ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 568, 11 January 1851, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

National Memorial to Sir Robert Peel. —The proposal to raise a national memorial to the late Sir Robert Peel now receives the organized support of a large portion of the political and social rank in the metropolis. The meeting held in Willis’s Rooms on Tuesday, over which the Earl of Aberdeen presided—the Duke of Wellington declining the chair on account of his serious “ indisposition of deafness”—was attended by Lord Hardinge, the Earl of Ripon, Lord Wharn- [ cliff e, the Earl of St. Germains, Earl BathSurst, Lord Ashburton, Lord Monteagle, Lord ■ Ashley, Lord Ebrington, and several other I noblemen; by Baron Brunnow, Sir James [Graham, Sir James Weir Hogg, the veneraIble Mr. Estcourt, former member for Oxford I University, Mr. Sidney Herbert, Admiral gßowles, and Mr. Wilson Patten, with many sother members of Parliament and persons of _ IT k • r 1 j guioiiuuiiOu. very uriei speeches were maue I by the chairman, the Duke of Wellington, |Lord Ashley, Lord Ashburton, Mr. Estcourt, |and Sir William Cotton. It was resolved gthat a committee be formed to collect subgscriptions, and to consider the best means of ■carrying out the object of the meeting.— Spectator, July 27. H ihe Building for the Industrial —The Daily News announces gthat the long deliberations as to the building Bto be erected for the Exhibition of 1851 have sheen terminated by a decision in favour of |Mr. Paxton’s design and estimate : —“Mr. gPaxton suggests a building chiefly of glass—jin fact, a huge but elegant glass house. The Bgreat feature in its erection is, that no stone, Shriek or mortar, will be necessary. All the proofing and upright sashes will be made by fitted together and glazed with ragpidity ; most of them being finished previous Jto being taken to the place, so that little else ■gwiH be required on the spot than to fit the fiBnished materials together. The whole of the ■structure will be supported on cast iron co■lumns, and the extensive roof will be sustained without the necessity for interior walls for purpose. If removed after the exhibition, H l " e rna terials may be sold far more advantajggeously than a structure filled In with bricks Mortar, and some ol the materials would M r ' n S full half the original outlay. Comete ventilation has been provided, by filling ■ n every third upright compartment with luff§l , carding, which would be made to open shut by machinery ; the whole of the asement will be filled in after the same manfi|5 r ’ Lie current of air may be modified by St I us , e coarse open canvass, which, by Bl hot weather, will render the

interior of the building much cooler than the 1 external atmosphere. In order to subdue I the intense light in a building covered with glass, it is proposed to cover all the south side of the upright parts, together with the whole of the roofs outside, with calico or canvass, tacked on the ridge rafters of the latter. This will allow a current of air to pass in the vallies under the calico; which will, if required, with the ventilators, keep the air of the house cooler than the externa! atmosphere. To give the roof a light and graceful appearance, it is to be on the ridge and furrow principle, and glazed with sheet glass. The ridge and valley rafters will be continued in uninterrupted line the whole length of the structure, and be supported by cast iron beams. These beams will have a hollow gutter formed in them to receive the rain water from the wooden valley rafters, which will be thence conveyed through the hollow columns to the drains. These drains will be formed of ample dimensions under the whole of the pathways throughout. The floors of the pathways to be laid with trellis-boards, three-eighths of an inch apart, on sleeper joists. This kind of flooring is both economical and can always be kept clean, dry, and pleasant to walk upon. The gallery floors are to be close boarded. No timber trees need be cut down, as the glass may fit up to the boles of the trees, leaving the lower branches under the glass during the exhibition ; but Mr. Paxton does not recommend this course, as, for the sum of £250, be would engage to remove and replace every living tree on the ground, except the large old elms opposite to Prince’s Gate. Only a few years ago, the erection of such a building as the one contemplated would have involved a fearful amount of expense ; but the rapid advance made in this country during the last forty years, both in the scientific construction of such buildings, and the cheap manufacture of glass, iron, &c., together with the amazing facilities in the preparation of sash-bars and other wood-work, render an erection of this description, in point of expense, quite on a level with those constructed of more substantial materials.”— Spectetor, July 20.

