The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-17 00:00:00

MAILS FOR AUSTRALIA.

The departure from Southampton of the contract packet
appointed to convey the mails of this month to Australia
will be postponed for a few hours.
Instead of the packet being despatched after the arrival
at Southampton of the day mail from London of the 18th
iust., as announced in notice No. 45, dated the 15th ult.,
it will be fitted on this occasion to the night mail from
London, and consequently letters, &c., will be in time if
posted or arriving in London up to the usual hours on the
evening of the 18th inst.

On thoother dates, however, fixed for the departure of
the Australian mails, viz., on the 12th November, 12th
December, and Eth January, the mails will be made up
in London, as already notified, on the morning of those
clays respectively, and will be despatched by day mail to
Southampton for embarkation on board the packet.
As an error, in respect to the time of despatch of mai:s
for Australia, has been made in the earlier imp.-es,ions of
the " British Postal Guide" issued on the let inst., the
Postmaster-General thinks it necessary to draw especial
notice to the circumstance that, after the mail of the pi e-
sent month, the mails for Australia will be made up in
London and despatched by day mail to Southampton.
By command of the Postmaster-General.
ROWLAND HILL, Secretary.
General Post-office, Oct. IG.

The errata of the " British Postal Guide" would be
more bulky than the book itself. The following letter has
reference to tho above notico

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR.—Permit me to correct a misstatement into which
you have been inadvertently led, in your remarks of this
morning with reference to the sailing of the steam-ship
Oneida for Australia, and which conveys an impression
unfavourable to the punctuality of the Europoau and Aus
tralian Royal Mail Company, in the despatch of their
first contract steamer.

The day appointed by the Post-office for sailing was Sa-
turday first, 18th inst., not Monday last, as you errone-
ously state, and, in accordance with which (the Oneida be-
ing now perfectly ready for sea) she will proceed out into
tiro river on the morning of Saturday, and embark her
passengers, waiting till Sunday morning, for the mails only,
by order of the Postmaster-General.
I am, sir, your:obedient servant,
J. GALBRAITH*, Manager.
European and Australian Royal Mail Company (Limit-
ed), 12, St. I3elen's•place, London, Oct. N.

