ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 104, 29 July 1846, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Military. — In consequence of the present unsettled state of our relations with the United States, orders have been transmitted to the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich to be in readiness to furnish Kißg^&rt armament, consisting of various pi*£fi|Q| ordnance of different calibres, gun-cajaraSp, ammunition, &c. , for the various shipipafSwar and steam-vessel 3 at present stationed on the coasts and rivers of Canada, and the lakes that form the boundaries between that colony and the United States. ' More than 300 pieces of ordnatfce, with the necessary ammunition, will have to be got ready for this purpose. — LondM Mail, Feb. 24.

An Officer on Full Pay cannot act as a Magistrate. — The law , officers of the Crown have decided by an especial provision ! of the Mutiny Act, that no officer on full-

pay can act as % magistrate. Under this decision, a very serious occurrence has taken place at Woolwich. Sir T. Webb, the Medical Director-General of the Ordnance, a magistrate for the last thirty years for the county of Kent, has been accustomed to attcsf all the Artillery recruits. Amongst others thus attested was a man who, having relations "in the Law," claimed his discharge on the | ground that he was not legally a soldier. Several others followed his example, and the matter being referred to the Attorney *nd Solicitor General, it was ascertained that the claimants were right. They were ordered therefore to return their arms and accoutrements to store, and unless they preferred to be re-attested, they would receive their discharges. As the clause in the Mutiny Act rendering all magisterial acts of lull-pay officers illegal, is of general operation, it is said that a new Act of Parliament was to have been passed in February, legalizing all former acts of full-pay naval or military magistrates, and repealing the section of the Mutiny Act in question. » The National publishes the following letter, dated Toulon, 20th Feb. :—: — j " Great military operations are about to take place in Algeria. Orders have been received to send forward a sum of 1,200,0Q0£. in specie to pay the army. The steam frigate Labrador, which sailed this day for Algiers, received on board 600,000f. in specie. It has been officially announced here that the Duk d'Aumale is about to proceed to Algeria, and orders have been given to prepare forthwith the steam frigate the Albatross to receive his Royal Highness, who is expected here on •the 3d or 4th of the next month."

I^on. — To show how cheaply the metal is obtained, and- how the mechanical skill and labour expended upon it totally overshadow the original price of the metal, we take a quantity of cast iron, worth £1 sterling, and attach its money values when converted into finished articles :—: —

Tanning. — A very important communication was made by M. Payne, in the name of Dr. Turnbull, of London, relative to his practical application of the theory of endosmosis and extosmosis, discovered by M. Dutrochet, , to the process of tanning, and also the application of the soluble principle of sugar to the same purpose. We give here a short explanag&n of what is meant by endosmosis and exß^mosis : — When a membrane intervenes between two liquids of different densities, they produce two currents — the one outwards called extosmosis, and the other inwards called endosmosis. By this new physical law the currents interchange until they become of the same specific gravity ; thus Dr. Turnbull, by sewing up a bide filled with one liquid of a certain specific gravity, and then immersing the hide in another liquid of greater or lesser density, keeps up this reciprocal action until such time as the hide is thoroughly tanned. The statement made by Dr. Turnbull is so extraordinary, that it astonished the Academy, and has equally astonished some of our Paris contemporaries, who, observe that his process, if real, eclipses everything that has been discovered in the practical arts for these hundred years. The best answer to the doubts expressed as to the reality of the discovery is to be found in the fact that the process is carried on in London on a very large scale, and the experiments which Dr. Turnbull has been performing in Paris for the last month, in presence of many of the first tanners. By the ordinary process of tanning, it requires eighteen months to tan an ox- hide, and 4001b of bark. Dr. Turnbull tans the hide in fourteen days, and with only lOOlbs. of bark. Here, then is a saving of outlay for the process, and the tanner with the same amount of capital can do thirty-six times as much as under the old system. And this is not all. Dr. Turnbull's process gives an extlfcweight of leather, "varying from 15 to 2ffl||ip>r cent. Calveskins, which under the ola^rocjss require an immersion in the vat of "five, six, and seven months, are by Dr. Turnbull'a process tanned in two days. But it will be asked, is not this rapidity of execution attended with inferiority to the leather produced ? On the contrary, it is much better, for all the saturation required for the production of good leather is as fully effected by the new afc the old process ; and one of the great causes of bad leather is entirely avoided. The first part of the ordinary mode of tanning is to remove the hair from the skin — to do this lime is used, and, before

