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FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE

OF THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW,

LONDON, November 8, 1861.

THE money market of London presents a singular contrast with that of Paris. While in that city the difficulty of negotiating time bills is increasing, the rates at this commercial centre are more favorable than a month ago. Prime bills, at short dates, have been taken this week as low as 24 @ 25 per cent. We now find the rates among the brokers to be:

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In the Continental markets the range is a wide one, viz. :

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It is rumored from Paris that the negotiation of the Bank of France with London capitalists has had only a temporary effect as to relief, and that the bank has opened a correspondence with the Bank of Prussia for a sum equivalent to £2,250,000. At Paris also prevails a rumor that M. FOULD is likely to become Minister of Finance, and that his first move will be to bring forward a public loan to the extent of 500 million francs, or (in round numbers) twenty millions sterling. France may require even more than this.

The inquiry is made why higher prices do not prevail now, with such ample supplies of capital, than early in the year, when the market rate of discount was almost equivalent to a panic. The contrast in the rates of money does not mark the rates for public securities, viz. :

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The numerous fluctuations of the Bank of England in their rates of discount have been prejudicial to the commercial community. The reduction to 2 and 3 per cent. in 1859, when the bullion reserve was

nineteen millions sterling, or five millions in excess of the present amount, was one of several causes which led to the reaction of 1860. In April, 1860, the rate again reached 5 per cent., and in February, 1861, eight per cent. The bank, from its ample resources, should hold in check the constant tendency to overtrading, and be at all times above the mere inducements of profit, and forego temporary advantages in order to maintain a consistent movement in commerce.

The excitement in the Liverpool cotton market is still on the increase, and prices are advancing daily. The total sales of last week amount to 146,000 bales, including 51,000 to spinners. Annexed are the exports of cotton from Bombay during August, as well as for the eight months ending August 31, the latter compared with the three previous years: Gt. Brit. Cowes, &c. for For Europe, China, &c., bales. orders, bales. bales.

Total for August,.
Previously exp'd this yr,.

Total for eight mos.,

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Exp'd same time, 1860,.. 329,931

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Total

bales.

bales:

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164,367. 509,413

..

97,907 533,103 76,060.. 333,297

From bankers we learn that of the bills maturing on Monday, the 4th, a rather larger number were returned than usual, but they were subsequently met, and no permanent case of embarrassment occurred.

By letters we learn the stoppage of the old-established Riga banking house of W. L. SCHELUCHIN & SON, with moderate liabilities.

is expected to pay nearly in full, or at least a high dividend.

The estate

A report prevails of a suspension, with heavy liabilities, in the metal trade at Paris, where of late considerable speculation in copper, &c., has been going on.

The advices from Buenos Ayres mention the failure of the native house of DELPHINO & Co., with liabilities of about £160,000. A small portion of the loss will probably fall upon English establishments. The estate, it is feared, will turn out unfavorably. In consequence of this suspension, Messrs. DEIHL, FERNAN & Co. have also stopped payment.

An influential local committee has been formed at Cambridge, England, for the purpose of successfully carrying out the approaching meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at that town next year. The gathering will be held later in the season than usual, and will not take place till the first week in October.

Mr. C. P. MELLY, a Liverpool merchant, better known as "Fountain MELLY," was presented, on Wednesday, with a silver épergne or candelabrum, valued at £1,000, as a token of the estimation in which he is held by his fellow-townsmen, rich and poor, on account of his public spirit and liberality in the erection of numerous drinking-fountains throughout the town. The plate bore an inscription which alluded to the gifts of a free play-ground and wayside benches, which Mr. MILLY has also made

to the town.

Contrasted with the close of October, 1860, the position of the London and Paris, money markets is reversed. Then there was in London an active demand for money, and the Bank of England raised their rate of discount from 4 to 4 per cent., while in Paris the current rate of discount was 3 per cent. At that time the MIRES loan in behalf of Turkey was pending.

The following is a comprehensive table, affording a comparative view of the Bank of England returns, the bank rate of discount, the price of Consols, the price of wheat, and the leading exchanges, during a period of four years, corresponding with the first week in November as well as ten years back, viz., in 1851:

BANK OF ENGLAND

Circulation,

Public deposits,.

Other deposits....

Government securities,..

Other securities,..

Reserve of notes and coin,..

Coin and bullion,..

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£21,350,000 £21,826,000 £ 22,692,000 £22,027,000 £21,575,000 6,086,000.. 6,673,000.. 6,097,000.. 4,968,000.. 4,240,000 9,549,000.. 12,290,000.. 14,811,000 18,114,000 13,515,000 13,241,000 10,808,000 10,875,000

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18,649,000

9,490,000 11,712,000 19,968,000.. 16,460,000

9,188,000 11,988,000 9,500,000 7,166,000 8,087,000

15,259,000

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14,210,000 3 per ct.

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Bank rate of discount,.

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Price of Consols,..

