MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 449, 21 November 1849, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Steam Communication. — London, June 1. — Since the preceding was written, 1 have ascertained that the company at present in act ire operation 4rn the west coast of America, and who have the contract for conveying the mails to and from that quarter in correspondence with the West India boatsj are likely at this juncture of the steam question to come forward with proposals to the government to convey the Australian mails by steam from Panama, The idea, I believe, is to come from some part of Central America direct to Sydney, returning by. .way of> New Zealand. The qrifnpany I refer to is understood to be a stable one — but \ thin}; there can be no question between the eligibility of the Indian and American routes. Look at the map and see the seaway which the boats would have to traverse in the latter case, They propose, however, to do the trip frotm Sydney to England in some sixty-five days. They don't know the weather (Bey have to expect off New Zealand. The project is to employ screw- boats, in order to make the most of favourable winds. The only thing in favour of this &clierae is the possible inability of those who have undertaken the defunct company's contract to carry it out ; and the future demand of the, "Peninsular and Oriental" people may be altogether too exorbitant for acceptance. I he^r they have greatly increased the sum at which they were formerly content to- carry on this service. — <S. M. Herald, London Co-respondent.

Austria and Germany. — We have intelligence from Vienna to June 16. The great news is a tremendous encounter with the Hungarian The Austrians and Russians are said to have been completely defeated, and to have left on the field the number of 23,000 killed. This battle took place on the 13tb, 14thj and 15th, in the large plain betweeii Raab and Weiselburg. It lasted 64 hours. The loss of the Magyars is stated at 8000. The Austrians were commanded by, ..Haynao, the Rassiaus by Riidiger, and the Hungarians by Geqrgey. Another affair, which must not be confounded with the above, is mentioned in letters from Presburg, as having occurred at Czorna. A brigade was sent by Schlick from Oedenburgh, under General Wyss, in that direction. General Wyss was taken prisoner, and the Uhlan Colonel Baron Zessner, killed^ Sohlick sent .out his brigade to cover his right flank, as, he was marching to Raab. It was beaten . on the 13th inst. Some reports represent this whole brigade as having been destroyed ; others say that 4000 men have deserted, en masse, from Schlick to the Magyars. What ■is certain, carts of wounded for three days have been continually pouring into Presburg and the places about. A letter of the 13th inst. from Cracow, in the Breslau Gazette, mentions an affair between the vanguard of the Magyars and the Russians, within the Gallician frontier of Jordanow. The Rusi sian Colonel Megden was killed, and 2QO Cossacks were cut off and taken prisoners. j Another .leiter of the 15th instant, from Cracow, mentig&s an engagement in the Eng Pass, bgtjreen the advanced guards of the Russian* and Bern. The Russians, numbering 60,00, vert beaten. — Ibid.

Dreadful Accident at Roxburgh — Eight men killed. — On Wednesday evening an accident of an alarn&ing nature occurred at tbe railway bridge now building at Roxburgh, over the Teviot, on the line of the Kelso and St. Boswell's branch of the Edinburgh and rfawick railway. Tbe bridge consists of a number of stone piers, all of which are up to their intended height, and the arches are in pourse of formation. The abutment on the North side of the liver* and the second pier from it, rest on each side of a very deep quarry, out of which the stones to build the bridge were ' taken (this part of the structure not being in the river) ; and between these there was an intermediate pier, over which at the time of the accident rested one of the large heavy travelling cranes used in lifting blocks of stone and other weights ; the crane, however, as we uhder- , stand, did not rest upon the pier, but rested upon" a self-supporting service way. Between 5 and 6 o'clock eight men were on the crane, engaged in the work of springing .the two arches', and a number of others, (it is not ascertained how many) were working in the quarry beneath, a depth of from 80 to 90 feet ; when, without giving any warning, the pier in question gave way with a sudden crash, precipitating the eight men, the unfinished part of the arches, and the wooden framework underneath, into th,e abyss below, and burying those employed there in the debris. Surgical assistance was promptly sent for, and in a short time Mr. Bookless, the medical officer of the works, along with Dr, Rutherford, and Messrs, Mackenzie, Hamilton, and Yost, were in active attendance. The dead as they were taken from the ruins, and the survivors who were in a state to be removed, were, after, being attended to, conveyed to their own homeb, and the more seriously hurt were placed in the store und adjoining offices. Several oi the unfortunate men were shockingly We have beep informed by one of the medical gentlemen that there are eight men who were either killed by the falling of the rubbish, or who died soon after being taken out. — Ibid. We have often wondered what became of thousands of volumes printed in London, and published (if publishing it can be called,) in cases when three or four copies of an edition ot several hundred are sold to the author and his friends, and for the absorption of which the trunkma.ke.rs, pastrycook^ and butter T shops, &c., seetned to offer an inadequate demand ; but we have found out the secret, and now know tfhl&t becomes of them after they vanish front ottr sight, The book sales at the stores in most oj our colonies consist of very remarkable collections. It looks as if the Qld World had terived in the New ; and our retrospective literature had attained another life and state of existence. Long forgotten authors revisit the glimpses of the moon, the gYeat obscure assert a bright entity, and the utterly Unknown leap up to show that their cognizance was designed for another hemisphere. Howgraiifying this information (which we give with so ntuch pleasure) must be to the disappointed aspirants of our crowding, confused, and competing Babylon ! They can lay the flattering unction to their sensitive souls, that, though despised in London, they may be prized in Sydney, and though neglected in the Row, they may be fondly wooed in Van Diemen's Land. The crushing thought under which Genius, sinks may thus he banished to Botany B.ay or New Zealand ; and delighted authors leant to sing — " There is another and a better world." — Literary Gazette.

The Rush to California. — Somebody has furnished us with the following dialogue, which occurred in this town, a few days since, between a ship owner and a stranger i "How much do you ask, Mr. , for 'a cabin passage' to CaliforjiU ?j? j " < Shioajivnfr :, ,",Q«»e handled dollars, cash down, in advance. But I can't take you: all- foil in the cabin.'' Stranger. " Well, "suppose I go in the hold : how much do you ask then ?" Shipowner : " Eighty dollars : but I can't take you. Hold is full." Stranger : «• But can't I go in the fore-pfcak ? What is the price of passage there ?" Shipowner : " Eighty dollars ; but I can't lake you. Full, fore and aft." Stranger : " Well, can*i I go aloft somewhere! and suppose J do, what wjll you charge X" Shipowner :" We charge, eighty dollars to go anywhere ; but cant't carry you aloft: got to carry provisions there." Stranger : "Itis a hard case isn't it ? But as 1 want to go'tpierably bady what will yon charge to totp me ?" The ship owner retreated suddenly, and didn't make his appearance again till the vessel had sailed.— £a/j«fa;icA Island Polynesian,