ENGLISH NEWS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 189, 22 May 1847, Page 3

ENGLISH NEWS.

Meeting of Parliament. — At a Cabinet Council, held at Windsor, on Saturday, it was determined that Parliament should meet for the despatch of business on Tuesday, 19th of January. — Bell's Messenger, December 21.

Money Market, Fkiday Night. — The value of money has not been affected by any event of importance during the week, and die rate of interest for first class papers remains the same as at the date of our last notice. There have been two arrivals from the United States since Saturday ; but the intelligence had been anticipated, and produced no effect on the money market here. The state of the Exchanges at New York had reached the point where it becomes a matter of choice whether gold should be imported or bills purchased, to settle the differences against this country; and it was accordingly expected that bullion would be imported ; but this would depend, in some measure, on the amount of the orders sent out for purchase under the new tariff There appeared to be vast quantities of corn ready for shipment to Englaud, but great difficulty in procuring the means of transmission. If all the corn intended to be sent here could be shipped at once, the Exchanges would become more unfavourable, because the shippers could draw for value as soon as the wheat was on board ; but as all the vessels were already engaged, and the terms for freight higher than had been known for many years, a check had been put upon the exports. — Atlas, December 19. We copy the following from the limes of 19th December: — The Cork Examiner, which reached us this evening, publishes, on the authority of its special reporter, most distressing accounts from Skibbereen, in the west of the county. From beginning to end (says the Examiner, referring to the details) it is one dark catalogue of want and woe, of famine, disease and death. In a private note, our reporter called our most earnest attention to the horrifying facts, which he said his correspondence truthfully detailed, and summed up the condition of the poor in the ill-fated town from which he wrote, by saying that " they were dying off like rotten sheep." Struck by the earnestness of the private note, we took up the correspondence, and went through its agonising details line by line ; and our readers who will peruse it through will say that, before we had coins to the dote, we had sup-

ped full of sorrows. There is disease, famine, death, in every paragraph. A terrible apathy, like that which oppresses a care stricken people, seems to hang over the poor of Skibbereen. No sight of horror, no tale that in other times would make the warm blood chill in the veins, can now excite even a passing observation. Starvation has destroyed every generous sympathy — despair has made them hardened "and insensible. They sullenly await their doom, to which they look forward with indifference, and without any fear. Death is in every wretched hovel. Whole families lie down on the damp floor, on a scanty sop of rotten straw, devoured by fever, without a human beiug near to wet their burning lips, or raise their languid heads. The husband dies by the side of the wife, and the wife knows not that the husband is beyond the reach of earthly suffering. The same rag covers the festering remains of mortality and the skeleton form of the living, who are unconscious of the horrible contiguity. Rats devour the corpse, and there is no living energy to scare (hem from their horrid banquet. Fathers bury their children without a sigh, and cover them in shallow graves, round which no weeping mother, no sympathising friends are grouped. One scanty funeral is followed fast by another, and that by another. The dead are enclosed in rude boards, having neither the appearance nor shape of a coffin, and are committed to their silent resting-place in the night time, when no eyes can rest curiously on the rude contrivance, or observe the absence of frieuds and mourners, or the want of all that ceremony so grateful to the pride and consolatory to the feelings of the Irish peasant. When T/ork on the public roads is offered, it in many instances cannot be availed of; the strong man is wasted to a pithless skeleton, and he drops dead on his way to the labour. The labourer has pawned his last rag, and when his turn has come, and when he has a chance of employment, he must remain in his hovel to famish, not having clothes to cover his waited limbs, Without food or fuel, bed or bedding, whole families are shut -up in naked hovels, dropping one by one into the arms of death — death, more merciful than this world or its rulers. — Sydney Mornin-j Herald, Tbe Brevet which we noticed in our postscript last week, appears to have given general satisfaction. It is now many yeais since the rank of Field-Marshal in the British Army has been held by plain, untitled soldiers. Marshal Nugent, who, with Marshal Grosvenor, are the two commoners now promoted to this rank, is 89 years of age, and served under General Wolfe. — Guardian.

