LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 646, 11 October 1851, Page 3

LATEST ENGLISH NEWS.

Steam to Australia.—A report of the Committee on India Steam, &c., containing the reasons on which they recommend the Cape route for the mail service to Australia, has been made public. The witnesses examined consisted of persons connected with the colonies and nautical authorities, and the points kept in view were speed and certainty of postal communication, accommodation and rates of fare for passengers, facility and cheapness in the transmission of merchandise, and independence as far as possible from political objections consequent on routes through foreign countries. Three plans have been for some time in competition, which are described by the Committee in detail, and for each of which tenders have been made. The first is the Panama line, via Tahiti and New Zealand to Sydney; the second is the Cape line to Port Phillip and Sydney, with branch steamers to Swan River, Van Diemen’s Laud, and New Zealand ; and the third is the Overland Indian line from Point de Galle to Sydney, via Swan River. The present course of post by sailing vessels is 257 days, without allowing any interval, and by the Indian Overland route this might be reduced to 109 days, with an allowance of three days, The committee, however, do not regard rapidity of postal communication as an element to supersede everything else, but have endeavoured to ascertain the balance of advantages. Against the Indian route the inconvenience of three transshipments, the charge to passengers, which would be such as to render it unavailable in all ordinary cases, its inapplicability for goods, and the fact of its traversing the heart of Europe and Egypt, and thus being greatly dependent upon our relations with foreign Powers, were considered to present insuperable objections. With regard to the line by Panama, a tranquil and secure passage is admitted to be rendered certain ; but the in-

convenience of cressing the Isthmus (although to be lessened by the projected railway), and the fact of that transit being through a foreign State, seem to have deterred the committee from recommending it. The Cape route, therefore, has been decided upon as the only onepresenting a direct cammunication without any change of vessel, and as being entirely independent of other countries, while at the same time it is the cheapest for passengers and peculiarly adapted also for merchandise. The Commitee consider it possible that in this line there may be an uncertainty at first of six or seven days in' the homeward mails, but feel satisfied, from the evidence of navigators, that when the experiment of well found screw steamers shall have been sufficiently tried, there will be little doubt of their maintaining their engagements. It is satisfactory to observe that in coming to the determination in favour of the Cape route, the committee, looking at “ the prospect of remuneration which it holds out to its promoters, and likewise at the great changes rapidly taking place in the requirements and commercial communications of those distant parts of the world,” recommend that whatever arrangements may be entered into should be for as short a period as possible. The advocates of the Panama line will find nothing in the report to weaken the points on which they have of late so strongly insisted, and it is well, therefore, that its possibilities should not be shut out by the indiscretion of a lengthened contract elsewhere,— Times, 7th June.

