ENGLISH NEWS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 60, 29 November 1845, Page 4

ENGLISH NEWS.

Mortality in the Colonies.— At alate meeting of the Statistical Society, an interesting paper was read by Assistant-Surgeon Balfour, on the mortality of the army, in the course of which the following tabular result was given in regard to the colonial establishments : — Annual mortality per 1000 — New South Wales, 14.1 ; Cape of Good Hope 15.5; Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 18 ; Malta, 18.7; Canada (Upper and Lower), 20; Gibralter,22.l; lonian Islands, 28.3; Mauritius, 30.5 ; Bermuda, 32.3 ; St. Helena, 35 ; Tennaserim Provinces, 50 ; Madras Presidency, 52 ; Bombay Presidency, 55 ; Ceylon, 57.2 ; Bengal Presidency, 63 ; Windward and Leeward command, 85 ; Jamaica, 143 ; Bahamas, 200 ; Sierra Leone, 483. Plank Roads in Canada. — The experiment of planking public roads has been succeesful in an eminent degree in Canada. One between London and Port Stanley, 30 miles long, is already finished, and another now constructing between Port Dover and Hamilton, 50- miles long, and still a third between London and Hamilton, 80 miles in extent, are now under contract. They are laid for double and single tracks ; the expense of the former being 4000 dollars, and the latter at 3000 dollars per mile. The roads already constructed are expected to last ten years.

The import of North American lard has been about 500 tons. It has not competed much with tallovr, and has commanded a higher value. Tallow imported to London from the following ports, from Ist June to 31st May, in each year :—: — 1844-45. 1843-44. 1842-43. 1841 42.

At a public soiree at the Winchester Mechanics' Institution, a lecture was given by Mr. Sharp, on " the Philosophy of the Kitchen," to illustrate which a supper was cooked upon the lecture-table by means of gas. There was a crowded attendance, including Bickhatn Escott, Esq., M.P., and several other persons of distinction. Upwards of 70 sat down to the repast, which consisted of roast beef, mutton, fowls, ham, griskins, fried sausages, spare-ribs, puddings, &c, all admirably cooked by the cooking apparatus, under the direction of the lecturer. The late winter in England has been more severe and of longer duration, than any since 1813 — I t, the mean temperature of the winter months, being from 7 to 8 degrees below the usual average. On the Continent this had been equally the case, the fall of snow having been unusually large, and the duration of the frost much longer thau common. Another evil had resulted from this continued cold ; on the weather breaking up, the quantity of water brought down the rivers was so great, that the most disastrous inundations had taken place. Bremen was overflowed and the lower town placed under water by the bursting of a dike on the 31st March, and many lives were lost ; the Rhine had risen to an extraordinary height throughout its course, and much mischief was done; at Cologne it had risen 31 1 feet. In the Netherlands much alarm was felt, as the waters began to rise, and many dikes were threatened, and in some cases (as at Empel where six breaches were made, one from 120 to 150 feet wide), they had already suffered much damage ; should the dikes of the Rhine at Linden give way, and this was much to be feared, the consequences must be very serious, as a large extent of land must be placed deeply under water. Thorwaldsen's statue of Lord Byron, which was denied a place in Westminster Abbey, and was even supposed to have been destroyed in the Custom-house, has again come to light, and is to be put up in Trinity College, at Cambridge, where the poet studied. A committee has been formed at Carmarthen for the erection of a suitable monument to General Nott, the late conqueror of Ghuznee and Candahar, who was a native of that place. The work is proposed to be carried out by subscriptions, and all Englishmen are invited to contribute, to do honour to departed worth.

Casks. Casks. Casks. Casks. Buenos Ayres and Montevideo ..11,488 10,313 10,615 10,386 New York, Boston, &c 2,863 2,334 1,693 1,158 Odessa, Ibrail, &c. 6,425 7,393 8,856 7,300 Ancona, and Cape Good Hope, &c. 1,998 2,572 64 693 Archangel 83 725 827 742 Australia (9970) .. 6,647 29,504 23,337 22,637 20,279