311tortltampuo.

Mr. Sidney Herbert has issued the following-circular to Lords-lieu- tenant of counties :—

" War Office, Oct. 14. '" My Lord—I have the honour to inform you that her Majesty's Govern- ment have determined to issue immediately to Rifle Volunteer Corps an ad- .ditional supply of long Enfield rifles (pattern 1853), to the extent of 26 per cent on the effective strength of the corps. This supply will raise the aggre- gate issue to 50 per cent on the effective strength of -the force ; and I have --to request that you will-be good enough to communicate this decision of the ..Government to.the commanding officers of the various corps.in your county, who should at once forward the prescribed requisitions to this office for such portion of-the supply as they may.be.entitled to under the regulations. At a later period 'I shall be prepared 'to issue a third instalment of arms of the same pattern as the 50 per cent now granted. And I hope to bein a position, in the course of next summer, to supply the short rifle with sword bayonet, to a limited extent, -in exchange •for -the 'long one at present issued. I have the honour to add, that the amount of ammunition for ef- fective members: to be issued at cost price, on the requisition of -the com- manding officer, is raised from too, rounds balls :per man, 60 rounds blank -per man, 176 peroussion caps per man, 20 percussion caps per man for snap- -ping practice (aslaid down in the memorandum of the 13th of July), to 200 rounds balls per man, 120 rounds blank per man, 352 percussion caps per man, 40 percussion caps per man for snapping practice. I have the honour to be, my.Lord, your obedient-servant, .SIDNEr HERBERT." The volunteer movement is everywhere advancing most satisfactorily. Two of the Scot& corprehave had thelonour of attending on`the Queen, -that or Glasgow'being present at the opening-of the loch'ilatrinelWater Works, that-Of 'Edinburgh lining the road from Holyrood -to the station on the email°. n of her Journey south. The Marylebone and London City 'Rifle Corps are now numerous and important. The West York regiment is very strong, and divided into several companies. It is ex-

pected that before Midsummer the whole corps will be able to muster 2000 men.

Admiral Sir Charles Napier, in a letter published by all the ,papers, denounces several evils in the present-vstem of manning the navy. The men are too much drilled and excessively confined to their ships.

" Drill is always irksome, and as much indulgence should be shown as possible. Some captains have no idea of this, and are at it morning, noon, andnight ; while both captain and officers go on shore-for their amusement, and the men are kept on board, sometimes seeing their wives rowing round the ship and not allowed to come on board, a distant view of their wives being the only matrimonial comfort allowed them."

The practice of deferring the payment of the men leads the sailors into debt, and drives them to the slopsellers for their clothes. He suggests as to the naval reserve-

" It appears to me the formation of the reserve must be begun with men who have served ten years in actual service. At present those men are en- titled to a pension ; that should be abolished, and they should be only en- titled to enter the reserve. They should be designated the ' Queen's Naval Guards ;' they should be exempt from corporal punishment when serving ; they should be.men of exemplary conduct, and after having been ten years in the reserve, they should receive a good pension, but subjected to be called upon, if fit, and wanted, and then designated the Old Guard,' and receive, as they do now, both pay and pension. They should be eligible to civil situations, and care should be taken to employ them if fit. If artificers they should be preferred to others, to serve in the dockyards, which is never thought of; on the contrary, the dockyard officers are generally against them. This ought not to be."

A protest against the abduction and detention of the boy Mortara has been signed by the Archbishops of Canterbury, York, and Dublin, and a long list of illustrious English names, including many noblemen and gentlemen of public eminence. The protest refers to the fact that the efforts of the Jews to obtain restitution have failed, and adds :-

" And whereas it is a dishonour to Christianity in the eyes of the Jews among all nations that the seizure and detention of the said child, Edgar -Mortara, should be supposed to be consistent with the principles of the Christian religion : now we, the undersigned British Christians, do hereby protest and declare that the proceedings of the Popo of Rome in taking away the Jewish child, Edgar Mortara, from his parents, and educating him contrary to his parents' will, in the Roman Catholic faith, are repulsive to the instincts of humanity, and in violation of parental rights and authority, as recognized in the laws and usages of all civilized nations, and, above all, in direct opposition to the spirit and precepts of the Christian religion."

The Times of Thursday published a very interesting letter from a lady at Bologna to her dearest brother in England. [Is the writer Madame Mario olim Miss Jessy limiton White ?] It describes the chi- valrous leader, Garibaldi, and the excessive affection in which ho is held by his followers of all ranks. The letter is far too long for our columns, and it is not of a nature to be advantageously abridged.

In the same number of the Times was reprinted a very remarkable paper by Mr. Stephen Cave, M.P., whom our readers will remember well as a champion of the West Indies when Negro emancipation was so prematurely and arbitrarily imposed upon them. We are unable to deal with Mr. Cave's paper this week, but shall recur to it. It is remarkable for its practical tendency, and for the tone of considerate impartiality with which it refers to the convictions, and even the conduct, of his opponents in times past. It is a very valuable contribution towards the future management of the West Indies.

