The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-24 00:00:00

rejected ; the Acts of 1862 therefore remained in
force, but it was not likely they would be used.
The wool season was commencing, and prices
were looking up.

Dr. Colenso had assumed the offensive, and had
threatened to excommunicate the Dean and his sup-
portQrs. He also intended ejecting the clergy from
the ecclesiastical buildings, grounding his movement
on their having met and elected in a private room
at Pietermaritzburg the Rev. W. Butler, vicar of
Wantage, diocese of Oxford, England, as their
future Bishop. A meeting of Dr. Colenso's sup-
porters had since been held in the Cathedral, where
they protested against this election, and forwarded
a petition complaining to the Queen.

The Union Company's steamship Mauritius had
crushed the cradle on a patent slip, and could not
as yet be got off.

The Saxon had touched on a sunken rock off
Duikcr's Island and required repairs. The rock is
not marked on any chart.

THE WEST INDIES.

The West India and Pacific Steamship Company's
steamer Bolivar, Captain Smith, arrived in the
Mersey yesterday morning, after a detention of
several hours outside the bar owing to a dense fog.
The Bolivar brings dates from Colon to the 19th,
Jamaica to the 24th November, and Port-au-Prince
to the 2d of December.

The entire town of Miragug.na, about 40 miles
west of Port-au-Prince, was entirely destroyed by
fire on the 24th of last month. All the warehoused
crops were consumed in the extensive conflagration,
and it is feared that some of the natives have
perished in the disaster. Immediate relief had been
afforded to the sufferers by the Hay tian Govern-
ment, a war steamer being employed in transport-
ing stores to the destitute population. The general
belief is—in fact it is almost a certainty—that the
conflagration was the work of incendiaries.

Dr. Tinnant, the surgeon on board the Bolivar,
reports that the sanitary condition of Colon has been
inuc!l improvel, acid that the congestive forms of
fever, always so prevalent there among the residents
and railway employes, are now rarely met with.
Port-au-Prince, when the Bolivar left, was en-
tirely free from civil broils and sickness.

The Bolivar, besides a large cargo, brough
£2,000 in specie.

THE AGRICULTURAL HALL.

Tbis edifice, so admirably adapted for the pro-
duction. of equestrian entertainments on a scale of
unusual grandeur, to-day opens its doors to the
public, the holiday attraction provided being of a
very novel character. Having been favoured with
admission to a full rehearsal on Saturday evening,
we can state that Messrs. Sanger have succeeded
far beyond our most sanguine expectations. The
Christmas Entertainment, entitled " The Congress
of the Monarchs " is one of themost magnificent dis-
plays ever before attempted. The extensive
and novel decorations of the Hall have been
completed in a manner befitting the occasion.
Among the chief features that strike the beholder
on entering the building are the lighting and illu-
minations, which have been entrusted to the emi-
nent house of J. Defries and Sons, of Houndsditch,
and executed, be it said, to their infinite credit, in a
style of novelty, grandeur, and effectiveness utterly
baffling all powers of description. Indeed, so wel
known are these gentlemen in connection with the
lighting and illumination of resorts of public amuse-
ment and national rejoicing, that the name alone
not only guarantees dazzling splendour, unequalled
brilliancy, and perfect completion of the work con-
fided to their care ; but also induces the hope of
extraordinary novelty, and certainly, on this occa-
sion, it must be admitted, they have almost sur-
passed themselves. In the nave or central
transept, a blaze of light, intense in its bril-
liancy, has been concentrated by means of
immense coronas of gas, of over 20 feet in diameter,
the suspension of which has been so ingeniously con-
trived as to appear entirely devoid of any visible
support.