MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 515, 10 July 1850, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Ages of the Law Lords and Prelates in 1850. — Lord Plunkett is 86 ; Lyudhurst, 78; Brougham, 72; Denman, 71 ; Campbe]], 71 ; Cottenbam, 69 ; Langdale, 67 : the Bishop of Durham, 80 ; Exeter, 73 ; Canterbury, 70 ; Peterborough, 70 ; Bath and Wells, 68 ; Lincoln, 67 ; Gloucester, 67 ; Worcester, 67 ; Carlisle, 66 ; Rochester, 66 ; London, 64 ; York, 62 ; Winchester, 60 ; St. Asapb, 60 ; Ripon, 56 ; Chester, 55 ; St. David's, 52 ; Salisbury, 49 ; Oxford, 45.

The Rev. James Shore. —The committee appointed to conduct the case of the Her. James Shore, on the prosecution of the Bishop of Exeter, having brought their labours to a close, announce that the total amount placed at their disposal by the public was £614 2s. 7d M of this £525 15s. 10d., including £310 16s. 4d. paid to the Bishop of Exeter, and the cost of the proceedings in the Court of Arches, has been expended, and the balance, £88 6s. 9d., handed over to Mr. Shore. !

Revenue op thji Cape. —The revenue for the colony for the year 1850 is estimated at£2lB,B3l,andtheexpenditureat£2lo,ll9, thus leaving an excess of revenue, even after including the sum of £10,000 voted to promote emigration from England. In the expenditure is included roads, streets, and bridges, £26,000. The ecclesiastical establishment is £12,258 14s. 6d.; the educational department, £4271 : medical, £3369; police, £15,943; foreign department, £6462; pensions, £11,427. The list of official salaries presents the following items : the Governor (Sir H. Smith) has £5000 per annum ; and upon the civil and military establishments of the colony are two .officials at £2000 each,

one at £1500, two at £1200, two at £1000, two at £800, two at £700, three at £600, one at s£soo, one at £450, two at £400, one at £350, thirty-seven at £300, ten at £250, twelve at £200, four at £180, two at £160, twenty-three at .£l5O, three at £140, one at £125, nine at£l2o, one at £1 la, fifty at £100, twelve at £90, fifteen at £80, four at £75, two «t £70, nine at £60,' and five at £50, making a total of £58,830 per annum in salaries alone. — jStlas.

Important from Brazil. — Monarchical MOTEMENTS. — SYMPTOMS OF A REVOLUTION.— Prince de JoiNviLLE-^Pernam-buco, December 17, 1849. — The political state of this and the adjoining province daily grows more revolutionary. Great excitement prevails not only on account of tbe hatred manifested towards tbe Portuguese, but that tbe Empire tree (tbe Empire) is about being deprived of some of its most essential branches and given to the Prince de Join* ville, to grow into the woods and forests, and assume, as King, tbeir Protector and Defender. The Emperor and bis Government are inimical to tbe spread of education and liberty, and the word Republique is not good Portuguese. The people plainly see what the Emperor aims at. It is no less than the making of his Empire more secure and powerful by bringing to his fold, by degrees, French princes, bestowing on each tbe sovereignty of a province or two, and unite to bis Empire force and territory such exactly as "Austria now possesses and exercises over Hungary, Bohemia, and other German states. Let those petty kings and princes take root here, and more difficulty will be encountered in their extirpation than Germany has latterly experienced without effect. In the interior armed men in squads of from 200 to 300 have been driven from place to place by the Imperial troops ; not many lives have been lost in those skirmishes, but a battle will eventually take place, and should tbe revolutionists succeed, even in one engagement, Austria the second would fall, never to rise aerain. — N. Y. Exvress.

T&ibutb to Filial Affection in the Spanish Chamber. — A Madrid letter says, in reference to a recent debate — " On the 21st December, in the course of his speech, M. Silva said that the Ministry had employed men who had filled low positions, and he referred to a deputy, who, he said, had occupied the humble situation of a concierge. In th« sitting of the 22nd, M. Conseco, private secretary to the President of the Council, said he was the person referred to. It was true that, in the days of adversity, he had been compelled to take the place of concierge, but he had done so to give bread to his mother. The speech of M. Conseco excited great emotion in the chamber, and drew forth marks of sympathy from all parts. M. Silva himself ascended the tribune, and made public excuses to that honorable deputy. — Liverpool Albion.

