INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

West Coast Times, Issue 592, 17 August 1867, Page 4

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

ADELAIDE.

Thursday, Aug. 1. General business is very dull. The cargo of Mauritius sugar ex Waterlily wa-j offered to-day by auction, and 2000 bogs were sold. Young counters brought L3l to L 33 10s ; yellow crystals, L 33 10s to L3l; white counters, L 34 2s 6d; light to white crystals, L 35 12s 6d to L 36 12s 6d. The corn market is quiet. There is no alteration in prices. The prospectus has been issued of a new company for the insurance of farm produce. It is arranged that Prince Alfred shall land at Glcnelg, and embark at Port Reception. A joint committee has beenappointed by the Government and the Corporation. It is making preparations for a general illumination of the city.

Friday, Aug. 2. The injunction granted in the Moonta case has been dissolved. The Court intimated that the motion for the attachment of the directors for contempt of Court, in paying a dividend after an injunction was granted to the contrary, would be refused, on their apologising and pteying costs.

The subscription-lists for the New South Wales Floods Relief Fund will only remain open for ten days. The Lucie's cargo of Bourbon sugars goes on to Sydney. The corn market is very dull. Wheat is quoted at 4s 8d to 4s 9d ; flour, Lll 10s to Lll 15s. The import market is quiet. Cornsacks, 12s to 12s 3d ; woolpacks, 4s 3d ; hops, 2s 6d. It is reported that scab has broken out in the flocks at Pekina Station North, belonging to Messrs Price and Maurice.

Saturday, Aug. 3. The canvass of the city by the Relief Committee does not show so much distress as was anticipated. Captain Hart is the only candidate for Sturt.

The prospects of the country are improving. The season is splendid, and the crops are reported everywhere as looking well. The farmers are all in good spirits. The corn market is dull. There are no transactions to alter quotations.

A Snuff-Lover's Will. — Dame Margaret Thompson's last will and testament was something unique. It set forth that, as it was usual to put flowers into the coffins of departed friends, and she had never found any flowers so fragrant and refreshing as the previous powder, her trusty servant Sarah was to take care her, body was covered with the best Scotch snuff. Six men, the greatest snufftakers in the parish, were to carry her to the grave ; and the half-dozen old maids selected to act as pall-bearers were to be supplied with boxes of snuff wherewith to refresh themselves on the road. The officiating clergyman was was to be paid four guineas upon condition that he walked in the procession, and " took a certain quantity, not exceeding lib." of tte same. Sarah's legacy depended upon her carrying out the wishes of the testatrix — strewing the threshold of the houso in Boyle street with two bushels of snuff, and walking before the corpse for the purpose of distribut- " every twenty yards a large handful of Scotch snuff to the ground and upon the ground." Lastly, to every legacy beqneathed by Dame Thompson was attached a gift of lib. of " the grand cordial of nature." The sex " added a foil to every obvious grace" down to the days of the Regency ; Queen Charlotte hei-self was a dear lover of a pinch, and kept her her box well filled with best Spanish or violet Strasburg mixed with green tea ; and, of course, as long as tho first lady in the land such an example, fashion saw nothing unladylike in feminine snuffing. — " Chambers's Journal." PEiEsrLr v. Landlord Influence. — The immediate issue of the Clare election lay between the power of the landlords over their tenantry, and that of the priests over their flocks. What men knew to be their interest in this world was thrown into one scale, while in the other was placed what they believed to be their interest in the mysterious world beyond the grave ; on the one side was added the prejudice in favor of established habits and feudul obedience — then strong in the minds of the Irish peasant; on the other side was arrayed a sense of accumulated wrongs. On the third clay of the polling the struggle had grown hopeless to Mr Fitzgerald. Indeed, from the first hour of the contest there could be no doubt of its result. Iv some cases where the landlords had actually marched then- tenantry up to the door of the pollingbooth to support their candidate, the priest advanced from the other side, and called upon them as Catholics to be true to the religion of their forefathers, and, as they hoped to be early released from the torments of purgatory, to vote for " the Liberator." In almost every instance the appeal was successful. Tho tenantry deserted their landlords en masse. Mr Fitzgerald was obliged to resign the unavailing contest ; and O'Connell was returned, although it was well known that he could not take the oaths, and would, therefore, be precluded from sitting. Ho boasted immediately on his return that at the next general election he would send twenty-eight members to Parliament in the same way that he had himself bten elected. Then followed the progress of Mr Lawless through the north of Ireland, at tho head of from 25,000 to 30,000 Catholics, inarching with all the circumstances of an army through the Protestant districts of Ireland. But the most curious and awful Bymptom was the perfect order and sullen calm that accompanied this extraordinary development of physical power, pointing to the depth and gravity of the resolve that prompted such- demonstrations, and at the same time reined in the energies of the nation for the great endeavor, in complete subordination to the leaders who had secured their confidence. — The Life, Letters, and Speeches of Lord PlunJcet. By Ms Grandson the Hon. David Plvnket.

Robert Burns. — "Tli ere is probably not a human being come to years of understanding in all Scotland who has not heard the name of Robert Burns. His poems are found in almost every cottage, on the window-sole of every kitchen or parlour of the country. And in the town dwelling of the industrious poor, if books belong to the family at all, you are pretty sure to see those of " the dear Ayrshire ploughman." So says " Christopher North," than whom no man knew better the hearts of his countrymen. Every word written by Burns, every scene consecrated by his music, and every event of his chequered life, is precious to the heart of a Scotchman. The fretful fits of childhood are lulled to rest by his songs, the lover finds in them words to tell his passion, and eyes bleared and blinded by age kindle and weep over the sweet visions called up by the magical words. — "Once a Week."

The Poetby of Farming. — Agriculture has a field of poetry as well as practical culture. The "pastoral landscape r is here— all tbat the ancients have said about it — the harvest field sung about and beloved by every body ; the " tanned haycock ;" the scent of new made hay at evening; the .'fields with their garniture of green, embracing the whole practical world of nature, the great source of the poet's inspiration. There are the fruits : ripe, golden apples, blushing and fragrant j peaches, plums, the strawberry, and the seedy glistening blackberry, with their fields of poetry ! And then the corn— in the field, in the bam, yellow and glistening on mild atumnal days, when the sun is also yellow, Ad the earth is teeming like a wine-press with plenty and good cheer. "VJQiat hope ! what prospect in store for the bright winter evening!.