THE SUBILARINE TELEGRAPH.—LIVERPOOL, Oct. 16.
—The mail steaueship Khersonese, which arrived in the
river from Newfoundland to day, reports the arrival out
of the Arctic survey steamer from Queenstown. The
accounts of the laying of the telegraphic cable are said
to be highly satisfactory.
THE LIVERPOOL FREE PUBLIC) LIBRARY AND
MILT,EUM.--The fourth annual report just printed, states
that the total number of visitors to the Derby Museum
during the past year was 106,914, or a daily average of
524. Among the donations in that period were several
valuable books on zoology from the Earl of Derby. The
library statistics show that the number of volumes
issued in the reference library having been 153,16
agajnst 131,012 in the previous year, and from the lend-
ing libraries 229, 348 against 99,021 in the previou.
year. The institution is highly successful.
THE QUEEN'S TASTE FOR TARTANS.—The furniture ei
the new Castle of Balmoral (says the Court Journal) is
of a very peculiar character. All the rooms aro alike,
that is, all the curtains, draperies, and coveriees of the
apartments are of one pattern, though (Meting in the
costliness of the fabric. The design is a tartan, with a
red and white check ; and it is extraordinary how well
this harmonises with the character of the building—its
i situation and its associations. Another peculiarity is
the absence of paint on any of the internal doors ; with-
out any exception, of all these the wood is perfectly
au nature!, though it is very highly polished ; and
thus the aspect of the old feudal castle is maintained
with every possible degree of modern comfort.
SINGULAR ACCIDENT.—An inquest has just been held
at Keddington, by G. A. Partridge, Esq , coroner, on
the body of Emma Choat, aged two years, who, it ap•
peered from the evidence of the grandmother, was run-
ning across the room with a knife in her hand, when she
fell down, and the knife ran into her niouth. The
grandmother pulled it out directly, but the child was
dead almost instantly. Mr. Simpson, surgeon, made a
post mortent examination of the body, and found an in-
cised wound at the back of the mouth just above the
swallow, extending to the spinal marrow. There was
not the slightest wound on the tongue or lips. Verdict
Accidental death.—Fury Post.
ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS.—The following mem-
bers of the college, having been elected Fellows at pre-
vious meetings of the Council, were admitted on the
16th inst.:—Messrs. Samuel Swain Scriven, Royal
North Gloucester Regiment, Cirencester ; John Robert
Taylor, Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals, Cha-
tham ; Francis Xavier Moseley, Gerrard-street ; JOS6O
Leach, Heywood, Lancashire ' • John Nichols iltlleston,
Holloway ; John Thomas Mould, Brotnpton ; James
Vaughan, Bombay Army; Charles Lawrence Bradley
Barnsbury ; Wiliam Stoker, Durham ; Samuel Bet-
croft, Hyde; Joshua Barlow, Ardwick, Manchester ;
and Stephen Sprenger, Bath. At the same meeting of
the Council Mr. Henry John Swann, of Berrowden, was
admitted an ad eundein member of the codege. This
gentleman bad previously been admitted a Licentiate of
the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, his
diploma bearing date April 3, 1343.
ROYAL MAIL STEAM PACKET COMPANY.—Annexcd
are the particulars of the fleet of this company :
Registered Horse
No. ama.
To n n aue. Power.
1. Atrato (iron) ...... 3,467 ... 300
2. Parana
3. Magdalena 2,913 8110
4. Orinoco
5. La Pata
6. Tyne (iron) 2,184 ... 400
7. Avon
8. Medway 1,895 ... 43)
9. Thames
10. Trent
11. Tamar 1,963 ... 40:0
12. Dee
13. Clyde
14. Solent
15. Tetiot 1,744 ... 450
16. Conway
17. Wye (iron screw)
18. Dement 794 ... 260
19. Eagle
20. Camil'a (iron) 539 ... 250 1
21. Prince (iron)

37,334 ...9,850

IftBLANAIo

DUBLIN, THURSDAY MORNLNG.

THE DEFENCES.

jSome speculation has been set afloat by an an-
nouncement in the Mail of last night, which at any
other time would probably have escaped general
public attention. The statement was simply to the
effect that Lord Seaton, accompanied by his per-
sonal staff, and attended by Col. Wood, Adjutant-
General ; Colonel Wetherall, Quartermaster-Gene-
ral ; and Colotiel Gordon Higgins commanding
the Royal Artillery in Ireland, left Dublin yester-
day morning for an official inspection of the mili-
tary posts. in the south of Ireland, and also of Cork
harbour, Spike Island, and Camden and Carlisle-
forts. The latter are under extensive repair, with
a view to a proposed new armament, which will
make that splendid harbour almost impregnable.

IRISH REPRESENTATIVE PEERAGE.
The death of Lord Hawarden creates a vacancy
in the number of Irish representative peers. His
Lordship was during a long life a stanch supporter
of Conservatism. The present lord formerly held
the rank of Captain in the 2d Life Guards, and is
now Lieutenant-Colonel of the North Tipperary
Militia—a corps with whose recent services the
public are tolerably well acquainted.

