The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 13, 18614,

INDIA.

By the arrival of the Overland Mail we have
received letters and, papers from Calcutta to
March 8. Of the famine the Englishman says :
In the north-west week follows week and still
little or no change takes place in the scene where
famine is, as yet, the most prominent feature. In
our last overland we congratulated ourselves on the
chances of an improvement, and we wish we
could more positively repeat those congratula-
tions now. But our news, though scanty, is far
from encouraging. As we said before, every pos-
sible means have been tried that money or energy
could compass, but there is a hitch somewhere.
The central committee have balances in their hands;
but the local committees either will not apply for,
or cannot obtain, assistance when they require it.
Col. Baird Smith is on his tour, as special famine
eommissioner, but as yet there has not been time
to hear of any reports from him. Rain has not
fallen, and irrigation is no F becoming a matter of
much and serious interest. Experiments have been
suggested, and the subject is now occupying the
attention of some of the most intelligent engineers
in India. Setting aside the present evil, and look-
ing only to the future, there is a pressing necessity
for the introduction of some economical and efficient
scheme for preventing the recurrence of such pain-
ful events, so far as human power can avail. It is
to be hoped that such scenes as we daily read of—
boys 'dropping dead before dak bungalows, and
2,000 dead bodies seen by one regiment on its down-
ward march from Cawnpore, will call forth all the
talent and energy we may have at our disposal to
prevent our ever reading the like again.
The prospects of the indigo districts are described
as being very bad. The disposition of the ryots to
refuse payment of their rent is said to have assumed
" a formidable aspect." Mr. Lushington reports :

Except among native zemindars, whose ryots
rarely ever think of refusing to obey their
demands, the prospects are very limited. In
the Bengal Indigo Company's district only 9,000 bee-
gahs have been sown against 76,000 last year, and the
greater part of this quality is south of Bongong,
where at present the ryots pay rent readily, and
have taken advances. At Jingergatcha, Bauns-
barea, Katli, and Hobrah, and some others, the
concerns are nearly closed.
A commission has been appointed in Calcutta to
report on the arrangements necessary for carrying
out the amalgamation of the armies. The work will
occupy six months.
On the 6th ult. Lord Canning, as Chancellor of
the Calcutta University, conferred the degree of
bachelor of arts and bachelor of law on a number
of young men. including one Christian, several
Hindoos, and a few Mahommedans. The ceremony
took place in the Town-hall, before a large audience
representing all classes. Lord Canning, in a speech
of half-an-hour's duration, reviewed the history of
the university and the state of education generally,
urging the importance of doing more for the higher
classes, through whom alone we shall ultimately
attain that desirable object, the government of
India by Indians.

CALCUTTA COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
CALCUTTA, MARCH 7.

The Bombay express, with dates to the 4th Feb-
ruary, reached Calcutta yesterday, and the mail
steamer may be hourly expected to arrive at Ceylon,
bringing news to February 11.
PRODUCE MARKET.—The amount of business
transacted during the interval elapsed since our
former report has been very limited ; rates have
not suffered any serious decline, the stocks of
nearly all descriptions of produce are increasing,
owing to the almost entire withdrawal of the re-
gular shippers for the present.
IMPORT MARKET.—The slight improvement
noticed in last report cannot be said to have con-
tinued. Advices of large shipments have mainly
contributed to check any improvement in rates ;
a considerable business has been doing within the
last few days, but at barely remunerative prices.
GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.—The purchase of a
few lacs of 52 per cent. paper for remittance to
Bombay is the only change to be noted in Govern-
ment Securities.

