SYDNEY.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 83, 9 May 1846, Page 3

SYDNEY.

By the Alfred, we have received Sydney Papers to the 27th April. The following are extracts : — Sir Charles Fitztoy the new Governor of New South Wales is daily expected at Sydney. Cattle for Port Nicholson. — A fine lot of cattle were shipped on board the Alfred from Ebsworth's Wharf on Saturday last. They were in excellent condition, and were got on board in very good style. Bishop Epaille who lately sailed from Sydney in the schooner Marian Watson on a missionary voyage, was barbarously murdered by the natives of the island of Ysabel, one of the Solomon Islands, having received four large cuts on the head, all clean through the skull, so as to expose the brain. Monsieur Fremont a French Priest, received two wounds, and the second mate one, which had the appearance of being done with a tomahawk. Mr. Fremont and the second mate made for the water, and the report of a pistol from the boat saved them from sharing the same fate. Mr. Chauraine mo. e t ably fought his way through this mob of savages with stones only, aud got to the boat, when he seized a cutlass, and fearlessly risked his life to go to the assistance of his lordship, whom they were dragging along the beach, tearing his clothes off, when at the second report of a musket and pistol, they all ran off into the bush. The Adelaide South Australian, of the Ist inst., writes : — An allowance of £50,000 per annum is believed to have been verbally conceded by

the British Government, in furtherance of the completion of a steam line to Sydney, from Ceylon or Singapore, and it is thought such a sum would be a sufficient inducement to hasten the proposed branch to Australia on the part of the promoters of the Cape undertaking.

Tahiti and Huahine. — In opposition to an agreement entered into between Sir George Seymour and Governor Bruat previous to the i former leaving Tahiti, the French have attacked the Tahitians, and have been repulsed with severe loss. The following is an extract ; from a private letter published in the Sydney ■ Morning Herald : — Immediately after the departure of the English Admiral, the following attack was made on Huahine : — On the 17th Jan. the French captain landed bis troops, and burned the village of Fare, containing 1 upwards of one hundred and twenty good houses, cut down the trees, fences, &c, and destroyed or plundered all kinds of property. On the 18th, 400 soldiers were landed, to murder the poor natives, who, to save their wives and children from destruction, met the French, and fought for 48 hours; the French had 21 killed and 45 wounded. The wounded were brought up here in the French steamer ; I suppose nearly half of them have died since. The natives lost two. Our very hearts bleed at these things. How deeply humiliating that the labours of 28 years should thus terminate, and the poor natives after having been delivered from the miseries of heathenism, and enjoying in some degree the blessings of the gospel and civilized life for almost thirty years, should be so treated by a great nation ! ! because they applied to Britain to rescue them from the curses of a French Protectorate. P.S. — A number of foreigners joined the natives and fought the French.

The Times asserted most confidently that Parliament would meet on the 14th January, and that the Queen in her opening speech would recommend that the Corn Laws should be taken into consideration, upon which the Duke of Wellington in the Upper, and Sir Robert Peel in the Lower House, wonld move the total repeal of the existing Corn Law system. This was vehemently denied, but the Times reiterated the statement. The experiment in cultivating crops by means of electricity is a total failure in all parts of the kingdom.

Steam for the Million. — Boats are running from the City to the West-end for one penny each passenger. The repeal of the auction duties in England is producing a sensible effect upon the trade of auctioneering. Respectable Auctioneers are now arranging periodical sales in different pi ices, and offering their services to dispose of stock at any of the markets and fairs within thei. range. It is stated that at the next meeting of Barristers going the Oxford circuit, motion is to be made for rescinding the offensive resolution adopted by that body against the press. The birthplace of Sir Walter Scott, in College Wynd, Edinburgh, is now a public house. Dr. Carson has resigned the rectorship of the High School, Edinburgh, which he has filled upwards of twenty-five years : his advanced years are the reason of the step which he has taken. The Marquis of Breadalbane, recently Lord Rector of G.asgow University, has signified his wish to found in it two scholarships, with an allowance of fifty pounds per annum each, for the encouragement and promotion of scientific study. The Hungerford Suspension Bridge has been sold for £220,000 ; a price which would give every bridge proprietor £62 : 10 : 0 for his £25 share, and the Regent's Canal has been purchased by a new Railway Company, for a million of money. It is said, that one of the sarliest measures of Sir Robert Peel in the next session will be to impose a duty of 2s. 6d. upon transfers of railway shares, from which source a large increase to the Revenue is anticipated.

Great Russian Railway. — The longest tract of railway ever contemplated in Europe, is that from St. Petersburgh to Odessa, extening over an uninterrupted line of 1600 miles. It will connect the Baltic and the Black, and consequently the Caspian Seas, traversing three different zones of temperature, and a person may then leave the Russian capital in the depth of winter and arrive on the same rail at Odessa, in warm, nay hot weather. It is, moreover, the beginning of what may really be termed an overland route ; connecting, in fine, the Russian metropolis and Ispahan. The Emperor Nicholas takes great nterest in this gigantic plan.