ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 103, 25 July 1846, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Division on the Corn Laws. — The numbers in the division in the House, of Commons on this question on Friday, February 27th. were for the amendment 240*, for the original motion 337, giving a majority of 97 in favour of Government in a house of 577 members.

Military. — The regiments first for foreign service, and to be augmented to 1,200 men each, are, the 24b, 32nd, Bth, 6th, 37th, 36th, 56th, and 69th. The twenty-seveu regiments on foreign service which have four-company depots at home, are to be augmented from 800 to 1,000 men ; and two of the depot companies are to join the service companies, making the latter eight companies of 100 men each. The regiments to be augmented will have a second Lieutenant-Cohmel and two additional companies. 1 lth — Ens. Bythesea proceeds by the Premier to New South Wales. 99th — Sergeant Stone has been appointed Provost Sergeant at Chatham.

The Queen of Madagascar. — We have beard it reported for several days that the Queen of Madagascar has caused a letter to be addressed by the commandant of one of her provinces to Captain Kelly, of her Majesty's ship Conway, and the contents of this letter have even been circulated in the town. Our horror of local on-dits at first prevented us: from making our paper the echo of this uews^ but the information with which we have since been furnished induces us to lay aside our usual distrust. It appears, then, that the letter, in question has really been addressed to Captain Kelly, and that Queen Ranavala* Manjaka considers it very strange, and highly impertinent, that she is not' allowed to remain mistress of her ovrn dominions, like Queen. Victoria in England, and Louis Philippe in France. She doubts not that, if she were to interfere in the affairs of their respective kingdoms, her usurpation of power and authority would l>e badly received, and she is surprised ; that she is denied the right of fixing the heads | of her prisoners on the end of a lauce according to " the custom of her country," when England, conformably with her own custom*,

sends her prisoners into exile. Besides, the first cannon-shot was not fired by her, and she persists, more firmly than ever, in acting as she pleases in her own kingdom, where traitors will only he admitted to fix themselves on becoming Malgachoes. Henceforward she wilj not reply to the letters which may be, addressed to her by the governor of our isle, and will only honour Queen Victoria herself with that favour. This is what is called talking, or rather writing, like a Queen 1 It remains to be seen whether the two great heads of the two greatest nations hi the world will approve, or at least excuse, the logical ultra-arrogance of her Majesty of Madagascar ! Le< Cerne4n (Mauritius Paper).

Reflections on Gibraltar. — The rock looks so tremendous, that to ascend it, even without the compliment of shells or shot, seems a dreadful task : what would it be when all those mysterious lines of batteries were vomiting fire and brimstone ; when all those dark guns that you see poking their grim heads out of every imaginative cleft and zigzag should salute you with shot, both hot and cold ; and when, after tugging up the hideous perpendicular place, you were to find regiments of British grenadiers ready to plunge bayonets into your poor panting stomach, and let out artificially the little breath left there i It is a marvel to think that soldiers will mount such places for a shilling — ensigns for five and ninepence — a-day : a cabman would ask double the money to go half way ! One meekly reflects upon the above strange truths, leaning over the ship's side and looking upthe huge mountain, from the tower nestled at the foot of it to the thin flag-staff at the summit, up to which have been piled the most ingenious edifices for murder Christian science ever adopted. — Tilmarsh's Journey from Ccrnhill to Grand Cairo.

Another Tunnel under London. — We lately laid before the public a full description of that magnificent undertaking, the projected "London and Birmingham Railway Tunnel under London." We now propose to explain the details of the scheme of the Eastern Counties Railway Company, underthe direction of the same able engineer, Mr. Robert Stephenson, for their proposed metropolitan extension, ultimately connected as H is with the plans of the London and Birmingham extension above referred to. The proposed extension of the Eastern Counties Railway is in connection with the Northern and Eastern, - or Cambridge line, and is called the " Tottenham and Farriagdon Extension." It commences at the Tottenham Station, near Hall Farm, an 1 thence proceeds, in a south-west-erly direction by means of a bridge, over the main road, at an inclination of 1 in 224, until the line arrives at Clapton-common, where the railway passes, by means of a tunnel, under Scott's row, in length 1,100 yards, terminating within a short distance of the Hackney Cemetery, or, as it is otherwise called, the " Abney Park Cemetery." After emerging from the tunnel, the line continues in the di- , rection of the JBall's-pond-road, over which it passes by means of a bridge 26 feet wide, and 14 high ; and thence is intended to pass close to the New Cattle-market at Islington, and over the New North-road by means of a bridge of similar dimensions to that in the Ball'spond road, and over the Wharf-road, at an inclination of lin 1095. From this point it, is proposed to pursue a direct line towards the Gity-road, on the northern side of which, -at Smiths-buildings, the tunnel, which is to run into the London and Birmingham tunnel, commences. The former tunnel, aftei proceeding under the City-road, and the northei n end of the Goswell-street-roaJ, is proposed to be carried under Wynyatt-street, Spencer-street, Charles-street, and St. Johns-street-road in an oblique direction, passing nearly under the New Prison, Clerkenwell, at an inclination of 1 in 101, and continuing a short distance in the direction of St. Johns-square, where it forms a junction with the London_Birmingham Tunnel already described, and thus continues its course to the yard of the Fleet Prison ; which, as it appears from the plans and sections, is to form the Joint Central Metropolitan Station oL both the London and Birmingham and the Eastern Counties Railways ; the total distance of the extension line of the Eastern Counties being, from the Tottenham Station to Farringdon-street, five miles and three furlongs. — Railway Telegraph,

