ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST PANAMA MAIL

Grey River Argus, Issue 86, 31 July 1866, Page 3

ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST PANAMA MAIL

NEWS FROM AMERICA TO ,. v JUNE. ,'■ ' INVASION OE CANADA BY THE ■ ' ■-■ "FENIANS. SUSPENSION^ OF THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT IN CANADA. ARREST, OF' THE FENIAN PRESIDENT IN AMERICA. - [A portion of the following was published as an Extra oh Saturday last.] (From the Wellington Independent, July 24. ) - The screw steamer Rakaia, S. H. Wright, commander, arrived 'at thisjort at midnight, bringing the passengers, cargo, and mails from Panama, in connection with- the Royal Mail Company's steamers from England, leaving Southampton on the 2nd June. She left Panama on Sunday, the 24th of June, at two p. m., and for "the first half of the voyage-across .the Pacific met with fire, weather, accomplishing tha distance in twelve and a half days, but, after passing Pitcairn's Island, the weather entirely "changed, and a series of very heavy gales followed. The Rakaia left England (Milford Haven) on the 21st of April, and called at St. Vincent and Rio de Janeiro on her way to Panama. The greater part of the voyage has been stormy. Off the River Plate she was hove-to for fortyeight hours being caught in^a pampero ; and again, in the Straits of Magellan, she lay at anchor fpr twenty -four hours, in consequence of N the severity, of the weather. The whole distance from England, upwards of 18,000 .miles, has ' therefore b^gen accomplished in. three months, inclusive of the stoppages at the various ""ports, consisting of seventeen days. ,As will be seen from the foregoing, had the weather been as favorable during the latter' portion of the^ passage as it was at the commencement, the Rakaia would have reached New Zealand in twenty-five days from Panama, ' '•. . , She brings five passengers from Southampton — Rev. R - . and Mrs Mausell, Mr Gibson, Auckland ; Mr Smyth, AVellington ; and the Rev. H. Poore, Melbourne ; and 105 packages cargo. Great entlnisirtsm was manifested at - Panama on the arrival and departure of the Rakaia ; and the inauguration of the mail service was looked forward to with much interest. •