ENGLISH MISCELLANEOUS.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 48, 20 September 1864, Page 3

ENGLISH MISCELLANEOUS.

The following items are from the Home AAews .— The Alabama prisoners captured by the Kearsar^c have been parolled by Captain Wmslow, and a number of them have reached Southampton. They speak in the highest terms of the humanity of the Federal Captain. He told his own men that as the struggle between the Alabama and the Kearsarge was over, the prisoners were to be treated as brothers. They appear to be all Englishmen or Irishmen. Many of them state that on entering tbe Confederate service they had no political leaning towards "North or South. They were badly off in this country, and they thought to better their condition by means of high pay and prize-money. They found, however, that they were not to have the latter until the war was over. They are consequently said to be much disappointed. Mr. Michael Haggerty appeared to the summons issued by the Southward Police-court on the application of Aparehanio Rungatara and five other New Zealand chiefs, to show cause why he detained their part of an agreement entered into between them at Melbourne, and signed by all tbe parties; the Maories requiring it for the purpose of suing the defendant in a court of law, for deserting them and neglecting to supply them with necessorv food and money. After hearing the evidence", Mr. Woolryeh said he could only order the agreement to be "given up on the payment of the solicitor's costs, amounting to £2 7s. He should, however, adjourn the summons until July 29 to enable the applicants to obtain the money. Ifc was stated that no doubt the Aborigines' Protection Society would pay the money. A correspondent of the Scotsman writes : — " On the night of Sunday, July 3, between 10 and 11 o'clock" two distinct shocks of earthquake were felt in the village of Comrie and neighbourhood. The vibration of the earth was bufc slight, and the shocks were accompanied by a noise resembling distant thunder. The shocks apparently came from the south-west and proceeded to the northeast. It was cold and stormy during the day, but at the time of the earthquake it was dull and A curious House of Commons return has been issued from which it appears that England and Wales' from 1857 to 1563 (inclusive) 691 persons were committed and put on their trial for murder. Of these 246 were acquitted, 50 were acquitted as insane, 30 were found insane at trial, 85 were convicted of concealment of birth, 127 were convicted of manslaughter, and the convictions of murder were 153. Tlie number executed was 96. A similar return for Scotland shows that 257 were committed for trial, 149 put on trial, 43 acquitted, 9 acquitted on the ground of insanity, 2 found insane at trial, 4-8 convicted of manslaughter, 29 convicted of concealment of pregnancy, and 17 convicted of murder, the number executed was 5. A similar return for Ireland Bhows that 548 persons were committed for trial, 384 put on trial, 174 acquitted, 11 acquitted on the ground of insanity, 8 found insane at trial, 148 convicted of manslaughter, 45 convicted of concealment of birth, and 30 convicted of murder ; the number executed was 15. . The abuse of tobacco is stated by M. Decaisne, in a memoir read at a recent meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences, to produce an intermission ofthe action of fche heart and pulse m certain persons. He found this to be the case m twenty one persons out of eighty-eight inveterate smokers. This affection, which he terms narcotism of the hetfK is curable by suspending or reducing the consumption of tobacco. He stated that none of the persons subjected to his observation had any j lesion of the heart, or was in a state of health likely to lead to it. The exorbitant use of tobacco was the sole cause of the affection, y It maybe remembered by ail those who are interested in geographical discovery hi connection with the Nile, that; bh the 'departure of Captain Speke and Captain ' Grant from Gondokoro, Mr Baker volunteered to go southward m search .of, the reported.(Lake, Nyigb.:-.YNews has at length been received at Khartum of the expedition. Mr. Baker^d'Hs party, -itis ! stated, have been met with returning nor&wards, .hours, march from Gonclbtoro^" and'aa' a swift vessel,' generously placed ! 'at Kismjpdsal l by Mr. Petherick, awaited his arrival at. thattplace, it! is^anticipa.ted that m- ' ' ' formation will 'shortly !be ; obtained :of Mr. -Baker descending the Nile, .together with the. resultß of / hie journey. :*'.:.;-: * •■ < r -. A. y• -

