ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 251, 25 December 1847, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

The Corn Market. — The panic in the corn market, which began on Friday last, has continued this week. The first known failure was that of a house at Stockton-upon-Tees ; it was followed by the downfall of the London house of Ct.arles Douglas & Co., for an amount set down at a quarter of a million sterling. Other failures have succeeded with terrific rapidity, comprising such firms as those of King & Melville, Coventry & Sheppard, and Lesley, Alexander & Co.; and provincial houses also have fallen. These failures are distressing, and cannot but produce derangement co-extensive with the actual relations of the partners. Rut they afford no cause for alarm as agerjeral indication of commercial trouble. When any commodity, easily concentrated in few hands, is liable to -great fluctuation of priced the trade in it has always exhibited periods of " prosperity" of gambling speculation, and of " panic." We have often seen such succession of events — in the teatrade, more recently in cotton, more widely still in railway shares. In the corn trade, the tangible nature of the commodity and the peremptory nature of the demand might seem to impart a kind of certainty to the transactions; but the speculators forget that the factitious state of the market produced by their tampering, is something quite beside the legitimate operation of trade, and not capable of the same calculations. With the progressive rise of prices fortunes were made ; at each point the speculator strained his eyes to note whether the next move was to be a rise or a fall — a fortune for him or a failure ; the price rose, and he pocketed a fortune ; it rose again, and he pocketed; again — a^ain — and soon : until, worked up to the gambler's delirium, he lost the use ot his wits — forgot the lesson of experience, that a fall must come at lastheld a day "too late, and — is a bankrupt. Corn to be cut next harvest was sc^idlong ago at sixty shillings — happy the farmer who sold it! Desponding dealers are now prophesying that the price will be down to forty shillings. O£ course, the artificial attempts to keep up prices beyond the natural level have tended to increase the ultimate re-actibni — Spectator, August 14.

Projected Improvements in the Post-office. — Yesterday information was furnished, by command to the Deputy Postmaster and other subordinate officers in the the Post-office, apprising them' that it was the intention of her Majesty's Lords of the Treasury to permit packages above the weight of sixteen ounces to go through the Postoffice. The order further instructed these officers that "for the present no limit would be set to the weight to be taken ;" the object of which is to give the authorities an opportunity of testing the inconvenience or convenience of the new practice. The extension of facility has not as yet been, fully communicated to the public ; but the experiment will be commenced in a few days. Active measures are in progress, under the direction of his lordship the Postmaster-General and the Inspector of Postage Stamps, at Somersethouse, for the purpose of furnishing a variety of labels and envelopes representing progressive rates of value, so- that the higher amounts of postage on colonial and foreign letters may be paid under a smaller number of stamps, thus saving trouble to the vender, and expense and loss of time at the Post-office'in examini ing the genuineness of the stamps; tod in th«

duty Of obliteration, the progress in both cases being comparatively slow ; and the advantages of a smaller quantity of stamps to effect the same purpose being obviously considerable. Other plans of much importance to the public »nd the service are under consideration, and will be produced without delay. Compulsoroy pre-payment will, it is expected, speedily take place, and, in fact, the principle is already, to some extent, to be acted upon, as yesterday morning the officers in St. Mar-tin's-le-Grand signed an order, which was to the effect, that all communications sent by them on their private business should be franked by label or envelope only. The universal introduction of pre-payment in all cases of inland correspondence, to be effected by official envelope and label ODly, would have the effect of doing away with 3,000 daily accounts between receivers and others in the metropolis and its environs alone ; and of course there would be no daily postage accounts to be kept between the Post-office nor any of its inland sub-offices, as the revenue would be collected through the machinery of the Stamp-office, in the executive departments of which preparations are making for a considerable increase of business. — Globe.

Colonial Appointments. — Mr. Macdonnell, the Chief Justice of the Gambia, is to be the new Governor ; his successor in the Chief Justiceship is not yet appointed. Lieu-tenant-Colonel Robe goes from Adelaide to assume the Deputy Adjutant-Generalship at the Mauritius, and will be succeeded at Adelaide by Sir Henry Young, (for some years Colonial Secretary in Guiana,) who now leaves the eastern district of the Cape colony. — Globe.

