The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-07 00:00:00

INDIA.

By the overland mail we have advices from BMll*
bay to the 12th May. The 'I imes of India of that
day says:— _

" The arrival of the English mail of the 18th ult.,
with telegraphic advices of the battle at Corinth,
and the progress of the American war, is the chief
event of interest in the Western Presidency during
the fortnight. Sir Bartle Frere still continues at
Bombay, having held his first levee and durbar in
the Town-hall, and presided at the first convocation
of our University. The rains are now within a
fortnight or three weeks of us, the heat becoming
intolerable. Affairs all over India are stagnant and
uninteresting. The first session of the Supreme
Legislative Council has been closed by Lord Elgin
in person, and the time and place of its reassembly
no man knows. Mr. Laing's budget is still engag-
ing attention in the country, and seems to have
pleased all parties, although the readers of this
journal will not need to be told how far short it
stops of the reforms we have consistently advo-
cated, and believe we shall see Mr. Laing eventually
carry. _ .

" Commodore Wellesley returns to Europe by the
steamer leaving Bombay this day. His departure
is regretted by all who have come in contact with
him here, and that may be said to be the entire
population of the island. The Indian navy has never
had such a commander as the one under whom its
career closes. From the days of Sir R. Oliver to
those of Sir H. Leeke, an incessant stream of com-
plaints from the service poured into the press :
from the hour Commodore Wellesley hoisted his
fltg we have never heard a word uttered against him.
His unaffected considerateness towards, and interest
in the officers and men of the service, are inva-
riably spoken of with warmth. In a word, Com-
modore Wellesley, to a sound common sense and
honest geniality, unites the undefinable but always
all-prevailing qualities of a thorough English gen-
tleman.

"It is difficult to express adequately the regret
with which the Indian navy regards the retirement
of its commander-in•chief. The feeling is deep
and universal, and offers a marked contrast to the
temper of mind with which earlier removals were
regarded. In the rough but forcible praseology of
the service itself, Commodore Wellesley is loved for
that he has never committed an act of injustice.'
Were the commodore not retiring ostensibly ' on
leave,' the navy would have got up an ovation to
him of no ordinary kind. The commodore has won
the public regard by the liberality with which he
has identified himself with us, proving himself ever
ready, with no thought of self, to aid every work of
usefulness or benevolence amongst us. We sin-
cerely trust that higher honours are in store for
him at home, and that he may be spared many
years to their enjoyment—a hope in which every
reader of these columns will heartily join.
" The Phcenix describes Mr. Laing on the occasion
of delivering his budget as looking as well as at
any time since his first arrival in this country.
The hon. gentleman, itis true, does not outwardly
present the semblance of robust health, but if our
experience of India entitled us to offer an opinion,
we would say the appearance of the hon. gentle-
man was that of one to whom the climate had, in a
short time done its worst, and failed to knock
over, and who, if he does not overwork himself,
need not dread another hot season in the country.
Thinking thus, we shall be glad to hear that Mr.
Laing has not decided on going to England this
year, but has made up his mind to spend the en-
suing hot months at a sanitarium not so distant
from Calcutta as to preclude his keeping watch over
the working of the financial system he has initiated,
and the completion of which he must naturally
desire to effect under his own supervision. We
hope, therefore, that the rumour that Mr. Laing is
not unlikely to spend the summer months in Dar-
jeeling will turn out to be a true rumour. To those
who have had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Laing,
we need not say that he is a most agreeable public
speaker. Indeed, bating a little feebleness of voice,
there are few, very few, parliamentary men of the
present day who could manage to render a financial
statement, of nigh two hours' duration, as pleasant
to listen to as WEIS Mr. Laing's budget speech.'
" We trust very earnestly that Mr. Laing uitay
continue with us for some years to come. He is
better than a merely able man; he is an honest one.
Shaking himself clear of the notion that India is to
be governed for the interests of England, he avows
himself financial trustee of the millions here, and

in doing so, he is taking the very surest measures

to make the relations of the two countries profitable
in the highest degree to each. A policy of selfish-
ness brings with it its own Nemesis, a fact which the
press of Calcutta cannot yet clearly recognise.
"According to the Ilurkaru, Mr. Laing goes
home by the first June steamer, and hopes to re-
turn to Calcutta again in November. The honour-
able gentleman's health has much improved of late,
but his medical advisers are averse to his running
the risk of staying through the rains, and it is for
the interest of the public that their recommenda-
tion should be attended to.
Major-General Cunningbame, C. 8., commanding
Scinde Division, has been transferred to the Bengal
presidency, and will be appointed to the command
of the Lahore division. The military community
at Kurrachee are under the greatest obligations to
this officer for the many improvements be has car-
ried out in the camp, and his departure will be
greatly deplored.
" The court-martial upon Paymaster Smales, of
the Inniskilling Dragoons, is still dragging along.
The exposure of a great scandal seems imminent in
connect;on with this case.
" General Showers is about-to commence opera-
tions against the insurrectionary tribes of the
Cossyah Hills.
" The Nawab Ikram-ood-doulah, a member of the
royal family of Lucknow, and ono of his agents,
have been found guilty of forgery of certain papers
purporting to be a title to a pension for alleged ser-
vices during the mutiny. The delinquents were
heavily fined."

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
(From the Times of India.)

