The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-23 00:00:00

AUST.RALIA, VIA PANAMA.

The long-agitated question of postal communica-
tion with the Australian colonies, via Panama and
New Zealand, in addition to the existing service
by the Peninsular and Oriental Company, via Suez,
is at length about to be solved. Government are
upon the point of inviting tenders, which are to
include provision for conveying the mail of Victoria
and the other Southern colonies to and from Mel-
bourne, the port terminating the main line on that
side being Sydney. The time of conveyance to and
from Melbourne is fixed at under fifty-five days, and
the arrivals and departures are to be timed as to
alternate fortnightly with those of the existing
service. It is understood that the competitors for
the contract will be three in number, but it is most
probable that the West India Royal Mail Company,
from the facilities they possess' for its execution,
will be successful. It has already a fortnightly com-
munication between Southampton and Aspinwall,
connecting at Panama with the steamers of the
Pacific Company, which run regularly between that
port and Valparaiso, calling at all the intermediate
ports, and between Panama and San Francisco,
calling at Acapulco and Manzanillo. ; while between
Panama and the principal ports of Central America
there is regular communication by the steamers of
the railway company, whose carriages traverse
the Isthmus, from ocean to ocean, with the
greatest punctuality, in, about three hours 'and a
half. The offer of that company in respect of the
conveyance of the English mails over the Isthmus
is most liberal. The directors have undertaken to
perform the services on the same terms as they now
convey the mails for the United States Government,
and thus without any reference to the quantity of
mail matter carried. Whether that quantity be
large or small they offer to convey it for a fixed
annual payment of £20,000, which is the sum paid
by the American Government for the transmission
of their Mails. It is to be observed that, under the
existing arrangement, the. British Post-office De-
partment pays the Panama Company twenty-two
cents per pound for the conveyance of the mails for
the West Coast, which is precisely the rate paid by
the United States Government previous to their
present contract. Under the arrangement for the
transmission of the Australian and New Zealand
mails over the Isthmus of Panama, the mails for all
parts of the West Coast, from Vancouver's Island
and British Columbia down to Valparaiso, will be
included, and these may, at no distant day, be as
important as those of our possessions at the anti-
podes. It is not, therefore, the Australian colonists
alone, and their correspondents in this country,
whose interests will be served by the additional
mail services via Panama. Our commercial rela-

tions with the whole of the Pacific will be vastly
benefited by it. The Royal Mail Company has, look-
ing at the matter in this light, and assuming of course
that their tender will be as reasonable as is com-
patible -with thorough efficiency of service, already
deserved the contract by enabling our merchants
to avail of the facilities afforded by the Panama
Railway for rapid communication with the West
Coast of America. An arrangement has been
entered into with the Panama Railroad Company
and Pacific Steamship Company, under which goods
are now shipped at Southampton for all ports on
that coast between Panama and Valparaiso, through
bills of lading being issued by the Royal Mail Com-
pany. The like facilities are afforded. in Liverpool
by the steam line of Mr. Holt, and the line of sail-
ing vessels for which Mr. J. Hamilton is agent, in
respect of the Central American ports. Contracts
have been entered into between the Panama Com-
pany and the Government of Costa Rica, Salvador,
and Guatemala, under whichimportant privileges
have been conceded, one being a reduction of ten
per cent. on the import duties leviable on merchan-
dise carried over the Isthmus, and landed in the
Rifts of those republics from the steamers of the
company. Owing to this reduction, valuable goods
can be shipped to the Central American ports on the
West Coast from Europe and the United States,
via Panama, more economically, even at the com-
paratively high rates now charged, than via Cape
Horn, freight free. Aspinwall and Panama, being
free ports, have become important entrepots of mer-
chandise, and the merchants of Central America,
and of many, of the ports of South America, regu-
larly resort to the latter to replenish their stocks of
good. The advantages to be derived from the
Panama route are not, however, confined to the
facilities it affords for more extensive and frequent

