MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 478, 2 March 1850, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Mr. Barry the architect has received £25,000 for bis services in building the Houses of Parliament. Mr. Barry considers that he has been very inadequately remunerated for the " labours, responsibilities, and sacrifices," which he has incurred.' He accordingly claims the accustomed remuneration of five per cent, on ti.e total amount of the expenditure on the building up to the 31st December, 1848 ; that is to say, he claims a commission of £42,028 on an expenditure of £841,630. Mr. More O'Ferrall, having been severely censured by the Colonial Office for his recent conduct towards the Italian refugees, has resigned the Governorship of Malta ; but it is uncertain whether or not his resignation will be accepted. Mr. O'Ferrall was in London last week, and is now said to be at Boulogne. A new system of life assurance, in the event of railway accident, is now »n operation over the London and North Western' and Lancashire and Yorkshire railways. The assurance tickets for the single journey, irreBpective of distance, are obtained at the same time that the passenger pays his fare and takes his ticket. The first class passenger paying 3d. insures £1000 ; the second class paying 2d £500 ; and the third class passenger Id. £200, the amount in the event of loss of life to be paid to their representatives. M. Paul Gervais (says the Censtitutionnel) has just discovered in the upper tertiary stratum of Montpellier, a species of fossil ape, probably belonging to the Macaque- genus. On comparing this discovery with that of M. Larfet in the Gers, and those made in the environs of London, it appears that fossil apes have been discovered in the three, principal tertiary strata of western Europe, thit is to say, in every pariof the level of sedimentary earths in which the bones of mammalia abound. If man bad existed at the period when these strata were deposited, the non-discovery hitherto of the slighest trace of human skeletons or remains attesting human industry, would be very astounding. The discovery of these fossil apes is therefore an additional indirect proof of the very inferior antiquity of mau on the earth. The French mint has been ordered to strike do more money of the effigy of the Republic. About ten millions sterling have been struck already, arising from the mass of old plate thrown into the market, and from old, heavy five-franc pieces being melted and re-coined. Last year vast heaps of new plate were melted down. The Berkshire Chronicle states, that in some circulars sent round by the Bishop of Oxford to different parishes was this inquiry : — -"Does your officiating clergyman preach the Gospel, and are his conversation and carriage consistent therewith?" To which a churchwarden, about four miles from WaiJiagford, wrcte in answer: — " He preaches the Gospel, but dops not keep a carriage." Progress of Penhy Postage. — We glean from a comparative statement of the number of letters delivered in one week of

