The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-02 00:00:00

THE WEST INDIA MAIL CONTRACT.

Great excitement prevails in the West India colonies re"
specting the new West India mail contract. In a despatch
from the Duke of Newcastle, dated in July last, and sent to
all the West India colonial governments, his grace, after
stating that the present West India mail contract is about
to terminate, says :—" I shall be much obliged to you if,
at your earliest convenience, you will favour me with such
observations as you may wish to be considered by her hie-
jesty's Government in connection with the tenders When
they are received ; and in furnishing them I wish you t°
bear in mind the probability that her Majesty's Govern'
meat will require that the loss attendant on this service (8°
on the postal services of other colonies) should be shared
between the imperial and colonial treasuries.
The Duke also transmits an extract from a letter ad'
dressed to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury by the
Postmaster-General, relative to the new mail schemes put
up to public tender. These schemes are thus described 11
the Postmaster-General :—' By the scheme prepared P.f,
the direct route to the West Indies, it is proposed to 01211'
Porto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat,
leaving to the respective gOVernmento of those; places the
duty of providing means for the conveyance of their mall°
from Antigua. In the scheme, making use of the existing
mail packets as far as New York with a branch to the West
Indies, it is proposed to serve Jamaica, New Granada, the
Pacific, Cuba, Mexico, and Central America from Net
York, and to serve the Windward and Leeward Islands,
and British Guiana, by branch steamers from Martinique'
fitted to the arrival and departure of the new line of Prenell
mail packets running between Sc. Nazaire and /vlartinitille°
and maintain an intercolonial communication once a months
by means of a packet between Jamaica and Antigua." The working of the two routes from England direct 1" ,„
the West Indies, and from England to the West Indies vl°
New York, is described in the West India papers as fel.
lows, viz. :
" From England to Antigua, Jacmel, Jamaica, and Nit
by the same course to England, fortnightly ; brancbi"
from Antigua to Trinidad fortnightly; from Jamaica td
Colon fortnightly ; and from Jamaica to Honduras an
Mexico monthly. From New York to Jamaica and cola+
fortnightly, returning by the same course to New Yol
with branches from Jamaica to the Gulf of Mexico all.
Honduras, also to Jacmel, Porto Rico, St. Thomas, St'
Kitts, and Antigua monthly ; through from Antigua to
Demerara, via Barbadoes, Trinidad, &c., the line would be
fortnightly ; so that the latter ports, and the intermediate
places, would receive and send only one mail monthly Uid
New York, and the communication during the other fat:
night would have to be through the French packets U.
Martinique. The time for a letter out or home between
England and Demerara via New York would be about °
month."

THE CONVICTED POISONER, CATHERINE WILSOrb
—The newly-appointed sheriffs for the City of London allcia
the county of Middlesex, Mr. Alderman Lawrance
Sheriff Jones, commenced their official duties yesterday 1)!A
communicating to the wretched woman, who was conviet;:,
at the late sessions of the Central Criminal Court of th
crime of murder by poisoning, the day appointed for carri:A
ing out the sentence of the law. The sheriffs have appoint;
next Monday fortnight, the 20th inst., for that purpose• hif
the discharge of this duty, the sheriffs were accompanietii;;
the Under-Sheriffs Mackrell and Farrar, the Rev.
The
culprit (the ordinary), and the Governor of Newgate.
culprit (who since her conviction has been constan'o
watched by one female warder during the day and "78
during the night) received the announcement with
.I'tlejd
same coolness and self-possession which she exhibit.tat
throughout the examination before the magistrate and a
long trial. It appears that, after the trial, she pretended
not to be aware of the result, alleging that she did not 01
derstand the purport of what the judge said to her in roe 7,
ing sentence. It was anticipated, from the fact of the Prl
Boner having been committed to take her trial from one o
f
the Surrey police-courts, that the execution would taltde
place at the Surrey county gaol, Horsecaonger-lane ; av
this would doubtless have been the case had the prison
been convicted on the indictment which charged her igt
the murder of Mrs. Atkinson, that crime having been Cec3,;
mitted in the county of Surrey. It is somewhat remarknb'
that the late sheriffs, Messrs. Cockerell and TwelatYlecT,
almost commenced their official duties by a painful proes!,
ing similar to that which devolves upon the present offlon ~
;
viz., that of superintending the execution of Wm. Cogs
or the murder of his wife in Holborn.
Accidents in menageries are becoming more aDd
more frequent in Germany. M. Afenz, an animal-tams''
was a few days ago in the cage of a panther at Brerne;,
engaged in breaking it in, when the animal, becoraillg
frightened by some noise on the outside, suddenly sPllij.
on one of the keepers, who was standing near, and fri(3
' tally wounded him. It was with the greatest diffiellity
that the body of the man could be released from the cis","
of the infuriated animal.
IVIRY CARVING IN DIEPPE.—This trade has
be!
the source of money-making to Dieppe for generations;
deed the hardy fishermen of th s flowery little harbour Clslce,
the honour of being the first to introduce ivory into frellip,
The story goes that, in 1364, a company of Dioppeie alior
ped a couple of barques, of only 100 tons burden each!, gthe purpose of exploring the coast of Africa. It prosnae
lucky expedition, stamping the signs of its progress ill be
names it gave to its various stopping places, which rillsy
seen to this day on any map;
for instance, Cape Verd,
aro
of France, and Petit Dieppe, near Sestos, The return cos
of these frail craft was African spices, fruits, and ivory too
former soon found its way into the interior, but much olitor
ivory, whose uses were less familiar, remained, as vie 0
easily suppose, as trophies of their adventures, in the Jill
ere
of the sailers and their families, until the ingenious ~sct
of Frenchmen cut—roughly at first no doubt—this eTentil
but easily wrought substance into such domestic olllcadleSt
as might at that time be in use ; sword and other 119,,,0iv5
combs, and the like. Such, then, is said to be the beg:;aovill
of the Dieppe carving of ivory. Little seems to be 'a tll9
about its progress after this first step until 1830, wrtatelt
Duchess de Berri visited Dieppe, and she havitioducin%
great interest in the ateliers, has the credit of intr°,,,,,ifeth
the Italian taste for finely and deeply cut wreaths 01P"
cupids, and scrollwork,—Ono a Week.

more afld
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at Breseel;
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my 011114
and
t ditolJ. 13.1'9;
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a the ell'l4.