ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 699, 14 April 1852, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Sweden.—The Storthing of Norway closed its labours at Christiana on the 19th ult. The Lagthing, or Lower Chamber, previously adopted a bill, abolishing the interdiction on Jews to reside in the kingdom, and extending to them the same laws as are applicable to the dissenting Protestant sects.— Atlas, Oct. 11. Morecambe Bay.—The Elver stone Advertiser says : —“ We have been informed, from a source on which we can rely, that a company is now forming, and that an application is to be made in the ensuing session of Parliament, for a bill for powers to reclaim Morecambe Bay from the sea. If the application prove successful, an area of land, comprising somewhere about 70,000 acres, a county’ in itself, will be added to Lancashire and Westmoreland. A Volcanic Island.—lt will be remembered that an island, about 120 feet high, and 2000 feet in circumference, suddenly sprang up in 1831. between Sicily and La Pantellaria. It disappeared about a month after, and at a later period even the sounding lead could give no indication of its existence; but vessels passing over the place it had formerly occupied would sometimes feel a sort of shock, which showed that it was of volcanic origin. In March last, however, the French vessel Eole, which was taking soundings in the vicinity, discovered some traces of its existence ; and we now learn from Naples that in the couise of last month her Majesty’s ship Scourge, Captain Kerr, verified the truth of the preceding observation. and further discovered that the island, which has been christened “ Isola Giulina.” was only nine feet under water. Captain Kerr had a pole with a streamer and an inscription set upon the spot.— Journal des Debats.

Loss of Life by Excrement.—On Wednesday Mr. Wakley, M.P,, held an inquest in the University College Hospital, on J. Berine, a shoemaker, aged 47. Deceased, who was a warm admirer of Kossuth, joined the procession on Monday to Copenhagen-fields. He had only proceeded half the way when blood pushed from his mouth, and he fell powerless on the pavement. He was instantly conveyed to the hospital, where he expired on his admission. The house surgeon stated that he died from disease of the heart, produced by excitemen*. Verdict—Natural Death.— Bell’s Messenger, Nov. 10.

Colonial Reform.—Amongst the incidents which marked the close of the last session of Parliament none can be regarded as more significant than the omission cf the annual dinner of the Society for the Promotion of Colonial Reform. It was ushered into existence three years ago, at a white bait ovation, at the Trafalgar, where it may be truly said “the lion sat down with the lamb;” and men alike opposed in character and political opinion, combined with one accord to extirpate that accursed system of colonial misrule of which Earl Grey and Mr. Benjamin Hawes were pronounced to be the most incorrigible abettors. On the occasion to which we refer, we saw Lord Lyttelton, an ex-Colonial Minister, and Sir Wiliam Molesworth, the arch enemy of that class, Lord Monteagle and Mr. Allas WylJ, Mr. Cobden and Mr. Philip Miles, Henry Barclay and Vernon Smith, Mr. Adderley and Moncton Milnes, all associated in wonderful unanimity to confine Lord Grey and his pragmatical coadjutor to the congenial employment of mending pens and burking despatches, whilst a new imperium in imperio should transfer the functions of Colonial Government from Downing-streeet to Char-ing-cross, where preceptors in constitution-mak-ing were to sit weekly, assisted by such eminent professors as Messrs. Gibbon Wakefield, and the editor of the Spectator. We are aware that, by some Cynics out of doors, the society was sneered at, and designated the “happy family;” and the sarcasm gained not a little point from the fact that the public were invited, for the small charge of one guinea per annum, to see the animals feed every Saturday, at three o’clock, upon former principles and old opinions, and, rejoicing in their recantation, to digest any given quantity of inconsistency which their best enemies might throw in their teeth. It was ilhiaturedly alleged, moreover, that whilst the subordinate keepers of the menagerie, in the persons of Adderley and Molesworth, were constantly present at Charingcross, the Wombwell of the concern was ensconced at his Tusculum, at Reigate, and quietly directing the process by which the leopard was to change bis spots and the lion his skin. But to come back to history ; we find, on reference to our files, that the famous demonstration of forty-five M.P.'s, in 1 849, dwindled down in one little year to nearly a third of that number, and that the dinner list represented only the debris of a body whose creation was a fallacy, and its end a failure. Is it to be wondered at, therefore, that the session of 1851 should have t<rminated without any attempt to recombine elements so unnatural, and dissipated as they were by their own incongruity ? M a confess that we have been amongst the curious

