The Principality

itoiitgs. NOT SIMON PURE SMITH.—The Philadelphia Dispatch tells a story connected with the whipping-post of Delaware, where a man received twenty lashes, well laid on. The culprit, instead of bellowing like ten thousand" when the constable applied the lash, laughed immoderately, which made the angry officer lay on still harder. On giving him the twentieth blow, the constable could stand it no longer. Well, here, mister," said the offended officer, I've done my duty, and I can lick ye no more, but I'd just like to know what it is that's so funny?"— Funny roared the other. Funny! why, it's the best joke I ever heard of! Ha! ha! ha! ho! ha! ha!" said he, as alternately his pain and merriment predominated.—"Funny! Well, what is the joke?"—"Joke!" roared the other, "why, it's excellent. You've got the wrong Smith! I ain't the man that was to be whipped! It's the other one! Now you'll have to go it all over again! Really, it's too good! You must lick the other man! Ha! ha!" I THE Boston Chronotype announces an important addition to the Washington Museum—a boot made by a sherry cobbler from the last of the Mohicans. A CORRESPONDENT remarks that Sir John Maundeville saw many a strange thing but Mr. J. O'Connell saw many a stranger. -Ibid. EXAMPLES.—" See here, my friend, you are drunk. Drunk to be sure I am, and have been drunk for the last three years. You see my brother and I are on a temperance mission He lectures while I serve as a frightful example /"— Ibid. AN EYE IN HIS HEAD.—" I wonder what makes my eyes so weak," said a loafer to a gentleman. Why, they are in a weak place," said the latter.-Ibid. Lucxy I say, Tom, isn't it lucky that the fellow's eyes are cocked?"—" Why ?"—" Because if they were a match, his red nose would set them on fire. I- Ibid. THE HEIGHT OF RADICALISM.—There's a member of the American Congress so utterly opposed to all existing institu- tions that he has given notice of a motion for an act to repeal the laws of nature. ACCORDING to Willan, most of the diseases of the skin are occasioned by insects, which have been discovered and de- scribed by means of the microscope, being found principally in the vesicles of the joints, which are affected by the dis- order." THE imp'' of the Arbroath Guide is an ingenious stripling; thus he propounds and he replies: Why are travellers never without provisions in Arabian deserts ? Because of the sand- tohich-is there." A POSER.—What is that which, if a man has, he would not wish to lose?—If he has not he would not wish to have?-And which, when he has gained it, he has it no longer ? D'ye give it up? [A law-suit.] CONJUGAL PERSEVERANCE.—An Italian was accused of marrying five wives. Upon being carried before the judge he was asked why he had married so many ? He answered, In order to meet with a good one if possible." JENNY LIND.-We hear that Mdlle. Jenny Lind remains in Paris for the present, and that her marriage is broken off." Vide Morning Chronicle, May 21. Dear Jenny Lind has changed her mind, And run away to Paris. So Betsy Prigg was right, we find There is no Mrs. Harr is!-Pvneh. ARISTOTLE said, a wise man is known by three things, by making his enemy his friend; the ignorant, learned; and by reforming the evil disposition into goodness." NICE LEGAL POINT.—Suppose a fellow who has nothing marries a gal who his nothing, is her things his'n or is his'n her'n or is his'n his'n, and her'n lier'n? A nice question that. EITHER WAY IT'S PLEASING.—The first time a woman marries is generally to please another the second time is invariably to please berself.-Puiich. WHILE a railway train was proceeding to Perth the other day, a person was seen on the line making the usual signal to stop, which was instantly obeyed by the engine driver. On being eagerly asked what was wrong, the person who caused the delay coolly answered, Nothing," as he merely wanted a lift into town. A SUFFICIBXT EXCUSE.—The Wellington Spectator, apologising for a delay in publication, ascribes it to the fact of the late earthquake in New Zealand having thrown its columns into pie." A GENTLEMAN burying his wife, a friend asked why he expended so much on her funeral. Ah, sir," replied he, she would have done so much, or more, for me with pleasure." INCREASE OF JEWS IN CINCINNATI.