Huskisson's Monument. — The north area of the Custom-house, Liverpool, has been fixed upon as the site for the statue' of Huskisson, which has been presented to the town by his widow. The statue has now arrived. — Globe. The 78th Highlanders, stationed in the Bombay Presidency, have subscribed for the relief of the poor in Ireland and the Highlands £170, a sum which apart from the excellence of the object, argues a great improvement in the habits of the soldiery. The Cork Examiner of Thursday states that a field oi potatoes, five acres in extent, had, during the night of Tuesday become affected with blight. The stalks which on Tuesday were as green as laurel, had become black, and exhaled an impure odour. No other field in the vicinity had been similarly affected. The accounts from the other districts of Cork, and from Limerick, Clare,Kerry, &c, are most favourable. It is stated that the late Duke of Northumberland, to the time of his death, expended on annuities and pensions no less than 36,0001. per annum. Professor Wilson has published a letter disdaining all present connection with Blackwood's Magazine. The Bishop of Norwich, at a recent meeting to promote " ragged schools," observed that Mr. Peto, by educating the navigators on the railways in the county of Norfolk, had beaten the beer-shops out of the field. In consequence of the earnest desire felt by the late Dr. Arnold, as recorded in the history of his life, that some mark of Royal favour should be bestowed on Rugby School, the Queen has been graciously pleased to intimate her intention to found a gold medal, for the special encouragement of the study of history at that institution. — Globe. It is stated that the Rev. W. Cureton, a distinguished Oriental Scholar, has recently made the important discovery among the MSS. in the British Museum, where he now bolds an appointment, of a very valuable Syriac version, hitherto inedited, of the Gospel oi St. St. Matthew. — Globe. Of thirty-three prizes, distributed in the Glasgow School of Design, fourteen were awarded to female pupils. The highest scholastic distinction of King Edward's School, Birmingham, has this year been won by a young gentleman of the Jewish persuasion ; being the first instance of the kind known.

Le Verriee, the Astronomer. — A correspondent of the Morning Chronicle, writing from Cambridge, describes the outward man of an eminent foreigner, " Presently arrived another gentleman whose advent occasioned some interest. On the arm of the powerfullooking oldßishop of Norwich appeared a fresh coloured young man, dressed somewhat « la Franfaise — to wit, narrow coat-collar, full skirtSj, and trowsers slightly plaited at the waist. You would not take this jolly-looking young gentleman for a profound mathematician and astronomer; on the contrary he appears just one of the lions yon would expect to find playing a match at billiards in a gilded cafe on the Boulevards. Irreverent supposition ; Honour to science : there goes M. Le Verrier, the * discoverer of the new planet — the owner, if priority of claim gives ownership, to all the lands, titles, and domains of «' Neptune."

The entire sum sent from America for the reliei'of Ireland, was 450,000 dollars, of which New York sent one-half — New York Freeman's Journal. Many of the labourers on the Caledonian Railway have died of black spotted typhus fever. A great sanitary fact is at present being exemplified in Glasgow. While fever rages around, the prisons, containing about six hundred inmates, have not one fever patient.

Food Piracy. — The small pirates of the coast of Mayo, whose plunder was so pertinaciously pursued that no vessel provision laden was safe in passing that part of the coast, have received a check within the last few days, which, it is hoped, may terminate such practices. During last week, three small vessels — hookers — were attacked. Two were plundered, each of five tons of Indian meal , from a third 170 barrels were carried off. Emboldened by impunity, the schooner Emilie Maria was attacked, with the manifest intent of carrying off her whole cargo. The crew resisted, and called on the Emerald revenue cruiser for assistance. A few men were sent to their aid, but the plunderers persisting were fired upon. Four were killed »nd several .wounded. The rest retreated.

Convict Penitentiaries in Ireland. — One of these establishments, for eight hundred convicts, is to be established in Spike Island, near Cork. | Over-abundance. — The stock of grain and flour are accumulating to such an extent in the metropolis, that the warehouse room at command no longer suffices for their reception. It is said that recourse has been had to Greenwich for partial accommodation, but with what success we do not learn. Things are in altogether an unprecedented' state, and whether there be scarcity or abundance, there seems to be no escape from the inconveniencies felt. Much importance is attached to the advices sent out to the United States by the Caledonia steamer, which has, by this time, left Liverpool for Halifax and Boston, with the mails of the 1 8th August. By these accounts a knowledge will be obtained at New York of the altered condition of our corn market, and of the recent cases of failure, which must tend to check shipments of grain and flour, and to give ease to the Bank of England. The corn trade is brought to such a pass that cargoes of grain will no longer be recognised by consignees. No house will make itself responsible for the payment of fieight and charges, since, with an uncertain state of the money market, no one knows to what condition the corn merchants may presently find themselves reduced . — Morning Post.

New Insects. — According to the Cork Constitution, the damaged Indian com, which has been introduced into Ireland to meet the wants of the people, is likely to cause far more serious and lasting^njury to the country than the mere bringing into consumption an article of food deleterious to the public health. In many instances the Indian corn which has been introduced, which has heated or become injured, teems with swarms of little reptiles or insects of different varieties, some shaped like ants, others like diminutive beetles, which make their way into all the houses in the neighourhood of corn stores, and have proved an extensive annoyance from their numbers as well as the venom with which they bite, and the mischief they inflict by eating plants and leaves in gardens. However interesting it may be to entomologists to examine the structure and classify and arrange the new and varied forms of these strange insects, it is an alarming fact that, in addition to our local and indigenous vermin, we should have introduced amongst us others of a stinging destructive character, which are likely to propagate their species, and to feed upon leaves and seeds of plants and vegetables, so as seriously to retard and injure vegetation.

