TARANAKI.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 180, 1 March 1860, Page 3

TARANAKI.

[From the Herald, Feb 4.] WEST COAST STEAM SERVICE

The proposal to procure a local steamer to run between Manakau, Taranaki, Wanganui, and Wellington, has found favour both here and at Wanganui. Upwards of 200 shares were bespoken on Saturday last, and we apprehend that no difficulty will be experienced in completing the share list, as our Wanganui friends are prepared to give the undertaking our hearty support. It has been found that the mail steamers cannot be relied on for the conveyance of live stock, and that to keep the market regularly supplied a steamer is required, which, in case of need, can run into the Waitara river, and there land cargo and take on board produce, live stock, and passengers. We hear that so soon as the share list is completed, steps will be taken to obtain an iron screw steamer of about 150 tons, of' light draught and adequate power, cither from Liverpool or Glasgow; and iu the interim preceding her arrival in New Zealand, to procure a suitable vessel eithor m the colony or from New South Whales to run on the proposed line. Prior to depriving us of direct intercolonial steam communication, the colonial government, through the hon. C. W. Richmond, promised to make such arrangements as would secure to this province the certain means of transmitting live stock and produce to Manakau by a monthly steam service. The. Colonial Treasurer, moreover, assured the deputation which waited on him, that the government would, if necessary, subsidise a vessel expressly for the purpose. We now find ourselves deprived of' direct intercolonial steam communication, and (beyond the conveyance of the mail) totally dependent on the caprice of the masters of' the Coleman vessels, Who openly bokst that they are not bound by the charter-party to remain any time in our roadstead to l&hd or take on board cargo, and that it is entirely optional with them whether or not they carry our produce and live stock. Thus the neglect of the General government, and tho cavalier treatment experienced from the Coleman Company, have absolutely compelled us to seek a remedy, and the most effectual'one appears to be the performance of the service by a local steamer. Our traffic, although apparently of no moment to that company, will, combined with that of Wanganui, yield a considerable return, and although a subsidy may be necessary at the outset to enable the local steamer to compete successfully with the subsidised line, the increased facilities afforded by the local steamer in shipping and landing cargo of every the provision of proper fittings and attendauce for live stock when on board, due attention to the convenience of shippers added to the certainty of goods being landed at the pqrt of destination, and a considerable reduction in the present exorbitant rates of freight ' and passage money, must ensure it so large a portion of the public patronage as to place the ultimate success of the undertaking beynnd a , > 1

doubt. It is proposal to fix the time of departure from Wellington so as to afford that province and TaraTiaki weekly steam communication with Auckland ; and Wanganui a bimonthly service to Wellington aud tri-raonthly One to Taranaki and Manakau. Although we do not anticipate that this scheme will be approved of by tho General government, who appear to be under a pledge to the Coleman Company not to subsidise any local steamer, however imperfectly that company may provide for the intercolonial service of the colony, we trust that it will receive the cordial support of the Provincial governments of Auckland, Wellington, and Taranaki.

Latest European. News.

ARRIVAL OF THE : DECEMBER MALLS.

.The Times of to-day reports the arrival of the Benares at Aden.

■■■The meeting of the European Congress has been definitely fixed- for the 19tb of January. An important pamphlet respecting the Pope and the Congress has -just appeared, written by a Frencman named Lauseat Primer. It proposes to limits the Pope’s temporal sovereignty to the city of Rome, and to remove the French army. It is a bold production, but has been favourably received. It has, of course, been suspected of Imperial inspiration, but this has been denied. Pacific assurances are expected, from Napoleon.