each calendar month, beginning with November, 1839, and ending with the present time (20th March, 1849), that during the week terminating with the 24th November, 1839, there were delivered in the United Kingdom 1,585,973 letters. That was under the old rates of charge. In the week that ended on the 21st of iast February, the number was 6,849,196. This is an increase of more than five million letters per week, delivered at a penny each, to which must be added, to make up an approximation of cur former estimate, letters sent to the colonies aad to foieign parts, i and to those misdirected, or, from other causes, not delivered at all, and destroyed in the Dead Letter CBce. As a matter of curiosity, we may add, that the number of letters which was delivered in the United Kingdom in the year 1848 was about 328,000,000, and the number which passed through the London General and District Post-offices during the same year was something over ! 144,000,000! When Mr. Rowland Hill first ; proposed the uniform Penny Rate, one of his ralculaiions — in the correctness of which the public found it most difficult to place faith — was that which prognosticated that in time the gross revenue of the Post-office would be as great under his cheap as it then was under the dear system. That calculation is now very nearly verified in accounts returned three or four weeks ago to an order of the House of Commons. The gross sum paid for postage by the jublic in the official year ending sth January. 1838, was £2,339,737, and their contributions of pennies in 1848, amounted to a sum not very iar short — namely, to £2,192,478. Neither has the cost of management kept pace with the eightfold accession of business, for that has not quite doubled. In 1838 it was £687,313, and in 1848 it was £1,316,853. It is however, well known that Mr. Rowland Hill has met with much official resistance in bis plans of economy ; and that were they fully carried out, the cost of the establishment would be so materially diminished, as to be brought much nearer the former expenditure than it remains at present. The new regulation, forbidding the reception of unstamped paid letters, will relieve the Post-office of much expense and trouble. The public were not sufficiently aware that the effect of paying a penny with a letter, instead of putting a stamp on it, was to help in occasioning some half-dozen unnecessary entries on post-masters' bills, cash accounts, &c, in its transit to its destination. ~^- Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. Microscopic Investigation of the Cholera. — Mr. Brittan, lecturer on anatomy and physiology at the British Medical School, in a series of investigations, undertaken in conjunction with Mr. J. G. Swayne, has observed the constant occurrence of certain peculiar bodies, hitherto undescribed, as characteristic constituents of the " rice water" evacuations of cholera patients ; and by a further series of experiments he has succeeded in demonstrating the important discovery of similar bodies in the atmosphere of districts infested with cholera. Dr. Budd, physician to the Bristol Infirmary, has followed up these discoveries by detecting the same objects in the drinking water of these districts. In a letter to the Times, Dr. Budd says, "Shortly after Dr. Brittan's discovery, I detected the same organisms 'in great numbers in almost every specimen of drinking water which I was enabled to obtain from cholera districts. First, in the drinking water from Wellington-court, Redcross-street, where cholera first broke out (with any violence), in Bristol : subsequently in the water of the Float, and in the di inking water from King-street, in the same city ; since then, again, in Lon lon, in water from Lovegrovestreet, and from the Surry Canal ; and, lastly, in drinking water from the Stapleton Workhouse ; being all places where, at the time the wa'ter was obtained, cholera was making dreadful havoc. This led me to examine a great number of specimens of water from healthy quarters ; and although I often found in it a good deal of matter of various kinds, organic and other, in no single instance did I see anything resembling the peculiar bodies in question. These considerations and others, which it would take too much space to mention here, have led me to the following conclusions :—: — 1. That the cause of malignant cholera is a living organism of distinct species. 2. That this organism, which seems to be of the fungus tribe, is taken by the act of swallowing into the intestine canal, and there becomes infinitely multiplied by the self-propagation which is characteristic of living beings. 3. That the presence and propagation of these organisms in the intestinal canal, and the action they there exert, are the cause of the peculiar flux which is characteristic of the malignant cholera, and which, taken with its consequences, immediate and remote, constitutes the disease. • 4. That the new organisms are developed only in the human intestine. 5. That these organisms are disseminated through society : Ist, in the air, in the

form of impalpable pai , ides ; 2nd, in contact with articles of food ; and 3rd, an I principally, in the drinking water of infected places. 6. That these organisms may probably be preseived i'oi a long time in the air with their powers unimpaired ; but that in water, which is doubtless the chief vehicle for their diffusion, they soon undergo decay, and moreover sharing in this the common fate of their tribe — become the prey of beings of a higher order."

The French African Exploring Expedition. — Amongst the news recently received from Senegal, the Courier de la Gironde notices an event which cannot (observes La Presse) fail to have the happiest effect on our naval commerce, so cruelly injurrd by the conquerors of the 24th February. An expedition attempted by Captain Bouet, on the Grand Bassam river, has produced results which would appear fabulous had they not acquired a great degree of authenticity from the very source whence they emanated. On the 4th of March last, M. Bouet, then commanding the Setpenl, succeeded in crossing the bar of the river, which has acquired such an evil reputation, and his entance was hailed by salvos of artillery from the fort and the ships in the harbour. The dangers of the exploring expedition were terrible. Of foui officers, Capt. Auguste Bouet lost three ; the fourth, with the surgeon and a few white seamen, whom he succeeded in saving, returned to France in a condition truly deplorable. M. Bouet himself was attacked by illness no less than three times, but his energy was not in the slightest degree subdued by sickness. ' Thanks to heaven,' says the letter which apprises us of these details, ' he has succeeded, and the happiest results have crowned his enterprise. He has discovered two magnificent lakes, where palm-oil is so abundant that the ship had not vessels enough to hold it. Now, according to the dealers themselves, palm-oil gives a profit of 80 per cent, while gold only yields 50 to 60.' The adjoining villages are said to overflow with produce of all sorts. Capt. Bouet has, however visited unknown regions, established relations and asserted the power of France in the midst of a country the very ceutre of the gold trade, the only commeice hitherto carried on at Grand Bassam. He has discovered, what all skilful geographers already suspected, that the Grand Bassam is a confluent of the Niger. It being the dry season, the want of water prevented its exploration ; but in the lainy season there are six feet of water, and the river may be ascended as far as the cataracts of Abouesson, 50 leagues distant. At that place the traveller is within 60 miles of Sego, and the course of the Niger is still continued. Thus the anticipations of Capt. Bouet are confirmed, and every day adduces fresh proofs of their correctness. When the steamer Guettander proceeds to Grand Bassam, that vessel which only draws two feet of water, will entirely solve the problem. Thus a well-armed and well-supplied vessel will penetrate to the interior of the country, traversing a district of which Capt. Bouet has seen a part himself, and which is the entrepot and passage for the caravans of the gold and silk merchants, and where the gallant captain discovered, and inhabited for two "days, a city more ancient and more important than Timbuctoo. ' I must write a volume,' concludes the letter, ' were I to attempt to relate the dangers and adventures of the expedition. It is probable that a copy of M. Bouet's report will be transmitted to the Chamber of Commerce, and afterwards published."

