The Express.
London, England, 1848-07-05 00:00:00

WEST INDIES.

JAMAICA.—Tae damage by heavy rains
appears to have been i.k a gnat measure confined to the
vicinities of Kingston and Spanish Town and the eastern
districts. The Jamaica Times says :
The mitt side of the island has been more fortunate than this and
the eastern quarters; though our northern neighbours have been
blesr.,l with copious showers, they have not ,utter.,l from a mdun-
dancy of ruin. 'the only inconvenience the Journals relate are, that
the Souttedde mails of last week did nut arrive at Falmouth until
Salted .y night, anal at Montego Buy until Sundiy morning; that on
else ro id leading front Falmouth to Martha Brae, pedestrians expe-
rienced notch inconvenience, a plank nearly three feet high over a
slough being covered with water, and in the Maroon Town district
we learn that the "Congo so" rivulet, running between that pace
and Spring Vale, carried sway a man on hot seback, who with much
difficulty was rescued front a whirlpool in an adj•rining pasture on
Friday last. The water-wheel at Falmouth has been rendered inoper-
ative, and families In that town are experiencing u great deal of in-
c.nvenienee in eon. queues of being obliged to send their servalita
upwards of a male to procure Water.
In the districts, however, where the rain was heaviest it
must have been tremendous. From the same journal we
learn that in St. Thomas-in-the-East:
-

Scarcely an estate has escap,l serious damage, some by the OTer-
flowing of the rivers, others by mounmin torrents, which came rush-
ing down upon them, in some caws sweeping away the sod, and in
others leaving thy livid. with beds of gravel, moulds of tree+, and all
sorts of ru :Minh ; nor have these damagui. been confined to the sugar
estates, several lire's have been lost, and a great number of stock have
perished. The labouring population are also severe sufferers by the
damage done to their prori,ion ground. cut up, and washed
uoay to an enormous extenL 110. awlul the visitation has been
may be easily oucceived from the fact shown by the billowing tide,
that in four clays (Tuesday to Friday) the depth of water that MU ores
the surface of the earth amounted to 33 8-10 inches :
Fall of rain in St. Thomas-in-the. Fast, by a rain gauge, kept at
Dslvey.—haturday, May 20, 2 9-1 u inches; Monday, ditto 22, 2.litto;
1 cicadae, ditto Ut, II ditto; Weilnersl sy, ditto 24, 9 3-10 ditto;
Thursday, ditto 25, 5 0.10 ditto; Friday, ditto 2i, 12 4-10 ditto; in
all 43 6-10 ditto, or 0;0,1100 gollune per acre.
Bel Wee., Kingston and Spanish-Town a number of lives
were lost. The Ferry-road was rendered impassable, and
the communication by railway interrupted. (ireat damage
was done to the wharves and bridges. On Monday, toe
22nd of May, the publication of the Kingston newspaper was
suspended, the compositors bring tumble to get to their
work. file permanent dausagc appears, however, to have
been less than was at first apprehended. The Times states
that the Ferry-road " was much better after the heavy rains
than anticipated ;" and in its number of the sth of June,
that paper announced that the renewal of the communication
between Kingston and SpanislxTown, per railway, was to
take place that day. There has, howev.,r, been a terrible
destruction of stock, and owing to the ditbculty
of carrying provisions to Kingston, occasioned by the ddapi
dation of roads and bridges, their prima had risen to an
I extravagant height. The Times of June 1 thus moralises
on the visitation: _ . •

e have had to record Fad ravages, and even loco of life, occasioned
by the late heavy rains; the ilanages sustained will require large
sonic of money, and will occupy scone iliac to repair. Yet we earriot
bat be grateful for the benefits that will accrue thereby. For to my
years have we missed what are termed by planters the May rea,unn,
upon which the :MO:CM Or their efforts so much delimits. Though
we may have hail occasional mina, oat in some parishes very pientitul,
they have merely served to keep vegetation alive, and prevent the
total ,uspensioa of agriculture.
In the Jamaica papers we find the following items of
intelligence :
The C'enfral.4meriroo Times of the 11th ult. states that the body
of Patrick Walker, Esq., had been found, but that It woo aro disfigured
:11211 mangled by sharks that it was with difficulty identified.
Advice. from Weal. represent every thing there'd tranquil. The
troops sent there from usher had returned. It appears that after
they had proceeded some way down the river, they were overtaken
n craft bringing a letter to the colonel, the eneitents of which are
believed to be that the victorious Indiana are quite pacifically inclined
towards the Engish. They state that they never meditated any hosti.
lily towards the kingli.h, unit that the runaway Spauiarda at tiacaLir
may return and again pursue their usual avocations in peace if they
choose. There is one exception, however—they arc determined to
have Senor Domingo Martines, against whom they were much
excited.
GUIANA.—The intelligence from this colony is
favourable. In its " Review for home readers," the Itoya.
Gazette says:
?Since the last mall left we have bad in front Madras, the Macedon,
93 day., with 292 caches, and the Decherd of Northumberland, lel
slay. from Calcutta, with 243, snaking the total of coolies arrived
since the beginning of the year, 2,673. In agricultural and com-
mercial matters, though we Can report no remarkable and sudden
Progrens, still viewing agriculture and commerce as they arc now
and as they were towanla the beginning of the year, we cannot
but he sensible that a material and decided change for the better
has taken place. The stagnation in business, the distrust In mer-
cantile circles, the donuts no to the position of the banks,
the general want of confidence are slowly, but eteadily,
giving way to greater activity in operations and firmness of
feeling. Nothing checks this Savourible tendency but the uncertainty
in which the public are left as to the intention,. of the combined court.
The weather has been very heavy, an immense quantity of run hav-
ing fallen during the last fourteen days. The labourer., however,
are working for the moat part steadily at the reduced wages. The
crop of the year, from two or three months having been lost at the
commencement, in consequence of the strike, will probably fall short,
but there in some ...lig:tenon in hoping that it will be made at less
met than the preceding one. Heavy so the rains hare been, the wea-
ther In seasonable, and the cultivation generally looks fresh and flou-
rishing. A company fur trying thorough drainage on a farm of WO
:terra b. been (mined in timelier, :red re expected room to commence
operation?, The object is to ascertain how cheaply thorough drainage
may hr rifechd in thin colony. Of Its practicability there is now no
doubt, after the experiments of the agricultural chemist, Dc. Shier, on
plantation LA Penitence.