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

WEST INDIA MAIL.

(By Eleenc TelegrApb,)

The Thames arrived this morning at Southampton,
with dates from Jamaica of Dec. 8. Ou the Spanish
Main, the two states of Costa Rica and Nicaragua
have declared war against each other. The
freight of the Thames is 679,408 dollars from the
Pacific. Dr. Spalding had obtained a committee of
the Jamaica 11Juse of Assembly, to take into con-
sideration the best mode of applying to the
British parliament for further compensation for
losses sustained by the colonists through the aboli-
tion of slavery. The value of exports from
Jamaica during the lest year did not reach
900,000/. The imports exceeded 1,100,0001. The in-
crease of trade against us is 200,0001, with an increase
of expenditure over income of 60,0001. a year.

THR FUNERAL OF TIIR EARL OF AUCKLAND.—
The mortal remains of the Earl of Aneklend were this
morning retnovtd from the Admiralty to their final resting-
place, Beckenham, Kent. The funeral wu strictly private.

DEATit OF MR. P. Payee, M.P.—We announced the
death of this lamentedgontleman yesterday. The Carew:hers
Journal says: "Pryse Prym, Beg., expired at 11 o'clock L a
Monday night, the let insulin, at Gegerddon, after a long
illness. His recovery, f.O some time, was doubtful ; he was
in the 75th year of his age. A better landlord could not be
found:; in fact, he was the boast of the country. There is a
vacancy in the representation of the Cardiganshire boroughs,
land we state, upon undoubted uthority, that it is not the
intention of his son (Mr. Prise nye) to come forward for
the honour; consequently, there is no d iuht but that we
shall have a *intense, election. Some speak of the late mem.
her for Coventry, W. Williams, Haq., ns worthy of reps,.
matins Aberystwith and the contributory boroughs; others
'speak of W. H. Lewis , of Clynfiow, as a likely gen•
tleman to come forward on the conservative interest.

