Untitled

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 71, 12 October 1872, Page 3

Tl. was stated a faw rtnys ago with regard to the ■voyages from England of t,lio steamsips Great Britain and Northumberland, tli at, during the early part of tin; present week the arrival of one or b >th of these vessels might lie oxpeeled, and the anticipation has proved eorreet, the Nortlminhorland hiving been berthed at the railway pier, Sandridgc on Monday night, and the (front Britain having anchored nt, Queoiiselilfb on Wednesday evening. Not even in the days of Uio crack clippers of the Black Ball and 'White Star lines was such interest tali en in the performances of ships on the "long voyage," a.s during the present year has been excited with respect to these two steamships, each of which has its admirers. Betting on (lie voyages both home and out again, has been brisk, and so close a thing has the running been, that even hours are now taken into eonsderation, when formerly the even number of days used to suffice. T'i« l ; 'lnof nonular feeling is strongly with the "o'd favourite" which lias on this voyage so greatly distingue .iM nersell, while those who pn their faith to the new ship, with her powerful compound engines, are pleased to find that she has not, only not disappointed their expectations, but lias exceeded them, and that when her full strength is put forth, she will before long limit the duration of the voyage to ,")() days or under. The Northumberland, it'will be recollected, left Plymouth .Sound at 9 a.m. on July 25 and signalled Cape Otway at half-past 7a.m. on September 10, and the Great' Britain, which left Liverpool at 5 p.m. on July 2(5, was oil Cape Otway at 1.1 a.m. on Wednesday, and entered the Heads at half-past live p.m. Taking these dates, the voyage is in favour of the Northumberland, but if allowance be made i'ov the dilferenee as between Liverpool and Plymouth for a starting point, then the Great Britain has the advantage by a few hours. The Northumhcrland's passage, from leaving Plymouth to sighting Cape Otway, is given as 52 days 12 hours, while the Great Britain appears to have occupied 56 days and about six hours in perform 'in.; the vovage between Liverpool and the Ol way. It is generally reckoned that the passage from Liverpool is longer bv twentyfour hours than that from Plymouth, in which ease the Great Britain appears to have made a be ter run by some six hours than the Northumberland.— AitsIraJasian. A grand project is propped by Lieutenant Maury (United States hydrographer) for noticing the force's at work on the entire face of the globe and distributing the ii'ibi'ination obtained for the benefit of producers and mankind in genera'. He proposes with the aid and co-operation of the various governments of the world, and the use of all the appliances of steam and electricity, to establish a vast systsm of weather and crop observations and reports, which shall keep producers in all lands informed of what is going on all over the globe, so that they may know wherewith they are competing and what"their prospects are m the market. Lieutenant Maury believes that man has already in his hands powers and agencies which will enable the grain-grower of the west and the cotton-planter of the south to know as the season progresses, the probable supply of the staple in which

he is interested in nil quarters of the globe, and when the times of harvest eonie in the different climes to be in Conned with approximate precision of actual quantities sent into the market. A Melbourne resident, a few days ago, fell down one of the vast flights of stairs in the Royal Hotel, Sydney, and was killed. Forty year:, ago' there was a similar fatal tall down the same which came about thus:—Colonel Lee, of the 21st Regiment, then stationed in Hobavt Town, was a gay old bachelor, with a habit of peeping under the bonnets of prettv girls. (Bonnets were rot then extraneous ornaments on the summit of a pinnrele of hair.) He a young lady of position in this way, who complained to her brother that she had been insulted bv an officer of the regiment, and the brother complained to His Excellency. Governor Arthur wrote to Colonel Lee, who commanded the regiment, and the colonel assembled h ; s officers, who, to a man. denied the imputation. The major suggested " Perhaps it was youvseF, colonel?" and such was found to be the case. The colonel sold out, went to Sydney, bought a pastoral property, and the next day, 43) yea'-s a<ro. fell down those uvducky stairs of the'hotel in George street, and broke his neck. The following pathetic note was picked up the other day in a public thoroughfare :—" Dear Jane.— I hope you ain't mad because I didn't laff at you when you laff't at; me last evening at the post-office. I ain't proud, dear Jane r but I have got a bile under rnj arm, and I can't lafl' as I used to, as Heaven is mj judge. — Yours truly, Henry."