MISCELLANEOUS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1108, 10 December 1869, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS .

Commodore Rowley Lambert, says the Broad Atvow, is likely to be succeeded as Commander-in-Chief in Australia, by Cap tainE. W. Vansittart, C.8., who will nc doubt be the recipient of one of the Cap; tains' Good Service Pensions now plaoec at Mr. Childers' disposal. The Ceicketing Team foe Austeai»ia -^•The hitch between English cricketers and the agent employed to engage them for a trip to Australia is likely to be adjusted, and the following professionals will form the "eleven":— J. C. Shaw, A, Shaw, J. Osoroft, F. Silcock, Willsher, Marten, Jupp, Pooley, Humphrey, Griffiths, and Southerton. The voyage will be made early in October. ' Failxtee of Austealian Meat Agents. — Messrs. John McCall and Co, preserved provision merchants* have stopped payment. Their liabilities are estimated at £50,000, but no information has yet transpired with regard to the probable resull ofthe liquidation. It is presumed that losses have been made upon Australian meat, of which the firm were large importers, as well as in connection with the "People's Market" in the Whitechapel Eoad, which was established by the partners, but closed some time ago. The books have been placed in the hands ol Messrs. Cooper Brothers and Co., thecaccountants. A Peophetic Bishop. — On September 24, the new Bishop of Auckland, the Rev. W. G. Cqwie, late rector of St.-Mary's , Stafford,, was presented with a testimonial, value £60, by his late parishioners. The bishop, in accepting the gift, said that in New Zealand the Church was entirely disconnected with the State. He could nol say he regretted this, and if he lived ten years, no doubt he should see the same thing in England. He did not wish tc see the day hurried when that disconnection would take place, but it would be the State that would lose by the severance ol the union, and not the Church, which would still be maintained by Christ, itMaster. They might, therefore, look forward to the disestablishment of the English Church without any dismay, so long as the Church was true to itself. — European Mail. Mr. J. B. Smales, M.A., died at Whitby, on September 16, of a long-impending consumption. Deceased, who was born inNew Zealand, was the son of a Wesleyan minister, ahd during his early University career, was looked upon as a probable Senior Wrangler, but, owing to his failing health, he was obliged to abandon reading for honours. He was on the point of be- ; ing elected Fellow of his college at the ! time of his death. — European Mail. Colonel Wabee. — The Army andNavij Gazette states that amongst other military t men who have lately visited the continental | camps and exercises was the above-named ' officer, who commanded the " Die-hards" in New Zealand, and who' will, doubtless, like Colonel Shute, Colonel Conolly, and others, give a report on what he saw to the authorities. — European Mail. Bishop Selwyn's indisposition has beon so severe that his Michaelmas ordination was held in Lichfield Cathedral, by the Bishop of Wellington. Late reports state that tho Bishop is improving in health. — European Mail. The Loyalty of the Colonies. — The Times regards " the practiee'of despatching the junior members of tho Royal Family on roving embassies, with no instructions except to cultivate loyalty aud kindliness throughout the vast circle oi the. British dominions, as a happy discovery of the present reign. Its advantages are obvious, and thfe chances of failure of these missions ought not to be very numerous. All that is expected, oi such representatives of the Queen and the British nation is, that ■ they should fairly represent the rank of life in which they have moved — that they should act, that is, as the first of English gentlemen. No difficult diplomatic problems have to be solved by them, and if their lives appear to accord with their high fortunes, they have done all that is required of them. Whatever corner of the globe they visit, the one desire of the whole population is to treat them so that .they may carry away with them pleasant recollections, and thoir part is to suffer themselves to be amused." Rumoueed Abdication. — During a supposed crisis in the Emperor's illness, there were , strange rumours abroad that it was his intention to abdicate. A correspondent of the Times sdid : — " I must tell you that a report of a possible abdication has had a limited circulation iv Paris, and it may liave conjecture for its solo origin, but persons who know the Emperor well seem to think it may foreshadow a not improbable event. The Emperor is' liable to returns of tho state in which he has now been for more than, a month ; future attacks might last even longer than the last, incapacitating him from attending to businoss and causing immense inconvenience, besides that the anxiety to be up and doing is most injurious to tho patient. The Prince Imperial will bo 14 ou his next birthday, an age at which his majority will be proclaimed. There are persons who think that perforce it must come to that." Another letter stated that the Emperor was astonished at the excitement which his drive through Paris produced, and observed that he must have been very ill indeed. On the occasion of his second excursion he went in an open carriage, in order that it might not .be supposed ,ho wished' to conceal' any marked alteration in his • appearance. It / should be mentioned that,, eyen on the day when the panic oh the Bourse was' at its wildest, .the Emperor was able to write a long letter to the Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne on litids.