The Arctic Expedition. — We have enquired into the reports that Sir John Frauk\hn landed in the Mackenzie River, and shaped his course to return through the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company, and found, as we suspected, that they were altogether groundless, and the Hudson's Bay people know nothing of any such movement. It is possible that the expedition may have got through last summer, and Sir John be on his way from Kamschatka to Petersburgh ; and in that case we would not give up the hope of seeing him till the close of the year. But it is more than probable that they have nof been able to get through last season, which appears to have been unfavourable to icy navigation, and that they are again shut up foi the winter so far to the north as to prevent their communicating with the establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company on the farthest shores of the continent of America. If so, we have no reason to entertain any fears for their safety or ultimate success; but should we not hear of them by the end of 1847, it would be t : me to take measures to send after them, which, however, we feel coni fident will not be necessary, but that we shall have good accounts of them long before that I date. — Literary Gazette.

New Colonial Measures. — The Whig government is so far pursuing the obvious points of prudence and policy as to endeavour to allay the colonial discontents which some of their measures have produced ; but in this case it is difficult to approve the mode which they have selected. In Canada, the administration has almost become radical, and the present policy is rather to buy off malcontents than to regard loyalty and ability. Accordingly, the patronage of the Government is distributed in a very great proportion, not only amongst the leaders of the opposition, but amongst men who bore a too conspicuous part in the former insurrection against the British Government. We must add, however, that our authority for this statement is the work of Sir Francis Head, recently pub. lished ; but as he gives names and produces public documents, we see no reasons to doubt his asseitions. We only mentioned the point, because no system of conduct can eventually be more mischievous, and more certain of failing even in its immediate object. It is also indirect, disingenuous, and wholly unworthy of what ought to be the character and confidence of a British, administration. But another recent measure of the colonial de-

A Central Sun. — Dr. Madler, the professor of astronomy at Dorpat, has published the result of the researches pus ie<l by him uninterruptedly during the last sixty years, upon the movements of the so-called fixed stars. These more paiticularly relate to the star Alcyone (discovered by him), the brightest of the seven bright stars of the group of the Pleiades. This star he states to be the central sun of all the systems of stars known to us. He gives its distance from the boundaries of our system at 34 million times the distance of the sun from our carth — a distance which it takes 537 years for light to traverse. Our sun takes 182 million years to accomplish its course round this central body, whose mass is 117 million times larger than the sun.

Temperance in Canada. — I was agreeably surprised to find at this remote post that only one soldier drank anything stronger than beer or water ; and of course very little of the former, owing to the expense of transport, was to be had. The soldier that did drink spirits did not drink to excess. How did all this happen in a place where drunkenness had been proverbial ? The sddiers, who were of the 82nd regiment, had been selected for the station as married men. Their young commanding officer patronised gardening, cricketing, boating, and every manly amusement, but permitted no gambling. He formed a school for the soldiers and their families, and, in short, he knew how to manage them, and to keep their minds engaged ; tor they worked and played, read and reasoned ; and so whisky, which is as cheap as dirt there, was not a temptation which they could not resist. In winter he had sleighing, snow-shoeuig, and every exercise compatible with the severe weather and the very deep snow incident to the station. I feel persuaded that, now government has provided such handsome garrison libraries of choice and well selected books for the soldiers, if a ball-alley or racket court, and a cricket ground were attached to every large banack, there would not only be less drinking in the army, but that vice would ultimately be scorned, as it has been within the last twenty years by the officers. A hard drinking officer will scarcely be tolerated in a regiment now, simply because excessive drinking is a low, mean vice, being the indulgence of self for unworthy motives, and beneath the character of a gentleman. To be brought to a court martial for drunkenness is now as disgraceful and injurious to the reputation of an officer, as it was to be tried for cowardice, and, therefore, seldom occurs in the British army. The vice of Canada is, however, drink ; and temperance societies will not mend it. Their good is very equivocal, unless combined with religion, as there is only one Father Mathew in the world, nor is it probable there will be another. — Bonnucastle's Canada % the Canadians.

