The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-30 00:00:00

HER 31A,TESTI'S SHIP NEG./ERA.

A writer in a contemporary says :—After the
numerous delays mentioned in my former letter,
and breaking down once at sea, the Megmra has
managed to reach the Mediterranean, and is now
actually on her way home, in a condition which I
venture briefly to bring to your notice—crowded
beyond all precedent in every part with officers,
officers' wives and families, invalids, discharged
soldiers, troops (one-third of whom had to be left
behind), horses, a donkey (but he was the com-
manding officer's •donkey, and therefore to be re•.
spectfully spoken of), baggage, and, lastly, women
and children, who, poor things, had gradually been
reduced in accommodation until, at the time of the
ship's leaving Malta, they were so huddled together
that the hope of ever- finding a child once gone
astray would be to the last degree remote.
The accommodation for the officers' families wee
proportionately limited ; in one small cabin, the
only ventilation of which was to be obtained through
a tiny scuttle, were packed a lady, her nurse, and
seven children. The state of the decks occupied by
the troops, invalids, and women, simply beggars
description ; it was far worse than anything I saw
in the transports during the Crimean war, and with
its fetid and stifling odours, the groans of the sick,
the curses of the sound, and the howls of the child-
dren, reminded one vividly of the description of
slave vessels when captured with a full cargo on
board.
I do not know, Sir, or care to know, on whose
shoulders the blame of this disgraceful herding of
British soldiers and their families should rest, but
I think the country should insist on its not being
repeated. Surely it would be possible to find out
the exact number of persons for whom transport 'to
England is required, and then to provide the ne-
cessary amount of transport. But this, I suppose,
is too direct. and obvious a way for " them'' to go to
work in. "They" prefer, as in the present case, to
decide that a certain ship shall " perform this ser-
vice," without caring whether that ship be avail-
able, whether she be in a proper condition or even
whether she be large enough to do all that is re-
quired. The consequences are three months' de-
lay, the death of meny poor fellows while waiting,
and having to leave behind half the invalids and a
third of the troops after all.

SUPPLEMENTARY NAILS FOR INDIA AND Aus-
TRALTA..—The contract packet Mooltan, which sailed from
Southampton on the 20th imt, with mails for India, Aus-
tralia, and Mauritius, having broken down, the mails will
be transhipped et Gibraltar to the Delta, which left South-
ampton on the 27th inst., and orders have been sent! by
telegraph to Suez to detain the outward-bound paelkts
until those mails arrive. In the expectation that such
orders will be received in time to stop the sailing of the
packets, supplementary mails for Point (le Galle. Calcutta,
Madras, Mauritius, and the Australian colonies will be
made up on the evening of the 3d proximo, and forwarded
via Marseilles, with the Bombay mails. By command of
the Postmaster-General, ROWLAND HILL, secretary.
General Post-ofßee, July 29.