ENGLISH NEWS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 425, 29 August 1849, Page 3

ENGLISH NEWS.

In the Times of April 10th, is an advertisement by her Majesty's Land and Emigration Commissioners for tenders for a s..ip of the first class to carry emigrants to Auckland, New Zealand. The vessel to be ready to receive all her passengers at Gravesend on Thursday the 10th of May. In the Times of April lltb, N the Indian is stated to have sailed from Gravesend for New Zealand. By the latest official returns the number of cholera cases reported in Paris amounted to 1,989, of which 1,132 proved fatal. The city of Catania had been taken by the Neapolitans after an obstinste resistance, and with considerable loss on both sides. The Sicilians fought bravely and well during the night of-Good Friday, till nine o'clock on Saturday morning. The city had been given up to pillage, and had been reduced to ashes, and the Neapolitan troops, had committed great atrocities. Syracuse had surrendered at discretion without a shot being fired. All hopos favourable to the Sicilian cause are now concentrated on the Palermitans, who profess a strong determination to rid themselves of their oppressors, or die in the attempt. __ j Genoa had been besieged and taken from the rebels by Ka Marmora the General commanding the Piedmontese troops. The terms imposed by him were, entire surrender of the forts ; a general amnesty excepting the twelve rebel N chiefs, including Avezzana the chief of the f rovisiontl Government, all those who accepted office under the Provisional Government and those soldiers who joined the populace ; the occupation of the city by the Piedmontese troops ; and the disarming of the populace. Avezzana endeavouied to liberate SQOforcais confined at the Marine Arsenal, but the commander threatened to fire upon him if he did not instantly retire. Avezzana it said to have escaped to Leghorn and the other leaders have disappeared. The greatest damage has been done at the old Doria Palter, which is dotted all over with musket ' balls, as also the houses opposite, AH except -'

the rebel party are delighted with their emancipation from anarchy, and the more respectable portion of the inhabitants express themselves deeply grateful for the courage, discretion, and untiring exertions of Lord Hardwicke the commander of the Vengecnce, in effecting an arrangement. But for the decision and judgment manifested by him Genoa would in all probability have been a ruined and pillaged city. Le.ters from Frohsdorff state thathe Duke of Bordeaux has had a very painful operation recently performed. A wen having formed upon his neck, which was becoming daily larger, an attempt was made by a surgeon brought from England for the purpose to cue it out. The operation had failed, and the patient has consequently suffered a great deal. It is said that the disease is incurable. An instance recently occurred in London of a young lady taking the veil, or as it is termed, " of the reception of a young lady into the order of the Sisters of Mercy" at the chapel of the Most Holy Trinity, Parker's Row, Bermondsey. The chapel was thronged with fashionably attired ladies, and several lords members of the Roman Catholic Church were also present. The postulant, a Miss Barry the daughter of highly connected parents who have recently returned from India, is. sail to possess a large fortune in her own right, and devotes it all to the service of the order with which she has connected herself. The statistics of the American whale fishery prepared up to 1819 afford some interesting paints. It appears that the total whaling fleet of the United States on the Ist January last consisted of 580 ships and barques, 20 brigs, and 13 schooners, with an aggregate tonnage of 195,598 tons, the largest vessel in the fleet being 616 tons and the smallest 81 tons. About half of these are engaged in the sperm whale fishery, and the other half, comprising the vessels of larger tonnage, in ordinary, or what is called the right whale fishery. About 35 vessels are employed in the sperm whale fishery in the North and South Atlantic ; about 85 in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean for sperm and right whales, and most of the remainder in the Pacific, those for right whales cruising on the coasts of Asia and America from the Ist of March to the Ist of October each year, in latitude 35' to 60" north ; the sperm whalers cruising on the line anJ coasts of Pern, Japan, and New Zealand during the whole year. Twemy years back the total number of vessels employed was only 203, and in 1846 they had increased to 736. This increase, however, seems to have been too rapid, and consequently during the last two years the number has been reduced to 613. The whales having become more shy from the constant disturbance of their grounds, longer voyages are rendered necessary — a ci.cu distance which, injurious to the Americans, may tell rather favourably than otherwise for the fisheries from the Auckland Islands. > The high rate of interest prevalent in the United States causes an abandonment of all descriptions of adventure that do not on the average pay more than 6 per cent, and it is doubted if during the last three years the vessels engaged in the right whale fishery have yielded that return. As regards sperm oil, however, the prices obtained have been fully remunerative. The Provisional Government of Rome has proclaimed its readiness to alienate those immortal treasures of art and science which have for ages constituted the chief glory of their city. Among other negotiations a treaty is said to be actually pending in virtue of which the Apollo Belvidere will be carried across the Atlantic.