the public property, should be at once sold for the public benefit.”

“ Mr. Justice Montagu opened on Monday the Criminal Session of the Supreme Court. He has given another proof of the independence of mind which invariably governs him, by directing the Jury to acquit a man charged with stealing some sugar and pork from Lady Franklin’s farm at Kangaroo Bottom, the property having been stated in the information as being that of Sir John Franklin, Knight , and that Sir John was a Knight not having been proved by the prosecutor. There was no other case of the slightest public interest.”

PORT PHILLIP. The only intelligence that reached Sydney by the overland mail on Saturday evening, from Port Phillip, was the failure of the house of Welsh and Co. The liabilities are stated at £43,000; the assets at £30,000. The creditors have accepted a composition of Bs. in the pound, payable with security by bills at 12, 16, 20, and 24 months.— lbid. The Port Phillip Bar. —Mr. Sydney Stephen applied to Mr. Justice Willis on the 3rd instant, to be allowed to practise as a barrister in the Supreme Court at Port Phillip. His Honor refused the application, asserting as a reason, that it had come to his judicial knowledge that Mr. Stephen had taken advantage of an illegal act committed by himself to vitiate an agreement entered into with Mr. Carr, of Sydney.— Ibid.

The Great American Skeleton. —The following is a brief description of that gigantic skeleton, the Missourium of M. Koch, now exhibiting in the Egyptian Hall, London:— Extreme length, thirty-two feet; height, fifteen feet. The head measures, from the tip of the nose to the spine of the neck, six feet; from one zygomatic arch to the other, four feet; from the lower edge of the upper lip to the first edge of the front tooth, twenty inches; from the front point of the lower jaw to the first edge of the front teeth, eight inches; from the edge of the upper lip, measuring along the roof of the mouth to the socket of the eye, three feet; from thence to where the atlas joins the head, ten and a half inches. The whole number of teeth is eight. The back teeth in the upper jaw are seven inches in length, and where they unite with the front teeth they are like those four inches broad. The formation of the nose is very peculiar: it consists of a bony substance interwoven with cells, and presents a broad, flat appearance ; it projects thirteen inches over the

lower jaw, and ends in two nostrils, which are somewhat raised on the face. The Missorium is also distinguished by two enormous tusks curved backwards. They are in length ten feet, exclusively of a part fifteen inches long, which forms the root and is buried in the skull. We hope shortly to communicate Professor Owen’s opinion of this entire antediluvian remnant. Mr. Koch is a Prussian, and has exhibited singular perseverance in his scientific pursuits. The skeleton now on exhibition was found by him near the shores of the river Pomme de Terre , a tributary of the Osage river, in Benton County, State of Missouri, N. lat. 40 deg., W. long. 18 deg. Anecdote of Napoleon. before the battle of Jena, Napoleon had well nigh fallen a victim to one of those accidents which may be considered as illustrative of the legitimate hazards encountered in the glorious “ trade of war.” At Weimar the Emperor disposed his forces in order of battle, and bivouacked in the centre of his guard. He had ordered a passage to be hollowed in the rock, and towards two o’clock in the morning set out on foot to ascertain how the work was proceeding. Haying remained an hour on the spot, he resolved to make a rapid inspection of the nearest outposts, before returning to his bivouack. This solitary excursion nearly cost the Emperor his life. The night was so dark that the sentries were unable to see the slightest object at the distance of ten paces. One of them, hearing footsteps, challenged and immediately presented his piece. The Emperor, who was prevented from hearing the qui vive by one of his fits of absence, made no answer, and was speedily aroused from his reverie by a ball whizzing past his ear. Instantly aware of his danger, he threw himself flat on the ground. No sooner had he adopted this precaution than a shower of bullets passed over him, the first sentry’s fire having been repeated through the whole line. The momentary danger past, the Emperor rose and walked straight to the nearest outpost, where he was immediately recognised. In a few minutes the sentry who had first challenged and fired was brought before Napoleon. The soldier was a young grenadier in one of the regiments of the line. “You young rascal!” said the Emperor, familiarly pinching his cheek, “it seems you took me for a Prussian! The dog does not waste his powder ; nothing less than an emperor serves him for a mark.” The poor soldier, in the utmost consternation at the idea that he might have killed the little corporal, whom he idolized not less than the rest of the army, could only stammer out a few broken sentences :—“ Pardon, Sire, but I had orders to fire; if you will not answer, lam not to blame: another time you must put in the orders that you don’t choose to answer.” The Emperor laughed, and to reconcile the poor fellow to himself, said, as he withdrew, “My brave lad, it was not your fault; for a random shot in the dark, yours was not amiss; it will soon be daylight; take a better aim, and I’ll provide for you.”— Colonial Observer. Desolation of the Vicinity of Rome. — Miss Sedgwick, the American traveller, presents us, on approaching the “Eternal City,” with the following vivid picture of the desolation which surrounds it:—“ Our last posts were through the dreary wastes that compass Rome. The campagna is not, as I had ignorantly believed, a level, but presents an undulating surface, without morasses or stagnant water, or anything that indicates unwholesomeness except its utter desertion. The grass looks rich and rank, as if it sprung from a virgin soil, and its tints are glowing even at this season. There are scattered here and there large flocks of sheep, with lean, haggard, and half-clothed shepherds and shepherd’s dogs; and there are herds of oxen of very large and fine species, and with horns as beautiful as antlers. But with these exceptions there is no life. From the summit of the hills (and there are considerable hills) the eye stretches over a wide reach of country, extending for miles in every direction, and here and there an old barrack-like dwelling, a crumbling tower, a shrine, a crucifix, but no cheerful habitations, no curling smpke, no domestic sounds, nothing that indicates human life and “ country contentments.” It is one vast desolation, a fit surrounding for the tomb of nations. As we caught the view of St. Peter’s, and the domes and spires of the 360 churches of Rome, it seems as if life were still beating at the heart of the body doomed to die first at the extremities.”— lbid.