—•" When the congregation of Cincinnati," says the Jewish Chronicle, was first established, they baked about 100 lb. of passover cakes; this year it takes six weeks to prepare the quantity required by machinery, as ever 20,000 lb. will hardly satisfy the demand." A USEFUL IIINT.-Tlie difference between rising every morning at six and at eight, in the course of forty years, amounts to 29,200 hours, or three years, 121 days, and 16 hours, which are equal to eight hours a-day for exactly ten years; so that the rising at six will be the same as if ten years of life were added, wherein we may command eight hours every day for the cultivation of our minds and the despatch of business. "Iy FRIEND," said a maiti-e d' hotel, to an over-voracious boarder, you eat so much that I shall certainly have to charge you an extra half dollar." An extra half dollar," replied his boarder, with a countenance the very picture of despair. "For goodness' sake don't do that; I am most dead now, eating three dollars' worth, and if you put an extra half dollar's worth on, I shall certainly sue you for man- slaughter." DR. JOHN* WEBSTER(Medical Times) remarks: "Ilowfrequent is lunacy in Paris. During the last revolution a great number lost their reason; the bouleversement produced a most lament- able effect; and the same thing happened in former times. In Napoleon's reign there were at one time 15 Louis Eighteenths in the Bieetre." PETER SMITH, the watchmaker, insisted upon calling his eldest boy Peter, after himself, as lie- considered his little treasure valuable enough to be called a re-Peter. He much admired its little face and hands. THE New York correspondent of the Daily News writes: An old Irishman is a very rare sight in this country. Useful in some respects as they are, they have so degraded labour among us, that Americans will no longer perform the work which they are willing to do." i

(taral Jtai. —— A STOUT AND FAITHFUL WATCHm&N.-Mr. Petrie'ti ingenious mode of protecting premises by the aid of electric shocks, as first suggested in the Builder, is about to be applied, it ap- pears, to an extensive factory at West Ham. The battery will be a very powerful one, and will eftect the two-fold object of ringing a large alarm bell and prostrating all who may attempt to enter the premises. The application of such an apparatus is suitable for banking-houses, or the mansions of the nobility and gentry as well, and may be applied to one room or the whole building. FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETIES.-The progress of these societies is most satisfactory to all the friends of freedom. At no very distant day it may fairly be predicted that many of our counties will be rescued from the political thraldom under which they are now suffering. It is a fact not generally known, that a freehold qualification for a county voter can be obtained in five years by the payment of Is. 6d. per week! The Birmingham society in eighteen months expended E20,000 in land, have 5,000 members, and have given 426 land allotments, and will soon give 450 more. This immense movement commenced with two friends, who deposited Is. each! In Newcastle-upon- Tyne and in Derby there are societies established on a similar basis, and prospering greatly; but it is in the midland counties where the movement has assumed so striking a feature to those who have hitherto figured as exclusionists. We may, at no very distant day, revert to this. AT the conclusion of the sale of the late Mr. O'Connell's books, pictures, &c., on Monday, a small portrait of Lord J. Russell could not be disposed of at all; the auctioneer could not even wheedle forth a bid of 4d.! A portrait of O'Connell in oils brought only 30s. LORD PALMERSTON has been convicted by the local magistrates in JE3 7s. 6d. costs and expenses of cleansing and white-wash- ing his cottiers' houses in Sligo. EXTRAORDINARY LONGEVITY.—There is now living at Scalpa, in the Isle of Harris, a woman named Marian Morrison, who has attained the age of 108. She hears and sees well, and can walk on a good road ten miles in the day, and can knit and darn without spectacles, which she has never used. She has paid rents to a succession of seven proprietors. She has never in- dulged in dainty food or ardent spirits, but has lived on "good wholesome Highland fare." EMILY SANDFORD, for whose aid a subscription has been collected, amounting to many hundred pounds, left Gravesend, on Saturday, with her child, in the barque Casper. She looked care-worn and haggard. THE Isle of Man Times mentions that the men employed in piercing the rocks in Castletown harbour for the purpose of deepening the water, so as to improve the entrance, have dis- covered a very rich vein of lead ore, which contains silver. THE BRITANNIA BRIDGE.