THE APPROACHING BANQIIET.
Some additional particulars are published of the
details of tire approaching banquet in Dublin to the
soldiers of the Crimea :

"The total number of the guests who will sit down to
,the admirable dinner which will be provided for them
will not fall short of 4,000 souls. The Crimean soldiery
will furnish about 3,000 of these. The rest will be corn.
posed of men representing the Royal Navy, Royal Ma-
p rives, constabulary, Land Transport Service, &c., who
have shared in the dangers and glories of the late cam-
paign, with the Lord-Lieutenant and Staff, the members
of the committee, and such distinguished guests as may
receive special invitations. Lard Gough, a most active
member of the committee, will be present as such, and
Lord Seaton will, it is said, take his place in his official
capacity as Commander of the Forces in Ireland ; and 20
veterans from the Royal Hospital, Silmainham, will
also grace the banquet at which their sons and grandsons
will play so conspicuous a part. The total number of
seats in the gallery for visitors will not exceed 1,000,
and, as the officers who will avail themselves of the
above privilege will amount to about 300; the available
room for the public will be very limited, and probably
very insufficient to accommodate the full number of appli-
cat.ts. The officers who come from the country in charge
of soldiers invited to the dinner will share in the banquet,
and will dine at the same table, or a table near that oc-
cupied by the Lord Mayor, Lord Lieutenant, and corn.
mittee. Tables for the soldiers will traverse the room,
and at the head and foot of each table members of the
committee selected for the purpose will preside as hosts
to do honour to their guests, and to superintend the
arrangements. The fare provided will be most liberal.
It will be the same for all the tables, and no distinction
whatever will be made between he viands supplied to
the Lord-lieutenant and the private soldier. Every 20
men will be supplied with joints of prime roast beef,
weighing, when cooked, not less than 10ib., with a leg
of mutton of the same weight ; a ham weighing at least
10Ib., and two meat pies containing each 51b. weight of
cooked meat, relieved by roast turkeys, fowl, venison,
pasties, &c., and other dainties ; and an excellent plum-
pudding, weighing not less than 151 b., will also be sup.
plied to each mess of 20, with bread, potatoes, &c.,
ad lib. For driukables each gees, will be supplied with
a quart of Dublin first-class XX porter and a pint of Mr.
Henry Beennan's first-class port wine (vintage 1844),
with which he has so generously presented the commit-
tee. Thus the quantity of solid meat, without taking
etceteras into account, supplied to each man will not be
less than 21b., with of plumpadding."

MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF TILE ARMY.

The following is the report of the select committee ap-
pointed, on the motion of Mr. Stafford, to inquire into
the medical department of the army .-
1. That the governing power of the Army Medical
Department should be vested, as at present, in one indi-
vidual, and not in a board.
2. That the Commander-in-Chief should exercise a
control ever the appointments and promotions of the
Director-General.

3. That the principle of general competition, or of
special examination, in recognised medical schools, be
applied, as far as practicable, to admission into the
Army Medical Department.
4. That no medical officer shall be promoted to be
staff-surgeon of the first class until he shall have served
not less than three years as a regimental medical officer.
5. That the rules which guide promotion be published.
6. That retirement be optional after 21, and 'compul-
sory from regimental and second-class staff-surgeon duty
after 35 years' service.
7. That facilities be given for the purposes of study in
civil hospitals, such precautions being taken as will goa-
-1 rantee the period of absence being passed in such study.
8. That the regulation which requires offierzrs of the
departrusnt to serve two years in the rank to which they
have been promoted, upon the pay of their previous rank,
be abolished.

9. That the pay of the army surgeons and assistant-
surgeons be increased, as may be determined by the E 11...
ecutive Government; but this committee is in favour of
10a. per diem as the pay of assistant-surgeon on first ap-
pointment.

10. That the relative position of medical and com-
batant officers be not changed, and that the army sur-
geons be not made a more military body than at pre-
sent.

11. That the system of confidential reports should be
placed upon the same footing with those relating to com-
batant officers.

12. That the committee agree with the recommenda-
tion of the director-general as to leave of absence,
honorary distinctions, funeral honours, special service,
and relative rank.