An American paper says that there is a new mania for frog-eating in Chester county, Pa. A village paper there - says :— " At the Mansion House Restaurant on Saturday eveuing last seven dozen and nine frogs were sold afc 10c. a head. Some of the citizens of the borough, who seldom ever 'went fishing before, cau now be seen, gun in hand, on their way to the frog fields. Several gentlemen report a morning's wdrk, ou Tuesday last, on some dams in Williston township, at 41 frogs." A correspondont of a Nashville paper tells a story about a person who was going to Chattanooga on the railroad. When the train entered the tunnel and total darkness, said person asked a stranger how long it would be going through. Stranger was a bit of a wag arid replied ' "two hours." Person thought he would avail himself of the opportunity to don a clean shirt, and about the time he had "shucked himself" the train dashed out into daylight, exposing his person to the astonished gaze of some hundred pairs of male and female eyes belonging to passengers. He had on no linen, and about a3 much other clothes as the -Apollo Belvidere — and no chance to ruu. , A dreadful railway accident has happened in Canada, near Montreal. An emigrant train, consisting of 11 cars, went over Beloid Bridge, with 354 G-erman emigrants on board. Thirty-four bodies have been recovered, and between 30 and 40 taken out more or less badly injured. The engineer went down with his engine, bufc escaped with slight injuries. The conductor was killed ; the fireman also was supposed to be killed. A curious horse is now being exhibited in the Prince Alphonso Circus at Madrid. It has not a single hair on the whole body, while its skin, which is white like that of a European, is so transparent that the veins may be distinguished through it. The horse cannot be used for labor in consequence of this fineness of the skin, which w^uld be exposed to abrasion. The Independence Beige affirms that an armorplated ship is nearly ready for Captain Semnes, to replace the Alabama. The new ship, it is said, was built at Bordeaux. The Assize Court of the Seine recently convicted a man named Vast, aged 68, a clerk in the register's office of the Civil Tribunal, of a number of forgeries and embezzlements extending over a long series of years. The extraordinary number of 2,158 questions were submitted to the jury by the president, all of which they disposed of after the short deliberation of one hour and 50 minutes. The prisoner made an ample confession. M. Laehaud, his counsel, appealed to the jury for mercy on account of his great age and the respectability of his family. "Extenuating circumstances " being found, he was sentenced to only six years' imprisonment. The New York Sun says that Monsieur Gouraud, Vice-Consul of France for Rhode Island, has made application for a patent for his aerostatic railway, to be worked by atmospheric forces upon inclined planes of wire suspended in the ah. It is proposed to apply it to street railways, for the crowded thoroughfares in populous cities. The revenue returns for the quarter and year ended June 30 have been issued. They are of the mostfavoralb character. Notwithstanding the large reductions which have been made in taxation, the net decrease in the revenue as compared with the year ending Juno 30, 1863, is only £690,902, "the gross revenue for the year just ended being £69,992,959 against £70,683,861 iv 1862-3. The decrease arises entirely in the receipts from the customs and the property tax. On the former £1,279,000 less has been received, and on the latter £2,075,000. On all the other items there is an increase — from excise, £1,992,000 ; from stamps, £327,000; from taxes, £77,000; from the Post-oilice, £70,000 ; from Crown lands, £5,000 ; and from miscellaneous sources, £195,098. For the quarter just ended the decrease is £216,001- — customs and excise figuring most largely on the loss side. The ceremony of laying the first stone of the new wing ol" the London Hospital was performed on July 4 by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales" who was accompanied by her royal highness the princess. At the dejeuner which succeeded the ceremony Mr. T. Fowell Buxton handed in bis subscription list, which amounted to nearly £10,000, of which no less than £3000 was given in one donation from tpmself. Mr. J. Gurnev Barclay also gave £3000 ; Charrington, Head, and Co., "£1000; Octavius Coopc, £1000; Lady Morrison, £1,000; Truman, Han bury, and Buxton, £1000; the hon. Jam^ctjee Jejeebhoy, £2000. The total list of subscriptions amounted to the almost unprecedented sum of £32,000. The new wing is to be called the " Alexandra " whig. . .