Untitled

Colonist, Issue 26, 19 January 1858, Page 2

At nine o'clock on the morning of the sth of October Lord Fitzwilliam died, at Wentworth House. The whole of the family, except Sir James M'Kenzie and the Lady Anne M'Kenzie were present. The Hamburgh correspondent of the Times learns from St. Petersburg that a Russian line-of-battle ship (the La Fonte) foundered in the Gulf of Finland during a violent storm, between the 21st and 23rd Sept. She had a crew of upwards of 1000 souls, and of whom about 150 were family men. The dangerous situation of the vessel was apparent to the crews of several large ships of war, but they could not render any assistance. A new corps, to be designated the Army Hospital Corps, is about to be formed under a warrant from the Horse Guards already issued. It is to be composed of soldiers of the line, sergeant-majors, colour-sergeants, whose pay according to rank, will be 45., 35., 25., and Is. per day, irrespective of rations and messing, which are to be supplied free of charge when organised. It is expected the present medical staff' corps will be broken up. The Dublin correspondent of the Times, writzing on the Ist of October, says:—The Cork papers received this morning state that oh Tuesday a strong gale blew from the southward, and towards evening rain fell in torrents, and so continued during the greater part of the night; Towards the west the ram must have: begurroearlier, as on Wednesday morning the river was swollen to a huge extent, and was rushing through the town with the rapidity of a torrent, bearing evidences of its rage in broken trees, spars, and other wreck. Up along the banks of the river we understand very serious damage has been done. Stacks of hay from the meadows and of corn from the stubble-fields have been carried off by the flow of the water, and in many places the surface has been materially injured. At Bandon there was a serious inundation, by which a great deal of damage to property has been done. The flood did not take place in the main river, which runs through the town, but in a small branch called the Shanagool, which overflowed its banks this morning, burst open a small bridge by which it is spanned, and rushed down through the South Main-street with such force that several shopfronts in that locality were torn away. A large and enthusiastic meeting, mainly of Irishmen, assembled at Stuyvesant Institute, in the city of New York, to express opposition to British enlistment in the United States for the war in India, and sympathy the Sepoy mutiny. Some very strong resolutions and an address to the working classes of Great Britain were adopted, and speeches were made by Colonel Doheny, Oliver Byrne, and others. Mr. John Mitchel, formerly editor of the United Irishmen, at Dublin, having been alluded to as one who should have been present, writes to the New York Herald saying :-r-" 1 deem it needless and superfluous to go to any meeting in order to prove that I sympathise with Sepoys, Russians, Persians, Chinese, or any other enemies of the British government."

A pew days ago, the crew of a fishing boat picked up at sea a scrap of paper, firmly corked in a bottle, having the following written upon it in pencil:—" On board ye brig Ellen, of Whitby, 7th November, 1749, longitude 3.40, latitude 56; blowing a hurricane; lying to, with close-reefed maintopsail; ship waterlogged, cargo wood, from Quebec; no water on board; provisions all gone; eat the dog yesterday; three men on board. Lord have mercy on our souls.' Amen. Thomas Jackson, chief mate." '

Gigantic Insect.—We were shown on Tuesday, by Mr. Shepherd, of the Rooky River store, West Maitlaud, a very fine specimen of the gigantic Australian Lady or Native Lady, of much the*same gene- • ral' shape and make as the common mantis of the gardens, but of very large size. It measured eight iuchesin length, the longest of its 6ix legs measured four inches, and its body, at the thickest part, was two inches round. The general colour was of a yellowish green, but there were bands and bars of white and other colours in places, and under the very fine gauze wings was a beautiful ciimson pink stripe, shading off into the peculiar colour, or no colour, of gause. The wings measured several inches in breadth each, and open and shut like fans. The insect was apparently shamming death, a very common custom with that species when looked at or handled, but was evidently capable of vigorous motion if it chose. It had been somewhat injured, however, in capture or carriage. It was found at Bolwarra on Tuesday. Very few indeed of the old colonists to whom we showed it had seen a specimen before, but one told us he had seen a few specimens (in nearly thirty years residence) at long intervals apart, and that they were always looked on as great curiosities, from the rarity and size. This part of the country would afford a rare treat to an etomological collector this season. In some fourteen years' residence we have never seen so many novel species of insects (to us) as since the great floods of July and August. Whether the flood deposits have had anything to do with more widely distributing rare insects, or bringing them to life, we do not know.; — Maitland Mercury. Fire.—About daybreak on Thursday morning a fire broke out in the yard of Mr. John Williams, cooper, of New Pitt-street, and in a short time consumed nearly the whole of the sheds, and a large quantity of the timber which had been piled in stacks about the premises. Mr. Williams, who was uninsured, is a sufferer to the extent of 1300 Z. Mr. Wynne, who occupies the adjoining property, loses by the fire about 400Z.—a large quantity of slate, cement, plate-glass, nails, and other articles belonging to him having been either completely destroyed or rendered unserviceable.— Sydney paper, December 26.