ENGLISH EXTRACTS,

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 485, 27 March 1850, Page 4

ENGLISH EXTRACTS,

A sad affair has occurred at Mr. Nelson Lee's Theatre at Reading. Mr. Thomas, the trombone-player, had a very slight razor cut; on hi? lip on Tuesday evening the 22nd August, and by some means or other that green -incrui tat ion which is frequently seen on 1 brass touched it and caused it to smart; bat very little notice was taken of this at the time* On Wednesday evening he was in his place in the orchestra, but his lip wai much swollen. On Thursday morning it had become black and gangrenous,. and continued to spread over the mouth and down the inside of th* throat, 5 until the afternoon when death put an end to the, poor man's sufferings, at the age of thirty-one years. — Bucks Herald.

Terrible Conflagration in the City. — A fire broke out on Sunday night, shortly after ten o'clock, and was not extinguished until nearly one o'clock on Monday morning. The premises were in the occupation of Messrs. Goocb and Cousens, wool- merchants, and were situated in London-wall. Several of the inhabitants instantly rushed' to the spot to render assistance, but so strong a hold had the destructive element obtained in the interim, that the whole of the lower part of the premises was completely enveloped in flames, so that it was utterly impossible for any one to render the least assistance in saving, any of the valuable contents on the premises. The scene which then presented itself was truly terrific, for the whole of Messrs. Gooch and Cousens' premises were on fire from the base to the roof, andtheflamesascendedso high into the air as to illumine not merely the whole of the city, but the greater portion of the eastern division of the metropolis, floor after floor in the immense building continued to fall a prey to the fury of the conflagration, and it is believed 'hat Carpenter's Hall is also very severely' injured, not merely by fire, but also with water. The firemen by mounting the roofs of the houses in Draper's and Sadler's Places, succeeded in saving them from total destruction. The loss of property sustained by the poor peopli ( there must be considerable. The whole of Messrs. Gooch and Cousens' property was, it is stated, fully insured. The property destroyed by this disastrous event, unless a great amount of salvage be collected; must reach, including the buildings, to'nearly £ 100,000. It is understood that nearly the' whole of the parties who had wool ieposited in their premises were protected from loss by what is technically termed float-ing-policies. The state of feeling existing between the slaves and slave dealers in the southern Statis of America,' is represented to be very bad, ana* had been very much increased by the desire of the latter to exclude the free blacks from the 'slave districts. The ravages of cholefa had lessened the slave population by some 20,000, and increased the market value in Maryland and Louisiana. A Constantinople journal, in noticing the arrival of Mr. Albert Smith in that city, describes him as a celebrated English political economist, and archaeologist, author of the Wealth of Nations and the History of Ghent. Sir J. J. Gordon Bremer, K. C. 8., formerly Commandant at Port Essington, has been promoted to the rank of Rear- Admiral. The Lord Mayor of Londop, Sir James.. Duke,. M. P., laid the foundation stone of a oew city prison, at Holloway, on the 26th September. His Lordship described the work is the largest and most expensive ever undertaken by the City of London. The Archbishop of Canterbury has presented £500 to the Colonial Bishopric Fund. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland had removed the venerable Earl of Roden and two

other magistrates named Beers, from the Commisssion of the Peace, for the county of Down, on account of the fatal affray at Dolly's Brae on the 12th July, between the Orangemen and their Ribbon assailants. The main crime laid to the Earl's charge, was his refusal in conjunction with the majority of the Castlewellan JHStices to sustain the informations laid against the Orangemen for being present at an illegal procession. If his Lordship metes out the same justice to all, it would seem as if he would have enough to do, for since the removal of Lord Roden and his compatriots from the magistracy, the Castlewellan Bench has renewed the refusal, with no dissentient but one stipendiary Magistrate. .A German paper says that on suspension of life by prussic acid, life is immediately restored by pouring acetate of potash and common salt dissolved in water, on the head and spine. A New York paper says — " the net pro- ' ceeds of Mrs. Butler's readings during four months amounted to twenty thousand dollars." The Projected Paris Revolution of June. — In France the opening of the court to try the Versailles prisoners has brought to light some curious facts. Documents are forthcoming which supply damning proof of complicly, by Ledru-Rollin and many others, in ato plan overturn the government ; and they supply more damning proof of their utter incapacity to lead a movement of the kind. The very indiscretion of suffering such documents to remain for evidence attest* the want of common discretion. It also comes out very plainly that the conspirators had no settled purpose, aim, or plan ; their sally was merely a revolution for ihe sake of revolving, to, see whether something more agreeable to the conspirators might not turn up. — Spectator.

The Cephalonian Insurrection. — A letter in the Constitutionnel has recent news from Cephalonia: — "The Lord High Commissioner has ordered the transportation of three Cephalonian journalists in the small islands of Cerrigotto and Fanno. Five prisoners, among whom is the priest Zapandi,? have been bung; the two principal leaders have not yet been, arrested, although a reward has been offered for their apprehension. - ( Thai punishment of flogging has been applied to j a great number of the insurgents. This ignominious punishment has caused great ex-, asperation ; those who have been subjected to it consider themselves as dishonored, and several of them loudly demanded to'be put to death. It is said that the inhabitants of a village, on seeing their priest flogged, gave vent to the loudest expression of grief and rage. In general, the means of repression which have been made use of are considered barbarous and oppressive, particularly that of levelling the house of the priest Nodaro."

The Floods of the Mississippi. — An engineer of New York is about bringing forward a plan of a most momentous work, being no other than that of regulating the height of water in the Mississippi by drainage. He asserts that the present system of buflding up the banks is not only an erroneous, one, but will so tend to raise the bed of the river, as to render it necessary to constantly add to the height of the embankment, in proof of which theory he instances the Po, where that effect was produced. He also states that the plans lately suggested of a new waste channel to carry off the surplus water would be found equally ineffectual ; and, again, as in the case of the Po, would either altogether alter its course, or, like the Zuyder-Zee, spread its immense volume into a lake. The engineer's name is Henson ; be demonstrates the foregoing with figures, and his proposal, which he promises to bring forward in a few days, will be looked at with much interest at a time like the present, when the inundation of New Orleans has occasioned to much Solicitude. — American Correspondent of the) Times.