MISCELLANEOUS.

Southland Times, Issue 1058, 18 November 1868, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Official intimation was received at Deptford Dockyard on Aug. 5 from the Lords ConunisBionera of the Admiralty ordering the final closing and abolition of Deptford Dockyard at the 6ad of the present financial year, viz., the 31st of ifarch, or sooner in the event of the present shipbuilding operations being completed. In the late PariiameDtry Session 130 public Acts were passed against 146 in the preceding Session. The Wiltshire papers say that considerable excitement has been caused at Uew Swindon by gome 80-called miraculous cures performed by the Ber. JF. R. Young, the Unitarian minister. 'The cure, it appears, is effected by " faith," — i.e., the person operated upon must have faith. One case has attracted much attention. A Mtb. Joseph Joneß, living at 2Tew Swindon, was struck with paralysis about three months since, and lost the use of her lower limbs. She was unable to get up or down stairs, and her bed was made in the parlour. She could not even dress without assistance. On Tuesday in last week Mr. Young called upon her, and obtained permission to operate. We must let the reporter of the ' Wilts and Glocester Standard' describe the modus operandi — "In the presence of another woman he first stroked her legs from the knees downwards, prayed earnestly, then passed his hands over her face in the manner of the mesmeric pass and seizing her thumbs as she lay on the bed commanded her to gefc up and walk. The- poor woman — we had these facts from her own mouth — says her sensations at that moment were indescribable. She got up and walked across the roojot to a sofa, Mr. Young strictly commanding her not to touch anything with her hands as an aid, nor did she. He then told her to walk down . the passage, which she did, and the climax of the wonder was reached when she walked upstairs. ; We ourselves on Tuesday morning saw her walk across a room. It afterwards appeared that she had been in the habit of taking Turkish baths at the Volunteer Inn, New Swindon, being wheeled there in a chair, but the bath did her little or no i good. The other evening she astonished the landlady of that inn by walking in to see her." The money remitted to the Chancellor of the Exchequer by sundry persons for conscience sake in the financial year 18t>7-68 amounted to £4688. In the preceding year repentance produced a larger sum, £5087, which was more than the Chancellor's salary. According to Customs returns recently published 40,942 vessels were registered in the British empire in 1857, requiring 346,606 men, and representing a total of 7,277,098 tons. An epitome of these figures indicates that of these vessels 27,918 belonged the United Kingdom, 855 to the Channel Islands, and 12,169 to British plantations. A total of 2180 new vessels were built and registered during the year, 1305 of which belonged to the United Kingdom, 23 to the channel Islands, and 852 toßritish plantations. A total of 32,756,112 entered inwards and cleared outwardß in the United Kingdom. Those entered inwards represented 11,197,865 tons British, and 5,140,952 tona foreign, and those cleared outwards 11,172,205 British, and 5,245,090 foreign.