ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 713, 2 June 1852, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Thk Official Catalogue of the Exhibition.—Tlie statistics of this volume throw light upon the producing capabilities of our great printing establishments'. From information supplied by the contractors; it would seem, that although the first complete impressions were only attainable aMO o'clock on the night preceding the Ist of May, yet 10,000 copies, properly stitched and bound, were duly delivered at the Building in Hyde Park, the following morning. The two copies presented to Her Majesty and the Prince on that occasion, had been furnished with their rich trappings of morocco and gold within six hours. The sale of the book, equal in quantity to four ordinary octavo volumes, and published at less than the price of one, has been proportionately large. Upwards of 250,000 copies, (about one-six-teenth of the estimated number of printed volumes that, issued from the printing press within the three first centuries after the discovery of the art of printing), have been sold. The quantity of paper thus consumed amounted to 105 tons, and the duty paid thereon to the sum of £1,460; flfty-two thousand pounds weight of metal are employed in the type, which is kept constantly " set up " in order to make all needful alterations. These figures are so large, that we find it difficult to discover any middle term to bring the results they indicate home to our minds. But it may perhaps assist the imagination to reflect that if from any reason, or indeed, many reasons, the whole of the earlier editions had been consigned in one vertical column to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, the depth of the latter being generally estimated at six thousand feet, the present improved and correct edition would form a lonely peak rising to the height of Chimborazo or Cotopaxi, exactly 18,000 feet above the level, or the censure of the ordinary inhabitants of this earth. — Edinburgh Review.

Incident of a Steamboat Explosion. — Not long since, it seems a steamboat, called the Old Kentuck, blew up near Trinity, at the mouth of the Ohio, where it is a well established fact that a great many of the musquitos will weigh a pound, by which a lady rejoicing in the name of Mrs. Jones lost her husband and her trunk, for both of which an action was brought. There was, strange to say, great difficulty in proving that Mr. Jones had been on board the boat at the time of the collapse, that worthy having notoriously been very drunk on the wharf-boat just as the steamer left the Trinity. Many witnesses were examined to prove the fact, until finally a Mr. Deitzmar, a German, was placed on the staad. Our .friend, J. S., Esq., was attorney for the boat, and elicited from Mr. Deitzmar this testimony ;—" Mr. Pei.tzmar. did you know the Old Kentuclc ?" '^Yah, I wash blowed up mit bar." " Were you on board when she collapsed her flue ?" " When she .bush't the biler ? Yah, T was dare." " Did you know Mr. Jones ?" "To be sure ; Mr. Jones and I took passenger togeder." " You did ? When did you last 9ee Mr. Jones on board the boat?" "Well I didn't see Mr. Jones on board de boat last time." J. S. fancied his case was safe, and with a most triumphant glance at. the jury, said, " You did not ? Well, Mr. Deitzmar, when last did you see Mr. Jones ?" " Well, when de schmoke pipe and me wos going up, we met Mr. Jones coming down." — New York Journal of Commerce,

Mtstert of the American LAKES.—Lake Erie is only sixty or seventy feet deep ; but the bottom of Lake Ontario, which is 452 feet, is 230 feet below the tide level of the ocean, or as low as most parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and the bottoms of Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, although their surface is so much higher, are all, from their vast depth, on a level with the bottom of. Lake Ontario. Now, as the discharge through the river Detroit, after allowing for the full probable portion carried off by evaporation, does not appear by any means equal to the quantity of water which the three upper great lakes receive, it has been conjectured that a subterranean river may run from Lake Superior to Huron, and from Huron to Lake Ontario. This conjecture is by no means improbable, and will account for the singular fact that herrings are caught in all the lakes communicating with the St. Lawrence, and in no others. As the Falls of Niagara must have always existed, it must puzzle the naturalist to say how these fish got into the upper lakes without some such subterranean river ; moreover, any periodical obstruction of this river would furnish a not improbable solution of the mysterious flux and reflux of the lakes. — Dublin .University Magazine.

