The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-17 00:00:00

FORTNIGHTLY AUSTRALIAN MAIL.

The continued irregularity of the arrival of the
Australian mail, and the consequent disarrange-
ment of commercial correspondence, is seriously de-
tiimental to all persons connected with these im-
portant colonies, and more especially to the mer-
cantile community. In due course the September
mail ought to have been delivered in London, via
Marseilles, November the 2d, yet we are still with-
out advices. The outward mail, via Southampton,
left on the 12th, and the letters, via Marseilles,
must be posted on the 16th (Monday),. so that there
is no possibility of replying to the heavy portion of
the September mail, and it is quite possible that
even the Marseilles bags will be despatched before
letters come to hand even by that route; thus a
full month's loss of time will ensue in all matters
of business. The cause of the delay on the present
occasion is said to be the striking of the Emeu
steamer on a coral reef in the Red Sea, and
cannot, therefore, be chargeable to want
of proper arrangement on the part of the
Australian Mail Company, for it appears she
left Sydney at her appointed date, and arrived
at Aden in due course. The heavy accumulative
penalties which the Government has the power to
levy must be destructive to the company if enforced
on occasions produced by casualties and dangers of
such a long sea voyage. Hence it is apparent that
no foresight or care can secure an uninterrupted
course of postal communication with these distant
settlements ; therefore, the question naturally sug-
gests itself, whether any supplemental means can
be found to lessen, if not to obviate, any temporary
delay which may arise from similar disasters. A
ready response to the query will be found, we con-
sider, in the fact that as it is the intention of the
Government to establish weekly intercourse with
our East Indian territories, an adjunct plan might
be easily effected for running steamers between
Point de Galle and the nearest point on the Aus-
tralian coast, say Nepcan Bay, for the conveyance
solely to and fro of the mails and passengers. By
this short voyage a fortnightly transmission of let-
ters would be secured, and the expense of carryiug
out this most desirable arrangement would be coin-
paratively insignificant. If it is necessary to esta-
blish weekly communication with the East Indies,
surely the enormous trade of Australia with the
mother country, and which, moreover, is so rapidly
increasing, demandssomething more than a monthly
mail, and that, moreover, by the long unbroken
sea voyage to Suez, which experience shows renders
the steamers liable to accident and delay. The
eagerness with which the arrival of each vessel from
Australia is now looked for in respect of her freight
of gold alone is unmistakeable evidence of the im-
portance which the monetary world attaches to the
expansion of the produce of these colonies in this
particular, so that increased facility of communica-
tion renders it evidently of as much moment to the
mother country as it is to the colonies themselves.
Surely such a boon is much more legitimately due
to the fostering of trade and civilisation than as
the consequence of revolt and tumult, which has
brought about this change for India in her postal
arrangements.—Mining Journal of Nov. 14.

The Winter, Assizes for 1857 have been fixed by the
Secretary of State to be held at the following places :
Liverpool, for Lancashire, Mr. Justice Wightman.
York, for Yorkshire, Mr. Justice Williams. Chester,
Stafford, Derby, Mr. Justice Crompton. Bent, Hants,
Somerset, Devon, Mr. Justice Willes. Warwick, Wor-
cester, Glocester, Glamorgan, Mr. Baron Martin.
Northampton, Nottingham, Lincoln, Durham, North-
umberland, Mr. Baron Channell. The judges will fix
the time for opening the commission in the several towns
appointed. It will raube between the Term and the
Christmas holydays.

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Guidioy, Smyrna and 1 Muir, Malta.

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NAVAL AND MILITARY . P"
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Yesterday morning reinfo e - -,•
Drag: s 1 Guards, 2d Dragoon Gu 1151. T "4
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agn al 1 s F.
8944 Mansell,
hh a ns
Regt.,
20th, 23d (Welsh Fusiliers), 35th, 531010,8 U.,
and 90th (Light Infantry Regiments), left Chatham
garrison and embarked on board the George Mar-
shall, at Gravesend, for Calcutta, in charge of En-
and Ensign M. Wil-
liams, 20th Regt.,
t.
The
under the command of Colonel
Mills, embarked on Friday on board the hired
screw steam-transport Austria, Capt. Hyditmann,
and sailed from Plymouth Sound on Saturday for
Kurrachee.
Capt. G. Bray and Lieut. Cochrane, 96th Regt.,
have sailed for Gibraltar in the ship Lady M'Nagh-
ten, with a detachment, consisting of 2 sergeants
and 48 rank and file of the 91st Regt., embarked
as a guard over convicts.
Fifty non-commissioned officers and men, who
were medically inspected at St. Mary's invalid
depot, Chatham, on Friday last by a board of com-
missioners from Chelsea Hospital, were yesterday
ordered to be held in readiness to be discharged
owing to their unfitness for further service. A large
number of the troops were invalided home from
the regiments serving at Malta.
Nearly 300 recruits arrived at Chatham during
the last week, chiefly from the recruiting districts
in London, Bristol, Liverpool, and York, for the
purpose of joining the Indian depots at that garri-
son. Upwards of 3,000 recruits have joined at
Chatham since the new regulations relative to re-
cruiting have been issued from the War-office and
the reduction made in the standard.

The following officers have received leave of ab-
sence from their regiments at Chatham previously
to embarking for India :—Major the Hon. E.J. W.
Forester, 83d Regt. ; Capt. J. Johnston Bth Regt.;
Capt. J. J. Bourchier, 52d Light Infantry ; Capt.
S. C. Jackson, 70th Regt. ; Capt. B. Wright, 81st
Regt. ; and Lieut. W. J. Anderson, 32d Regt.
The Brilliant, 20, Capt. J. A. Paynter, which has
arrived at Chatham from the West Indies, where
she lost a considerable portion of her crew from
yellow fever, will be put out of commission, and
the crew transferred to one of the ships to be fitted
out at Chatham, probably the Racoon, 21, which is
to be commissioned at that port. The cre tv on being
paid will be allowed a month's run on shore.
The Heron, 12, Com. W. H. Truscott, fitting at
Chatham, is nearly ready for sea, the whole of her
crew b avr, joined. She has received her stores,
(to. ron b • , -tils-preparatory
to droPPioi; 'L` •ri.-4)ie of tak-
ing on board her p0we..,..zt.„
Her Majesty's screw steitinsl4, 1 ro. , 13, re-
cently arrived at Woolwich from the North Ameri-
can station, is ordered to be brought forward for
foreign service. Com. Oldfield, having been ap-
pointed to screw steam sloop Lyra, fitting at Wool-
wich, took up his commission yesterday, under
orders, it is said, for the west coast of Africa. The
paddlewheel steam sloop Ardent, commissioned by
Com. Cave, is being prepared for a similar service,
as well as the Spitfire, nearly ready for sea. The
Triton has already sailed for the abovenamed station
and will be joined by the Lynx and Sharpshooter,
the result of a demand made by Commodore Adams,
senior officer of the station, for the supply of an
auxiliary for the suppression of the increasing trade
fu slaves on that coast.
The steam transport Dee, Master Cora. Pullen,
was yesterday admitted in basin at Woolwich, to be
re-laden with steam machinery for Portsmouth and
Devonport.
Courts-martial on two lieutenants and the master
of her Majesty's ship Juno will take place this week
at Portsmouth.
The Rhadamanthus steamvessel, Master-Com.
Sturdee, arrived at Portsmouth yesterday morning
from Woolwich with boilers for the Blonde, 50-
gun frigate, being built at Pembroke.