Daily Newspapers' Reporting. — One cause of the monopoly enjoyed by leading newspapers is that the enormous capital they are compelled to employ precludes rivalry. The Parliamentary report alone costs nearly £100 a-week for the mere payment of the reporters. In like proportion is the expense for the law and general reports. The foreign correspondence is also an enormous item of expense. A large fortune must be risked before a daily newspaper can have even a chanct of success. Mr. Tomlins proposes that the reports should all be taken by authorised Government reporters, for whose manuscript the papers who choose to take it must pay. In like manner, he would have foreign intelligence conveyed from the Government to the newspapers. To these latter suggestions there are grave objections. The daily newspapers have already more than once contemplated an amalgamation of their reporters, by which one staff, costing £120 a week, would do the work of five or six at £500 or £600 a week. Some of the daily papers already divide the expense of law reporting amongst them. — Atlas. ,

Yielding Breakwater and Lighthouse. — This interesting intention is at present being exhibited to the public by its author, Mr. Smith, at his offices, Royal Ex-change-buildings. The invention, our readers may remember, waß exhibited before the Society of Arts in November last, and was then very favourably received by many of the members ; and since that period we understand it has been examined and approved of by many of our most eminent naval and scientific authorities. The enormous cost and perishable nature of harbours constructed of solid masonry have been long felt as serious obstacles to the erection of sufficient havens and breakwaters for tHe protection of shipping on our coasts in stormy weather ; and the object of the inventor of the yielding breakwater is to obviate the defects — such as silting up, engendering bars, and other inconveniences of stone harbours, and at the same time so materially to reduce the primary outlay as to render the establishment of ade-

quate shelter for the trade in tempestuous weather at every needful point a matter of comparatively easy attainment. Mr. Smith's principle is equally applicable to breakwaters and lighthouses, and he proposes to compose the former of a seiies of independent open frames or gratings of wood or iron, each having a separate action, and calculated, whilst it breaks the force of the waves, to escape injury from their impetus or recoil by an ingenious adjustment of braces, balance weights, and screw piles, which confers on each frame or grating of the pier the power of yielding to each wave like the trunk of a tree to the wind. In all except stormy weather* however, it is considered that the braces are sufficient to act as tension rodi, and keep the pier perfectly taut and motionless. With regard to expense, the inventor estimates that a deep-water harbour on his principle would not Cost more than l-20th, if of iron, or l-sOth if made of wood, of the outlay necessary for erecting solid stone harbours. He calculates that a small harbour, of sufficient depth and capacity to shelter a dozen large ships, would not cost more than £8,000, whereas the same would in stone require an outlay of £200,000. We think we have said enough to show that the invention, connected as it is with so important an interest as our maritime commerce, is at least deserving of public attention ; and we have no doubt that if the Admiralty Board are convinced of its general applicability, the Government will not be slow to adopt it, at least by way of experiment.

The General Pollution op Rivers. — It is not twenty years since sea-going vessels sent only up to Vauxball at ebb tide for sea store ; and the Thames water was accounted the best in the world for the purpose. Now the state of the river renders it hardly eligible at Twickenham. As the community has increased, so have habitations; and the smallest tributary of the Thames is, according to its volume, hardly less vitiated than the great confluent torrent. From first to last no care hath up to this day been taken to preserve for the people the purity of that element which was evidently intended by the Creator to be the healing nutriment of his creatures. To preserve the quality of the main trunk, it is first necessary to gnjrd the* tributary conduits ; and this cannpJne^dbne withont diverting from the naturafl6ul*!ftb:e course of rivers) all pollutions oi,y^-i>md soever, nor without enacting municipal laws for the regulation of all sewerage and drainage.— The Builder.

Parliamentary Prophecies.— ln 1671, when it was proposed to build Putney-bridge, Sir William Thompson declared from his place in the House of Commons that the wisdom of our ancestors had placed boundaries to the city of London, and God forbid that they should be altered ! He foretold the annihilation of England as consequent upon the removal of the land-marks of the city, and solemnly warned his hearers that whenever London reached Westminster the constitution of the country was gone for ever. Poor old Putney-biidge ! —it was built ; and is now in a state of greater decay than the constitution that was to perish as it rose. But the debate on Putney-bridge gave rise to still more curious remarks than those uttered by the timid Thompson. Mr. Boscawen said that, if there were any advantages derivable from a bridge at Putney, perhaps seme gentlemen would find out that a bridge at Westminster would be a convenience. The good gentleman laughed loudly at his own conceit, and gave stupendous wings to hit imagination ; he hinted, shudderingly, that the time might come when insane person* would desire to connect the Middlesex and Surrey shores by a bridge from the end of Fleet-market to the fields opposite ; he alluded convulsively to the Lambeth Marshes, and said that it were as wise to fling a bridge over to them from Somerset House, or one from opposite Guildhall to Southward, as to span the river with a bridge to Putney ; and then the honorable gentleman waxed wild — swore that, by and bye, people would attempt to build bridges of iron — and he ended by asserting that, if any carts go over Put-ney-bridge, the city of London was irretrievably ruined, and, " that the river above Lon-don-bridge would be totally destroyed as to navigation." Well! what is the result? The bridges have risen — the marshes and the fields have disappeared — and yet the metropolis still stands to shame the prophets of her fall. The most determined of these soothsayers, in the debate alluded to, was Sir Henry Herbert — he was for the rejection of all innovating projects. "If a man, Sir, (said he to the Speaker), were to come to the bar, and tell us that he proposed to convey us regularly to Edinburgh in coaches in seven days, and bring us back in seven days more, should we not vote him to Bedlam ? Surely, we should, if we did him justice. Or, if another told us that he would sail to the East Indies in six months, should we not punish