Napier. — An Indian sword player declared at a great public festival that he could cleave a small lime laid on a man's palm without injury to the member, and the General (Napier) extended his right hand for the trial. The sword player, awed by his rank, 'was reluctant and cut the fruit horizontally. Being urged to fulfil his boast, be examined the palm, said it was ,not one to be experimented upon with safety, and refused to prdceedf The General then extended his left hand, which was admitted to be suitable in form ;• yet the Indian still declined the trial, and when pressed, twice waved his thin keen edged blade, as if to strike, and twice withheld the blow, declaring he was uncertain of success. ' Finally, "he was forced to make the, trial, and the lime fell open cleanly divided "" — the edge of the sword had just marked its passage over the skin without drawing a drop of blood!

'Shoe-rlack Brigade. — The success of the juvenile . "Shoe-black -Brigade" and street sweepers stimulates the, authors of the movement to propound fresh inventions, and to widen still further the .means of livelihood for poor boys rescued from the gaol. The public-

certainly is ready to assist. To every six brooraers there will hereafter be attached a message boy, who will be known by his name, of "Mercury" legibly inscribed upon a label. This lad will be at the call of any shopkeeper within his district, for the purpose of running errands at the rate of threepence a mile or sixpence an, hour. The society will aid this movement, by rendering itself responsible for all parcels entrusted to the Mercuries, under the value of five pounds. By promoting to such office only those capitalists who have as much as five pounds in their bank, it will in fact make the boy himself pay for the value of the property, in case of theft. Then there will arise among us " Brassers," and their offer to the public will be for a penny from each house to keep door-plates, shop-plates, knockers, and bell-pulls, in a state of tremendous brilliancy. The Ragged Schools take thousands of boys yearly from the streets ; which they pollute, and where they are polluted. The public will cordially rejoice to find — as the plan goes on and prospers — thai such boys by hundreds are returned upon the streets as useful members of society. — Atlas. The document purporting to be a diplomatic note addressed to Mr. Webster by Chevalier Hulsemann, Austrian Charge d' Affaires at Washington, on the subject of slavery in the United States, was apocryphal, and the mere invention of an abolitionist paper. The deception has been officiary declared by the Austrian Government, thus spoiling many a good "leading article," and philanthropic speech.

Prostration of Liberty in France. — A series of edicts and decrees continues with fearful rapidity and frantic violence to modify most of the existing institutions of the country, and to convert the mere will of the Dictator into the organic law of France. Paris has remained since the 2nd December under martial law; but, not content with the overthrow of the tribune and the extinction of the press, the police threatens to pursue into the closest relations of social and domestic life the last protests of a nation which boasted till lately of its eloquence and its freedom. Arrests are multiplied in every part of the country to an incredible extent. Immense gangs of unconvicted political prisoners are brought down in detachments from the forts near Paris, and despatched to Brest for embarkation to Cayenne. No less than 600 were removed in this manner from the Fort d'lvry on Thursday night, and the total number of persons likely to be transported without trial is now stated at 4,000. Five of the representatives of the people, whose only crime is that they expressed the revolutionary opinions of upwards of 100,000 electors, are included in this seizure. Nor is this all. A list of proscription expels from the territory of France, under pain of transportation, 65 more representatives of advanced opinions. And another list consigns to exile, or to the alternative of suing for permission from Louis Napoleon for leave to inhabit their own country, men of the highest rank in politics and in arms — some as eminent as General Changarnier and M. Thiers, others as irreproachable as M. Remusat and M. Jules de Lasteyrie. In the whole course of this revolution no act has excited more intense indignation than this decree of exile, for it has been dictated by no plea of necessity, but by a paltry revenge, and it is intended to strike terror into what still remains of political society in France. — Times, January 13th.

