LITEST IRONCLAD.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 156, 8 May 1873, Page 2

LITEST IRONCLAD.

,Tif\r the Devastation ,is a success, so fur as she baa b tried^ is now telraittecf. The ponderoils monster, wh r^at«upoh'-tte^t6n!lsbtil.^tSfifrs with a deadweight i-lOjOOfttont, take* apy ordinary waves with stolid indiff'ere whether she receives them end on, or upon bow, beam, quarter, tfhe prodigious hill of foam which her stem p up wiien underweigh, washes, as- was expected, clean c her 'forward, "deck, aiid she is often submerged aft ; but massive, nud-sec^pn ridesjquietly e.nougb, and those on k lfer, w'tieii^aWhbretJ in'tLerolling-'-tide-nay of Spitbe(| fchat she w,a3 " steadier than tho f house ashore." She ti with great readiness and in a small circle 5 and her sp as proved in six trials along the measured mile, is not 0 equal to the promise of her designers, but it exceeds exj 'tatlom The mighty engines driving this island of iron w an indicated powei- of 6660 horses, with seventy-seven , volutions to the minute* got 'fifteen knots and a half out of ship, and the mean- rate at ' fiilT steam is thirteen knots a three-quarters. Here, therefore,. is"a craft which is ruin able only to a few guns, has the swiftness of a small pact and the handiuess — thanks to her twin screws — of a t while she caul, l utilise these qualities to hurl upon the s of an opponent the awful force of all her 10,000 tons, moy with tl ©• velouity of a spew. On- board this remarka man-of-war there are no less than thirty-four distinct a separate ongines ; and, indeed, the value which she roprcse is as serious as lier fighting capacity. What remains to learned is the behaviour of the ugly giant in a real Bist gale ; and whether or -no- the ctll de-lac which she carries will prove a mistake in a heavy following sea. With stabi assured to 56 deg., with no t<jp gear to set her over, with decks which can be- hermetically lealod, she woul safe enough 5 but whenever she doe's roll, or pitch, orJ the rivets and" fittings in her will be shrewdly tried. Ex< the Russian^ monitor, Peter the Great, nothing floating co resist or even challenge such a Teasel, at once bo strong swift- The torpedo, no donbt," may yet be so developed to make the Devastatidn-and all her terrible sisters impol against a defended coast. On the high seas, at present, has no superior, though we suppose the day will come w even 'this amazing construction will bo as obsolete as. three-dockers of Kelson. — London Daily leltgraph.

Mb Q-ATiioitXE Hardy. — Mr Ghtthorno Hardy it liabil ally received as tlie sure* successor of Mr Disraeli in I leadership of the Conservative party in the House of CM mons ; and is sometimes hinted at as an actual competl fdr the post, or as even now practically dividing it titular chief. . . . There is one immense point n^H Gathhorne-Hardy's favour, that he has the confidence offl great bulk of the Conservative party, and that Mr Disrl has not. If they do not positively distrust the ir brillil chief, they do not understand him. He is a potent magics who has conjured with Conservative principles, which arfl i;he same time " truly Liberal " principles, until his be» dered followers scarcely know whither Toryism does not! elude, implicitly, the Five Points af the Charter. Mr ifl raeli- may practise only white magic, but there is somethl uncanny about? all conjuring. Now, Mr Gathorne HaJ is no conjurer. He is a Tory after the Tory party's ol heart. Gating' on itsolf, liko Eve at the fountain, or TM cis3us ia the streamj the magic wlaich the Tory party si reflected back upon it is that of Mr Gathorne HaJ When it puts the proper charm under its pillow, it drW of him, as a country girl dreams of her future husbal The Conservatism of Mr Disraeli, Lord Salisbury, and Lord Derby, widely though they differ, is the delibei choice of a party connexion upon intellectual groui higher and wider than those of party, and involvii a survey of the whole field/ of and an estir of social forces arid" tenaencie's. Their