—On or about the 20th of June is the period spoken of as a probable time when the floating of the tube may be expected to come off. A party of jack tars from the Sailors' Home, Liverpool, have reached the locality, and are barracked on the banks of the Menai, and these will be under the direction of Captain Claxton, to whom the arduous task of floating the tubes has been confided. The scientific world looks forward to this grand operation with much interest, not unmixed with anxiety, but yet with confidence and it is expected that numbers will personally satisfy themselves of the success of this certainly Herculean task.-Alorth Wales Chronicle. INSOLVENT POST-OFIFICEOFIFICIALS.-ThePostmaster- General intends issuing a notice that persons in the employ of the Post- office will be dismissed if they take the benefit of the Insolvent Act. In peculiar cases, however, where a person has become insolvent through sheer misfortune or through the treachery of others, the Postmaster-General reserves to himself a power to reinstate such a person in office. This notice has been rendered necessary in consequence of the frequent appearance of the clerks at St. Martin's-le-Grand in the insolvent courts, and the almost perpetual blockade of the points of ingress and egress of the General Post-office by sheriffs' officers. Some of the stratagems to elude the vigilance of the blockade are ex- ceedingly comic, and are oftentimes very effectual, owing to the numerous avenues to the interior of St. Martin's-le- Grand. THE Hantt Independent days that at the Queen's last visit to Osborne there was no fit vessel to convey her from Portsmouth The Victoria and Albert was locked up for repairs Fairy, ta- booed on account of, small-pox; Fire-Queen, no accommoda- tion Elfin, too small. It was resolved to run all risks, and send the Fairy! SIR R. PEEL'S PLAN.—It is stated that Lord Ducie and other gentlemen are endeavouring to raise a joint-stock company for the purchase of the Martin estate in Galway, of 200,000 a" in order to carry out Sir R. Peel's idea. THE LATE MR. NICHOLSON.-It is said that when this gentle- man went out and committed the melancholy act which ter- minated his life, he left on his desk a note containing the fol- lowing passage from Jeremiah, chap. xvii. v. 11:—"As the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not, so he that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave them in. the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool." THE ELECTRIC LIGRT.-This light has not gone out, as was supposed by some people. It has been exhibited during the week by Mr. Staite from the summit of one of the piers of Hungerford Suspension-bridge, that, namely, on the Middlesex shore, and thence he threw the radiance of his magnificent dis- covery now along the bridge to the multitudes that watched from the shore the effects of the illumination, now upon the buildings which form Hungerford market, and now upon the water-front of Somerset-house, and upon Waterloo-bridge and the steamers passing up the river but wheresoever it lighted, the beam dazzled the beholder, whilst it discovered to those who controlled it the minute characteristics both of dress and of architecture. But what is interesting to all who desire the progress of scientific discovery, and the application of it to the uses of society, is that Mr. Staite has been most successful in effecting and maintaining the relative adjustment of the two points, or opposite poles, which occasion the luminosity. His efforts are now turned towards making his discovery eco- nomically applicable, and they have hitherto been most suc- cessful. IT was understood that Mr. Macready was to quit Boston for England in the Hibernia, on the 23rd ult. THE ALPACA IN FRANCE.—A company has been formed in France, under the direct sanction of the Government, for the purpose of naturalising the Alpaca. REVIVAL OF ANCIENT FESTIVALS.