The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-19 00:00:00

LOCAL.

The appearance of the weather from the 18th to
the 24th of May led us to expect the immediate
commencement of the rains. The atmospheric dis-
turbance turned out to have been occasioned by a
hurricane which occur' cd is the Bay of Bengal on
the 20th, the third in the course of six weeks b..-
twixt the Coromandel Coast and Buruanh, and bi-
twixt the 11th and 22d parallels. All appearance
of rain, which is generally pouring in torrents a
week before this, had vanished. We have at pre
sent fresh breezes, bright sunshine, and a few
scattered clouds, with scarcely so much as a shower
within the fortnight, not a drop within the past six
days. The line of railway betwixt Klia,ndalla and
Poona was opened for all kinds of traffic on the
14th, Bombay and Poona being thus connected by
rail, with the exception of a temporary pocierage
of seven miles at the Blioree Glittut, where it will
take two years to complete the tunnels. On this
occasion, like the original opening in April, 18-)3,
in place of making it a day of demonstration and
festivity, everything was qoae about so quietly
that it looked as if vvn felt ashamed in being caught
in a task so new and so chimeriCal as this of im-
proving the country: The traffic of last week on a
70 mile fragment must afford 23,0001. The
Mahableshwur Hills have been deserted by visitors

—the first burst of rain converts rivulets into
rivers or catarccts, and cuts off communication,
and so make stranger's scamper in alarm. The-roar e
still a great many residents at Matheran, the Go-
vernor and members of council amongst the rest,

the cloudy weather and showers which preude the
fall there amounting to about 28 inures in 60 day',
being the pleasantest part of the year, wild the rat'.
way being accesisble at all A subscription is
now on foot to present Col. Outram with a shield,
on which his principal feats of arms for the past 36
years—for :throughout this time he Las been
mostly in harness—is to be emblazoned. This,
along with the 500/. sword he received in 1843,
and the oher sword just presented him by the
City of London, will form.as rich a trophy of arms
as can well adorn a baronial hall, and not more
rich than it is honourably won.

On Thursday, the 10th instant, there was an
official trial trip on the railway from Bombay right
ibtough. The party lett the Bhoree Bander
Station at 8 a.m., and were back again by 10 p.m.
To Poona out and back in 14 hours, with the loss
of four hours on the Ghaut porterage both ways,
and some time for the magnificent hospitalities of
Mr. Cursetjee Jainsetjee,anust be something rat'.or
striking, not only to natives, but to old Indians..
Fancy the illustrious Elphinstone, wiao placed the
Deccan in our hands in 1819, still alive. Fancy
a lady amongst us, then a wife, d..ncing with
Colonel Wellesley on his way to extinguish the
Mahratta empire in 1803. Fancy it not yet twenty-
five years since the first road up the Ghaut was
opened. Then fancy the whole traversed by loco-
mAives.

THE WEST INDIA MAIL.

SOUTHAMPTON, JCLY 17.

The Magdalena, with the West ludia ntai's, ar-
rived Mere this day. Her dates are—Gra)town,
June 17 ; Jamaica, 27 ; Demerara and Trinidad,
25 ; and St. Thornss July 2. Amongst her cargo
specie to the value Of 1,194,179 dole. Sh,-; brings
home nearly 200 passengers.
Her M4jcsty's ship Tartar was at Barbado3s.
The Leopazd was to leave Gfeytown on the 19th
ult. for Belise, and the Ganges and Alert were at
Callao on the 12th ult.

