Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843 - 1893), Saturday 27 January 1844, page 3


BRITISH EXTRACTS.

SPORTING.-DONCASTER RACES.-On Mon-day, September 11, the Champagne Stakes were won in a canter by The Cure (Heseltine), beating Sister to Martingale and eight others.-On Tuesday, the Cleveland Handicap was won by a head by Knight of the Whistle (Nat), beating Blue Bonnet and three others; the St. Leger (127 subs), won by a head by Nutwith (Mason), Cotherstone second, and Prizefighter thirdnine only started.-On Wednesday, the Great Yorkshire Handicap was won by a head by Pompey (M. Noble), beating Venus, Lothario, and thirteen others:-On Thursday, the Threeyear-old Stakes were won easily by Cotherstone (F. Butler), beating Napier and Aristides ; the Two-year-old Stakes were won easily by the Princess (F. Butler), beating All-round-my-hat and The Cure; the Doncaster Cup (value 300 guineas), was won easily by Alice Hawthorne

(Heseltine), beating Charles XII., Arundo, and

six others.

COST OF RAILWAYS.-The London and Black-wall Railway cost £326,670 per mile, which is the highest cost of any railway in the kingdom. The Greenwich copes next for expensiveness, and cost £264,733. The three lines which were executed at the lowest cost per mile are the Ar-broath and Forfar, the Aylesbury Junction and the Hayle Railways, which severally cost £9,130, £8,710, and £6,940, per mile. The London and Birmingham cost £53,780 per mile; the Great Western, £55,330; and the South-Western, £27,750. The Liverpool and Manchester cost £49,320 per mile; the Manchester and Leeds, £59,800 ; and the London and Brighton, £64,370.

Money continues as abundant as ever; the rate of interest is scarcely 2 per cent, upon the most approved securities. The directors of the Bank, however, keep up their price, demanding 3 per cent, for advances upon the deposit of bills of exchange, exchequer bills, and India bonds. As mercantile affairs are decidedly improving, money will be required for investment in trade, Which may ere long affect the prices of the funds ; they are at present, high, on account of the few opportunities of late for profitable em-ployment of capital.-Atlas.

ESCAPE OF SIX PRISONERS FROM GAOL.--

On the 12th September, a daring and successful escape was made from Rushen Castle, Isle of Man, by six prisoners confined there. It was commenced by a lad named Hughes, who, after getting outside himself, actually broke in at a lower door to let his fellow-prisoners out. The last thing seen of them was when spanking away in the direction of Ireland, in a large pleasure-boat they had appropriated on reaching the

beach.

The keel of a new steam vessel, to be called the Janus, is now laid down ; it is about 180 feet in length. She is to be built on a plan proposed by the Earl of Dundonald, and will have two rudders ; so that she will be able to run both

ways. It is supposed that this steamer is destined for some foreign river station.-Plymouth Paper.

HEALTH OF THE METROPOLIS.-Diarrhoa

complaints prevail to an extent somewhat alarm-ing. During the week ending Saturday last there have been eighty deaths in the metropolis from that source alone. In the six weeks from the 5th of August to the 10th of September the registered number of deaths have been two hundred and seven from diarrhea, fifty-nine from dysentry, and twenty-eight from cholera an unusually large number.-Britannia.

It is reported that the French government intend to send an embassy to China about the middle of October, to which are to be attached several commercial delegates.

General Nogueras one of the Spanish refu-gees attendant on Espartero, had been publicly charged by Lord Ranelagh with being the man who procured the execution of the mother of Cabrera; an aged woman, who had been taken prisoner by the Christinos. Lord Ranelagh's object was the exclusion of the General from the banquet to which Espartero and his suite had been invited by the Lord Mayor, at the

Mansion House.

EXPEDITION TO ASCERTAIN THE FATE OF COLONEL STODDART AND CAPTAIN CONOLLY.A meeting had been held in London to consider the propriety of raising a subscription for the purposed sending out the Rev. Dr. Wolff to Bokhara,'to ascertain the fate, and if possible endeavour to procure the release, of the unfor-tunate Colonel Stoddart and Captain Conolly. It was stated that Dr. Wolff had expressed his willingness to make the trial, and on the motion of Mr. J. S. Buckingham a committee was appointed to raise the necessary subscriptions, and arrange the details of the expedition.

AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY.-A meeting of agriculturists in the Lothians of Scotland recently formed themselves into a society for the purpose of endeavouring to apply the discoveries of modern chemistry to the science of agricul- ture. A committee, consisting of six members of this society, and three from the Highland Society was formed and subscriptions taken for carrying the views of the society into effect. At a meeting held lately in Edinburgh this committee reported to the society that £645 had been collected, and that candidates for the situation of agricultural chemist had presented themselves. The result was that ten chemists had offered themselves for the situation, all distinguished for their attainments in chemistry, and two of them foreigners ; but the committee recommended that the subscribers should make choice of Professor Johnston, of Durham, who had offered for a salary of £500 a year, secured to him for five years, to attend in Edinburgh for eight months in the year, and to provide, on his own responsibility, a properly qualified substitute

for the other four; Mr. Johnston's terms were

to give' two analyses in the year to every sub- scriber, at Tates varying from 3s. to 5s., and as many more as they pleased at one half the price of these two. On the motion of Mr. Alexander, of Southbar, seconded by Lord Murray, the report was approved of, and Professor Johnston elected to'the office on the terms specified. The duties of the professor will be to analyze soils, and also manures; to ascertain what element has been'taken'from the soil by the previous crop, and the manure which ought to be applied in the circumstances, and according to the nature of the plant to be grown. From the discoveries of Liebeg, and the experiments of Dr. Johnston himself, much good is expected in Scotland from the appointment of an agricul-tural chemist, and the result of his labours on a large scale.-Britannia.