MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 583, 5 March 1851, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Her Majesty on Ben-na-bourd.— Friday being the day chosen for the ascent of the mountain, the Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the eldest son of Prince Leiningen and the Marchioness of Douro, and attended by a few gillies, left Balmoral earl/ in the forenoon, and drove un the south side of the Dee till they reached the bridge of Invercauld, where the royal party crossed the river, and after passing up the opposite side for a couple of miles, alighted from their carriages at the Slogan burn. They then mounted ponies, and aseended the Slogan by a pony track, which carried them up a shoulder of the hill to within about a mile of the top ; but as the mountain from this point is for the most part very steep and rugged, the ponies were of no further use, and the party started on foot. During the toilsome ascent her Majesty proved herself to be a first-rate pedestrian, and bad the advantage of Prince Albert in more than one contest for superiority in surmounting the more rugged points, where the hands perform fully as important a part of the locomotion as the feet, and eventually the Queen reached the summit the first of the party. Ben-na-bourd is principally celebrated lor the very magnificent prospect it commands ot the various chains of mountains throughout the Highlands, and rises 3900 feet above tbe level of the sea. The corries near the top of the mountain are famous for their veins of beaut’ful rock crysj tals, kpown as ‘ Cairngorms.’ While the i royal party were in search of s n ecimeus, Prince Albert had the good fortuue to pick up an excellent piece of Cairngorm, more than sufficient to make a large brooch, and worth two or three day’s toil to a ‘Cairngorm digger.’ After the party had lunched at the ‘sappers and miners’ cairn at the top, her Majesty took a drink from a clear spring well, at the top of the ‘snowy corrie,’ and sho'rtly after the royal strangers left the summit, and by six o’clock had safely descended from by far the wildest and sternest region of the Highlands her Majesty had yet trod. Family Colonisation Loan Society. —The Stains Castle is the first emigrant vessel which has been chartered by the promoters of the above society, and is now fitting out for a voyage to Port Phillip and Port Adelaide in the East India Export Dock, Blackwall, from whence it will sail to-day-At the moment of her departure it may be desirable to mention what are the improvements which the association are endeavouring to introduce. The society was originated by Mrs. Chisholm—a lady whose name has long been known to the public in connection with the cause of emigration; and in order that her system may be clearly understood and appreciated, it should be stated in the first instance that the purpose she has iu view is the foundation of a national and self-support-ing system of colonisation to Australia, the industrious classes in the first instance contributing half the amount towards their own passage ; the other half to be lent them by a benevolent public as a loan without interest; which loan they will have to refund through the instrumentality of agents in the colonies, at the expiration of two years, or earlier if possible, in order that it may be re-lent in like manner to others. It is, however, to the arrangements for the voyage that we are at present anxious to direct attention. The parties who agree to emigrate under the auspices of this society are divided into what are called ‘ family groups,’ each group consisting of about twenty-four adults, besides children, and every grown person becomes bound to pay a proportionate share of ten shillings forfeit in case any one of the group shall prove a defaulter in respect of the money due for his passage. It is also arranged that those young women who may chance to be friendless are placed under the special guar-

dianship of families who pledge themselves to study their comfort, and to be responsible for their good conduct during the voyage. One great object of the society is to promote the re-union of families—that is to say, to enable persons in this country to join their relations who may have emigrated to the colonies at former periods, In order to effect this object, a plan is .adopted by which certain members of a family already settled in a colony are to contribute towards the expenses of those who follow them—and this system is ■rendered complete by the society’s advancing 3 sum equal io that which is supplied by the colonists themselves, and an agent in the colonies takes the security of the ‘ first arrival ’ for any loans made <by the society in England. By this arrangement every six guineas contributed gives a passage to one adult. Each contributor to that amount has the privilege, within one month of subscribing, of naming for passage one emigrant of approved character, Twelve guineas contributed gives a ipassage each successive year to one adult, and thus a continuous, self-supporting system of •emigration may be carried on without drawing, year after year, on the public. It appears that the number of emigrants in the ■Stains Castle under this sy stem is nearly 200, and a large proportion of these are about to join their children and relatives who have preceded them.

