Miscellaneous.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVII, Issue 69, 28 August 1858, Page 3

Miscellaneous.

It is stated in an Athens journal, that a manuscript copy on parchment of the Gospels in Greek, aud hearing the date 480, has recently been found in the garret of a house in that city. It is said to be in good preservation, and has been deposited in the Public Library of Athens.

M. Gautier de Rougemont, a superior officer on the retired list, has been appointed conservator of Napoleon's tomb, at St. Helena. The French passport nuisance has been extended to Saxony ; new regulations for the granting of passports have been issued. Last week a meeting of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was convened for the purpose of considering the propriety of making a grant towards the erection of a new bishopric in Australia, which we have already announced was in contemplation. It was stated that her Majesty's Government have announced their attention of forming a new colony out the northern portion of New South Wales, included at present in the diocese of Newcastle. The Government have consented to the erection of the new see on condition that a minimum of from £400 to £500 be raised for endowment. After some discussion, it was proposed, and unanimously adopted, that a gift of £1,000 should be made towards the eudowuient of the sec of Brisbane, the amount to be paid as soon as a bishop shall have been appointed aud the remainder of the requisite sum raised. — Home News, May 17.

Funeral of her Royal Highness the Duchess D'Orleans. — The interment of the remains of the late Duchess d'Orleans took place on Saturday last, at the Catholic Chapel erected by the munificence of Mi3s Taylor, a short distance from the railway station at Weybridge, Surrey, and where, as will be remembered by many of our readers, the bodies of the late King Louis Philippe and the Duchess de Nemours were deposited. — Morning Herald, May 24. The Atlantic Telegraph. — All the wire of the Atlantic telegraph is out of the tanks at Key ham. After the Niagara has received 142 miles |from the steam vessel Adonis, and 40 miles now in course of completion at the manufactory, her portion will be on board. The paying-out machinery is expected at Plymouth in a few days. From the position of her engines, just abaft the mainmast, and of her boilers, which extend forward, her accommodation for the wire is not so capacious in any one place as that on board the Agamemnon, where the great bulk is in the main hold. The Agamemnon has been removed to the southern part of the tidal basin, to receive from the Adonis her paying-out apparatus and 167 miles of wire, which, with 50 at the manufactory, completes her portion, 1,501 miles, the frigate's being 1,511; total, 3,012, for a calculated distance, from Ireland to Newfoundland, of 1,634% nautical, or 1,895 statute miles, showing a surplus of more than 50 per cent. The shore end at Valentia is already down ; the shore end at Newfoundland will be laid by a small steamer. The Niagara takes the western portion of the line, and as she will probably have head-winds, and may encounter fogs near Newfoundland, the place of junction will be 50 miles to the westward of a point on the route equidistant from both continents. I\om Newfoundland there is telegraphic communication with New Orleans, distant 3,710 miles following the course of the wire, and when the Atlantic cable is laid, direct communication can be obtained with Constantinople, thus uniting the four continents. It is calculated that a message leaving the Turkish capital at 2 o'clock, say on Monday afternoon, will reach New Orleans at 6 o'clock the same evening. The first message from Constantinople direct left on Sunday evening, May 2, at 11*45, and arrived in London at 8*57 in the evening of the same day, London time, beatiug the sun nearly three hours. The departure of the ships on the experimental cruise will probably take place on the 25th of May. Mr. Whitehouse, the Company's electrician, proposes to use on board each ship a battery which shall be so arranged as to throw a current constantly iuto the wire, and thus keep it what is termed " permanently charged "by " current equilibrium." By this means either vessel will, it is expected, be able to ascertain at any time if the wire is receiving a current from the other without waiting for a definite signal. When d i wire is completely established the current to be employed will be thus produced by induction coils (Whitehouse's patent), which is said to have more than double that by voltaic power. — Home News, May 17. A Distinction and a Difference. — Jones has discovered the respective nature of a distinction and a difference. He says that " a little difference " frequently makes many enemies, while "a little distinction " attracts hosts of friends to the one on whom it is conferred.

Terrible 'Battle With a Wolf.— The Langu?docien relates the following act of courage on the part of a man named Coudreau, a farmer in the mountainous part of the department. The man had just retired to rest, when his daughter, who was still engaged about her household work, came to tell him that the geese in the^stable were making a very unusual noise. Coudreau, without stopping to dress himself, went immediately to the place, thinking that some thieves were there, when, to his surprise, the first thing he saw was an enormous wolf, which had effected an entrance into the stable, and had already killed one goose. On the door being opened, the animal attemped to rush out, but Coudreau seized it by the neck, threw it down, and held it fast, while, with a large stone which his daughter brought him, he beat out its brains. In the struggle Coudreau had his hands torn severely by the animal's teeth. The prefect, on hearing of the affair, sent Coudreau a pecuniary reward, over and above the sum to which he is legally entitled for killing a woU.

De. Bebnabd.— On Tuesday night (April 20th) Dr. Bernard was present at Wyld's Beading Rooms, Leieester-spaare. He was received with very warm congratulations, and made a speech on the occasion of his health being drunk. He said—" Gentlemen, I thank you for this demonstration. You do not drink my health, but the health of your own country ; you drink to liberty. But my mouth is shut until after my last trial ; I must not speak. Yet I muet express my gratitude to you and to the jury who tried me. I relied firmly o a the jury of Englishmen. I must speak no more. I thank you from my heart." This speech was received with cheers. Three cheers were then given for Mr. Edwin James, and three for the i jury. The scene was one of great excitement.