FREIGHTS.—No important change to note; ton-
nage is more plentiful ; this, added to the circum-
stance of the continued high price of all exportable
produce, tends materially to check anyspeculation.
Former rates are maintained.

half sterling, whilst the probable available income
from the established sources rose only to three mil-
lions. The ministry proposed to make up the dif-
ference by imposing new taxes on certain articles
of luxury, on stamps, and some other duties. But
the Assembly met them at once with an emphatic
refusal to sanction any new taxes, and a demand for
sweeping retrenchment. At length, after several
nights of sharp discussion, an amendment was
moved by Mr. Joseph Wilkie, a member for one of
the country districts, and seconded by Dr. Evans,
to the following effect :—" That the estimates sub-
mitted by the government be withdrawn. with a
view to their readjustment, so that the whole
amount of expenditure 1114 be brought within the
revenue for 1861, as estimated by them at three
millions, and that no reduction be made on the es-

timates for roads and bridges, orin the aid for local
representative bodies during the present year, or
for the supply of water to the goldfields."
This amendment was carried by a majority of 34
to 27. The ministry took a day to consider upon
their position,' and the next evening Mr. Heales
announced that, after what had taken place on the
previous night, the ministry had placed their re-
signation in the hands of the Governor, and that
his excellency had been pleased to accept the same,
conditional on their holding office until their suc-
cessors were appointed. He went into a brief state-
ment of the position in which they found themselves
by the adverse and somewhat conflicting votes of
the house, concluding that they could not carry en
the business of the country under the restrictions
imposed upon them. A vote of £300,000 in advance
for the payment of salaries and current liabilities
was then taken, and the., house adjourned for a
week. This was on the 31st 'january, and from that
date till Feb. 16 the public business was at a dead •
stand-still.
On Feb. 15, Mr. Heales announced in the Assem-
bly that his Excellency had requested himself and
his colleagues to resume office, and that they had
consented to do so. When the house next met, Mr.
Heales went at some length into a statement of the
financial position in which the ministry felt them.
selves placed when they resigned office ; and stated
that he and his colleagues had gone over the esti-
mates of their respective departments, and up to
the present time they found they could make reduc-

tion; to the amount of £300,000. He then asked
for a week's further interval to allow of the revi-
sions in the estimates being fully carried out. On
Tuesday next the main business of the session will
recommence. This is exactly the ministerial posi-
tion at the moment we write.

Of the goldfields the Argus writes—
Owing to various causes, the total yield of gold
has been well maintained up to the present time,
and there is little reason now to expect any falling
off during the remainder of the year which has
commenced so hopefully. Only a few days since
enormously rich quartz was struck in the ground,
the gold being taken out in pieces estimated by
pounds instead of ounces, and Tarrengower is fast
resuming its place of pre-eminence as a gold pro-
ducing district.
We take from the same paper the following sum-
mary of monetary and commercial matters—
Money for temporary investment is still abund-
ant. The public companies having occasion to invest
capital on first class mortgages with ample mar-
gin; find some difficulty in placing out the sums at
their disposal. The bank rates of discount continue
as follow :—For two months' bills, 7 per cent. per
annum; for three months', 8 per cent.; for four
months', 9 per cent. ; for over four months', 10 per
cent. ; for cash credits, 10 per cent. ; for overdrawn
accounts, 12 per cent. Interest is allowed on time
deposits at the following rates :—For deposits, at 30
days' notice, from 1-1.- to 2 per cent, per annum ; at
three months' notice, from 2 to 2* per cent. ; at six
months' notice, from 4 to 41 per cent.
The selling rates of exchange on England are
quoted at par for 60 days' sight for large amounts,
and 1 per cent. prem. for 30 days' sight for bills
under £5O. Freight on gold by sailing vessels is
from 2d. to 3d. per ounce, delivered in London ; in-
surance. 1* per cent. By the overland route, the
freight to the Bank of England, including insur-
ance and transit duty, is 2 per cent. ; exclusive of
insurance, 1 per cent.

From Sydney we learn that the general state of
affairs had undergone no considerable change since
the departure of the last mail. The prospects of
the gold fields are described as encouraging, but
some serious disturbances had occurred at one of
them, at a place called " Lambing Flat." We
abridge the i!ydney Herald's account of the matter :
On Sunday, Jan. 27, a meeting of miners and
others, called by regular public notice, was held at
Golden Point, Lambing Flat, for the purpose of de-
ciding " whether Burrandong is a European or a
Chinese territory." Over 1,500 persons assembled
on the occasion, and, from the advertised object of
the meeting, the staple of the speeches made on the
occasion may be readily imagined. The chairman,
a Mr. Charles Allen, storekeeper, in complimenting
the Lambing Flat men en their orderly conduct,
said that " the assault on theshanties and gambling
houses was a sufficient guarantee that they only
desired a good state of society, and their previous
affair with the Chinese was proof that they only
wished to be rid, as peaceably as possible, of a nui-
sance to them all."