the hair can be detached, the corrosive action •of the lime always produces ail injury to the skin, rendering it spongy, and therefore readily susceptible of moisture when the leather is made up for use, at the same time that the interests of the tanner are affected by loss of weight. Dr. Tumbull effects the removal of the hair by the use of sugar, or any substance containing saccharine mattery or, if lime be used, it is removed bjr the application of sugar, before it can do any injury ; whereas, by the old process, a portion of it must for ever remain in the skin. Hitherto every process for rapidity in tanning — comparative rapidity, we mean, for when M. Sequin contrived to turn out ox-hides tanned in five or six months, the fact was thought wonderful — has been attended with loss of quality, for the process was expedited by the use of acids. By the new process not only are no acids used, in addition to the usual tanning materials, but even the portion of acid which those materials contain is destroyed. We state all this, as the French say, with connaissunce de cause, for we have been present at two of the experiments performed by Dr. Turnbull, and had not only the evidence of our hands and eyes as to the quality of the leather, but also the advantage of hearing the tanners who were present declare, that every part of the process had been conducted under their own control, and with skins marked by themselves. A commission of the Academy, consisting of Messrs. Payen, Boussengault, Dumas, and Dutrochet, was instantly appointed to visit the lanyard, where these experiments are going on, and to make its report. — Colonial Gazette.

General Consumption of Sugar. — The following statistics relative to sugar appear in the Courrier de Nantes, compiled from an elaborate table, which is due to the patient and indefatigable researches of Mr. F. Scheer, whose connection with the sugar producing colonies has enabled him to procure the most authentic details. The Zollverein, with a population of 29,066,000 souls, consumes annually 70,000 tons of cane, and 10,500 of beetroot sugar. Belgium, Holland, Oldenburg, Bremen, Lubec, Hanover, and Mecklenburg, with a gross total population of 10,349,000, consume altogether 51,000 tons of cane, and 5,000 of beetroot sugar. Russia, with, a population of 56,778,000, consumes 62,400 tons of cane, and 6,000 tons of beetroot sugar. France, with a population of 35,400,000, consumes 89,000 tons of French colonial sugar, 11,000 tons of foreign colonial sugar, and 28,000 tons of beettoot sugar. Portugal, with a population of 3,412,000, consumes 10,000 tons of sugar. Spain, with a population of 13,786,000, consumes 36,000 tons, (36,000 tons of Cuba sugar in 1844). Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, with a total population of 6,509,000, consume altogether 12,000 tons of sugar. Great Biitain and Ireland, with a population of 28,323,000, consumes 240,000 tons of sugar per year ; the lonian Islands, Gibraltar, Cracow, and Switzerland, consume altogether about 46,000 tons of sugar ; Turkey and Greece, with a population of 10,700,000, consume only 4,000 tons of sugar ; Canada and other colonies, with a population of 4,514,000, consume, it is estimated, about 15,000 tons ; and the United States, with a population of 18,700,000, consume 150,000 tons of sugar. The gross total population of the above sugar consuming countries, amounts to 278,033,000 souls, and the total annual consumption of sugar to 845,900 tons. In the Zollverein, the proportion of sugar consumed by each individual per annum amounts to 6 l-Bth lb. ; in the German states, not therein included, to 12 l-16th lb. ; in Russia, to 11-16ths lb. ; in France, to 8 2-10ths lb. ; in Portugal, to 6 6-10ths lb. ; in Spain, to 5 8-10ths lb. ; in Scandinavia, to 4 l-10th lb. ; in Great Britain, to 191b, ; and in the United Slates of America, to 18lb.

Anecdotes of Lord Eldon's Early Career. — In Hilary term 1776, Scott was called to the bar by the Society of the Middle Temple. When we recollect what a leviathan of wealth the Lord Chancellor was in his latter days, it is amusing to read the statement of his early struggles, however painful they must have been at the time. " When I was called to the bar," said he, " Bessy (his wife) and I thought all our troubles were over. Business was to pour in, and we were to be almost rich immediately. So I made a bargain with her, that, during the following year, all the money that I should receive during the first eleven months should be mine, and whatever I should get in the twelfth month should be hers. What a stingy dog I must have been to make such a bargain ! I would not have done so afterwards. But, however, so it was — that was our agreement ; and how do you think that it turned out ? In the twelfth month I received half a guinea. Eighteen pence went for fees, aud Bessy got nine shillings. In the other eleven months I got not one shilling." Tbe cause which first made Scott known was Acroyd v. Smithson. The question 'was