A Precious Volume. — A curious circumstance occurred at tbe sale of books of the late Dean of Lincoln, at S'edgebr.ook Rectory, near Grant ham. Amongst tbe persons attracted by the advertisement of tbe sale was Mr. John Deigbton, tbe eminent bookseller of Cambridge. He was looking, over the lo.ts shortly before the auction commenced, -when, on taking up a copy- of Donne's Death, Judgment-, Heaven, and Hell, be thought tbe volume felt very ponderous; and, on examining it, he discovered 1 that in tbe bookbinder's " fly-leaf," at the beginning, several* coins •were sewed. He called the attention of tbe auctioneer to the circumstance ; it was speedily ascertained- that a- manuscript letter

was fastened to -the leaf, and that seven guineas and two half-guineas, of the reign of Charles 11., were strongly sewed within it, like so many buttons. The coins were bright and fresh ; and, though many of the books in the library were sadly damaged by damp and neglect, this volume and its contents had escaped injury from the lapse of 160 years. The letter had no signature, but from its style seemed to be the writing of a father to his son at one of the universities. The lot, made interesting by this circumstance, was withdrawn from tlie auction.

The late Dr. Herschel. — The excellent library of the late Dr.^Herschel consisting of upwards of 4,000 Hebrew volumes, among which, there are many rare and valuable books and manuscripts, collected by our late Chief Rabbi, his father, and grandfather, has just been bought by the committee of the Hebrew College, for that establishment, for the very low sum of £300. Jewish Chronicle. A London drayman will consume a couple of gallons of ale or stout in a day by a process of perpetual imbibition in moderate quantities. It is a common habit with carriers and wagoners., who journey from country villages to towns, to stop at most of the public houses on the road, both going and returning, and partake of " refreshment," in the shape of ale and spirits. Add to the quantity thus obtained that which they drink at their different houses of call in the town, and the aggregate becomes enormous. In this way they will often swallow two and three gallons daily of ale, as variable in its age and strength as in its amount of adulteration. But still greater quantities of beverage are frequently consumed by harvest labourers. In Herefordshire acd Devonshire, it is rot considered an excess for a man, when mowing or making hay, to drink from twelve to sixteen quarts of rough cider in the day ! — Medical limes.

Persecution of New Ideas. — Harvey, who first discovered the circulation of the blood, was styled " vagabond or quack," and persecuted through life. Ambrose Pare, in the time of Francis 1., introduced the ligature as a substitute for the painful mode of stanching the blood after the amputation of a limb, namely, by applying boiling pitch to the surface of the stump. He was, in consequence, persecuted with the most remorseless rancour by the Faculty of Physic, who ridiculed the idea of putting the life of a man upon a thread, when boiling pitch had stood the test for centuries ! Paracelsus introduced antimony as a valuable medicine ; he was persecuted for the innovation, and the French Parliament passed an act, making it penal to prescribe it; whereos it is now one of the most important medicines in daily use. The Jesuits of Peru introduced to Protestant England the Peruvian bark (invaluable as a medicine), but, being a remedy used by the Jesuits, the Protestant English at once rejected the drug as the invention of the devil. In 1693 Dr. Groenvelt discovered the curative rower of cantharides in dropsy. A.s soon as his cures began to be noised abroad he was committed to Newgate by warrant of the President ofihe College of Physicians, for prescribing cantharides internally. Lady Mary Montague first introduced into England small-pox inoculation, having seen its success in Turkey in greatly mitigating that terrible disease. The Faculty all rose in arms against its introduction, foretelling the most disastrous consequences ; yet it was in a few years generally adopted by the most eminent members of the profession. Jenner, who introduced the still greater discovery of vaccination, was treated with ridicule and contempt, persecuted and oppressed by the Royal College of Physicans ; yet he subsequently received large pecuniary grants from Government for the benefit he had conferred on his country, by making known 'his valuable discovery ; and at the present time its observance is very properly enjoined by the whole medical profession and the legislature. — From a Private Phamphlet.