VIE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Melbourne Argus.)

Via Sydney, we have intelligence from the seat
of war up to the 11th Feb., thus giving us four
weeks' later news than we were enabled to forward
by the last mail.
It is gratifying for us to be able to state that our
successes have lately been invariable, the natives
having been defeated with considerable loss on
several occasions, our own casualties being fortu-
nately comparatively few. After the capture of the
Waikato stronghold at Matarikoriko, on the 31st.
Dec., no general engagement took place until Jan.
23, the troops, however, not remaining idle, but
large bodies of them being employed in throwing
up a series of redoubts in front of a very formidable
position, in which the natives, to the number of
about 2,000, had entrenched themselves at Huirangi.
The redoubts were thrown up for the purpose of
approaching the position, a very formidable one—
standing on an eminence, and commanding the
country for miles around, and guarded on all points.
Whilst this was being done numerous small skir-
mishes took place between the Maories and our
troops, the former doing everything in their power
to annoy the soldiers while at their work, and to
prevent their completing the redoubts. In order
the better to accomplish this, the Maories formed a
number of rifle pits, extending over a space of a
mile and a quarter, which they found of the greatest
use in their skirmishes with our working parties
and the men covering them. The redoubts were all
constructed in the face of a very heavy fire from the
enemy, which, fortunately, was not well directed,
or our loss would have been great. One of the re-
doubts, which was completed on the 18th January,
was so commanding as to render the natives' posi-
tion almost untenable, and the grand assault on
Huirangi was therefore fixed for the 21st ult., but
this was subsequently postponed, for the purpose
of throwing up another redoubt, which was done
on the night of the 22d, and a double sap in a
direct line commenced to the enemy's position.
The Maories having become fully aware that
the success of these operations on the part of the
British must eventuate in their being driven
from Huirangi, determined to act as assailants, and
to attack redoubt No. 3, which was the most
advanced, and this they did on the night of the
23d January. The garrison of the redoubt was
under the command of Colonel Leslie, of the 40th
Regiment, and consisted of 20 men of the Royal
Artillery, 18 of the Royal Engineers, 294 of the
40th, and 9 of the Naval Brigade—in all 341 with
two guns. During the action the garrisOn was
reinforced by 80 of the 12th Regiment, under the
orders of Captain Miller, and 150 of the 12th Regi-
ment, commanded by Captain M'Gregor.
The attack commenced at half-past three o'clock
a.m. on the 23d of January a storming party of
the enemy having crept up through the fern and
effected a lodgment in the ditch on the left face of
the redoubt, and having a strong support, about
100 yards in their rear, as well as a line of skir-
mishers on all flanks of the redoubt. The plan of
the enemy appeared to be to keep down the fire of
our men on the parapets by their support, and
by their line of skirmishers while the storming
party scaled the left face of the redoubt.
The British force was under arms previous to

