FROM ENGLISH PAPERS OF 16TH NOVEMBER.

Colonist, Issue 31, 5 February 1858, Page 4

FROM ENGLISH PAPERS OF 16TH NOVEMBER.

THE UNITED KINGDOM.

The same vessel which was. formerly engaged in laying down the submarine cable between Erance and England recently departed from Liverpool with the cable intended to connect Sardinia with Malta and Corfu, and thereby to bring England into closer telegraphic communication with India. The ship takes out nearly 1000 miles of cable, and an English commission charged with executing the projact. The greatest depth to be encountered between Sardinia, Malta, and Corfu is one mile, the average being a dead level of hot more than half a mile, and the physical configuration of the bottom being free from rocks and other obstructions.

A petition from ail inmate of the City of London alms-houses caused a good deal of merriment at a recent Court of Common Council. The petitioner prayed that the honorable court would permit him to marry a nurse by whom he had been constantly attended for some years. He appeared at the bar in person—a well-dressed, goodlooking old gentlemen, with snow-white locks and whiskers, and whose only infirmity seemed a slight deafness. His own age was 78, and that of the lady to whom he proposed to unite himself, 69. The petition was at once unanimously granted amidst roars of laughter. < The recent tempestuous weather and the immense fall of rain on Oct. 22 caused much damage and inconvenience, with a sad loss of life. There were many wrecks on the eastern coast, especially off the shores of Norfolk. Bound London the water-courses were insufficient to carry off the water which so rapidly accumulated, and railways, roads, and fields were flooded. Traffic was suspended for a time on the Eastern Counties main line, and on the Hertford and North Woolwich branches—on the later for several days.. Essex suffered much; Lee Marshes were converted into a vast lake. Near Burnham a firmer was carried away by a torrent and drowned. Ablacksmith perished in a similar way near Hertford. In parts of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, inundations caused some inconvenience and damage, but nothing very serious. An inquest has been held on the body of William Hodkins who was recently killed in a pugilistic encounter. It was stated in' the course of the evidence that laudanum1 had been given to deceased during the contest^ and that the "second," who was said to have been seen administering the narcotic, had absconded, and a warrant was out for hisapprehension. A professor of chemistry said he had analysed the contents of deceased's stomach, and found: a small, quantity of opium therein, but not sufficient to produce fatal consequences. The coroner haying summed up, thejury returned a verdict of " Death by misadventure." Dr. Daubeny has read a final report on the vitality of seeds, summing up the results of experiments carried on for 17 years. These contradict the popular notion that seeds possess an unlimited vitality. The experiments were started with a given' number of seeds, and continued with them year after year; and as all except four lost their vitality, he considers the trial at an end. " The greater number of seeds," he says, "lose their vitality at eight years, and 43 years is the longest period to which they retain it." The statements concerning the growth of seeds found in mummies he holds as not supported by satisfactory evidenced..:,. Sir John Lubbock has recently called" attention to a reconnoitring telescope which he has invented for enabling people to see round a corner. Referring to the recent death of Captain Fagan of the Artillery, he says, "if that officer had been provided with my little Instrument, at the cost of a few shillings, the army, before Delhi would not have suffered this severe loss."

Those unwrought materials for a Biographia Britannica—the wills in Doctors' Commons—are about to be removed to Somerset House, to > more accessible, and for the first time to fireproof, quarters. An application is to be renewed for permission to make a facsimile of the never as yet cor-rectly-printed document, Shakspeare's will. In the year 1845 an application was made by the Shakspeare Society for permission to allow Mr. Netherclift to make-a facsimile copy of that document, but the request was rffused on the written plea of Sir Herbert Jenner-Fust, " that a facsimile copy could not be made without considerable risk of damage to the original." ■ Mr. Lemon, a town councillor of Bath, has been struck with death while kneeling at a prayer-meeting. He was observed not to rise when others were about to sing a hymn; he appears to have died from disease of the heart.

The picture newly purchased at Venice for the nations-Paul Veronese's " Faaiily of Darius at the feet of Alexander after the battle; of Issus"—was,- with several other recent acquisitions, chiefly of the Tuscan school, exhibited to the public at the National Gallery, in Trafalgar-square, on its re-opening. Among the resolutions passed by the British Association at their late meeting, one commends itself to general attention — namely, that Government "should be requested to send out an exploring expedition to that great river in Eastern ■ Africa, the Zambesi. And on the western coast, geographers and merchants have been for some time agreed that an annual expedition should be sent to the Niger. The one for this year, under Dr. jßaikie and Lieutenant Clover, was heard of a few weeks since. The party had left Brass River for the Niger, with 50 Kroomen and 25 natives of the river banks, and used to the climate. A botanist is with them, and they have the means of instituting scientific inquiries. Mr. Macgregor Laird is making arrangements to run several steamers periodically to trading-ports on the coast and up the river; and "as by his contract with the Admiralty he is bound to convey deck-pas-sengers to the negro race who can read and write English, from Fernando Po. to all parts below Ihe Niger arid Chadda; it is hoped anew element of civilisation will be introduced into the interior by the return of liberated Africans to their native country in considerable numbers." Dr. Livingston is of opinion that the rivers of Africa will be crowded with vessels before 50 years are over. Another item from the tropics is, that a scientific party has set out from Demarara, to ascend the river, and explore for gold in the mountains of the interior. Proof has been given that gold exists there indeed, that it is the Dorado which Raleigh meant to discover.

