The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-30 00:00:00

DATID HUNTER,
Major-General Command,ing.
"Ed, W. Smith, Acting Assistant Adjutant
General."

The Rev. S. Edgar, Mr. Brame, Mr. W. Heaton,
of the Freeman, the Rev. J. Penrose, and Rev. J.
C. Middleditch took part in the proceedings.
At the close of the meeting a brass band headed
a Jong procession to the dock, at the entrance of the
river, where the two ships (the Matilda Watten-
bach and the Hanover) lay ready fos exit, gaily
decorated with flags on the rigging of each, and
their decks crowded with the women and children
and their relatives. A considerable number of
ladies and gentlemen, who were provided with
tickets to accompany the ships to Gravesend, went
on board the Matilda Wattenbach, and at one
o'clock the gates were opened, and this noble ves-
sel, of nearly a thousand tons register, was toyed.
out, amid the cheers of the thousands assembled on
the piers, as well as those on board, the band pla:,--
ing " Cheer, boys, cheer" in a highly inspiritinz
style. The Hanover speedily followed, and E
salute of six guns having been fired from the Wat-
tenbach, and with the baud playing " God save
the Queen," both vessels dropped down the river,
and were soon lost to sight. The third ship—Wm.
Miles—is to depart on the 10th of July,

MILITARY RESERVE FUND.—The account of this
'mad for the year ending with March last stdtes, as the chief
augmentations in the year,-136,800 by sale of commissions
in succession to officers placed on the seconded retired full-
pay and half-pay lists, and £16,827 by officers on selling out
receiving sums which were short of the full value of their
commissions. The expenditure included £112,234 paid in
purchasing the commissions of 61 officers upon half-pay
who desired to sell, thereby saving £7,893 a year upon tie
half-pay vote ; £44,611 paid to officers of cavalry on retire-
ment in consequence of. the reduction in the prices formerly
paid for cavalry commissions, £7,200 paid to officers and pri-
vates of the Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, in which the
system of purchase has been abolished, the appointments in
succession having been given to old officers of the army_as
a reward for past service ; £11,500 paid to the Yeoman of
the Guard in a similar manner; £7,900 paid in buying out
officers in regiments liable to reduction, thereby saving
half-pay or absorbing officers who had been retained as
supernumerary upon full-pay ; £450 paid for a commission
for a student at the Rorkee College as a prize for high at-
tainments. The balance in hand was reduced from £167,636
at the beginning of the year to £53,850 at the end of it. The
Foot Gua7rds' reserve fund account was augmented by
£7,300, and diminished only by £1,200 paid in buying out a
supernumerary caused by the appointment of a Page of
Honour to a commission ; and the balance in hand at the
311 b: e
end of the year was £18,466.
TAY SALMON FISHING.—The fishing in the Tay
has improved considerably within the past few days, and
yesterday there were very good " takes" on all the stations,
both upper and lower. On Saturday al ternoon last the first
grilse of the season was landed at the Friarton Island, the
S al propertynon t roof
partiebalilgarh t
trouts
r a
reThomasow
comingMo n c r
forward,effe—t h fishare
ofweighedg
lar e
and in capital condition. Salmon is selling in Perth
atn
ls. 6d. per lb., and trouts at Is. 4d, per lb.—Seotsina.
THE WANT OF SMALL BIRDS.—It is said that in
the has fallen upon the
fruit Vale e
z; of Eveshamllray,
anda
in
severe
places has completely
destroyed ail chance of crops.
Bengeworth and on the
eastern and exposed sides of the town the greater injury
rrge
le
has been done, and the cherries end damson plums appear
to suffer the worst attacks. In some places the trees are
quite shrivelled up, and sapless and withering, as though a
blast from a hot furnace had swept across them, and the
severity of the blight has gone in belts of varying widths
across some of the plantations. The common graen cater-
is the insect working so destructively. In the more
favouiPd localities 01. ere is still a fair average crop in a
growing and vigorous stt; te. The potato and vegetable crops
uegerally aro looking well.-- Worcestershire Chtontcle.
LOCAL HONOURS TO LII-'ItABIANs.—Mr. Panizzi,
the principal librarian of the 13r:tish Museum, has been
elected a vestryman of the parish of George's, Blooms-
bury. Mr. Mudie, the well-known librai-ian, has been re-
elected a vestryman of the same parish..—City „Press.
At the meeting of the Labuan Coal Company
yesterday, Sir J. D. Elphinstone, M.P., in the chaff, the

report stated that advices had been received from Mr. Sin-
clair, the manager, to the 17th of ANA], from which it ap-
pears that the sinking of one pit is making favourable pro-
gress, that another is about to be commenced, and that both
will probably be completed by the end of October next,
when the veins will be sufficient to yield 100,000 tons of coal
per annum for 10 years; also that in the interval while the
pits are in proce:.,s of being sunk a fair supply of coal aril
be raised for sale, that the cost, including expenses of every
kind, is not expected to exceed Gs. per ton, and that a suppl
of 85 tons has already been furnished to her Majesty's steam
1311ip SoAt.

