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Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1364, 23 February 1865, Page 5

"A rather good story," says the Glasgow Citizen, >4 for the authenticity of which we can vouch, is just now going the rounds of the city. As our readers are aware, a great many persons obtained admission to the lectures delivered by the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon (or rather ' Mr.' Spurgeon) in the City Hall the other evening, by presenting forged tickets. In consequence of this unprincipled and dishonest cpnduct, large numbers who had provided themselves with bona fide tickets were unable to gain admission; it having been necessary to close the doors before eight o'clock, the hour at which the proceedings were advertised to commence. Amongst the'latest arrivals' were Mr. Spurgeon himself and Dr. Joshua Paterson, who, on demanding admittance, were informed by a tall Highland policeman stationed at the door that the hall was already crammed to suffocation, and no one would be allowed to put his foot within the threshold. 'But we must get in,' said Mr. Spurgeon, attempting to pass. 'I don't see that,' replied the constable, barring the door with his burly frame. 'But we must get in,' reiterated Mr. Spurgeon,' my friend here is Dr. Paterson, who is to act as chairman to-night;' 'and,'struck in the doctor, 'this gentleman is the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon, who is to lecture; so you see it won't do to keep us out.' The policeman shrugged his shoulders, and regarding the applicants .with a knowing look, said, 'Do you really think I'm so jolly green—move on!' Fortunately,, at this juncture, a member of the Protestant Layman's Association, who had been on the look-out for Mr. Spurgeon, came to the rescue, and, having explained matters to the constable's satisfaction, that astonished functionary stepped aside, and, with a polite salute, permitted the famous London divine and the learned doctor to pass on."

The following carious details have been furnished respecting the piercing of the tunnel between Modane and Bardoneche. The whole length of the tunnel, when completed, will be 12,220 metres. Tiie machine used for the purpose is M. Sommelier's perforator, set in motion by compressed air. It consists of a piston working horizontally in a cylinder, and carrying a chisel fixed upon it like a bayonet, which at each stroke dashes with violence against the rock to be pierced. Each time the chisel recoils it turns round in the hole, and as the latter is sunk deeper and deeper, the frame or shield which carries not one, but nine perforators, advances in proportion. While the chisel is doing its work with extraordinary rapidity, a copper tube, of a small diameter, keeps squirting wafer into the hole, by which means all the rubbish is washed out. Behind the shield there is a tender which, by the aid of a pump set in motion by compressed air, feeds all these tubes with water. The noise caused by the simultaneous striking of all the chisels against the rock is absolutely deafening, enhanced as 'it is by the echo of the tunnel. All at once the noise ceases, the shield recedes behind it, and the surface of the rock is perceived riddled with 80 holes, varying in depth between 80 and 90 centimetres. These holes are now charged with cartridges, slow matches, burning at the rate of 60 centimetres per minute, are inserted, and the workmen retire in haste. The explosion seems to shake the mountain to its roots ; when all is over, the ground is found covered with fragments of the rock, and an advance equal to the depth of the holes has been obtained. On the Bardoneche side this year, the average advance per month has been 50 metres on the Modane side, it has not exceeded 38 metre? per month, owing to the great hardness of the rock on that side ; theif still remains a length of about 8250 metres to be got through. When completed, the tunnel will have required the piercing of 1,220,000 holes, 550,000 kilogrammes of gunpowder. 1,550,000 metres of slow match ; the number of bayonets rendered unserviceable will amount to 2,450,000. —Home News. Commercial Progress of the Colonies.—At a meeting of the Statistical Society, held at their rooms in St. Jaraes's-square, on the 15th ult.,Colonel Sykes, M.P., in the chair, a paper by Mr. E. T. Blakely, upon the commercial progress of the colonies, was read. The writer reviewed the change of opinion which had arisen in the mother country in relation to the government of our colonial empire during the last twenty years. From the time when SirW. Molesworth directed the attention of the House to the anomalies in the then existing system, what had taken place could not be better expressed than in the words of Mr. Adderley during a discussion in 1863. "They had," said he, "atlength come to the end of the third phase of colonial government. At first they left the colonies very much to themselves, only imposing restrictions upon their commerce. The next attempt was to govern exclusively from Downing-street. Then the privileges of self-government were granted, yet at the same time retaining their defence and protection, and we now saw the confusion of the two principles.," The paper treated the question in detail and in groups. It was shown, first, with respect to the North American group, that the average trade (i.e., imports and exports) for the five years ended in 1862, was £22,379,000, and that in 1863, it had risen to £27,706,000. The Australian colonies, with a population of 1,336,000 during the same period averaged a trade of £50,902,000, which, in the year 1863, was £39,203,000. These included the exports of gold. The two African colonies of the Cape and Natal, from 1858-62, averaged £5,027,000, and in 1863, £5,076,000. The Mediterranean, £7,805,000, and in 1863, £12,525,000. The Islands in the North and South Atlantic, £1,122,000, and in 1863, £2,830,000 ; much of this increase was exceptional, in consequence of the convenient situation of the Bahamas for the blockade trade with the Southern States. The West Indian had shown a slight diminution from £10,898,000 to £10,435,000. The Eastern, comprising two of our most flourishing colonies—Ceylon and the Mauritius,—averaged, from 1858 to 1862, £12,425,000, and in 18.63, £14,375,000; and the smaller colonies of Western Africa £861,000, and in 1863 £1,067,000. The condition of the West Indian was a fit subject for investigation, they being all, more or less, in a depressed condition, the scarcity of labour, the low prices of sugar, and the alteration in the nature of the employment from slave to free labour. The progress of the Australian was probably unequalled in the history of the world, and free institutions had fostered the energetic dispositions of the colonists. They had not, however, been able to resist the attractions of the London Stock Exchange, for their united debts were little short of sixteen millions sterling. It ought to be remarked that these colonies possessed a most complete and admirable system of statistics of every kind, including agricultural returns, in which respect they are in advance of the mother country. These were the results of the combined labours of those gentlemen deputed from the colonies to the Statistical Congress, which met in London in IB6o:—The total population of the colonies of Great Britain might be taken as nine millions, having an import and export trade of £133,217,000, a revenue in the year 1862 of £14,155,000, and an expenditure of £12,407,000, and a debt of £35,069,000. In* addition, the returns of Indian commerce and finance exhibited the following results:—ln 1858 the imports and exports were £90,162,000. The export of raw cotton in 1861 was £7,342,000, in 1862 £10,203,000, and in 1863 £18,757,000, showing the enormous development of the trade in that important article. The revenue in 1858 was £31,707,000, and expenditure £41,241,000 ; in 1860 £39,706,000, agsfnst £51,862,000; but in 1863 there was a surplus, being £45,144,000, against an expenditure of £43,316,000, these totals including the cost of all •home charges. The debt, which in 1858 was £69,473,000, as might be expected, had in 1863 arrived at £110,495,000. Mr. Blakely concluded by showing the comparative trade of the colonies, B. India, and of the United Kingdom. The total imports of the United Kingdom, according to the Board of Trade returns, were for 1862 (exclusive of specie) £225,717,000, out of which we received from the colonies £27,414,000, and from B. India £18,567,000; and the exports from the United Kingdom were in the same year £166,168,000, out of which we exported to the colonies £30,784,000, and to B. India £20,874,000. With respect to the commercial value of the copies as integral parts of the British empire, it was iei'o to those present to form their own conclusions from the data given.— Australian Mail.