The Hero of a Hundred Razzias. — There is a report that Bugeaud is to leave Africa. His successor, whoever he may be, will have a difficult task in wielding the torch and* sabre after him. Only think of the Marshal's achievements. On the smallest computation he has conquered 3,000 camels, put to the sword. 10,000, cocks and hens, captured at kastl,Qoo,ooo sheep, and taken Abd-el-Kader prisoner no less than 272 times. What more, can his successor do.? unless, perchance, he Has the good fortune to kill Abd-el-Kader twice as often. We look forward with the. strongest interest to his first bulletin. — JPuncb. . A Forlorn Ho.pe. — The Constitutionnel says, ; that the French medical men. have, ordered, to Algeria persons afflicted with pulmonary disease. It is quite clear that human beings, are sent to Algeria for rapid consump-

tion.— lb. Railways in Londoi*. — A greaj; scheme is on foot to build in Farringdon-streeta central terminus for railways, uniting Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and. other places with the metropolis. The- man of business will be.

able to step out of his office, and, without any packing vp — without so much as buttoning his coat, or doing more than pocketing his papers — be set down in Manchester or Liverpool. The project has, in a preliminary stage, received the sanction of the City Parliament — r the Court of Common Council — who have referred to a committee the petitions from companies to purchase the necessary ground. The site of the fleet prison, erewhile the cage of the miserable insolvent debtor, will hereafter be thronged by people passing and repassing from, all parts of the world, eager ministers of the industry and prosperity of the country. No contrast could exceed that of the past and future use of the site. There is a talk of some great central terminus for all railways. It does not, however, need any vast effort of imagination to look beyond that scheme, to the day when the metropolis will be converted into one immense terminus, by means of a special system of metropolitan railways, traversing the whole space; so that the Birmingham traveller may take to the rail at Newington- Butts, the Brighton traveller at Paddingion, the Bristol traveler, at W.hitechapel ; dispensing with the preliminary, obstruction of cab or omnibus. It has been well remarked, that the> resident at Kensington or Bayswater will not long consent to remain, in point of time, at a greater distance from the heart of the metropolis than the resident at Harrow or Maidenhead. You may find it take you as long, to go from Kensington to the London bridge terminus of the Brighton Railway, as from London bridge to Brighton. Nay, of two friends taking leave at London bridge, one for Brighton by rail, and one for Kensington by omnibus, the traveller to Brighton might reach his destination first. London will speedily find the means of balancing these disparities ; and when that has been done by an internal system of railways, the long-lined railways will obtain the means of using the internal system as an extension of their own. Some object, that the introduction of railways into the metropolis will obstruct trade, and injure- the citizens. Of course, whatever obstructs trade will injure the citizens ; but how facility of" transit can obstruct trade is the puzzle. Railways do not obstruct trade anywhere else ; nor over the country, nor within factories, where the tram rails from the coal house to the engine house, moving stages ascending and descending from floor to floor, are all of the railway- genius ; and a great town may be considered to stand between the wide space of a country at large and the narrow crowded space of a factory. The railway conveyance for passengers is the cheapest in I the world, upon the whole the safest, and selfevidently the most facile. The railway carriage is virtually a- moving room, and without much difficulty it might be made completely so : a luxury which the Americans have almost effected in their " cars." Time is precious to tradesmen ; though some citizens, it. seems, have still to learn the fact. An hour lost in traversing London to get at the railway may cause him who has just learned some important intelligence to. miss the packet for America, or lose the sale of goods made up on a hasty order. An hour or two to be wasted in the omnibus may decide that you will not go or send at all about some business that might have proved worth, the trouble: whereas railways in London would convert the whole metropolis into one-vastoffice. Eventually, the citizen's private counting-house and country-bouse may be one, with a back railway connecting it to his city counting-house. But to have an internal system of railways you cannot do without termini- in London it-self-^-nofc one, but many k And greatly must such an innovation conduce to- the improvement of London. It will relieve the principal streets, from huge masses- of heavy traffic — exohange for- the ponderous and obstructive waggon the flying island or- subterranean magic car- of' the railway train ; saving- hindrance* noise, and* mechanical troubles innumerable. It will 1 introduce handsome edifices. It will break up bad neighbourhoods — as this very terminus at Farringdon-street promises- to do, and give opportunity for remodelling whole districts without special cost; the one operation of improvement becoming a mere incident in the other operation of making the railways-. It will shake up the ill-contrived framework of the British capital, suggesting and facilitating other improvements until railway-traversed London will look back with smiling pity on those days when citizens, survived who dreadtd lest railway termini should obstruct tra.de. — Spectator.

