The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-29 00:00:00

THE CALCU77A AND CHINA MAILS.

By the Overland Mail we have received advices
and papers from Calcutta to Aug. 22 ; Madras, Aug.
29 ; and from Hong Kong to Aug. 11.
The news from Calcutta is of no special impor-
tance. The Bengal Hurkaru says :
" Gen. Showers, who has been absent from the
presidency some months, has returned, and assumed
charge of the presidency division. His mission
to Assam and the north-east frontier has been
completed, but it remains to be seen if the mea-
sure now taken will ensure permanent quiet. Sir
H. Rose is said to contemplate a secend tour
of inspection shortly. A contemporary asserts
that the Viceroy would leave the presidency at the
beginning of January on a tour to the north-west.
At present his Excellency is absent at Bhaugulpore
for change of air, having suffered from slight indis-
position latterly. The Lieutenant-Governor reached
Debrooghur on the 7th inst. This will probably be
the limit of his present tour. Cholera has appeared
with more or less virulence throughout the military
stations in the north-west, and we regret to say
that some regiments have suffered severely, but it
has been nothing compared with the visitation last
year. Extraordinary precautions are taken to avoid
it, and the plan suggested by the Commander-in-
Chief of removing the men to camp on its first ap-
pearance has been ♦ery effective. We alluded in a
previous summary to the arrest of a Lieut. Jackson,
upon a charge of having caused the death of a na-
tive servant by flogging so severely that death en-
sued within a few days. The facts connected with
this ease are most distressing, and almost warrant a
belief that the accused is deranged in his intellect.
It was originally intended to send him down to
Calcutta for trial, but this order has been counter-
manded, and a court-martial will assemble at
Mooltan to try the prisoner. The long-vexed ques-
tion of waste lands has been finally disposed of, and
as it differs in very material respects from the ori-
ginal resolution of Lord Canning, it has by no
means been received with satisfaction. The despatch
on this subject was received by the last steamer, and
was made public immediately. The Home Govern-
ment adhere to the original proposition of granting
or selling waste lands. It negatives, however, the
popular notion that has existed, that by simply
making application for certain tracts, and defining
the sum to be paid, a valid title is secured. It is
expressly provided that all land shall be sold by
public auction, and it will not be in the power of the
grantee to reserve adjoining tracts at his option.
The redemption of the land revenue is confined
within certain fixed limits, and the deci-
sion arrived at with regard to a permanent
settlement of the land is considered, on
the whole, very unsatisfactory. The defence
of Mr. Laing has engaged a large share of
public attention, and it will be satisfactory
to that gentleman to know that his answer to the
charges of Sir C. Wood is held to be complete and
most effectual. The press, with one or two excep-
tions, have adopted this vicw, and are inclined to
regard the question in dispute as one simply in-
volving a a difference of opinion in the mode of
keeping the public accounts."