The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-26 00:00:00

went ashore at the Barwon Heads, near Cape Ot-
way, and was wrecked. She had 435 passengers
on board, but, happily, notwithstanding the cowardly
behaviour of some of the crew, no lives were lost ;
all were saved by the exertions of the captain, offi-
cers, and a few of the passengers, the women and
children being landed first. The number of ships
dispatched for the Australian ports has increased
enormously, and it is feared the commanders are
not, in many instances, sufficiently careful on a
coast of which they know nothing. At Port Philip,
also, the system by which the pilots are appointed
and paid is very defective. Having a fixed salary
from the Government, they will not board ships
outside the Heads, where they are most wanted,
and only take charge of them when they are fairly
in the smooth water of the bay. Many of the late
disasters have been caused by this practice alone.
In the case of the Monumental City so much blame
was attributed to the commander, Captain Adams,
that the Government was urged to prosecute bim
for manslaughter ; but, on taking the opinion of the
law officers, it appeared that being an American
vessel the captain was not amenable to the colonial
enactments. A kind of enquiry was instituted
before the Navigation Board of Sydney-, at the re-
quest of Captain Adams himself ; but, as it had no
power to inflict any penalty or summon witnesses,
the result was very unsatisfactory, and the com-
mander is by no means acquitted of blame in the
opinion of the public. In consequence of the sen-
sation created by this wreck, a lighthouse is at last
to be erected at Cape Howe. The lantern for it
has been locked up in the Government stores at
Sydney for some five years, the first attempt to
construct the lighthouse having by some misman-
agement of the architect totally failed.
Her Majesty's ship Serpent, Commander Ham-
mett, arrived here on the 20th. She left Hong
Kong nearly eight months ago. She has since
touched at and surveyed many of the islands in
the China seas and the Pacific ; among them are
Peel Island, Passhes, Puscadars, Serpent's group,
Scant's group, Wellington's group, Paterson's
group, M'Caskill Islands, and Solomon's Isles.
At the last named the Serpent remained two
days, making inquiries as to the death of Mr.
Benjamin Boyd, but without success ; no infor-
mation could be obtained of the savage natives.
The Serpent then visited Copang, Port Essing-
ton, where a search was made for traces of Dr.
expedition, Swan River and King
George's Sound. During part of the voyage the
Serpent was short of water and provisions. The
surgeon died in March last of inflammation of the
brain. This vessel is to go to England via Auck-
land and Valparaiso.
The intelligence of the final and total breakdown
of the Royal Mail steamer Australian arrived here
an the 27th, and was received with great satisfac-
tion by the mercantile men of the colony and the
public generally. From the previous accounts it
was feared she might have put to sea again with
another mail, to repeat the long and miserable pas-
sage of the Adelaide. The anxiety and loss the
colony has suffered from the failures of this mis-
managed concern cannot be described, and the sa-
tiSfaction of the public at hearing that one mail
at least is to be sent by another channel is very
natural.
The Antelope steamer, that was to have raced
with the Marco Polo from Liverpool to Port Philip,
has not yet been heard of. The Marco Polo sailed
on her return voyage on the sth inst.
As immigration increases, the treatment of pas-
sengers by sailing ships appears to get worse and
worse. The Sydney papers teem with exposures of
the rascality, drunkenness, and brutality—the
terms are quite justified—of the captains, and the
unscrupulous rapacity of the owners. Old and
rotten hulks, badly provisioned, are puffed as first-
class vessels in every respect, but the passengers
soon find that the ship leaks at starting ; that the
provisions, after the first few days, are changed for
an inferior quality ' • and that they have to fare
hard and work at the pumps to keep themselves
afloat the whole of the voyage, with a commander
drinking himself daily into madness, so that they
have at last to seize him and put him in irons, to
prevent him from committing murder or sending
the ship to the bottom 1y senseless orders. This is
a literal sketch of what took place on board one of
the last arrivals from Liverpool. The passengers
had deprived the captain of the command and kept
him in irons the greater part of the passage. On
arriving here they deposed to the above details
on oath, and stated other facts publicly that were
not necessary to prove the legal charge ; but be-
yond being exonerated from blame for the restraint
they placed on the drunkard the owners had en-
trusted their lives to, they have no redress. This,
it may be admitted, was a bad case, but too many
others differ from it only in degree. If anything
worse is to be discovered, it is on board the Ameri-
can ships bringing passengers from New York or
California. It is a common trick for the owner's to

take the passage-money to Port Philip, and get rid
of the passengers at Sydney by continually putting
off the day of sailing or stopping the issue of pro-
visions. The passengers see they are swindled, but
have no remedy.