A railway "accident" has occurred at Mottram viaduct near Manchester. A signalman failed to give notice to a fast-train to slaken speed in passing a new crossing; the train swept on at 36 miles an hour and four carriages got off the rails, two striking against a parapet. Happily no person was hurt.

On the 6th of November a dreadful accident occurred at the Oloddfar Quarries about nine miles from Caernarvon. Owing to an accident to the piston-rod of the engine the men had left off work^ and 14 of them were talking together at the bottom of the pit, when a cry of danger was raised and they rushed towards the cabin constructed for refuge in such cases; but before they could reach it a huge rock, which had been gradually dislodged from, the mouth of the quarry, by the rains, ■ fell, breaking into pieces by collision with the sides of the quarry, and killed three of the men on the spot. A fourth died in a few minutes; a fifth as he.was being carried home; and a sixth within eight hours. Several others were much injured. On the legs of one poor fellow was a fragment of stone so heavy that it had to be lifted by a steam-engine before Jie could be extricated., Mr. Andrew Buist, factor for Sir Archibald Islay Campbell, of Sueeoth, has1 absconded, leaving a deficit in his employer's cash to the amount of fully £3000. Since his appointment to this situation some three or four years ago, Buist lived on Sir Archibald's estate of Garscube, anid was understood to be of rather a sporting turn._ There was shot lately in the neighbourhood of Inverness a wood pigeon, in which: was found the enormous quantity of 1100 grains of wheat, barley, and oats, together with 40 grains of peas; the barley' grains predominating. For some time 1428 joiners have been' out on strike in Glasgow. It is understood that the masters proposed to make a reduc-j tipn in the pay of their men, which occasioned! the strike. The masters... have agreed to; something like a compromise, arid intend, to offer only -|d less than the men contend for. It is to be hoped that the operatives will accept this half-way meeting and resume; their work. : : ,

A royal commission, appointed to inquire into the question of a union between the colleges and universities of New and Old Aberdeen, has.just concluded its labours in those cities. The commission sat for a weekj and examined a selection of witnesses from the public, the church, and the professors of the universities. - The feeling seemed to be very generally in favour of a union of the universities, but not of the colleges, in so far <as the faculties of arts are concerned, but fora fusion of the other"chairs!.

: Mr. Steell's statue of the late Lord Melville was recently placed on its pedestal in Melville-street, Edinburgh. The statue, which is in bronze, and measures nearly' 12 feet in height, is the result of a subscription raised-by the many friends and "admirers of the late peer, rand it will, including the preparation of the site and the pedestal, cost in air about £20QO. It is designed to commemorate Lord Melville's exertions in all measures connected with the county, and his general worth and- amenity as a country gentleman, rather than as a public man in any more extended sphere.

The Fifeshire Trafalgar Agricultural jSociety, at its annual meeting, came to some resolutions on the subject of a road-reform, a subject now greatly discussed in Scotland. (They unanimously resolved that tolls ought to be abolished, and an equitable assessment made to keep them in repair; and, iby 26 to 2, that a tax upon lands and heritages in the county, and a tax on rental houses in towns would be an equitable mode of raising a road-fund.

The spacious premises of Mr. Dodd, hotelkeeper, FleetwOod, fours storeys in height, have been destroyed by fire. The destruction of property was very great, and nothing of the. building was left standing but the bare walls. .The wines in the cellars were nearly all spoiled or lost. Mr. Dodd had a sum of £800 in c gold, and £300 in cheques on his banker, deposited in a room over the bar. After the flames had been subdued, the igold was found on a

piece of the room flooring that had not been destroyed, fused into a large lump. The cheques were destroyed but are recoverable. The building was the property of Mr. Dodd, and it,' as well as the rest of the property, was insured. The total loss, we understand, will amount to between and £3000. The origin of the fire is not known.

The working men composing the committee for the erection of the Crimean monument at Sheffield have intimated to Miss Florence Nightingale their intention to present to her a set of table cutlery, manufactured expressly by themselves. This handsome present is contained in a'case of polished oak, bound with silver, on the top of which there is an ornamental device inlaid in silver, and a centrepiece of gold; on which is etched a representation of the Good Samaritan, encircled by the appropriate words, " Inasjnuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." At one end of the silver device there is an engraving of a dove with the olive branch, and at the other a representation of the pelican feeding her young. From an official tabular statement of the occupation of recruits passed in 1855-6, it appears that 27,989 were husbandmen, labourers, and servants; 20,079 of mechanical trades; 4223 shopmen and clerks; 79 of professional occupations, as students or licentiates of law, medicine,' or divinity; and 2161 boys—in all 52,586.