18. That as it has been stated to this committee that
the supply of medical officers was insufficient during the
late war, the establishment of civil hospitals may have
been necessary ; but your committee trust the recurrence
to such alternatives may be avoided for the future.
14. That a person duly qualified to compound medi-
cines, and attested for military service, should form a
part of the medical establishment of every regiment ;
and that those persons should be selected either from the
medical staff corps, fr3m the ranks of the regular army,
or from the orphan eons of soldiers educated at the Mi-
litary Asylum ; that they should be regularly trained
and educated with a view to the duties to be discharged.;
and that no one shall be considered eligible for employ-
ment until he has given proof, on examination before a
board, that he may, with safety to the sick soldier, be
entrusted to compound the medicines to be administered
to him.

15. That the medical staff corps, which was raised for
servica during the late war, should continue a part of
the peace establishment ; and that it is desirable it
should be recruited from the ranks of the army, provided
volunteers offered in sufficient numbers, possessing the
requirements deemed essential to quality for the parti-
cular service on which the corps is to be employed.
16. That the standard of providing clothing and
earthen n are vessels for eating and drinking at Haslar
Hospital be extended to the general hospitals of the
army ; that accommodation for sick officers be provided
in them ; and that a military lunatic asylum be pro-
vided, as embraced in the design for the New Military
Hospital at Southampton.
17. That the question of hospital stoppages be left to
he discretion of the Horse Guards and the War-office.

18. That at the outbreak of any future. war separate
.ransport should be provided for the conveyance of all
medical stores ; but your committee leave the minor
arrangements of detail to the executive.
19. The committee in the course of its inquiries have
had incidentally brought before them the admirable
manner in which the army and civil surgeons have per-
formed their duties in the East, and your committee are
glad to take this opportunity of recording the high opi-
nion they entertain of their merits.

SCOTTISH CENTRAL RAlLWAY.—Traffic return for the
wsek ending Oat. 12, 1856 1-'6,394 7 5
Corresoondine- week last year 6,4,!3 11 0
THE CANADIAN INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION.—The great
event of the last fortnight has been the 11th Provincial
Exhibition of the Products of Canadian Industry, which
has lasted the greater part of this week, and which is now
being brought to a close. The days of the exhibition
were to have been Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday ; but it was only opened to members on Wed-
nesday and the public on Thursday, on which day the at-
tendance has been variously estimated at from 20,000 to
30,000. It is said that, up to Wednesday night, 40,000
tickets had been sold. It being in the middle of the
equinox, the weather was somewhat unsettled ; aeel as
'the Fates would have it, on Thursday afternoon, the
greatest day of the Exhibition, rain came on about three
o'clock. On the previous day the Governor-General,
accompanied by Governor Clark, of the state of New
York, visited the grounds, Mrs. Clark leaning on the
arm of Sir Edmund Head. Next week the Governor-
General is to make a return visit to Watertown when
the annual Agricultural Exhibition of the State of New
York,will take place. A. still greater visitor was in-
vited_Nanoleon 111. ; and his secretary has replied
that the Emperor would have been exceedingly glad
to visit the Canadian Exhibition had not other en-
gagements rendered this impossible. Kingston has
opened the way by constructing- a very handsothe Crys-
tal Palace, nrea 23 acre plot of Government ground, of
which the local agricultural society has sot a lease for
21 years. The entries were larger than at any previous
provincial exhibition, thus showing a continual pro.
gress. Tne show of sheep and pegs was particu.arly
good ; the various kinds of cat:le were well repre-ented,
though perhaps the heroes were less nune roue than on
some previous occasions. The quality of Canadian stock
is kept up by constant importations from England, and
a great stimulus is thereby given by these exhibitions.
Imported stock is allowed to compete on equal terms with
native bred, with the view of encouraging the practice of
importation. Some farmers cross the Atlantic every taw
, year., fur the purpose of importing superior cattle; sheep,
I or horses. Within a few years past a great improvement
hag taken place in the breed of stock, and the process of
amelioration is constantly going on. In sheep, the Sotah-
downs and Leicesters were particularlygood ; the number
of these and other kinds was very grear, and a compari-
son with those which were exhibited in this city is 1849
would show a very marked improvement.—Canadian
News.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Fairy royal yacht embarked his Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales and suite at Osborne yesterday morn•