Canada Roads. — A plank road in England would be a curiosity indeed : here it is none. Fancy rolling along a floor of thick boards, through fie'ds and forest, for a hundred miles. The boards are covered with earth or gravel, if it can be had ; and this deadens the noise, and prevents the wear and tear, so that you glide along pretty much the same as a child's go-cart goes over the carpet. But this will only do where wood is plentiful ; and thus the time must come, even in Canada, when gravelled roads or iron rails will supersede it. — Bonnycastle's Canada.

Hops for Van Diemen's Land. — Mr. Epps, of the Bower Nursery, has received instructions to ship, during the week, 50,000 sets of hop plants for Hobart Town, where the soil and the climate are said to be most congenial. An inferior sort has been tried there experimentally, and found to turn out more than equal to the planters' expectations. The present lot comprises all the best varieties grown in Kent. — Maidstont Journal.

More Refinement. — A contemporary has the following story of one of the mourning establishments, of which there are several at the "West-end:" — A gentleman lately entered one of these sombre emporiums, and inquired if he could be supplied with a pair of dark grey gloves ? He received a reply in the affirmative, and was politely requested to step forward into the " mitigated affliction department," an inner room, where he would be immediately attended to. Here he fouud Instead of the dismal black which everywhere met his gaze in the front shop, an extensive assortment ot goods adapted to half or second mourning, and a separate establishment of shopmen, &c, in a costume of a "mitigated " character. — Britannia.

The Monk at Man asia. — "Manasia being entirely secluded from the world, the monastic establishment wad of a humble and simpler nature than that of Ravanitza, and the monks, good honest men, but mere peasants in cowls. " After dinner, a strong broad-faced monk, whom I recognised as having been of the company at Ravanitza, calling for a bumper, began in a solemn matter-of-fact way, the following speech : ' You are a great traveller in our eyes ; for none of us ever went further than Syrmium. The greatest traveller of your country that we know of was that wonderful navigator, Robinson Crusoe, of York, who, poor man met with many and great difficulties, but at length, by the blessing of God, was restored to his native country, his family, and his friends. We trust that the Almighty will guard over you. and that you will never, in the course of your voyages and travels, be thrown like him on a desert island ; and now we drink your health, and long life to you.' When the toast was drunk, I thanked the company, but added that from the revolutions in locomotion, I ran a far greater chance now-a-days of being blown out of a steam-boat, or smashedto pieces on arailway ."-Paton'sSeroia. " We then came to the Skela, and seeing a large house with an enclosure, I asked what it was, and was told that it was the reconci-liation-house (primiriteluj sud), a court of first instance, in which cases are decided by the village elders, without expense to the litigants, and beyond which suits are seldom carried to the higher courts. There is throughout all the interior of Servia a stout opposition to the nascent lawyer class in Belgrade. I hare been more than once amused on hearing an advocate, greedy of practice, style this laudable economy and patriarchal simplicity — 'Avarice and aversion from civilisation." As it began to rain we entered a tavern, and ordered a fowl to be roasted, as the soup and stews of yester-even were not to my taste. A booby, with idiotcy marked on his countenance, was lounging about the door, and when our mid-day meal was done, I ordered the man to give him a glass of slivovissa, as plum brandy is called. He theu came forward, trembling, as if about to receive sentence of death, and taking off his greasy fez, said, ' I drink to our prince Kara Georgovich, and to the progress and enlightenment of the nation.' I lookod with astonishment at the torn, wretched habiliments of this idiot swineherd. He was too stupid to entertain these sentiments himself; but this trifling circumstance was the feaiher which indicated how the wind blew. The Servians are by no means a nation cf talkers ; they are a serious people : and if the determination to rise were not in the minds of the people, it would not be on the lips of the baboonvisaged oaf of an insignificant hamlet." — Jb. " An anecdote is related illustrative of the slyness of the Bohemians, compared with the simple honesty of the German, and the candid unscrupulousness of the Hungarian : 'During the late war, three soldiers, of each of these three nations, met in the parlour of a French inn, over the chimney-piece ot which hung a watch. When they bad gone, the German said, ' That is a good watch ; I wish I had bought it.' 'I am sorry I did not take it,' said the Hungarian. ' I have it in my pocket.' said the Bohemian." — Ib.

