MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 551, 13 November 1850, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Great Industrial Exhibition. — American Speculation. — An influential meeting of the inhabitants of Marylebone has just been beld, to promote the proposed exhibition ; Sir B. Hall, M.P., Lcrd B. Stuart, M.P., and Mr. Cobden, M.P., were the chief speakers. The latter gentleman endeavoured to show that all classes would be benefited by the influx of 1,000,000 persons, who would gather to the metropolis between May and September. He also acquainted the meeting of a project on foot in the United States, for purchasing the exposition as soon as it should be finished, and carrying it off bodily to New York ! The men who started this idea were persons of high respectability and large capital, one of them being the owner of the line of packet ships between London and New York, and he (Mr. Cobden) believed that that idea would be carried out, and that it would prove an admirable speculation The hon. gentleman, at the close of his speech, thus referred to the exertions of Prince Albert in promoting the exhibition. "I do not wish to flatter any one ; but I do not hesitate to say that his Royal Highness has done three times^as much as any other man in the promotion of these objects, whilst from this time until next year he will have more mental anxiety, daily labour, and perplexing toil, than any working man in the United Kingdom. I would rather be Prince Albert, associated with this exhibition, than the Prince Eugene, or Marlborough of history, associated with the battle fields of vjctoiy." It was stated by Lord Overstone, on Friday, to a meeting of the London committee of bankers, &c, for promoting Prince Albert's Show of Industry, ihat £50,000 has already been subscribed. — Atlas.

Attempted Insurrection at Palermo. — The Constituzionale ot Florence quotes a letter from Palermo, May 20, giving an account of a new attempt at insurrection in the vicinity of that city. It states that on the evening of the 18th sorae soldiers from the country stations arrived at Palermo, bringing the information that armed men were assembling in the neighbourhood, and approaching the city. The gtfn&ale was immediately beaten ; the troops, including the cavalry and artillery of the garrison, marched out to meet the insurgents, and a serious conflict, which lasted several hours, took place on the plains of Si. Paolo. Overcome by numbers, the in* surgents retired and dispersed. Not one of them was arrested. Five persons of the neighbourhood were taken up, but afterwards released, their innocence being evident. Many arrests had been made in town before the occurrence, but few after. A rumour was current that a movement was to have taken place at daybreak on the 19th in Palermo itself. — Ibid.

A Chapter of Misadventures. — The North British Mail states, that on Wednesday week a foreign gentleman arrived in Glasgow by ihe half-past 1 a.m. Caledonian train from the south. On arriving at the station in Buchanan-street he called a cab, and ordered the driver to take him to a lodging-house. Accoidingly, along with his luggage, consisting of two boxes, a carpet- bag, and writing dcsk — ccontainiDg large sums m money and bills — he was driven as directed. In the morning, the unfortunate stranger left his lodgings to take a walk through the town ; but, in endeavouring to find his way back, he lost all knowledge of the whereabouts of the house at which he had slept the previous evening. After a fruitless search he entered a cab, about 1 p.m., and ordered the driver 10 drive him to a respectable hotel. He was accordingly taken to the London Hotel, Mr, Clarkes, whei c he made known hissorry plight, Au advertisement was instantly sent to one of

the newspapers for the discovery of bis property ; but almost immediately after his taking up his abode at Mr. Clarkes the unfortunate gentleman was struck with palsy, and was unable to give further intelligence of his movements on the evening of his arrival. He expired in his hotel on Thursday evening, but not before his lost luggage, containing a large sum of money, and documents relating to property, &c, of the highest importance, was discovered. The police, in the interim, it seems, bad used every effort to obtain some trace of it, but for a while without success, till Thursday last, when the cabman to whom it had been originally intrusted appeared, and explained that it had been left at an hotel in Paisley, and there the articles were found, safe and sound, the cabman had been prevented, it appears, from making the necessary explanation at an earlier period, by having himself encountered a misadventure as singular as any other section of this "strange eventful history." He had gone down to Broomielaw to take leave of a friend on board a coasting vessel, and while the two were carousing over a bottle the ship sailed, and he awakened from his potations to find himself far out at sea. However, on being landed, and ascertaining the circumstance, he, as soon as possible, wound up this "chapter of misadventures" by offering a solution of the others and detailing his own.

An Extraordinary Calculator. —ln a report of the proceedings at a recent meeting of the members of the Institute of Actuaries given in the Post Magazine, the following account is furnished of a German, at present resident in London, whose calculating powers seem to outbid those of the celebrated George Bidder. —The remainder of the evening was occupied by the appearance of a German gentleman, named Daze, whose extraordinary talents for calculation, and the facility with which he performs the most tedious arithmetical operations, and answers the questions with equal ease, either verbally or in writing, are so remarkable as to elicit the wonder and admiration of every one who hears or sees him. His answers are given with almost the same rapidity that the listener can write down the result, allowing nothing for the time spent in computing. The first question asked him was the product of a number, consisting of five figures, by another number of five figures, and the correct answer was given almost instantaneously. His friend, who acted as interpreter for him, stated that he had the most singular power of telling at a glance a great number of objects thrown upon the table —as, for instance, the total number of marks on dominoes, even to one hundred or more. To test this quality, the balloting balls, which had just been used for the admission of new members, were thrown from the box loose upon the table, and HerrDaze, after taking a single glance and then turning away, declared the total number to be sixtyeight—which proved to be correct, when the balls were counted and returned to the box. It should be remarked in this case that some were lying much nearer together than others, and that they would appear to an ordinary spectator to be so confused as to puzzle even an experienced calculator how to avoid reckoning some of them twice. He then gave the product of two numbers to twelve figures, multiplied it by seven, and repeated the latter product backwards without an error in any figure. He was then asked the cube of 457, which was correctly given, 95,443,993, almost instantaneously. He will divide a number by another, consisting of two or three figures, and will write down the answer at once, in one line, without any apparent immediate process. In as rapid a manner he gave the factors to 7421, namely, 41-181; but it would take up too much time to state all the surprising proofs of this singular gift of calculation. We may merely mention, as one instance, that he multiplied a number consisting of twelve figures by another number of twelve figures, and gave the product correct in one minute and three-quarters. — Times.