May 12.—Money is still abundant. The Bank has re-
duced its rate to 6 per cent. for Icans on deposit of govern-
ment securities and for the discount of private bills. Rates
on England have still a downward tendency. The busi-
ness done for this mail is as follows : Bank bills, 2s Oad to
2s Old; first class local credits, 2s Old to 2s Oid ; docu-
ments, is 0 5-16 d to 2s Old; the lower are the closing rates.
Government securities are a shade lower, and are now worth
as follows : Fours, 95i ; Fives, 105 ; and 5i per Cents., Mi.
IMPORTS,—We have to report another fortnight of con-
tinued activity in grey goods, -which have changed hands
to a large extent, generally at the rates quoted in our
last. Importers met the demand very freely up to the ar•
rival of Galle telegram on the Bth, being apparently anxious
to reduce stocks before the rains. The advices then to hand
being of an encouraging nature induced more firmness on
the part of holders, and prices for many staple makes have
since advanced twa annas per piece. Dealers have now
more confidence in the maintenance of prices, and are pur-
chasing with more spirit than hitherto, being anxious to
lay in stocks to hold over the rains in anticipation of higher
prices then ruling. Bleached and printed fabrics are still
dull, and unchanged in value. Twist is in excellent de-
mand at advanced rates. Metals of all kinds are dull of sale,
and nominally unchanged in value.

EXPORTS.—COTTON.—Our market for this staple has
continued firm throughout the fortnight, and chiefly in con-
sequence of adverse winds preventing the arrival of sup-
plies prices gradually but steadily advanced up to the Bth
inst., when Broach sold for Rs. 231, Dhollera Rs. 226, and
Oomrawuttee Akote Rs. 216. On the following day (9th
instant), the mail of 18th arrived, and her favourable ad-
vices at once caused a sudden and material advance, and
we hear of several purchases effected at extreme rates, such
as Rs. 240 for Dhollera, Rs. 220 for Compta. We do not
think, however, that much business will be done at the
prices now demanded by dealers, more especially as supplies
are now arriving more freely in consequence of a change of
wind.

FREIGHTS.—The past fortnight has been an unprece-
dentodly dull one for this season of the year. Arrivals
from England, end more es?ecially from Australia, have
continued to increase the already heavy supply of tonnage
in our port, while a long continuance of southerly winds
has kept back the country craft laden with cotton from the
northern ports. To add to this a partial strike among the
cartmen and coolies rendered it almost impossible for seve-
ral days to screw and ship cotton. These influences have
combined to make freights very dull, and although the
rates we quota are nominally almost the same as those
our last circular, still very little business has been_trans.
_
acted. We quote rates as dull at—To Liverpool:
_Y.01737;
X£3 2s. 6d.; seeds, £1 15s. To London : Cotton, z
seeds, 42 7s, 6d.

ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT

L SIiTUIJOA'.

On Thursday, a meeting of this institution was
held at its house, John-street, Adelphi, Thomas 4
Chapman, Esq., F.R.S., in the chair. There were
also present—Admiral Sir George Sartorius, Capt.
Sir Edward Perrott, Bart., Admiral Washington,
F.R.S., hydrographer of the Admiralty ; Admiral
Cator, Colonel Palmer, Admiral M'Hardy, Admiral
Gordon, Capt. De St. Croix, and Capt. Ward, R.N.,
inspector of lifeboats to the society.
The Secretary read the minutes of the previous
meeting.
The committee offered a double reward, amount.
ing to £45, to be paid to the crew of the institu-
tion's lifeboat stationed at Caistor, on the Norfolk
coast, in admiration of their daring and persevering
services in rescuing in the night, during a fearful
gale of wind, and under the most adverse circum-
stances, the crew of seven men of the schooner
Trial, of Poole, Dorset, which was totally wrecked
on the Barber Sands. A reward of £4 10s. was
also voted to the crew of the Howth (Dublin Bay)
lifeboat for assisting to bring into port, during a
gale of wind, the schooner Liberty, of Dublin, and
her crew of four men. Payments, amounting to
£ll 45., were also made to the crews of several of
the lifeboats of the institution for putting off in re-
plies to signals of distress from vessels, which, how-
ever, had afterwards got out of danger. It fre-
quently happens that the lifeboat has to put off
often in the middle of the night on a fruitless
errand, but on such occasions it would not be safe
to hesitate for one moment. A reward of £7 was
granted to the crew of a salmon coble, of Benholm,
Scotland, for going off in a terrific gale of wind,
and through a heavy surf, to the rescue of two out
of three of the crew of a fishing-boat, which, hav-
ing shipped two heavy seas, instantly went down,
carrying with it one poor fellow, and leaving the
other two men struggling for their lives on the sur-
face. A reward of £2 10s. was also voted to the crew
of a coast-guard boat, for putting off and saving,
amidst considerable danger, four persons from the
sloop Robert, of Barrow, which, during stormy
weather, had been dismasted in Douglas Bay, Isle
of Man. Several other rewards for saving life from
various wrecks on different parts of the coast were
afterwards voted. A report was read from the in-
spector of lifeboats to the institution of his recent
visits to some of its lifeboats on the south coast of
Ireland, and on the Welsh coast. He found all the
stations,with few exceptions, in a state of efficiency.
A great demonstration had taken place at Ipswich
on the 29th ult., when the life boat presented by
that town to the institution was launched into the
River Orwell, amidst the acclamations of some
20,000 people. The success of that important and
humane undertaking was mainly due to Mr. Bate-
man Byng, of Ipswich. Miss S. Lechmere had pre-
sented to the institution £3OO to pay for the
Withernsea life boat and its transporting carriage.
Legacies of £lOO each had also been left to the
society by the late William Lupton, Esq., of Sal-
ford, Lancashire, and Dr. T. C. West, of Kingston-
upon-Hull;
Payments amounting to about £5OO having been
made, the proceedings terminated.