MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XV, Issue 1327, 26 February 1859, Page 5

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Ihe theory of iron-sided ships resistinr. the hre of ordinary men-ofwar, or sho„e batteries has most signally failed in practice, as developed on Monday at Portstroutb, by the gunner, of ! her Majesty's ship Excellent. The Erebus a new lO.gun i r _n-b_ilt ..team-lattery, of "W horse power, the proj.icli ~„,. we belie, c, of Napier, ol Glasgow, was moored at -100 yards' range from the gunboat Snapper, iron plate's ronr inches thick (the same consistency as th. so of winch the battery is built) having previous v gunb;t 1Xe Tb Ve ; lhe P ° n tbe ' inner at h, ni l fe Was d!l "ected from theSnapnhtes t P y b * e - tWe . n plates, the sohd Slue of tI battery, and eon3MSK3S_"_siSa§ '3S^ a *-a^__£ developed ; the 32's merely indented he ,ron battery, but the 68's passed r^ht ocdins. u..ly eight rounds were fired. The experiments were not repeated yesterday, _ v . _ survey was made, and a report founderf, pon it a i le '"[? r^^"]/ the Lords of the Id™ ! ofL b L C c l e'Jfrt. HeW,ett ' aß "' COramand - Clotxilvg ro_ the I__ u .. Av.ux.-L he Secretary of State for War has _f_'„r,« ° n aa alteration to he d.ess ofthe troops serving in India, in order to promote the health and comtbit of the soldiers exposed to that climate. For the present dress is to be substituted a suit of light drab color made of a strong material chiefly composed of cotton, consisting of a tunic and loose rowers. Instead of tbe government providing the men w,,h this dress, as at present, com? mandmg officers of regiments and depots wiH be permitted to employ any contractor they please to furnish the new clothing, the author? tics; of the Horse Guards colonel « other commanding officer a .certain , price for each __ lt sUpp ied . As soo _ as tfae P > J arrangements have been completed tbe re<_. mhrk? W lM India , ar,dtbe tro °P s «o embark will be supplied with the new clotl.ii._r. A NOPOUKS OPINIO.. OF ENGLISH Sailors.— LZ T 7r, ?. ° f the Dail H Naa states th *- be,ng at Etrata], , pro[t watering-place in heard a French gentleman couth? Z> - m h ? f°?. P of Norman Mermen on the subject of the French and English navies. Ah, my faith,- said the Parisian, " they were excellent once, those English, but not' now • our ships and steamers are finer, and onrsailors far better at gunnery. We should do for them rom Cherbourg, by a combination not difficult to be executed." « Sacre ! no," broke in an old d e °vik a nfF l,o '"" lh . veseen enou S h of those dei Is of Etighsh sailors; don't, we meet them at the herring fisheries, and at Newfoundland ? i>o, no. ihey have no army, the English ; but at sea they are terrific. Listen now, Monsieur, if you ever go to war with the English at sea, they will give you the soundest drubbing (la plus (.rand volee) you ever received in your life. Rapid Steaming to Alexandria.—We have been shown a letter from CapL Down, who took out tbe Peninsular and Oriental Company s steamer Malta, from Southampton f Alexandria, with the Indian mail, on the 25t_ ultimo, which has made the quickest passa_e on record The letter is dated Alexandria October 6th, and says-" We arrived here this morning a t eight o'clock, after a glorious run of 10 days and 16 hours from Southampton, including all stoppages, which were twenty three hours -Nothing has surpassed this vet,-not even the Pera! This morning, _t daylight, we . saw the Indus a-head, and we anchored here just one hour after her.. She left Southampton on the:2oth. People here are in a small state of excitement at having the two mails from England in at once. Such a thing has never occurred before." The distance from Southampton to Alexandria is 2,951 miles, and it will be seen that, after deducting 23 boms for stoppages, the Malta made the run out in nine days seventeen hours.