Hollow Bricks. — During Saturday, and again on Monday, the beam of hollow bricks and Portland cement, constructed by Messrs. Bazley, White, and Sons, at the Western extremity of the Exhibition Building, underwent a trial of strength, which attracted a good deal of attention. This brick beam was identical in size with that of common bricks and Roman cement constructed at Nine Elms in 1836, and which, after standing 18 months, was broken down with a weight of 50,652 lbs. Its dimensions were 21 feet 4 inches, bearing between the piers, 2 feet 3 inches thickness at the bottom of the beam, and 1 foot 6 inches at the top, the height being 4 feet 2 inches. The layers of hollow bricks, besides being joined with Portland cement, were held together by thin bands of iron passing through them, and the whole had been standing since the opening of the exhibition, with an announcement attached that it should be weighted and broken before the close. On Saturday the supply of pig-iron provided for this purpose failed, and the experiment was renewed on Monday in the presence of Dr. Ansted, Mr. Goodwin, Gen. Pasley, and others interested. When the load placed on the beam had been increased to 62,800 lbs. a crack was observed running right up the centre, and two others at equal distances on either side converging towards the centre as they extended upwards. Then the abutments were thrown out of the perpendicular, one to the extent of a foot, the other an inch and a half. Finally the beam broke right in half, the experiment terminating in the most satisfactory manner for the reputation of hollow brick and Portland cement. It may be stated as a curious fact in connexion with this supposed new species of building material, that the 1 use of hoi-, low bricks was well known to the Romans, and that in Tunis, at the present time, they are in constant requisition. It was originally intended by the Bey to send over specimens, but the interest of such a contribution was at the last moment accidentally overlooked. — Bell's Messenger. A magnificent edifice, which will be dignified by the name of " Cathedral," is in course of erection in Gordon-square, at the back of the London University, for the disciples of the Rev. E. Irving, who have gone from rigid Presbyterian worship to. a ritual verging on the Romish. The building is to be cruciform, of the florid Gothic, with nave and transept, the height of which will be within twelve feet of that of Westminster Abbey. The estimated cost of erection is £80,000, towards which Henry Drummond, Esq., M,P., and other gentlemen, are said to have contributed very liberally.

Extension of Steam Postal Communication. — The extension of postal communication by steam vessels proposed to be established from the principal ports of the United States on the great lines of commercial traffic with Europe, Central America, and the East, has now'

I assumed an importance which entitles jt to consideration. By the official report of the Post-master-General of the United States, we find that offers have been made to his department to contract for a mail service from New York to Antwerp, from New York, by Gibraltar, Marseilles, and Toulon, to Genoa ; from Philadelphia to Ai.twerp, and for the extension of the New York to San Francisco by the Nicaragua route; from Philadelphia to Havana; from New York to New Orleans, by ocean steamers, in connection with a contemplated railroad service across the State of Florida ; from New York to Galway, in Ireland ; from New York to Venezuela by way of St. Thomas and other West India islands ; from San Francisco to China and Calcutta. Other lines have been projected to the Brazils and other parts of Central and South America, but have not been submitted to the Government. As regards the lines to Antwerp, it is stated that the Belg-an Government is ready to co-operate in their speedy establishment and in their maintenance, as they would be exceedingly advantageous to the two countries, not only as respects their postal intercourse, but also, in a much higher degree, as respects their commercial interests. The proposition for the establishment of a line of mail steamers between New York and Galway is to carry the mail for ten years in steam ships, readily converted into war steamers, for 100,000 dols. per annum for each ship employed, or to contract for such service, and receive for it only the postages which shall arise from such mail matter as may be actually transmitted in the ships of the proposed line. This proposition is recommended to the early and favourable consideration of Congress by the Postmaster-Ge-neral, for the reason that he considers it would lessen the time now occupied for the transmission of the mails between the United States and England, and for other cogent reasons not directly connected with its usefulness for mail purposes. The report also states that, looking to the eventual establishment of a steam mail line between California and China vid the Sandwich Inlands, the postmaster at San Francisco has been instructed to open a mail service with those countries, by every convenient opportunity afforded by vessels employed in those seas. For the establishment of a steam mail service on this route, a bill is now before the American Congress. The extensions of steam mail service in this countryare — the proposed contracts for the conveyance of mails to Australia by way of the Cape and Singapore in alternate months; a contract for the conveyance of mails to the coast of Africa ; and the extension of the Indian and China service by way of the Mediterranean. The English Government, it is stated, have just granted a charter for a steam company to run vessels between Galway and Halifax. " Struck by lightning," is. the cant term used by thieves, &c, when arrested through information conveyed by telegraph.

