MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 80, 6 December 1864, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Trade and Prices at New York. — The high and all but prohibitory tariff, amended and enhanced in the last session of Congress, ostensibly for the purpose of revenue' to support the G-overn-ment and the war, but in reality to protect and give a monopoly to the manufacturers of New England, and enable them to sell their inferior good* at the rriee of the foreign article, has had a very injurious effect upon the trade of New York. Servant's shawls, of coarse quality, from Pais ely, that were formerly sold at two dollars each, wholesale, cannot now be sold tinder six ; arid by the time that they reach the Irish " Biddies," who do their best in this country by their ignorance and insolence to render housekeeping an intolerable nuisance, they cost, teriso that the "Biddies" deprive themselves of the luxury, and curse thfcwar which has produced the evil. In the better description, of goods the same rule prevads. Even Mrs Shoddy herself, the wife of the great contractor, objects to give 2000 dollars for a commodity which, were it not for the high tariff .-. and the premium ou gold, could be obtained for 400 dollars. ./The great importing firms, of which New. York is full, finding their goods unsaleable on" their bauds, are exporting them back to England and France, or to the other countries wheuce they came ; and the foreign, wine merchants are ceasing to send orders abroad until their present stocks are exhausted. Men who formerly drank champagne or claret at 2 dols. a bottle find it inconvenient to pay 8 dols. and have come down to lager beer at 10 cents a glass, and feel themselves quite as well in health and much better in pocket -by tho change of beverage. People for the first time in American history 0 are becoming economical, to the'-great disgust of their Irish servants, who -think fish and rump - s teaks essential to their breakfast, ah d. o-ame or other delicacies to their dinner, and who groan and flout at the "' marieness" which objects to their having hot suppers every" night for their ■ own enjoyment and the entertainment of their friends. People are at the same time diminishing the number of .their/.-; servants, and, by adding, to' the mass of unemployed labour, increasing pari passu the general; discontent which, should it last through the coming winter, will" severely try the good feeling of the wealthy classes, arid the for-/ bearance of the G-overnmenfc.— Neio York Oar-' respondent ~6f the Times. .: : : ' " DsvNKEififrßSS in FiiAif cu— - Drunkeria ess is -by no means a French failing ; still, an Engushraan: walking along the Boulevards canuot help bbing/ struck by the crowds who; throng the cafe's from morning till night. Though their ; chief object^ undoubtedly is.to read the/papers and take a cup/ of coriee, still an immenso quantity of alcohol is absorbed. 'Frbrii four to six you will remark gentlemen quietly, sitting before tables, each sipping absin the, the most /dangerous practice that; can be indulged in, although it 3: object be only to excite the appetite. '■ Dr. Emile Duoarsina, struck by the fatal increase of this habit, has published a work, entitled " Les/^^^urs d'Absinthe," wherein he gives ari^'^^s into the diseases thereby .generated. Ho't^^ftatesthat now every class of society, from tlie man of the world 'to. -the: artisan, from the field-marshal to the* private, the minister to the clerk, all arc equally addicted to this green liquid, and" that tho rags for it is rapidly extending in the provinces/ Petitoris have been already presented to the Scnat demanding certain restrictions on its sale. ■Dumas, the great chemist (not Aloxandrd),' lias; proved that in brio commune of the Seine Inferleure, composed Of 9000 inhabitants, 2000 hecto-/ litres of spirituous liquors were .annually consumed as well iis 1800 ; hectolitres -of absinthe. ■ \ /For ;thb yoault of thisgreat inopoaee iu|the consumption of spirits as well as' of absmtlio, /he refers to tho registers of Charenton, whore, in 1860, out of 176 persons admitted as lunatics, 60 had become insane from drink, and in 1861, of 174 admitted,. 42 had suffered from the same cause. -Paris Letter. Eailway Accidents. — in the year 1861 79 passengers were killed and 789 injured by railway acoidonts iri the "United Kingdom j in the year 1862

