The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-22 00:00:00

INDIA.

By the arrival of the Bombay mail w© have
r, ceived advices from Bombay to Feb. 29, and from
Calcutta to Feb. 20.

Sir John Lawrence has been suffering from indis-
position. His Excellency has placed himself under
the treatment of Dr. Tonnerre, a homccapathist.

His Excellency gave his first public ball on the
15:h of February, to which no natives of India were
invited. This exclusion had given great offence to
the native community. The Bombay Gazette thus
refers to this occurrence :
One of the earliest acts of Sir John Lawrence as Viceroy
and Governor-General has been to put a stop to the one-
sided social intercourse which has hitherto existed in India
between Europeans and natives, by omitting to invite any
native gentlemen to the first ball given him in Calcutta. It
appears that the leaders of the native community at Cal-
cutta lately offered a direct insult to the Lieutenant-Gover-
nor of Bengal by sending prostitutes to the Agricultural
Exhibition on a day set apart for the reception of native
ladies there by the most distinguished Englishwomen of the
presidency. This alone was enough to provoke the indig-
nation of even the most tolerant of Englishmen ; but, with-
out this, one who knows so ranch of India and Indian ways
of thinking as Sir John Lawrence is of course cognisant of
the opinions which the people of this as of all other Orien-
tal countries have on the subject of dancing, and must
therefore have been glad of the opportunity of letting all
India understand that henceforth natives who, in spite of
their loud professions of faith in the excellence of western
ideas about society, are ashamed to bring their own wives
and daughters to public assemblies, will be kept at a distance
instead of being courted by the English community.
His Excellency Sir Hugh Rose is stated to have
tendered his resignation, and it is added that his
resignation has been accepted. Other statements,
consequent on this, are made ; that Sir Robert
Napier, K.C.8., is to succeed to the Command.in-
Chief of the Indian army ; and that his seat in the
Imperial Council will be filled by Colonel Elliot.
Sir Hugh Rose has issued an order providing that
in future the hospitals of European soldiers shallbe
attended by European nurses instead of native ayahs.
The nurses are to be chosen from among the sol-
diers' wives of good character in each regiment, who
while finding useful occupations for themselves, will
be able to do much towards alleviating the unhappy
lot of the invalid European soldiers.

The Akhood of Swat has directed all his people
to arm, as he fears an attack from us in the spring.
The Bengal Chamber of Commerce has passed a
resolution in favour of a subsidiary gold currency
for India. The following are the terms in which it
worded :

That this meeting is of opinion that the introduction of
gold, as an auxiliary currency, into India would prove very
beneficial, and that the committee be instructed to address
the government of India on the subject, and pray for the
appointment of a committee to inquire into the best mode of
introducing such an auxiliary currency.
The Englishman, in referring to this meeting,
says :—" To propose to get Government merely to
introduce gold as an auxiliary currency to silver is
weak enough, but it is a very doubtful question
whether the introduction cf gold as a legal tender
will be of any material advantage. This question
was not discussed. The still more important question
of a paper currency was not even alluded to.''
Gen. Sir Neville Chamberlain has been compelled,
by the state of his health, to leave India for a time.
The cotton crop of Western India will, it is
feared, be short this year. Much more than the
ordinary extent of ground has been taken into cul-
tivation, but the yield per acre will, it is thought,
be small, the crops in Guzerat especially having
been blighted by the severe frost of an unusually
cold winter, or spoiled by unseasonable rains.
is blocked up, its single line and
PeTnihnesunloarßth-aielawstaeyrn branch of the Great Indian
small rolling stock being unequal to the conveyance
of the largely increased cotton traffic. The Bhore
Ghaut Railway was to be opened for regular pas-
senger traffic on the 3d of March.

Mr. Maine has introduced in the Viceroy's Legis-
lative Council a bill providing that no Indian
labourer shall emigrate without the approval of the
magistrate of his district.

An important decision has been given in the Small
Cause Court of Bombay, recognising the exemption
of native prinoes from liability to the jurisdiction of
British courts, even when they are residing in Bri-
tish territory.
A turf club of Western India has been formed in
Bombay.
We read in the Times of India :

The resources of India are gradually being developed. A
vein of coal or lignite (we have not heard whether it burns
With bituminous or eawyreumatio odour), said to be inex-

haustible, has been opened in the Punjaub. However, it
has been tried by the Puajaub Railway Company for its
locomotives, the chief engineer pronouncing most favourably
on it. The discovery has caused considerable interest in
the Punjaub ; for if it prove to be, as it is described, of a
quality equal if not superior to that found in Bengal, it will
secure the profitable working of an extension of the railway
in the Punjaub. The discovery of this vein has been made
at Pind Dadun Khan, about 150 miles northward from
Lahore, on the banks of the Jhelum, a little to the west of
the ordinary road to Peshawur, and contiguous to Mr. An-
drews' projected line between Lahore and Peshawur.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
(From the Bombay Gazette of Feb. 27•)

Notwithstanding the large arrivals of specie the money
market here is again becoming tight, and exchange has in
consequence advanced, closing at 2s. 18d. for Bank, and
2s. lid. for first-class credit bills. No change has taken
place in the Bank rate since our last report. The share
market has been dull, and prices of most descriptions of
stock have declined within the past week. The import and
export markets have been very dull, and prices are lower.
Operators are anxiously awaiting the further development in
continental politics, dreading the effect of an European war.
The up-country demand for goods has not set in as was ex-
pected, although stocks are knoun to be very light in the
interior. The dearness and scaroity of food is telling very
severely on the demand and must be taken into considera-
tion as being likely seriously to influence the course of the
market. A large breadth of the land that was formerly
sown in bread stuffs is now devoted to the cultivation of
cotton, and the districts which before the high prices of
cotton were not only self-feeding but enabled to export a
considerable surplus, are now importing in great quantity,
and as a consequence the price of all kinds of grain has ad-
vanced enormously. With the liberal supply of goods on
hand we cannot look for much improvement until the up-
country demand does set in. The markets of Calcutta and
Madras are reported as dull as our own, but it is probable
that some improvement will speedily take place in Calcutta,
when the demand for the North West commences.