ENGLAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 203, 9 August 1860, Page 4

ENGLAND.

In the s Great Eastern/which, was to leave for New York on the 9th June, a large num her of passengers (who are limited.to 300) had' taken berths. The passage money is £25 out, or .£4O out and home. A large revenue is expected from visitors at New York. .

Am Admiralty Test of the Great Eastern.— The Admiralty {give us two formulae by which they test the relative merits oJ steamships ; the former involving the speed, midship section, and indicated power ; the latter involving the weight instead of the midship section. To. apply these tests to the Great Eastern we require to have her indicated power, midship section, and weight, ami these we are able to supply with a sufficiently near approximation to the truth for.our present purpose: Before leaving the ship we ascertained that the ' total/ indicated power/ developed when the engines did their best, was about 7200 horse power. We have,further found by approximate calculations, that .with the draught of water with which-tile .ship left Portland (25 feet aft, 21 feet forward, mean 23 feet) her midship section must‘have been

about 1600 square feet. .Further,, bet weight. “ must'have been at least between 17,000 tons and 18000 tons—'say, 17,500 tons.’. W& ' know that this must be* hear the'weight,and any rale caiinot.be in excess of it, because

the mere'iron in the hull weighs 8000' tons, the engines and . boilers about 2000 tons freekoning. the weight three-fourths of a ton.pei nominal'horse power), and there were 6000 tons of coals oil. board, in all, 16,000 toils. To this we, add 1500 tons only for the weight of woodwork, masts, spars, and: rigging, Peddle wheels and screw, water in boilers, and everything else on board,;which certainly cannot weigh less than that amount. Jlaking, then, these quantities—the speed 15 knots, the midship section 1600 square feet, the displacement 17,500 tons —and substituting them in the two Admiralty formul© successively, we get for the Great. Kastern s characteristic numbers 750 'and 416 resj ectivoly. Now, none of the, Admiralty vessels reach such numbers as these. We have the Agamemnon giving 664, the Miranda 680, the Tribune 686, the Algiers 687, the Simoom 688, the Desperate 'G97, the St. Jean D’Acre 701, the Princess Royal nearly 725, and. the Cruiser nearly 728, by the. first formula ; and we have the St. Jean d’Acre giving 201, the the Tribune 202, the Princess Royal 203, the Cruiser 220, the Desperate 224, the Simoom 240, and the Miranda no less than; 247 by the second formula; but the very, best of these fall, as will be seen, considerably short of the Great Eastern’s numbers in both cases. -— Mechanics' Magazine. Court of Probate and, Djvorce.— On the 20th March there were 142 cases set down for trial _before the full .court, besides 174 in less advanced stages of progress,.-mak-ing, in all 313: petitions for dissolution or nullity of marriage. There is also a petition for a declaration of legitimacy set down for hearing. 7’liere are six cases of judicial separation set down for trial, and 112 in various stages of progress, making a grand total ot 432 cases pending before the court, • On Thursday Mr. Baines brought up the report of the select committee of the House of Commons on the Queen’s Printers’ Patent for printing the Bible* The report recommends that the Patent, be not renewed, and that no exclusive privilege of printing the Scriptures be allowed henceforth to exist.

