The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-24 00:00:00

INDUS STEAM FLOTILLA.

The report of the directors of this undertaking,
to be submitted at the meeting of the proprietors
on Tuesday next, has been published :—lt was stared
in the last report, that the noble steamer Stanley
was in course of erection at Kurrachee ; that three
other passenger-steamers had been shipped, and that
the remaining three were ready for shipment ; that
six towing steamers and 2o cargo-barges had ar-
rived at Kurrachee, and the eight remaining cargo-
barges had left for that port ; that the services of
some of the best officers, practically familiar with
the navigation of the Indus, had been secured ;
that one tug steamer was nearly rivetted, and that
preparations were in progress for laying down the
passenger-steamers and accommodation-flats, con-
structed by Messrs. Richardson and Duck ; and
that the demand for tonnage on the river was far
in excess of what the existing steamers and boats
could supply. The experimental steamer Stanley
made her preliminary trial-trip on the Indus, and
encountered a cyclone (which entirely disabled a
Government vessel), and subsequent storm of
unusual severity, without sustaining any injury ;
proving that, notwithstanding her great light-
ness of construction and draught, she was
fully equal to contend with the storms which
occasionally visit the Indus. Although the
strength of the Stanley, and her lightness of
draught, were entirely satisfactory, the speed
attained upon the Indus was not equal to the
result obtained on the Thames; but when some
alterations, connected with the paddles, are com-
pleted, it is believed that the speed will be improved,
and that she will shortly take her place on the sta-
tion. Three of the passenger-steamers have arrived
at Kurrachee, and are in course of erection ; and the
remaining passenger-steamers have recently left this
country. The seven accommodation flats have ar-
rived at Kurrachee, and two of them are nearly
completed. The tug-steamers and cargo-barges
are now being re-erected as rapidly as circumstances
permit ; and several of them are expected shortly
to be fit for service. With reference to the naviga-
tion of the Indus, an official report on the naviga-
tion of the Punjaub rivers, recently addressed to Sir
C. Wood, has the following information, which may
be interesting to the proprietors. The Indus is the
second river in India, Hitherto its navigation has
borne no proportion to either its rank or magnitude.
This can scarcely be attributed either to the rapi-
dity of its current or the natural obstacles in its
channels ; for in many of the rivers of Europe dif-
ficulties far greater than any which are to be
met on the Indus have been successfully over-
come, while the fact of its being opened through-
out the year gives it a great advantage over some
of the finest of the rivers, both of Europe and Ame-
rica. The native boats are at best but clumsy craft,
intended only for the slow conveyance of the
heavier class of merchandise, and affording no ac-
commodation for passengers, who, indeed, have
never been considered. The south winds prevail
throughout the whole of the hot season, giving to
the Indus in its navigation, and to a certain extent
to its tributaries, great advantage over its rival
the Ganges, the course of the one being north
and south, and that of the other nearly
east and west. The banks of the Lower
Indus are abundantly supplied with a good
description of timber for fuel, the babul (acacia
Arabica). In some of the Punjaub rivers, the Jhe-
lum, for instance, the number of native boats has
greatly increased of late years, yet the number is
by no means equal to the increased demands of the
trade. During the season of 1858, the rate of freight-
age had risen so high that the profits on a single
trip from Pind Daden Khan on the Jehlum, to
Roree on the Indus, a distance of about 430 miles,
repaid the cost of the boat, the result of this
state of things being that none but the more valu-
able kinds of produce, such as sugar, saltpetre, &c.,
could bear this high cost of transit; corn, wool,
and cotton being almost entirely excluded; in-
deed, the latter article has almost wholly ceased
to be grown for export, although it can be
produced on the banks of the Jhelum, and of good
quality, for a penny a pound. Since the last an-
nual general meeting of the company, the Indus
Steam Flotilla shares being fully paid up, have
been converted into Indus Steam Flotilla capital
stock, in pursuance of a resolution of the proprie-
tors to that effect.