MISCELLANEOUS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1774, 2 October 1862, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

ARRIVAL OF EUROPEAN BIRDS IN NEW ZEALAND.

We have received intelligence of the arrival at Auckland, ou the Bth of April, of the ship ' Caslimere,' Captain Petheridge, which left St, "[■Catherine's Docks on the 9th of December with the addition, to an ordinary freight, of a consignment of 147 .singing 1 and other birds, intended for acclimatisation in New Zealand, j Of this number it appears that eighty-eight were alive when the ship reached its destination — a much larger proportion than, all circumstances considered, it was expected would have survived. Taking into account the trying j ordeal of a necessarily long voyage, the change of climate, and move especially the effects of a tremendous storm which occurred on the 26th March, the precautions taken for the preservation of this tender charge must have been admirable, and such as to reflect credit on the individual who had charge of the birds. It may not be uninteresting lo slate how this particular shipment came about. It appears, then, that the success which attended the introduction of English singing birds into the Australian colonies, at the end of the yeas 1858, led the New Zealand Government to desire a similar importation into that colony. Australia^ was found to be naturally destitute of the song birds whose carols are so grateful to the ears of the colonists, and so fruitful of suggestions of home. But the consignment of birds to Australia, prepared for the voyage under the auspices of Mr. Bartlett, of the Zoological Gardens, multiplied so quietly on their arrival, that, as the Melbourne Argus informs us, "the thrush, the skylark, the blackbird, and probably the starling, may now be considered as permanantly established in the Colony, the three former being heard in all directions." In the summer of last year Mr. Morrison, the agent of the New Zealand Government in London, applied to Mr. Bartlett to undeitake the superintendence of another cargo of birds for New Zealand. This task he carried out. We will first give names and number of the birds, and then detail the admirable regulations for their diet and management on the voyage; from which it will be seen that the experiment of sending these little birds out was one of great nicely, and necessarily one of risk There were placed on board 9 partridges, 2 pheasants, 12 blackbirds, 13 thrushes, 12 skylarks, 8 goldfinches, 8 bullfinches, 9 linnets, 16 chaffinches, 16 sparrows, 12 starlings, 2 Canadian geese, 4 barnacle geese, 12 teal, and 12 wigeon— l47 birds in all occupying 81 cages. All these birds were wild caught, none of them having been reared by hand from tbe nest. The policy of so procuring them was obvious, first, because having been at liberty, and having sought their own food, they would be able to do so again if at large; and, secondly, because, having been reared in a perfectly wild state, they are mv :h stronger in constitution than birds reared from the nest upon artificial food. The difficulty of providing food for this large number of birds was much gieater than would at first sight appear. In a state of nature many of them feed on a diversity of substances Take the habits of the thrush and blackbird for instance. In the spring time they live upon worms, snails, the larvae of insects, and almost I every small description of living object. As ' fruit begin to ripen in the summer they devour a considerable quantity, and with it myriads of insects. In the autumn, and during the winter months, they resort to the wild berries, &c. Thus, it will be seen, the utmost care and consideration were necessary to assimulate the artificial diet to that which the birds would thrive upon in their natural state. A still further reason why an indiscriminate dietary would be pernicious was found in the small j space in which this lai,ge number of birds had to be kept on board ship. Owing to the absence of natuial exercise, there was the liability of the birds getting too fat, and dying of apoplexy, if fed on too stimulating a food. We subjoin the " bill of fare " for these voyageurs : — First, then, of German paste, 1701 b .; preserved liver, ' 531 b. ; preserved fruit and preserved vegetable, If cwt. ; buiscuit. 1 cwt. ; rice, 1 £ cwt. ; potatoes 2 bushels ; carrots, 2 ditto : apples, 1 ditto ; eggs, 100 ; wheat, 4 bushels ; barley, 4 ditto ; hemp-seed, 5 ditto; canary seed, 2£ ditto; rape, half ditto ; flax or linseed, half ditto ; peameal, 1 ditto ; barley-meal, 2 ditto. Comfortable rations, truly, on* which the aldermanic eye could look with complacency \ ..Tea quarts of water per diem were to slacken the thirst and clear the throats of these little songsters. The birds went out under the care of Mr, John Wilson (a name, by the way, well knoun in song), brother of Mr. Fredrick Wilson, the superintendent of the Natural History Depaitment at the Crystal Palace. By the next mail we may expect additional particular as to the manner in which the birds thrive in their adopted home. On the voyage their comfort was provided for in every way. Small coca-nut mats were prepared for the cages of the web footed birds. These mats could easily be kept clean by being washed in the sea. Trays of sand were also to be exposed on the deck of the ship as soon as it reached a warmer climate In these trays grass-seed and the seed of -other quickly glowing vegetation were aown for the use of the birds.