_._ Jn-fobtuxate Legacy.—At the London bankruptcy Court, on Saturday, before Mr. Commissioner Fane, Mr. R. A. Farmer, a chemist, of Mount-street, Lambeth, applied for hi* certificate. Mr. Lawrance, for the assignee!, explained that the bankrupt's position was caused by his having had the misfortune to be bequeathed a legacy. A « friend"—not ■_ relative—left him by will two shares in the Royal British Bank. The will was disputed, by the testator's relations, and Vice-Chancellor Stuart decided that they were entitled to the shares. The bankrupt appealed to the Lords Justices, who decided that they were his. The bankshortly afterwards failed, and the calls upon the two valuable shares had brought the bankrupt here. He had been served with copies of no less than 20 writs on their account. A stronger illustration of the doctrire that a man does not always know what is for his good could not well bo imagined.—His Honor: He may take a first-class certificate.

Committal of a Stock Broker.—At London Guildhall Police Court, on Wednesday, William Oliver, a stock broker, was committed to prison for appropriating £0,000 entrusted to bim by Miss Dauce, of Southsea, for investment.

Uur metropolitan cathedral of St. Paul had beeu glorified during the month of Dec. by two events of great interest aud significance. The first occasion was the assembling of a thousand clergymen of the Establishment, robed in full canonicals, to listen to the primary charge of the Bishop of London, besides a crowd of laymen and ladies, who evinced the utmost anxiety tv bear the opinion of the right reverend prelate upon those ecclesiastical question which are at present agitating the Church and the country generally. The charge, which, except to the Tractarian innovators, has given great satisfaction, occupied nearly five hours in delivery, and extended over 13 columns of the Times. This impressive service was but, preliminary to a grander novelty, which took place on the Evening of Advent Sunday, the 28th ult. On that occasion the Cathedral, after, having been built two centuries, Was for. ihe first time utilized, and opened for the worship ofthe multitude. 4000 that night prayed, and sang nnd beard the Gospel beneath that majestic dome, fringed with its thousands of gas jets circling the whispering gallery, and bringing into "dim religious" relief the renovated paintings that beautify the interior surface .of the dome. While the 500 choristers led tlie responses and chanted the anthems, at least. 15,000 disappointed persons, who had congregated from all parts of London and its suburbs thronged the area round the mighty pile, and choked all its approaches. I was myself among the unfortunates', aud certainly I never saw so dense a crowd, even at a Lord Mayor's i\how. Many, iio doubt, came with the view of "gazing on a magnificent spectacle, and not to hear the Gospel ;yet it is believed that important stop will prove a success in the higher and belter sense. The service is'to be continued every Sunday Evening. 1 The old Abbey'is'also to be re-opened in January next for 'preaching to the working classes. 7 , '~,'.

■from the beginning of 1858, and to apply it to .and purchasing purposes. With the natives disposed to sell; money in abundance; ami a District Commissioner on the spot, bow is it that only a few paltry acres-have be.n purchased for the last twelve months. We li.innot put the blame on Mr. Seranckc, because we are totally ignorant of his'inr.ti uctioiia, but the delay is now so great, and tho necessity for the purchases being effected so-apparent, that tb6 Province can scarcely refrain mudli longer from remonstrating in the most urgent manlier against i " things as the aro." ' I The evils complained of are however, the natural result" of thai centralising policy which is pursued liy-the present Ministry. They not ouly assume the sole control of th_ Land Purchasing Department, but they strictly interdict Ih.ir Comniissioner from holding lhe slightest -ommunication with the provincial authorities; thus the Province which is most interested in •the purchases to be effecteflt, and which has to pay every faithing of their cost, is kept entirely in lhe dark, as to whether this block is not bought because of a paltry £50 difference in the value, or that block is lost to us for years because of fedme trifling dispute about one of iu*boundaries, which has to be referred to Auckland. The same difficulty is experienced at the North, und so long as the present system is pursued the.difficulty seems likely to continue. The Provincial Council of this Provinc- some time since uiotiiorialised llie Queen to delegate the power, of puichasing from the Natives, to the Superintendent, but it was replied to unfavourably. On His Excellency's arrivul here, 5t is to hoped some steps will he taken not only to stimulate the acquirment of fresh districts but to imprcssupon him the evils, which result from continuing' to retaiii everything, connected With the purchasing of lands from the Natives, in his own hands.