MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 397, 9 July 1859, Page 5

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

A return to the House of Lords shows that

the total number of recruits for India in England on the 9ih of, March amounted to 743— viz., 86 cavalry, 2&t ) Wantry, 143 for engineers, and 283 artillery. The total number recruited w for the Queen and the Company's forces in the last bix years amounted to 19,229, of wht>a^ 6G31 were raised last year, and 3917 in 1857."?' The high stewardship of the University of Oxford, rendered vacant by the death of the Earl of Devon, has been conferred by the Chancellor (the Earl of Derby) upon the Earl of Carnai yon, the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies. The metropolis was visited on March 30 by that unwelcome guest, a snowstorm ; and March, which came in like a lamb, and continued to behave with the proverbial mildness of that innocent little animal, goes out in the shape of a lion, and a white lion, too, his mane all icicles, his hide all snow. The Jamaica papers speak loudly of the excellence of allspice or pimento as a smoking material far superior lo tobacco. It is stated to be getting into general use on the island. The 58th regiment of infantry, after" an ab- - sence of several years on service in New Zealand, anived at Shorncliffe camp last week, where the regiment will be permanently stationed. Forty-nine vessels, with 1,100 hands, have • this season taken their departure for the Green- • land fisheries, touching at Orkney and Zetland to fill up their crews. A monument has to be erected in St. Paul's to the late Bishop of London, a sum of £1,200 being at the disposal of a committee for the purpose. The Rev. Dr. Cumming preached on Sunday afternoon at the Oratoire, Paris, when upwards " of 1,800 people were present. The widow of Admiral Bruges has just died, aged ninety, after raising a statue to her husband (who was blown up in his flag-ship L'Orient, at the battle of the Nile) at Uzer, on the Mediterranean. She leaves three millions of francs, mostly in charity. Upwards of 12,000 people, 22 mourningcoaches, and 75 private carriages, attended the funeral of Mr. O'Callaghan, a Roman Catholic clergyman at Liverpool, on Sunday last. The chief of a band of gipsies encamped near Indianapolis, offers the hand of his daughter, with a dower of 10,000 dollars, to any respect- • able man that will marry her. A despatch from St. Petersburg- states that ■ a new Three per Cent. Loan of £12,000,0Q0 sterling has been concluded with the house of Thomson, Bonar, and Co., at the price of 76. The military authorities have it •in contemplation to raise two additional companies of Jtoyal Eugineers, in consequence of the increasing number of skilled mechanics who have recently joined that branch of the service at head-quarters, Chatham. A gentleman of Exmouth, named Hayne, has recently died, leaving the Devon and Exeter Hospital a legacy of £15,000, and large sums to the Blind and Deaf and Dumb Institutions of Exeter. **' It is actually intended to present a testimonial to the man Hodgson, of Shipley, from , whose shop was purchased the arsenic used in the lozenges which poisoned so many people in Bradford some months ago. Sir William Armstrong's gun, after a succession of trials, has been removed from the gar- ' • ris6n to the Royal Arsenal, where it has- been* f carefully stored, with strict orders that no per~ '