Railways and Taxation. — The German papers have published the half-yearly results of the traffic on thirty-two railways within the limits of the Confederation. The gross return varies from £8 on the Berlin and Stettin to £24 per German mile daily on the Vienna and Gloygnitz lines. The former sum corresponds to about £1 155., the latter to about £4 ss. per English mile. We have here taken two lines that have been some time at work. All the finished lines of Germany give results lying between these extremes. The line from Vienna to Olmutz and Prague gives a return of £2, that from Cologne to Aix-la-Chapeile of £3 17s. per English mile daily. The return of the Taunus line, on w hich as yet few or no goods have been carried, is £3. From this experience, which now extends over a length of railway communications extending to 455 German miles, or nearly 2240 English miles, the German Government can form an estimate of the returns which may be expected whan thty advance

capital for railroads out of the public funds. If no brilliant result _yet appears, the fact is certain that the poorest district seizes the means offered by railroads of improving its condition ; and the taxes on consumption will doubtless in a few years show that the budget is likely to lose nothing by the temporary outlay that railroads occasion. It is thus proved by experience, that judicious investments in railroads create a species of property of infallible value at the present day ; the gain from which is of two kinds. The direct gain is taken in the price of fares and the charge for the carriage of goods. The indirect gain cannot be touched by a private company ; it partly goes to the industrious classes, and partly to the Governmenf, having two funds out of which it can remunerate itself; is alone able to sacrifice the one for the sake of increasing the other. Assuredly, were railroad charges for travelling diminished to a minimum, the prosperity of individuals would rapidly increase, and the tax gatherer's receipts would swell. In estimating the mode of employing money for the relief of sufferers in Ireland, these facts ought not to be lost sight of. A loan to a large amount might, perhaps, be advantageously invested in the construction of railroads on a scale that would afford employment for all in actual want. The prosperity of landowners and manufacturers would then be promoted without a general demoralization. It might be practicable to restrain jobbers within the bounds of decency. Thus the means of relieving a suffering people would be afforded, without forcing the bulk of the population to actual beggary. — Spectator.

Summary or Savings Banks. — A summary of the collective accounts of the savings banks distributed over Great Br.tain and Ireland, has recently been drawn up and published by Mr. John Tidd Pratt, the barrister appointed to certify the rules of friendly societies and savings banks. The account is closed to the 20th of November 1844, and presents data for reflections and deductions of an extremely gratifying and interesting character. It would be rash to conclude that the amount of deposits in these provident institutions is an indication of universal prosperity ; because two sections of the community do not share in their advantages — namely, those who are too poor to have money to save, and those who, being too rich, make use of banks of higher pretensions. There is, however, a third section of the nation — happily far from a small one — consisting of frugal and industrious individuals in the humbler ranks of society, who may be designated the savings bank class. They are the working part of the community — its sinews ; and, in so eminently productive and manufacturing a country as ours, unquestionably the most important part of the nation. The inference, therefore, is as inevitable as it is pleasing, that the larger the capital in savings banks, the more healthy the condition of the nation at large. Keeping these considerations in view, all must be gratified to learn that at the end of the year 1844, the deposits in the 577 savings banks existing in the three kingdoms amounted to the amazing sum of £3 1,275,636, accruing from 1,0 12,475 separate accounts ; the average amount of each account being £27 18s. Since 1844, twelve additional savings banks have been established — a circumstance which leads to the anticipation that, when the 1845 account comes to be made up, it will be found greatly to exceed its immediate predecessor. By the rules of regularly appointed savings banks, no depositor can invest more than £30 in any one y j ar, ending on the 20th November ; nor more than £150 altogether. Should the maximum sum be permitted to lie and accumulate at interest, no interest is allowed after it has risen to £200. The rate of interest payable to the trustees and managers by the government is £3 ss. per cent., whilst that payable to depositors must not exceed £3 Os. lOd. per cent, per annum. The difference in these rates of interest provides a fund for office expenses. When we look into the particulars of the summary, we find a few facts which speak for themselves, and others which admit of interesting comment. To begin with England ; — At the end of 1844 it had 445 banks, in which 813,601 single depositors had placed £23,469,371. More than half of them (namely, 461,195) were creditors for sums \ not exceeding £20. Besides individuals, 18,689 friendly and charitable societies had placed in the English savings banks £1,643,494; so that the total of accounts was 832,290, and of deposits £25,112,865. Taking these facts as a data for England, we find that, contrary to general expectation, the English are more provident than their neighbours ; for, as the single depositors amount to 813,601, out of a population of more than fifteen millions, it follows that one individual out of 18| was in 1844 a savings bank depositor. The average amount of each deposit was £28. In turning to Scotland, it is natural to expect evidences of that frugality for. which the

