ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.

Otago Witness, Issue 137, 31 December 1853, Page 3

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.

Her Majesty left Kingstown, Dublin, on the 3rd Sept. and arrived in Edinburgh on the sth, via Holyhead, and left Holyrood Palace for Balmoral on the 6th. It is believed that, should the rumour of an agreement between England and Spain prove correct, of which there is thought to be little doubt, Geneial Pierces administration will take up strong ground in opposition to the scheme, which, it is thought, would, if carried out, throw the southern portion of the Union into anarchy and confusion. A new branch of business has been commenced between Borneo and Australia, a cargo of Labuan coals having been recently shipped from Singapore for Melbourne. The 74th Highlanders, at the Cape, it is said, have lost a great number of their men by desertion. The latest intelligence from South Africa is of a peaceful character. About 6,000 tons of shipping were loading in Table Bay for Australian colonies. The Kat River Hottentots are | suffering great privation. / Letters from San Juan del Sud, Central I America, announce the discovery of immense gold fields near that port. This has caused great excitement, and tales of 1,000 dollars being made by each man per day are current. At St. Thomas, on 3rd August, news was received of an insurrection among the negroes at Tortola. Several were killed, and the town was burnt. The whites were all flying. The j Danish Government had sent soldiers to aid them. A terrific fire had taken place in Perm Van, in the State of New York, on the 23rd Aug.,whereby property valued at 200,000 flols. was consumed ; and also another in Pearl Street, 1 New York, occasioning a loss of nearly half a I million dollars. The accounts from America state, that from the Ist to the 21st of Aug., 3G05 persons have died from yellow fever, and which was both increasing in virulence and extent. Nearly 200 persons have died in New York I and neighbourhood from the effects of the heat, i the temperature having risen to 102. The victims were principally Irish, with a sprinkling of Scotch and English. In San Francisco the journeymen carpenters have demanded and obtained 8 dols. per day, and the caulkers 10 dols. The San Francisco correspondent of the " New York Journal of Commerce" says : — Our city has become a City of Churches, and the Sabbath-day regarded almost universally as a day of rest. Respecting the Cnlifornian diggings, the accounts from the mining regions continue to be cheering. Accounts from the agricultural sections represent that the wheat crop will be much shorter than was expected. The crops in Texas were in a flourishing condition.