Captain Somerset in the House of Correction.— Since Captain Somerset’s commital for assaulting a police constable in the Park he has been visited, per favour of the Middlesex magistrates, by a great number of the nobility and gentry, and by his lady, Mrs. Somerset. Among the visitors on the first day, was the Duke of Buccleuch, the Marquis of Stafford, Lord Mulgrave, and several officers of the regiment to which Captain Somerset belongs. Strenuous efforts have been made by the friends of Captain SiTiTerset to o'uiaiu a remission cf the punishment, and a petition was forwarded to the Home Office on his behalf, and, in fact, every possible influence was used to relieve the prisoner from incarceration in a gaol. On Thursday evening, Sir George Grey’s private secretary waited upon the prisoner, and informed him that, upon a careful review of all the facts of the case, and after reading the evidence at the Marlboroughstreet, police court, Sir George Grey was of opinion that he could not consistently with his duty advise her Majesty to remit any portion of the sentence. Captain Somerset, who had hoped from the powerful influence of his titled friends, that his imprisonment would have been commuted into a money fine, was very downcast on hearing the decision. On Friday and yesterday, the visitors were very numerous, and comprised peers, M.P.'s, colonels, captains, and others of wealth and station. There were six carriages at one time outside the House of Correction with visitors for Captain Somerset. All the visiting orders were marked upon the corner “special,’’ and were issued by Mr. Whisken, one of the visiting Justices. So much favour was never shown to any prisoner confined within the walls of the House of Correction before. By the regulation of the gaol, no person under sentence can be visited by any friend or relative until he has been incarcerated for three months, except by a special order from a magistrate, and they are very rarely issued, and only in cases of great emergency, such as the illness of a prisoner, or the death of a relative without the walls. Captain Somerset’s visitors within the last four days have amounted to upwards of one hundred. He wears the prison clothes, and subsists on the prison diet, and so fares in that respect the same as any other inmate of the gaol. York Spring Meeting.—The great national match for 1000 sovereigns between Lord Eglinton’s Flying Dutchman (Marlow), and Lord Zetland’s Voltigeur (Flatman), came off with brilliant success on the 13th May. The race is thus spoken of in the Illustrated News of the 17th May : —“Even betting. Voltigeur taking a lead of three clear lengths, made the running at a good pace, for such heavy ground, the Dutchman never attempting to go up until round the last turn. He then drew up, was within a length at the gravel road, had his head first half way up the distance, and finally won amidst the most enthusiastic cheers, by a length—run in 3m. 555. At the close of the match, Lord Eglinton declared, that as this match was a fair trial of merit, Flying Dutchman would not start again. At the same meeting the Champion Handicap was won by Lord Glasgow’s Knight of the Garter. On the following day, the York and Amstey Hunt Cup was won by Mr. Martinson’s Nancy, beating Lord Zetland’s Voltigeur. The racing turned out remarkably good, and was rendered peculiarly interesting by the second defeat of A oltigeur.”

Royal Contributions to the Exhibition.- Among the contributions by her Majesty are the following : —Jewel case in the cinque cento style, designed by L. Gruner, Esq., and executed at the manufactory of Mr. Henry Elkington at Birmingham. Table of gold and silver electroplate, manufactured by Messrs Elkington, designed by George Stanton, a young artist in their employment. A cradle carved in Turkey boxwood by W. G. Rogers, and designed by his son, symbolizing the union of the royal house of England with that of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In the interior of the head, guardian angels are introduced ; and above, the royal crown is found embedded in foliage. The friezes, forming the most important part of the sides of the body of the cradle, are composed of roses, poppies, butterflies, and birds, while beneath them rise a variety of pinks, studied from nature. The edges and the insides of the rockers are enriched with the insignia of royalty and emblems of repose. A Berlin wool carpet, executed by one hundred and fifty ladies of Great Britain. The dimensions of this carpet are thirty feet in length by twenty in breadth. The carpet has been produced in the following manner: —The pattern originally designed and painted by the artist, has been subdivided in detached squares, which have been worked by different ladies, and on their completion, the squares have been remitted, so as to complete the design. In the pattern which consists partly of geometrical and partly of floral forms, heraldic emblems are also introduced. The initials of the executants are ornamentally arranged, so as to form the external border. The whole design is connected Ly wreaths or bands of leaves and foliage, the centre group representing the store from whence they have been distributed. Prince Albert has contributed inter alia :—Group in marble, “ Thesus and and Amazons,” executed at Rome by — Engel, Esq., from Hungary, pupil of the Royal Academy. Shield presented by the King of Prussia to the Prince of Wales, in commemoration of the baptism of the infant Prince, for whom his Majesty acted as sponsor. The pictorial embellishments of the shield, the general plan for which was given by the King himself, were designed by Dr. Peter von Cornelius, and the architectural ornaments by Councillor Stuler. The shield has been denominated the Buckler of Faith. The inscription on the shield runs thus : — “ Fredericus Gulielmus Rex Bonissorum Aberto Eduardo, Principi XValliae, In Memoriam Diei Bapt. xxv. Jan. Anno MDCCCXLI.” A “ trifle from Germany” is next introduced.— “ Count Ernest Coburg-Gotha. Fruit stones of various sizes, carved with a penknife.”