Star.
London, England, 1824-12-28 00:00:00

IX.-STEAM-PACKET TO INDIA.

This is the boldest attempt hitherto undertaken for
the application of steam to a sea•voyage : yet it appears
to be calculated with every chance of success. The
vessel is of 500 tons burthen, to be fitted for passengers
only, and is now building at Deptford. She is to be
completed with machinery of the best description by
Maudsley, and will be commanded-by a Lieutenant of
the Royal Navy, who is well acquainted with the seas!
she will have to traverse. Between decks there are ten'
cabins, each furnished with a water-closet, the two
stern cabins are ten feet nine inches by seven feet sii ;
the eight other cabins ate each seven feet three wide,
but differ in length from seven feet nine to eight feet
ten. The vessel will be equally adapted for sailing and
steaming. She will touch at the Cape to take in a fresh
supply of coals and other necessaries, will proceed
thence to Madras, and finally to Calcutta ; and upon a
moderate calculation it is estimated that she will make
the whole voyage from London to Calcutta in less than
two months.

No prospectus of this particular undertaking has yet
been published; but the expense of equipping this
vessel will be defrayed by a few indi►iduals, leaving
the feture extension of the establishment dependent on

the success of the enterprise.

L-AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY.

This Compasy has already been incorporated by Act
of Parliament, and reckons among its Directors no less
than fifteen Gentlemen, who are also Directors of the
Bank of England, or of the East India Company, be-
sides several Members of Parliament of both sides of
the House.
The object of the incorporation is a truly national
one, viz. to promote the agriculture of the important
and extensive colony of New South Wales, more espe-
cially in growing fine wool for the use of the British
manufacturer. 'lO facilitate so laudable an undertaking,
his Majesty's Government has wisely offered, under cer-
tain conditions, a grant to the Company of one million
of acres, or an extent of land somewhat larger than the
county of Kent. Considerable as this grant may ap-
pear, yet, when we consider the vast extent of unoccu-
pied territory in that Colony, and the great public
utility which will•arise from the exertions of the Com-
pany, we cannot but regard it as an act of enlightened
policy, and more a matter of- justice than of favour.'
New South. Wales is nearly 2000 miles in length, and
1400 in breadth : it is remarkable for the salubrity of
its climate, for the extent of its rich pastures, and for
the fertility with which it yields all the finest products
of the Temperate Zone. It is well calculated for the
growth of timber, wheat, tobacco, hemp, flax, olives,
grapes, and all kinds of luscious or useful fruits; but
of all its productions none is more valuable or produced
in greater perfection than fine wool. The sheep is not
an indigenous animal, but several flocks of Merinos
have been transported thither, where they multiply ra-
pidly, and prove excellent in fleece; insomuch, that their
proprietors to the colony have already realised consider.
able sums by exporting the wool to this country, where
the fineness of the quality Commands a ready sale at
high prices.
It is hoped and believed that, at no distant period,
by the exertions of the Australian Company, New
South Wales wool will be supplied in such abundance,
as to render us independent of the supply which we now
draw from the Continent of Europe, and which
amounted last year to upwards of twenty millions of
pounds weight!
Next to the produce of wool, the Company look to
a profit on the breeding of cattle and other live stock,
and the raising of corn, tobacco, &c. for the supply of
the Colonists : and at a more distant period they expect
to export to Great Britain, wine, oil, hemp, flax, silk,
opium, &c.
The Capital of this Company amounts to one Million
Sterling, in Shares of 1001. each.

