New Zealand Probinces.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVI, Issue 62, 31 October 1857, Page 3

New Zealand Probinces.

WELLINGTON.

The Wellington papers, received by the Wonga Wonga on Thursday, have made us acquainted with the result of the election for the Superintcndency of that province. The contest has been in some of the districts a very severe one, although Dr. Featherston has been returned by a very large majority. The Ahuriri return is not given below, but we understand the voting in that district was in favour of Dr, Featherston.

The objection raised by Dr. Welsh that a poll for Dr. Featherston was not legally demanded, appears to have been abandoned by that gentleman going to the poll, and we observe that Messrs. Fitzherbert, Lyon, Woodward, Edwards, Flyger, and Carter have made a statement that they demanded a poll on behalf of Dr. Featherston. The Spectator says this statement has been unanimously stigmatized as a falsehood, but surely our contemporary cannot seriously mean to assert that these six gentlemen would deliberately tell an untruth to serve a political end. We would rather believe what is not by any means unlikely to have been the fact, that the report of the proceedings at the nomination was imperfect, or that in the excitement of the moment the returning officer did not observe that Messrs. Lyon, Woodward, Edwards, Flyger, and Carter, joined with Mr. Fitzherbert in demanding the poll for Dr. Featherston. The election for the Snperintendency being over, those for the members of the Council were to follow, and to judge from appearances a strong opposition to the Government would be returned. The contest for the town would, it was expected, result in the defeat of several of the Government candidates. The 65th Regiment, so long stationed at Wellington, is to proceed to Auckland to relieve the 58th Regiment, about to return home. The 89th Regiment from the Cape, is expected shortly to arrive in New Zealand, and will be stationed in the south of the island. The newspapers contain but little loca intelligence apart from the elections.

EGYPT AND THE GREAT SUEZ CANAL. A narrative of travels, by J. Barthelemy Saint Hilaire, Member of the Institute Academie des Sciences, Morales, et Politiques, has recently issued from the press in London. In noticing this volume, the Sun of the 11th July observes : This is a most interesting and important work, and one which will doubtless be welcomed and appreciated by many. It bears reference to a subject which has engaged public attention, and it is furthermore rendered attractive by information relating to a land so worthy of regard as that of Egypt. Perhaps the most pleasing letters are those on the Nile, the Pyramids, and Thebes. The Nile alone, among all the rivers in the world, has a periodical rising, that has never been interrupted for four thousand years. Besides this advantage, it never devastates its shores, and the waters in rising leave behind a mud which fertilizes. It has been observed, as an extraordinary fact, that although " nature could not bestow upon man a greater blessing than the

Nile, the population of Egypt has at all periods been degraded and unfortunate." The writer explains this anomaly by the circumstance that the people depend for subsistence upon the management of the river, which care they always leave to their rulers, and thus, instead of an advantage politically considered, the Nile may have produced quite the contrary effect. It is said the water is so exquisite to the taste that it is not to be wondered at that the princesses of the family cf the Ptolemies had it brought to them in Syria. The eoil of the valley of the Nile rises nearly five inches a century, and it was feared by Herodotus two thousand years ago that, from this constant rising Egypt would be rendered a complete marsh.

It is unsatisfactory to the lovers of progress to be told that nearly as much was known in the days of Herodotus as at present of the source of the Nile. The addition consists in having ascertained that there are two rivers, which unite to form it at a certain point. In discussing the Pyramids, the author truly observes that they are not only a glory to the people who raised them, but they form part of the history of art, and to pass them by would be to efface a page from the annals of the human mind. The Great Pyramid was faced with polished stones, the smallest of which was thirty feet in length. This statement was made by Herodotus; but all traces have disappeared, therefore it is urged that no one can now form a true idea of what the pyramids once were before ruthless destroyers had profaned " their smooth surface, glittering in the sun, which shone down upon them from a cloudless sky." Another suggestion is made, worthy of regard, namely, the advauce that must have been made in architecture before their construction, thus referring the dawn of Egyptian civilization to a period which baffles all calculation. "In what age of the world's history must we imagine that men began to hew stones and to erect edifices, for such perfection to be attained two thousand years before the Christian era ?" The greatest admiration is expressed for Thebes. A thousand years before the Christian era its fame had crossed the seas; and the author observes, judging from the ruins now extaut—- " Thebes was very far from receiving her full meed of glory." It is said that Egyptian architecture is characterized by solidity, which is evidenced by the fact, that almost every structure is perfect, except where violence has assailed it. Were it not for the spoilers, Thebes would be nearly the same city to behold as when Joseph was minister to Pharaoh.

