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Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 106, 15 January 1853, Page 5

Nicaragua Ship Canal.—A New York Journal publishes the following letter from si correspondent in London with respect to this undertaking:—" A matter of great public interest has just reached a-head, in this centre of capital, I mean that of the proposed Nicaragua ship canal. Yon are probably aware that the engineers and agents of the canal company have been for some months in England, with their plans and prospectuses, for the purpose of securing the aid of the great European capitalists in the undertaking. They have been patiently heard by the heads of the great houses of Baring, Brothers and Co., and the Rothschilds, &c, who have , sent in their reply, declining to embark in the enterprise. Their letter shows in detail, the fallacy of the estimates which have been submitted to them by the company, and concludes with declaring the financial impracticability of the scheme. I hope to send you by the next steamer a copy of this letter, or at least a summary of its contents. Its publication will probably put a quietus upon the project for the next twenty years, inasmuch as the Panama railway, now verging on completion, will soon be finished, and tor the preseut obviate the necessity of the canal. At any rate, the charter of the canal company will now become void by its own terms, and if anything farther is done it must be preceded by new negociations. What is done hereafter, must proceed from your side of the water, for not one dollar can now be expected from this- side of th* Atlantic."

The Koh-i-Noor Diamond.—The great problem, which has occupied so much attention of late in the lapidary world, respecting the cutting of the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, is about to be solved. The disappointment generally occasioned by the dim radiance of this precious stone in the Great Exhibition, suggested the desirability of submitting it to the process of a recutting, which should remedy the admitted defects of oriental skill. Accordingly the opiuions of various scientific persons were taken, and Professor Tennant and Mr. Mitchell were of opinion that the operation was desirable, but expressed fears that any lateral cutting would endanger the integrity of the diamond. The whole matter was then referred to Messrs. Garrard, the crown jewellers, who consulted Messrs. M. and G. Coster, of Amsterdam, the diamond-cutting trade having been entirely lost to this country. These gentlemen admitted the accuracy of the fears expressed by Professor Tennant, but were, notwithstanding, of opinion that the dangers were not so formidable as to prevent the intended operation from being safely effected. This opinion was sufficiently encouraging to induce an order for the preparation of the requisite machinery to be erected upon the premises of Messrs. Garrard ; and, accordingly, a small steam-engine, from two to four-horse power, was erected, and put into operation. The late Duke of Wellington having manifested great interest in the subjectj attended several times during the progress of the preparations, and assisted in the first step of the process. The Koh-i-Noor having been embedded in lead, with the exception of one small salient angle, intended to be first submitted to the cutting operation, his grace placed the gem upon the scaife, an horizontal wheel, revolving with almost incalculable velocity, whereby the exposed angle was removed by the friction, and the first facet of the new cutting was effected. This step in the operation forms but a small item of the process, as it is expected the work, under the hands of the two Dutch artists to whom it has been intrusted, will occupy a period of some months. Two of the facets have since been cut, carrying away the whole of the cloudiness or flaw it origin.lly presented, and there is now no doubt that the diamond will be improved in splendour and brilliancy.

Foxhontees and Farmers.—Tn Yorkshire, says the Yorkshire Gazette, there are ten packs of foxhounds, one pack of staghounds, and fire or six of harriers, equal in all to thirteen or fourteen packs of foxhounds. Thirteen packs of foxhounds, of 50 couples each, or 1300houods, consume annually 200 tons of oatmeal, at a cost of £2,600, hesides the carcases of 2,000 dead horses, worth nothing if no hounds were kept. There are at least 1,000 hunting men in Yorkshire, keeping on an average four horses each ; 4,000 will cost them £200,000, at £50 each, and their keep £50 per annum each, making £200,000 more; 4,000 horses employ 2,000 men as grooms (generally the offspring of the agricultural population), and consume aunually 40,000 qrs. of oats, 2,000 qrs. of beans, and 8,000 tons of hay and grass. Every tradesman is also behefitted by hunting tailors, shoemakers, saddlers, blacksmiths, druggists', veterinary surgeons, &c. If foxhunting were given up, where would the farmer find a market for the above produce, or for a well bred horse of four or five years old ! While the money circulated in the country by foxhunting would be spent in the metropolis or on the con~tiueiir. Foxes are the farmers' best friends, and they ought to use every exertion to preserve them, and prevent them being stolen to be sent where masters of hounds are unsportsmanlike enough to purchase them, no matter from whence they come. In Cambridgeshire the hounds are reported to us as b"ein°- in firstrate order, the funds are flourishing, and foxes are plentiful. It is feared that last year one gent eman at least mistook foxes for hares, but it is hoped that such an error will not arise this season.— Nonconformist.

Words altering in Meaning. —What a multitude of words, originally harmless, have assumed a harmful as their secondary meaning • how many worthy have acquired an unworthy! J-nus ; knave 'meant once no more than lad • ' villain" than a peasant; a " boor" was only a farmer; a "churl" but a. strong fellow. ''Timeserver" was used 200 years ago quite as often Jor one in an honourable as in a dishonourable sense," serving the time." There was a time when conceits uad uothingcoiiceited in Uieai ; " offi-

cious" had reference to offices of kindness, not of busy meddliug; " moody" was that which pertained to a man's mood, without any gloom or sullenness implied. " Demure" (which is dcs inceurs, of good manners) conveyed no hint, as it does now, of an overdoing of the outward demonstrations of modesty; in "crafty" and "cunning" there was nothing of crooked wisdom implied, but only knowledge and skill; " craft," indeed, still retains very often its more honourable use, a man's "craft" being his skill, and then the trade in which he is well skilled. And think you that the Magdalene could have ever given us " maudlin" in its present contemptuous application, if the tears of penitential weeping had been held in due honour in the world?— JR. Trench on the Study of Words.