eonservati however sincere and. thorough, has its basis in political rationalism, as the Catholicism of lot] Newman has its roots in a theological rationalism. Th is a philosophy, behind', it. Ordinary Toryism distrusts sceptical* premises even more than~it welcomes the ortboc conclusion. It is'not sure that the conclusion will alwJ follow'fromithepremisses, eveujin-the minds which have I the present drawn it thence. $w Gathorne Hardy is fl from all suspicion. His Toryism is the Toryism of the bJ benches' advanced to the front bench, ana elevated! office. . . . He is not devoid, of oratorical passion of] .certain sort. It is not the passion of a statesman whil absorbs a nation into itself; and speaks and feels for a whJ peoplo; nor that ofprophet : likV warning; still less, I course, that of revolutionary enthusiasm — it is not^J passion of Chatham, op of Burke, or of Yerginaud — 4H is more suitable to his topics and to his hearers. It , the, passion of the man in possession who is- afraid of bei turned out. . . . All these are useful secretary qualifh tions for party, and<J?ai#araentary leadership. But ] Hardy lacks the first qualification ; a real perception, their causes and true character, of the issues that are involve and a comprehensive survey of the field of action. 1 originating and adaptive niind,|Tvhich can embody t principles of his party in a pdlug; suitable to the sjifi'ti exigencies of the time, is wdntingijn him. He is eisJntift a commonplace politician. The country gentlemen a country' clergymen who, > for, political purposes, usurp a name of the'lTniversifvy ofOxfprq, never better marked thl jealousy of superiorities than wlfcn they rejsotod Mr GIJ stone for *Mr Gathorne Hardy; not even when they, at I . earlier date put aside Robert Feel for Sir Sober t IruJ nor wlieii'they afterwards chose Mr Mowbray m prefefw to Sir Eoundell Palmer.^— Daily News. I 'The Napier Telegraph in a late issue, says: — "We wa v shown. a rich specimen of gold-bearing quartz on Saturdil that "was brought into town by a native from , the Uriwa country. The quartz was said to have been chipped off 1 * outcropping reef, and from its appearance bore evidence I having been exposed to the atmosphere. The stone was bll quartz, perhaps a little more crystalised than that found 1 the Thames, and wa^as rich a ipecimen as we remember I have seen- The lp'cality in which it was found is of coui kept secret, but we understand the reef was discovered the Ruamahanga flanges, Uriwera country, a continuation the ELairaanawa." A sorvant'girl who could not" read had, from constant tendance, erot the Church service by rote ; but a few Sn days previous to her' marriage: she vas accompanied by 1 sweetheart, to whom she did notjlike it to be known that c could not read ; she therefore took up the prayer-book a held it before her. Her lover wished to have a sight of but, unfortunately for her, she held it upside down. " Go hcavons ! w,hy, you have the book wrong side upwards.'^-! kuow it," Baidtho, "I always read so, for I am left hanVN A Louisville man who had only been acquainted with 1 girl two nights attempted to kiss her at the gate. In 1 dying deposition he told the doctor that just as he " kis! her the earth slid from under his feet and his soul went o of his mouth, whilst his head touched the stars." Lai dispatches show that what ailed him was the old inai boot. Orni CoufcTßYacEK' ABfeOAD,— Mr Shoddy : " I alwi say', Mrs Sharp, that I ne*"e».feel really cafe from i übiquitous British snob till lam south of tlie Danube ! " M Sharp (innocently) :• "■And what do the— a-^Sgi Damibiwis »ay, Mr Shoddy?" — Punch. i A bookbinder said to his wife at their wedding, " It seeJ that now we are bound togethor,"two volumes in one, wi clasps." ' ' Yes," obberved one of the guests ; " one 6i highly ornamental Turkish morrocco, and the other pit calf." ' ' t Mr William 1 Hutch inson, of Wanganui, has succeeded growing a capital specimen of Sea Island cotton. So mu for the soil aad climate of AVaiigamii.— -Independent.