English and American Railways. — There were ebout eighty passengers by the train, forty of whom were in the same carriage as ourselves. " The car," in shape like a long omnibus, has a passage down the middle, sometimes called " the aisle," on die back part of which the seats are ranged transversely to the length of the apartment, which is high enough to allow a tall man to walk in it with his hat on. Each seat holds two persons, and is well cushioned, aud is furnished with a wooden back, ingeniously contrived, so as to turn and permit the traveller to face either way, as he may choose to converse with any acquaintance who maj be sitting before or behind him. The long row of windows on each side affords a good view of the country, of which more is thus seen than on our English railroads. The trains, moreover, pass frequently through the streets of villages and towns, many of which have sprung up since the construction of the railway, The conductor passes freely through the passage in the centre, and from one car to another, examining tickets and receiving payment, so as to prevent any delay at the stations. If we desire to form an estimate of the relative accommodation, advantages, comforts, and cost of the journey in one of these railways as compare.! with those of England, we must begin by supposing all our first, second and third-class passengers thrown into one set of carriages, and then we shall be astonished at the ease aud style with which the millious travel in the

United States. The charge for the distance of fifty-four miles, from Boston to Portsmouth^ was one dollar and a-half each, ss. 4d. English, which was just half what we had paid three-weeks before for first-class places on our journey from London to Liverpool (£2 10s. for 210 miles), the speed being in both cases the same. Here there is the want of privacy enjoyed in an English first-class carriage, and the seats, though excellent, are less luxuiious. On the other hand, the power of standing upright when tired of the sitting posture is not to be despised, especially on a long journey, and the open view right and left from a whole line of windows is no small gain* But when we come to the British second and third-class vehicles, cuolrionless, dark, and, if it happen to rain, sometimes closed up with wooden shutters, and contrast them with the cars at Massachusets, and still more the average appearance, dress, and manners of the inmates, the wide difference is indeed remarkable. At the same time, the price which' the humblest class here can afford to pay proves how much higher must bs the standard of wages than with us. — LyelVs America.

Raii/vtays. — A return obtained by Mr. Labouchere, M.P., shows that the gross total amount of new capital authorised to be raised for railway purposes by Acts of Parliament passed in the year 1848, was £15,034,140, viz. : £11,384,866 by shares, and£3,649,274 by loans. The total amount of the " transferred powers" for subscriptions, or in lieu of loans* in former acts, was £2,546,021, nuking the total additional powers of raising capital obtained in 1848 amount t0£17,580,161. The amount of the share capital actually paid up on the 31st December, 1848, was £156,508,578. The total debt at the same period amounted to £43,664,480. The total amount which, at the end of 1848, the various companies retained powers to raise, either l»y old or new shares, or by loans, was £1 43,7 17,773. The total length of railway open for traffic on the 31st of December, 18-18, wa3 5,126 miles. The length of lines in course of construction on the said 31st of December, 1848, was 2,110 miles. The total length of line authorised, but not commenced, on the 31st of December, was 4,795 miles, and the total length of railways for which the companies obtained powers previously to the 31st December, 12,033 miles. — Leeds Mercury,

