ARRIVAL OF THE S.S. RANGITOTO WITH THE APRIL ENGLISH MAIL

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 518, 17 June 1869, Page 2

ARRIVAL OF THE S.S. RANGITOTO WITH THE APRIL ENGLISH MAIL

NEWS TO MAY 14. (BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

(PEOil OXTE OWJf CORESPONDENT.) Wellington, June 16. The s.s. Eangitoto arrived here this evening, bringing the English mail. She left Melbourne on the Bth of June, and arrived off Hokitika on Tuesday, but was unable to communicats with the shore. The English mail, per steamer Malta, arrived at Adelaide at noon on Saturday, June sth.

Loxdon, Api il 23. The Queen was at Osborne in the early part of the month, but Her Majesty has since returned to London, and has held a drawing-room at Buckingham Palace. She also visited Bartholomew Hospital, accompanied by the Princess Louise. During the autumn Her Majesty purposes spending two months in Ireland. Prince Leopold's continued illness causes anxiety. The Prince of Wales was present at an English cricket-match in Constantinople. An official dinner was given at the British Embassy, and His Royal Highness visited the Grand Vizier and lunched at his residence. The Sultan presented the Princess with a portion, set in diamonds, of the value of £SO,OOO. The consideration of the Irish Church Bill proceeds in Committee of the House of Commons. The second reading of a Bill legalising marriage with a deceased wife's sister was carried by a majority of ninety-nine. Mr Gladstone announces that friendly negotiations are going on with Russia respecting Central Asia. Australian preserved meats are rising in public favor. The stocks are exhausted; enormous orders have been booked; and the demand is spreading in the provincial towns. Australian banks are accused in the Times of departing from bankiug principles in their wool transactions. A meeting of mercantile firms has signed a protest against their practice. At a meeting of the Colonial Society Westgrath read a paper on the relation of the Colonies to the mother country. A warm discussion followed in which the Marquis Normanby, Sir A. Benison, and Lord Alfred Churchhill took part. Mr Verdon has been elected a member of the Institute of L Civil Engineers.

The emigration movement is proceeding vigorously. 327 artizans and families from East London left on the 13th of April for Canada. After a public breakfast at the Midland Station on the 20th of April, 450 discharged dock-yard workmen sailed from Portsmouth, the Government granting free passages. Meetings have been held in the metropolis to agitate for Government aid towards emigration. The Government promised to give any necessary assistance.

Three thousand five hundred pounds have been placed on the Estimates for presents made by the Duke of Edinburgh while in Australia. Archbishop Manning declines to allow petitions praying for the release of Fenian conviets to be placed at the doors of Catholic Churches for signature. Mr Dickens was entertained at a grand banquet in Liverpool on the completion of his readings. Seven hundred ladies and gentlemen were present. The boat race on the Tync between Taylor and Cooper, for £IOO, was won by the latter. Justice Wylde has been raised to the Peerage with the title of Baron Penzance. The Earl of Stalier has been appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. A scheme has been started to cut a caual from Dublin to Galway, a distance of about a hundred miles. The petition agn.inst the "West Biding election has been abandoned. North Allerton election is confirmed. The Hastings election petition is dismissed, and the South Durham petition has been withdrawn. Mr Eeverdy Johnston has visited Newcastle-on-Tyne, and repeated that a declaration of war between England and America is impossible. The Preston strike continues. Several towns in Lancashire have agreed to adopt street tramways. The manufacture of the French Atlantic Cable is rapidly approaching completion. Traffic has been opened on the viaduct over the Mersey at Runcorn. Express trains run between London and Liverpool in four hours. A flying squadron may be expected to visit Melbourne and Sydney at the close of the year, and New Zealand in January. The working men of Lancashire have resolved to raise £SOOO for the widow and family of Ernest Jones.

Mr Lowe has disapproved of the Bite of the new Law Courts and recommends a site south of the Strand, facing the river. Discussion on the subject has been postponed for a month. Frauds by Benjamin Haggs, bookkeeper to the Great Central Gas Company have been discovered. It is thought that £150,000 will hardly cover his defalcations. On £IOO a year, Haggs had lived ia a style indicating the receipt of as many | thousands. A colliery catastrophe, causing the deaths of thirty-six persons, occurred in Early mine, South Lancashire. Obituary.—Lord Cloncurry, Earl Fingall, Countess of MemiuKton, Admiral Mansel, The Rev. B. Walsh, Archdeacon Mant, Mr Druce, Q. O, Mr Charles Hoare, the brewer, and members of the three most eminent publishing firms:—Mr Thomas Brown, of Longmans & Co., Mr Bradbury, of Bradbury & Evans, and Mr James Harper, of Harper Brothers, New York.

COMMERCIAL. Bank discount 3 to 4 per cent. Bills are now sent to Paris, where they are done at 2*, owing to the greater abundance of money. Tie reserve in the Bank of England was seriously reduced, owing to the drain of gold to America. Exchange has since improved, and money is again plentiful in the market. Speculations in freight and stocks have cheeked the home trade. Failures have been numerous in the cotton and woollen districts. Australian securities are dull. Two Ballarat gold-mining companies and a New Zealand quartz-crushing companj' have bien introduced on the London market. The Colonial wool trade is quiet. The next public sales commence on May 6. The receipts of Australian wool for the first two months of this year have been 1,900,0001b5, compared with 1,010,0001 bs. The arrivals to date are 179,990, and the expected total of Colonial js 240,000 bales. The value of exports to Victoria has been iMIS,SG9, showing a decrease of £83,664. To Sydney to the value of £239,844, being a decrease of £84,440. The Vormit left Rotterdam on the 11th April with 2550 red eases of geneva for Melbourne, and 0.525 red cases for Sydney. The Helen and Henrietta, for South Australia, are both loading at Rotterdam, and sail in the end of May. SPAIN. The Spanish Cortes proposes a hereditary monarchy, a legislature consisting of a Senate and Congress, and ministerial responsibility, with religious freedom. Bon Ferdinand has refused the Crown. ITALY. The fiftieth year of the Pope's entry into the priest-hood was celebrated on the 11th of April. A Mazzinian conspiracy has been discovered at Milan. Six arrests were made. The Ministry has resigned, and General Menebrea is forming a new cabinet. OBiTUAnr. Prince Menschikoif, Sir Arthur Biller. PORTUGAL. There has been a military outbreak at Lisbon, and another at Oporto was threatened. AMERICA. The House of Representatives has passed General Butler's Bill authorising the President to submit to voters in Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, the constitution framed by those States, when duly ratified. Extensive fires have taken place in the shafts of three silver mines in Nevada whereby the lives of thirty miners have been lost.