I inss„ and lauded them at 9.45 at the Royal Victualling
Establishment, Gosport, where the Prince was received
by the naval and military authorities of Portsmouth and
a guard of honour of Royal Marines. The usual salut-
ing took place from the ships in port as the Prince
Passed each. The train bearing his Royal Highness to
.
London left Gosport at 10 o'clock.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, the
General Commanding-in-Chief, held a levee yesterday
afternoon at the Horse Guards. There was a numerous
attendance of officers.
An order having been received from the Horse Guards
y Lieut.• Col. NV. H. Anderson, Superintendent of the
Invalid Depot, St. Marv's I3arracks Chatham, fOr the'
discharge of a fare number of troops belonging to vari-
ous cavalry and infantry regiments, who have been re-
commended for discharge to the Commander-io-Chi:f by
the Board of Commissioners from Chelsea Hospitals 93
non•cmmissioned officers and men, selected from the
4th Dragoons, 6th Enniskillen Dragoons,. 11th Hus-
sars, 4:h King's Own, 7th Fusiliers, 13th (Prince Al-
bert's) Light Infantry, 18th (Royal Irish), 23d (Welsh
Fusiliers), 33d (Doke of Wellington's), 38th, 41st, 49d
Highlanders, 44th, 46th, 47th, 50th (Queen's Own),
79th Highlanders,
Regiment, and `the
68,h Light Infantry, 69th, 71st and
88th (Connaught Rangers), 95th
Rifle Brigade, left Chatham yesterday, and -proceeded
to their homes, being unfit for further service.
Her Majesty's ship Algiers, 91 (screw), was taken
into the steam basin at Portsmouth yesterday for repairs.
Her Maj-sty's ship Bellerophon, 78, was taken out
of dock at Portsmouth yesterday, after her conversion
to a receiving hulk.
The naval steam storeship Industry left Portsmoutk
yesterday for the eastern ports with supernumeraries.
The Pigmy steamvessel, Second-Master Johnston,
was despatched yesterday by the naval authorities of
Portsmouth dockyard to the assistance of a vessel in dis-
tress, which stranded on the Owers shoal in the gale of
the preceding night; she is an American, and sugar-laden.
Her Majesty's steam-sloop Bulldog; Commander
H. C. Gordon, went into Portsmouth harbour yesterday
afternoon to be docked for repairs. On her way from
Gibraltar she spoke, in lat. 49 38 N., long. 5 12 W.,
the Good Tidings.
Her Majesty's steam-sloop Sharpshooter, 8, Lieut.
Parish, was paid off at Portsmouth yesterday afternoon.
The Governor transport, No. 148, arrived at Spithead
yesterday from the East with stores.
Her Majesty's storeship Melampus, Commander Bor-
lase, left Portsmouth yesterday afternoon for the east-
ward,

The Goliath, 80, has been taken into dock at Chat-
ham for the purpose of being fitted with a screw and
made ready for st-a.
The Daring, 12, sloop, Commander Gerald J. Napier
(1852), from the North American and West India
station, has arrived at the Nore, and is ordered to
Chatham to be paid off. She has been in commission
since 1852, an] was attached to the squadron of Rear.
Admiral Arthur Fanshawo, C. 8., Cotninander-in.Chief
on the West India station.
The Eviegfe, 12, Commander E. .11. G. Lambert
(1855), hai arrived in the Medway from the West India
station. After she has been inspected it is expected
that she will be ordered to Chatham to be paid off into
of dinary.

The following appointments were made yesterday at
;he Admiralty:—

George H. Mowbray, Paymaster to the Victoria and
Albert ; Charles Walker, Paymaster, advanced to let
Class ; Watson W. Parminter, Paymaster, advanced to
2d Class ; Richard Carginnen, Paymaster, advanced to
31 Class.