ARRIVAL OF THE QUEEN, WITH THE APRIL MAILS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1734, 24 June 1862, Page 3

ARRIVAL OF THE QUEEN, WITH THE APRIL MAILS.

The s.s. Queen arrived in this harbour on Saturday evening last with the European Mail up to the 26th of April, and Telegraphic intelligence from London to the 2nd May. It was brought from Melbourne by the s.s. Aldinga, which arrived at Otago on Tuesday tne 17th inst. The Australian February mails were delivered in Loudon on the 15th and 18th of April. The Court has returned to Osborne. Her Majesty's health has continued good. The wedding of the Princess Alice takes place in June. The Queen, by the advice of the committee has abandoned the intention of erecting a monolith for the late Prince Consort. The subscription list progresses slowly. The opening of the Exhibition is the absorbing domestic topic of the hour. The Journals gtoan with letters full of criticisms and suggestions; good and evil auguries abound, and curiosity is piqued from all points of the compass by the descriptions and anticipations of the gorgeous ceremonial.' Parliament would re-assemble on the 28th April. The dullness of the Parliamentary sessions has been unexpectedly relieved by a caustic speech on the finances of the country from Mr. Disraeli. The speech was delivered upon the occasion of going into committee of ways and means. It consisted of a rhetorical attack upon Mr. Gladstone. One of the chief points set up was, that during the last three years we have been plunged into a deficit of seven million and a-half, owing to the financial errors of Mr. Gladstone. The reply was complete. The Chancellor of the Exchequer made a financial statement showing an estimated surplus of £150,000, with the hop duty abolished. Mr. Gladstone, in speaking publicly on the American question, said that, -however the Federals might dislike the idea of dismemberment, yet it must eventually take place, and prophesied that the two parties would nevei come together again under one Government. Sir Willi.un Armstrong has constructed a 300-pounder gun, fourteen feet in length weighing twelve tons, which, on trial, proved, that it can blow round-shot with ease through a target much thicker than the sides of the Warrior. This has caused a great sensation in England and throughout Europe. \ The English Government have suspended building wooden ships in all the di-okyards, and also the stone forts lately designed for the defence of the coast line, until the defensive power of iron-ioofed gunboats has been tested. Lord Palmerston, speaking iv the House on the Romish question, said he sympathise? strongly with the Italians, and thought that

' the French occupation of Rome, although not strictly a violation of interuation law was a gros.s violation of the principle of non interference proclaimed l>y France as well as England at the commencement of the war. This i open speaking of the English Minister bus ! caused much speculation in Fiance. It is i rumoured that negotiations are on foot for the withdrawal of the French troops. xMr. Russell, the "Times" correspondent, has been prohibited by the Federal War Secretary from accompanying M'Clellan's army, and has returned to England. The distress, caused by the dearth of cotton in the manufacturing districts in the north of England is already fearful, and increases every day. The Emily St. Pierre, an English ship from Calcutta, was captured by a Federal war steamer off Charlentown, but re-captured by her captain, with the assistance of his cook and steward, from Lieutenant Stone and his prize crew, consisting of sixteen men. She has arrived in Liverpool. The Great Eastern sails for New York in May. Judgment has been delivered in the Wyndham case on the application as to costs. Each side is to pay its own costs. The volunteer review at Brighton was a great success, 20,000 volunteers were present, under Lord Clyde. The sale of season-tickets for the Great Exhibition has been enormous. There are more than double the number of exhibitors than there were at the show of 1851. A terrible conflagration has taken place in Faltnouth, thirty houses were burned down. The Oxford and Cambridge annual boatrace was won by Oxford, by six lengths. The Parliamentary papers recently issued confirm the accounts of the richness of the gold regions in British Columbia. Obituary — Earl of Pembroke, Sir Thomas Wyse, Vice Admiral Duff, Sir John West, Sir John Kincaid, and Mr. Brandt.