INDIA.

West Coast Times, Issue 337, 22 October 1866, Page 2 (Supplement)

INDIA.

(i'KO?.I THE TIMES OF INDIA.)

The' working of the Indo-European and Indian telegraphs has greatly improved during the last week, the latest date being New York. September 4, and Great Britain the same date. The telegram from New York was received in less than forty-two hours. The Bank of Bombay reduced its rates of discount two per cent, on the 4th September, the present rates bein^ six per cent, on Government paper and eight per cent, on mercantile bills. The Alliance Bank of Bombay is to be wound up voluntarily. At the meeting at which this step was decided upon, the shareholders adopted a bal-ance-sheet representing the paid-up capital at L 3 81,000 and the bank's bad and doubtful assets at L 340,000.

At an uproarious meeting of the shareholders of the Western India Finance and Exchange Association it was resolved that that corporation should be wound up voluntarily. The following meetings of creditors have taken place in Bombay since the 24th of August : — Veljee Narronjee and Co., liabilities L 88,023, assets, 55,129 ; F. B. CamaandCo., liabilities, L 50,000, assetu L 740 0; Dadabhoy Byramjee, liabilities L 270,000, assets L 70.00 0; Ramjee Jaitha, liabilities L 75,878, assets L 986 9; Dossabhoy Kirpall, liabilities L 6 7,685, assets L 46,262 ; Luckmidass Hunsraz, liabilities L 76,274, assets L 9070. In the last two cases neither the insolvents nor their books were at the meeting ; in the other cases tiustees were appointed to wind up the estates under the new Insolvent Act. It is feared that the cotton crops in Guzerat will this season prove a, failure, in consequence of the damage they have sustained from the recent heavy rains. Another extension of the main line of the G. I. P. railway has just been opened for traffic. It is forty-two and a half miles in length, and extends from Burhaupoor to Kunclwah. The damage done to property by the late floods in lower Scinde is estimated at half a million sterling. The Bombay Harbor and Pilotage Board have decided upon the site of thc^ lighthouse on the Island of Kennery, near the entrance to the port, aud the work is to be completed by the Ist March next. Subscriptions to the amount of L 4,500 have been raised in Bombay for the relief of the famine-stricken districts in Bengal and Madras, A great scarcity of provisions prevails iv Persia, and the districts around Teheran are threatened with famine. A movement is on foot to perpetuate the memory of the late Dr. Robert Haines, principal of the Grand Medical College of Bombay. His Excellency Sir Bartle Frere heads the subscription list, which already amounts to' 3000rs. (La 00). ' The state of the public health in Bombay is remarkably good. The deaths last week were 233, being 190 less than the same week last year, and 113 less than the average for the last five years. Some alarm has been felt in Pooua by an outbreak of'cholera in H.M.s 109 th Regiment, stationed there. Only a few cases occurred, and the disease has now entirely disappeared. A Soldiers' Industrial Exhibition has just been opened at Poona, and is a complete success. The opening ceremonies were attended by their Excellencies the Governor-arid Comniander-in-Chief,, the Bishop of Bombay ?* and nearly all the Members of Council. Major Macpherson, 19th N.1., shot himself with a pistol, at Baroda, on the 2nd September. Mr George, the British political resident at Luckhimporp, has been killed by the fall of a house. Two other persons were also buried in the ruins, but were alive .vhen extricated. Yarkand, in Central Asia, is without a ruler, aud the Governor-General has been asked to nominate some person for the vacant position. The Governor-General will hold a durbar at Agra in November, for the investiture of the Star of India. It will be on a very grand scale, and is expected to last ten days. M. Leiean, the well-known French geographer, has arrived in Bombay from a scientific tour in the Himalaya country. He intends returning to France by way of Persia. The third and final instalment of the Delhi prize money is now in course of payment. At a meeting of the shareholders of the Bombay Presidency Baud, the report of the directors, showiug an estimated loss of .£200,000 of the bank's capital, was adopted, and a vote of con fidence passed in the board of directors. The Royal Bank of India is to be wound up, for the purpose of being reconstituted, with limited liability six months hence. The East India Trading and Banking Company is to be wound up by the High Court. " * The Eastern Financial Association has recently taken proceedings against PestonjeeCursetjee Shroff, for L 300,000," a debt incurred by the defendant, as a director of the association, in an attempt to raise the price of the shartjs. The" case was of great interest, and occupied the Court three days, judgment being reserved. i Sir William Mansfield has instituted a suit in the Small Cause Court, Simla, against Captain Jcrvis, for r*. 16, the value of the account book retained by the latter.

It is stated that the Governor-Gene-ral has agreed to recommend to the Secretary of State the construction cf a guaranteed railway from Lahore to Attock, the latter being within about fifty miles of Peshawur. News from Cabul to July 6 states that the terms of peace have been agreed upon between Russia and Bokhara, and that the Russian officers dctaiucd by the latter have boen released. A few days before tho death of H.II. the Rajah of Kolapovc, he and his two wives wevo weighed with rupees, and the amoant distributed among the brahmins. They weighed in all rs. 14,000. (ritOM THE OVEKXAND FRIEND OP TNDJA.) Twenty-five lacs of silver went home to the Secretary of State by the last Calcutta mail, and many lacs more are' likely to go by the next. This fact is unprecedented in the history, not of India only, but of Asia. Asia used to send gold to Greece aud Rome, but she har> always absorbed silver. And now, such is the lack of credit caused by the recent panic, that the Secretary of State finds it cheaper to take remittances in silver than to sell his bills in London, while private remittances are sent from India in Government paper. There is a wrong- impression abroad as to the cost of sending back to Eugland silver which has already made the voyage to India or China. The actual loss to Government is under two per cent., for the silver is spent in the pure unalloyed form of bars at a low rate of freight and insurance. The loss to the bullion merchants, however, cannot be less than seven per cent.