It is interesting to peruse the account given of the camel. After describing its various uses, its peculiarities, &c, the writer goes on to state that some travellers amuse themselves by ridiculing this valuable animal, which has been truly called the treasure of the east, and that the best refutation of their absurdities is the thought that " God who created it formed it for the desert." In the first chapter there is a detailed account given of the isthmus of Suez, and the great enterprize concerning it is thus described:— The project in question consists in opening a sea canal from Suez to Pelusium, that is to say, from the Red Sea in a direct line to the Mediterranean, affording a passage to ships of the largest size and burden, from 250 to 300 feet wide, and twenty-five to thirty feet deep. The project is entirely novel, and could neither have been conceived nor carried into execution in any previous age. With a view to facilitate the enterprise, a grant was made by his Highness Mohammed Said, Viceroy of Egypt, to M. Ferdinand Le9seps, dated 30th November, 1854. The idea of connecting the two seas has indeed been mooted at vamus periods, but never otherwise than by a fresh-water canal, supplied by the waters of the Nile, and terminating, by a more or less complicated course, at Alexandria and at Suez. The present project is to supply the canal from the sea, without any opening to the Nile, and simply to establish as short a communication as possible between the two roadsteads which continue along this isthmus for twenty-nine leagues north and south. It does not cross Egypt, but merely follows the boundary which separates Africa from Asia, traversing the desert, without at all encroaching on the interior of the fine country which it will so essentially benefit, by opening along its frontier a perpetual stream of civilization. This feature of the intended canal distinguishes it from all previous projects, none having been hitherfo framed upon the same idea, as history shows.

The International Commission forwarded a most successful report of their expedition to the Viceroy. They declared plainly and openly that the direct canal from Suez to Pclusium oilers the only solution to the problem in question, and that there is no other practicable means of connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean j that the execution of this sea canal is easy, and its success unquestionable ; that the two ports to be formed, at Suez and Pelusium, present only ordinary difficulties: the one at Suez opening into a wide and secure roadstead, accessible at all times, and with twenty-six feet of water and one mile of beach ; and the port of Pelusium being situated between the mouths of Oum Faregand Ouin Ghemile, with twenty-sis feet of water and nearly a mile and a half of beacb, and having an excellent anchorage, with all facilities for getting under sail. Lastly, the Commission added, that the total cost of the canal would not exceed the two hundred million francs calculated in the original estimates. It is remarked, that the " interests of humanity, not less than those of commerce, conspire to render the opening of the isthmus of Suez one of the most useful and honorable enterprises of the nineteenth century ;" and it seems a glorious thought that the triumphs of modern science should be realized in a country that possesses the trophies of ancient art.

Divine and Human Co-operation.— Man (says Hugh Miller) "is a fellow-worker " with the Creator. He is a mighty improver of creation. We recognize that as improvement which adapts nature more thoroughly to man's own necessities and wants, and renders it more pleasing both to his sense of the aesthetic and to his more material senses also. He adds to the beauty of the flowers he takes under his charge, to the delicacy and fertility of the fruits; the seed of the wild grasses becomes com through his care; the green herbs grow great of root or bulb, or bulky and succulent of top and leaf; the wild produce of nature sports under his hand; the rose and lily broaden their disks and multiply their petals; the harsh crab swells out into a delicious, golden-rinded apple, streaked with crimson; the productions of his kitchen garden, strangely metamorphosed to serve the uses of his table, bear forms unknown to nature ; an occult law of change and development inhereut to these organisms meet in him with the development instinct and ability, and they are regenerated under his surveillance.

Featherston. Welch City Hutt 288 88 263 72 Upper Hutt . Wainuiomata . 9 5 0 0 Xai'ori . 19 15 Porirua . 17 6 Puliautanui 16 0 Otaki . 20 21 Munawatu 12 0 Greytowu Masterton 13 28 21 1 Castle Point . 6 1 Ruangurua 15 0 Whanguiona . 8 0 Tc Awaiti 5 0 Flat Point 1 3 Wellington (qualified) Wanganui 4 155 0 0 Rangitikei Turakina :} 61 0 770 3