Eight steamers carrying an armament of seventy-seven guns have been ordered to reinforce tho West Indian squadron.

The Senate have rejectccFthe Alabama claims. President Grant's nomination of Mr Motley as Minister to England has been ratified. The naturalization treaty Avith Great Britain lias been rejected. INDIA. Lady Mayo intends giving a Queen's Plate of 1000 rupees 'to be run for at the next race-meeting. Instructions have been issued for the construction of Snider ammunition in each Presidency. The barque Atlanta, which, left Bombay for Bushire, foundered outside the former port. Tbe captain and thirty men and women were drowned. Thirtythree persons were saved. CHINA. A rumour is prevalent of news having been received of hi»h Chinese officials at Pekin having insulted the French ambassador, for which his Excellency had hauled down his fla^. Issing Krosfin, it is said, has recently advised Prince Kung to fight the English, and to have no more treaties.

LATEST TELEGRAMS. Loxdojt, May 12. G-alle, May 18. The Irish Church Bill has passed through Committee without material alteration. Several hostile amendments were proposed, but the majority

in favor of the Bill increased on every | division. There has been an animated debate in the House of Lords on the Irish Church Land Bill, introduced by the Marquis of Clanricarde. Earl Granville defended the neutral attitude taken up by the Government. The Bill was postponed till the 15th of June. The Government has heen questioned relative to recent agrarian outrages in Ireland. Lord Stanley blamed the Government for releasing Fenians. Earl Russell's Life Peerage Bill has been read twice without a division. The appointment of Mr Ot*vay as Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs has been confirmed. There has been a seizure .of au American vessel by a Spaniard in British waters. A Bill disqualifying the Mayor of Cork has been read a first time. Disraeli made an animated attack on the Government. Hardy and other Conservatives supported the measure. In the House of Lords, Lord Cairns attacked Mr Bright's speech on the Irish Land question. Earl Granville explained that Mr Bright had merely expressed his individual views. The Prince and Princess of AYales visited Athens, after being entertained most magnificently by the Saltan. Their Royal Highnesses have since arrived at Turin. Sir Roderick Murchison contradicts a report of the arrival of Dr Livingston. Maharajah Dhuleep Singli has presided at a meeting to promote Christian missions in Egypt. A collision has occurred bttweeu Protestant and Roman Catholics in Londonderry. Two men were killed. At Athlone serious outrages have taken place. In Tipperary, Mr Bradshaw, a magistrate, has been shot, and Capt. Tarlerston has been shot dead. Frequent robberies under arms have occurred in Cork. Admiral Milne succeeds to the command of the Mediterranean fleet. Uneasiness is felt inconsequence of speeches in the American Senate on the Alabama claims. Emigration from "Woolwich to Canada, consisting chiefly of dock laborers, continues. Pretender is the winner of tho Two Thousand Guineas, and Scottish Queen of the Thousand Guinea Stakes. Knight Garter won the Chester Cup. Tho American National Debt was increased six and a quarter millions in April. A commission has been appointed to prepare a basis for an amicable solution of tho Franco-Belgian question. M. De la Valette has delivered a speech intimating that the French corps would only leave Rome on the security of tho Pope being guaranteed. It is reported that the Duko ol Costa will accept tho Crown of Spain, which has been offered to him. Carlist and Queeu Isabella bauds have been disquieting tho South ol Spaiu. It is understood that France will respect whatever form of Government is established. In Cuba the insurgents are surrendering. Tke Cortes have voted in favor ol articles of constitution relative to religious liberty by a large majority. Spain has intimated that she is noi unmindful of tho importance oi the cession of Gibraltar, but before negotiations commence it will be necessary for tho nation to be strongl} constituted, so as to take rank amongst the Great Powers. SPECIAL TELEGRAM. May 14. Galle, May IS. Serious disturbances occurred in Paris during the electoral meetings. Emilo Oliver delivered inflammatory speeches, and there was a sanguinary collision in the streets, in which 3GB were killed and wounded. 500 arrests were made.

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS

Melbotone, June 8. Mr Vale, ex-ML.A., was entertained at a banquet at Ballarat last night; and, along with Mrs Vale, received a presentation. Grant refuses to accept a testimonial while in office. There are sixty-eight entries for the Melbourne Cup. George Cavanagh, formerly proprietor of the Herald, is dead. Burns, the Commercial Bank forger, has been remanded. His defalcations amount to £ISOO. Sydney. A turnkey named Spinks has been murdered in "Windsor gaol by a prisoner named Power, with an axe. Spinks never moved after the first blow. Power was secured. The slave-ship Daphne has arrived, and the prosecution has been commenced. Mason has been arrested for the Brougham Place murder. Adelaide. Kenger, corn merchant, has been committed for trial, for embezzlement. Howell, Superintendent of the Stockade, has been committed for trial for stabbing a prisoner.