One English method of catching passengers de-
serves equal exposure—it is that of advertising
ships to sail on the principle of " select emigration,"
the announcement being worded to create a belief
the passengers will be " selected," so as to present a
higher tone of religious and moral feeling than
average cargoes of unsifted Christians : and that
some sort of inquiry is made as to character before
the application for a berth is granted. The bait is
not unskilfully thrown out, but let no one be taken
in by it. The brokers and agents neither elect, nor
select, nor require any test but ability to pay the
passage-money. The consequence is that the de-
luded religious emigrant, instead of finding himself
among persons of similar feeling, is thrown into
contact with mere ordinary worldings, and the ex-
pected three months' communion in religious pri-
vileges is out of the question. A ship recently
came out on the " select" principle, and it proved
an eminent failure. The serious section of the
passengers, thinking themselves empowered by the.
prospectus to carry out the religious discipline of
the ship, formed a committee and drew up a set of
regulations, which the other party lit their pipes
with, any attempt to enforce rules made by a self-
constituted authority being resented as an imperti-
nence. The result was a series of quarrels which
lasted the whole voyage, ending with an explosion
of wrath and recrimination in the Sydney journals
at its close. What might have been a pleasant
voyage—for no complaint is made of the ship or
the treatment on board—was thus made very much
the reverse. Emigrants had better suspect all
brokers' promises, especially if phased religiously,
and calculate on finding at sea just as much devo-
tional fervour as they carry with them, and no
more. But the crafty trading on such feelings is
very disgusting.

FORTH AND CLYDE CANAL.—The report to be sub-
mitted to the proprietors at Glasgow, on the 26th inst..
states that the accounts exhibit a surplus revenue for
the year of 34,4271. enabling them to declare a dividend
at the rate of 5i per cent., amounting to 31,3861.,
and leaving 3,0411. to add to the rest. This statement
of their affairs will, it is hoped, be satisfactory, showing,
not only an increased trade, but also a diminished ex-
penditure. The large saving in the extraordinary ex-
penditure is exceptional, no part of the canal having this
year required such extensive repairs to necessitate
interruption of traffic—a circumstance which has, of
course, told favourably upon the revenue. In the ordi-
nary expenditure retrenchments have been made, and
others are in contemplation : the results of these will, how-
ever, be unfavourably affected by a rise of wages and
materials during the last few months. Under these cir-
cumstances the governor and council have, after due con-
sideration, to recommend, the large addition to rest which
bas been stated,raising its amount to 7,3821. The
Grangemouth-harbour having participated in the gene-
ral increase of trade, its surplus ' income on the
last half-year of 4091. has been applied to reduce the
advances formerly made by the company, and now
debited in "joint account with the Earl of. Zetland."
'thereby diminishing by that amount the contingent ac-
count maintained to meet these advances. The Drum-
peller Railway Extension will be completed within a
few weeks and, will prove a useful feeder to traffic, as
well as an accommodation to important mineral fields.

GREENLAND MINES.-It was mentioned in June last
that'an expedition was about to start from Portsmouth,
to test the mining capabilities of the southern coast of
Greenland, in consequence of a grant having been made
by the King of Denmark to a Mr. Lundt. The Dolphin
yacht, of 217 tons, which was fitted out for the purpose
by Mr. A. Robinson, Sir W. Trevelyn, and Mr. Regner
Westenholtz has now returned, after an unprecedented pas-
sage of sixdays from Cape Farewell to Land's-end, having
on board upwards of 16 tons of copper ore, said to average
more than 50 per cent. of pure metal, and a great variety
of specimens of silver and lead ores. The expedition was
accompanied by Mr. W. C. Vivien, a mining captain, from
Corn wall, and Mr. Hoff, a mineralogist, on the part of the
Danish Government, and their report is stated to be very
satisfactory regarding the metalliferous character of the
entire country included in the grant. Mr. Friis, a Nor-
wegian mining captain, and 10 men, were left at the
mines to carry on operations.—Portsmouth Times.

effi[cAacnivoEunaTilnSE:ufriENnTg.}B—iliefOlipoWopalyeliy,
aPnidllsEpwileopntd;cerEfuiltls
—Mr. Patrick O'Lary, of the Mall, Waterford, suffered
from bile, a general derangement of the stomach, and
frequent attacks of epileptic fits. The best medical treat-
ment he availed himself of had no good effect whatever
upon him ; and although he feared he should be a suf-
ferer for life, he resolved on giving Holloway's Pills a
trial, from hearing that a gentleman connected with the
law, and residing in the Temple, had been cured by their
use. He now can boast of a completely renovated con-
stitution, and a perfect restoration to health by taking
these invaluable pills.—Sold by all druggists, and at
Professor Holloway's Establishment, 244, Strand,
London._ . ,