—It is intended to revive on Monday, the 11th of June next, the ancient festival of the Shrewsbury Show, which had been a popular holiday for all classes since the reign of Henry IV., but has lately been un- honoured, Many of the nobility and gentry of the locality have subscribed to this revival." MODEL LODGING- IIOU.S ES. -Mr. Charles Cochrane has for- warded to us a circular he has issued relating to sanitary im- provements, &c. We give an extract concerning model lodging-houses, establishments which ought to be centupled —" I earnestly beg every well-wisher to his fellow-creatures to visit the model lodging-houses for single men, in George-street, Bloomsbury; wherein the residents, for 4d. per night, have most extensive comforts :—to visit the St. Anne's lodging- house, Compton-street, Soho, where the charge is 3s. per week —also to visit the houses at Bagnigge-wells, where rooms may he had at Is. 6d. per week, and houses from 3s. to 5s. per week, and every possible accommodation and comfort :-water, gas, and every essential being included. The Metropolitan-build- ings, St. Pancras-road, have accommodation for 110 families, at from 3s. to 5s. per week, with two and three-roomed floors, like the chambers of the Inns of Court; but with more con- venience and with greater cleanliness. The lodging-houses in Charles-street, Drury-lane, Newton-street, Holborn, for ser- vant women, and Peter-street, Westminster, possess every ne- cessary accommodation. "Jerrold's Weekly Netcs. NOT A VERY WISE SAW."—Tuesday last being the anniver- sary of the restoration of King Charles the Second, and also of the day on which he made his escape from his pursuers by ascending an oak at Boscobel, a citizen, wishing to appear a good and loyal subject, went out early in the morning to secure an oak bough to stick up at his door, in commemoration of the event. He perched himself upon a bough, and, with a hand saw, commenced sawing away most manfully to divest the tree of its limb, which he meant to display as the emblem of his loyalty. It happened, however, through "absence of mind," that ho. was plying the sawon the wrong side, and was destroying his sole support. At length, he was reminded of his mistake, by being precipitated, bough and all, to terra Jirma, from an altitude of about thirty feet. We are glad to state that he received but little injury from his descent, and we dare say the accident will teach him to "saw" more wisely in future.— Hereford Times. STATURE.—M. Quetelet gives the medium height of the French as 5 feet 3 inches. The English average is said to be 5 feet 7 inches.—Medical Times. LORD GOUGH, in reward for the victory of Goojerat, will .be immediately created a Viscount of the United Kingdom. I

MIII lignru. LIABILITY TO INSANITY.—From a table illustrative of the occupation and civil condition of the insane, it appears that the farmers and labourers, whose natural and healthy employments might be thought to bestow almost an exemption from this malady, afford no less than twenty per cent. of the whole number. The mercantile class, whose anxiety and feverish speculations might be supposed to irritate the nervous system far more than the unwearied and steady occupations of the farmer, yield only three per cent.; while among the females, the monotonous tone of an indolent of merely housewifery occupation seem to afford a parallel to the agricultural, their numbers bearing as high a proportion to the whole as forty-two um per cent. Does it not seem to follow, that the energetic em- ployment of all the powers of the brain, which is the necessary condition of a life of trade and business, is more favourable to the continuance of health than the partial employment of some faculties, and the stagnant condition of many others, as in the farming and domestic classes ? The medical profession supplied ten patients, and the clerical six. But what will be considered surprising is that the civil condition of married and single gave respectively almost equal proportions, the former being 545, naq the latter 564.—From Dr. Winslow's Journal of Physiologi- cal Medicine. THE CITY POLICE.