The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-28 00:00:00

PUBLIC WORKS IN INDIA.

The most important news we have to mention in
connection with Bengal is the completion of the elec-
tric telegraph between Bombay and Calcutta. All
the difficulties have now been overcome, though as
yet there has been little more than an exchange of com-
pliments, by means of it, between Lord Elphinstone and
the Governor-General. The locomotives for the Bengal
railway have arrived, by ship from England at Calcutta,
but there is no prospect of the line being ready for them
before next cold season. Colonel Cautley's success in
the formation of the Ganges Canal called forth a public
meeting in Calcutta ; and before its close 1,250 rupees
had been subscribed in order to procure a bust of the
colonel. He has retired from the service, and is on his
return to England. The Governor-General of India has
issued an order of the day of a most complimentary cha-
racter upon the occasion. The colonel's labours are de-
clared to have brought lasting honour on the British
name. In the course of the order the Governor-General
says
Constructed over more than five hundred miles, within
a period of eight years broken by wars and encumbered
with difficulties, the Ganges Canal already stands un-
equalled among works of its class and character through-
out the world. It is to Lieutenant-Colonel Cautleythat
the British Government mainly owes theaceomplishmet
in
t
i
of this gigantic enterprise. The Governor-General
Council requests that he will embark on board the Go-
vernor-General's yacht from Chandpal Ghaut, on Mon-
day, the 15th inst. at six a.m., and directs that on his
Way to the packet he shall receive as he passes a special
salute of 13 guns from the ramparts of Fort William.
FORTIFICATION OF BOMBAY.
Government has issued orders requiring the fortifica-
tions of Bombay to be put into a state of greater effi-
ciency than they have been for many years. This order,
together with rumours concerning the Russian fleet, has
' excited great alarm among the lower orders of natives;
and at Madras, Ponddieherry, and Singapore like fears
were entertained. No certain intelligence had arrived
of the whereabouts of the Russian fleet lately in the
. Chinese seas. Little more is known than that it had
. been refused shelter at Batavia.
Trig LIMISLATIVR COUNCIL.
, : The first meeting of the new Legislative Council of
India was to have taken place on the 20th inst. Mr. C.
Allen and Mr. Cecil }leaden are mentioned as nominees
of the-Lieutenant-Governors of Bengal -and the North-
West Provine—'
es,'. Madras is to send Mr. Daniel Elliot ;
.and Arthur Malet has already left Bombay to take
his seat. The number is completed by Sir L. Peel,
the. Chief. Justice the Hon. Mr. Peacock and Mr. Mills,
of the Calcutta Sadder Court. The Indian Law Com-
. mission hay been asked to take into consideration the
question of the amalgamation of the Sudder and Supreme
Courts ; and since Mr. C. H. Cameron, the original pro-
, poser of the amalgamation scheme, is a member of the
Commission, there can be little doubt that the subject
will receive due attention. _Mr. Frederick James Halli-
day has assumed charge of the new office of Lieutenant-
Governor of Bengal. The emoluments are to be a lakh
of rupees per annum, an official residence, and an esta-
blishment of attendants, at the cost of 600 rupees
monthly. The Secretary to the Government of Bengal
is to draw 36,000 rupees yearly, and each of the two
under-secretaries 15,000 rupees. The Lieutenant-Go-
vernor will carry on his duties in direct correspondence
with the government of India, but reports are to be made
direct to the home government. He will have autho-
rity over all the territories hitherto under the authority
of the Governor of Bengal, excepting the Tenasserim
Provinces and Pegu. Mr. John Peter Grant has suc-
ceeded Mr. Halliday in the council of India, but wi
:..only draw 80,000 rupees per annum.

BUBSIAH.
The report that Meeaday had been burned was alto-
gether incorrect. An attempt was indeed mado to plunder
the bazaar by a band of robbers, and an officer was fired
at about a mile ontiide of the stockades, but otherwise
peace had been unbroken.: Mong Bo had an army of 3,000
men encamped on the frontier not far from Meeaday, and
the dacoits who attacked that place, and were repulsed by
the garrison, are supposed to have left his camp. Oa
the 23d of April a tremendous hurricane, or cyclone,
broke over Rangoon and other places in Pegu, de-
stroying much property. Many boats were destroyed
by it on the Sitang river, and not a few lives were lost,
.especially of men belonging to the 36th Madras Native
Infantry, which regiment was proceeding northward to
one of the military stations. A subadar and eleven men
of that regiment reached Pegu in a state of great exhaus-
tion saying they had been wrecked themselves, and that
they did not know what had become of the other boats.
Lieutenant-Colonel Johnstone, who was proceeding to '
j oin his regiment at Tonghoo, had seen ten boats with
soldiers in them go down, overwhelmed by the bore.
The Burmese, however, were of opinion that many of
those missing, when accounts left, might yet turn up,
fr om creeks in which they may have sought shelter. The
troops all over the province continued in a very healthy
state, and there had been no very warm weather. Large
and thriving villages are springing up, and the capabili-
ties of the country are exciting great expectations.
KIIIVA AND CABUL.
The correspondence of the Delhi Gazette continues to '
furnish our Indian contemporaries with an unfailing
supply of marvels from Central Asia. The Gazette has
now a "new correspondent," who has discovered that
the Russian troops have not only reached 'Chive, but
have built several forts within its territories. The Khan
found himself unable to resist, and deemed it best to
close an alliance with the Emperor of Russia, the more
so since in doing so he followed the example of Persia.
It is also reported in Cabul that the King of Bokhara
has allied himself with Russian agents, to induce Ameer
Dost Mahomed Khan to enter into friendly negociations.
The Ameer, however, refuses to have any intercourse
with his Majesty of Bokhara ; but does not abso-
lutely refuse to treat with the Czar through the agency
of Persia.