Dr. Zivin'gstone lias communicated to the Royal Society a series of valuable magnetical observations made recently in. Africa. At the meeting in Loadon on Wednesday of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, the Right Hon. Stuart Wortley in the chair, resolutions were passed authorising an issue of .£25,000 in debentures, at 6 per cent., for restoring to working order, if possible, the old cable. 4hovA £4OOO of the amount, was subscribed in the room by the directors themselves. , Telegraphic Communication with A-MERiCA.—-By the advices brought by the last Canadian mail, it appears that the Canadian Legislature has voted the sum of 10,000 dels, for the purpose of extending the telegraph lines from, Father Point, about 200 miles from Quebec, to Fortean Bay, on the Labrador coast, a distance of 600 miles eastward from that, point. It is expected that the lines:will be in operation in the course of the ensuing] summer, so that by the time his Royal High- 1 ness sails for the British North American Provinces, England and America will be, by means, of this extended . telegraph system, within, at all times, six days’ communication with each other. —Canadian News. Northern Ocean Telegraph , Expedi-tion—--Cidonel Siiaffner, of Kentucky, U.»s\, chartered the barque Wyman at his own expense at Boston, from which port he sailed on his expedition to the Northern Ocean on the 29th of,August last. Colonel Siiaffner has had leave granted him from the Danish Government to lay the electric wires through all parts'of its possessions necessary to : the undertaking. After leaving Boston, Colonel Shaff ner sailed along the coast of Labrador as fatnorth as Byron’s Bay, and discovered a most suitable place for laying the cable between parallels 54 and 55 north latitude. • .<S’otuidings were taken from thence to Greenland, which indicated a valley not. exceeding 200 fathoms in depth, with a bottom of .soft; derp mud- —so much so .that the plummet frequently sank seyeral feet in it. .As the expedition approached near- to Greenland,. however, the lead brought, up symptoms of a gravelly bottom. Colonel Siiaffner then proceeded to examine the coast of Greenland as far north as lat. 63. and penetrated into the interior farther than has .ever been done by any other traveller. He describes the temperature as comparatively mild, and the inhab.Units as a most intelligent and cleanly people—an . account which'differs very much from what is stated-by other travellers. The Colonel found a situation in every way suitable for landing the cable, and in bis search was very kindly treated by the Esquimaux. The. expedition then proceeded round to East Greenland, and thence to Iceland, taking soundings all the way. The depth of the ocean between these two. places descended to 1500 fathoms, and got consider ably shallower as they neared Iceland. At. the south-east end r of Iceland the average depth is about. 1000 fathoms. The soundings from Iceland to the Faroe Isles, and thence to the north of Scotland, are well known already, and therefore Colonel Siiaffner did not attempt it. The route of the new telegraphic cable, as proposed by Colonel Siiaffner, is. to start from Quebec across Labrador-to Greenland, thence • to Iceland, to the Faroe Isles, and then across to the north of Scotland. Colonel Siiaffner. and the other gentlemen composing the expedition,.deserve, the gratitude of this country, -as . well as, that of America, for the exertions and. expense which have, attended their efforts, to unite two. of the greatest nations in the world, b

Fu the'^iflea.,departmeht ; 6f.tli!e,|fdh.factories at Woolwich, last/week, upwards of 3000 men were employed/ and the week’s wages paid last Friday amounted to .£2850. , .

The Cobdf.n Testimonial.-*- The Rochdale Observer states' tluit the testimonial to Mr. Cobden originated with Mi. Thomasson of Bolton, v wlio,: haring consulted with; Mr. Colxlen on a matter of business, received ad* I vice which enabled him within a short period to secure a profit of £IO,OOO, besides the profits subsequently accrued, and; to ; accrue. When, therefore, Mr: Thomasson. heard of the loss which Mr. Cobdeu, through no fault of his, had sustained, he at once decided to set on foot a subscription, and headed: the list with the mumficent sum of £SOOO. A similar sum was Soon after put down by Mr. Platt, of Oldham, and to these were added several subscriptions .of £IOOO and £2OOO oach, and some smaller suras, none being below £500.. . ; ; EMPLOYMENT; FOIt WOMENMiss A’mily Faitlifuil has established and opened at 9, Great Coram street, Brunswick square, London, a printing in which the work ‘is done wholly by women, and for the support of which the assistance of all who are interested in the extension of female employment is earnestly solicited. Five girls have ?been apprenticed to Miss Faithfull by the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women, and there is room for six'Others. Phince of Wales’ Visit to Canada.t The squadron ordered to assemble at Spithead for conveying the Prince of /Tales to Canada will consist of the Hero, 91’ (suns (screw). Captain George •Seymour; the .Ariadne; 26 (screw); the Flying Fish, (6) ; and the Osborne (paddle yacht). The Prince will take passage in the Hero.» The Osborne will be retained for service on the coast and riverg of Canada. The Times trusts that the Prince of /Tales, after visiting Canada, will make a : tom; through the United States.. If he should visit the President, the-courtesy will be appreciated, and tend to-draw-clOser the bonds, which unite the two countries.