Wreck of the “Superb,” Steamer. —Southampton, Wednesday night, September 25. —By the steamer Courier, Captain Goodridge, .just arrived from Jersey, we have received, by electric telegraph, the subjoined account of the wreck of the Superb on the Minquiers Rocks, which occurred on Tuesday, and which resulted in the loss of eleven persons, who perished in smooth water and in broad daylight. The particulars are drawn up by some of the survivors, who have reached Southampton by the Courier steamer : —“ We regret to have the painful duty of announcing the loss of the steamer Superb, Captain Priaulz, and of eleven of the passengers and crew, on the Minquiers Rocks, and very near to the identical spot on which the excursion steamer Polka was run to save the lives of the passengers a week ago. The Polka was also under the command of the same master. The Superb left St. Malo for Jersey about half-past seven o’clock on Tuesday. and did not take the usual course; but, it is believed, with a view to make a shorter, passage, took the course so distressingly fatal. She struck violently at half-past nine o’clock, a.m., on the sunken rocks, and immediately filled with water. Her bows having been thrown on the rocks caused her to heel ever, throwing the passengers on the starboard side of the vessel. The Captain, it is said, immediately ordered the boats (of which there were only two) to be lowered, when with some half-dozen he got into one of them. This proceeding produced the greatest consternation among the passengers. The fire at the same moment was extinguished by the water, and an immediate rush was made for the other boat; but all who entered it found a watery grave, for there is reason to believe that the plugs were not in the boat, and they got off without an oar. The consequence was the boat was seen to be gradually sinking without possibility of relief, and •the countenances of those unhappy persons presented a scene of horror beyond description, for they sank shortly in deep water, Upon the remonstrances of Mr. Hamilton, and others, the Captain returned to the wreck, assisted on hoard by a ladder from a point of •the rock, not, however, until after his boat had swamped, being capsized by bis leaping from it. Fortunately the tide was falling fast, which soon left the ship high and dry on the rocks; but the scene of anguish and alarm .baffles description. By the exertions of Mr. Hamilton and the master, both of whom displayed great coolness, signals of distress were successfully made to the cutter Jupiter, about .five or six miles off. The wind being light two hours elapsed before she could reach us, hut she succeeded in doing so, and saved the . lives of all excepting those who rushed to the boat, and two children who were unfortunately thrown overboard by the shock as the vessel struck, the deck having burst upwards with the blow and thrown them over. The Courier, which had just come from Shoreham, having her steam up, came off to our assistance, with her owner, Mr. Maples, on hoard, and took us all from on board the cutter at about five in in the afternoon; but on approaching St. Heliers harbour in the dark, she also touched the Oyster rock, to the further alarm of the surviving passengers, already exhausted by their fearful sufferings. Captain Priaulz and some of the crew remained on board the cutter in the vicinity of the wreck. The cordial reception given to the passengers on their arrival at St, Heliers by hundreds congregating on the pier excited the warmest thanks, and a more providential escape is perhaps hardly on record. The passengers lost were—Mr. Gossett and wife, Mr. Jackson, son and daughter, < Mr. Ratten-

bury, Miss Price, Mr. Sedgwick, BelotCook Palmer, a fireman, and Patrick, a boy. The survivors are about 40 in number. It is due to a lad, one of the crew, to mention that he behaved with great gallantry and courage. When others were giving way to despair, he set to work to make a raft, which he accomplished in less than half-an-hour. He also ascended to the masf-head to give signals. We regret we cannot give his name, but he was saved.” Ships— Roads —Railways — Canals. —-There are employed in the yearly transit of Great Britain with the world and her own shores, 33,672 sailing vessels, and 1,110 steam vessels, employing 236,000 seamen. Calculating the value of each ship and cargo, as the value has been estimated before Parliament, at £5,000, we have an aggregate value —sailing vessels, steamers, and their cargoes included—of £173,910,000. Further, supposing that the yearly Wages of the seamen, including officers, was £2O per head, the amount paid in wages would be £4,720,000. The railways now in operation in the United Kingdom extend 6,000 miles, the cost of their construction (paid and to be paid) having been estimated at upwards of £350,000,000. Last year they supplied the means of rapid travel to above 63 millions of passengers, who traversed above a billion of miles. Their receipts for the year approached 11| millions of money, and nearly threequarters of a million of persons are dependant upon them for subsistence. The turnpike and other roads of Great Britain alone (independently of Ireland) present a surface of 120,000 miles in length, for the various purposes of interchange, commerce and recreation. They are maintained by the yearly expenditure of a million and a half. For similar purposes the navigable canals and rivers of Great Britain and Ireland furnish an extent of 4,850 miles, formed at a cost of probably £85,000,000. — Leeds Mercury, The Plunderers or the Tuileries.