Head of Receipt Amount. Spirits, • 2717 gallons @ ss. 679 9 2 Cigars and Snuffs 257 pounds @ 2s. 25 14 0 Tobacco,manufd.3B9o „ @ Is. 194 10 0 Ad Valorem Duty 32119 9 Total amount of Duties £1221 12 11 * Settlement of the foregoing collection* with the Colonial Treasury. April 13, 1846, paid Sub-Treaiurer .£, 45 19 6 20, „ „ 116 11 7 27, „ „ 134 9 1 May 4, „ „ 63 18 0 11, „ „ 115 17 2 18, „ „ 85 13 0 . 25, „ „ 48 13 0 June 1, „ „ 89 010 8, „ „ 96 5 6 15, „ „ 70 17 0 22, „ „ 136 2 11 29, „ „ 77 14 8 Julj 4, „ „ 141 0 8 ' Total „£1221 12 11 P. D. Hogg, Sub -Collector. Custom House, Wellington. "* 22d July, 1846.

Establishment of bis Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor 65 6 0 Department of his Honor the Superintendent 177 2 5 Department of the Supreme Court . 201 10 I Departmentof the Courtof ßequests 60 10 0 Department of the Sheriff 160 0 7 Department of Police (Wellington andPetre) 619 15 8 Department of Customs- 169 9 9 Coroner's Department 18 19 0 Department of Sub-Treasurer .... 16 6 9 Department of Assistant Surveyor. 80 14 2 Departmentof Harbour Master.. .. 77 5 6 Department Medical, including Medicine and Medical attendance to natives, gaol and pauper lunatics, and' allowance for native hospital 50 0 0 Militia, Wellington Battalion 0f.... 1414 3 0 Imprest advanced to his Honor the Superintendent 94 16 0 Imprest advanced to his Honor the Superintendent, to be disbursed in the payment of parties employed in the formation of roads in this district 400 0 0 Expenses attending the journey of J. J. Symonds, Esq., and party to Wanganui. for the purpose of adjusting native claims in that district 54 6 8 Department ot Protector of Aborigines 130 9 10 Department of Registrar of Deeds.. 13 16 1 Department of Interpreter to the Forces 18 11 6 H. M. Colonial Brig Victoria 86 6 10 Surcharges repaid 4 0 0 Commission paid on the negotiation of Government Bill 123 0 0 Miscellaneous, (including printing, advertising, stationery, &c, .... 57 110 Total Expenditure on account of District £4095 11 8 REMITTANCES IN AID OF OTHER. SUB-TREASURIES. To Sub-Treasurer, New Plymouth . 500 0 0 ADVANCES IN AFD OT MILITARY CHEST. Sum advanced to D. A. C. G. Lardner, in aid of Military Chest 1000 0 0 DEBENTURES. Cash balance, being one-fourth of the amount paid on the exchange of the old, for the new Debentures 315 4 0 Debentures withdrawn from circulation and remitted to the Honorable the Colonial Treasurer .... 1269 12 1 £1584 16 1 SUMMARY. Expenditure on account of district . 4095 11 8 Bemittances to other Sub-Treasu- ? ries 500 0 0 Advances in aid of Military Chest . 1000 0 0 Debentures (amount of cashbalance paid on exchange and of cancelled Debentures) 1584 16 1 £7180 7 9 Balance carried to next quarter . . 67 7 10 £7247 15 7 P. D. Hogg, Sub-Treasurer. Sub-Treasury, Wellington, 23d July, 1846.

EXPENDITURE.

RECEIPTS IN AID OF REVENUE. Lmounts of Bill drawn by his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor on the Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury .£2500 0 0 Ldvance in aid of Military chest repaid £1000 0 0 DEBENTURES RECEIVED. Ipecial Debenture certificate received from the Colonial Treasury. . 19 19 0 )ebentures paid in at the Sub Treasury for the purpose of being exchanged for New Debentures • ♦ 1260 16 0 £1280 15 0 SUMMARY. levenue H2B 11 11 Receipts in aid of Revenue 2500 0 0 Ldvances repaid 1000 0 0 )ebentures received 1280 15 0 Jalance remaining fromlast quarter 1038 8 8 £7247 15 7