NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Southland Times, Issue 640, 6 March 1867, Page 2

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

— ♦ Mr John Burton, of Barton-house, Malton, the " champion breeder of England," has sold two of his prize sheep — the winners at the Great Yorkshire and the Great North of England shows — for exportation to the flocks of Major "Whitmore, Rossington, Napier, New Zealand. The damage done by the recent flood in the Calder Yale from the Dewsbury side of the town to Thornhill is estimated at £100,000. At a meeting of the sufferers in Lower Broughton a few days ago it was stated that during the flood £450,000 worth of property was under water in that district. On Dec. 9, an appeal for aid from the administrator of the archdiocese of Quebec was read in all the Roman Catholic churches and chapels within the diocese of Archbishop Manning. The cigar ship, Boss Winans, has returned from a short but most successful cruise, during which she encountered very stormy weather, and steamed through a heavy sea at the rate of 16 1 knots an hour. This year there are only 171 notices of intended applications to Parliament for railway purposes, as compared with 450 last session. A correspondent of the Bristol Times says that " two Sundays ago a notice "was sent in to the incumbent of a very ritualistic church in Bristol requesting the prayers of the congregation for the souls of and , who had com- ' mitted mortal sin." The names given were those of a male and female member of the local Benedictines. At the Lincoln Assizes, a boy named Hobson, aged 10 years, pleaded guilty to Setting tire to two stacks of corn, worth £350, at Swallow. Mr Baron Channell deferred sentence to see if the boy could be got into a reformatory. * A further dividend of 8d in the pound was declared recently at; the Court of Bankruptcy from the estates of Strahan, Paul, and Bates, whose failure 11 years ago occasioned so much domestic loss and misery. A previous dividend of 5 s had been paid. A court-martial has been held on board H.M.S. Victory, at Portsmouth, on Captain C.T.L. Usher, Royal Marine Light Infantry, serving on board H.M.S Lion, stationed at Greenock, on a charge of drunkenness on the 28th Nov. At the close of the evidence for the prosecution, the prisoner was granted half an hour to prepare his defence, which he read to the effect that the appearance of intoxication arose form having taken an overdose of medicine, having been lately suffering from diarrhoea. He further stated that he had been 19 years in her Majesty's service, 13 of which he had served afloat; had never had a complaint 1 made against him before, and ' produced

and also called Capt. G-oodenough to - speak as to his general conduct as an officer and a gentlemen, as well as to his \ sobriety, concluding by an energetc appeal to the court, relying that he should x *■ hare full justice done at their hands. The 'V. court was closed for a short time for deliberation. On its re-opening the judge-advocate read the finding, to^fche effect : — " That, after mature deliberation, the court found the charge proven against the prisoner ; but, in consideration of his long services, and the high testimonials as to his previous character, adjudge hinT only to lose two years' seniority as a captain in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, and to be dismissed her Majesty's . ship Lion." A report has been published in some of the papers that the venerable Bishop of Exeter, now 90 years of age, has been afflicted with blindness. There is, it is said, no truth in this statement, and it may be added that the right rev. Prelate-G-eneral's health is good. The copyright and plant of the " Bucks Herald," a Conservative paper, established 32 years, were sold yesterday, by Messrs. Southgate, for the sum of £457 13s. The purchaser was Mr. Q-urney of Aylesbury . A bottle was picked up containing a paper, on which were the following words — Nov. 12, the ship John Shaw, of and from Falmouth, 46 days out. water-logged . dismasted, and in a hopeless state: all boats gone. William (mate.) A brass coin of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius has been found at a place called Tegg Down, at "Winchester, near the remains •of the Roman road in that city. At an iron-shipbuilding establishment in the south of England 300 men are employed. This time last year 1300 men were at work at the same establishment. The men connected with iron-shipbuild-ing, boiler making, and engineering, are now on strike in Liverpool, the masters having been obliged to lower the exceptionally high wages hitherto paid, in order*, to compete with the iron shipbuilders of other ports. The masters are in consequenca, advertising for fresh hands. A benevolent and munificent gentlemen is understood to have set aside £25,000 for the benefit of the London hospitals. The circumstances leading to this munificent appropriation are these : The gentleman in question is a member of the legal profession, and succeeded recently in recovering a sum of £150,000 for a pensioner of the metropolitan police. He , made it a condition that, in the case of success, his client should set apart £25,000 for his poor relations, and that he should place in his hands £25,000 for distribution to hospitals. Both condiditions, it is said, are being realised. The ceremony of inaguratdng the statue of Lord Seaton at Davenport took place on November 29. There was a considerable attendance of ladies and gentlemen, including a number of military and naval officers. The chairman of the presentation committee opened the proceedings by referring in eulogistic terms to .the _ .. many actions in which the late Lord Seaton had been engaged, and the various posts of responsibility he subsequently filled. This address was acknowledged in suitable terms by Colonel Colborne, the second son of the late lord. The statue is the work of Mr Gk Adams, and is cast in bronze by Messrs Elkington and Co. The foundation stone of a new exchange, which is to cost £30,000, has been laid at Middlesbrough by Mr H. W. F. Bolckow, Mr Adams, of Stockton, is the architect. The contracts, which amount to £20,000, are let to Mr Bellerby, of York. It appears that the announcement that Mr Cooper had been appointed one of the police magistrates of the, district of Marylebone was premature. The gentleman upon whom the appointment has been conferred is Mr Robert M. Newton, of the Norfolk Circuit. The profits of the Atlantic Cable Telegraph Company may be estimated from the fact that some days since a message from Mexico to the Emperor of the French was transmitted to Paris, which cost no less than £5000. The document, which was in cipher, was supposed to relate to the difficulties and the course of policy of the Emperor Maximilian. The well-known G-rinnells of New Tork have received good news of the stout and single-handed Arctic explorer, C. F. Hall. It appears that he has succeeded in discovering, not only a great many relics of the Franklin expedition, but some documents which he believes were written by Captain Crozier. It appears that Mr Hall, by living among the Esquimaux, and exploring the country in their company, has hit upon the true method of fully unravelling the Franklin mystery. Lady Palmerston and some benevolent ladies and gentlemen are about to build a small hospital at Romsey, in Hants. The parish of Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, where the poet laureate resides, contains 5000 acres and 2,000 inhabitants. A writer in the Isle of Wight Herald states that though the surface of this parish is hill and dale, the inhabited parts are badly drained He saw a man digging a well, 9 or 10 feet deep, in a sandy soil, close beside a pigstye. The other morning a market gardener, named Holloway, living at Kingston, was preparing to go rabbit shooting, when he placed the loaded gun on the table while he went to reach his hat. A cat leaped from a shelf to the table, touched the trigger, and the whole of the contents of the piece entered Holloway' s body. From the severe nature of the wounds his life is despaired of. In some parts of Cornwall oysters bred on one side of a river are so coppery that they are poisonous, while those bred on the other side of the. same river are of delicious flavour. The oysters bred on the coppery .beds are transferred to the south of England oyster parks, where they are kept and fattened, and after a while the coppery impregnations janish.