It may be as well to add a list of the eightyeight birds which have got safely out. There are — 4 partridges, 10 blackbirds, 11 thrushes, 10 skylarks, 4 goldfinches, 3 bullfinches, 6 linnets, 6 chaffinches, 7 spairows, 9 starlings, 2 Canadian geese, 4 barnacle geese, 11 tea), and one wigeon. The same solicitude about the health and comfort of the birds appears to have been manifested as in the Australian consignment in 1858. May they thrive in their bloodless and unobtrusive mission of colonization, — The field.

The London correspondent of the Otago Daily Times has the following, in his last letter: —

"The House of Commons is at issue here with the London Garolters — the member for Blackburn (Mi. Pilkington) on his way home from the House, at two o'clock in the morning, was attacked in the Pull Mall, robbed, and nearly killed. The Home Secretary was called to account for this, and promised protection to honorable members for the future, These outrages are of constant occunence, and the police seem powerless in the nintter, but perhaps the audacity of garotlingan MP. will lead to more safety for the general public, and induce our repiesenlatives to keep better hours.

" Mr. Edwin James's deliquencies having been uotiued in the New Zealand papers, it may be as well to mention that we hare other gentleman at the Bar, whose conduct has lately beeD enquired into here. Mr. Digby Seymour, M.P., for Southampton. Mr. Kennedy who was concerned in the Swini'en case and others. It appears that these enquiries take place before the Benchers who decide as they please, without responsibility, something after the style of the " Inquisition." Long articles in the papers, and longer speeches in Parliament have been prolific on this subject, but no good result obtained- It is hoped this disgrace will be removed. At present, so long as a barrister keeps within the law, he can do

much ii.jury to his clients, and discredit his profession with impunity. Mr. Punch is now watching this question, and facetiously says that the initials " Q. C." are allowed to stand, and understood to mean " Questionable Charac ter." Is he right ?

" The theatrical world here is dull enough, wanting alike in j.ieces and actors. Some stir has been made by tbe Webster Bourcicault quarrel, about which there is no getting at a decision; one afier another the Law Courts repudiate the case, and these two clqver men get nothing by their motion but costs. The principal attraction in London is a Music Hall, where a man can be amused and enjoy his pipe and grog at tbe same time. These places are now all the go, and no wonder, for they get the entire first-rate comic talent in the country. An instance will suffice ; in all England there is scarcely a man so popular as " the great Mackney," and anything be introduces speedily becomes what the Times impudently called the " vulgar slang of ths hour." Be that as it may, few things have ever been so universal in men's mouths as " Old Bob Ridley," •■ In the Strand," &c. ; and tbat which rages now is >« Any Other Man." First-class papers quote this without apology, because it comes from Mackney. " Our foreign visitors are bound to be satisfied ; with the arrangements made here alike for their reception, their comfort, and amusement, and it may be also for a little extra excitement (the latter ingredient, perhaps, some of them fancy might have been omitted from the national programme.) It is perchance, too exciting even for a " Continental" to be engaged in discussion with a London cabman or a Thames waterman on the '-proper fare"— -too exciting, probably, to encounter some of the numerous ''Tickets of leave" in a crowd, &c— but these little incidents arc no doubt speedily forgotten when they see the vast preparations made everywhere for their amusement. Aquatics and cricket, horse racing and field sports galore — any quantity of theatricals and harmonics — swimming matches, foot races and " fistiana," and if the latter is at all to their taste, they, like the heroes themselves, must have had a '• belly full" last week when Bob Travers met Patsey Reardon in martial a'ray in Hampshire County, and hammered away at each other for four consecutive hours, and would probably have continued until this present writing, but for the lucky intervention of a fearful thunder storm, which proved a good friend to the Irishman, by flooring his sable antagonist, and rendering him at once insensible lo the geutle, persuasions of Alex. Keen and Nat Langhan and a host of tbe talent pugilistic. In addition to all this catering for the edification of our visitors, we have every evening in Leicester Square, a billiard tourney, in which our champion player John Roberts, contends for supremacy with a celebrated Frenchman ; the talent displayed may be judged of by the feet that Ruberts' large saloon, which accommodates three or four hundred is filled nightly, at prices ranging from 6s. to 10s. each — this may seem an extravagant recital, it is a fact nevertheless."

