38,878 tonnage, the difference between 548 vessels with 301,608 tonnage, and 637 vessels with 340,486 tonnage; while the principal arrivals have been from Mauritius, Madras, New South Wales, Calcutta, Ceylon, China, Java, and Sumatra.

The statistics of vessels cleared outward present unfavourable results, owing to the diminished activity of the trade to Australia as compared with the corresponding period of last year. In the case of the port of London a decrease is exhibited of 93 vessels with 19,657 tonnage, the difference between 472 vessels with 218,864 tonnage in 1853, and 379 vessels with 199,207 tonnage in 1854. The return for Liverpool shows a decrease of 68 vessels with 123 tonnage, the departures in the former period having been 262 vessels with 134,895 tonnage, and in the latter 194 vessels with 134,772. The decrease in the case of Bristol is six vessels with 1,286 tonnage, the difference between 16 vessels with 4,666 tonnage in 1853, and 10 vessels with 3,380 tonnage in 1854. The Clyde figures for a decrease of 22 vessels with 749 tonnage, the departures in the former period having been 81 vessels with 29,566 tonnage, and in the latter period 59 vessels with 28,817 tonnage. It will be noticed in these instances, that, although the number of vessels has decreased, the aggregate tonnage, except in the case of the port of London, has not proportionably diminished-a circumstance showing that a larger class of ships is now generally employed. The net decrease is 189 vessels with 21,815 tonnage, the difference between 831 vessels with 387,991 tonnage in 1853, and 642 vessels with 366,176 tonnage in 1854. The departures for Australia, Cape of Good Hope, China, Singapore, Calcutta, and Bombay, exhibit the principal falling off.

WRECK OF THE HAMODY-INCORRECT CHARTS.

According to your advice, I was proceeding to the westward of the Laccadives, and on Wednesday after I left Bombay I was in the latitude of the Cherbimani reef, and by the chronometer many miles (I write from memory) to the westward, nothing being visible. From noon I stood S. by W., and nothing to leeward, in fact, a good S. by W. W. course naturally thinking I must be many miles clear of all danger. At seven P.M., I was sitting on the lee-side of the poop with Mrs. Barnes, when the chief officer suddenly said "Why, there is a shoal here!" I started up, and saw a white streak running out from the weather-beam of the ship. I at once saw she would not clear to windward, and all being smooth on the lee-side put the helm up; but before it had time to act on the ship she struck. We clewed all sail up.

Horsburg gives the longitude of the Byramgore 71° 55', and the western extreme 71° 50'. My altitude gives me 71° 26', and the chronometer I found correct to a mile in Tellicherry, after my arrival; thus it would seem these shoals are not at all correctly laid down in the charts.-Captain Barnes, Master -Telegraph and Courier, April 7, 1854.

LIGHTHOUSES IN THE STRAITS.

For the future, every vessel which arrives at any Indian port after passing the lighthouses, will pay one anna per ton; if it has passed only a few of them, the demand will be half an anna.—Calcutta Gazette, April 19, 1854.

DISCOVERY OF GREEN INDIGO.

A notice of the discovery of the green indigo, as it is called, has been published. The discovery is stated to have been made by Mr. Delanougerede, of the Metropolitan College; but until we hear something more about it, we abstain from any comment. We mention the subject merely because we are informed that another gentleman has discovered a true vegetable green, manufactured by himself, of indigenous plants, and that he is now preparing specimens which he proposes to offer to government for the purpose of being forwarded to the French Exhibition of 1855. Samples of it have already been tried by one of the Calcutta chemists, and it is said that the dye with

stood the effects of very powerful tests, and the colour may, therefore, be considered a fixed one.-Hurkaru, April 25, 1854.

PURCHASE OF COTTON.

The merchants of Bombay are little aware of the quantity of money which is to be made by sending trustworthy European agents up here to purchase cotton. Of all the English houses at the Presidency, one only has an agent here, and a very active and intelligent fellow he is. But even he falls into the error of buying from the native dealers, which just adds so much to these gentries' profits, and takes off from the profits of the English house. What should be done is this: a European should go about the districts, from village to village, and set up his scales by his tent. "Here I am with ready coin, who'll sell me cotton at so much a pound?" should be his cry. If this were done, the ryots themselves would come forward with the staple, and the money would go direct into their pockets instead of through the hands of the petty native dealers.-Bombay Telegraph, in Allen's Indian Mail, March 20,

1854.