— whether, in a property willed in fifteen shares to fifteen people, one of them dying in the testator's life time, the lapsed share did not belong to the heir-at-law. Scott was employed for the heir. He argued the case before the Master of the Rolls Sir' Thomas Sewell. "He has argued it very well," said Sewell. But he gave it against Scott. An appeal came before Lord Thurlow. Scott argued his point. Thurlow took three days to consider, and then gave his decision in favour of the heir-at-law — a decision which has settled all similar questions ever since. He had then an omen of his prosperity. As he left the hall, a solicitor of some note touched him on the shoulder, and said, " Young man, your bread and butter is cut for life." He had then another golden opportunity. Fatigued with waiting for fortune, he was on the point of leaving London, and taking up his abode at Newcastle, x)f which he was offered the recordership, A house was even taken for him,, when, one morning at six o'clock, Mr., afterwards Lord, Curzon, and four or five other gentlemen, came to his door, mentioning that the Clitheroe election case was to come on that morning at ten before a committee of the House of Commons ; that one of their counsel was detained at Oxford by illness, and their * second was unprepared and would not appear; and that they were sent to him as a young and promising counsel. Scott told them that, on so short a notice, all he could do would be to give a dry detail of facts. The cause thus put into his hands went on for fifteen days. "It found me poor," said Lord Eldon, " but I began to be rich before it was done. They left me fifty guineas at the beginning ; then there were ten guineas every day, and five guineas every evening, for a consultation — more money than I could count. But, better still, the length of the cause gave me time to make myself thoroughly acquainted with the law." , After all this, the side on which Scott was, was beaten by a single vote. But Mansfield (afterwards Sir James) on hearing his speech in the Committee, came up to him in Westminster Hall, and strongly advised him to remain in London. Scott answered that an increasing family compelled him to leave London. Wilson, a barrister, advised as Mansfield had done, and even generously offered to make up his income to £400 a-year. He received the same answer. " However," said the Chancellor, with natural self-gratula-tion, " I did remain, and lived to make Mansfield chief justice of the Common Pleas, and Wilson a judge." Moreover, his sagacity gave him additional triumphs on the northern circuit, where he soon took the lead. He was counsel in a cause which depended on his being able to make out who was the founder of an ancient chapel in the neighbourhood. " I went to view it," said Lord Eldon, " there was nothing to be observed which gave any indication of its date or history. However, I remarked that the Ten Commandments were written on some old plaster, which from its position, I conjectured, might cover an arch. Acting on this, I bribed the clerk with five shillings to allow me to chip away a part of tfie plaster ; and after two or three attempts, I found the keystone of an arch, on which were engraved the arms of an ancestor of one of the parties. This evidence decided the cause." Another remarkable case occurred at Durham. On this occasion, Scott, though a junior counsel, was appointed to lead by his seniors, the case being relative to collieries, and he being a Newcastle man. When Buller the judge, who was a coarse man, and fond of saying abrupt things, saw him, he said, " Sir, you have not a leg to stand upon." Scott answered, " My Lord, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, I should set down on hearing the judge so express himself; but so persuaded am I that I have the right on my side, that I must entreat your Lordship to allow me to reply, and I must also express my expectation of gaining a verdict." He replied ; and the jury, after consulting six or eight hours, gave the verdict in his favour. When he went to Carlisle, Buller sent for him, and told him that "he had been thinking over that case on his way from Newcastle, and that he had come to the conclusion that he was entirely wrong, and that I was right. He had, therefore, sent for me to tell me'this, and to express his regret for having attempted to stop me in court. This cause," said Lord Eldon, " raised me aloft." — Blackwood's Magazine.

Horseshoes > *<s ■ Knives (table) 36 Needles..,! 71 Penknife blades 657 Polished buttons and buckles .... 897 Balance springs of watches. . - . 50,000 -British Quarterly Review. 10 0 0 0 0 0 U 0 0 0 0 0

irdmary machinery - . • x* .arger ornamental work 45 luckles and Berlin work 660 reckchains, &c 1,386 birt buttons 5,896 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Cast iron, worth £1 sterling, is worth, when converted into —

Bar iron, worth £1 sterling, is worth, when worked into —