The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-13 00:00:00

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

By the arrival of the overland mail we have re-
ceived advices from Calcutta to May 8; Madras,
May 14; Ceylon, May 16; Hong Kong, April 29;
Shanghai, AI. ril 18 ; Singapore, May 7 ; Sydney,
April 21; Melbourne, April 25 ; Brisbane, April
18; Auckland, April 6 ; and Dunedin, April 18.
INDIA.

'The Lahore Chronicle of the 2d of May states
that Lieut. Jackson, the officer whose servant died
from a severe flogging administered to him by 1 is
master, has been found guilty of manslaughter, and
sentenced to penal servitude for life.
The South E stern Railway line to Cannington,
on the Mu tlah, was advertistd to be opened for public
traffic on the 15:h of May, subject, however, to the
sanction of the c.)nsulting engineer to Government
At Calcutta, a requisition to the sheriff was in
course of signature, calling upon him to convene a
public meeting for the purpose of adopting congra-
.ulatory addresses to the Queen and the Prince and
Princees of Wales.

The Viceroy and Comm,-.nder-in-Chief were still
at Simla, where there is no news of importance to
record.

On the afternoon of the 7th May a numerous audi-
ence was gathered together in the hall of the Cham-
ber of Commerce of Calcutta, to hear a lecture by
Sir Arthur Cotton, on works of irrigation and navi-
gation. The lecturer chiefly insisted on the neces-
sity of appointing public 'A orks commissioners with
powers to raise funds for prosecuting remunerative
public works, and who shall be accountable for their
appropriation to the purposes for which they were
professedly obtained.
Something like a mania for limited liability com-
panies is said to be prevailing in Calcutta. The
Hurkaru says upon this subject :—" We yen-
sure to resume our strictures on the limited
liability mania. The importance of the sub-
ject must be our excuse. Too much is at stake
to permit the folly to go on unchallenged; and
it is surely better to speak out boldly now and
nip V:e evil in the bud, than to delay all notice till
a few designing stock-jobb;:rs have secured their
premiums, and the credulous multitude finds itself
duped and ruined. The good name and reputation
of our community, besides, are in question, and it is
but right that it should emphatically repudiate
complicity with practices which, we repeat, are
alike disgraceful and dishonest.
We read in the Madras Athenceum—" From
Central Asia there is a continuance of the same
vague and contradictory rumours that have for so
long a time filled the columns of the Delhi Gazette
and perplexed every body at a distance from the
scene of action as to what the real position of par-
ties at Herat, and the probable issue of the
strife between Dost Mahommed and his son-in -law,
may be. The old Ameer has recovered from his
late sickness, and is said to be as intent as ever on
taking the city, but after alt it seems more likely
than not that British and Persian diplomacy will
bring about an accommodation between the belli-
gerents.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
(From the Calcutta Englishman of May 8.)
Produce Market—With the exception of a few
purchases of saltpetre and rice at rates well main-
tained, the market still remains inactive.
Import Market—ln the short interval since our
last report there has been no change in our market,
which is still very quiet. The favourable telegra-
phic news received on the 6th has had no percep-
tible influence. Our quotations must be looked on
as purely nominal.
Joint-stock shares—A large business has been
done in joint-stock shares, and Bengal Bank scrip
is reported as having sold for 9,150. A wild mania
has lately sprung up in this city for converting
tradesmen's firms into limited liability companies,
and much gambling in the scrip has resulted.
These speculative venturers have in no way affected
the more legitimate undertakings.
Government Securities—Government securities
are slightly lower, fallowing the downward ten-
dency in Bombay and Madras. But.inss has been
done in fives and a halt at 117-8. In the other de-
❑ominations we have heard of no transactions since
our last report, and the quotations are nominally
the same.

Money Market—Though the money market is
still very easy, there is somewhat morn demand
within the last day or two, the scarcity of money in
Bombay and Madras having attracted considerable
remittances to both of these places.
• •

nv
Exchange.—The greater part of the business
done in exchange for the past fortnight has been
crowded into the last two days. Buyers of sterling
held back as long as they could in the expectation
that the arrival of the direct steamer from China
would give a fresh impulse to the rate of exchange,
but on its becoming known that she brought an
unusually small amount of China drawn paper, the
banks readily sold at the terms they had asked,
2-0 7.16. At this rate something like 18 lacs of
bank-bills must have been disposed of yesterday and
the day previous. First-class credit bills have been
sold at 2-ok, and the few China drawn bills that
came forward went at 2.0 9-16. Document paper
is comparatiTely scarce, and may be quoted 2-01.