people of the north are celebrated brought out by the savings bank returns. But the very reverse is the fact. In Scotland (population in 1841 about 2,600,000) there were, at the end of the savings bank year, thirty-six savings banks, containing £966,149, arising from 68,791 single depositors, three-fourths — namely 52,442 — of whose accounts were for sums not exceeding £20 ; whilst 1033 charitable and friendly societies were creditors to the amount of £77,034 more, making a total of 69,824, and £1,043,183 sterling. Thus we find that only one person in about every 3 8| was in 1844 a depositor; whilst the average amount of each deposit, as well as the proportionate number of depositors to the gross population was half that of England; being only £14. These figures might be apt, without explanation, to overturn the current notions of the frugality and hoarding habits of the Scotch. The fact is, that the excellence and general efficiency of the local banking system of Scotland offers so many advantages to persons possessing small accumulations, that it draws away the better class of depositors from the savings banks. A small tradesman will, for example, go on making use of the latter till he has accumulated from £10 to £20, and then withdraw it to establish a credit at a bank of issue. Although such banks allow him but one per cent, less interest than the savings banks, yet his capital in their hands is more current and pliable ; he can draw and pay in when it suits him ; he can get accommodation in loans and discounts ; and, in short, render his little stock of cash of infinitely more use, and therefore of more value to him, than if it were locked up in a savings bank. For these reasons, the line which separates the savings bank class irom that which deals wi.li issue banks, must be drawn much lower in reference to Scotland than in England, and we must expect it to cut off a vast proportion of the more affluent amongst the savings bank depositors. And thus it happens that, while in England not much above half the depositors before referred to were in possession of sums not exceeding £20, the proportion of that rate of depositors to the whole of the savings banks contributors was in Scotland above threefourths. In Wales, there were, at the period so of; en referred to, 18,007 single depositors, whose accounts united to make up £518,348; and adding 683 friendly and charitable societies' deposits, which came to £81,448, there was a total in Wales of 18,690 accounts, and £599,796. The Welsh, who have no superior facilities of general banking, or perceptible cause to remove them from the rule we have laid down, appear to be either poorer or less provident than the English ; for, out of their population of about 911,000, they had only 18,007 depositors ; and it follows that, according to this calculation, one person in fifty only contributes to the twenty-three savings banks distributed over the principality. Ireland, when brought to this test, bears out its unfortunate character for poverty and improvidence ; for in it only one individual in about 90| had dealings with the savings banks (of which there were 73) in 1844; there having been 90,144 single depositors to a population of more than eight millions. Their united capital was £2,685,698 ; to which, when we add 1099 societies, with a deposited capital of £63,319, we obtain a total for Ireland of 91,243 accounts, and £2,749,017 in deposits. The average of each deposit was £29. The proportion of persons whose savings did not exceed £20, was below that of the others we have instanced, being less than balf, or 41,546. In regarding the savings banks of Great Britain and Ireland through the medium of Mr. Pratt's comprehensive summary, one of the most interesting points of view from which to observe them, is in reference to their local situation. The topography of savings banks forms a study, by which we arrive at a knowledge of the comparative providence of people in various localities. We naturally turn to the English manufacturing districts to seek for the most extensive employment of these institutions. Though not the largest, the most populous county in England is Lancashire ; and here we find that, to a population (iv 1841) of 1,667,064, there are 67,159 accounts in thirty-five banks (only one less than all Scotland can boast of), yielding £2,150,766, making an average of £30 for each account. Yorkshire presents a more flourishing state of things : for although the population is lower in number than that of Lancashire (having in 1841, been 1,591,584), the savings banks accounts were larger in 1844. They stand thus:— 4s banks, 7l,ll4 accounts, and £2,256,843 sterling. Warwickshire, which, though it includes Birmingham, is partly an agricultural county, had, with a population of 402,121, seven savings banks, and 21,684 accounts, from which an accumulation arose of £502,389. The amount of deposits in the great commercial and manufacturing towns was as follows : — Manches-