passengers, of whom 36 are for this port and Hr iv; v,
and 139 for Hamburg, On freight she has 19'2,1452
dols. for England, 167,900 dols. for Franca, at id
1,200 dols. for Hamburg, and a large cargo.
During the voyage the Hammonia experierto 3d
fine weather, and light westerly winds. On the
28th, in lat. 9 16 N., long. 8 20 W., she spoke It) le
Altona ship Esther, Captain Nielsen, bound we e t ;
and off the Start Point she spoke the Hamb
brig Canoe, No. 338, also bound west.
The adviccs are of the same date as those pox
Etna, but a few additional items of interest are
gleaned from the New York papers brought by tk
Hammonia.

The following is a copy of General Hun.tel 's
order, declaring slaves in the States of k'lout h
Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, free ;--
"Head-quarters, Department of the Soutl
Hilton Head, S.C., May 9, 1862.
"The three States of Georgia, Florida, and So. ath
Carolina, comprising the Military Department -of
the South, having deliberately declared them9ela ,es
no longer under the protection of the United Staf ies
of America, and having taken up arms against Ile
said United States, it became a military necessity' Ito
declare martial law. This was accordingly done on
the 25th day of April, 1862. Slavery and ma rtial
law in a free country are altogether incompai ible.
The persons in these three States—Georgia, Flo rids,
and South Carolina—heretofore held as slavm. —are
therefore declared for ever free.

NONCONFORMIST COLONY, NEW ZEA-
LAND.

DEPARTURE OF 800 EMIGRANTS.
Yesterday, at noon, there was an imposing de-
monstration at the East India Docks, Blackwa:tl, in
connection with the sailing for Albertland. New'
Zealand, of 800 emigrants, constituting the first
portion of the thousand Nonconformists who. are
proceeding thither to found a new colony. Ali the
morning the trains on the Blackwell and North
London railways, and the steamboats from London-
bridge, were filled with the emigrants and. their
friends, and by eleven o'clock the East India Docks
presented a very animated scene, from 8,000 to
10,000 people having assembled. A considerable
number of them made their way to the North. Dock,
where a large enclosure had been secured for the
holding of a farewell service. Although Ph charge
was made of sixpenee each person, many hundreds
passed through the barriers, and occupied the space
in front, and on each side of the spacious platform
erected for the occasion, and which was filled by
ministers and gentlemen and ladies who have been
concerned in devising and carrying forward the in-
teresting project of which this was the consumma-
tion. Baptists ministers and the Metropolitan
leaders of the temperance movement were by far the
most prominent of the occupants of the platfiorm—
a circumstance which is accounted for by the fact
that the great body of emigrants are Baptists and
teetotallers.
Mr. H. TWELVETREES took the ehair, and, made
an exulting speech, expressing his high satisfaction
at the success of the scheme, and his conviction
that the thousand for whose departure arrange-
ments had now been made would be speedily fol-
lowed by many thousands more—a remark which
was loudly applauded.
The Rev. WM. LANDELLS, of the Diorama Chapel,
Regent's-park, delivered an elaborate and very elo-
quent oration. He felt admiration, he said, for the
heroism of many of those who were about to depart
on this great enterprise; and while advising them
to lay their account with many difficulties, he
counselled them to be strong in hope and in pur•
pose ; to have confidence in each other, and to
repose unshaken faith in Divine Providence. Ho
held it to be one of the most remarkable of all
the emigration movements that had taken place in
English history, and likened it, in some of its fea-
tures, to the exodus of the Pilgrim Fathers to New
England 200 years ago. These Nonconformists
were not going forth because of persecution, but
yet their purpose was largely a religious one.
They did not have in view merely the bettering of
their own worthy condition, but they desired to
sow the seeds of perfect religious equality in that
far off region, which was destined to become a
mighty nation. He earnestly besought the emi-
grants to beware, on the one hand, of any course of
conduct which should lead to the breaking down of
their design, and, on the other, to unite heart and
soul for its full accomplishment, pointing out to
them the disastrous effect which failure would in-
evitably have upon the principles which they che-
rished, and how success in this first attempt would
bless the colony and promote the welfare of Non-
conformists at home. He eulogised Mr. Brame, the
originator of the undertaking, and spoke in the
highest possible terms of the Rev. S. Edgar, the
minister elect of the settlement. Mr. Landelts con-
cluded his address with a touching farewell, which
brought teats to the eyes of hundreds of his
audience.