the attack, and quickly replied to the fire of the
enemy, who, in the most determined and desperate
manner, rushed up the sides of the parapet, and
in some instances seized hold of the men's bayonets,
while others crept round to the rear of the re-
doubt, and 'fired through the gabions which had
been placed to fill up the entrances to the work,
and ene of the Royal Engineers was in this man-
ner killed while coming out of his tent.
A perfect storm of bullets was poured upon the
troops from all sides for a considerable time; and it
was therefore deemed advisable to call for assis-
tance from Colonel Wyatt, 65th Regiment, com-
manding No. 1 redoubt, for the purpose of dislodg-
ing the enemy from the ditch. The regimental call
of the 65th Regiment was accordingly ordered to
be sounded, followed by the " advance," which
signal was promptly responded to by Col. Wyatt,
who detached two companies of the 65th, under
Captain M'Gregor and. Lieutenant Urquhart, as
well as one company of the 12th, under Captain
Miller. One company of the 65th crept round the
front face of the redoubt, and lined the sap at pie-
sent being thrown out in advance of the redoubt;
the other crept up the rear face. At the same time
Captain Miller was directed to charge the ditch
where the enemy was lodged, but was wounded
while carrying out the orders ; his company was,
however, led on by Lieut. Lowry, and it charged
in a most gallant and effective manner, while the
65th, under Lieut. Urquhart, on the front, and
Captain M'Gregor on the rear face, advanced and
fired on the enemy, who immediately retired on
this combined attack. A heavy fire was then kept
up on the retreating Maoris, by the 40th, from the
parapets; by the 24-pounder howitzer, under Lieut.
Macnaughton, Royal Artillery, and by the 8-inch
gun in charge of a detachment of the Royal Naval
Brigade. The enemy, completely routed, retired in
great confusion, leaving their dead and wounded,
together with arms and accoutrements, in our
hands. They were pursued for some distance by
part of the 65th and 12th, until these were recalled
to the redoubt. Of the loss of the enemy it is im-
possible to form an exact estimate, but it must have
been very heavy, for they left in the hands of the
troops 36 killed, and 5 wounded. It is supposed,
however, that double the number must have crept
away to die. The following is the return of killed
and wounded of the military engaged :
Killed—Lieut. Denis Jackson, 40th Regiment ;
George Chubb, sapper, Royal Engineers ; Edward
Archer, private, 12th Regiment; Edward Gorray,
private, 40th Regiment; William Gilbert, private,
40th Regiment.

Wounded—Capt. T. E. Miller, 12th Regiment,
slightly ; Daniel Bushnell, gunner, R.A., slightly;
Patrick Cahill, private, 12th Regitnent, severely;
Edward Power, prirate, 12th Regiment, slightly;
Henry Wakefield, private, 40th Regiment, severely;
John Mullins, private, 40th Regiment, slightly;
John Officer, private, 40th Regiment, dangerously;
James Howarg, corporal, 65th Regiment, danger-
ously ; Edward Smith, private, 65th Regiment,
dangerously; Joseph Robertson, private, 65th Re-
giment, dangerously; Samuel Hamilton, private,
65th Regiment, severely. Total—wounded, 11 ;
killed, 5.

This defeat of the natives caused them the
greatest discouragement, and it was anticipated
that very likely peace would be sued for. Such,
however, does not appear to be the case, for from
later information that has reached us, we learn that
things had remained in statu quo until the 10th of
this month, when General Pratt having resolved on
constructing a redoubt about a mile in advance of
No. 6, a force consisting:of 1,200 of the 12th, 14th,
40th, and 65th, with'engineers, advanced at day-
break. They were immediately met by a heavy
fire from the Maoris, who, being in pits, our men
were obliged to lie down, and the working parties
were covered by _the fire of the Artillery, but the
Rifles kept up a fire on the enemy as fast as a
sight could be obtained of them, and the
works were completed. The Maoris, who occu-
pied every little post offering advantage for
attack or concealment, mast have suffered se-
verely. It is said that seventeen dead Maoris were
picked up, others killed, and many wounded. Our
casualties are :—Killed : Capt. Strange, 65th Regi-
ment. Wounded : Royal Artillery—Gunner A.
Hedglay, severely ; gunner J. Green, severely. 40th
Regiment—Private R. Morgan; severely. 65th
Regiment—Private W. Davis, severely ; private D.
O'Hagan, severely ; private J. Munro, dangerously.
Militia—Private S. Randle, severely.
A rumour had prevailed that the Waikatos were
actually suing for peace, but this appears to be un-
founded, as there is every reason to believe that the
New Zealanders will still fight. Great indignation
had been occasioned at the date of our last advices,
by the death of Captain King, of the Militia, who,
was shot on the Bth inst. by some of the natives
skulking about his farm, whilst he was looking after
his cattle and the remnants of his property.