The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-02-25 00:00:00

.ectsion,

hours may intervene before

served up in the

columns of the morning press.
AN AUSTRALIAN HUT.—The station itself appeared
miserable enough, though like most others in this quarter.
The hut was of the usual gum slabs, rough as split from
the tree, and so far apart that the hand might be thrust
through }. hnlf A fnnt

between each. hese were sunk nab a toot in
the ground, and nailed at the top to the wall plates,
which rested on round posts, about seven feet high: The
_ _

floor was earthen, not of trodden clay, but gravelly, and Among the productions of art of this country which are
full of holes, while the roof, of course, was composed of now ready for forwarding to the exhibition are a quantity
the customary bark, which is stripped from the trees in of carvings and other decorative works, by Mr. Rogers, of
lengths of from six to eight feet, and laid on the sapling Carlisle-street, Westminster. Among them will be the
frame like Brobdignagian tiles, overlapping each other, beautiful carved boxwood cradle, made for the Queen,
and crowned by saddle sheets sitting astride the roof-tree. and which will be sent by the gracious permission of her
There were only two apartments, " a but and a ben," Majesty. The cradle is carved in the finest Turkey box-
divided by a partition of slabs, and having a doorway, but wood, and was in hand nearly two years, delays having
no door, wl ile a small room, or, as it is called, " skil- been occasioned by various circumstances, principally by
lean," leaning against the hack of the hut, served as a the difficulty of procuring wood of high quality and suffi-
store and servant's room. In the principal apartment, a cient size, to render as few joints as possible necessary.
hole cut in the slabs, eighteen inches square, served as a The shape of the cradle, which consists of flat head and
window ; and the man having a wife, this window was or- footboards elaborately carved in high relief, and united by
namented by a small curtain, though, as the woman was a a semi-cylindrical trough, was suggested by her Majesty,
slattern, and in fact an old convict, the drapery was none partly in consideration of those representations of cradles
of the cleanest. A similar hut was occupied by the men, which generally appear in this form in early Italian and
while a stock-yard, with a gallows for hoisting up slaugh- Flemish pictures.
tered bullocks, stood behind, and a dirty sheep-yard, Among the novelties from Leicester to draw attention
fenced with bushes and boughs of trees, exhaled odours to the Crystal Palace will be a receptable for the dead,
not far off. Cultivation or garden there is none, but these sent by Mr. Wilson, of the office of Messrs. Parsons and
were not to be expected, for no crop, and seldom any ye- Dain, architects of that town. It is proposed to inclose
getables, will grow in Liverpool Plains.—Renderson's one or two acres, (on Woking Common,) as a garden
Excursions in New South Wales. cemetery, a large portion of which is to be consecrated for
THE CONCEALED DAGGER.—The soldiers too, were the free burial of the poor. In the centre of this large
forbidden to go out alone into the villages to buy food or tract of ground it is proposed to erect a pyramid, occupy-
get grain ground ; no one was to go out without his com- an area of eighteen to twenty acres and rising to the
rade, and both well armed. For my own part, I remern- height of 9eo feet. The plan is to erect stages of cata-
ber that, some years ago, Runjeet's own grandson, Nao combs, one above another, diminishing every ten feet to
Nihal Sing, was twice very nearly assassinated in Bunnoo, the apex. It is computed that the pyramid alone would
while at the head of Sikh armies. Once a poor looking be capable of containing five million of bodies. Private
lad, with a basket of flowers, was admitted into the tent graves, tombs, and cenotaphs are intended to be arranged
to lay his humble offering of roses and jessamines at the , round the great sepulchre. The intention is, we believe,
feet. As lie approached a suspicious bystander '
to raise the required capital in shares, proposals for which
will, no doubt, be submitted to the public, if, after being
made known, the plan should be approved.
THE LATEST INVENTION FOR THE CRYSTAL PALACE.
—A strange rumour has reached our ears. Whether
there be any foundation for it, or not, we cannot under-
take to say. The joke, however, is too good to be lost,
even if it were pure invention ' • though we have been
assured, in sober earnest, that it is a literal fact. When
the Commissioners of the Great Exhibition, so runs the
tale, were receiving tenders for the refreshment-room,
there appeared, among the parties offering to take the
contract, a firm not hitherto known among the restaurants
of the metropolis. To cover any objection which might
be raised on the score of want of previous reputation. the
tender was accompanied by the offer—a tempting one,
we should think, to the surplus-lacking Commissioners-
-- to pay down the amount in hard cash. The fairness of
real live sentries the terms proposed, and the prospect of ready money, had
'e tent. One might have thought well nigh decided the Commissioners to close with the
for the Emperor of Russia, bargain, when, just in time to prevent it, there was a sus-
were no discourage- picion whispered in the Commissioners' ears, which led to
Year on the further inquiry ; when it turned out that the firm in
question consisted of more partners than were " osten-
sible;" that, in fact—horrendurn dictu—the offer came
from the fraternity of pickpockets, who had subscribed a
handsome sum in the hope of purchasing the privilege of
acting as waiters in the " crystal palace," and easing the
sight-loving public of some of their external superfluities,
while ministering to their eternal wants. Imagine twenty
miles of a crowded holiday thoroughfare, sprinkled over
with gentlemen of the swell-mob, in black dress coats
and white ties, ticketed as the servants of the establish-
ment, exercising their vocation amidst the exciting
explosions of soda-water and limonade mossemse,
and the insinuating comforts of cherry-brandy and punch
ala Romaine ! No wonder the idea took with the " pro-
fession ;" for the purchase of such opportunities any out-
lay almost would have been a profitable investment. The
fellow that first hit upon the scheme deserves to have a
cast of his head taken, and placed in the Exhibition, as a
specimen of the highest development of the organ of
acquisitiveness—a sample of native industry, unmatched,
we venture to say, even in the raree-show of cosmopoli-
tan ingenuity. We confess to some little curiosity, as to
the truth of the story, which we have given without
embeilishment as it reached us.—John Bull.

