The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-15 00:00:00

BANKRUPTS.

Peter Foster, ship-builder, Sunderland, to surrender,
Oct. 22 at half-past eleven, and Dec. 2at twelve, at the
Newcastle District Court. _ _

Matthew Bates, manufacturer, Huddersfield, Nov. 1 and
29, at eleven, at the Leeds District Court.
George Heaps, jun., ironmoger, Leeds, Oct. 26, and Nov.
22, at eleven, at the Leeds District Court.
James Parkins, auctioneer, Grocers'-hall-court, Poultry,
Oct. 27, at half-past twelve, and Nov. 29, at one, at the
Court of Bankruptcy.
Charles Coils and John Lowe, bankers St. Swithins-
lane, Oct. 30 and Dec. 3, at eleven, at the Court of Bank-
-1 putoh.
;Jcyn Brown, draper, Bradford, Oct. 22 and Nov. 25, at
eleven, at the Leeds District Court.
Ann Margaret Goodacre, grmer, Edenhalx4Linc4inshirei
Nov. 2 anct 25, at half-past ten, at the Shire-hall, Notting-
ham.

ENGLAND.
the Act 7th and Bth Victoria,
on Wednesday, the 13th day

.AATMENT.

Wovernment Debt £11,015,100
Other Securities .. 3,459,900
Gold Coin 'EL Bullion 18,863,860
Silver Bullion .... -

£33,338,860

,EPARTMINT.
Government Secu-
rities (including
DeadWeightAn-
nuity) £10,809,467
Other Securities 14,817,709
Notes
Gold and Silver
Coin 633,131

£28,398,04t
,R SHALL, Chief Cashier.

___
COURSE OF EXCHANO E._—Tais DAY.
Amsterdam
Ditto
Rotterdam --11 17:k 11 17
Antwerp -25 321 25 371
Brussels --26 :32. 25 374
Hainburgh
Paris
Ditto
Marseilles — 25 82i 25 40
Frankfort on. Maine — 1181 119
Vienna
Triesto
Petersburgh — 341 361
Madrid
Cadiz — 491 491
Leghorn — 29 90 29 95
Genoa — 25 50 25 55
Naples
Palermo — 1221. 123
Messina — 122# 123
Lisbon
Oporto
Rio Janeiro
New York —

Calcutta, Co.'s rupee
Bombay ditto
_ _

E.I. Co's bls. House bis. 60d
213 231,41-
261 234

Madras ditt0........ 26 234
East 'lndia Company's, Bills drawn from the 24th ult. to

the Bth inst.

Bengal _ _ _
Madras
Bombay

£1,201 5 0
0 0 0
0 0 0

£1,201 5 0

Foreign Gold in Bars (Standard) ....per oz. £3 17 9

Mexican Dollars _ _

o b o

Silver in Bars (Standard)

„o 0 0

AUSTRALIAN MAILS.

The following is extracted from a letter dated
Melbourne, Aug. 16 :
" The European, with the June mail, arrived at
the Heads on Thursday night, the 12th inst., and
some of her letters were delivered on the following
evening. The Victoria, with the May mail, did,
not arrive until the Ist of August, and her letters
were delivered on the 2d of August. The Kent—
a good ship, with a sma'rt captain—came up on the
Friday, and gave a better batch of news than had
then been received by the mail. The Lincolnshire,
you will remember, had before delivered the latest
news, in spite of steam, navigated on a more direct
line. Let it be remembered that, although these
colonies pay largely, it is the Government at home
which manages this mail contract. Some time
since, when the Government, speaking through its
then Postmaster-General, Mitchell, ventured a re-
monstrance, and added a mere opinion that the
Legislature might take it into its head (if the pos-
session of a head can logically be predicated of a
Legislature) to put an end to the contract, the then
Secretary of State,—l forget whether it was Mr.
Labouchere or Lord Stanley—read us a homily on
the morality or rather immorality of repudiation.
This was a piece of pure official quietism—' Disturb
not the existing order ofthings. But what if we do
kick at the way in which this mail serN ice has been.
performed ? Is that repudiation ? I say the con-
tract has been broken over and over again by the
company, and it was only because we could not help
ourselves, because we could not do better, that we
have continued to submit to monthly disappoint-
ments, Legally, equitably, morally, we have long
been entitled to say, You have failed to perform
your part of the contract, we will keep our part no
longer.' The whole management has been literally
starved from the beginning. The company com-
menced first with two, then with one steamer short;
their steamers were of too little power ; from these
two circumstances they made one steamer go from
Sydney to Suez, by which they got foul, without
any means of clearing for the voyage out to Mel-
bourne. If they had had a change at Point de
Galle this would not have arisen. The inconve-
nience and day's delay of a change of conveyance
would have been amply compensated by the in-
creased facility for the voyage. It is said the com-
pany has lost £200,000, and no doubt every share-
holder will say, It can't pay.' This has been
said over and over again of every kind of enter-
prise. A ruined theatre has, Phoenix-like, risen
from its metaphorical ashes, under the new broom
of a new manager. I have known men of energy
who have made fortunes by taking up losing con-
cerns.' I feel very certain that this mail service,
with the handsome sum now contributed, might be
made to pay, and I think Cunard's line or the
Peninsular and Oriental Company could do it. But
here, I think, there is some prejudice against the
latter, owing to an impression that they are dis-
posed rather to sacrifice Australia to India. But I
scarcely see my fair ground for such suspicion.
They have the semi-monthly mail from Calcutta,
touching at Point de Galle. All that remains to
give to Australia a semi-monthly mail is to have a
few powerful but not very large steamers between
Sydney and Melbourne and Point de Galle. This
was the plan in 1852 with the Chusan and For-
mosa. It would certainly cost less than the pre-
sent system, and the only inconvenience was, that
when the ships from Australia got to Point de Galle,
the Australian passengers found the best cabins
taken up by passengers from India. This might
be avoided by more accommodation and reserved
cabins.

BANK RETURNS.