The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-11-02 00:00:00

NEW ZEALAND.

Advices from New Zealand up to the 18th of June give
an account of a smart engagement between her Majesty's
troops and the tribe of the Maories, provoked by the at-
tack of the latter upon Wanganui, in which it does not
appear that the governor or his men have gained any ad-
vantage. The attack of the Maories upon 'Wanganui was
made about the end of May, and they fired incessantly
upon the men in the Stockades, and plundered the houses
which were outside. Lieutenant Holmes, of her Ma-
jesty's ship Calliope, and the crew of a gun boat, returned
the fire with great vigour and bravery, being exposed for
many hours, but their gun was finally disabled. No lives
were lost on our side, but several of the enemy were killed,
including two chiefs, Makeu and Tutua, who were killed
simultaneously, while quarrelling about the plunder of Mr.
Churton's house. Governor Grey, hearing of the attack,
proceeded to Wanganvi with 100 men of the 65th, and 80
sailors ; but not thinking it prudent to attack the natives
with that force, returned to Wellington, and set out again,
accompanied by Te Whero Whero and Tomate Waka,
two friendly chiefs, and a force of soldiers, sailors, marines,
pace, and volunteers, amounting to 700 men, com-
manded by Lieutenant Colonel M'Cleverty, and Captains
Stanley and Hoseason. It was found impossible, how-
ever, to come to dose quarters with the natives. The
Maorles fired from brushwood and hillocks, lying down
upon their backs to load and falling flat upon their faces
the moment they saw a flash from the boats. With the
exception of the destruction of a few warms by the sailors,
nothing material was accomplished, while the enemy's loss
had been ascertained not to exceed 40 men.

Ibrahim Pacha is still in quarantine in Malta. He has
derived so much benefit. from change of air that he no
longer, it is reported, intends proceeding beyond Malta.
AN OFFERING OF DEVOTION.—The city of Venice is
about to send a present to the Pope. The offering se-
lected for the successor of St. Peter consists of eight re-
markably fine pieces of cannon ! What would St. Peter
have said to such a present ?
The Queen Dowager arrived in Lisbon on the 22nd.
The King went out to meet the Howe in the state barge,
and accompanied her Majesty on shore, and the squadron
in the Tagus received her Majesty with the usual demon-
strations of respect.
The cashier-general of the Bank of Sweden was mur-
dered in the streets of Stockholm on the night of the 13th
instant, and his pocket-book, which is supposed to have
contained valuable securities, was carried off by the mur-
derers, who left his watch and diamond ring untouched.
A STRANGE ANNOUNCEMENT.—The following notice
was posted up yesterday in several parts of the church of
St. Thomas d'Aquin :—" Found in the Rue de Bac, pieces
of the True Cross. The person who lost them may
reclaim them at the sacristy of this church."—Galignani's
Messenger.
Omnibuses have appeared in Turkey. A regukx course
of them has been established between Constantinople and

Adrianople, by an Armenian company. These carriages
carry twelve persons inside, two out, and are drawn by
six horses. The journey occupies thirty-two hours : and
the fare is one hundred and thirty piastres.
OUR COLONIES. —The following are extracts from a
letter from a gentleman in Demerara, received by the last
mail :—" Three-fourths of the plantations of Demerara,
according to the opinion of the oldest and most competent
inhabitants, must be abandoned at the end of this year if
the present ruinous prices of sugar continue. The slave-
holders in Surinam are extending their cultivation, and
drinking Sir Robert Peel's health for the free trade prin-
ciples he has so cunningly carried!'
THE LATE INFRACTIONS OF THE QUARANTINE LAWS

AT MALTA.—We have much pleasure in announcing that
the trial of Captain Tate of the brig Navy, and his wife.
before the Crimi.ial Court, had ended favourably to the
prisoners, both of whom were, on the 16th October, ac-
quitted ; as whilst the Public Prosecutor failed in proving
any wilful intent, his own witnesses went the length of
establishing much blameable negligence and want of due
vigilance on the part of the quarantine officers.
A TERRIBLE CALAMITY PROVIDENTIALLY PREVENT-
ED.—As the magnificent steamer Hibernia, No. 2, was on
her last downward trip from Pittsburg to Cincinnati, fire
was discovered in her hold, and upon raising the hatches,
the flames burst out and ascended nearly to the hurricane
deck, threatening almost certain destruction. The Cin-
cinnati Commercial says:—There were three hundred
passengers on board, men, women, and children, and the
alarm is said to have been terrible. The captain, a cool,
energetic man, set all hands to works to save the boat,
and the lives of the passengers, and by scuttling, &c., the
fire was extinguished. The fire is said to have originated
from the explosion of some chemicals that were in the
hold. To the horror of all on board, it was discovered
that some half burned casks, marked coffee, contained
kegs gunpowder, surrounded by coffee, and the staves of
one powder keg were actually charred ! It seems almost
a miracle that the boat was not blown to atoms, and 300
soulfrinshered into eternity. One shudders at the very
thought of such imminent peril.
UNPLEASANT ADVENTURE.—On the evening of the
20t1k,.as-Mr. Peel, the English Charge d'Affairs at Paris,
was reboring on foot from a party in the suburbs- of
Berne, hewas rudely questioned by the sentry, who de-
manded; inoGerman, who he was, but as the answer was
given in Fr4rtch, the soldier affected not to understand
)abn, and insolently renewed the question in German.
Mr. Peel, haviog again stated that it was impossible for
him to answer .ig a language with which he was unac-
quainted, the sentinel called the guard, who, aided by his
companions,-tell upon the English Charge d'Affairs, who,
an instant afterwards was pushed with violence into the
placeintended for the detention of malefactors and vaga-
bonds arrested duringthe night. It was only after hav-
ing remained nearly =two hours in that place, and after
having been exposed during a portion of that time to the
eOurae insults of the soldiers, who, by the way, understood
French perfectly well, that Mr. Peel was set at liberty, in
col; sequence of the intervention of the agent of police. It
would
appear that, in answer tothen,tst complaints of
Mr. Peei, the agent replied that when there was so much
agitation inwitzerland,
no one could wonder at what
f"
had happened. --Paris Paper.