ENGLISH NEWS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 59, 22 November 1845, Page 4

ENGLISH NEWS.

The Royal family weie quite well, the Royal v children having recovered from the hooping cough, under which they have lately been la- I bouring. A dreadful fire has laid one-third of the -city of Quebec in ruins, and deprived 10,000 persons of everything they had in the world. 1,630 dwelling houses, and at least 2,000 stores and outhouses, were destroyed. Lieutenant-General Sir R. Downes Jackson, commander of the forces in Canada, died of apoplexy on the 7th of June. Earl Cathcart succeeds him. The Rev. Mr. Barbara, the well-known author of the " Ingoldsby Legends," is dead. The English and French Governments had entered into a treaty for the suppression of the slave-trade. M. Guizot had resumed the duties of office. In Spain, Don Carlos had abdicated a throne which he did not occupy, in favour of his son the Prince of Asturious. Matters, however, still wore an unsettled aspect in the country. Sir J. Campbell was appointed Governor of k St. Vincent, and Mr. Emerson Tennant was spoken of as likely to succeed to the Government of Ceylon. Lord narriss, tbe hero of Seringapatam, died in June. On the 26th June, at South Molton, in Devonshire, seventeen houses were destroyed by fire, and many others damaged, The following summary we take from a Port Phillip paper : — The Maynooth Bill still continued the grand topic of discussion. On Monday, May 19th, on the question for the third reading of the bill, Mr. Ewart brought forward his amendment

declaring the inexpediency of extending the principle of State endowments of any religous denomination. The amendment wag seconded ;by Mr. Marshland, but as no other membet i rose to speak upon it, Mr. Ewart declined to 1 go to a division, and withdrew the amendment. I Mr. Bankes then moved his amendment — that the bill be read a third time (hat day six - months. Sir R. Inglis seconded it, and another debate ensued, during which the measure - was argued at great length, both as regards the religious question which one party conders that it involves, and also aa regards the question of State policy, wbiSh others consi-^ der as its most important feature. The de** bate lasted throughout the greater part of the sittings of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday ; and at two o'clock on Thursday morning, jfter a remarkable speech from Sir R. Peel, in which he admitted, that in the present state of Ireland, even trial by jury could not he depended upon, the house divided, and carried the third reading by 317 to 184. Mr. T. Duncombe then moved the addition o! a clause limiting the operation of the bill to three years; but this was negatived by 243 to 185, and the bill was then read a third time and passed. In the House of Lords, the debate was opened on the 2d June by an animated speech from the Duke ot Wellington, who gave a novel feature to the arguments already used in favour of the bill, by urging that as this country is now in a position of strength, in regard to Ireland, it would look like persecutioa*to refuse the grant. The Duke of Cambridge seconded the motion, and regarded the bill as involving a political, and not a religious question ; and as being one of the wisest and most couciliatory measures that have been proposed for some years. Lord Roden moved an amendment to the effect, that a committee be appointed to examine and report upon the class books used at Maynooth, and that the present hill he referred to such committee. The Bishop of London seconded the amendment, and a debate ensued, which lasted during the whole of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. The speakers in favour of the second reading of the bill were the Earl of St. Germans, Lord Beaumont, Lord Clifford, the Earl of Hardwicke, the Earl of Carnarvon, the Marquis of Normanby, the Archbishop of Dublin, Lord de Ros, Lord Brougham, the Duke of Cleaveland, Earl Spencer, the Bishop of Norwich, the Earl of Mornington, Lord Monteagle, the Bishop of St. David's and Lord Stauley ; and the speakers in favour of Lord Roden's amendment were the Duke of Manchester, the Bishop of Cashel the Earl of Winchelsea, the Bishop of Exeter, the Earl of Clancarty, Lord Colchester, and the Earl of Charleville. The interest of the debate was such that it was not brought to a close until half-past three on Thursday morning, when the house divided — first, on Lord Roden's amendment, which was negatived by a majority of 96, and then the main question of the second reading, which was carried by a majority of 157, the numbers being 256 to 69. Out of doors the opposition continued as g< eat as ever. Both of the Scottish General Assemblies bad petitioned against the measure ; and an aggregate meeting of the Wesleyan Methodists of London and its vicinity, held on the 9th June, had petitioned the Queen, praying her Majesty to withhold her assent to the bill " until, by a dissolution of Parliament, she shall have given the country an opportunity of expressing its sentiments on the measure." A company has been formed in London under the title of " the East India and Colonial Screw Propeller Navigation Company," for the purpose of establishing a rapid communication with the Cape, East Indies, and Eastern Colonies, having a capital of £1,000,000, and a most respectable and influential directto ry, amongst whom we perceive several names of gentlemen who have from the very first of its establishment taken great interest in the affairs of Australasia. The festival of Corpus Christi was celebrated by the Roman Catholics of Nottingham, on Sunday, in their new and magnificent church of St. Bainabas, with great pomp and splendour. There was a grand procession inside the building, with all the imposing ceremonies of the Romish Lhurch. The service occupied nearly three hours and a half, and some thousands were present at it; though many apparently as mere spectators. A vessel has just arrived with a cargo of planks from New Zealand, and some gossip. Among the gossip we have extracts of a letter from the wife of one of the principal settlers, mentioning " our first concert at Wellington," with a programme. The music included pieces by Rossini, Weber, Cherubini, Callcott, Donizetti, Meyerbeer, Schubert, and others — songs and concerted pieces, vocal and instrumental ; the instruments being, violin, pianoforte, flute, and cornet-a- piston. We are told that •' the instrumental part equalled anything you could have heard in England. " "We anticipate being able to get up several more concerts. The amateurs having kindly piomised to play at our Hutt ball, I think it will be the best we have yet had." "We haw in con-