-Accounts moved for by Lord Dudley Stuart, M.P., show that the receipts on account of the city of London police amounted in 1848 to E40,280, and the expendi- ture to £ 40,453. The total amount received in the several wards of the city in the same year upon the various police- rates levied on the inhabitants was £27,801 against C30,064 in 1847. CATTLE AND SHEEP —A return, obtained by Sir J. Young, M.P., shows that between the 5th of January, 1847, and the 5th of April, 1849, there were exported to Great Britain from Ireland 189,960 oxen, bulls, and cows 9,992 calves, 324,179 sheep and lambs, and 106,407 swine. During the year ended the 5th of April, 1849, the number exported from Ireland was 27,P85 oxen and bulls, 879 calves, 35,189 sheep and lambs, and 27,004 swine. THE POOR-LAW.—A return moved for by Mr. Wodehouse, M.P., states that the total number of officers of all classes employed in 591 unions of England and Wales for the year 1844-5 amounted to 8,290, and their salaries to £ 419,901. There were 590 clerks, 415 chaplains, 2,680 medical attendants, 1,257 relieving-officers, 1,238 masters and matrons, 284 school- masters, 423 schoolmistresses, 347 porters, 171 nurses, 20task- masters, 499 collectors, or assistant-overseers, 52 treasurers, and 264 other officers. The total expense of the Poor-law Com- mission for the year ended the 31st of March, 1849, amounted to £34,366. The rate in the pound which the charge for edu- cating the poor, together with that of medical relief to the poor, bears to the annual value of real property assessed to the pro- perty and income-tax in 1843 (viz., £ 85,002,735) is 28-100ths of a penny in the pound, or one farthing 3-25ths of a farthing in the pound. BOOK-BINDING.—Some idea may be formed of the extent of the London book-binding trade in the nineteenth century, when we state that the weekly consumptian of leaf gold enriching the exterior of books, amounts to about 3,600,000 square inches and the weight of paper-shavings sold annually by the London binders, cut off the edges of books, amounts to 350 tons OUR CONTINENTAL TRADE.—The idea of our foreign trade is nearly exclusively associated with our own distant colonial possessions—Canada, the West Indies, and Australia, with our Indian territory, with the United States, South America, and China,—while France, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland, are regarded only in the light of dangerous competitors. Yet so far from this being the case, our exports to the Hanseatic Towns alone (chiefly for German consumption) are nearly equal to our entire trade with our East Indian territory—the former representing a sum of £ 6,326,210, and the latter £6,434,456. To France our exports are nearly equal to the whole amount taken by the West India colonies and the Mauritius included, the former being £ 2,715,963, and the latter, £ 2,815,818. To Holland our exports exceed by nearly £ 300,000 the amount of our trade to all our North American possessions, the former being £ 3,576,469, and the latter only £ 3,308,059; while even Italy and the Italian Islands take our manufactures to the amount of no less than E 3,391,000. And lastly, Turkey is a larger customer by £ 300,000 a year than all our Australian possessions, the exports to the former being £ 1,749,000, while to the latter they amount but to E 1,44 1,000. Dividing our ex- port trade into four great heads:—1. To our colonies; 2. To our possessions in India 3. To foreign countries out of Europe; and 4. To continental Europe, including the shores of the Mediterranean; and taking the last published accounts for 18.4-j, we have the following proportions under each: 'L 1. To British colonies £ 8,074,805 2. To British India. 6,434,456 1. 3. To foreign countries out of Europe 16,606,412 4. To European countries. 26,671,203 Total -E57,786,876- But these amounts represent only our exports of British produce and manufactures. Besides these exports to the con- tinent of Europe, we enjoy a very extensive trade in the produce of distant countries shipped from our bonded warehouses. In the same year, for example, we find among such exports the I following articles:— Cocoa lb. 683,616 Coffee 11,749,000 Indigo cwt. 46,0-52 Cochineal 7,303 Lac dye 4,263 Opium. lb. 113,375 Quicksilver 1,597,000 Rice cwt. 328,000 Pepper lb. 2,874,000 Sugar. cwt. 270,000 Tea lb. 3,533,000 Tobacco 14,320,000 Cotton wool cwt. 588,667 Sheep's wool lb. 3,211,000 besides a great variety of minor articles. Taking, therefore, our entire trade to the continent of Europe, it must be estimated at considerably more than one-half of the whole export trade of this country; and, in respect even to British manufactures alone, it represents no less than 1:26,671,203 out of an entire sum of £ 57,785,876.