Tobacco. — The Quarterly Review (Philadelphia) publishes an article on tobacco, containing the following statement concerning the growth and consumption of that Weed. In the city of New York the consumption of cigars is computed at 10,000 dollars a day, a sum greater than that which the inhabitants pay for their daily bread ; and in the whole country the annual consumption of tobacco is estimated at 1 20,000, OOOlbs., being seven pounds for every man, woman, and child, at an annual cost to the consumers of 20,000,000 dollars. In 1839, it was ascertained that about 1,500,000 persons were engaged in the manufacture and cultivation of tobacco in the United States, 1,000,000 of whom were in the States of Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. The whole crop for 1845 was put down at 187,422,0001b. The crop ot 1847 is estimated at 200,164,000, worth, at five cents per pound, 10,900,000 dollars. Some curious facts are connected with its history. In 1620 ninety young women were sent over from England to America, and sold to the planters as wives, for tobacco, at 120 ft each. In 1690 the Pope excommunicated all who took snuff or tobacco in church. In 1719 the culture of tobacco was prohibited iv Strasburgb, as tending to diminish the growth of corn. In 1732 tobacco was made a legal tender in Maryland at one penny per pound.

Extraordinary Feat. — Walking on Water. — During the past week, a young Swede, named Kjellberg, has been exciting no little curiosity at Belle Vue Gardens, on the Hyde-road, Manchester, by performing what has hitherto been called next to an impossibility, viz., walking on the river. The " Water King," as he is described in the bills, was for some time a resident at Vienna, where his attention was drawn to the practicability of walking on the water by mechanical means. He invented a kind of canoe-shaped box, upon the top of which he places his foot, which is held by a leather strap ; having a string attached to each of these " water skates," and suspended from his wrist, he is enabled by occasionally pulling these strings, and by measured sirokes with each foot al'ernately, as if skating, to move at a moderate pace over the surface of the water. After having made various secret trials, first in smooth water, as ponds, &c, and afterwards at four o'clock in the morning on the Danube, he ventured about seven years ago, to announce his first public performance at Prvsb'jrg. On this occasion he was quite su-'ces:>fu ! , and crossed the Danube amul&t the plaudits of a large concourse assembled to witness the feat. After performing at various places, he appeared before the court al Vienna, crossing the Danube

\igaiu, and executing various evolutions and manoeuvres upon the surfaced the water. He subsequently made a public exhibition at Prague, wheie he crossed the Moldan, and then went to Dresden, where he exhibited upon a large piece of still water. The next scene of his performance was Berlin, where he crossed the River Spree; and then at Madgeburg, where he walked over the Elbe. At Stettin he thus passed over the surface of the Oder; and at Frankfort-on-the-main he crossed that river. In the city of Hanover he exhibited on the surface of a large piece of still water, surrounding the city. He next came to England, where he has exhibited half a dozen times on an enclosed part of the Thames.

Vast Establishment for Preserving Provisions. — At Nantes is a singular manufacture of preserved dinners, ready cooked {Conserves Alimentaries,) prepared by the firm Colin et Camp, Rue de Salorges, No. 9, which sends forth, hermetically sealed, all kinds of provisions, so as to be capable of perfect preservation in all climates, and for any length of time. In one season, at this establishment, 150,000 boxes of green pears and 800,000 boxes of sardines are preserved ; and eight oxen can be cooked at once in a single boiler. Roasting is carried on by heated air, and boiling by steam, in a kitchen roofed with glass, after the manner of the Passage d'Orleans, at Paris. The proprietor of the establishment employs in the autumn 800 persons in curing and packing sardines alone; and he monopolises all the green pears brought to market in early summer to supply his wants. The Newspaper Press. — They were passing through the Strand as they talked, and by a newspaper office, which was all lighted up and bright. Reporters were coming out of the place, or rushing up to it in cabs ; there were lamps burning in the editors' rooms, and above, where the compositors were at work, the windows of the building were in a blaze of gas. " Look at that, Pen.," Warrington said ; " there she is — the great engine — she never sleeps. She has her ambasadors in every quarter of the wdr'ld — her couriers upon every road. Her officers march along with armies, and her envoys walk' in to statesmen's cabinets. They are übiquitous. Yonder journal has an agent, at this minute, giving bribes at Madrid ; and another inspecting the price of potatoes in Covent-garden. Look ! here comes the foreign express galloping in. They will be able to give news to Downing-street to-morrow ! funds will rise or fall, fortunes be made or" lost ; Lord B.will get up, and holding the paper in his hand, and seeing the noble Marquis in his .place, ■ will make a great speech ; and Mr. Doolan will be called , away from his supper at the Back Kitchen, for he is sub-editor, and sees the mail on the newspaper sheet before he goes to his own." And so talking, the friends turned into their chambers, as the dawn was beginning to peep. — Thackeray's Pendennis. Proverbs. — We often hear people use the expression "stuff a cold, and starve a fever;" and many think this plan should be literally adopted, and proceed to act accordingly. I never properly understood the sense of the proverb until one of my professional friends explained to me that there was an •ellipsis in the sentence, and that it should be understood as a brief way of saying " stuff a cold, and you will have to starve a fever ;" that is, if you do not refrain from generous -living during a cold, ten to one you will set oyp a fever, in which you will have to abstain .altogether. This i 3 certainly a more sensible reading of it. — Ckambers's Edinburgh Journal.