templatlon some capital sport in * wonth't time. A wheat-mill, the fiTst on the* Hutt, is being built: it is to be finished to allow of there being a ball to commemorate it on the last day of the year. It is Mr. 's ; and his barn will be the ball-room, the mill the supper-room. We are to dance the old year out and the new year in ; and ' it's good fun we'll have, sure, hinny.' "—London Spectator,.

South Australia and New Zealand Post Office Regulations. — General PostOffice, June 11, 1845, — The Postmaster General having now reason to believe that letters and newspapers addressed to South Australia and New Zealand, and transmitted by the monthly mail packets to Sydney, will not be liable to any postage for their receipt and despatch by the Post Office of New South Wales, provided they are made up in this country in sealed mails, addressed to South Australia or New Zealand, as the case may be, but that they will be forwarded to tl>eir destination by the first opportunity presenting itself, all letters and newspapers posted hereafter, addressed to South Australia or New Zealand, not directed to be forwarded by private ship, will be despatched in sealed mails to Sydney, by the packets before alluded to. Under this regu•ation the rate ol postage to be taken hereafter on letters for South Australia or New Zealand, not directed to be forwarded by private ship, will-be Is. for a letter not exceeding half an ounce, 2s. for a letter not exceeding an ounce, &c. British newspapers, however, provided they are duly stamped and posted in conformity with the regulations required by this department, will not be liable to any postage in this country, unless addressed "by private ship." At the Maidstone Assizes, the Hon. Capt. Stuart took his trial on a charge of extensive swindling, practised on tradesmen of Tunbridge Wells. He was found guilty, and sentenced seven yeurs transportation. A monument and statue have been erected in St. Paul's Cathedral to the memory of the late Sir Astley Cooper, the eminent surgeon. It was raised by public subscription, confined to the Members of the profession of which he was so valuable a member. The greatest number of the donors were pupils of Sir Astley Cooper, headed by Mr. Callaway and Mr. Travers. The statue exclusive of the pedestal, is eight feet high, and the likeness is considered to be a good one. It is by Mr. Baily, the Royal Academician. Two hundred and fifty-seven shareholders in the Great Western, Bristol and Glo'ster, and Bristol and Exeter Railways, lately presented to Isambard Kingdom Brunei, Esq., | at a public dinner given to that gentleman at the Albion Tavern, a superb service of plate of the value of 2,000 guineas. J. K. Brunei, in addition to the well merited distinction which he has earned as the engineer of the great public works above mentioned, is known as one of the chief scientific projectors of the Great Britain steamer ; and he is truly de» scribed as " a little man with a great mind." Two large failures had occurred iv London, that of Messrs. Reay and Co., wine-merchants, of Mark-lane, whose liabilities are estimated to amount to £350,000, and that of Messrs. Allsop and Co. , the Burton ale brewers, \%hose deots are said to be from £200,000 to £300, 000. Emigration from Britain to the United States is going on daily, and becoming more and more extensive, determined and systematic. The Wisconsin Territory presents a great attraction, but some still more adventurous spirits are calling on intending emigrants to join in preparation for the extensive Colonization of the disputed Oregon Territory, of which it is proposed to take partial possession. Two instances have recently occurred, within the practice of one medical gentleman, of young ladies receiving severe wounds (in one case followed by inflamation, in the other severing a vein) from scissors carried in the fashionable pockets ala Suisse in the dress. — Cambridge C hroniele. Two curious facts have been stated to the Parliamentary Committee on Group F of Railways. Captain Laws, the manager of the Leeds and Manchester Railway, said that no less than thirteen tons of cucumbers was sent from Northampton to Manchester in one day. And Mr. Hudson, the Railway Napoleon, informed the Committee, that a single engine on one of his narrow guage-lines had taken a train of ninety-five loaded waggons, each of which, with its load, averaged seven tons in weight.