AMERICAN STATISTICS. Shipjnng.—During the year ending June, 1848, 1,851 vessels were built in the United States, whose tonnage exceeds 318,000. Among them were 215 ships, 174 brigs, and 175 steamboats. Patents.-Between the years 1790 and 1847, the United States Government issued 14,015 patents. To the New England States, 4,641; Northern States, 11,606; Southern States, 2.409 New York City, 1,787 Philadelphia, 916 Boston, 623; Baltimore, 430. Wealth.—The population of the United States is set down at 20,744,000, and the aggregate of personal and real property estimated at 8,294,570,000 dollars. New York is the richest State, her property being 912,000,000 dollars; Pennsylvania next, 850,000,000; then Ohio, 740,000,000; then Virginia, 508,000,000. The remainder of the States rank as follows — Indiana, 384,000,000 dollars; Tennessee, 380,000,000 Ken- tucky, 342,000,000 Massachusetts, 340,000,000; Illinois, 294,000,000; Alabama, 276,000,000; Mississippi, 256,000,000; South Carolina, 242,000,000; Missouri, 240,000,000 Maine, 24<>,000,000 Maryland, 193,000,000; Louisiana, 188,000,000; New Jersey, 167,000,000 Michigan, 148,000,000; Connecticut, 132,000,000; Vermont, 120,000,000; New Hampshire, 120,000,000; Arkansas, 60,000,000; Texas, 56,000,000 Iowa, 52,000,000 Rhode Island, 52,000,000 Wisconsin, 36,000,000 Delaware, 32,000,000 Florida, 30,000,000; District of Co- lumbia, 18,000,000 Oregon, 8,OUO,000. Trade.- The exports of domestic and foreign articles from the United States to other nations during the year ending June, 1848, are estimated at 154,036,436 dollars. The imports during the same period of time, 154,998,928 dollars. The exports to England alone exceed 71,000,000 dollars the imports from England were over 59,000,1)00 dollars. Among his domestic exports are the following. -Flour valued at over 13,000,000 dollars was exported from the United States during the year 1848 Indian corn and meal, over 5,500,0110 dollars tobacco, 7,500,000 dollars cotton, about 62,000,000 dollars pork, in various conditions, 9,000.000 dollars butter and cheese, 1,360,000 dollars in cotton goods, 4,866,000 dollars. Arrival of Emigrants.—The emigrant commissioners report 5,509 erhigrants arrived at the port of New York during the year in 1,041 vessels. Among them there were 3,079 sick, and 1,002 died; 98,961 came from Ireland, 23,061 from England, and 51^973 from Germany 16,820 had received aid from the commissioners. Colleges. The number of colleges at this moment, in the United^States, is 118 the number of students, under graduates, 9 and regular classes, about 10,000 but, including those in preparatory and professional studies, from 12,000 to 15,000. The number of graduates from New England Colic, et the last ) year was 412; which, added to those graduated from 40 lead- < ing colleges beyond New England, whose numbers had been ( ascertained, would make 1,189.

