SUMMARY OF NEWS VIA PANAMA AND SUEZ.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 1, 5 January 1867, Page 3

SUMMARY OF NEWS VIA PANAMA AND SUEZ.

The most melancholy news received Inthe mail is that of a catastrophe such as has scarcely fallen upon man since the ■destruction of Jerusalem. One-half or the population of Orissa, Bengal, or two millions and a half of people, have ui.-d of hunger owing to the failure of she rice crop. The Rev. J. Buckley of Balasore records the sale of a child for a, pint of milk, the mother dropping dead as the bargain was completed.. In Cuttack, the least stricken of the districts, the reported deaths rose to 800 a week, Government had been warned twelve months before of the impendingcalamity, and made no preparations to meet it.

The news from the United States is important, as it shows that the republican, radical, anti-Johnson, or northern parly, have at the annual elections, been almost everywhere victorious. Out of sixty elections for congress, forty-eight Rave been radical, and nowhere "has the Johnson party gained a single seat. The reform movement, in England is creating great excitement. The Quaker John Bright M. P. for Birmingham, is the leader of this movement. lie has been in Scotland and Ireland, and received at both places with enthusiasm. It is said that the Derby Ministry will prepare a Reform Bill during the recess. Mr. Tennyson, the Port Laureate, has sent a contribution to the Eyre Defence and Aid Fum'-.

Nova Scotia objects to be swallowed up in the proposed British North American Confederation and the arguments, used by her go to prove that neither that province nor the mother country would be benefited by the change. A' deputation has been sent to London to oppose the project, and several works have been written to show its folly and injustice. A large meeting has been held at Victoria, British Columbia, and a resolution passed in favor of annexation to the United States. The correspondent of the “ Alta California ” writes:—The meeting showed the stratling fact that a member of our Assembly and others cannot only call a meeting for the purpose of discussing annexation to the United States, but that he is listened to, and still more that a resolution containing- clauses of annexation was carried by an overwhelming majority ; and that the British elements in opposition there were merely paid officials. I am convinced that if the United States Government would only use energy in the matter, the annexation of this Colony would soon be an accomplished fact; and if so, I would not ask for a better and more pleasant place, both as far as residence is concerned and business. Gold, copper, coal and silver mines would be worked, and oar deserted harbor and deserted streets would soon teem with signs of commerce and Yankee enterprise. If this place remains another year under British rule, it will then be what it was before the Fraser River rush —a mere Hudson Bay trading post. A hurricane had occurred at the Bahamas the like of which had not been witnessed since 181-3. The “ Nassau Guardian ” of the 3rd October, savs : A part of the town of Nassau was' destroyed. Trinity Church was completely demolished. The Government House suffered considerably and lost a great part of the roofing-. The entire roofing of the Military Hospital was carried awav. From the Arsenal, West Bay-street, jo the Eastward, no one could pass, on account of the obstruction in the Way caused by the ruins of houses, boats, fragments of vessels and of the wharves-’ The Arsenal wharf completely disappeared Many of the houses and stores that were thrown down were swept away by the hurricane, including the beef and fish markets. The catalogue of the property destroyed is very long. A correspondent, at Groat Harbor writes that the hurricane has ruined all the estates, destroyed the cisterns of water, public schools, etc., and that, the poorer classes were exposed to starvation.