Termination of the Greek Dispute. —The Greek dispute is officially terminated. The con ention was signed on the loth, in the presence of the French minister, by the minister of Great Britain and King Otho’s minister for foreign affairs. It now turns out that the whole loss incurred by the Greek shipping during the war is only valued at £5OOO.

Large Fire at St. Petersburgh.— Accounts have been received from St. Petersburgh to the 17th. They happily allay the apprehension created by the news received by the last marl of a fire having broken out, which was left burning in a dangerous quarter. On the morning of the 16th, between eight and nine o’clock, the large tannery next below Cazalet’s premises, on the north side of the river, and opposite to the Tallow Whaif, which is on the south side of the river, took fire, and in harf an hour the v hole range of buildings down to the point opposite to Goutoyeff Island was in a blaze. Shortly after, moreover, the Brimstone Wharf, in that island, took fire. A great part of the brimstone, being in casks, was rolled away and saved ; but seven or eight tanneries, and all the houses fur the extent of three-quarters of au English mile along the river below Cazelet’s, were completely destroyed, with the wooden wharfs and property to a large amount, mostly uninsured. Had the wind been north, the Tallow Wharf and the adjoining government wharfs would probably have gone, Atlas, 27th July.

Destructive and Fatal Fire at Cracow. On the 18th instant a dreadful fire occurred at Cracow, by which a great part of the city was wasted and the Archbishop’s Palace and other buildings were destroyed. Our latest accounts say, “ The conflagration which has just occurred here destroyed 300 houses, the Dominican and Franciscan convents, the churches of St. Barbara and St. Joseph, the Episcopal Palace, the Polytechnic School, and several other public buildings. Seven streets have been burnt down. The fire was evidently -the work of a band of incendiaries, who set fire to different quarters of the city at the same time ; some of them were taken in the act. The citizens immediately requested that martial law might be proclaimed, so that if any person was caught in the act he might be shot at once. This was refused, but a court martial was formed and the persons so convicted brought before it immediately. The city was in great alarm, all the troops were called out and the burghers, under arms, patrolling the streets. Everything was quiet in the Jews’ quarters.”— Liverpool Albion, 29th July. Fatal Fire at Philadelphia.—■ An alarming fire occurred at Philadelphia, on the 9th instant, in the store 78, North Delaware Avenue. The flames spread far and wide, carrying destruction in all directions. What added to the mournful catastrophe was, that

explosion after explosion of saltpetre took place, which caused the instant death of some individuals, while the rush for life terrific, and in the anxiety and confusion to escape danger, numbers were thrown down and trampled upon, who suffered the most serious injuries. No less than 400 houses were destroyed, and the property lost was estimated at 1,000,000 dollars.'— Leeds Mercury, 27th July.

Submarine Telegraph.—We understand the interesting experiment of conveying messages by a submarine telegraph from Dover to Calais will take place in the course of ten days or a fortnight. A company, consisting chiefly of shareholders, has been taken up, and the entire length of the wire is completed, and in a condition to be laid down. House’s telegraph, which has been in successful operation between New York and Philadelphia, is the one that is to be used ; and should the experiment succeed, the public may shortly be gratified by the sight of printed communications transmitted from shore to shore at the rate of mote than 100 letters per minute. — Times.

