The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-17 00:00:00

SPORTING NOTES.—No. CCOXOII.

LEAMINGTON GRAND ANNUAL STEEPLECHASE.—Peter
Simple, it is said, is not to be the horse this time. The
latest moves indicate that the winner will be found in
Maurice Daley, Bourton, or Warner. The latest named
has been backed for a great deal of money by the public.
The Hurdle Race would seem to•be a tolerable cer•
tainty for TILE HERO ; Odiham being the probable
second.

The Free Handicap Steeplechase I presume will be
won by BuLLFINcHER.

THE SPIRIT OF THE TURF.

THE AUSTRALIAN STEAM SHIP.

Mr. Frith, chairman of the board of directors, with
another member of that board—Mr. Robert Marshall,
secretary—Mr. I. K. Brunel, the engineer, and Mr.
Wakefield, his assistant—have been on board the Austra-
lian, making an inquiry into her condition, so as to de-
termine her future destination. Thirty-two of her mail-
bags were transferred to the Lady Jocelyn, which de-
parted on Tuesday for the Cape and Calcutta ; and
orders from the Postmaster-General have been received
for the immediate landing of the remainder of her bags,
which comprise about 200 sacks of newspapers and bags
of letters dated subsequent to the 4th of March. They
will probably be kept at Plymouth until the 3d of April,
when the next outward mail is appointed to leave. The
official day for the departure of the Australian was the
3d of February, but the directors obtained permission
from the Admiralty to postpone the date to February 23.
The time lost from that date to the present has been in
consequence of the defective state of the ship. Sir Robert
Nichol, Governor of New South Wales, and suite, and
several of the Australian's passengers, are going out by
the General Screw Company's new ship Argo. The di-
rectors, after surveying the ship, determined that she
should return to Landon to have her cargo discharged,
and to be docked there. She has her steam up in the
Sound now, and will leave in a few minutes. Mr.
Wakefield comes round in her. At a meeting of the
board of directors of the company, at their offices in
Lombard-street, yesterday, a deputation appointed by
the passengers of the Australian mail steamer had an
interview for the purpose of obtaining the return of the
passage-money. Some discussion took place as to the
return and condition of the Australian, and the direc-
tors at length consented to the desire expressed in the
resolution, and directed the passage-money to be paid
back to those who demanded it.

GOLD.—The total receipts of gold from Australia to be
expected during the next two or three weeks seems little
short of 2,000,0001. The Sydney, it appears had exactly
700,0001., and the Great Britain was to take a similar
amount. The Black Friar and New Orleans had
250,000/. between them, and an aggregate of 1,650,000/.
is therefore made up by these four vessels alone. The
Cleopatra and Sarah Sands would also be likely to leave
at an early date, and to ship considerable sums.
BANE or CONSTANTINOPLE.—It appears that the
Turkish Government have made a demand upon the late
London agents of the Bank of Constantinople for
420,0001. The agents, however, being under advance
to the extent of upwards of 250,0001., while the assets
remitted to them, and on which the demand is founded,
have not yet been more than partially realised, decline to
give up anything. It is thought that the sum in ques-
tion has been the only thing relied upon to enable the
repudiation of the loan to be carried out, but as there is
every reason to believe that the Turkish authorities
must have been fully aware of the lien which exists upon
it, a hope may be entertained that it was on some better
grounds that Lord Clarendon was induced to represent
to the bondholders that all their claims would be met
within a month. The 80,000/. of specie lately sent from
Constantinople was merely in connexion with the liqui-
rdeacteionntly appointed.of the bank now in progress under the commission
AUSTRALIAN COPPER COMPANY.—There was a special
meeting of the English and Australian Copper Company
yesterday, to give the proprietors all the information the
directors possessed before the annual meeting in July. It
appeared that the want of labour had been severely felt,
and that many of the miners and skilled workmen had
left the company's service for the diggings. The last
accounts showed that the price of labour had fallen con-
siderably on
account of the large emigration, and that
the directors hoped some reaction would take place, and
that men would again be procured for the company's
works, as well as for those of the Burra Burra Company.
The accounts exhibited a profit for the twelve months
of 27,0001. in Australia, and of 14,6001. at the Spitty
works. There was a large quantity of copper ore in
store, and about 3,000 tons were on the way to England.
The chairman advised that no dividend should be paid
out of the 42,0001. just at present, on account of the
critical state of things in Australia, but hoped by the
next meeting something might be resolved upon. The
meeting then adjourned.
THE OUTWARD INDIAN MAIL.—The Bengal steamer,
which left Southampton on the 20th ult. with the East
India and China mail, arrived at Malta on the 28th ult.,
and thus performed a distance of 2,132 miles in little
more than eight days, including a stoppage at Gibraltar.
The Bengal is the largest steamer in the world, and has
performed the distance between Southampton and Malta
quicker than it has ever been performed before. She
had to wait at Malta two days for the India and China
mail via Marseilles before she could proceed to Alexan-
dria. This was on account of the rapid passage she
made. There is no doubt that when the monster mail
screw steamers now building are placed on the Alexan-
drian line that the India mail via Southampton need
only be dispatched two days before the one via Mar-
seilles, instead of four days as at present, which will be
a most important advantage to the mercantile commu-
nity.
EXECUTION FOR MURDER.—On Monday last, John
Williams, an American, was executed at Greenlaw,
Berwickshire, for the murder of Andrew Mather, the
toll-keeper at Cleikumin, near Lauder. The unhappy
culprit continued throughout to manifest considerable
indifference, and to show few signs of penitence for the
deed for which he suffered.