A statement in the Globe explains the neglected condition of General Havelock's tomb at Alumbagh. " Sir Henry Havelock objected to the tomb being erected at the public expense, and supplied Major Crommelin with funds to make a vault to receive the body. Not having approved of any of the designs made in India for the monument, Sir Henry is having one prepared in England, which will be executed on the spot, where stone and marble are ready:" The Great Eastern has been visited this week by two distinguished persons. On Monday the Prince Consort left Penrhyn Castle at an early hour and went by train to Holyhead. From the pier he embarked on a small steamer, and was taken round the great ship to observe her pro- portions ; and then going on board he minutely inspected the whole vessel, remaining an hour before returning to Bangor. On Tuesday Prince Napoleon came to Holyhead accompanied by a numerous party. He made the grand tour of the ship, and stayed on board several hours.

It has beep decided not to send the Great Eastern to America during the present year, and her departure from England is postponed sine die. She is, however, to be taken to Southampton within ten days.

A scheme is promulgated by the Post Office authorities among the em- ployes of the service for encouraging life assurances, by which, through weekly or monthly deductions from wages or salaries, the amount ne- cessary to effect policies may be provided. The arrangement appears to be very satisfactory, and the following seven offices, namely, the London Assurance, the Mutual, the 'North British, the Norwich Union, the Pro- vident Clerks', the Provident Life, and the Scottish Widows' Fund, have already agreed to adjust a scale by which the plan can be carried out. Of course other offices are not debarred from submitting proposals.

The Prince of Wales commenced his studies at Oxford University on Monday.

The Lord Provost of Edinburgh has been knighted by the Queen, and is now Sir John Melville.

According to an official announcement, the Emperor of Russia will arrive at Breslau on Saturday morning next, and will take his departure on Sunday evening. The Prince Regent of Prussia will arrive here on Friday next.

The Earl &Westmoreland, recently best-known as our Minister atVienna, died on Sunday evening, at the family seat, Apthorpe House, Northamp- .tonshire. die had attained his seventy-fifth year. In early life he served as a Cavalry officer, and as Lord Burghersh acquired distinction with Wellington in Spain. He also acted as British Military COM- -missioner with the Allied Armies in the campaigns of 1613 and 1814. He is succeeded in the title by 'Lord Burghersh, who was one of 'Led

Raglan's aide-decamps at the battle of the Alma, and was honoured with the mission of bringing home the despatches announcing the victory.

The death of Sir Thomas Tassell Grant, K.C.B., late Controller of the Victualling and Transport Service in the Admiralty, is announced. He was for over forty years a zealous and valuable civil servant. His ap- plication of steam-machinery to the manufacture of bread and biscuits for the Navy proved of extensive utility in the Crimean war. He was also the author of an invention for distilling fresh from sea-water. The distilling apparatus fitted up under his direction in the Wye was capable of supplying 10,000 gallons of fresh water daily.

The annual wreck register, drawn up by the Board of Trade, contains this year, as usual, a large number of highly, interesting statistics. At the outset, it is satisfactory to find that 1555 lives were rescued in 1858 by life-boats, other boats, and ships, and by the rocket and mortar apparatus, and that out of 1895 lives in equal peril from shipwreck, 340 only were lost. This number is still too large, and it must not be forgotten that the average number of lives lost during the past seven years, including the number in 1858, is 745. The number of wrecks seem to have been about the average, namely, 869, while the number of collisions is above the average of the last six or seven years-301. One hundred and seventy:two vessels were lost from stress of weather, 58 from defects in ships or equipments, including charts and com- passes ; and 69 from various other causes more or less avoidable.

Ten thousand nine hundred and two persons have been saved from ship- wreck by lifeboats and other means since the establishment of the National Lifeboat Institution ; 28.0611. have been expended by it on lifeboat es- tablishments; and 11,6511., besides gold and silver medals, for saving life have been voted. Many new lifeboats are yet needed on the coast. On the coast of Scotland there is a sad want of lifeboats. It is along this coast a large portion of our trade with the Baltic, Greenland, Archangel, Davis's Strait, and much of that of the Canadian and United States trade is carried on. In addition to this traffic the Scotch coast is remarkable for its great herring fishery. Peterhead has its 250 fishing boats ; Fraserburgh and Buckie more than 400 sail ; while further north, off the coast of Caithness, more than 1200 fishing boats, manned by 6000 persons, nightly pursue their calling during the season, exposed to the proverbial suddenness of a north-east gale. About two years ago, during a fearful gale of wind, of a fleet of such boats five were lost, from which 42 men were drowned, leaving 27 widows and 79 orphans unprovided for. Since then calamities to Scotch fishermen nearly equal in magnitude have occurred. Within the last two or three months the National Lifeboat Institution has made an ur- gent appeal to the Scotch people generally for assistance to station ad- ditional lifeboats on their coast ; but that appeal has met with little re- sponse from them. The following table shows the loss of vessels on different parts of the coast :—

Vessels.