aon, whether connected with the establishment or otherwiie, shall be allowed to view it without a special order for that purpose. A letter from the Sardinian Legation at Florence sa3 ; s that at'Forli, a town in the Romagna, a bloody contest had occurred between the people and the Swiss tioops. At Florence itself there is great excitement. The Tuscan Monitore of the 23rd suspends the little liberty of the press that was left, and re-establishes the censorship. Fifty-eight pilgrims have just left Paris for Jerusalem, under the superintendence of the Duke de Lorges. Galignani reports the suicide of a female servant near Rochelle, through vexation at her repeated accident in breaking crockery. A French gentleman, an amateur in chemistry, has discovered a new mode of making paper. It is simply by boiling slices of wood with a certain quantity of mineral and vegetable alkali. If we may rely on the statement of ihe inventor, who intends to practise his method on a large scale, he can produce, from fifty-four kilogrammes of slices of firewood and five kilogrammes of alkali, a ream of very large paper, as white as snow and as fine as silk. A Paris firm, Messrs . Gadillot and Co., who supplied the French army wilh tents during (he Crimean war, has received a large order for camping materiel. It is stated in a letter in the Nord, that four of the principal manufacturers of military clothing have just received, from the Minister of War, orders for 500,000 uniforms. On the anniversary of the birth-day of the Prince Imperial of France, their Majesties gave a sum of one hundred francs to each child born on the same day, and whose position may render such a gift needful. About 500 workmen of various departments ore now employed on board the Great Eastern, and it is confidently anticipated that she will be completed by August next. Military Preparations at Woolwich. — A large number of men were taken on on the 14th by the Royal Engineer Department in Woolwich Arseual for the purpose of erecting an additional building required for the manufacture of Sir W. Armstrong's rifled ordnance. The digging out the foundation was commenced, contiguous to the old Lancaster shell forge, which within the last fortnight has been thoroughly organized, and is now in full operation in casting and forging materials to carry out the speedy manufacture of this new branch of the service. The new building will be constructed two stories high, and will be one of the most prominent features in the arsenal. The rifled ordnance department thus established under the superintendence of Mr. John Anderson is being pushed forward with the utmost vigour, and a large number of smiths and experienced artificers and others are already on the books of the establishment. The new naval and marine hospital at Woolwich ia also rapidly progressing, and is now being roofed in. It forms, even in its present incomplete state, a handsome and conspicuous object as seen from the rivor. A number of influential gentlemen had an interview, upon the subject of the Honduras Interoceanic Railway, with Sir J. Pakington at the Admiralty on the 28th March. The deputation submitted the maps of the line and ports, prepared by Lieutenant-Colonel Stanton, R.E., the officer deputed by the Government to review the route ; the fact that it was in the most direct line between this country and Australia ; that the harbours, both on the Atlantic and Pacific, were spacious, accessible, and safe in all weathers ; that the Bay of Fonseca is upwards of 3000 miles nearer to Vancouver's Island than Valparaiso, 700 miles nearer than Panama to British Columbia, and in a healthy and well provided locality. It was stated that a substantial contractor had tendered to construct the railway for two millions and a half sterling, and pending its construction to put through a sufficient road for the carriage of the mails, at a moderate cost, within twelve months from the present time. This road would bring Great Britain within 18 days of the Pacific coast, and within about 40 days of Australia. The line Vies through the territories of a friendly state, a treaty between which and this country guarantees under all circumstances the safety of property and independence of this line of road. — Australian and New Zealand Gazette.

It is reported that a treaty has been concluded between Belgium and Holland for ,mutual defence in case of war breaking out. It is said to be agreed between the high contracting parties that in certain given eventualities a joint army of 120,000 men shall be set on foot, of which 80,000 are to be furnished by the King of the Belgians, and 40,000 by the King of Holland. f In consideration of this difference between' the military contingents, the King of Holland engages, at his own expense, to fit out a fleet, to be stationed in the Scheldt and the Meuse.

A lady has offered to contribute £8000 to endow a female sanitary professorship and women's hospital, for the education of lady practitioners in London. We understand that the arbitrators appointed to decide what amount of compensation should be given to Captain F. F. Gibbs for his services in connection with the formation of the Royal Mail New Zealand Steam Company, in the action of Gibbs v. Pearson and Coleman, which was referred by Chief Justice Coekburn, at the Guildhall sittings in December last, when a verdict was taken for the plaintiff, subject to a reference, have awarded to the plaintiff the sum of £891.

So much encouragement has been given to the Cape farmers by Colonel Apperly, of the Bengal army, that no fewer than 5105 horses have been shipped to India.

EXPLOSION OF GUNPOWDER MILLS, AND LOSS OF LIFE.

One of those terrible calamities which from

, time to time seem fated to occur in the hazari douß process of manufacturing gunpowder took 1 place on the morning of the 30th of March, at Messrs. Curtis and Harvey's works at llounslow. The lives of six persons were instantaneously sacrificed; a seventh sufferer has since been added to the list of casualties ; and a great many others have been more or less seriously injured. The Hounslow powder mills are the oldest establishment of the kind in England. The works are situated in the parish of Twickenham, upon a plot of ground measuring nearly 100 acres in extent, and the various buildings are constructed on the most approved principles for the prevention of accident, embankments and water-courses intersecting the land in every direction, and thick groves of trees being planted between the mills, for the purpose of checking concussion, in the event of accident occurring in any one of them. The works include charcoal, saltpetre, and brimStone mills, press-houses, corning or granulating mills, dusting-houses, and other departments necessary for the production of powder of rarious degrees of fineness. The explosion, though fatal in so many cases, was fortunately confined to a limited portion of the works, only one press-house and one coming-mill having been destroyed. Though none remain to tell the tale, it is confidently believed the presshouse exploded first, and that the concussion