The following ships at Chatham Dockyard are
ordered to be completed and fitted for the second
division of the steam reserve in the Medway—viz.,
the Rodney, 90, in dock, converting into a screw
steamship ; the Irresistible, 80,.line-of-battle screw
steamer, building ; the Severn, 50, frigate, in dock,
being lengthened and altered into a screw steamer;
and the Wasp, 13, screw steam sloop, in dock,
having defects made good.
The Sir William Peel screw transport, sailed
from Portsmouth at noon yesterday, for Corfu, with
the officers and troops on board, as stated in 7he
Sun of Saturday, with the exception of Paymaster
Treeve, of the 2d Battalion, 4th Foot, who did not
embark.
The Cressy, 80, screw steamship, arrived at
Portsmouth from the eastward yesterday.
The Hannibal, 91, screw steamship, Captain
Matthew Connolly, bearing the flag of Rear-Admi-
ral G. R. Mundy, left Spithead yesterday at noon,
under canvas, for Malta, and rounded the east end
of the Wight on her course down Channel, with a
fine breeze easterly.
The Agamemnon, 91 screw steamship, Captain
Thomas Hope, being fitted out in the steam basin
at Portsmouth, has sent up her lower and topsail-
yards and pointed her topgallant masts:
Rear-Admiral Sir C. Fremantle, K.C.8., was
summoned from Plymouth on Saturday evening by
the Lords of the Admiralty.
The paddlewheel steam vessel Advice, Master M.
C. Raymond, left Plymouth on Saturday for Queens-
town.
The screw steamship Revenge, 91, had her j ury-
masts taken out at Devonport on Friday, and was
transported to Keyham basin on Saturday.
The gunboat Weser, 6, Commander A. S. H.
Johnstone, from the Mediterranean, arrived at Ply-
mouth on Friday night. She was commissioned in
1856, and her crew will, it is expected, be paid off
at once.
The paddlewheel steam vessel Pigmy, 3, Master
W. Johnstone, sailed from Plymouth on Friday for
Portland.
The Phoebe, 6, was taken into the Davenport
dockyard on Friday.
The screw steamship Donegal, 101, was warped
to the sheer hulk at Devonport on Saturday, and
had her masts and bowsprit stripped.
The training brig Nautilus, 6, Lieut. W. B. Grant,
sailed from Plymouth on Saturday for Dartmouth.
A notice has been posted at the gates of her Ma-
jesty's dockyard, Portsmouth, directing all naval
pensioners fit for sea service to present themselves
on board the St. Vincent (flag ship of Rear-Admiral
Hon. G. Grey) at once. All pensioners fit for Coast-
guard or harbour service are to be on board the
Bellerophon for service in the Asia (guard ship of
steam reserve) at 10.30 a.m. on the 24th inst.
Twenty-seven men for the navy from Bristol
arrived at Plymouth on Saturday. They were sent
immediately to the guard ship Impregnable.
Forty-five volunteers for the navy were sent from
Liverpool to Portsmouth on Friday night last, and
another draught,' numbering about 60, were to be
forwarded to the same destination to-night (Mon-
day.) The proportion of able seamen who now
volunteer at Liverpool is on the increase.
Capt. Brown, RN., Registrar-General of Seamen,
has been visiting the eastern ports during the last
few days for the purpose of encouraging volunteering
for the Royal Navy. At Great Yarmouth Captain
Brown had interviews with several of the ship-
owners of the port, who expressed their readiness
to afford him every assistance. At Lynn about 50
volunteers have already come forward.
A close holiday is ordered to be observed to.day
(Monday) in the whole of the departments of Wool-
wich Arsenal, which gives the clorks-and operatives
a freedom from their duties from Saturday at noon
until Tuesday morning. The privilege of to-day's
holiday has been accorded to the men by Govern-
ment at their own request, instead of Thursday, in
commemoration of her Majesty's birthday, which
was observed in the dockyard and other Govern-
ment establishments at Woolwich on that day.
Lieutenant Walton, in command of 40 non-com-
missioned officers and gunners of the Royal Artil-
lery, left Woolwich on Saturday for Gibraltar.
Two Norwegian ships of war—the Ornen cor-
vette, of 18 guns, and the Alfen screw schooner, 6
guns, from Christiania, on a Channel cruise, put
into Falmouth on Thursday, and on anchoring ex-
changed salutes with her Majesty's ship Russell, 60,
Captain Wodehouse, in command of the Coastguard.
The above ships are supposed to be the two mistaken
for French, and said to be in search of Austrian
merchantmen, as reported some days since.
The following appointments were made on Satur-
day at the Admiralty :—W. H. Leech, midshipman,
to the Emerald ; J. B. Ricardo, surgeon, to the
Falcon ; Dr. T. M'Gill Fulton, acting assistant-
surgeon, to the London ; T. Leetham, second master,
to the Cressy; Herbert W—ilore, acting assistant-
clerk, to the Queen Charlotte ; and Alfred P. Free-
man, acting assistant-clerk, to the Emerald.