The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-29 00:00:00

THE AUSTRALIAN MAILS.

SOUTHAMPTON, Thursday, July 21.--The first home-
ward mails from Au-traha to be conveyed under the new
contract of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Naviga-
tion Company, via Singapore and Egypt, are due in
Southampton by the steam-ship Bengal on the 4th of
August, and would serve as replies to the mails dispatched
hence on the 4th March last, the dates of departure from
the Australian ports being, according to the existing ar-
rangements—Sydney, May 20 ; Port Philip, May 24;
Adelaide, May 27; and King George's Sound, June 2.
The telegraphic dispatches, however, just received from
Trieste and Marseilles in anticipation of the overland
India mails (the Marseilles portion of which will probably
reach London on Saturday), convey no intelligence of the
arrival at Singapere of the steamer appointed to bring
up the Australian mails, and it is therefore most probable
that by this opportunity no intelligence will be received
from our Australian colonies. The disappointment to
all those connected with the important business opera-
tions carried on with Australia will doubtless be very
great. The reason of the delay and irregularity cannot
be with any certainty accounted for, inasmuch as
bad weather and other causes may have produced
the mishap ; but it is inferred that the screw-
steamer Shanghai (appointed for this service), and
which, on the previous voyage, got up to Singapore
later than was expected, would not therefore be
able to reach Sydney with the outward mail of the
4th of March (owing partly to the unavoidable detentions
at the intermediate ports, and to her delayed departure
from Singapore) sufficiently early to get away again at
the appointed time ; and this, when allowance is made
for similar detentions on the homeward route, in con-
sequence of immatured arrangements, difficultyof coaling,
&0., will possibly be found to be the reason why no mail is
brought to England by the Bengal. These delays and dis-
appointments will, it is confidently anticipated, be fully
obviated when the orders now on their way out have been
received and acted upon. The homeward steamers from
the Australian ports, instead of proceeding to Singa-
pore, will then cross direct from King George's Sound
to Point de Galle, Ceylon, and there connect with the
homeward bound steamer to Suez, and it is calculated
the junction will then be effected with greater certainty,
regularity, and rapidity than can, from the adverse na-
ture of the weather and navigation generally encountered
in running from King George's Sound to Singapore, be
looked for under the present plan. The mail steamers
from Sydney, after discharging mails and passengers at
Ceylon, will at once leave for Singapore, to be in readi-
ness for the conveyance of the outward mails, which are
in all cases to be sent by that route. The working of a
line of steamers at the Antipodes (particularly at the first
onset) is not so simple a matter as one terminating at
Southampton, where, if anything goes wrong with a
packet engaged in the service, the company has the
opportunity of substituting another ship, as was done in
the case of the return of the Tagus the other day, when
the City of London had the mails and cargo of that
vessel transferred to her, and was despatched in a little
over four hours. The directors of the Peninsular and
Oriental Company are leaving no exertions untried to
carry out their Australian mail contract with efficiency,
and it is to be hoped that the disorganised state of
affairs at the various ports will not ultimately or
materially interfere with their endeavours. A sub-
marine telegraphic despatch received to-day from
Marseilles announces the arrival there at 4 p.m. on
Wednesday of the new steam.-ship Valetta, with the
India and China mail, in 47 hours from Malta. The
distance being 660 nautical miles, this, her first per-
formance on the route, shows an average of 14 miles per
hour. The best performance of the celebrated Banshee
while on the station was 51 hours, but the ordinary
duration of her passages was from 52 to 56 hours. The
letters and papers brought by the Valetta will probably
be delivered in London on Friday or Saturday morning,
and the Bengal, with the heavy portion of the mails, may
be expected to reach Southampton about Tuesday or
Wednesday next. The succeeding steamer, the Indus,
due here on the 20th of August, will in all probability
be the bearer of the Australian mails.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.—Business continues
excellent at this well-conducted establishment. The
Battle of Waterloo, with the admirable scenes in the
circle and the fox-chase, fill the theatre nightly. During
next week Mr. Alfred Cooke, the great equestrian, rides
four horses, which will add to the attractions. On Mon-
day next Mr. William Cooke, lessee and manager, gives
the entire receipt, without any deduction, for the benefit
of the sufferers at the Rosemary branch, at which the
entire stud of horses and equestrian appointments were
totally destroyed. On Wednesday, Mr. W. Batty in-
vited Mr. Nelson Lee and Mr. W. Cooke to dine with
him at his country residence, on which occasion he pre-
sented Mr. Nelson Lee with a splendid diamond ring in
remembrance of the many successful pantomimes written
by that gentleman during his management.

SMOKE NurisANcE.—ford Palmerston's hint at the
Lord Mayor's dinner on Saturday last, appears not to
have been lost upon the city of London authorities, as
the markets committee have now ordered the applica-
tion, by Mr. Lee Stevens, of his patent smokeless fur-
nace to the engine used for pumping water at Billings-
gate : and when the existing abomination has been
happily subdued there, we may reasonably hope for re-
newed activity on the part of the Commissioners of Sewers
in the suppression of the smoke nuisance throughout
the City districts, and riverward as well as landward.
THE GREAT NUGGET.—The large Australian nugget
lately exhibited has been melted and sold for 5,532/.
Its weight before melting was 1,615 ounces, and it
yielded 1,319 ounces of fine
standard, gold, equal to 1,423 ounces