VL-KENTISH RAIL-WAY COMPANY.
The intention of this Company is to lay down an iron
railway, first from London to Woolwich, and afterwards,
according as circumstances may prompt, successive
extensions of the plan, to Gravesend, So oud, Rochester,
Chatham, Maidstone, Tonbridge, arid the Weald of
Kent, and again to Faversham, Canterbury, Margate,
Ramsgate, and Dover.
Upon these roads locomotive steam-engines are in-
tended to travel; and as it is calculated that they will
transport goods with three or four times the celerity of
waggons, and will carry passengers nearly twice. as
rapidly as coaches do, the projectors of the scheme
reckon upon shortly superseding almost the whole of
these vehicles, as well as many of the boats which now
pass between - London and the various points of the
• Kentish coast.
Kent is a large, fertile, and populous county, con-
taining nearly a million of acres in extent, yielding in
rent and tithe above a million sterling per annum, and
supporting between four and 500,000 inhabitants. The
great military and naval depots which it contains, the
abundance of its agricultural and horticultural produce
for the London matkets, its favourable position for a
trade with France, as well as for fisheries and other
maritime pursuits-all these, and many other circum-
stances, strongly indicate the national importance to be
attached to any real improvement in the means-of its
internal trade, and in the facility of intercourse be-
tween the different parts of the country. The sum
proposed to be raised for this, undertaking is one mil-
lion sterling, in 10,000 Shales of 1001. each ; and the
Company thus formed is to he governed by eighteen
LontiOn Directors., to whom will be added twelve Gen-
tlemen selected from the County of Kent. An Act of
Parliament will be applied for early in the approaching
Session to carry into effect • the various objects of the
plan. In the meantime a deposit of only 11. per Share
has been paid, aad no further call will be made until the
Act for establishing the Company has been obtained.
VII.-RIO DE LA PLATA MINING ASSOCIATION.
This Association is to be formed under a Deed of
Settlement, which is intended to be enrolled in the
High Court of Chancety. It originates in a Decree
passed by the Government of Buenos Ayres authorising
the Minister of State of that Republic to cause a Com- The Plymouth Breakwater has sustained so much in.
pany to be established in England for working the jury that it will require at least five years labour to re-
Mines in the territory of the Provinces of Rio de la place the huge masses of stone hurled from their situ-
Plata. Those Provinces possess many gold, silver, and ations by the unparalleled surges of the 23d November,
other mines, of which those situated in the Lower Pro- During the floods, as three persons were passing near
winces, such as Mendoza, San Juan, San Luis, Cordova, the Hay, Breconshire, on a road which was flooded, the
Tucuman, Salta, Jujuy, Calanialea, Rioxa, &c. are stream caused the horses to lose their footing, and two
nearly in a virgin state, having been worked only at of the riders, and all the horses were drowned; the third
intervals, on a small scale, and by men of little capi- person saved himself by swimming.
sal or skill. Thursday, a convert to the principles of Christianity
The Government cf Buenos Ayres, with a view to publicly renounced the errors of Judaism, at St. Maurice
the formation of the Company in question, addressed Church, in Winchester, and underwent the ceremony
Circulars to the Provincial Governors, ditecting them of baptism.
to collect all the information possible concerning the ANECDOTE Or WILKIL-WILKIE has been visiting
mines in their respective districts. The official reports the scenes of his youth, in Scotland-among the rest his
of these Governors have been transmitted to England native parish, Cults, in the Church of which he is about
by the Barons Ayres Minister, who has authorised to erect a bust to his father, executed by CHANTRY.
Messrs. llulletr, Brothers, and Co. to form a Company. While occupied with giving directions for placing this
Those Gentlemen, upon due consideration of the nil or- memorial, his eye glanced on the iron frame-work of
mation supplied by the Reports, resolved upon direct. what had been an hour-glass, affixed, as old custom
ing their immediate attention to the mines of the Lower was, to the Precentor's desk-and he recollected that
Pi evinces, not only on account of their presumed rich- he it was who had broken in boyish frolic the last oc-
ness in metal, but also because they are situated amidst Cu pant of the frame. He immediately repaired the
forests furnishit g abundance of fuel, and are at an ele- sacrilege by placing a new glass instead of the old one,
vation so easy as to adtnit of cart-roads to the city of with the following inscription :
Buenos Ayres. " Gifted to the Minister of Cults,fn all time coming, by Dam
Witstr, IL A. by whom, when a boy, the last hour glass was bro-
The:e and various other circumstances appearing to
• ken.-October 5, 1824. .
--(News cif Literature).
render the project of working the mines of the Lower
P:ovinces peculiarly advisable, a Company has beta Ctircnerrza, Dec. 25.-At the Beast Market, on Wednesday,
ha
evte
bring antal
superabundant,qai o Stock wthaes
weather of
tiTt
moopr i onus*
nnft asnr-
formed for that put pose, in the fit st instance, and after-
wards to extend their views, if thought proper, to the determined and boisterous a character, forbid the usual accumula-
Upper Ptovinces. The capital is one million sterling, tion of stock buyers and selkrs ; what was brought found ready
in ten thousand shares of 1001. each, the first instal. purchasers.-Beef obtained 45. 4d. and best Mutton 4s. Bd. per
stuone.e
breed,A v
wh
very great
by
eatwobject of attraction was a bullock of the true
Sussex meat of five pounds a share to be paid forthwith intohis Grace the Duke of Richmond,
the hands of the Bankers of the Association. and slaughtered by Mr. James Gates, in East-street. To the
VIII.-NATION AI. BANK OF SCOTLAND. curious and enterprising grazier it will be interesting to learn, that
this stupendous animal, exceeding 920 stone, marketable weight,
A new banking establishment, under the above title, was furnished at all points, and a better ox never died within the
IS now forming in Edinburgh, which promises to afford gates of this city. The Corn trade experiences a gradual, reduction
a very valuable addition to the facilities of commercial in prices. The averages given by the Inspector for the week end-
ing the 21st instant are-Wheat, 641. Old. 13arley,54s. qd. Oats,
and general business, as well as a safe and advan- 235 9d. Peas, 425. 6d. and Beam 465. per quarter. The quarters)
.tngeous opportunity for the investment of capital. It loaf is at 9d.
is proposed, that the capital shalt be
_five millions stet- Nowsuar.-Thursday, at our Market, the price of Wheat was
ling, of which one million has been reserved to be sub- from 595. to 765. lia'rley,26s. to 455. Oats, 18s. to 325. Beans,4os.
scribed for in London. to 565. Peas 4.5. per qr. Bread, 18.6 d. to ls. Bd. per gallon.
At llungerford Market, last Wednesday, Wheat fetched from
It is well known that Banking has long been a very sos. to 768. Barley, 30s. to 435. Oats, 21s. to 325. Deans, 455. to
profitable business in Scotland ; the best proof of which 56i. and Peas, 40s. to 545. per quarter.