— European Mail, Oct. 8. New Zealand Flax, judging from its value in the English market, should havo received more consideration and attention from colonists in the islands than it has done, Tho weed that the Now Zealand farmer burns down in order to clear his land, land that he afterwards crops with potatoes to sell at perhaps £10 per ton, the strong rope-like grass that tho bullock driver gathers on the sideofthe track, and therewith lashes his load, the stringy reed that everywhere in Now Zealand serves a thousand purposes of usefulness, and that may,. nearly everywhere, be gathered for nothing, is here in London, "in the straw," and without dressing of any kind, readily saleable at from £24 to £25 per ton, and when dressed up into a fashion fit for ropemakers, is worth £40 per. ton, aud easily saleable in a\iy quantity at the price. Ii the Maori cau mako nets and bags and blankets out of the Phormium tenax, if a sample oftho grass can be so manipulated that a fabric equal to ordinary French cambric can be woven from it, it oughb nol to bo difficult for the settler to so prepare it, and in such. quantity, as to make ib i permanent aud valiiable'merchantable com modity.: Should the expense of dressing prove too great a. . difficulty, the straw simply dried and packed, might b< made a valuable article of export, anc rope-makers here would gladly purchas< it. '.. If the dressing is undertaken on th( island, it is worth doing well. Of tw< samples soid since the outgoing of th« lAst -inixir, both eqftal in original quality one from Auckland, well dressed anc Might in. 'color, brought i£4o,.per toi against £30 obtained for a ba%-dwiwe<

t sample froth Ofcago. If the necessary dressing cannot be done in New Zealand " without destroying^ the quality of tho. staple, better send it in a stato of straw, *• but iii any case it will be found a profit--9 able transaction. Eor a long time its 3 merits were decried by English rope- " makers, but they bought it, nevertheless, J when they had opportunity. It was mixed " with Manilla hehip, and nothing said 1 about it ; bub now, a large manufacturer '. announces as one of the staples of his • tradei "New Zealand rope f " and professes s, to make it from' New Zealand flax, and so i he doubtless does, so far as the supply - will enable him to do so. No doubt the 1 gummy substance with which the fibre of • the phormium tenax is so strongly coated » is difficult to remove, but Messrs. Devitt '• and Hett, the, colonial brokers here, are 1 just now in treaty for the perfecting of a machine that is expected to change all . this. In the meantime there are few 1 better shipments from New Zealand to -■ the English market than the so-called fc flax. The fibre of I the ordinary "tus- . sock," when beaten with wooden mallets fc upon beds of the same material, makes a b capital article of commerce in England, l the uses of which are not yet precisely de- . fined to the outside public. It is saleable 3 at from £45 to £50 per ton. 1 Peoposed Abduction of Peince Ab- - thoe by the Eenians. — The New York ) Times of September 13, is responsible for f the following :— " The '■ Eenian Brother- - hood held two meetings on September 12, at the Eourth-street head-quarters. Alf though the press ' were excluded, it was . ascertained that the ohief business trahs- } acted was the reception and inspection of , the rolls and reports of the military branch ) of the organization, which/ as a, member i of the committee expressed it, ' was in a - most perfect state of discipline, and ready I; to take the field.' " The chief leaders of i the committee were iv favour, it is said, ? of an immediate move on Canada, as in > their opinion, at the present moment the - material aid and sympathy of the United j States would be with them. Prom aui thentic sources it was ascertained that tho i committee had under consideration no less r important a matter than the abduction of . Prince Arthur, either in Canada, or in - this country, should he pay us a visit. It ; is very significant % tiuit some half-dozen of . the very smartest of their men — one a well-known scout of the Union army — left . New York suddenly at a late hour on the r night of September 12, for Buffalo. The i members of the committee will give no mii formation on the subject, and even decline r to contradict the report as to the abduc--5 tion bf Prince Arthur." The whole story j is looked upon as an absurd rumour. I Handsome Bequest. — The late Mrs. ■ Burton of Rounday, who was a wealthy ' member of the Wesleyan body, has left the large sum of £32,000, free of legacy ' duty, in aid of several religious and bener volent institutions. Of this sum £15,000 -■ is to be expended on the erection of cha- [ pels and schools for Wesleyan Methodists in Cumberland and Scotland. [ Robeet Moflatt, the African Missionary, now in his 75th year, is purposing to ' return to his native land. The 200-mile journey in waggons _ over the untracked L country, and bridgeless currents from the 1 Xuruman to Orange River, is an arduous ' undertaking for him at his advanced age, * but. he retains his full vigour of mind, if not of body. Ho intends, if possible, to bo in England before , the May meetings J begin. j Admission of Jewish Peofessobs to Univeesity Honoues. — Hitherto no Jews | have been admitted to any Austrian uniP vcrsity as professors. This prohibition has now been removed, and tho first Jewish professor has been appointed, in the person j. of tho well-known oculist, Dr. Mauthner, who has obtained the chair of obthalmio I surgery in the University of Innsbruck. .A Road foe Teioycles. — Anenterpris- ' ing individual at Berlin proposes to board \ over all tlie gutters on each side of the streets, and this roadway, three or four feet ' wide, isto be the futurevelocirjedehigh road 1 of the city. A thousand tricycles are to * be'- -'placed "on it, each with a practised y driver dressed in a neai; uniform, who will \ undertake. to carry, one persoji with letters, parcels, &c, 'As V elocipedestriaDjS ' always drive straight, room to turn is not ' required) and when the road is free it will \ serve as a footpath. A small charge for ' passengers, parcels, and letters will, it is estimated, give a fair return , for the cost of .construction. He argues that, beside \ the general convenience of his plan, it will ' be a great advantage to Berlin to bridge over the gutters, as thoy are at present ; very unsightly, and are liable to be frozen [ over in winter. Moreover, tho establish- ' ment of footpaths will facilitate tho better regulation of the street traffic, and effect a great saving in the expense now incurred by cleaning the streets. The tricycles aro to have a little cauopy iv winter, an umbrella being a sufficient protection, iv the summer. The projector calculates that a speed may bo obtained equal to that of an ordinary carriage at least, and guarantees all possible convenience and safety in transit.