Great Russian and Polish Railway. — Warsaw, July 2. — The Emperor Nicholas has just taken an important decision on a strategical point of view. His Impeiral Majesty has adopted the project of a vast railway, which is to join his three capitals, Moscow, St. Petersburg!}, and Warsaw. This line, the terminus of which is to be the fortress of Warsaw, is also intended to complete and strengthen the system of defence of the ancient kingdom of Poland, such as the Emperor Nicholas has established it since the last insurrection of 1830. The plan of this line is not yet decided on. The Emperor of Russia has fixed the rate of interest at five per cent, per annum and has attached severel penalties to persons taking a higher rate ; for the first offence a fine of three times the amount, for the second imprisonment of ten or twelve years, and for the third exile to Siberia.

The Fetes ov Jult. — The anniversary of vhe 29th of July, 1830, was celebrated with the usual rejoicings, and as has almost invariably been the case on all the public f£tes during the reign of King Louis Philippe, the weather was highly propitious. The chief

points of assemblage for the holiday keepers were, as usual,during the three days, theChatnps Elysees and Barriere dv Trone, where booths, showmen, and exhibitions of various kinds put forth their multifarious attractions for the admiring crowd, independent of our old acquaintances the mats de cocagne, the orchestras for dancing, and above all, the different temporary theatres, where the Parisian annually indulges his warlike propensities, and " learns how fields are won" in the only rcanner such things are ever done agreeably. In the evening the instrumental concert took place in the orchestra erected in the usual place in the garden of the Tuilleries. His Majesty, the Queen, and several other members of the Royal Family, were in the balcony of the centre pavil'.on, and were very well received. The King appeared in excellent health, and returned the salutations of the crowd with great affability. Some rumours were abroad during the day of an intended attempt to create disturbances during the evening, but nothing took place, so far as as we have heard or observed, to warrant any such apprehension. The authorities were, however, on the alert, and every measure of precaution had, we understand, been taken for the preservation of public order, had any such design been manifested. — Galignani's Messenger.

Spain. — The Queen of Spain, it is expected, will abdicate. She prefers her happiness and the pleasures of the world to a crown and a widowed bed. She desires to live as an Infanta, with a handsome allowance, and to reside in Paris. Her present position is most unfortunate to herself and the nation, but it does not seem to be her fault. The French interest would rejoice in her abdication, pro-, vided that the Duchess de Montpensier were to succeed. A letter from Bayonue, however, of the 3rd instant, has the following : — " I am informed that, soon after the Count de Montemolin's arrival in London, he placed himself in communication with Lord Palmerston; and after exposing the treachery of Louis Philippe towards England in the affair of the Montpensier match, and demonstrating the future dangers with which it menaced British interests, declared himself in favour of modern liberal institutions like those of Great Britain, and ended by requesting the assistance of our Government in asserting his claims to the Spanish crown. I understand Lord Palmerston replied that, as he had beeu mainly instrumental in placing Isabel 11. upon the throne, it was his duty to maintain her there againsc all aggressions ; but, in the event of that throne becoming vacant, he and his colleagues w -re prepared to act as might seem best for them for the due preservation of the balance of power in Europe and the protection of British interests." Trade in Gods ! — Strange and even profane as this title may sound, it is literally a fact. La Democratic Pacifique, states that there is a warehouse iv Paris with the title 11 Depot for African Gods !" The firm of Regis carries on an extensive business with Senegal, where there are about as many kings as medieval Italy had princes. These African kings make war by way of a little pleasant excitement. When one of them has lost a battle he dismisses his " gods," and orders new French ones from Regis and Co., who employ artists to make them of deal, with j serpents' heads, lions' manes, and tiger's claws. When a Senegalian potentate obtains a consignment of new " gods," he goes to war in order to test their efficacy. Hitherto Regis and Co. have been lucky in their " gods." j

Tom Thumb and his Lady Love. — " The wee-est little man that ever was," as the children say, is now in our city, " strutting his little hour upon the stage," and pocketing lots of small coin, to increase the " snug fortune" which he began to make in America, and which he so much extended in foreign parts. If report speaks true, General Tom Thumb has meditated much upon the common lot of humanity, and following other illustrious examples, has "wooed a little maid," who has agreed to " wed, wed, wed," and in a short time they are to be married. She is in her 16th year, weighs 19£lbs., and is 30 inches high. The united weight of the couple is 50lbs. — Boston 1 ranscript.