Wilberforce. — In the following description we have a characteristic picture of one of Wilberforce's levees :—": — " Factories did oot •spriDg'up more -rapidly in Leeds and Manchester, than schemes of benevolence beneath his roof ; and though many years have passed since the throng which daily gathered has been dispersed, it is still impossible to revive the remembrance of those strange assemblages, without a smile which will check for a moment the more serious feelings with which they are associated. In the study might be seen the projector 0/ the Bible Society, who, in virtue of his privilege of the •entree, was seated near the table, upon and . beneath which stood piles of subscription lists, plans and reports, from countless kindred associations* Eloquent deputies from Hibernian schools were, meanwhile, restlessly expecting their audience in the drawingroom. In tbe ante-chamber, the advocates for an improved prison discipline were themselves undergoing a sort of temporary imprisonment. But it was in the spacious library that philanthropic speculation rose to its highest tide. There were ladies anxious to ex plain their plans of visiting the sick, Quakers under a concern for transported convicts, tbc founder of savings banks, missionaries from Serampore and the Red River, and, everywhere conspicuous amidst the crowd, the ever busy and well satisfied countenance of his excellent friend Mendicity Martin, so

called from his presiding over the whole department of mendicancy in this great eleemosynary government. And then would emerge from his closet Mr. Wilberforce, the prime minister of that disjointed state, passing from one group to another, not without a smile, which revealed to the initiated his voluntary perception of the comic aspect of the scene, but still more clearly disclosing by his voice, his gestures, and his kindling eye, the generous resentment, the glowing admiration, or the tender sympathy with which he listened to one and another tale of injustice, of self denial, or of woe, until gradually the whole levee had withdrawn, not merely forgiving their host the waste of the morning, but more devoted than ever to a leader, whose exquisite courtesy would have atoned for anything, even if bis mature wisdom, his almost feminine tenderness, and his childlike gaiety, bad not swept away every less delightful remembrance. — Sir James Stephens' 's Essays on Ecclesiastical Bioaravhu.

More Elioible Opportunities. — In glancing over his paper of Wednesday last, any person in want of an "eligible opportunity" might have found one perfectly ready for him to drop into. In the first place there was that pattern of universal benevolence, our friend Y.Z. offering the whole woild an "opportunity" of realising 50 per cent, without the trouble of attendance, on condition of £1000 being forthcoming from the individual wishing to realise. We admire the considerate delicacy of dispensing with the attendance of the possessor of £1000 after he has once parted with that trifle, and leaving the realisation of the promised 50 per cent, to be accomplished by some process in which his presence will not be required. In the same column of the same paper, X. Y. has a philanthropic little scheme for giving a salary of £80 per annum to any young man with £200 or £300, who will moreover enjoy, in addition to his fixed annuity, " a commission on all business transacted." The amount of the commission is left indefinite, and as to the "business," X. Y. would probably intimate that " that's his business," if any too inquisitive applications should be made to him. We have no doubt that the young man with £200 or £300, availing himself of this "opportunity," would in a short time find himself in for "a very pretty business," of one sort or another. For those, however, who have no faith in the proposals of Y. Z. and X. V., there is a benefactor ready in the shape of A. 8., who invites ** a young man of capital wishing to employ himself in a situation of trust," which is to be had by an immediate advance of £30 or £40 to the benignant Alpha, who, it is to be regretted, should be "hard up," for such a paltry pittance. As the nature of the " situation of trust" is not fully explained, it might be desirable to ascertain before parting with the required £30 or £40, whether the "trust" alluded to implies that sort of confidence which is all on one side, and whether, in fact, it will have to be exercised chiefly on those days when the salary should be forthcoming. We are perhaps over-nice in these little matters, and there is no doubt that the large hearted A. B.'s. Y. Z.s and other would-be benefactors of their race, would hurl back upon our heads — if they could get a shot at us — our unworthy suspicions, but we, nevertheless, recommend a little caution to those who are on the look out for an "eligible oppoutunity." We are perhaps more particular from having once known a friend who put down £500 to enable a sanguine individual advertising as P. Q. t "to carry out a grand object," and the result proved that P. Q,. was perfectly sincere for he was himself the " grand object," and he wanted the £500 to " carry out" himself to America. Since this little affair we have been very particular in recommending all our friends to mind their P.'s and Q.s whenever they are met with in advertisement of a very promising character. — Punch.