To complete the mystification we are told that Nazi!.
Khairoola Khan had written to Dost Mahomed inform
ing him of persons sending news to the English papers,
which might produce much mischief. "The consequence
was that Mirza Nubbee was seized on suspicion of being
the news-sender, bnt was dismissed after clearing him-
self by oath." The Friend of India makes the very
probable suggestion that these correspondents of the
.fleilti Gazette may be agents used by Dost Mahomed,
in order to increase the value of his offer of amity to
the British Government.
CASUALTIES BY DEATH IN INDIA. SINCE MAY 10.
Bombay.—Surgeon Gillenders, Ist Grenadier Regt.
at Baroda. Surgeon W. F.. Babington, at the
Presidency, on the 10th of May. Captain Wardell, sth
Regt. N. 1., at Dharwar.
Bengal.—Lieuteirant C. C. Bean, 25th Regt. N. 1., at
Chowringhee, on the 2d May. Second Lieutenant A.
Tollemache, 3d company 3d battalion Artillery, at
'llmhalla, on the 28th April. Colonel C. Coventry,
70th P‘gt. NJ., at Barrackpora, on the 7th May.

CHINA.
HONG KONG, May 6.—lt is rumoured that the sove-
reign de jure of China is about to divide the kingdom
with Thae-ping-Wang, the insurgent chief, but the
rumour is not generally credited. At Nankin the in-
surgents are settling down, and assuming the character
of a settled Government. Shanghai still holds out
against the Imperialists, and appear likely to do so. At
Amoy preparations were going forward for another en-
deavour ou the part of the insurgents to retake the city,
which, if vigorously followed up, will probably be suc-
cessful.

CHINESE RIOTS AT SINGAPORE.
The Singapore Straits Times of May 15, gives in a
special supplement the particulars of dreadful riots
which prevailed in that town from the sth to the
12th ult. It appears that the Chinese community of
the town and district are divided into members of
different provinces, or rival Hueys, which have now
come to include every description of inhabitant—Euro-
pean. excepted—the members of each Huey being
bound by a solemn oath to aid each other with money,
Stu., and, if necessary. to sacrifice their lives. These
rival factions engage frequently in desperate conflicts,
and a mass of miscreants avail themselves of the general
consternation and local disturbance to plunder the shops
of the weak or defenceless. In the present case a dis-
pute ccmmenced between some Chinese about a few
catties of rice, and in the course of a few hoers bands
'of Chinese, armed with bludgeons and knives, were
fighting in the streets of the town, at least four or five
thousand men being engaged in the riot. The work of
plunder soon commenced, and the military were called
Opt, the police being fagged out and powerless. The
next day the riot was resumed, and the European in-
habitants were sworn in as special constables, the troops
creamaining quartered in the town. On Sunday it be-
anTe.?lear that stringent measures must be resorted to,
Pc
fired on the rone of hom was
shot dead. Prom that day tort heoterq, end of thew week the
most desperate riot'
quiet until Sundayintga'reztailed, and the town was not
It is next to impossible' (sha;s the Straits Times) to esti-
mate the number of persons killed and wounded during
the disturbances. At least 100 Chinese have been shot
dead or hacked to pieces : probably double that 'cumber have been assassinated. On one morning there were four
next day nine more, until at
bodies in the dead-house,
tonlegth the number so incieased that orders were given
inter the bodies wherever found. The Chinese rioters
used their best exertions to carry off their killed and
wounded. The hospital is crowded with inmates,
wounded. Neither age nor sex have been. excepted from
the serial murders perpetrated chiefly in the broad noon
,of day. At the rear of Government the body of a
literally hacked to
Chinese was found on the road side,
chargd
we
charged
with More 'than 500 persons are in custody,
scenestody
!with participation in one or more of the
'have described, and we believe there is an intention to
proceed at once 'with a judicial inquiry, so as to
oytodelrs7
dis-
pose` of tie prisoners, and relieve the gaols, now
crowded.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
BOMBAY, MAY 23.—Money still continues very scarce,
but there has been no increase on the rates of discount,
and, now that the monsoon is close at hand, the market
will probably become much easier. Few transactions
have occurred in the goods market since the departure
Of the last mail, owing both to the close approach of the
rnonsoon is well as the extreme tightness of money in the
.tsar ; no goods have been forwarded during the past
fortoight up country. Owing to the few arrivals since
the departure of the last mail, freights have advanced to
4/. 7s. 6d, to 4/. 15e. to Liverpool, and to London 51.

.1)-Elt

,
I
.1'
11
.1)"