The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-02 00:00:00

INDIA AND CHINA.

We have received by express from Marseilles our ad-
vices from India, in anticipation of the overland mail of
the Ist of April. The dates so received are from Bombay
to the Ist of April, Madras to the 23rd of March, and
Calcutta to the 22nd of March.
At Calcutta public attention had been occupied with
disclosures connected with the recent pecuniary crisis,
chiefly as regarded the affairs of the Union Bank, and the
fact of large defalcations in the funds intrusted to officers
of the Supreme Court. The bank, which a few months
ago declared its affairs to be in a promising state, is now
known, besides. having lost its immense capital, to lie
under a deficiency of at least £70,000, for which the
shareholders, as a joint-stock body, are declared liable.
The alleged misappropriation of funds by directors con-
nected with sinking firms had become a theme for angry
clamour and recrimination, fruitless except as a lesson to
others. A question had been raised as to the validity of
post-bills issued by the bank of great importance, as to
the amount for which the shareholders are liable. Con-
flicting opinions had been given on the point by counsel,
and the matter was about to be decided in court. Sir
Thomas Turton had resigned the office of Ecclesiastical
Registrar, with a deficiency, it was considered, of about
£90,000 in the funds of his office. The draught of an
act had, consequently, been at length prepared by the
judges, to restrain the officers of the Supreme Court at
Calcutta from engaging in trade.
There is unfavourable news for the railway prospects of
India. The worst effect of the recent monetary shock
appears to be in the disastrous consequences it may have,
at least for delay, upon the East India Railway Company.
With investments of ten per cent. and upwards offering
in Calcutta, it had not been found practicable to raise the
first sum even of £lOO,OOO, necessary to secure the gua-
rantee of the Court of Directors, and for which the period
of payment had been extended to the end of last month.
The greater part of the working staff had already been
sent back from India. The inauspicious circumstances of
the last half-year, and the fact of a large government loan
having been kept open during the period of the company's
probation, rendered it impracticable, as regarded the di-
rection in India, to comply with the primary returns of
the requisition.
k Her Majesty's 4th regt. had been ordered to England.
There are advices from Borneo to the 18th February.
It was rumoured that the Sooloo pirates were engaged in
fitting out an expedition against Bruni, to revenge the
death of the pirates executed by the sultan after the defeat
of their squadron last year by the hon. company's steamer
Nemesis. The Sooloo marauders were not then aware of
the attack that was preparing, calculated to give them
enough of fighting nearer home.
Details are given from Sincapore of the rising on board
the General Wood merchant vessel, bound from that port
to Penang with Chinese convicts. In this instance, the
lives of the captain and three officers appear to have been
sacrificed to the cruel practice, common in India, of
transporting convicts on board merchant vessels without
a sufficient guard. The vessel, when in the hands of the
convicts, after twenty days' uncertain sailing, was wrecked
among the Malay Islands, whence two officers and a lady,
who were passengers, effected their escape in one of the
boats, and reached Sincapore.
The Gentleman's Gazette of Bombay has pointed out,
apparently with correctness, a singular oversight in -an
act which has just emanated from the Calcutta Council
for equalizing Customs' duties on goods imported or ex-
ported in British and foreign bottoms—in fact, a repeal
of the Navigation Laws. so far as India is concerned. The
interpostal trade of all parts of the company's territories
being by that act declared free, without, exception or
reservation, the effect will be to enable the entire trade of
British India, if conducted via Sincapore, where no cus-
toms' duties, either way, are exacted, to be exempt from
government duties of every sort. "An act to amend an
act" may be expected.
The Governor of Bombay and the Commander-in-Chief
of that Presidency had gone to the heights of Mahabulesh-
war. A requisition had been made to the Sheriffof Bom- I
bay, signed by the principal residents and natives, to con-
vene a public meeting, " for the purpose of expressing the
deep regret with which they had heard of the resignation
of the Hon. Governor, and the feelings of admiration they
entertained of his distinguished Indian career." A public
meeting was subsequently held in the Town-hall, with Sir
Erskine Perry, Chief Justice of Bombay, in the chair.
There are accounts of the serious illness of the Rajah of
Sattara, but by the latest advices he was said to be somewhat
better. As that Prince leaves no direct heirs (under an
agreement not to marry), the state of Sattara will, at his
death, escheat to the India Company, who will thereby
obtain 15 or 16 lacs of revenue, and its civil service acquire
Several valuable appointments.
Considerable transactions in the import market are re-
ported from Bombay, after an unprecedentedly long de-
pression. At Calcutta another firm, Messrs. Haworth,
Hardman, and Co., had suspended payment.