Tricks of the London Trade. — Tuesday, September 25, 1849.— With my Wife this day to Westminster, and walking thereabouts in Regent- street and Oxford- street, and the principal Streets, though contrary to ray Resolution to walk with her only in the Fields, but did it to please her, and keep her in good Humour, but in mighty Fear of what it might cost me, trembling to observe her continually looking askance at the ShopWindows. But I cannot wonder that they did catch her Eye ; particularly the Haberdashers, and Drapers, and Mercers, whereof many were full of Bills, stuck in all Manner of Ways across the Panes, and printed in Letters of from two Inches to a Span long, and Dashes of Admiration two and three together, as staring as a Notice of Hue and Cry. Mighty shocking to read in one Window of a "Tremendous Sacrifice!" in another of an " Alarming Failure ! ! " in a third of a " Ruinous Bankruptcy ! ! !" by Reason whereof, the Goods within were a selling off at 50, 60, or 70 per Cent under prime Cost, but that at any Rate the Owners must raise Money. Good Lack, to think of the desperate and dreadful Pass the Drapery Trade

mast have come to ; so many Master-Mercers and Haberdashers on the Threshold of the Prison or the Workhouse, and their Wives and Families becoming paupers on the Parish, or Beggars, and their People out of Employ, starving ; if their Notices do tell true ; which made my Heart ake, I mean, through laughing at their Roguery. But my Wife did say, very serious, that we were not to judge, or to know of their Tricks and Cozenage, and that it was no Matter to us if they did cheat their Creditors, provided we could buy their Wares at a Bargain, and besides, if we did not, otheri would. So going by Ragge, Rip, and Co., their Establishment, as they do call their Shop, she would needs stop in Front of it to look in, and, I knew, consider what among the Things there, she could find to want : which did trouble me. Ito read the Posters in the Window, which were the worst and most pitiful of any, and by their Showing Mr. Ragge, and Mr. Rip, and their Co., were going eltogether to the Dogs. My Wife did presently, as I expected, find somewhat she bad a Mind to, a Muslin she did say was Dirt- cheap, and I knew was Dirt- worth. I plainly refused to let her buy it, or anything else at Ragge and Rip's, who have been, to my Knowledge, making a Tremendous Sacrifice any Time the last two Years ; but the Simpletons their Customers the only Victims. But I do not pity such Gudgeons a Whit as are caught by these Tricks of the Drapery Trad^ ; and methinks they are rightly served by being cheated in seeking profit, as they think, by Fraud aud dishonest Bankruptcy. I told my Wife that Ragge and Rip do sell off at a Loss to none but these who deal with them, and were like at that Moment, instead of being Bankrupts, to be making merry at the Expense of their Dupes. But she being sullen at my Denial of her Muslin, I did quiet her by the Promise of a better Piece at Faircloth and Pryce's, who did carry on Business without roguish Puffery, and after the old Fashion of English Traders, according to the Maxim that " Good Wine needs no Bush," which my Wife, poor silly Wretch, not understanding, I explained to her did mean, that Stuffs worth the buying» to find a Sale, do stand in no Need of Haberdashers' trickish Advertisements. — Punch.