MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 432, 22 September 1849, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Probable Defeat of the Ministry. — That the government will be defeated in the Lords on two measures (if they venture to try both of them, which is very problematical) is now stated as a matter of certainty in the West-end clubs. It is said ou " high" authority that there will be a majority against

them of upwards of 40 on the contemplated repeal of the Navigation Laws, and th-.t Lord Stanley has the list in his pocket, The rate in aid measure is- considered more pernicious as a precedent than from its immediate result, which result certain Whig peers (Lord Fitzwilliam among the number) consider to be altogether incommensurate as a measure of relief, while it lets in a principle utterly subversive of industry and property. — Sunday Times. The Pilot, long the late Daniel O'Connell's newspaper organ, had ceased to exist. "Conciliation Hall" (Dublin) had actually been sold to the Rev. Dr. Meyler, as a chapel of ease lo Westland Row Roman Catholic Chapel. A cot respondent of the Jihenceum (after 19 years' experience at sea) writes : " I have heard the stormy qualities of a Saturday's moon remarked by American, French, and Spanish seamen ; and a Chinese pilot, once do'nsj duty on board my vessel, seemed perfectly cognizant of the fact." The Rev. George Whitmore Carr, the first founder of a Temperance Society in Europe, has died at New Ross in his 70th year. The Teetotal Times estimates that, through intemperance, nearly 30,000 persons either refuse to join, or withdraw, or are excluded every year from the different religious bodies; while Methodism may safely estimate her loss to be one-tenth of the whole, or 3000 yearly. Accoiding to an order issued by the Adju-tant-General, the home force is fixed at 43 regiments of infantry, each of the strength of 47 sergeants, 17 drummers, and 750 rank and file. The colonial force is fixed at 15 regiments, each of the strength of 47 sprgeants, 17 drummers, and 770 rank and file. Regiments in India and Australia, together with the 37th and 75th regiments will remain at 1000; and the corps which have been divided into two battalions will continue at 1200 rank and file as heretofore. Mr. Wakley, the Coroner for Middlesex, has obtained £350 damages against Mr. Healey and Mr. Cook for a libel in the Medical Times attributing to him the use of improper means to obtain a verdict of manslaughter against the military authorities at the inquest, in 1846, on White, the hussar, who died at Hounslow Barracks soon after receiving 150 lashes. Several children have been dangerously ill, and a fine boy at Tenterden has died, being poisoned by arsenic and other deleterious articles used in colouring confectionary. It was also stated at a late meeting of the London Medical Society that two children nearly lost their lives by a new toy in the shape of a white rabbit, the fur of which had been dusted over with a mixture of arsenic and lead to preserve it from moths, &c. The children had rubbed this fur with their hands, and then put their hands into their mouihs. Bernard Barton, the popular and philanthropic Quaker poet, has died suddenly of an affection of the heart. It is stated that in one week one hundred Italian beggar boys were imported into England, and that forty were imported by one master alone. The Kentucky Legislature, during its recent session, passed 671 acts ; one hundred and ninety-six were acts of divorce. One of the most remarkable features in the importations of the present time is the anivals of window glass, particularly from Belgium. A new style of picture frame has been introduced in Sheffield, made of metal, which can be gilt at less cost than composition. A Glasgow firm is stated to have purchased, in London, ready-made clothes to the value of £11,000, intended for shipment to California.

The Lord Chancellor's Opinion of his Own Court. — " He had been himself familiar with the practice of the Court of Chancery for many years past, and he well knew the great benefits which it conferred upon the public ; but at the same time he would own that he would not willingly enter that court as asuitor^ nor would he advise any of his friends to do so, if they could with propriety, keep out of it" [threat laughter.] — Minutes of Evidence before Lords 1 Committee,

Success in Life. — in no department of life do men rise to eminence who have not undergone a long and diligent preparation ; for whatever be the difference in the mental powers of individuals, it is the cultivation of the mind alone that leads to distinction. John Hunter was as remarkable for his industry as for his talents, of which his museum alone forms a most extraordinary proof. If we look around and contemplate the history of those men whose talents and acquirements we most esteem, we find that their superiority of knowledge has been the results of great labour and diligence. It is an ill-founded notion to &ay that merit in the long run is neglected. It is sometimes joined to circumstances that may have a little influence in counteracting it, as an unfortunate manner and temper ; but it

generally meets with its due reward. The world are not fools — every person of merit has the best dunce of success ; and who would be ambitious of publi ; approbation, if it had not the power of discriminating ? — Physic and Physicians.

A New Highway to India. — The following extract from a letter just received from Philadelphia will be read with interest : — " One of the grandest conceptions and projects of te age, certainly the greatest that has ever been offered in the New World, has been introduced in the United States Senate, by Mr. Thomas Benton. the senator, from Missouri, and his bill for the measure has been read twice and .referred to the military committee. Mr. Benton's bill proposes a national road from the state of Missouri, at or near St. Louis, across the continent of North America, to the Bay of San Francisco, on the Pacific Ocean, with a branch road up the Sacramento, and along the base of the Sierra Nevada, to the tidewater of the Columbia river. This great highway is neither to be confined to a railway or aMacadmized road, but a noble tract of a mile in breadth, within which, may be embraced a railroad, a pi me road, and an ' old English road,' so that all kinds of travelling, by steam, by caravan, or as the case may be, shall henceforth and for ever be free, across the Prairies, the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada, mountain passes being now known that are entirely practicable, and easy of ascent and descent. According to this bill, this road will be guarded by military stations, and be fettered with no restraint, except in cases of contract with the government to transport mails, munitions of war, &c, for limited times only ; otherwise free to men of all nations. This grand scheme will, no doubt, be carried into effect, perhaps with some few modifications, either in the present or next session of Congress : and that it may be accomplished with comparative ease, and even with an outlay by no means extravagant, will be readily seen when it is remembered that the property in land (a few Indian claims to be allowed for) along the entire line is now vested in tbe United States." Influence op Climate on Horses. — The moistness of climate has a most unfavourable iufluence on the qualities of the horse. It is from this cause, aud the plentiful vegetation which results from moisture, and, consequently, the nature and abundance of their food, that such heavy, massive forms are produced in western Europe ; well suited, it is true, for draught and burden, but destitute of nearly all the nobler qualities. Yet a dry climate, and a peculiar kind of food, if these influences are sufficiently prolonged, are capable of changing such aa animal — a Flemish or a London drayhorse — into a mettled Arabian. If a London drayhorse be conveyed to Arabia, and subjected to the same influences to which the native horses of that country are exposed, it will in the course of some generations, present the leading characters of an Arabian horse. The head will gradually diminish in size, the limbs will become fine and clean, the massive proportions of the whole body will disappear, and not only will the external form of the native horse be acquired, but, along with that, something also of their chivalrous disposition. If the race, thus improved, be conveyed to Europe, it will gradually deteriorate, and in the course of some generations will acquire all its original properties. This fact, which we state on tha authority of Professor Pictet, of Geneva, seems to prove that an Arabian horse cannot exist in perfection in this country, or in any other of the western countries of Europe ; and there can be little doubt that the humidity of the climate, and the influences indirectly arising from that cause, are the principal reasoas of this. — The Journal of Agriculture.