East Coast—Dungeness to Pentland Frith 514 West Coast—Land's End to Greenock 304 South Coast—Land's End to Dungeness 89 Irish Coast 168 Scilly Islands 14 • Lundy Island 15 Isle of Man 6 Northern Isles, Orkney, &c 60 Total 1170

A large number of the vessels lost were under 50 tons burden-199 out of the whole 1170, but the class of vessels whose tonnage is between 100 and 300 tons has suffered most, 467 vessels of the former having been lost. 352 vessels between 50 and 100 tons were also lost ; 96 between 300 and 600 ; 28 between 600 and 900; 23 between 900 and 1200 ; and 5 above the last- named tonnage.

Mr. Rarey has been exhibiting his wonderful horse-taming powers this week both in Edinburgh and Glasgow. At the former city he overcame a horse so savage that the owner, though a former pupil of his own, had given up his education in despair.

In 1850 it was computed that the friendly societies of this country in- cluded 3,052,000 members, were in receipt of an annual revenue of 5,000,0001., and possessed an accumulated capital of 11,360,000/.—.Builder.

A medal struck in the honour of the late Lord Dudley Stuart (the result of a subscription amongst the Polish exiles), was presented on Monday last to Lord Harrowby„ brother-in-law to the lamented friend of Poland. The medal had been intended for Lord Dudley's sister (the Countess of Har- rowby), but her ladyship having since died, it has now been presented to her widowed husband.

Considerable excitement has been caused within the last few days at North-Tawton, a small town in the north of Devon, in consequence of the following occurrence :—Six children, belonging to different families, were seized with vomiting, and Dr. Budd, a.physician, on being called in, stated that they had been poisoned. On inquiry it was ascertained that they had eaten coloured sweetmeats called "birds' nests," which were purchased in the fair of a man named Ryan, of North-Tawton. All of that description were shortly afterwards seized by Mr. Superintendent Grant, of the county con- stabulary, who was informed by Ryan that he had purchased them of a con- fectioner of Exeter named Sherry. On the following day Superintendent Grant obtained a warrant and took possession of a quantity of colouring matter, found on the premises of Sherry, and handed it over to a chemist for analysis.

Fifty lashes were inflicted on a soldier of the 88th on Monday. His offence was striking a sergeant without the least provocation,—and he had borne a bad character for years. He is, in addition to the flogging, to be imprisoned for 180 days.

It is a singular fact curiously coinciding with the recent failure of " Big Ben" and the intended recasting, that the bell of St. Paul's was recast three times.

The result of the official inquiry into the wreck of the Alma is, that the certificate of competency of William Henry Davies, " first officer " of the ship, has been suspended for twelve months.

The property of the Great Western Railway at Paddington has been as- sessed to the parochial rates at 20,0001. per annum.

A novelty in locomotion was witnessed and wondered at on Wednesday. A large boiler was propelled by a single engine through the Strand withou t causing any inconvenience to the traffic.

The Courrier du _Havre states that a project is under consideration for re-

moving to a distance of 15 leagues from Paris all the great workships of the ys The total sum hitherto subscribed in Piedmont for the relief of the families

of those who have fallen during the war amounts to 270,000 francs.

Professor Kiss, from Berlin, has shown his gratitude to the miner& sources of Karlsbad by .presenting the _ town with a magnificent colossit tiger's head in bronze, killing a serpent, which has been erected on the road to Marienbad, near ihe promenade, in such a way that the tiger's need emerges from a cavern, and creates in every spectator the illusion as if the rest of the body was in the cavern. On a slab under this fine piece of art are the words, " In grateful Remembrance, by Kiss in Berlin, 1859."

It is stated that, notwithstanding the capture of Schamyl, the Caucasus is far from being entirely subdued. The Invalide Busse announces that the mountaineers have another chief, named Mahomed Amin, not less intrepid and fanatical than Schamyl, and who may still resist one or two winters. The Russian army in the Caucasus, which is composed of 60,000 men, cannot be reduced for some time to come.

An illustrious cricket-match took place at New York on the third of this month, _eleven English players contending against twenty-two Americans, and obtaining a grand victory. None of the twenty-two made a larger score than seven in either innings, while Hayward, an English player, scored thirty-two, and was "not out" even then. The total American score was 92 for both innings ; and as the English players scored 156 in their first, the second was not played.

We are glad to learn that Captain Macmeckan, of the Omeo, was enemas- ful in landing two and a half-dozen carp, which he took with him from England, with the object of domesticating them in Victoria. They are now in the care of Mr. Brown, of Como, a locality situated on the Upper Yarra. The four dozen English thrushes have also arrived, consigned directly fo Dr. Mueller by Mr. Edward Wilson.—Australian and Neje Zealand Gazette.