Blandford-mews, Portman-square, presented her husband, already the father of three, with three additional pledges a few days ago. The late Mr E. Garrett, the eminent agricultural implement maker, bequeathed in his will to 300 of his employe* a greatcoat each. The distribution of the coats was made last week. A few days ago, as some farmers were crossing the beautiful large field in front of Girvanmains, Ayrshire, a young greyhound which followed one of them ran after a hare, which had risen at a distance. The hare was turned before she could reach the top of the field, and a fine race with many windings followed, until the pair gradually wore down the field to the side of the railway. Being hard pressed, the hare bounded through the railway fence, and was caught in front of a train, which passed over them the next moment — the engine wheel taking the head off the poor dog. A small yacht is building at Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, for Prince Napoleon, for excursions on the Lake of G-eneva. The Queen has given permission to the Microscopical Society to assume the title of " Eoyal." It is proposed to erect a monument over the grave of Charles Lamb, in Ed-monton-churchyard. Mr Hearder, of Plymouth, has been testing G-ale's " protected powder " in a series of experiments which he publishes at length, and condemns its utility. Curious enough, both the inventor and critic are blind. The projectors have decided to abandon the scheme for the present session of constructing a tunnel under the Mersey. The reason assigned for this decision is the great depression in railways, and the startling commercial disclosures in the mercantile world. Hitherto a married soldier, whether a non-commissioned officer or a private, has when on detached duty had the burthen thrown upon him of maintaining his wife and family in the garrison which he has temporarily left. By a recent order of the'War-ofliee this is no longer to be the case. The wife and family are to be allowed rations out of the G-overn-ment stores, or, if preferred, the wife is to receive 3d, and each of the children I£, per day instead. At Notts Winter Assizes, on Saturday, December 8, there was only one county case (night-poaching) for trial, at which 146 officials were engaged, namely, one judge, one clerk, one marshal, one butler, two servants (six) ; one clerk of assize, one deputy clerk, one clerk of deputy (three) ; one high sheriff, one undersheriff, one deputy-sherifi, two clerks of ditto, the sheriff's chaplain, the sheriff's coachman, two sheriff's footmen (nine) ; 23 grand jurymen, one grand jury bailiff, 48 petit jurors, one common jury bailiff, the court-keeper, two deputy ditto (76) ; one gaoler, two prison warders (three) ; one chief constable, two inspectors of police, 18 policemen (21) ; 18 barristers, two magistrates (20) ; total, 146. An earthquake, the effects of which have been felt more or less through the whole of South Durham, is reported. Serious damage, which was done to several houses at Crook, and which was at first thought so have been caused hy a pitfall, is now attributed to the earthquake. The shock is said to have been very severe at Toft Hill. There has been a considerable subsidence of ground on the top of the hill, and the turnpike road is said to have sunk many feet. Houses in other districts have suffered as much as those at Crook, and at Wigglesworth whole fields have disappeared. At the last-named place the earthquake seems to have taken a new direction, and followed the coal field right up the G-uanless, destroying much land and many houses, besides injuring several roads at Lynesa'ck, Copely, Eowntree, and other places.

A.M. P.M. "Wednesday 6 1.52 2.10 ♦