— “ The invaders of the Tuileries, on the 24th of February, 1848, found,” says the Droit, “ in the apartment of the Queen, a very fine white parrot. In the midst of the tumult, disorder, and devastation of the scene the bird was respected, and became a subject of amusement for that portion of the sovereign people, who, after having installed themselves as ters in the Royal apartments, kept possession of them in spite of the invitations to leave given them by the Provisional Government, and left them much less readily than their former possessor. The hosts of the chdteau, after having amused themselves for sometime with the bird, at length, however, became tired of it, and it was seriously proposed to kill it and have it roasted for their dinner. The suggestion was unanimously voted and was about to be carried into immediate execution, when a young man stepped forward and begged that it might be given up to him. This was done, and the life of the bird was saved. Some days after this generous citizen left the Tuileries with the bird in his hand. When the excitement of victory had subsided, he returned to the Tuileries to restore the bird, but it was refused admission, and he took it back again to his room. Two years passed away, when her Majesty caused enquiries to be made after her favourite, and it was found in the possession of the mother of the young man who had saved its life, and who resided in the Rue de Verneuil. It was claimed from her, but in vain, the woman declaring that, as it had been refused when her son took it back, she would not now give it up. All the offers made to her were without effect, but a commissary of police having been applied to on the suoject, he, not without difficulty, obtained possession of it, and the bird is now on its journey to England.” The Conscience of Counsel.—When I first went the Northern Circuit I employed my time, having no business of my own, in attending to the manner in which the leading counsel did their business. I left Lancaster at the end of a circuit with my friend Jack Lee, ar that period a leader upon the circuit. We supped and slept at Kirby Lonsdale, or Stephen. After supper I said to him, 1 have observed that throughout circuit in all causes in which you are concerned, good, bad, or indifferent, whatever their nature was, you equally exerted yourself to the uttermost to gain verdicts, stating evidence and quoting •cases, as such statement or quotation should give you a chance of success, the evidence and cases not being stated clearly, or ouoted with strict attention to accuracy, and to fair and just representation. Can that,” said I, Lee, be right? Can it be justified ?” “ Oh* yes, he said, “undoubtedly. Dr. Johnson has said that counsel were at liberty to state, as the parties themselves would state, what it was most for their interest to state.” After some interval, and when he had had his evemng bowl of milk punch, and two or three pipes of tobacco, he suddenly said, “ Come Master Scott, let us go to bed. I have been thinking upon the question that you asked me, and I am. not quite so sure that the con-

duct you represented will bring a man peace at the last.— Lord Eldon, in Campbells Chancellors. Native Copper at Lake Superior.— We have seen passing our office for a week past immense masses of native copper, of such weights as to require two teams to a waggon ; and we take from Mr. M'Knight’s shipping books the weight of a few masses from the Cliff and Minesota mines. The following from the Cliff—l47o, 4600, 4096, 4006, 5206. 4200, 4300, —whole weight 20,852. Every piece weighs two tons or more. Such immense masses of pure copper were never known in the history of mining. The copper has to be cut np with a long chisel threefourths of an inch in width, by chipping off piece after piece with a heavy hammer. An inventor of some machine for sawing or cutting this copper by steam power would strike a vein of good fortune. The Minesota mine is turning out masses of the same description and weights.- — Luke Superior Journal. Immense Human Bones. —The Cincinnati Gazette gives an account of the thigh bone of a human being having been found containing six times the number of cubic inches that the thigh bone of a man in these degenerate days can furnish! Also a human collar-bone and other relics to match. Physicians say that the person to v/hom they belonged must have been thirteen feet high. Telegraphs in America. —The Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois Telegraph Company has now taken a new organisation. It is one of the most extensive lines in the world, and has now a thousand miles in good working order. A Mormon Address.—An address just issued from the head-quarters of the Mormons, at Great Salt Lake City, concludes thus:— “ Push the saints to Zion, and persuade all good brethren to come, who have a wheelbarrow, and faith enough to roll it over the mountains.”