him fiqr •p^ay^ng on our credulity ? Assuredly, if we him rightly." Poor Sir Henry,!—riwhat wpuld his vexed shade feel w^rejt in <a coupe, expressing in ten hours to )E4.inl(ujgh, or careering by the Indiap mail .from the Ganges to the Thames within a month 1— Church of England Quarterly Review.

Novel Exportation. —A novelty in exportation has just been completed by Messrs. WinsUnd and Holland, the builders of Duke--street, Bloomsbury, consisting of an entire church, capable of accommodating three hundred persons, which is intended to be erected on the rock of St. Helena for the accommodation of the English residenti. The body of this edifice is of stone, and is already on its way to St. Helena in the barque Glentanner. The roof and other wood work of the building, the iron work, paving slates, &c, are all completed, .and will be shipped on board the Juliana in a few days. The design includes a belfry and a porch. The pulpit is of carved stone, and the seats of a stained pine.

First Dissipation. — I went on by passing the wine faster and faster yet ; and continually starting up with a corkscrew to open wine long before any was needed. I proposed Steerforth's health. I said he was my dearest friend, the protector of my boyhood, and the companion of my prime, I said I was delighted to propose his health, I said I owed him more obligations than I could ever repay, and held him in higher admiration than I could ever express. I finished by saying, " I'll give you Steerforth ! God bless him ! Hurrah !" We gave him three times three, and another, and good one to finish with. I broke my glass in going round the table to shake hands with him, and I said (in two words) *' Steerforth you're the guiding star of my existence," I went on by finding suddenly that somebody was in the middle of a song. Markham was the singer, and he sang " When the heart of a man is depressed with care." He said when he had sung it, he would give us " Woman !" I took objection to that and I couldn't allow it, I said it was not a respectful way of proposing the toast, and I would never permit that toas^ to be drunk in my house othewise than as " The Ladies !" I was very high with him, mainly, I think because I saw Steerforth and Grainger laugjjfrg at me — or at him — or at both of u%i |P|said a man was not to be dictated to, I aaid a man was. He said a man was not to be insulted, then. I said he was right there — never under my roof, where the Lares were sacred, and the laws of hospitality paramount. He said it was no derogation from a man's dignity to confess that he was a devilish good fellow. I instantly proposed his health. Somebody was smoking. We T/ere all smoking. I was smoking, and trying to suppress a rising tendency to shudder. Steerforth had made a speech about me, in course of which I had been affected almost to tears. I returned thanks, and hoped the present company would dine with me to-morrow, and the day after — each day at five o'clock, that we might enjoy the pleasures of conversation and society through a long evening. I felt called on to propose an individual. I would give them my aunt, Miss Betsey Trotwood, the best of her sex ! Somebody was leaning out of my bedroom window, refreshing his forehead against the cool stone of the parapet, and feeling the air upon his face. It was myself, I was addressing myself as " Copper field," and saying, " Why did you try to smoke ? You might have known you could not do it." Now, somebody was unsteadily contemplating his features in the lookingglass : my eyes had a vacant appearance ; and my hair — only my hair, nothing else looked drunk. Somebody said to me, "Le t us go to the theatre, Copperfield !" There was no bed-room before me, but again the gingling table covered with glasses : the lamp ; Grainger on my right hand, Markhana on the left, Steerfortb opposite — all sitting in a mist, and a long way off. The theatre! To be sure. The very thing. Come along ! But they must excuse me if I saw everybody out first, and turned the lamp off — in case of fire. Owing to some confusion in tiie dark the door was gone. I was feeling for it in the window curtains, when Steerfortb, laughing, took me by the arm and led me out. We went down stairs one behind another. Near the bottom, somebody fell, ami rolled down. Somebody else said it was Copperfield. I was angry at the false report, until finding myself on my back in the passage, I began to think there might be some foundation for it. A very foggy night, with a great ring round the lamps in the streets ! JThere was an indistinct talking of its being wet. I considered it frosty. Steerforth dusted me under a lamp-post, and put my hat into shape which somebody produced from somewhere in the most extraordinary manner, for I hadn't had it on before. Steerforth then said, " You are all right, Copperfield, are you not?" and I told him, " Never better." — Davij Copperfield,

Two of the Nottingham board of guardians were examining the breast of a plough on a stall in the market place— "l'll bet you a guinea, 8.," said one, " you don't know what this is for." " Done," said the other, " it's for sale." The bet was won and the guinea was paid.