prince'

thrust his hand into the basket and Pulled up a pistol,
which was concealed under a garland, HI cocked, and
loaded to the muzzle. Another step nearer and he would
have discharged it. A second time a whole band of Bun-
noochees concealed themselves under some mulberry-
bushes in a water-cut, which ran past the prince's sleep-
ing tent ; and, when he had retired to rest, fired a perfect
volley of bullets in the direction of his bed. _ Several of

the attendants were wounded, and the " charpai" on
which Nao Nihal Sing was sleeping was splintered, but he
himself escaped with a severe fright. These examples,
coupled with the late attempt against General Cortlandt
and myself in the court-martial tent, determined me to be
more cautious ; and from this time 1 always carried a
double-barralled pistol in my belt when out of doors, and
in the tent made a paper weight of it while writing, or laid
it beside my plate at meals. A long cavalry sword also
usually stood sentry in the corner, and real live sentries
stood over each door of the tent. One might have thought
these precautions sufficient for the Emperor of Russia,
but it will be seen presently that they were no discourage-
ment to the patriots of Bunnoo.—Edwardes' Year on the
Punjab Frontier.
A GREAT DROUGHT IN NEW SOUTH WALES.—I found
the country here, like that which I had just passed through,
burned up with drought, and, as it lasted for six months
after I got home, the cattle I brought with me suffered

Being wea

Lean from tr

country where there was but little to cat, they could not
stand the want of food so well as those settled on the run,
and about one-fourth of the number died: In many

rp, and Wi

ron and sky of brass,

changing ci

!less heavens,

Omni ffiatllanv.

The judges open the assizes at Newcastle-on-Tyne to-
morrow.

Wheat is 25 per cent., flour 30,1 per cent., and bread
about 43!, per cent. dearer in London than in Paris.
No fewer than six fires occurred in the metropolis on
Monday. _ _ _

Mr. Paxton's design for covering the Royal Exchange
with a semicircular glass roof has been sent to the Gres-
ham committee. _ _

It is said that the Duke of Newcastle has resolved not
to preserve game on his estates, as heretofore, but to
allow his tenants the privilege of killing the same.
At the Midllesex sessions on Wednesday, Mary Evans,
aged 18, was sentenced to seven years' transportation for
stripping little children in the streets.
It is stated that about 8,000,000 of " Bath bricks" are
annually made at Bridgewater, from the deposits of the
river Parrett.

An owl was found in the pulpit of a Wesleyan chapel at
Exeter, a few Sundays since, and was captured after a
short chase by the chapel keeper.
A verdict of wilful murder has been returned at Here-
ford against a man named Roberts for the murder of his
wife, who was found dead in a ditch.
About forty vessels were last week detained at Hartle-
pool through the seamen's strike. A similar inconve-
nience has been felt at most of the northern ports.
Father Gavazzi lectured, on Sunday, on the " Social
Working of Monkhood and Nunneries, at the Princess's
Concert-hall, London, with great eloquence and fire.
The shipwrights on the Tyne are still on strike, not on
account of wages, but of some regulations insisted on the
men with reference to hire, &c.
Instructions have been forwarded to Hull and Shields,
from the Board of Trade, to cancel the regulations under
the mercantile marine act, against which the sailors have
made such a strong demonstration.