from it fired the coming-mill. Not a vestige remains of either of these buildings. The massive machinery contained in both of them

has been scattered by the force of the explosion to a distance of several hundred yards in every direction. The trees which separated these buildings have been uprooted and their branches destroyed, and a solid earthern embankment, 12 feet high, which had been thrown up between them, is levelled with the ground. There were four poor fellows working in the press-house when the accident occurred. Here their occupation was less hazardous than in some other processes of the manufacture,

and it is not easy to divine what can have occasioned the disaster. All these men were blown to atoms, and of three others who were at work in the coming-mill only one survived in an insensible condition for a short time. The accident took place at a quarter to 11 o'clock. The concussion was distinctly felt throughout a circuit of at least four miles, and two loud reports, occurring almost simultaneously, had the effect of attracting to the spot several medical gentlemen of the neighbourhood. " Corning" is the most dangerous of all the operations connected with the manufacture of powder, and unusual precautions are, therefore, always taken to guard against accidents inside the building. In this case the danger came from the outside, and in a form not to be withstood by any safeguards. All around the site of the coming-house bears those awful marks of destruction which a heavy explosion of powder always leaves behind, and the traces of which even upon trees far distant, will remain for years to come. The massive machinery used in this building is bent and twisted like lead, and shattered into fragments in all directions; some of the round zinc rollers' which weigh nearly a ton, have been hurled into the plantations far away, and even on the tops of distant trees shattered pieces of wood still hang. Some of the iron shafts and ponderous wheels, wrenched away and crumpled up like tin-work, give awful evidence of the explosion, while the stumps of trees, which were forty and fifty yards away, and which are riven into burnt splinters, show how far the force and shock extended. There were only between 10 12 barrels of powder in this building. Fortunately, only a few minutes before the accident, the men whose duty it is from time to time to remove the barrels in the punts, had called at the coming-house and taken away some 12 barrels. Had this quantity been in the house in addition to what exploded, it is impossible to say what might not have been the consequences, as it would then most probably have spread from building to building t ll1 v nearly the whole works were in ruins.

Another fatal explosion of a powder-mill took place near Battle, Sussex, on the 13th of April. Much property was destroyed, and an unfortunate workman was literally blown to atoms. This is the third powder-mill which has blown up during the short space of one month.

LONDON WOOL SALES— ApriI 16, 1859,

The next colonial sales will commence on the 28th April, the arrivals to this date consisting 0f— 2600 bales Australian, 25,698 bales Port Philip, 3100 bales Van Diemen's Land. 10,718 bales Adelaide, 4996 bales Cape; total^ 47,112 bales; and which may probably be augmented to 75,000 bales.

The dulness observable since the close of last sales has continued, and scarcely any contracts have been made in our market. The few wools held in second hands could have been quitted at last sale rates, but except for certain descriptions much required for immediate consumption, buyers are indisposed to give any advance.

The dissolution of Parliament and serious aspect of political affairs abroad have thrown a gloom over our market, the effect of which will no doubt be felt at the ensuing sales. Buyers will be very cautious in all operations, and dealers will not purchase except at such a decline as will leave a margin for contingencies. Holders must not expect that the rates of February- March will be obtained in the face of some 150,000 bales being submitted in the course of the next four months ; and although discretion may be exercised by some, and the market relieved to a certain extent, still the probability of war — dear money and bad trade maj' be productive of such results that merchants will meet the market at the quotations — the aspect of the political horizon being such that with the present rates for wool of all descriptions there is a wide margin for a fall, and it behoves operators on the other side to be excessively cautious in their purchases. This remark, we regret is much needed ; the high prices paid in the colony will this year entail serious loss on many should only the present distrust continue ; if it is aggravated by war, serious, indeed, will be the Josses on the part of those who have been paying the same rates at Sydney and Port Philip as actually ranged at our July- August sales last year — if to this is added the charges, how can it be expected that there is any margin for profit ? — Home News.