Bcunixo A Wife in Effigy. — Excitement was caused in the neighbouohoocl of Old Kent Eoad by tlio burning of a, huge effigy, which was intended for the w lib of a person residing ni the neighbourhood, who had just returned home to her husband after sjiuo weeks' absence, slit! having eloped with a barman in the '.immediate Mcmitj. The disgraceful proceedings were commenced by a man who called himself the crier going round the hoiisOs ringing .1 1 irjr«* bell, at the Bftme time bawling out, " Mother come home ! " Ihis was a signal for the noigliboui 3 to turn out in large numbers, which they did, to see what was the matter, when they were met by an cfligy of the lady in question, which was taken round by the mob to the residence of the parties, and there burnt. The body was stuffed with firew orks, and saturated with oil. The fireworks went off in every direction, while the fragments of the effigy blazed away, illuminating all the neighbourhood. Tn a very short time a steam lire engine from the Kent Road station dashed down the street, the brigade thinking there was a house on fhe ; and about the same time a considerable body of police had been drawn to the spot by the explosion and blaze. When the matter was explained, the police were amused at the joke, and refused to interfere, uid the lire engine returned to the station. The husband and wife wisely took those proceedings as a compliment, and came out in front of their house and made their acknowledgments for it, after w Inch certain gidlons of tile were consumed by the crowd. There were upwards of five hundicd persons present. It was not until a late hour in the evening that the neighbourhood was tranquil — SouHi London Press. CorNTERFEITIXG. — In the whole history of criminal iuriiprudence there.has never probably been anything equal to the gigantic tual, which was concluded at Moscow, in Sussia, on the 21st November, and at which were arraigned 500 prisoners, upwards of 200 of whom were convicted and sentenced to cruel penalties. Among the accused were persons of every station m life— grey-haired men and youths, men and women; among the latter aonio highly accomplished and prepossessing m appearance. All the prisoners were charged with one ot the givuest offences in the criminal code of Russia— that of counterfeiting. That codo says: — " The persons that counterfeit the coin of tho Imperial Government shall suffer death." Notwithstanding this rigorous provi-ion, Ivussia has been floodod for many years past with well executed counterfeits of the Government treasury note->. At length, in last July, a curious accident gave the long looked ior clue. Three thousand men and women wore arrested, but after examination 2,500 of them were discharged, and about 500 were held for trial. Among the latter w ere six Frenchmen, of St. Petersburgh, who had been caught printing the counterfeit notes, and a comparatively jjirge number of women. On the 10th of October the trial \<wa» opened in the large hall of tho Kremlin, which holds ncaily 3,000 persons ; 203 of them were found guilty, among them about 50 women. Sentence of death was passed upon the six French printers, and the other convicted parties were confined to hard labour in tho gold mines of tho Ural Mountains for life, or for ten years. The doomed men and women burst into piercing shrieks aDd howls, and w ell they might, for in the case of tho former the sentence included barbarous Hogging and branding on the forehead with red hot iron ; while the women, some of whom were of refined descent, shuddered at the idea of baring to do the most menial work for life, or ten jcars at the station-houies, where the keeprs of the male prisoners reside. In their despair, some of the unfortunates thievv themselves upon the ground, and their piercing cries, mingled with the clanking of their chains, produced a truly horrible effect. The excitement and frenzy of the condemned grew lrom minute to minute more intense ; and the judges, in order to restore quietude, had to call in the soldiers, who, with their knatschuds, beat the prisoners right and left, and then dragged them back to the vaults of the Kremlin. The Leader (a Melbourne paper) directs attention to an exciting discussion which has been going on in Western Australia over a sentence passed upon an old and influential settler named Burgess, who was condemned by the local Judge to five years' imprisonment for shooting a blackfellow, whom he caught in the act of stealing his saddle from his tent, and who raised his dowark to throw at him. Mr Burgess does not appe-ar to have attached any moral guilt to the mattor himself, for he recorded it in his diary, and talked freely over his escape to the two white men (both convicts) , who were exploring the country under his charge. One of the men, however, subsequently quarrelled with him, and gave information, upon which he was arrested and biought before the polico magistrate at Perth, who committed him for manslaughter. The committal did not suit the temper of Governor Weld, who wanted a verdict of murder, and tho polico magistrate was suspended for partiality. It may sound straMge to Victorian ears to hear that Earl Kimberley, on receiving the Governor's statement, administered a slern rebuke to him, and directed him to reinstate the P.M. immediately. But Lord Kimberley's inter\ ention did not end here. The Judge who tried Mr Burgess, chiefly upon the testimony alfordr d by h s own diary, ruled that if he was taking the predatory native back to his tent to flog him, or to question him about the theft of his saddle, he was acting unlawfully, and the nitivo had a leg il right to resist. In other words, Burgess had no legal