Lord Palmerston in 1840. — Lord Palmerston is extremely engaged, and the opposition to his views occupies him still more, for he always defends himself. It is in vain for me to watch this sedulously, to study to keep on the best terms with him, to say nothing to anyone until I have previously communicated it to him, to abstain from all secret practice, from all untimely conversation, to reject sometimes the favor exhibited towards me by men who are not of his opinion : in spite of all my circumspection, he sees and feels that the atmosphere changes a little around him, that uew ideas, and reasons he has not calculated, spring up, expand, and modify, or, at least, stagger convictions and intentions. This embarrasses and frets him. Sometimes shaken in his own ideas, he endeavours to re-assure himself. He acts, and causes qtbers to act upon bis wavering colleagues. If I have time, I despair at nothing ; but shall I have time? Let me make you clearly understand my position. All the world is at the feet of England ; all tbe world offers to do as she pleases ; we alone say no — we, who call ourselves her particular friends. And it is in the name of our friendship, to maintain our alliance, that we ask her not to accept what all the others offer. We are in the right, but we are not accommodating. Add to this the mistrusts contracted during five years, and which are deeply seated, more so than I suspected. And be well assured that Lord Palmerston is influential, very influential in the cabinet ; as active, laborious, and resolute men always are. It is often perceived that he is in the wrong : but he has acted, and he acts. To reject what be. has done, would require to do something else ' to act also — to lake trouble. Very few men can decide on this course. — An Embassy to the Court of St. James's in 1840, by F. Guizot.

A Fbench Suicide. — Yesterday (says the Droit) two coffins were brought side by side into the chinch of Bonne Nouvelle. They were followed by a inai; absorbed in grief, and attended by a large crowd, remarkable for their sad and collected demeanour. Mdlle Palmyra, a dressmaker, living with her parents, was gifted with the most fasciuating appearance and the most loveable of characters — therefore was she eagerly sought in marriage. Among the candidates for her hand she bad distinguished one, M, B — who experienced an intense passion for her. Though she fully reciprocated his feeliogs, she thought it right, through fillial duty, to follow the wishes of her parents, and married instead one M. D — , whose social position appeared to them preferable to that of his rival. The marriage took place four years ago. ,M. M. B and D — — (the husband and vjval) were fast friends, and although they had no business connexion, daily visited each other. The mutual love of B and of Palmyra, (now Mdme. D. ) had, if anything, grown more intense. Out of regard for his friend , to turn his ideas in another direction, made up his mind to marry, but notwithstanding all his efforts, be perceived that this heroic remedy was poweiless to destroy his passion for his friend's wife. Nevertheless, for four years neither he nor Mdme. D failed in their duty. What they had to suffer cannot be described, as the unsuspecting husband always contrived to bring the conscentious and reluctant lover to his house. At length an unlucky chance brought the lovers together, the friend betrayed the friend, tbe wife betrayed the husbaud. ■In au agony of remorse, they acquainted him with the crime. He freely forgave them, as the victim of circumstances over which they' had no control. He continued to live with his wife, but enjoined an eternal separation between the lovers. The injunction was religiously obeyed, but the stiuggle between passion and duty was too violent to last. Fearlul of again transgressing, the lovers determined to die together: they were found inanimate from the fumes of charcoal, locked in each other's arms. They had left a letter for the husband, acquainting him with their resolution, and requesting that the same grave might receive (hem both, a wish he religiously executed. The bodies were in the two coffins, and the chief mourner was the husband.