It has been rumoured that Lord Palmerston will resign on the Suez Canal question. ■ England demands payment- from Spain for materials furnished for the last- war. The Spaniards are investing Tetuan. An Austrian disarmament has been announced, but she is employing her military against an Hungarian military agitation. In America there has been a very great excitement, both, locally aud politically, in consequence of Browu’s execution. It has been decided that the Indian Executive Council shall be constructed similar, to .the English Cabinet The Bel vire Castle, bound-to Port Adelaide, foundered at. Dunkirk, in a'suow storm, all hands missing. Several passengers were waiting at Plymouth, who had not-embarked at Gravesend. The Great Britain has been spoken twice, all well. The Great Ship Company is in, financial difficulties, and there is open warfare between the proprietary and Board. A r early. £IOO, 000. is required to fit the Great Eastern for sea. The London. colonial wool sales elosed December 3rd, with increasing firmness. The whole quantity offered 47,200 bales was cleared. / Hides of heavy weight are in good request; present values are Sydney ssd. to sfd., per lb., heavy Melbourn& s£d. to 5-|d., light dides of both descriptions, 40. to 44 lbs., average 4|d., to 5Jd. per lb. Stock smallOf the gold shipped by the Royal Charter 13275,000 worth has been recovered. About 195 bodies have beau washed ashore on different parts.of the coast. A rumour of a split iu the Cabinet has occasioned some disquiet. Lord John .Russell was absent from the last ministerial gathering, and his absence has been ascribed to some differences with his colleagues with respect to foreign questions now pending. The first batch of the, ten thousand of the discharged Indiau troops have arrived in England, and are being enlisted again. Weedon ancl Birkenhead aro proposed as sites for now. arsenals. England who hns 'decided to take port in the Congress, has deputed Lord Cowley and Lord Woodhouse to represent her. This seems to have given some offence to the Russian Envoy, Prince Gortschakoff, who thinks that England should have honored the assembly with the presence of either the Premier or the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Much amusement and some annoyance has bcem occasioned by the Liverpool merchants who wrote to the Emperor Napoleon to as certain what were his intentions towards Fngland.. The Emperor replied in a courteous and characteristic letter, which will be found in the papers. The Spanish war at Morocco makes but little progress. Up to the present time the Spaniards have only repelled several desperate and sanguinary sorties of the Moors. A third call has been landed in Africa, and a levy of 50,000 men was to be made in January. The credit of the French expedition against China has been raised from £1,200,000 to £2,000,000. The Volunteer Rifle Corps movement daily assumes larger proportions. A 1 vast force, supported by- immense subscriptions, is already organised.

An Irish brigade is forming in London. The invasion panic has been appeased by pacific assurances from the Emprior of the French, and by the repression of the hostile tone of the Frencn press. It is stated that Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sardinia, and France have concurred in requiring from the Porte the grant of a firman for the execution of Suez Canal. In March 1860 the P. and 6; Australian steamers will commence running via Point de Galle, Instead of the Mauritius. - Meetings of sympathy for the Pope are assuming larger dimention3 in Ireland, and begining to extend to England. Many influential Roman Catholics decline to take part in them. The. sentence upon Brown for' the outbreak at Harper’s Ferry has been put into execution.