GINGER.

In consequence of the representations on the subject lately made by Messrs. Duncan Dunbar and Sons, the Treasury have notified that, pending the consideration of the general state of the law as regards the native States of India, all ginger which has been imported from those states on the faith of being admitted at a duty of 58. per cwt., as well as that which is now on the way, is to be delivered on payment of that rate.-Cor.

EXPORTS.

Export of Sundries from Bombay to Great Britain in the first Four Months of 1850-4

The total exports of indigo from Calcutta last season, 1853, were 27,258 chests, 15,292 being forwarded to Great Britain, 8,208 to France, 1691 to North America, 1,650 to the Red Sea, &c., and 417 to other places. In the previous year, the total shipments were 35,591 chests.-Cor.

INDIGO SEASON.

Only one public sale has as yet taken place, at which 185 chests were sold at about last year's quotations.

The total exports from 1st of November, 1853, only amount to 1,312 chests, of which 869 have been directed to Great Britain. It is believed that

the crop of last year will not exceed the estimate formed about two months ago, and according to which the produce of 1853 was expected to be 107,000 maunds.-Hurkaru in Indian Mail, Feb. 14, 1854.

INDIGO.

The valuable dye is now being brought down to Calcutta from the different factories; and it being ascertained that the crop at the utmost will not exceed 107,000 maunds, speculators have at last made up their minds to operations, and consequently the first transaction of the season which we have to record, consists of the produce of the Arrungabud concern, comprising 210 maunds, which were sold on the 9th instant, at Rs. 180 per maund, which is so far a slight advance on last year's rate, as the quality of that mark is said to be somewhat inferior to the produce of the same factory of the season 1852-53, though realising the same price. The transaction has since been followed by the following sales :

And a parcel of Jessore native indigo at Rs. 170. The above have changed hands by private sale.-Indian Mail, Jan. 31, 1854.

The indigo sales of February, 1854, which began on the 7th and ended on the 21st of that month, have on the whole been better for sellers than we anticipated.

Fine Bengal, in the total absence of orders from Russia, declined 3d. to 6d. per lb. The middling and good Bengal qualities sold from par of October sales to 4d. lower. Consuming qualities 2d. to 4d. lower as compared with October prices, and Oude indigo 4d. to 6d. lower. Amount and result of February sales :—

The stock on Feb. 18, 1854, was, chests 23,824, against 27,600 on Feb. 18, 1853, and the deliveries of the last five years from Jan. 1, to Feb. 18, stand thus:

Captain Saxton, the surveying officer in the Tributary Mehals, has discovered a bed of iron ore of great extent, with a coal field in close proximity to it on the banks of the Brahmimce river, which enters the sea at Point Palmyras, and is said to be navigable during a considerable portion of the year. There is no doubt abundance of iron ore in the country, and much of it in very favourable situations, but capitalists hesitate to embark in a manufacture which requires a large preliminary outlay, and in which all is uncertainty so far as the returns are concerned. In England a company would be formed at once to work such a promising field as that discovered by Captain Saxton, but Indian companies are so associated in the minds of prudent men with fraud and folly that few people will have anything to say to them.-Bengal Hurkaru, April 1, 1854.

IRONSTONE.

At Deorah, twenty-two miles from Chuttehpore in Buldenkund, 50 baskets of ironstone produced 2 maunds and 20 seers of iron. Common iron sells at 16 seers to the rupee, and good iron at 12 or 13. There is plenty of fuel in the neighbourhood, and a small river which is never dry.-Agra Messenger, 1854.

KUMAON TEA.

In 1851, there were in this district only two small plantations, commenced with seeds from those of Kumaon. The Governor-General, however, was convinced that the project would succeed, and Dr. Jamieson was authorised to form a large plantation on a waste plain at the foot of the Chumba Range. The soil and climate are admirably adapted to the cultivation; the tea produced is superior to that of Kumaon; steps have been taken for planting 100,000 trees, and in a short time 500 acres will be covered with the tea plant. -Lahore Chronicle.

THE MADAR PLANT.

At the last monthly meeting of the Agri-Horticultural Society of India, a communication was read from Capt. G. E. Hollings, containing further facts on the utility of the madar plant. The wood is the best for making the charcoal required in gunpowder. The leaves, soaked in water, are used for tanning. Wine may be made from the fibre, and fine cloth can be manufactured from the cotton found round the seed. Strong rope, it is believed, may also be made from the fibre, and lastly, the milk has most of the properties of gutta percha. According to Dr. O'Shaughnessy, however, it cannot be used to insulate the wire of the electric telegraph.-Allen's Indian Mail, April 14, 1854.

