ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 237, 6 November 1847, Page 2

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

The Expiring Parliament. — The novr moribund House of Commons, elected August 1841, has proved one of the longest Parliaments on record — at all events, duringitthe present century. It has, iv fact, only a year more " to run," in order to die the death' so seldom allotted to Parliaments, viz., a natural one. The students of English history during the early periods of the last century will not require to be reminded that it was in those days by no means an uncommon event for the septennially elected Parliaments to run out their full career ; nay, so powerful was the power and influence of the Whig Ministry at that period, that the nev/ elections were usually a mere matter of form, no change of any importance ever taking place in the constituent elements of the popular representation. During the latter part of the 18th, and the early period of the present century, the rapid succession of important political events, both in this country and on the continent of Eu« rope, produced constant alternations of men and measures ; and when the great climax of the Reform Bill changed the representative system of England, " annual Parliaments" appeared by no means improbable contingencies, even without the aid- of the " charter." We have had four Parliaments since the era of Reform ; the first, elected in 1832, iv accordance with the provisions of the new statute, only lived two sessions, the Ministerial change of November, 1834, having rendered an appeal to the people a measure of almost indispensable necessity. Thus perished the Parliament of Earl Grey. The second, or " Peel-" Parliament, although elected»under Ministerial auspices, only returned a very formidable Conservative minority to~support Sir Robert, and the new Premier soon succumbed to the influence of the Whig majority. - The second Melbourne Ministry, as' it is well known, lived on until 1837, with a mere mea-suring-cast majority, when the death of the Sovereign extinguished the Parliament ipso fucto, alter an existence of two sessions and a half. The new House of Commons was almost equally balanced, as regards parties, and but for the forbearance of the . Opposition, Lord Melbourne could never have remained at the head of the Government for four years longer. A crisis, however, it last ensued, and the Whig Ministers appealed once more to the constituencies.. The issue of this contest was never doubted by either party, the star of agricultural protection was in the ascendant, and an immense majority was returned by the county constituencies to enable Sir R. Peel to take Downing-street by storm. The Melbourne Parliament jof 1837 lasted about four years. The present Parliament, has endured for six years, and has been a memorable one. It was elected to protect the Corn Laws, and it has enacted free trade

into a law. It began by burling a Whig Ministry from office, and has ended by ejecting a " Conservative " one With almost equal ig- . nominy.. . Lord J. Russell, now in a nominal minority of 100, has actually encountered less opposition, and carried on his Government with far greater ease since his last accession to power, than in the very plentitude of his popularity, when, with a small but decisive majority on the Ministerial benches, he refused to hold office "on sufferance.'' — Times. Hot Baths in China. — In the town of Shanghae, as well as in many other large Chinese towns, there are a number of public bathing establishments; which must be of great importance as regards the health and comfort of the natives. I will describe one which I passed daily during my residence in Shanghae. There are two outer rooms used for undressing and dressing : the first and largest is for the poorer classes ; the second, for those who consider themselves more respectable, and who wist to be more private. As you enter the largest of these rooms, a placard which is hung near the door informs you what the charges are ; and a man stands there to receive the money on entrance. Arranged in rows down the middle and round the sides of both rooms, are a number of small boxes or lockers, furnished with lock and key, into which the visitors put their clothes, and where they can make sure of finding them when they return from the bathing-room ; which is entered by a small door at the farther end of the building, and is about thirty feet long and twenty feet wide ; the water occupying the whole space, except a narrow path round the sides. The water is from one foot to eighteen inches deep ; and the sides of the bath are lined with marble slabs, from which the bathers step into the water, and on which they sit and wash themselves : the furnace is placed on the outside, and the flues are carried below the centre of the bath. In the afternoon and evening this establishment is crowded with visitors ; and on entering the bath-room, ' the first impression is almost insupportable ; the hot steam or vapour meets you at the door, filling the eyes and ears, and causing perspiration to run from every pore of the body ; it almost darkens the place ; and the Chinamen seen in this imperfect light, with their biow n skins and long tails, sporting amongst the water, render the scene a most ludicrous one to an En- • egliehman. Those visitors who use the commou room pay only six copper cash ; the others pa.? eighteen, but they have in addition a cup of tea and a pipe of tobacco from the proprietors. I may mention that one buudred copper cash amount to about 4^d. of our money; so that the first class enjoy a hot water bath for about cne farthing ! and the other a bath, a private room, a cup of tea, and a pipe of tobacco, for someihing less than one penny! — Fortune's Wanderings in C Una. A Maori Harpooneer. — •* As may be believed, Bembo was a wild one after a fish ; indeed, all New Zealauders engaged in this business are ; it seems to harmonise sweetly with their blood-thirsty propensities. At sea, the best English they speak is the South Sea man's slogan in lowering away, ' A dead whale, or a stove boat !' Game to the marrow, these fellows are generally selected for harpooneers ; a post in which a nervous timid man would be rather out of his element. "In darting, the harpooneer of course, stands erect in the head of the boat, one knee braced against a support. But Bembo disdained this; and was always pulled up to his fish, balancing himself right on the gunwale. " But to my story. One morning at daybreak, they brought him up to a large lone whale. He darted his harpoon, and missed ; and the fish sounded. After a while, the monster rose again, about a mile off. and they made after him. ' But he was frightened, or ' gallied,' as they call it ; and noon came and the boat was still chasing him. In whaling, as long as the fish is in sight, and no matter what may have been previously undergone, there is no giving up, except when night comes ; and nowadays, when whales are so hard to be got, frequently not even then. At last, Bembo's whale was alongside for the second time. He darted both harpoons ; but, as sometimes happens to the best men, by some unaccountable chance, once more missed. Though it is well known that such failures will happen at times, they nevertheless occasionthe bitterest disappointment to a boat's crew, generally expressed in curses both loud and deep. And no wonder. Let any man pall with might and main for hours and hours together, under a burning sun ; and if it does not make him a little peevish, he is no sailor. " The taunts of the seamen may have maddened the Maori : however it was, no sooner was he brought up again, than, harpoon in hand, he bounded upon the whale's back, and for one dizzy second was seen there. The next, all was foam and fury, and both were out of sight. The men sheered off, flinging overboard the lint as fast as they could ; while

ahead, nothing was seen but a red whirlpool of blood and brine. " Presently a dark object swam out ; the line began to straighten ; then smoked round the loggerhead ; and quick as thought, the boat sped like an arrow through the water. They were * fast, 1 and the whale was running. "Where was the Maori? His brown hand was on the boat's gunwale ; and he was hauled aboard in the very midst of the mad bubbles that burst under the bows. " Such a man, or devil, if you will, was Bembo." — Herman Melville's Omoo.