The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-18 00:00:00

L 0 N- D 0 N,

THURSDAY _IEVE.N LNG, DECEMBER, 18, lB 1.

EAST INDIA COMPANY.
Yesterday a quarterly general court of this company
was hAd at their hcuse in Leadenhall-street ; Mr.
Shepherd was in the chair.
The minutes of the last court having been read and
confirmed,
The CLIAIRMAN announced that the warrants for
the half-yearly dividend on the Company's stock would
be ready for delivery on the 6th of January next.

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION OF GUZERAT.
Colen©l DICKINSON, pursuant to notice, rose to
mc.vc—

" That it be suggested, for the consideration of the
Bombay Government, whether the same systematic ar-
rangement which has so long been acted upon in tho
north-west provinces of Bengal, for the repair and ex•
tension of the communications in the interior of districts
by a ccss on the amount of the Government jumma, or
tax, levied and eppropriated Exclusively for tied pur-
pose, the disbursements of this cess being managed by
a local committee, might not with equal advantage to the
public be introduced throughout Guzerat."
For the all-important object of affording to the in-
habitants of Guzerat those means of internal com-
munication for want of which the great body of cul-
tivators, and those engaged in the transit trade, have
so long been compelled to dispose of their surplus
produce and mercbandize at a ruinous disadvantage;
with the paramount view, it may be thought, also, of
enabling British India, in the event of a commercial
crisis, through the resources of this productive region,
to meet the eventual demands for that superior species
of indigenous cotton which forms the staple of this
portion of Western India, and of it alone, I have
long and most strenuously urged upon the Court of
Directors the expediency, not only of a much greater
outlay for immediate requirements, but for the adop-
tion of some systematic arrangement for securing to
the public a more equitable portion of the revenue
set apart for local amelioration than has hitherto been
vouchsafed to this proverbially disregarded province.
Surrounded as our possessions in Guzerat are by
those of states in subordinate alliance with the Eng-
lish Government—in consideration also of the greater
length of time since they have been under British
rule, it will, I hope, be thought that no sub-division
of the Bombay territory could, with the same advan-
tege, as well as with the same claims of its native
community, be selected for the small measure of con-
sideration now solicited, to the want of which, or of
some such popular infusion into the formation and
councils of our municipal institutions is, I incline to
think, mainly to be ascribed the neglected state of
the public ways generally, but especially throughout
those districts to which the present motion refers ;
and as the measure now submitted for consideration
is in accordance with one that has been in beneficial
operation for many years in another part of India,
to the benefits of which the late Lord
Auckland, when Governor-General, has borne
unqualified testimony ; and as_ it is no later
than last year that the Revenue Board of Madras
recommended that an annual sum be allotted to each
district throughout that presidency for the mainte-
nance of breach and district roads, it will not, I hope,
be imputed to me that I have on insufficient
grounds brought forward the present motion.
To bear me out in what I have on this and former
occasions advanced in proof of the imperfect state of
our communications throughout Guzerat, as well as
of the means almost everywhere at hand for their im-
provement, I shall proceed to quote from various au-
thorities of recent date, including the professional
reports of those most competent to enlighten the pub-
lic as regards such details, than which no stronger
testimony could be adduced of the formidable impedi-
ments so afforded to commerce, as well as of the at-
tendant hardships of that numerous and industrious
class whose cause I shall never cease to advocate until
the work of amelioration is in good earnest com-
menced, and until a somewhat better guarantee is
afforded for its continuance than in those professions
which experience has taught me but little reliance
can be placed.
Mr. LEWIN seconded the motion, but said he should
be sorry to see the cess collected as at Madras, where
it operated as a great hardship, while it opened the
door to very considerable peculation. He had never
seen an indisposition on the part of the local Govern-
ment, or of the Board of Directors, to expend money
in local improvements, more especially in roads, for
good roads were essential to the revenue. He had,
however, seen a great deal of money wasted on what
were called improvements, and he should he sorry to
see the Board authorise the payment of a gum of
money for the purposes proposed by his Hon. Friend,
unless they knew how they were to be carried out.
The CHAIRMAN said, it appeared to him that his
Hon. and Gallant Friend bad not said much as to the
specific matter of his motion. He had detailed very
much in the language he used in June last the defi-
cient state of the roads in Guzerat. Upon that occa-
sion he (the Chairman) had quoted the official reports
of a director, and the opinion of a private merchant
who had just returned from Guzerat, which
went directly to contradict the statements of the
lion. Proprietor ; and, in fact, be could only account

