The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-01 00:00:00

EARTHQUAKE IN NEW ZEALAND.

Mr. AGLIONBY asked the Under-Secretary of State
for the Culoni,s wheOer any further accounts had been
received from New Zealand on the subject of the earth-
quake which had been telt there; and whether the ex-
tent and amount of damage is known.

Mr. HA WES replied that since the dispatches laid on
the table on the 25th of April no dispateht s had been
receivt d from the Governor- General, who then reported
the injury to be 50,000/. Official Gazettes had, however,
been since received, stating that a Commission had been
appointed, who had reported that the damage done to
the town of Wellington did not exceed 15,000/. or 15,000/.,
part of which would be paid out of the colonial fund.
He read a paper, stating that commercial confidence had
been restore d in the colony.
Sir C. BURRELL presented a petition from a place
in Surrey, praying fur protection to agriculture.
Mr. HEFUHES presented a petition from the Board
of Trade of Quebec against any alteration of the navi-
gation-laws.
OVERLOADING STEAMBOATS.
In reply to Mr. CARDWELL,

Mr. LABUUCHERE stated that the result of Cap-
tain Denhain's inquiries with respect to the overloading
of vessels plying in the Irish Channel, had led the Go-
vernment to the determination that they should enforce
the Act of last session for limiting the number of pas-
sengers according to the size of vessels.

CANADA.

In reply to Mr. HERRIES,

Mr. frA.wEs said it was not usual to read over ,the
proceedings of the Canadian Legislature during the
sitting of its session. He thought in this the Governor••
General had exercised a wise discretion.
THE DISTEE-sS IN IRELAND.

Lord J. RUSSELL said that he was anxious to
answer a question which had been put to him some time
before the recess, with resptc. to a report which h-d
been current in the newspapers, and which was said to
be founded on a letter addressed to him by the Rev. J.
Anderson, of Bstlinrobe.—(Hear, hear.) In that letter
the Rev. Gentleman was stated, in the first place, to
have said that he was particularly desirous to avoid say-
ing anything that might cause anxiety in the public m ud.
He (Lori.: J. Russell) had deemed it necessary to make
the fullest inquiries upon the subject, and he found by a
letter addressed to him by the Rev. Gentleman, dated
the 19th May, that the communication said to have bi>eL,
made the other day was written as long ago as last No-
vernber.—(Liear, hear.) By this letter it was shown
that the dreadful circumstance to which he referred oc-
curred in the Clittou Union. It had been stated that a
person drive❑ by want had cut out the liver and
heart of a shipwrecked body, in order to satisfy the
intense cravings of hunger, and that he was with
difficulty restrained from feeding upon such means for
a Maddening re past.—(Hear, hear.) The real circum-
stances were very different. It was true that a dead
body had been cast on shore, and that it had bt=en in
reality found by an individual who was represented as
being a person of singularly voracious appetite. He
found this body, and, without being aware that it was
human, was preparing to cut a portion of it away, but
sortie of the neighbours interfi red, and pointed out
what it was, when he immediately desisted.
Further, so far from this individual being in
went, he had been for a long period in regular employ-
ment by the farmers around, and in the receipt of good
wages for months past.—(Hear, hear.) He wished to
state these facts in order to disabuse the public of those
erroneous impressions which were likely to result from
such grievous misstatements of Irish distress.—(Cheers.)

Sir G. GREY said that he was anxious to read to th;
House a portion of a letter which he had received from
Lord Clancarty, in correction of a report which had
ascribed to his Lordship a statement of a great increase
in the mortality in the Limerick Union. By thii letter
it appeared that instead of increasing, the mortality had
decidedly decreased. (The Hon. Baronet then read a
letter to that effect.)