OPIUM CULTIVATION.

The opium cultivation of Bhagulpore district will be forty-five per cent. in excess of that of 1852-53. It is the fashion in England to assert that the opium cultivation is compulsory. Nevertheless, the instant the restrictions are removed, it increases in the ratio of nearly one half within two years.Allen's Indian Mail, March 1, 1854.

OPIUM SALE.

The fourth opium sale of the year took place April 10, 1854, at the Exchange Rooms. The following are the results:

The above, as compared with the March sale, exhibits a falling off in prices for Behar of upwards of Rs. 36, and for Benares, of upwards of Rs. 38. The decrease as compared with the February sale is Rs. 20 and 10 per chest for the Behar and Benares drug respectively.-Allen's Indian Mail, May 31, 1854.

SALT.

The returns relative to the salt department of the revenue of Bengal for the year 1852-3, exhibit a decrease in the supply of the commodity both as respects that portion supplied by the government salt golahs and that imported from foreign ports; the former by 978,064 maunds, the latter by 320,670 ditto. The quantity brought forward for sale from each source was 2,487,788 and 2,853,700 maunds respectively, being, notwithstanding the reduction both had undergone, upwards of 3 lacs in favour of imported salt.

The total consumption during the year was 6,521,923 maunds, being an

increase of upwards of 580,000 maunds over the previous year.-Calcutta Citizen, April 3, 1854.

Sugar from Cape of Good Hope.-If sugar, the produce of any British possession within the limits of the East India Company's charter, so long as any benefit attaches to such distinction shall have been imported into the Cape of Good Hope from the place of its production, accompanied by such a certificate of origin as would be sufficient for its admission into the United Kingdom at the rate of duty payable upon such sugar, if imported direct from the place of its production, and shall have been warehoused at the Cape of Good Hope under the regulations there in force for the warehousing of goods, and shall have been exported from such warehouse, accompanied by a certificate from the proper officer of customs at the Cape of Good Hope, setting forth the particulars of the importation, and of the warehousing, and of the exportation of the same, and also setting forth the substance of the certificate of origin before mentioned, and if on the arrival in the United Kingdom of the ship importing such sugar, the master of such ship shall deliver to the collector or comptroller at the port of importation such certificate from the officer of customs at the Cape of Good Hope, such sugar shall be admitted at such port of importation in the United Kingdom at the same rate of duty as would be payable if the same had been imported direct from the place of its production. 16 & 17 Vict. c. 107, § 81, Aug. 20, 1853. Sugar-Certificate of Production.-The shipper of any sugar the produce of some British possession within the limits of the East India Company's charter, about to be exported from any place in such possession, may go before the chief officer of customs at such place, or, if there be no such officer, before the principal officer of such place, or the judge or commercial resident of the district, and make and sign a declaration before him that such sugar was really and bona fide the produce of such British possession, to the best of his knowledge and belief; and such officer, judge, or resident is hereby required to grant a certificate thereof, stating therein the name of the ship in which the sugar is to be exported, and the destination of the same. 16 & 17 Vict. c. 107, § 178. [Aug. 20, 1853.]

TILLEE OR BLACK SEED.

In the Gevalior territories Tillee or black seed is cultivated to a large extent, and oil is expressed therefrom by an exceedingly simple process, and at a little more than a nominal cost. The machinery used is a sort of mill, the cost of which is estimated at about ten rupees. The chief and most expensive part of it consists of a trunk of a tree of hard wood, hollowed out at one end, and set perpendicularly on the ground. It will last for about forty years, and during the first three years requires no repairs.-Allen's Indian Mail, April 28, 1854.

RATE OF EXCHANGE, AND INTEREST ON BONDS.

The Court of Directors of the East India Company gave notice on May 17, 1854, that the rate of exchange at which they will receive cash for bills on Bengal and Madras will, from the present date, and until further notice, be 1s. 11 d. the Company's rupee, and for bills on Bombay, 28. the Company's rupee, and on May 27, 1854, that the rate of interest payable upon the Company's bonds not notified for discharge, will be raised from 31. 58. per cent. per annum to 4l. per cent. per annum, from and after this day.