THE MORNING MAILS FOR 1849.—Notice IVY
issued yesterday at the General Post, office, St. Martin's-le-
Grand, that the following places have been added to the bat
of post towns to which letters and newspapers are forwarded
by the morning mail Wins as well as evening, and also those
towns to which the morning mall has been disconti' ued.
viz —Blandford. Bodmin, Broadway, Camolford, Chipping
Norton, K. 61042.11, Eienbridge, linstone, Bentham, Fal-
mouth. Fuzeley, Harwich, Helstone, Henley-on-Thames,
High Wyeomb, Horsham, Kettering, Leatherhead, Liskeard,
Lostwithiel, Mennington, Marlow, Maeazion, Morton-in-
Marsh, Northwiek, Oldham, Penryn, Penzance, Penhore,
Redroth St. Austle, St. Colomb, St. Nest's. Tell.
Tetbury, Truro, Winchflrld, and Woodstock. The
following have been discontinued : Bangor, Huumaria,
Bilston, iCarnarvon, Conway, Holyhead, Holywell, Mold,
Pwllheli, Stlhffiure, Shigaall, Sine...bury, St. Asaph, Wed-
nesbury, aad Wellington, Sal sp. No alteration in the mails
to Ireland and Scotland. For all the above places the letter-
boxes at the receiving houses will be open till 7 o'clock a in
for newspapers, and 45 minutes past 7 a.m. for letters ; and
those at the branch offices—Charing-craw, Old Cavendish-
street, and the Borough—for newspapers until half past 7
cm., and for letters until 8 cm. At the General Post-
office, St. Martin'ale-Grand, and the branch-office in Lom-
bard-street, the boxes will close for newspapers at a quarter
before 8 cm., and for letters at half-past 8 a m.
EXTENSIVE ROSURRY OP BILLS OP EXCHANGE
FROM THE ROTHERHAM RAILWAY STATION.—Last Tues.
day evening, a wooden box, containing a large number of
bills of exchange, to the amount of between twelve and
thirteen hundred pounds, was stolen from the Midland Rail-
way Station, so Rotherham. The property belonged to the
Sheffield Biking Company. It is customary fur certain
account books to be transmitted by railway in an oaken
box from the branch office of the Sheffield Banking
Company, at Rotherham, to the principal establishment
in George-street, Sheffield. Oa Tuesday last, in opposi-
tion to the practice, thirty-seven bills of exchange
for various sums were deposited in the box along with
the books, and having been properly fastened, It was
ca tied in the evening by a junior:elerk to the railway st diva,
to be forwarded as usual by train to Sheffield. The clerk, it
would seem, was ignorant of the fact that the boz contained
aught of greater value than the books; for, on entering the
station, and finding that the manager, Mr Bishop, was ab-
sent, he placed the box nn the counter in the corner of the
r om where tickets are issued, and left it there, relying nn Mr.
Bishop finding the box thereon his return, and forwarding it
as usual. It did not so turn out, however. The circumstance
of the non-arrival of the box at the Sheffield office was not
of a nature to exc:te apprehension, and probably it was
never thought of again till the following Thursday morning,
when tidings were conveyed to the measlier of the Rother-
ham branch that the identical box had shortly before
been found in the river, by some men who had occasion
to drag the stream some distance below the Rotherham
station. It was tied up with a cord, the sane as when
despatched from the bank. On being opened, the books
were found in their place, but the bills had all been abstracted.
Oa inquiries being madam at the Rotherham station, it trans-
pired that the box had not been seen there at all on the
Tuesday. It was clear. therefore, that it had been stolen ,
and carried away in the interval between the clerk leaving it
at the station and the return thither of the station manager.
Immediate and active measures were taken, and they still
emtinue unabated, for the discovery of the thief or thieves,
but we are not aware that, up to the patent time (Friday
night), any satisfactory result has ensued. The bank is in
possession of every particular respecting the bills.
THE Loss CAUSED BY GAME, nye a Nottingham
paper, upon a farm is estimated at five shillings per acre—no
trifling addition to the rent; but th a is not all—the poacher
costs the farmer, if in Southwell House of Correction, Is 6d.
per day, or 10s. 6d. per week ; and then, if he has a wife
and family, those also have to be supported in the union-
house, at his expense also. Such is the working of the
game leas.
HANDS GROW UNDER-OROUND IN BELGIUM.
We (Gardeners' Chronicle), recommend the discovery
to the notice of all the lovers of marvels; it is much
more curious than that of a sea-serpent, or a kraken,
and has the advantage over them of being true.
There was dug up last sutumn, near the Otullemins
station, at Liege, by a M. Rodenbourg, a lire object,
having all the appearance of a human hand. A thumb and
four little fingers, a hollow palm, a convex back, a wrist,
and knuckles as good as are to be found in some
gouty martyrs, were powered by this new body, for a repre-
sentation of which we are indebted to Masers. Jacob Makoy
and Co ,of Liege. Were the worthy Dr. Plot still here, he
• would have seized upon it as an example of that " elastic
force " " by means of which the earth first put forth animals
and plants." Were good Mr. Llwyd alive, he would quote
it as a proof of the existence of the " sperm of living things
being carried into the air by vapours and thence deposited
in fitting places," where, according to its quantity and effi-
ciency, it produces whole animals and plants, or pieces of
theta. In this ease, being imperfect, it only produced a
hand instead of a man. Modern levers of marvels may in
like manner nut their own interpretation upon it. Ingenious
and speculative gentlemen might, for instance, suspect it to
be a Belgian's hand left in the field whan he planted his po-
tatoes there, and vegetalised by some inscrutable process.
But, alas, for ingenuity! we are obliged to dispel these high
speculations. As Plofessior Owen pronounced the sea ',meet
to be nothing but a seal, so we are obliged to declare that
this Belgian hand is nothing but a potato. A very strange
potato, we admit, and such as we never saw `.em*, but still
a potato. The thumb and fingers are five sprouts, springing
from a flattened stem, which forms the palm and wrist; a
circumstance that happened when all were young, after
which the whole swelled together into one flattened body.
We need not in these days say that a potato is but a rem
swollen cut with starch and other substances for human
food ; when it grows in yielding ground it swells
equally all round ; but if subjected to lateral pressure it
simply flattens. It may be conjectured that our Belgian
hand forced itself between two con-s, or two hard clods,
when it first began to swell. After all, it is the same kind of
production as is often found in cucumber plants, in the stem
of cabbage', or in the suckers of trees, when they grow ex-
ceeded', fast and are interfered with in their lateral expan-
sion. In such oases they, too, flatten and become monstrous,
and, if they had the power requisite for becoming tabors,
the, might also form another Belgian hand.

EXTEAOILDINLEY TELEEPAPEIC PEAT.—President
Polk's MlMage, containing upward+ of 30.000 words, wee
"dashed " from Baltimore to Bt. Louis in 24 hours, end
too, with the minutest punctuation mark in the document.
Copies were also dropped on the way, at York, ilarrihurg,
Carlisle, Chambenburg, Bedford. and Pittsburgh, in Penn-
031vsnia Massillon, Cleveland, Zaneville, Columbus, Bay-
ton, and Cincinnati, in Ohio; Madison and E ilk, in
Indiana ; Lonissille, in Heatocky ; and Saline, in Minch.
THE STREETS or Nzw YOEL—The Courier and
Inquirer of New York, says :—" We saw a great many per-
sons the other day examining with close scrutiny several
large round objects which bad been brought to light by the
arduous efforts of the street cleaners employed in lower
wards of the city, end joining one of the curi-
ous groups, we saw that the objects which had
attracted so mush attention were paving 'tones.
They bad been so long concealed by the various strata of
mud, coal ashes, and gulags, which had accumulated, the
oldest among the gazers bad lost all recollection of having
Been them before. We hear of several geological parties
who intend to commence at once an examination into the
nature and character of these curious specimens ; but as the
places where they are deposited will soon be again turned
over to the tender mercies of the contractors, we would urge
them to prmecute their researches with all convenient speed,
or they may not be readily ecosisible."