GENERAL SUMMARY.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 83, 16 December 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

GENERAL SUMMARY.

Lok"doh\ Oct. 26. . . The Australian August mails reached London ;.,on the 15th and 20th October. '„ The Queen continues in excellent health at • - Balmoral. '• , „ The Prince and Princess of Wales are on then ' way homeward from Denmark. ' A.marriago between Princess Mary of Cam- ■ bridge and Lord Hood has been disallowed by Her Majesty, as being contrary to tho Royal Marriage Act. It is reported that Parliament will be dissolved early in spring. The, Duke .of Newcastle died on the 18th Octo- .•' bar, in his fifty-third year. The continuance of transportation . to Western Australia , excites much attention. Xord Stanley .. lias declaredtkat the view of his party was that it must come to an immediate end, and that the • English Government ought to yield at once to the wishes of the colonists. The' Times, and other leading journals advocate the same policy. • A convention with Russia for the reception of convicts is still mooted. - A serious collision occurred in Staffordshire between the colliers on strike and the police. The military- were called out, and the disturbances quelled. - Violent storms, occasioning great loss to life and property, have occurred on the coastof Great Britainl Thirty-four wrecks were reported, in one week, making a total for the present year of ■ 1,388.. The steamer Ontario, 3,000 tons, valued at £120,000, was wrecked on her first voyage, twenty miles from Yarmouth. The crew were on the wreck four days. The crew of the Great Yarmouth lifeboat refused to render assistance unless guaranteed £500, the • surf being so terrific. The'crew of the Ontario were eventually saved. Great difficulty has been experienced in obtaining seamen for the "British fleet, owing to the new regulations" issued by. the Admiralty, denominated the ! Somerset discipline. Earl Russell has refused to allow the war ship Sacramento to coal at Dover, she having previously coaled at: Plymouth within three mbntha. - '■ - • - _ • The directors of the Messageries Imperiale line ■>■"• of mail steamers express their readiness to cooperate on the most liberal terms with the Victorian Government, in the event of the latter placing -steamers between Galle and Melbourne, for the conveyance of mails, &c. The Army and Navy Gazette states that there • is no truthiin the report that the War Office in-. '■■' tend withdrawing any regiments from .New Zealand/at present. - ■ Two severe shocks of earthquakes have -been felt in the North of England. -.- -'. On j October Ist, two gunpowder : magazines, situated between Woolwich and Erith, containing 100,0001 b, of gunpowder exploded. Ten persons were killed and seven wounded. No light lias ■ yet been thrown on the cause of the catastrophe. - The damage to property extends to a radius of twenty miles. A huge gap was made in the south, embankment of the River Thames, which threatend to devastate" that low-lying district, but, ■ owing to the exertions of 2,000 troops and navvies, the embankment was made good before high water. • The new work of the embankment on the north side of the river is being prosecuted vigorously. A destructive .railway collision occurred at the Gxantham station on the Great Northern Railway, causing great damage to property. A great fire occurred in the Belgrava-road, London, on the 16th inst. ; the damage is estimated at £100,000. Smith and Co,s patent wheel works were totally destroyed. Muller's trial commences ©n the 27th. Popular feeling is violent against h<jn. The distress in the cotton districts is increasing. One' hundred and thirty five thousand persons are out of employment and are in receipt o£ relief. A series of extensive official frauds have been discovered in the Bankruptcy Court. „.,. Petitions for winding up the Leeds,' ' Banking Company were heard on the 14th, October. An order for winding up was granted. ' "Lord yVodehouse has definitely accepted the - Lord lieuteneney of Ireland. Mr. Mercer, formerly Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, has been appointed G-overnor there. - Eleven thousand poands were collected in one week in Liverpool to relieve the Southern prisoners in the Northern Slates. ' An address, with 350,000 influential signatures, ' has been sent from England to America, recom- -. mending peace. The; fight between Mace and Coburn for £1,000 . a side (fid not take place. It is reported that 1 neither of the- parties intended to fight. The conduct of both men is generally condemnedNewmarket. — Cambridgeshire Stakes — Ack•wofth, Ist ; Tomato, 2nd. Cesarewiteh Stakes.— Thalesfcris, Ist; Gratitude, 2nd ; Ackworth, 3rd. Obituary. — Sir George Edmonstone. X.C.8. ; Lady Brook, General Reeve, Sir Charles Coote, Vice-Admiral Lord Somerville, General Leprandi, SirW. Hartopp, Mr Montague Gore, Mr. W. Tait,.Mr. Commissioner Eane, Sir W. Mavryatt, Rev. George Spencer, Mr. Thomas Young, Mr. John Heywood, and Captain Decter. It is stated that Mi-. Spurgeon made a disgusting speech, on v'sifciug a church, pretending to mistake the font' for a spittoon and also denouncing the ' evangelical clergy as hypocrites and blasphemers.