The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-26 00:00:00

PRICE OF GOLD.

The quotation of gold at Paris is about 1 per mine prem.,
and the short exchange on London is 25.15 per £1 sterling.
On comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3
17s. 100. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
nearly 2-10ths per cent. dearer in Paris than in London.

By advices from Hamburg the price of gold is 4211 per mark,
and the short exchange on London is 13.31 per £1 sterling.
Standard gold at the English Mint price is, therefore, at
about 2-10 tbs per cent. dearer in London than in Hamburg
The course of exchange at New York on. London for-bills,at
60 days' sight is about 14 ei t 0147 percept., and the premium
gold is about 33 per cent. At these rates there is a profit
on the importation of gold from the United'States. _ •

The 'tunneling of ,the Alps is being continued
with great activity. It is expected that the actual advance
of 3.8 metres every 24 hours will be carried up to 5.6 In., or
even 6 m., so that, unless some unexpected accident should
occur, the work will be finished in 1870. Some fears have
arisen about insufficient ventilation of the tunnel when
finished; engineers, however, fear there will be too much
air. The two Ends of the tunnel have a difference of level
of 131 metres; they will, therefore, never be at the same
temperature, and a current of air will thus continually tra-
verse the tunnel,—Mechanics' Magazine.
Monsieur Proudhon is about to rush to the rescue
of the Pope with a large pamphlet in bis band. It will be
something new to see Socialism patting Infallibility on the
back. Pius should reward his new champion with some
flattering gift. Why not appoint a spiritual Cotneil for
trying all offences of the Press, and appoint Mons. Proud-
hon to the head of it. In imitation of the French tribunal,
he might call it Ls Conseil des Proudhons.—Punch.

Mr. and the Hon. Mrs. Basset have returned
from Scotland, and intend wintering at their residence,
Roscrow, Cornwall.

Captain and Mrs. Duncombe, Mr. and Mrs.
Arbuthnot, and Miss Cotton have arrived at Brown's
Hotel.

Ati a gentleman was three evenings ago leaving
a cafe at Lyons to return home, he was accosted on cross-
ing the Place Bellecour by a well-dressed man, who, after
briefly stating that he was in great distress, said that he
was M. Edgard Quinet, known as having been from 1839
to 1842 Professor of Foreign Literature at the Faculty of
Letters at Lyons, and that unmerited misfortunes had re-
duced him to misery. The other, touched with compassion,
gave the applicant a franc; but the latter did not appear
satisfied, but kept still following, soliciting a further sum.
The gentleman becoming impatient, and feeling certain
that the fellow was an impostor, turned suddenly round
and laid hold of him by the collar, with the intention of
lodging him in the guard-house. The man, however,
tripped him up and ran off, leaving a part of the collar of
his coat behind.

THE WAR-OFFICE AND LOCAL RATES.—About
three years since an agreement was entered into between
the War Department and the Woolwich Local Board of
Health, by the terms of which tho former has hitherto paid
a yearly sum in lieu of rates on a fair assessment of the
Government property, which was valued for that purpose.
The Secretary for War has, however, declined to continue
this payment in full, on the ground that the Government
ought to be exempted from those items in the poor rate not
connected with the cost of the relief of the poor. A depu-
tation has been appointed to confer with the War Depart-
ment on the subject.

Two prisoners, named Keller and Stauffert,
effected their escape from the House of Correction, at Stras-
burg a few nights ago. By the help of a rope which had
been thrown to them from the outside, they managed to
scale the wall, and get into the street behind the corn-
market, and have not since been retaken.

An attempt was made a few nights back to
shoot a labourer, named Mettais, who resides at Bronstier
(Indre-et-Loire). He was returning home at about ten
o'clock, when a stranger approached him, and exclaiming,
" There is your reward," fired a pistol at him. The ball
struck the left sleeve of Mettais' blouse, without however
injuring him. Mettais immediately knocked down his as-
sailant with a stick which he was carrying, but fearing that
the other was not alone, he immediately took to flight
across the fields and gave information to the police. The
assailant got off,' and has remained undiscovered.

WHAT'S IN A NAME P—The fencing-master, who
figured as the instructor of the:luckless Dillon, b fore his fatal
duel with the Due de Grammont, bears the appropriate name
of Gate•chazr, which, literally translated, means " spoil-
flesh." It is hard to conceive flesh more sadly or sillily
spoiled than by pinking with the foils, which it is the busi-
ness of this At. Gate-chair to teach his pupils to handle :
Punch.

A NEW PoisoN.—A singular occurrence has
just taken place in Qued-el-Alleug, in Algeria, revealing the
poisonous qualit:es of one of the most beautiful plants
which adorn our gardens, viz., the Melia Asedaraacala, or
head-tree, or Japan lilac, class Decandria, order Mono-
gynia, producing magnificent bunches of yellow berries,
the pulp of which, however, is decidedly poisonous. The
occurrence alluded to is this : —On the Bth inst. a drove of
pigs belonging to M, Lescanne, of Oued-el-Alleug, was
taken out into a field of clover to feed. Shortly afterwards
many of them were seized with a sudden tremor, and then
fell down as if struck with
lightning. Upwards of 50
died on the first day, and 25 more on the second and third.
Upon inquiry it appeared that the swine-herds themselves
had administered a large quantity of the noxious berries of
the Melia to their animals. In order to leave no doubt as
to the causo of the disaster, four hundred grammes of the
berries were administered to three hogs; one of
which died immediately afterwards; another in the
course of an hour and a half, and the third, being much
stronger, died in the course of the night. The effects pro-
duced were those of a narcotic poison. lt is singular enough
which is insensible to many other poisons,
tandhat t h
wille
hog,
our rattlesnakes without feeling any inconve-
nience even from their deadly bite, should be so easily
affected by the berries of the Melia ; and it is still more re-
diuretic. The bead-
treeMarkable that the bark of the same plant is used as a sub-
stitute for Peruvian bark in intermittent fevers, while the
by cut-
tingdorfinthke,
pfiroowviedreindgitbbued
leaves are vulnerary, vermifuge, and
cony,
obtained.
drunk
collecting
before
ite sap,tur nasnt do
also yields gum and a kind of todd
letting it stand a few hours to ferment
eery opffaltahtaebtliep It then becomes a
dru.
vinegar, which in hot weather it does by
drawn in the morning. evening tide, if

The accounts to be submitted at the meeting of
proprietors of the London and Chartered Bank of
Australia on the sth December are of a fairly satis-
factory character, inasmuch as they show a balance
of profit and loss for the half-year ending the 30th
June last amounting to £46,000, which is about
£lO,OOO more than was shown in the previous half
year's accounts. The amount of capital on which
dividend is to be paid having, however, been in-
creased to £1,000,000, the dividend is at the same
rate as previously declared, viz., 4 per cent. for the
half-year. £5,000 is proposed to be carried to the
reserved fund, and the balance to be carried for-
ward to next half-year is £9,526, the balance
brought into the present account having been
148,626:

THIRD EDI riON.

SUN OFFICE, -SEVEN O'CLOCK.

SPAIN.

The Madrid journals of the 22d state that the
Queen, on the occasion of her fete day, gave a grand
banquet at Court. On the right of her Majesty
was the Infante Don Francis, and on her left the
Infante Don Sebastian. On the right and left or
the King were Mme. Barret, the wife of the foreign
ambassador, and the Duchess de Tetuan, and next
to the latter was M. Barrot. Gen. Conch, the
Spanish Ambassador at Paris, has been authorised
by his Government to proceed to Madrid to take his
seat in the Senate, if the state of public affairs would
allow him to quit his post, and he should think pro_
per to do £O.