The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-01 00:00:00

THE. SUN, LONDON, '.MuNDAY EVENING, AUGUST 1, 1859.

INDIA AND CHINA.

In anticipation of the Overland Mail we have
received by extraordinary express our papers from
Calcutta, dated June 17 ; and Hong Kong, June 4.
The Bengal Hurkaru of June 17 contains the
following
The past fortnight has been rather' barren of
news. The courts of inquiry are still sitting at
Meerut and Allahabad, and the European malcon-
tents have for the most part returned to their duty.
It is said that a few of the " dumpies"—the cog-
nomen of the lads lately enlisted for the ex-com-
pany's cavalry—who are stationed at Allahabad
had serious intentions a few days ago of deserting,
but they thought better of it.
We have no official news of the rebels. There
-
have, however, been some skirmishes with small
bodies of insurgents. " A few days' ago," says a
northwest contemporary, " Major Rennie. 3d Sikhs,
with a party of his own regiment and 50 men of
the Futtygurh Horse, made a forced march of
nearly 40 miles, and attacked the celebrated dacoit
leaders, Ballee and Balkurrun, and took their camp,
killing about 30 of the rebels. His loss was one
russuddar, one kote duffadar, and some sowars of
the Futtygurh Horse killed, besides a few wounded."
The rebels in Nepaul are reported, to be in the
greatest straits. Sir Jung Bahadoor wishes them
out of the country, but a rather strong party at
Katmandoo regard them with some degree of
favour, and it is said that the Nana, Bala Rao, and
others have got permission, for themselves and
families only, to remain in the Bang or Deogurh
Valley, and they have accordingly eamped at the
mouth of the Goorung Pass; leading into thesDang
Valley. The Begum is in the interior of Nepaul,
and Munnoo Khan, it is rumoured, will join her.
The sepoys have been requested to quit the coun-
try. A rather large body of them are in the jungles
at the foot of the hills, occasionally leaving their
hiding place in quest of food. The ex-Nawab of
Furruckabad is on his way through Central India
to Bombay. The inhabitants of Furruckabad have
raised a purse for him.
The Legislative Council has not sat for two weeks,
as sufficient members were not present to form a
quorum. Mr. Ricketts has gone on leave to Madras,
and on the 4th inst., in consequence of the illness
of Sir Mordaunt Wells, Sir Charles Jackson had
to take his place in the Insolvent Court, whilst on
the following Saturday. Sir Charles was the presid-
ing judge at the criminal sessions of the Supreme
Court. To provide against contingencies of this
nature either the number of members forming the
quorum should be reduced, or the council should be
enlarged. We hope, however, that ere long the
legislative body will be re-constituted, and an ad-
dition made of members not in the service of Go-
vernment. The petition from the inhabitants of
Madras, praying for a representative government
for India, is in course of signature. That from the
Calcutta community is still with the committee ap-
pointed to draft the same at the meeting held in
March last.

Amongst the events of the fortnight are the loss
of the British ship Alma and an accident to the mail
steamer Bengal. The former vessel left Calcutta on
the 2d instant, bound for the Mauritius. On Sunday
the sth, about four o'clock, p.m., soon after parting
from the steamtug Maria Stuart, whilst passing
through the eastern channel, she struck, and in a
short time went down. Some of the passengers and
crew were rescued by the Nimrod, which, about the
time of the accident reached the Sandheads, and
others have since been picked up. Several lives,
however, it is feared, have been lost. The Bengal
sprung a leak by striking on a rock in the harbour
of Galle. The passengers, mail, and baggage were
landed, and the steamer Sydney was dispatched
from Madras to bring them to Calcutta on the
steamer Coromandel. The Bengal arrived in the
river on Wednesday afternoon.

thermometer has been standing close upon 90 deg.
The weather, however, has been very healthy ; and
owing to the clear dry air the heat has scarcely
been felt.

to imports.and goods on the way, there is no possi-
bility of realising the large profits that were for-
merly obtained. On the whole, trade bears a healthy
aspect, money is plentiful and cheap. All share and
funded property is now readily taken at high rates
of premium. Credit under the usual caution exer-
cised by both bankers and merchants is good, with
every prospect of its continuance. The yield of our
gold fields is daily increasing. The determination
our Government to extend railways to the interior,
and the prospects of the long desired communica-
tion with England via Panama being realissed at
no distant period, opening up, as it necessarily
must do, great facilities for trade with the Ameri-
can continent, together with other indications of
the prosperous state of the colony, suggests to the
most prudent and cautious mind that we have bet-
ter times before us than we have experienced dur-
ing the past three years,

EXCHANGE ON LONDON.—Since the date of our
last t.ircular the banks have raised the rate of pre-
mium 1 per cent., and are now selling at 2 per cent.
premium for 60 days' draft.

FLOUR AND GRAIN.-Since our last circular there
is a marked change in the market for flour. We
now £23 to £24 for colonial, and 48s. per barrel
for American, at which rates holders are not dis-
posed to quit stocks, as there is every prospect of a
further advance. Wheat is very scarce, and we
hear that 10s. 6d. per bushel has been refused for
parcels, and that 1 ls. to 11s. 6d. was paid at auc-
tion on 11th inst. 'Recent imports of oats, both here
and Melbourne, have checked the anticipated ad-
vance in prices. We have no transactions of im-
portance to report, the principal holders are not in
the market. We have abundant supplies of the
new crop of maize, which is freely offered at 2s. 9d.
per bushel.
Freights to London are without alteration—viz.,
wool unpressed, id. to e-d. per lb. in: full. Hides,
15s. to 17s. per ton. Tallow 20s. to 255. per ton.
Cocoa nut oil, 20s. to 255. per tun. Sperm oil, 30s.
to 355. per tun. Kauri gum, 20s. per ton. Timber,
18s. to 20s. per load.