(Eiirignmt/ nlnmn. GARDENERS WANTED IN SYDNEY.—The Gardeners' Chroniclt publishes the following extract from a letter from Sydney, dated February 1, 1849i written, adds the editor, by a gentle- man of high standing and the greatest possible local knowledge of the country, and who, we may add, has no purposes of his own to serve. It may prove a useful guide to some who are unable to come to any decision for themselves :—" In case yott should know of gardeners desirous to emigrate, or unable to find employment, I may mention that there is a great dearth of them here I mean of steady, sober men, with a fair amount of skill in their calling; but for men of unsteady or intempe- rate habits this is a very bad place to come to. I pass scarcely a week without some inquiry from persons of respectability about gardeners. Wages are from about £ 25 to X40 per annum, with board and lodging. We arc giving what is equi- valent to JE60 per annum, with board, &c.. to men whose chief recommendations are zeal and fidelity rather than any particu- lar skill in their calling. Almost every article of consumption is so cheap here that the foregoing are better wages than they may seem to be to people in England. Almost every article of clothing is equally as cheap. Hardware and earthenware are dearer. Food, &c., exceedingly low in price. Flour, 10s. per lOOlbs.; beef, Id. to ldf. per lb. per quarter; tea, Is. 3d. per lb.; sugar, 2d. to 3d. per lb.; tobacco, best American manufactured, 3s. 6d. to 4s. per lb. (this is heavily taxed) excellent colonial wine retails in quantities above two gallons at 3s. to 4s. Look,' said a newly arrived immigrant, the other day, in my hearing, to a shipmate, as he held up a fine leg of mutton. I Look, I bought this for ninepence Men with large families will experience more difficulty in find- ing situations with private families than single men, or men with active wives and only one or two children but much will depend upon the kind of family. If old enough to work or to go out into service, and industriously inclined, this is just the country for such a family. Mere labourers obtain 20i per week, without board, in the Sydney market gardens. A professed hand might obtain much more. The great induce- ments to emigrate are the certainty of employment for them- selves and for their children, as soon as they are old enough to go into service, the extreme cheapness of food, and of most of the ordinary comforts of the working classes, and the salubrity of the climate. Certificates of character and qualifications, as ample as possible, should be brought by every emigrant. When respectably signed, t.hey greatly facilitate early employment in good situations." PROSPERITY OF IRISH EMIGRANTS TO AMERICA.—One of the most remarkable circumstances connected with the condi- tion of Ireland is the large amount of money still received from Irish settlers in the United States by their relatives in this country, to enable the latter to emigrate. According to the estimate of the late Jacob Harvey, of New York, the sums thus transmitted, within a single period of twelve months. amounted in the aggregate to £200,000; and there can belittle doubt that the remittances are now on a still greater scale. By every American mail, a considerable number of bills of ex- change for small sums, varying from iC5 to jE:20, but seldom higher than flO, are received in Dublin, and transmitted to the various country post-offices. In general, those bills are drawn by New York, Philadelphia, or New Orleans firms on banks in this country, and a large proportion of them are made pay- able by the Provincial Bank of Ireland and its branches. In consequence of the great number of persons of the same name —the liyans, O'Briens, O'Connells, &c.-in the different dis- tricts, much difficulty is often experienced in ascertaining the parties for whom the money is really intended, and the banks are frequently under the necessity of deciding between the rival claimants. PORT NATAL.—All who feel interested in the success of the cotton-growing experiment now making at Port Natal, will be glad to learn that Mr. Bergtheil, the spirited originator of the company, writes in the most favourable terms regarding their prospects. The following extract is from a letter recently re- ceived from Mr. Bergtheil Affairs in general at Natal we may venture to pronounce flourishing the emigrants who have lately arrived, especially the body of Germans introduced by myself, appearing perfectly contented. In reply to vour ap- plication for shares in the Natal Cotton Company on behalf of yourself and others, there are so few on the market that I must furnish you with the small quantity you require out of my own stock (myself and partner beinz large shareholders in [he company). The risk of shareholders does not extend beyond the capital amount of their shares. Five instalments have been paid up of £ 1 per share, and I do not anticipate that any of the remaining five calls will be made on the shareholders. I hand you a copy of