for the different statements made by different persons
with regard to the same locality by the supposition
that some of the correspondents muot refer to a period
of three or four months of the year of the monsoon,
when the roads are wholly impassable. He was now
further fortified by the reFort of Mr. Davis, the col-
lector at Guz?rat, who stated that the extreme dis-
tance from the great cotton district of Broach to the
place of export might be taken as about 30 miles ;
while the average distance was about 15 miles. The
communication throughout, he said, was perfect, and
always open, except during three months of heavy
monsoon weather. Mr. Landon had also stated that
the nature of the soil was such that during the fair
season carts could travel everywhere, and that even if
better roads existed they would not be used during
the monsoon, and it would therefere be a waste of
money at present to expend more upon the roads ; for
to make them passable during those three months it
would be necessary to raise them, and lay out a very
considerable sum. With reference to the particular
motion, it must be remembered that this cess was not a
compulsory levy of 1 per cent. on the jumma. Pre-
vious to that araangement parties were compelled to
keep up thei
awhrmeoa
ysoa ds u
alwayssnhtoi
which
h should
l hdti
opuheani
yrcwe
lardistrict,stper
t
iehnru,ceietu t
wb.
requireduoalst
uthem,m of
mtao
payingtahn edra wthhtiahcthe
They concurred in that proposition, and this 1 per
cent., therefore, was not an amount paid out of the
revenue, but was in excess of it. There would, in
his opinion, be no justice in extending such a system
to Guzerat, and, indeed, he thought it would be
most inapplicable for the purpose. The Hon. Pro-
prietor having given utterance to his desire to for-
ward the interest of the people, he suggested that he
should leave the matter in the hands of the Govern-
ment, who were extremely anxious to carry out every
measure of improvement.
Colonel DICEINSON, in reply, complained that the
remarks of the Hon. Chairman and the authorities he
had quoted had been confined to a very small portion
of the great district of Guzerat. He believed that the
chairman was in error with reference to the three
months' bad weather. He knew that the rains were
frequently very slight, and that the return of the
only year which he bad been able to procure gave the
fall of rain as only 18 inches. Another argument in
favour of assigning to the natives of Guzerat a more
prominent share in this branch of municipal adminis-
tration, is the similar boon which was seventeen
years ago conferred on their brethren on the island of
Bombay, which, by elevating some of the more in-
fluential members of the different casts to the dig-
nity of the justices of the peace, placed them as it were
upon a footing of equality with their European
fellow-subjects exercising like vocations in private
life—and it must be a source of no small satisfaction
to those persons by whose persevering exertions
(foremost among whom was the late Sir Charles
Forbes) that tardy recognition of their claims was
acquiesced in by the Legislature to learn, that many
of those native gentlemen have manifested a most
exemplary zeal and fitness .in the discharge of the
magisterial duties so assigned to them, involving, as
these do, a voice in the rate of assessment for the
repairs and improvements of the public ways, as well
as on the multifarious details of its appropriation.
Major OLIPHANT said, that the fact was, that in the
wet season the merchants did not travel, nor did
they want to travel. if they were anxious to send
their merchandise in wet weather, the necessary
roads would no doubt be made ; but that was
surely a matter for the consideration of the local Go-
vernment, and not of gentlemen residing in London.
He spoke with some knowledge of this matter as an
engineer officer, and he was of opinion that it would
be a waste of money to expend it on such a purpose.
Colonel DICKINSON, in reply to Major Oliphant's
remark, differed in toto from his Honourable
Friend behind the chair, and deeply lamented that by
mistaking cause for affect, the cause which he had,
and should never cease to have, so much at heart,
should not have received a larger share of, his sym-
pathy and valuable co-operation.
The motion was then put from the chair, and lest
by a large majority.
- The court adjourned.

QUEBEC, Nov. 25.-5 somewhat novel ' bull" has
been recently issued by the prelates of the Roman Catholic
Church. It prohibits the ladies of their communion from in-
dulging in the profane amusements of waltzing and polkaing
Ludicrous as such an order may seem in England, it is a
;very serious affair here, and may open the eyes of the Roman
Catholic laity to the tyrannical theocracy under which they
live. The ladies of the upper classes of French Canadians
have been hitherto accustomed to take their share in all the
innocent diversions which form the passe temps of our winter
evenings, and among which the waltz and polka are not the
least considered and cherished. They are now forced to re-
lincraish these amusements, under the pain of ecclesiastical
censure, and final excommunicatiox.
CuEAP OMNIBUSES.—yesterday a new feature in
the cheap omnibus system developed itself by vehicles starting
from near the corner of Ilungerford-street, Strand, and car-
rying passengers all the way to the Bank fa a penny, and
on to Shoreditch for twopence.