The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-20 00:00:00

SOINDE.

It is stated that advices by the last mail from India
were received apprising the company of every support
and encouragement from the authorities in Scinde, and
expressing the anxiety of the principal residents in the
province to invest largely in the undertaking.

GEELONG AND MELBOURNE.
The Geelong Advertiser states that the directors and
their engineers have been indefatigable in their various
duties, and that no railroad in England has been known
to make quicker progress towards completion, consider-
ing the number of men employed. Gangs of workmen
are placed at various intervals along the whole line of
road, and to the north of Ashby they are laying down
the permanent works ; and it is expected, before another
12 months elapse, that traffic by rail between Geelong
and Melbourne will be established.

PARLIAMENfARY COMMITTEE ON RAIL-
WAY BILLS.

WESTMINSTER TERMINUS (CLAPHAM TO NORWOOD.)
Mr. CORBETT reported from the committee on this bill
that the proposed capital of the company is 143,0001.,
and the amount of loan 49,0001. The length of the pro-
posed railway is 2 miles 5 furlongs and 1 chain, and the
steepest gradient is, in 97. The estimated cost of the
railway is 145,5001., and the quantity of land traversed
by the railway 109 k acres. Mr. Gregory was the engi-
neer examined in support of the bill. The committee
were satisfied of the fitness, in an engineering point of
view, of the proposed railway. In accordance with the
resolution of the house of the 27th of March last, the
committee ascertained that 10,9121. had been deposited
in the Court of Chancery on the 3d of April by the pro.
moters of the bill. •

His Imperial Highness the Grand 'Duke Nicholas
Nicholaiewitch, brother of the Emperor, is appointed
to the command of the corps of engineers in Poland, and
has left, this. city,for Warsaw, where he will take up his
head-quarters. •
MORE FAILURES IN THE IRON TRADE.--BIRISII.TORAM•
Tuesday.—Other suspensions, in. addition to .those
al-
ready announced, have occurred within..the last few days
in South Staffordshire. -Messrs. Whit.honse and JO.
ferias, of the Phoenix Works, West Bromwich, have
issued circulars calling their creditors together at the
Queen's Hotel, Birmingham, on Friday next, for the
purpose of determining, the. course to be taken. with the
view of managing and distributing the assets of tlie
estate. The creditors of Mr. Jefferies, ironmaster, of
Hart's-hill, Works, were also summoned for the same
day and for a-like purpose: . The debts .and liabilities Of
the two concerns, which in ,some degree are understood
to he connected, are roughly quoted at about 100,0001.,
:4 third ,firm, of some standing,, zed well known in the
trade—that of• Messrs. Hickman, of Bilston—have been
compelled.to ask indulgence frowtheir creditors, and a .
Meeting has been called'to adjudicate . upon the state of
their affairs ' • and lastly, Mr. Joseph Spencer, ironmaster,
who is involved by-the failure of. his brother,...is endea-
vouring to negotiate an arrangement with the claimants
upon his estate, which, it is hoped, will realise 6s. In
the pound, Other firms are freely spoken of, but sufß-
, &lent for the day is the evil thereof. A, meetingof the •
'creditors of the Messrs. 'Davies, of West Bromwich,
was held at the Queen's Hotel in this town yesterday,
but again adjourned to allow the committee of inquiry
further time for the, completion of .their work of inspoc-
tion. It appears to ,he the anxious wish of all parties,
if possible, to avoid the Court of Bankruptcy.
It was mentioned on Friday that thu revelations daily
taking place in connection with the affairs of Strahan,
Paul, and Co., seemed likely to.put their failure .before
the, public as one of the worst upon, record. At that
ssuusephicair
cotmheast
witithininvotl4vellurtlyitchtiionng-
gntoowcuanotizirlis.arned-'
tbiemyeonthdemreiswebans
tinnoct
belonging it
roforttheedCthouartt
coerftßaminksercuuprtictYies;
•
deposited under lock and key have to be ace unted- for,
and that the members of the firm admit theirinability
to produce them. Under these circumstances, the case
seems as if it would become far more painful and notori-
. ous than could possibly have been feared.

• The author _commenced by . stating the object of his
paper, and after pointing out the. difficulty of the investi-
gation, arising trern the circumstance that it was not
until the year 1310 that the Admiralty required annual
returns to be made of the deaths on board the various
ships in nommilsion, he submitted to the meeting a state-
ment, showing the number of naval actions fought from
1793 to 1815, and the losses in killed and wounded arising
therefrom, together with the annual loss of life from
shipwreck. It appeared that, during 20} years of actual
hostilities, 576 actions were fought, anti in them 4,787
officers and men were killed, 14,270 wounded, and 325
drowned or destroyed in ships sunk .or blown up, and
that, in the same period, 13,621 lives were lost by ship-
wreck. The author gave some details as to the probable
proportion of deaths among the wounded, and compared
the mortality from disease in time of war with that which
prevailed in time of peace. Assuming the aiigrage
strength of the navy to be 110,180 men, he stated, as
the result of a eareful inquiry into all the accessible in-
furination upon the subject, that, in the 20i years of
war 6,663 had been killed,: drowned, or died of wounds
received in action ; 13,621 had met their death from
shipwreck, and 72,102 had died from diseases and acci-
dents ; making a -Aottil mortality of 92,484; He esti-
mated the mortality from the same causes for the same
periiid in time of peace as follows :—Shiptvreck, 1,636 ;
disease.andaccidents, 27,440; total mortality, 29,076 ;
thus showing, an excess of mortality caused by war, in-
dependent of those killed in action.