The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-07-04 00:00:00

THE COURT

Prince Albert presided on Wednesday afternoon at a
meeting of the Royal Commission of the Patriotic Fund.
His Royal Highness arrived at the Palace of Westminster
at three o'clock, attended by Colonel F. H. Seymour. The
meeting broke up at a quarter past six o'clock. The
Queen, accompanied by the Princess Royal and the
Princess Charlotte of Belgium, and attended by the Hon.
Flora Macdonald, took a drive in an open landau and four
on Wednesday afternoon. The Countess de Neuilly, the
Duke and Duchess de Nemours, the Prince and Princess
de Joinville, and the Duke and Duchess d'Aumale, visited
the King of the Belgians at Buckingham Palace. The
King of the 'Belgians visited the Duchess of Kent at
Clarence-house, St. James's. His Majesty, accompanied by
the Princess Charlotte of Belgium and the Count of
Flanders, paid visits to the Duchess of Gloucester and
the Duchess of Cambridge in the afternoon, at their
respective residences. Her Majesty, on Wednesday night,
gave a state concert at Buckingham Palace, and, for the
first time, in the new ball and concert room, a spacious
orchestra, rising from the floor to the organ gallery,
having been built for the orchestra. A party of near 500
were invited, comprising the Royal Family, the Foreign
Ambassadors, Ministers, and Charges d'Affaires, and a

large party of the nobility. Her Majesty and the Prince
Consort, with the Princess Royal, accompanied by the
King of the Belgians, the Princess Charlotte of Belgium,
the Count of Flanders, the Duchess of Kent, Prince Oscar
of Sweden, the Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess
Mary, and the Duke of Cambridge, entered the ball and
concert room about ten o'clock. The Queen wore a dress
of white silk, with three flounces brocaded in roses and
gold, trimmed with gold blonde. The jewels worn by her
Majesty on her head consisted of opals and diamonds.
The Duchess of Kent wore a dress of white brocaded silk
trimmed with blonde. Her Royal Highness's head dress
was formed of gold blonde, with ornaments of amethysts
and diamonds and ostrich feathers. The Duchess of
Cambridge wore a dress of white glace silk with three
skirts richly embroidered with white bugles and chenille'
each skirt edged with chenille fringe. The necklace and
stomacher of diamonds and emeralds. Her Royal High-
ness wore a tiara of pearls and diamonds with lilac
feathers. The Princess Mary of Cambridge wore a double
skirt white tulle dress, with reversed bouillonnes from top
to bottom, over a rich glace white silk petticoat, trimmed
with bows and loops of pink ribbon, the body ornamented
with blonde and pink bows, each bow having a diamond
star in the centre. The necklace was diamonds. The
Princess wore round her head a wreath of pink and white
moss rosebuds, with diamond stars intermingled. The
Princess Royal wore a dress of white crepe lisse over a
petticoat of white silk, trimmed with bows of satin
ribbon. The head dress was composed of pink roses.
The general company followed her Majesty and the
royal party into the ball and concert room. The gentle-
men appeared in full dress, and the members of orders of
knighthood wore their respective insignia. Directly after
the entrance of the Queen the concert commenced. The
orchestra, of nearly 120 performers, comprised her Ma-
jesty's private band, with several of the leading instru-
mentalists from the Philharmonic Society, the Royal
Italian Opera, and her Majesty's Theatre. uThe chorus of
sixty voices was selected from the Royal Italian Opera,
the ladies of the Royal Academy of Music, and the Sacred
Harmonic Society. The orchestra was conducted by Mr.
Anderson director of her Majesty's private band ; Mr.
W. G. dusins, the organist of her Majesty's private
chapel, presiding at the organ.

ARMY PROMOTIONS.—Major-General Sir Richard Eng-
land and Major-General Sir Colin Campbell are about to
be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Gcneral in the
Army.

MINING COMPANY OF IRELAND.—Yesterday, at the
half-yearly meeting of this company, held in Dublin, a
dividend for the half-year, a the rate of ten per cent per
annum,lfree of income tax, was declared.

DEATH OF THE COUNTESS OF ST. GERMAINS.—We
regret to announce the death of the Countess of St
Germains, which took place on Wednesday at Dover.
street. Her ladyship was the daughter of the last
Marquis Cornwallis by his wife, the sister of the last
Duke of Gordon.

THE ENTRY OF THE GUARDS INTO LONDON.—We can
positively state that, up to the present time, no definite
arrangements have been made for the entry of the
Guards into London. The final arrangements cannot be
completed until the Scots Fusilier Guards shall have
arrived at Aldershott. The ships conveying the brigade,
left Gibraltar on the 24th ult., and up to the time of our
going to press, they had not arrived at Portsmouth. It
is expected that in about two days after their arrival at
that port, will be the period fixed for their re-entry.

NEW ZEALAND.--A. despatch (from Plymouth, Wednes-
day, July 2nd, informs us that the William and Jane,
Captain Hunter, which left Canterbury, New Zealand, on
the 27th of March, is off that port, bound to London.
She has on board 1,100 bales of wool, being the first cargo
from Canterbury. The General Assembly was to meet
on the 3rd of May. The Provincial Council was sitting
at Canterbury, where the new settlement is progressing
most favourably ; the wheat crops and all the cereals
had been gathered, and were most abundant; the crops
of potatoes had failed in consequence of the heavy rains.
Flour, £3O per ton ; beef, 5d per lb ; and mutton 4d to
5d per lb, wholesale.

APPREHENSIONS OF ANOTHER KAFFIR WAR.—The South
African Commercial Advertiser, of the 24th of April, gives
alarming intelligence from the Cape of Good Hope. In
the Council on the 23rd, messages were received from his
excellency the Governor, transmitting a correspondence
which had taken place between the President of the Free
State and Moshesh, great chief of the Basutos, with regard
to the boundary line. The President of the Free State
expressed his fears that a bloody war was impending
between the Free State and the Basutos. He expressed
his belief that a great combination was being formed
between the Kaffir chiefs against the Europeans. The
President a'so stated that he was about to expel a number
of Zulus who had squatted on the farms of inhabitants of
the State, who were becoming very troublesome by their
thefts, and who threatened to cut off all communication
with Natal. The Governor informed the council that on
receiving this information, and on account of the alarming
rumours which had reached him from the frontier of this
colony, he had sent to Mauritius], requesting the imme-
diate assistance of one regiment of her Majesty's troops.
The government of the colony has to deal with a financial
difficulty, the revenue during the last two years having
fallen below the expenditure of .€66,000.

FIRE AT HAIJSBIIRG'S EXTENSIVE ESTABLISHMENT.—A
little before three o'clock yesterday morning, a fire was
d'scovered in the jewellers' workshop attached to Mr.
Hausburg's premises, in Church-street, which, at first,
presented an alarming appearance, but through the
activity and prompt assistance of the West of England
firemen, who run their engine down by hand, it was
extinguished in about half an hour, but not until con-
siderable damage was done, but the precise amount
cannot be sated. The building is insured in the West
of England and Norwich Union offices, and the stock in
the same, and many others.
FATAL ACCIDENT.—A little boy, about fourteen years of
age, whose name is at present unknown, but who, it is
supposed, from an invoice found on him, was an errand boy
in the employment of Mr. Britton, druggist, of the Old
Hay-market, was, yesterday evening, killed in Old Hall-
street. He was drawing a handcart, and, as is the custom,
was holding on by a lorry to help himself along. The lorry
suddenly stopped, and be was unfortunately crushed between
the two vehicles. He was at once taken to the Northern
Hospital, but he almost immediately died. No blame was
attributable to the driver of the lorry.