The sugar crop in the West Intheariseauecler the
average, except at T.ieida and -Barbed oes.
Mr. Belly was to leave Greytown on the 18th ulf.
and to proi eed to New Yorke and to take with him
the concession by the Government of Nicaragua of
the Interoceanic Canal. He was to call at WaA-
ington on his way to Europe. It was nut known
who was to open the transit.
The United States ship Jamestown left Greytown
early in June to join. the United S‘atessivtadron off
Cuba. The Colorado, a sister ship to the Merrimac,
was to follow the Jamestown.
The United States steamer of war Wabash ar-
rived at Jamaica on the 15th ult. to land some
na-
tives who had been emeloyed to ss ell: the A ruesican
man of war ,cs,asquehana, a portion of the crew of
which were placed in Jamaica hospital ill of the
yellow fever a short time since.
The Colonial Standard of Jamaica contains the
following :—" The severe drought which had been
experienced throughout the island for some months
before the departure of the last mails has beer. ma-
terially relieved by some refreshing rains, which
commenced to fall in this part of the country on
Monday, 14th June, and continued with occ adonal
intermissions until the evening of Thursday the
17th. As far as we have learnt, the rain was very
heavy all along the south side of the island, and
particularly so in the eastern parishes. We doubt
whether they were experienced to the same extent
along the northern ornorth western districts. L smart
shock of earthquake was felt about 20 minutes to 4
on the morning of the 16th. The undulation ap-
peared to be from north to south. The only cir-
cumstance of excitement that lies marked the pro-
gress of the for: night h s bean the urenacrig in el
ligeece from the United States in reference to the
searching of American vessels suspected to be con-
cerned in the prosecution of the slave trade, by our
c.nisers on the coast of Cuba. This excitement
was somewhat stimulated by the arrival, early on
the morning of the 22d inst., of H M. steam-frigate
Devast ,tion, with despatches for Commodore Kel-
lett, C. 8., fromVice-Admiral Sir Houston Stewart,
K.C.8., directing him straightway to hoist his red
pennant as commodore of the first class, in the De-
vastation, arid proceed with her to take command
of the British squadron in the Gult of Florida. All
manner of reports got afloat on ths arrival of the
Devastation—the one most generally believed being
that the steamer Styx bad been captured by an
Ani,rican ship of larger force, and carried into an
Americau port. We need not say that there Ives
not the remotest foundation for these rumours.
The Styx is known to have gone in search of a lhrgle
vessel, named the Venus, fitted out is flavanns
for the slave trade. Although no one in Jamaica
entertains any idea of immediate hostilities arising
out of the question letweenthe
h
ta h Unitedte affair States
is and
Great Britain, it is quite certain
grave one, and that it affects the
.welfare of these
colonies, and especially of Jamaica, in a considerable
of June 26
degree."
urgston givDe
leisortchloevfalMrcweinga/tpiioerartnotfelt/htlicieci
mar-
kets :—" The usual average amount ef business has
been tren•acted during the past fortnight, but with
most unsatisfactory results to the importer. The
stocks at ma,kct have been excessively large, caus-
ing an anxious desire on the part of importers to
reeliso, and a disinclination wi'h purchasers to
operate except for immediate consumption—c mse-
quently quotations are lower. Produce transactions
are dull. Common grades sugar declined ls. to ls.
6J. per 1001 b., the demand being unequal to supply,
but fair qualities have mA a corresponding advance.
The crop of c)ffz:e has been very small, and is
nearly a'l sold out. The expected crop of pimento
is being offered, but it meets no encouragemEnt,
and the additional export duty on this article will
render its cultivation anything but profi able. Ex-
changeso on Lodon—Colonial and Jamaica Banks :
9
daps, per cent. prem. ; 60 days, 1 per cent.
prem. ; 30 days, 11 per cent. prem. Merchants'
bills on London—i per cent, discount, 90 days."
In Trinidad the inauguration of the statue of the
late Governor, Lord Harris, took place in the
Council Chamber en the 22nd of June. The present
Governor, the Attorney-General and Chief Justice,
with Mr. Darling and other influential residents,
took p-rt in this interesting proceeding, and united
in be tring their testimony to the virtues of his lord-
ship's administration. The Port of Spain Gazette
says : "Though scarcely a day had passed previ-
ously without rain, Tuesday, the 22nd, favoured
the participators in the ceremony with one of the
finest specimens of fine West Indian weather.
This has continued for a day or two since also, and
has been found very acceptable after the deluging
rains which have been pouring down in some parts
of the ccuutry. The rivers have been down in
great force, and have occasioned by their rush of
waters several accidents. The roads are feelingdthi e
full effect of this drenching, and are in some e•
We all look for-
tricts as bad as they well can be.