It has been resolved to erect, in a leading thoroughfare in London, a statue to the memory of John Buny an. 1 Captain Breckon, the intrepid and skilful navigator of the screw steamers called the Little Lucy and the Helen Corran to Bahia (mere cockleshells, being only about twenty tons each), died at Bahia (January 9), after the termination of his last achievement, of yellow fever, in a measure caused by the anxiety of his position.— Liverpool Mercury. Of the late Mrs. Jameson, the London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian says: “ Few of the public knew under what: circumstances Mrs. Jameson’s works were: produced —at what cost of ill-remunerated hut most conscientious labour—and on what-lioly;and self-sacrificing purposes the proceeds of that, labour were employed. ‘ For many; -many years, Mrs. the almost-sole support of her motherland her sisters, and of a sister’s child besides. No one ever bore si heavier load of self-imposed obligations, or carried that load more uncomplainingly. She moved under it as if she.n.-ver !'«lt it. But. it was very heavy for all that, and it lias-broken her down ;at last. .Her almost iiicessan t labour during the latter years of .her life was lightened by an annuity of JBIOO (in addition to a pension;.of the same amount) which annuity she owed to the determined kindness of her triend Mrs. Proctor (wife of that sweetest of singer? and kindliest of men, better known to the world by his nom de plume of Barry Cornwall) .who raised the - -sum"required for the purchase of this annuity ;by her own mi: aided efforts from amongst Mrs, Jameson’s friends, and presented it to the unsuspecting and astonished donee as a birthday gift.” It is not- yet six- years since we sa'w a war which commenced with proud fleets of line-of-battle ships aiiddn : guhboats, mortarboats. and- floating batteries, sheathed with iron. The former very nearly captured Mveaborg; the latter destroyed Kinburn. He would liaxe. been man who would then have asked. for the public money to build screw three-deckers. Time has, howeveri rendered us already forgetful. of the experience then gained. , Subsequent to that Kussian war we have had twq:more wars at ,great distances from the mother-country—for our existence in India, for our honour in China. Did the line-of-battle-ship or the 50-gun frigate do any good service, there ? ; Nq; it was in our -eamen in India,-our small <fraft and gunboats in China, that the.navy of GVeat Britain again established its pre-eminence and supported its traditionary fame. Since then the rifled cannon and Armstrong shell- have still further multiplied the objections to the big ship—the lofty target, the concentration of guns, and, above'all, of inimji'fl’.beings '; Are iibf 'we therefore, justified in sounding a note of warding to those, who, ignoring the present requirements of Britain and her colonies, appear to satisfy theraStlves with picturing future stately flights of liiie-of-battle ships, and'hope to reproduce fac-sinjilesof St., Vincent and Trafalgar,lnstead of looking alone to the one great result—-the" destruction of an enemy ? An<\ we say that, even as Solferino and Ma - genta were unlike 1 ail* previous battles, so will future sea-fights be. Victory, we feel assured, will still be ours if we consult, the genius,and self-reliant courage of our seamen and officers; aiid, instead of cramming them together into, liuge slaughter-houses, let them meet the,tall; ships of France ,or the long frigates of A me-j rica in small handy,' vessels, fleeter and,more; numerous than either, and armed with; the most deadly' weapons : that this ; great me-, cliauical country cair produce. The Napoleons and Bretagnes ' assailedj by a swarm of such hornets,-with a small,,cpmpact-.body of screw two-deckers m reserve, will suffer the fate of a former armada,; and; we say; God help : a vessel like the . American " Niagara, assailed by a dozen Vipers as; fleet as herself* each armed with a single Armstrong or Whitworth gtm \~—Army .and Navy fJazcltc, <