were killed and 536 injured-, The-./riumber.^pfipas-. , isengers was 20 1,0/35,075^ without i:wludinjgj64,39i ''-.. season and perio'riical'-tieket-holdprs."- -Estimating: /'"- even" that these last travelled :.ori an average only -~ 100 times each, the : number / of passengers killed :?,; in 1863 ; was less than one in 6,000,000. and of passengers injured less than one in 500,000./-. Of every five passengers killed threerlost their lives through their own misconduct or: waut/of .so that the number of passengers: killed' ■fronv; causes beyond their own control was: le3s- than. one, 11 4 in_15,G00,000. Out of the passengers killed last year'l2 met their deaths' by getting oiit of or r/ attempting to get into, trains when in motion, five/: „ by incautiously crossing 1 or standing on the line at a station, one by leaning out*, of . the carriage wiridow on approaching a bridge (.-luce widened) one by; getting out , on: v the wrong • sido- of the carriage, one (in Ireland) by getting upon the roof of a -carriage. arid walking' along the: trains si Of the 13 passengers killed in. 1863 frein accident to trains, three lost their lives through collisions between ''.trains} "and ten from '-'the trains : getting off . ":'/ thbline, 7"6fthe ten iu/the/a^ ston liiie, caused by a heifer- beirig ;on the rails.; ■" Of the whole number of accidents- to passenger trains in tho United Kmgdom reported to the Board of Trade in ISS3— -52 vi all, exactly one a *^r««i-3..T)recisely the number aswere repi-rted to tne Loara^xoGa^oa^^e^ caused by. collision with other- trams, -10~by fiss^Trr»Ui_^^£^| g» rails, six by their/ ruiifiing:. oS£ /tlje /pr&p"e*— *i_^ ' ■'"' through the points being wrong, and only four from anything breaking •or getting' oxit of order. A large proportion of these accidents must have been preventable by careful management., ,,...,. .... ./•. vTHE EEp.SßAri^EßT.^^^ says I:—" The-p Sicial of : the ..public -f debt up to the 2 Srd 'August' shows it "to" be" " §1,859,2^4,000, or §0,561,000 more than theprevious weeks statement. The unpaid requisition* are; nearly $80,000,000; .and the" amefunt^m'/the TreasuryVer $18,000 : 000^) The WorK& examines ■..".dijpwjwo compare with England rinjwealthSand: public debt," because the burden of a debt depends upon the wealth or poverty of^ the debtor,,,;." The; British national debt was on the; 3;ist/ March dast £799,802,139, or reckoning five dollars to thepo/und it was: §3.990,010,695. The interest on "that* debt /which is 3 per cent., is $119,970,320; //By pffieial returns the entire wealth and ",Taluation ; .of the nation was, on the BtH day]/; oi April ; ; 1861ii §31,500,000,000. Therefore the yearly/ interest. is at the rate of §L/f0r,5262 ;Qf>;thS.^ainatlon..i By the census of 1860 the entire wealth and, valuation of the United* States and .territories was ; ' §16,159,616,068; including :4;000,00,0 of -slaves at » Sou them valuation: - Our-pu blic debt,-' besides oiu%f:« "State and municipal; debts- and "other; liabilities,~asf > we have Jiefm-e sliown in tlußse colirijms^will, on^__^ the 4th March next; be more than §2,653,427,10ir . and it is all to be fiuidedjand draw ah iritcfeflt of 6 per cent, in gold, which is $159,205,626. fore, the ( yearly interest payable"in gold is,at th<v rate of %\ for §101 of the valuation, which is iriore "-' than two and a-half times larger than the debt of; Great Britain. With gold" at^-250, payable in. : United States currency;- the' rate- of interest 'wuli^C make our debt 'iriOre "than, six and"a- ; ; 'quarter times greater-than that of Great Bribim-;^' and that, too, as compared witn the resources- and'"- ' ,7 - ! valuatip.ii of the United States; in 1860,- as. it 'then sn was, and as it is now." . . ,- A -First Attempt.— The following is, said to have' been written, under the pressure of a pirit'bf l/ ; : cogna? to the square inch. ".' Twas at the time of a full moon. She, was riding through the /heavens' without a ? saddle or ; biidle. : - ; But r what"" - has that to, do with me ? ; -As; ; I; was saying,/ the whid blowed. I'll be blowetl if it didn't blow';'""; it blowed so hard; that • it 'blowed -down; a''''.xail='li'< fence on which I - was reclining a coon. - The — coon gave one -heartrending; shriek-Jtbat' made me 'git up and git down ' overj a log that was ' J also reclining on a log right forriinst me, and an another log that was lying not far from the; Bear, ->■; River Company's water ditch, whose majestic ' stream was rolling past rwith-:an:uncpnteoUablej-j velbcity, almost .... to- overflow, a .gopher, bole /that* : -was rooted down, d°. vv n hi to an abyss o£unlm6wT£.