a valuation which we received from our manager at the settlement (called 'Germany'), a very short time since, by which document you will see how very little risk there is in an undertaking like this as the total expendi- ture upon the settlement does not exceed (beyond a few hun- dred pounds) the valuations originally made—especially when you consider that we were not under the same advantages as English emigrants—who were privileged to reclaim from gu- vernment their passage money. In case you or any of Jour friends should enter into any undertaking at :Natal, I would most strongly advise you not to send out unmarried persons t;> your employ, as experience has already shown that single men have in scarcely any instance retained their habits of temper- ance and industry in our new colony and have only injured themselves and the name of the colony." NEW SOUTU WALES AND NEW ZEALAND.—All newspapers for Sydney and New South Wales, being now transmitted hv private ship, are liable to a postage of one penny each, which postage must be paid in advance, or the newspapers cannot be forwarded. EMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA.—The following is an extract of a letter from New South Wales, dated December 10, 1848 il \Ve have this year a fine harvest and plenty of rain—nature is as liberal of her smiles as she was last year of her frowns but the want of labour is severely felt. I have at this moment wheat spoiling on the field, and such reapers as I have been able to procure receive each l()s. per acre, as much meat, bread, tea, and sugar as they require, and three pints of wine per diem. The newly arrived emigrants are astounded at such profusion, and, with starvation in the mother country, we are unable to save a rich harvest in her colonies. The word gleaner' is obsolete. The great depression in the price of wool has affected us all—many have to refund thousands to the merchants, and, from comparative wealth, can scarcely ob- tain the next year's supplies. Rapid emigration, by lowering the scale of wages, would in a great measure remedy these fluctuations in the price of our principal commodity. Though not prejudiced in favour of this colony, my observation and experience here, as in many parts of the world, point out this country as the spot for a man of small—ay, or of large capital —to commence operations in. With every variety of soil, em- bracing every climate-with the rapidly increasing population of the neighbouring islands rendering this ere long the great mart of the south, here is a field adapted to the pursuits, ener- gies, and capacities of all." PROGRESS OF AUSTRALIA.—By last advices from Adelaide, the neighbourhood ef the famous Burra Burra mines, nearly 1,000 immigrants came in during one week. There are here five newspapers, of which three will come out daily on the 1st January, and every little settlement along the coast has its paper. Melbourne has now 18,001) inhabitants, Geelong 4,0 '0 and there are many other settlements springing up in all direc- tions. The country is steadily progressing, and can sustain a vast influx of population yet for many years to come. EMIGRATION IS SOCIAL EMANCIPATION.—To persons in the middle ranks of life, emigration is social emancipation. Con- vention is their tyrant; they are the slaves of mere appear- ance they are never able to escape from the necessity for an answer to the question, "What will Mrs. Grundy say II.iey must implicitly conform to the world around them, even to the number of rooms in their house, the servants they keep, the hats and gowns they wear. They cannot be seen in their own kitchen, to make their own markets, to carry their own luggage. Their clothes must be superfine, and the seams in- visible. They must not condescend to work, however wilnn" -And able. A glimpse of their wife at the wash-tub would be ruin to the whole family. Is it nothing to wise and worthy people to escape from all this thraldom ? The idleness, list- Lessness, total vacuity which produce in our daughters and sisters so much disease of body and of mind, can find no place in the settler's life. The weak spine, the facility of fatigue- the sick headache, the failing appetite, the languor, the resUess dissatisfaction which result from romance reading and the polka, are speedily put to flight by the exercise of cow milk- ing, butter churning, baking, cheese-pressing, and stocking- ctarnnig. To the man whose world has been his desk or hit counter, who can go nowhere without an omnibus, and do no- thing for himself, what a new world must be opened by his rifle and the woods, or his rod and the waterfall! What" new lie and vigour may he not draw by breaking his colt or yok ng is oxen, or scampering over the prairies, or sleighing fr.mi ouse to house in the way of good neighbourhood when the aright snow has made an universal road Think of the liberty 3 wearing hob-nails and frieze cloth; of living down to one's )w!i income in place of living up to one's nclghbour' 8.- Tilt Scti^er s ISeiv Homo, by S. Smith-