who have sought lor the more proximate cause ol the dissolution of the Colonial Reform Society ; for if it any longer exists, it can only be in name, and we have some reason to believe that it was accelerated by the arrival of certain delegates from the Cape of Good Hope, and the consequent discussions as to the course to be adopted in Parliament with .reference to the questiones vcxatte which for the last few years have given to that colony an unfortunate prominence in public interest. There were, it is well known, in rite society some who have avowed the wish that the colonies should be altogether cut adrift front the mother country, and left to shift for themselves ; others, the genius at Heigale (Wakefield) among the rest, were anxious to avail themselves of any opportunity to thwart the measures of the Colonial Office and spite Earl Grey ; and a third party, who, sincerely desiring Colonial Reform, were determined it should not be rendered synonymous with colonial rebellion. We believe, therefore, that at the door of the latter party, whether worthily or unworthily our readers may judge, may be laid the premature extinction of a party which must form a phenomenon in Parliamentary history for all time. — Liverpool Albion, Oct. 12. Impossibilities Possible.—What mere assertion will make any one believe that in one second of time, in one beat of the pendulum of a clock, a ray of light travels over 192,000 miles, and would therefore perform the tour of the world in about the same time that it requires to wink with our eyelids, and in much less than a swift runner occupies in taking a single stride ? What mortal can be made to believe, without demonstration, that the sun is almost a million times larger than the earth ; and that although so remote from us that a cannon ball shot directly towards it, and maintaining its full speed, would be twenty years reaching it, it yet affects the earth by its attraction in an inappreciable instant of | time ? Who would not ask for demonstration, when told that a gnat’s wing, in its ordinary flight, beats many hundred times in a second ; or that there exist animated and regularly organised beings, many thousands of whose bodies laid close together, would not extend an inch. But what are these to the astonishing truths which modern optical inquiries have disclosed, which teach us that every point of a medium through which a ray of light passes is affected with a succession of periodical movements, regularly recurring at equal intervals, no less than five hundred millions of millions of times in a single second ! That it is by such movements communicated to the nerves of our eyes that we see. Nay, more, that it is the difference in frequency of their recurrence which affects us with the sense of the diversity of colour. That, for instance, in acquiring the sensation of redness, our eyes are affected four hundred and eighty-two millions of millions of times ; of yellowness, five hundred and forty-two millions of millions of times ; and of violet, seven hundred and seven millions of millions of times per second! Do not such things sound more like the ravings of madmen than the sober conclusions of people in their waking senses? They are, fievertimless,- can*--clusions to which any one may most certainly arrive, who will only be at the trouble of examining the chain of reasoning by which they have been obtained. — Herschel.

Curious Scene at Sea.—While a passenger from Aden to Bombay, bn board the East India Company’s steamer Queen, in December last, it was our lot to fall short of coals ; having had contrary winds and a heavy sea nearly the whole distance, our trip was prolonged to fourteen days, usually performed in eight. The vessel had coaled in Aden only for ten day's steam, and luckily she had besides a considerable quantity of small coal or dross ; but still it was found that it would be absolutely necessary to burn part of the ship’s stores to bring her into harbour. Orders were accordingly given to that effect, and it was with a kind of terror mingled with surprise, that we saw, one after another, the long-boat, spare spars, junk soaked in ghee and oil, (to facilitate its burning), the engine hatches, and the topmasts cut up and burned. Then came the turn of the orlop deck, which was torn up beneath our feet, and stuffed into the insatiable maw of the furnace ; then went the gunslides, and then a number of packages of government barrel beads and staves ; and at length rumours were rife among the seamen that their sea chests were to share the same fate. It would be difficult to describe the feelings of the passengers, more especially of the ladies, when looking on at the ship thus being torn to pieces before their eyes, anil when listening throughout two sleepless nights to the noise of sawing, and chopping, and throwing. It would be equally difficult to describe the relief with which, on the 14th morning, they beheld thiough the telescope, by the light of the rising sun, a faint outline of the island of Bombay, the harbour of which we duly reached. In explanation of this extraordinary scene, I may mention that the instructions of Government insist peremptorily upon the commanders of mail steamers, in the event of the fuel running short, burning anything and everything that will assist in bringing the vessel to her destination. — Extract from a private letter from Bombay, dated 14th May last.

Prices or Necessaries of Life in 1810 and 1851. —A correspondent of the Gardener's Chronicle had lately some conversation with a cottager who gave him a list of articles used by the peasantry forty years since. As many now living are not aware of the great difference in cost that has taken place since then, we subjoin the following list : —

—Banker's Magazine for November. “Which is the Best Way of Testing a Blade ?”—We find in our friend Notes and Queries, an article with the above title. They recommend various plans—such as pressing him with all your strength upon an iron block, ai d

knocking him against the fire-grate as hard as you can ; mid doubling him up by bringing a weight I of-lOOlbs. to bear upon bis side, and a multitude I of other agreeable tests, which we should be very ' sorry to apply to any “ blade ” of our acquaintI ance. There are various ways of testing a blade. You can ask him to stand security at a loan office. If he shrinks, he is not a good blade. The best way, however, is to try him with a good bill. If die bill is a very heavy one, and you find that, without much.pressing, the blade gives way quietly, and allows you to make a handle of him bv putting his name to the bill, and moreover takes up (be bill when it becomes due, you may consider it a very fair test indeed, and that your blade must be a first-rate one for not turning rusty, or snapping, during the experiment. The softer your blade, the belter, of course, he yields to the test. In fact, if your blade is excessively soft, you may bend him to anything you please, and it becomes difficult to say whether there is any test so severe that you may not safely venture to “ try it on ” him ! — Punch.

Hat.. 1810 1851 .£1 0 0 0 7 0 Gown 1 1 0 0 (i 0 Shirt 0 10 6 0 3 0 Calico print per yard..., 0 2 9 0 0 G Brown Holland lining of gown 0 1 8 0 0 4 Packing cloth, then used for aprons .. 0 1 (i 0 0 G ARTICLES OF FOOD. A gallon of flour 0 3 3 0 0 10 A bushel of flour 1 0 0 0 5 0 Salt, per bushel 0 18 0 0 1 0 Bacon, home cured, per lb. 0 1 6 0 0 8 Tea (not good) 0 8 0 0 •1 0 Brown sugar, per lb.... 0 0 10 0 0 4 Butter, per lb 0 1 0 0 0 8 Soap, per lb 0 1 6 0 0 G Starch, per lb 0 6 0 0 8