. BURNING OF A COOLIE SHTP<-AND LOSS OF 865 LIVES. . \ [From the European Times, Nov. IS.] The following is the report of Captaiu John Bentham, of tlie coolie ship Shah Jehan, which was burnt when on a voyage from. Calcutta to Mauritius, and 365 lives were lost. —She was 852 tons. I commanded her for five years since she- was built. With coolies I have always prohibited smoking in the ’tween decks. : I have no reason for supposing that rule was i broken in the-present instance. The fire broke ‘ out abreast the fore liatehway. In the forehold there were cases of merchandize, bales of blankets, and grain. I am not aware if the native merchants send articles of a combustible nature from India to the Mauritius. I never heard of any such being declared. I can form no opinion of the origin of the fire. The fire broke put about noon, on the 27tli June, m lat. 12 S., ioug. 75 E. ! Some of the' Lascars seated: forward near the fore hatdhway were first aware of the fire i —they saw smoke coming up. I went below ■ immediately, and had one of the lower fore hatches taken off, but the dense smoke that : rose obliged us to replace it immediately. ' Shortly afterwards the flames, made their appearance in-the ’tween deck stringers ; all ■ hands were then on- deck, and every opening , was closed as much as possible with wet sails and blankets, and from -the time the fire was first discovered the courses were hauled up andthe ship put before the wind. Holes were. ’ bored in the water ways and covered with wet blankets to prevent draft; tho openings for the ventilation were similarly covered, day and ■ night water wa3 poured down without intermission. On the evening of the 29th we got ! the long boat out and veered her astern. There were a bag of rice, two-thirds of a bag of ‘ grain, and about fifty gallons of water placed in her. Water was placed in two of the other boats, but tho leaden pipes having been melted, ; all communication with the tanks was cut off. 1 No provisions were procurable on account of the fire, and smoke. There were three rafts of the spare spars, of which we had ’ many oa board. Some of the studding-sail booms were taken down for the same purpose. The hencoops were lashed together; in fact everything that was buoyant was made use of, 1 I think, that would have supported 220 people. When it was evident that tbere was no chance of saving the people’s lives, in any other . way, I encouraged the coolies to get on the rafts which were towing alongside. I should think - that quite 300 of them succeeded in doing so. 1 This was on the 29th of June. When I left 1 the ship there was nothing remaining but the poop deck where the people could stand, the foremast had fallen early in the morning of that day; the mainmast and mizenmast fell about half-past ten, a.m. I had just left the ship with tho major part of the crew. I jumped overboard, and so did they. I think from about forty to fifty men and women remained on board the • poop deck fell in almost immediately, and they perished. We were about 800 miles from the Mauritius on tlm 30th. The rafts were cast adrift one by one as they were loaded ; two were out of sight when I abandoned the ship—the third was a great distance off. The cutter and the oily boat was swamped by the number of people that rushed into them. I was in the long boat with 67 people. She drifted away from the ship after she was. cast off. I saw the ship burning until sunset. I consider that my officers and crew, behaved admirably. They only left the ship when it was impossible to remain on board. The people on the rafts had no provisions or water whatever. When I left I was obliged to jump ’over and swim to the long 1 boat, The chief officer and those of the crew that were saved did the same, also one coolie There were many persons hanging by rope 3 alongside the vessel at the time, and they would not venture to let go. The long boat could not be got near the vessel crowded as she was with men and only two oars. The doctor and third officer were- both drowned when- the cutter swamped. We were five days in the boats, and were picked up by the French ship Vasco de Gama, Captain Maureau, and conveyed to Bourbon. Captain Maureau, his officers, and crew, treated us with the utmost kindness and attention. Three. men died from exhaustion before we were picked up. The daily ration in the boat was a few ounces of raw- grain and half a tumbler of water, i There was- a mast-head look- out the whole time after the fire broke out, the people, both i coolies and crew were supported by eating the live stock, and a quantity onions, pumpkins, : &c,, which were on the poop. A number of women and children were placed in the cutter and jolly boat before lowering them. I and my officers assisted the people to get on the raftß. There were many of the women on them. The cargo fore and aft the vessel was covered with mats, and powdered charcoal placed above them to the depth of two or three inches. Hie crew behaved admirably throughout ; they all did their best, so did the officers. The coolies commenced plundering; The day s the ship took fire my cabin was entered, and all my clothes and private trade taken. They i dressed themselves with my shirts, and their wives with some things-belonging to Mrs. I

How to obtain Sleep.— According to a French medical journal, insomnia, or want of rest at night, may be cured by sugar-candy. It appears that sugar, under its crystallised form* is a decided hypnotic, and much'superior to most other remedies of the kind, if we consider its most perfect innocence. To use it, put five or six pieces of sugar candy, of the size of a hazel nut, into your month on going to bed, and by the time they are half melted away the desired effect will be produced. The sleep which it produces is not like the-artificial:

one produced l>v other drugs, but it it as beneficial and invigorating in its effeet upon the system as natural repose.