right to defend himself by shooting him. The result was the bewildered jurymen brought in a verdict of manslaughter, and the Judge added the sentence of five years' imprisonment. The whole population got into a ferment, and petition after petition was sent to the Governor for Mr Burgess's release. And the last we hear is that Earl Kimberley has again interfered to reduce the punishment to one year's imprisonment instead of five. Tub Gbbat Telescope cob the United States' Govebnmext. — Messrs Alvon Clark and Sons have completed tho object-glass of the great telescope. The construction of this immense glass is a feat of which America may well be proud. The two pieces of glass composing it are twentyseven and a half inches in diameter, of which twenty-six inches aro available. The crown glass is without flaw, and is perfect with tho exception of a few air bubbles which will in no wise interfere with its action, and the flint glass is almost as good, there being but a few small striae in it. With the completion of tho object-glass, the main difliculty in the construction is overcome ; the remaining work is merely mechanical, It is interesting to see tho precautions that are taken to prevent any damage to this precious piece of property. A fire-proof safe has been built expressly for its protection, in which it is carefully placed every ni^ht. Every door and window of the building is connected with tho room ol Mr Clark by means of an electric telegraph, so that no entrance can bo effected without at once raising an alarm. The glass itself rests on its edgo on a small car which runs on a rajlway, so that it can be easily put into or removed from the safe. Tuu Aht of Walking. — In a graceful human step, the heel is alway raised before tho foot is lifted from the ground, as if tho foot were part of a wheel rolling forward ; and the weight of the bodj, supported by the muscles of the calf of the leg, vests for the time on the fore part of tho feet nnd toes. There is then a bending of the foot in a certain degree. But where strong wooden- shoes are used, or any shoe so stiff that it will not yield and allow this bending of tho feet, the heel is not raised at all until the whole foot rises with it ; so the muscles of the calf are scarcclv used, and, in consequence soon dw indie in size, and soon almost disappear. For the same reason, in Paris, where the streets have few or no side pavements, and the ladies have to walk almost constantly on tiptoe, tho great action of tho muscles of the calf has given a conformation to the leg and foot, to match which tho Parisian belles proudly challenge tho world — not aware, probably, that it is a defect in their city to whicli the peculiarity of their form is in part owing. Nature's Laws in New Zbala>d. — 'Ihe President of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury recently delivered to tho members of the Institute a most interesting address, containing some novel ideas, one of which is thus stated : — Ilcro in New Zealand it is not only probable but certain that many of those conditions xinder which we live aro different from those that obtain elsewhere, and thus those dicta which are accepted as absolute and unquestioned truths in one country, and under one set of conditions, may not be so in another country, and under another set of conditions ; consequently, even those discoveries which have beon made, and that knowledge which has beon acquired elsewhere, requires to bo tested and verified here before we can accept them absolutely a3 a basis and starting point of our investigations. In some cases the differences are broad and palpable ; in others they aro more subtle ; in others agoin thoy may not as yet have been perceived at all. But this, at least, is indisputable, that where the cause is different tho effect aho will, in most cases, bo different also, and that therefore the laws which have been accepted elsewhere as immutable may bo modified or altogether neutralised here. Take, as an illustration, the question as to how tho earth of New Zealand acts on the electric curi ent. Tho question was raised in a paper read before the Institute by Mr Wright. Our conception of the laws winch govern the relation of tho earth to electricity has been rudely disturbed by tho ideas therein suggested. The observations recorded by Mr Wright would seem to lead to tho conclusion that the earth here, instead of dispersing, is a bad conductor of electricity. He says that on the line to the north of Christchurch, many of the telegraph poles ha\ing fallen down, tho wirfo were in contact with tho ground; but that, notwithstanding this, and contrary to his expectation, isolation was still preserved, and messages could bo forwarded along tho line from Christchurch to Wellington. So far as is known, tho author saj s — and ho supports his assertion by the testimony of persons versed in practical telegraphy — this would havo been impossible m axij other part of the world — Tii'iaru Ifrrald. On the subject of Sabbatarianism, tho Nelson Examiner has the following : — " A Presbyterian clergyman in the north of Scotland has somewhat scandalised his brethren by suggesting during tho lalo rainy harvest, the fine Sundays might be lawfully employed to gather in tho harvest. His bretliren were of opinion that the wet weather was a punishment for Sabbath-breaking, but the laity have, it is said, largely adopted the suggestion. Extreme Sabbatarianism is a somewhat, lato importation, even into Calvinism. Calvin played bowls, and John Knox wroto his business lottors on Sunday." llow to Roll in Wealiu. — Marry a rich carriagemaker's daughter. A Tui'lStf. — An expensive wife mako3 a pensive husband.