The Peasantry of the Rhone. — I have had several opportunities in this part of the tasting — perhaps something more than tasting — the soup ordinarily use.d, always twice, and sometimes three limes a day, by the peasantry. Its i main ingredients are potatoes aud bread, with, in some cases, a little fat bacon — in others, a morsel of butter. The potatoes are much boiled, so as to make the liquid a thick vegetable soup, and the mess is often flavoured with onions. I do not know bow I should have' thrived upon the fare three times a day as a continuance, but the dish appeared to me a tasty and nutritious one. At any rate, when the quantity of animal food to be consumed at a family meal is very small, employing it to strengthen soup appears the heat and most economical fashion of using the tooscantily supplied morsel. Were it not, indeed, for their s>kill in the concoction of potage and all manner of savoury messes of boiled and stewed vegetables, the French peasantry would fare ill indeed. During the Peninsular war, the culinary skill of the French soldiers is said to have preserved them in better health and condition than our own brave fellows, upon the same or, perhaps, inferior rations. The Englishmen incontinently roasted or broiled their cuts of tough bullock beef upon the embers of wood fires. The Frenchmen clubbed into parties, a-id by soups aud stews, with vegetables, managed to make a very little go a very great way. The absence of actual pauperism was much boasted of to me in several points upon the Rhone. "We have," I was told, " many poor people, but none gui tendent la main." In a small parish in Ardeche, in which the excellent family of the principal landed proprietor is resideni, I was told that there were two individuals who took alms openly. The whole population amounted to 400. There were several others who would gratefully receive a little passing assistance in the extreme dead season of the year, but only if it were extended silently and unknown to the neighbours. Property here was much subdivided, and I fear, much burdened, but the "rage d'acheter," as 1 heard it phrased, was described as being still by far the most striking moral point of the population. In this part of France — indeed, throughout the south in general — there are annual migrations of portions of the population to a considerable extent. Winter sends crowds of the inhabitants of the far off hamlets of the Alps on one hand, and the Pyrenees on the other, down upon the plain; to pick up a living as they best can. When 1 approached the Pyrenees, it was at the commencement of an unusually early winter, an 1 the streets of every town, particularly Tarbes, which is the central point of , the locomotion of the district, were swarming with boys, acting as shoeblacks. The swarms astonished me, and I could hardly conceive how they could get employment at all, unless, indeed, they were to take each to polishing the chaussure of the other. At Aries the, same thing was the case. The decrotteurs were the juvenile inhabitants of the Piedmont mountains, and they generally add chimney-sweeping to their ostensible business. In fact, all manner of wretchedly paid and disgusting work falls to the lot of these unhappy looking Helots, who are laughing and singing from morning to night, and who generally manage also, small as are their gains, to carry back in the spring time a small parcel, say from 15 to 20 hoarded francs,, to the mountains. None of those boys whom I questioned, and they were several, could read or write. In the commencement of summer again, there are several hundreds of people who descend from the Dauphiny Alps for the sheep shearing in the lowlands, before tbe herds are driven to their upland pastures. These individuals frequently wait for the first hay harvest, and carry back to their bills, I am told from

fifty to sixty francs for each month of their sojourn on the plain. In the winter time, the Dauphiny mountains also send down a band of industrials, who employ themselves in combing hemp, and in clipping horses and mules. They gain on an average from 50f. to 60f. for their whole stay. From the Ardeche hills, some 500 or 600 individuals descend yearly for the harvest work, silkworm rearing, and the vintage. In some districts the mountain population migrate to the plains in seed time, with ploughs and oxen, and find employment at the rate of 3^U per man and team per day. Eurly in winter, the women descend to card and spin wool. They earn from 40c. to 60c. per day, with board and lodging. I may add that some of the best masons in the valley of the Rhone are Italians from Piedmont, who pass the summer in France, carrying hack, it is said, from 300 to 400 francs ; and that all the wandering artists in iron — " the weary-knife grinders," tinkers, and so forth — are, to a man, Auvergnats. — Morning Chronicle's Special Corres-