ter, the highest in the empire, £568,313; Liverpool, £474,452 ; Newcastle, £264,077 ; Leeds, £262,908 ; Birmingham, £250,080; Sheffield, £182,838. In Staffordshire, the seat of the pottery trade (population 510,206), there were £520,470 accumulated from 15,953 accounts. The mining districts make a very respectable show in this summary for 1844, Cornwall, with its 341 ,269 inhabitants, had ten savings banks, and 13,167 accounts, amounting to £525,922. In Cumberland (population 177,912), there were seven establishments, 7638 accounts, and £219,457. Durham had 7467 accounts, and an accumulation of £209,988, to a population of 324,277. Northumberland, with a population of 250,268, contained seven banks, holding 13,114 accounts, and £477,476 in deposits. Amongst the agricultural and sea-board districts, Devonshire appears to stand foremost for thrift, in reference to dealings with the banks for savings, even when we consider its large population. Plymouth, including Devonport and its dockyard, had, in four banks, 15,962 open accounts, the total of which was .£565,999. In the quiet city of Exeter, the surprising sum of one million three thousand pounds had found its way into one bank ! In Scotland, the greatest amount of wealth, and perhaps of prudence, appears to prevail in the capital. In the three savings banks (two in Edinburgh, and one in Leith), 23,479 accounts remained open in November 1844, amounting to £350,197. The other savings bank in this county is in Dalkeith, which quiet little place contributed 668 accounts, and £5356 deposits to its bank. In Glasgow, with a vast excess of population over Edinburgh and Leith, there were only 20,1 18 accounts, and £322,144. The highest accounts in Ireland are those made up in the north, over which a large proportion of prudent Scotch blood is diffused. Antrim contains three savings banks, which do business with 6209 depositors, and hold £131,993. The population of the county is 276,188. The noisy county of Tipperary, in the south, with double the population, has only 3567 accounts, and £116,000, in five savings banks. In the city of Dublin there are two banks, containing £568,947, belonging to 23,542 depositors. Few materials for considering savings banks with reference to the occupations of depositors exist. Those, however, to which we have had access, prove that tie most frequent depositors are domestic servants; next come clerks, shopmen, and porters ; after them operatives ; and last of all, persons employed in agriculture. One class, much in need of saving habits, have recently been afforded the opportunity of putting by the very small spare sums they may have ; we mean soldiers. By a warrant issued in October 1843, regimental banks for savings were established. They have succeeded beyond expectation From the date of their commencement to the 31st March, 1844 (scarcely six months), there had been £15,069 3s. 2d. placed at interest by 1890 depositors. Besides the banks to which we have referred, a few are set on foot by individuals — chiefly with the aim of encouraging prudent habits amongst such poor as they happen to possess any influence over. These are private concerns, not in communication with the authorities, and from which, consequently, no official accounts can be obtained. Though existing in England and Scotland, they abound most in Ireland. While giving the originators of these concerns credit for the best intentions, we must lament that they should keep aloof from the great national system ; thus depriving depositors of the broad security which that system offers, and also contributing to defeat an important end — the realisation of exact statistics as to general savings. In some instances, there is reason to believe these private savings banks are illegal, in consequence of not having their rules certified by the author of the summary before us. For various considerations, we earnestly press on j the managers of these concerns the necessity and propriety of uniting them with the national system. — Chambers' Edinburgh Journal.