„ It is believed that Dr. Colenso's appeal will never be heard on its merits, but that the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Capetown will be denied, ancl the proceedings quashed. If an application for an inhibition made by Dr. Colenso's counsel bad been granted, it would" have been fatal to his plea ; but it was refused by the Lord Chancellor, who pointed out that the inhibition would acknowledge the jurisdiction. If the proceedings are quashed, it is' said that Dr. Colenso will bring an action of damages against Bishop Gray for injury done to him by assummg powers which he does not possess. It appears there were 2.277 steam vessels registered in the United Kingdom on or before January 1, 1861*. The amount of registered tonnage was 591,434, and the gross tonnage, 883,034. The Queen has directed letters patent to be passed under the great seal, appointing the Duke of Richmond, Lord Stanley, Dr. Lushington, Judge of the Court of Admiralty, Sir John Taylor CokTridge, the Right Hon. T. O'Hugan, Attorney G-eneraf for Ireland, Messrs, J. Moncreiif, Her Majesty's Advocate for Scotland, Horatio Waddin'fton, John Bright, William Ewart, Gathorne Hardy, George Ward Hunt, and Charles Neato, to be "commissioners to inquire into the provisions and operation of the law now in force in the United Kingdom under and by virtue of which the punishment of death may be inflicted upon persons convicted of certain crimes, and also into the manner in which capital sentences are carried into execution. The hired sailing transport Light Brigade, 1214 tons, Captain 11. Evans, arrived at Spithead on July 20, with officers and men invalided from the regiments serving in New Zealand, and privato passengers. She sailed from Auckland on tho sth April. Five deaths and two births occurred on the voyage. The troops disembarked from the ship at Spithead on July 21, under the superintendence of Colonel Shad well, Assistant Quar-termaster-General. On January 1, 1864, the staff and force of the Irish constabluary amounted in number to 12,150, induding 300 recruits at the depot towards filling the 642 vacancies in the force. The force had 373 horses. Its cost for the year 1863 was 1 £733,035, whereof only £14,892 was raised by I local taxation. There were 72 stipendiary magistrates. The Union Bank of Australia had its halfyearly meeting at the bank offices, Old Broadstreet, on July 13, Mr. F. Or. Dalgety in the chair, when the directors presented tbeir 26th annual report arid statement of accounts, wbich. -were deemed so satisfactory that they were adopted almost without a word of comment from any of the proprietary. The business of the concern, notwithstanding increased banking competition in the Australian and Polynesian colonies, is stated to have been fully and beneficially sustained. The diversion of gold from Australia to India, caused by the state of exchanges in our Oriental empire, combined with deficient harvests, and overstocked markets, it is intimated, ha 3 injuriously affected trading operations ; but as a set-off to this, are the increased profits on the export of wool and other valuable colonial, products, and the manner ih which commercial credit has been sustained. Another hopeful [feature is the development of railway transit. The balance-sheet shows an available, net .profit on the half-year of £104,313, and the directors declare a dividend of £2 .7s- 6d. per share, wliich, with tho dividend declared in January, is equal to 17' i per Cent, iipdn the old share capital.; An allowance of lis. :9d;per share on the new share capital is also made. < The first stone in the Thames embankment was laid on 20th July, and it is expected that tbe work

is to be finished by the 9th of March, 1866, when, according to Mr. Cowper, it will present a magnificent promenade by the river, having as the principal object at one end St. Paul's, aud at the other the Palace of Westminster. The Great Eastern steamship has arrived at j Sheerness, where she will remain until she has shipped ths whole of the Atlantic telegraph cable, manufactured afc the works of Messrs. Glass and Elliot, East Greenwich, and wliich will be conveyed down the river in sections on board small steam vessels. From the calculations made, it appears that the work of shipping the whole cable on board wiU occupy nine months. At Overton, Wiltshire, recently, a girl, 16 years of age, was passing sheaves to the feeder of a steam thrashing machine 011 a farm, when she feU over the platform, and, before the machine could be stopped, her leg was torn from her body near the thigh, and she died immediately. . .