pondent. A Note on Dress. — Dress is mutable. Who denies it? But still, old fashions are retained to a far greater extent than one would at first imagine. The Thames Watermen rejoL'e in the dress of Elizabeth, while the royal Beefeaters (buffetiers) wear that of private soldiers of the time of Henry VII. ; the Bluecoat boys the costume of a London citizen of the reign of Edward VI. ; and the London charity-school girls the plain mob cap and long gloves of the time of Queen Anne. Tn the brass baige of the Cabmen we see a retention of the dress of Elizabethan retainers, while the shoulder-knots that once decked an officer now adorn a footman. The attire of the Sailor of William lll.'s era is now seen among our fishermen. The university dress is as old as the age of the Smithfield martyrs. The linen bands of the pulpit and the bar aie abridgements of the fallen collar. Other costumes are found lurking in provinces and among other trades. The butcher's blue is the uniform of a guild. The quaint little head-dress of the market-women of Kingswood, Gloucestershire, is, in fact, the gipsy hat of George 11. Scarlet has been the colour of soldiers uniforms from the time of the Lacedasmonians. The blue of the army we derive from the Puritans, of the navy from the colours of a mistress of George I.

— Notes and Queries. Mutual Exchange. — It is found by experience that the upper-leather of boots made in France, is better and more durable than the upper-leather manufactured in England. On the other hand, it is found that leather prepared in England for the soles of boots is less permeable by water, and more durable th&n that made in France. Let us suppose that in each country a pair of boots will endure twelve months, continual wear ; after which time they are thrown aside. In England the destruction of boots will arise from that of the upper-leather, whilst in France it will be caused by that of the sole. Let us also suppose the upper-leather of France will wear three months longer than the English upper-leather. Under these circumstances, it is clear that if the inhabitants of each couutry insist on making their boots entirely with the produce of their own tanneries, the average duration of a pair of boots both in France and England will be twelve months. Let us assume, for the sake of simplicity, that in each country the upper-leather and th-e soles have the same value. Then it is equally clear, if England were to give to France a million pair of soles in exchange for a million pair/of French upperleathers, that one million of the inhabitants of each nation would find their boots Uat during fifteen instead of twelve months. This prolonged duration of their boots would not have been acquired by any service on either side ; the exchange is here for the common and great advantage of both. This probably 11 arises from the joint actiou of many causes. The/animalsjArhieh in each country supply the hides, may either from I breed, from food, or from climate, be best adapted to produce that kind of leather in wjiich. each country excels. The water, the bark, 9/ the climate peculiar to each country, may then contribute its share to the same effect. Again, the industry, the skill and the knowledge of the people employed, as well as the character of the population and the distribution of its capital, may also have its influences on these results. If we pursue this illustration one stage further, it will appear that it is our interest not only that we should make these exchanges with France,but that she should also make exchanges with other countries than our own. Let us suppose that France, having a larger population thau England, required for its annual consumption two million pair of boots, and also that she possessed no other commodities which we required. Under these chcurastaoces there coull be no further direct interchange of leather, and France would possess a million pair of upper leathers beyond our demand. But it is clear that if France could exchange these upper leathers for the wools or any other produce of Germany which we might require, she would not only gain the additional duration of three months for her own extra million pair of boots, but would a^so enrich us by the advantage which we should derive from the exchange of the strong hides of England for the produce transmitted to us from Germany. The general result of all those enquiries, of which ouly the slightest sketch has now been attempted, is, that the free and unlimited exchange of commodities between nations, contributes to the advantage and the wealth of all : — that this benefit arises from no sacrifice on the part of one nation for the profit of another ; but that the sum of the productive powers of man is by this means, without any increased labour, largely augmented throughout the world ; that this increment is won partly by the suppression of ignorance and fraud, and partly by the united effects of industry, of skill, and of science, in compelling nature to minister to the wants of man. — Babbaye's Views of the Industry, the Science, and the Government of England.