-t - depth. A person that I.neyer saw before; or.had.; ," an idea was in existence, ... o\ Jhat .he would ' come along as soori, passed-' along "where T-was reclining against my will. With a compassiomsp //-; prevalent among the miners, he hastened to pick up a chunk that shone with all the' splendor of .... the ' Arabian Nights' Entertainment.'-!; Just then might have been seen abullfrog^seatedoua stump, trying to out sing au owl that was sitting on an : adjacent tr*e, whose top came within an ace of piercing the stars, that. twinkled. in the firmament, like a toad's eye ; when devouring bees. Then;- arid-- - not till then, did my : awful - situation 'flash to my mind like forked hglitning— -that I was away from the busy crowd of loafers that inhabit the regions that surround the peaceful bar-rooms, seeking - whom to devour free of charge, and swallowing at - one gulp, a whole bit's worth of red eye so freely- ■ administered by office-seekers. — American paper. v 0 Stuange Inadvertence. — The following instance^of inadvertence is given in the Inde- _ pendance of Brussels: — " An- individual of'respectablc appearance, who gave his name as - D— — de V. — — .called at .the General PostOffice at Brussels last week, and stated that he had some days before* enclosed upwards of 10,0001". in bank notes in a letter' addressed; to MM. Balisaux, Lsbcau, & Co., bankers at Charlevqi, and which ho had himself sealed and put into tho letter-hox ha thVMarcTie'-aux-GMns*/**^ out which had never , reached its .destination "" The Post-Office authorities, after .'. .telling' .the, . _ applicant: that ho .had acted .thoughtlessly, in f~ putting the letter into the bos without having '* it registered, promised to make inquiry. In answer to a letter sent to -Charleroi on the subject, the director of the Post-Office Stated that ho letter addressed to the- firm in question had been received, but that one had come- directed to D do V , and no , such person 'being known, there, he still remained in the office. On the letter in question being opened, it was found to contain the sum mentioned, the gentleman having in a moment of forgetfulness directed the letter to himself instead of to the bankers ! " ' ' • - / Tre Exutjsh THonoTj&HBiiED Hosses. — Admiral Rous asserts that the present breed of English race-horses possesses one-fifth more speed and more strength than the original stock, and an average stature increased from fourteen hands to fifteen and a-half. These results have been achieved in the thirteen generations since the introduction into this country of the -Arab entire horses, Darley Arabian and-J3yerley Turk, without a drop of mixed blood.- In- 1720 the " calibre of the English race-horse was. probably on a par with the barb 3 which now adorn the Gibraltar meeting." Now, the English racer whT beat 'tlie best and purest native Arabian, and give hhn.fiT© scone ; and a " thorough-bred butcher's ..hack will beat tlie dower of tho desort any distance 'under" „. LOO mile?." Another proof that the English breed is the best in the world is, that every year more persona come from the Continent and the colonies to by.Engliahhorses, . s DISCOVEHY Or A 60L0SSAL BbOVZE STATUE At , TuniN.— The Paris correspondent of tlie Globe* . writes : — " An important artistic discovery has 00-urred at Turin. A highly finished- antique statue* in gut bronze, of somo what colossalpro* , portions, has turned up from a depth of five yards f Delow th;? soil in the court yar j -of the Palazzo, ; - Biscoino, belonging to Prince Pio. This residence ' * was known to have covered the old theatre, built by Pompey, -which contained 30,000 cents, a magnificent porch, &c. &o. Banker Singhetti had ' lately purchased it, and in the progress' of certain f alterations this windfall has been found. The figure is 18 feqt in height, but the greater portion has ycfc to bo excavated, and every precaution it adopted to insure its safe deliverance from mother earth. ,IFis already ascertained to be a first-class specimen of tho bcbt avtistio period." / \. DIS?CS\L OT ThE DfAD IN CAXOTJTTA.---We -" learn horn the Calatta Mnglishman- ."thafc tie Government of Bengal has taken active measures *„ with regard to the dead "bodies that are thrown, into the river. The police have been reminded that this duty was within their province, aud that tho Government would not sco neglect further continued with satisfaction. It is ordered tbut A stop bo put to tho practice, and steps be inune4i «wgr tsken for fto projw &jnQjsH pC^ i^4 y