Robbery of Three Thousand Pounds’ Worth of Gold Dust.—At the Thames Police Office, B. Vanderhoot, a Dutchman, formerly steward of the Batavia, Rotterdam steamer; —Fitztonness, a German touter ; Margaret Hermann, a German ; and C. Hermann, were charged with stealing gold dust and lumps of gold, to the amount of £3,000. lately brought from California. It appeared that two foreigners, named G. Sutta, an Italian, and U. P. Caliana, a Frenchman, arrived from California a few days ago, with gold worth £3,000. and hired apartments at Mrs. Wernech’s, in Little Ailie-street, Whitechapel, where all the prisoners were engaged as servants. The owners of the gold dust went to Vauxhall on Monday night, and during their absence their rooms were broken into by Vanderhoot, and a German named Christian, who is still at large, and the gold abstracted. On Tuesday night Police-ser-geants Foay, Macintosh, and Gifford, repaired to a German lodging-house, No. 45, Burr-stieet, at the back of the St. Katherine's Docks, where they found Vanderhoot concealed, and took him into custody, when he dropped on the floor a few lumps of gold, part of the stolen property, and equal in weight to 200 sovereigns. It was produced, and the sight of the Californian gold produc’ed quite a sensation in court. Mr. Yardley I remanded the prisoners for a week.— Atlas, July 27. Railway Accident. —At the South Western Railway, on Sunday, two excursion trains left the Waterloo terminus at eight, each having upwards of 1,000 persons. The engine of the first became deranged, and, while proceeding at a very low speed, was overtaken and run into by the second train. The shock threw off one of the passengers, (a young man), imprudently seated on the edge of an open carriage; he fell between the carriages, and his head was crushed to pieces. One of the passengers who proceeded with the first down-train says, when near Basingstoke, on the top ol a high embankment, he saw the guard of his train beckon the driver

of the second tram to push them up «s before. He obeyed the signal with a ven*, geauce I From the speed at which the last i ttain was coming, a collision was inevitable, and, though prepared for a shock, they were ■ all thrown violently from their seats. Three persons in all were tbrowu out of the train, one of whom had his head cut off! The line was strewn with the hats of»the passengers. The train was delayed for three hours, arriving at Southampton after two instead of after eleven.— Atlas, July 27. Serious Accident to- an Emigrant Ship.—On Wednesday a most disasttous and somewhat extraordinary accident occurred to the New Y r ork emigrant ship Hemisphere, by which three men lost their lives, and others were placed in a precarious condition. . The vessel, which was commanded by Captain Whittelseye, left Liverpool last week, bound for New York, and on Tuesday, when off Holyhead, about half-way across the channel, encountered a gale of wind from the west-south-west. On Wednesday the weather still continued boisterous, and the men were ordered aloft to reef topsails. While they were thus engaged the ship gave a tremendous lurch to leeward, and the three masts were at once carried awa>. Il is stated that there were eighteen of the crew aloft at the time, and four were pitched info’the sea, one of them not to rise again, while the others were thrown with great violence on the deck. Of the latter, two, named William Gibbs and George Rethell, were killed on the spot, and others sustained serious injury. Among those injured was a sailor, twenty-four years of age, named William Blair, who had his right arm broken, so that it only hung by a small portion of the skin. After this dreadful catastrophe the remainder of the crew got up what head-sail they could and put the ship round ; and, although it was some time be-

fore they met with assistance, they ultimately fell in with the steamer Queen, by which they were towed to the Mersey on Thursday afternoon, and subsequently into Nelson Dock.— Weekly Times, July 14. Fearful Accident at Frankfort. —A dreadful accident has just taken place at Frankfort. A new and magnificent building lately erected in the suburb of Sachsenhausen, devoted to public amusements, and known no doubt, to many as the Felsenkeller, or cellar in the rock,, fell in with a terrific crash. Sixteen persons were known to be buried in the ruins. How many more have met an untimely end is not yet ascertained, — Leeds Mercury, July 27. Cheap Railway Trains in France.— The cheap railway trains to Dieppe, Havre, Dunkerque, and other parts of the coast, are creating quite a sensation. On Sundays, the days on which the trips are made, Paris is almost deserted. The restaurants and cafes, which used to get the greater part of their week’s receipts on the Sabbath, are in despair—they present a desolate appearance which is really painful to witness. These cheap trains to the coast (5 francs to Dieppe and back !) are, it is believed, the beginning of a complete revolution in railway travelling. There is also a talk of trains to Brussels and back for 10 francs, to Antwerp and back for 15 francs, to Vienna and back for 20 francs! —Atlas, July 20. Exhibition of Industry.—The Exhibition of Industry, as far as it has gone, shows the following results: —The industry of complaining, and the industry of finding fault, and the industry of making mistakes, but with very little industry to repair them. There has also been a wonderful industry in collecting money, but a shameful lack of industry on the part of those who have the means to pay, and ought to pay, but somehow will not pay.— Punch.