Average price of wheat,..

98144 42s. 8d.

16,830,000
2 per ct.
96%
42s. 9d.

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92% 598, 5d.

25 20

11 18

Yet, with a specie reserve four millions below that of October, 1858, and with existing circumstances which may produce a revulsion in commercial and financial affairs of England and the continent, the bank has this week reduced its rate of discount one-half of one per cent., or from 34, which was the established rate on 19th September, to 3 per cent. France is at this moment a large borrower, and the stability of her financial institutions may, before the end of the year, depend upon the ability of the Bank of England to maintain it.

Earl RUSSELL'S reply to a letter addressed to him officially by Mr. HENRY W. HAYMAN, of Liverpool, relative to the American blockade of Southern ports, unqualifiedly states that if any British ship, being a neutral, knowingly attempts to break an effective blockade, she is liable to capture and condemnation. If such ship defends herself by force against a national vessel enforcing such blockade, such defence is a breach of the law of nations, and will expose the ship and cargo to condemnation as prize.

The British Board of Trade returns for the month and nine months ending September 30th, 1861, have been issued. We subjoin a statement of the total declared value of the British and Irish produce and manufactures during the month and for nine months in the last three years:

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The exports of the month were less by £2,426,248, or 18 per cent., than in the same month of last year, and less by £411,220, or 34 per cent., than in September, 1859. The figures for the nine months show a decrease of £7,029,014, or 74 per cent., compared with 1860, and a decrease of £4,241,979, or 4 per cent., compared with 1859.

Of the increasing trade of the Gold Coast, the West African Herald says: "The palm oil season has been glorious. In some towns in the eastern districts there is actually more oil than traders can take, and yet enormous prices are given for it. The DROMO sailed for London from

Accra on the 20th of July, with a cargo of 45,000 galls. of palm oil and a ton and a half of gum. On the 21st BRYN-Y-MOR, belonging to the same firm as the DROMO, (F. & A. SWANZY,) left Accra with another cargo of 45,000 gallons of palm oil. On the 22d the KEDAR sailed from Accra for Salem, Massachusetts, United States, with 85,000 gallons of oil. Thus, within three days, three vessels left from one port with 175,000 gallons of oil, all the produce of the Gold Coast. We do not hear of much corn or ground nuts shipped or contracted for. Very little encouragement has been given to the development of the corn and ground nuts trade of late."

Of the general results of the cotton trade for the nine months of the year, Messrs. STOTTERFORT, SON & Co. report in their circular that "the imports from the United States show a deficiency of 500,000 bales against last year, but from the East Indies there is an increase of 163,000 bales, reducing the deficiency (with some of the minor descriptions) on the whole to 353,000 bales. In the total supply that deficiency is still further reduced to 333,000 bales in American, or to 142,000 bales of all descriptions, in consequence of a larger stock having been held at the beginning of the year than the previous one. The deliveries show an excess of 146,000 bales, of which 23,000 bales Surat were burned in London. The stocks are reduced by 334,000 bales in American, or by 280,000 bales in all descriptions. They are, however, still largely in excess of former years, and, considering that the spinners everywhere are stocked to an unusual extent, there would be no cause for any anxiety if we could hope for an early renewal of the imports from the United States. We would estimate such excess held by the spinners above their usual quantity at fully 150,000 bales, and that would increase the available stock to 1,150,000 bales.”

Intelligence has been received of the completion of the Malta and Alexandria cable. The whole length of this line is 1,300 miles, having intermediate stations at Tripoli and Benghazi. Arrangements are now nearly completed for working this line, and it is expected it will be open to the public by the end of October, when communication with India and China will be expedited thirteen days.

It is announced that the proprietors of the steamship GREAT EASTERN will be called upon for a further contribution, in the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds, to meet the repairs and extraordinary expenses of the ship, and that she will again, and before long, take her departure for New-York or some other port in America.

The public mind is much occupied with the joint expedition on the part of Spain, France and England against Mexico, to compel restitution for insults given and damages sustained.

The building in which the great International Exhibition of 1862 is to be held is progressing with rapidity. As the details become more public from the progress of the work, it is regarded more and more as a great highly popular measure. The committee are already marking out the various allotments of space. It is stated that the Emperor and Empress of the French will not only visit the Exhibition, but also take a tour to several of the principal towns and cities in the country, soon after the opening of the new building.

Advices from Chili give information that a law has passed the Chambers to double the sinking fund for the 4 per cent. loan, contracted in 1858 through Messrs. BARING BROTHERS.

RAIL-ROAD AND TELEGRAPH STATISTICS.

I. EAST INDIA RAILWAY. II. AN IMPORTANT RAIL-ROAD DECISION. III. THE NEW FIELD TELEGRAPH. IV. NEW TELEGRAPH LINES.

EAST INDIA RAILWAY.

THE Brahminee bridge is one of the largest structures on the newlyopened portion of the railway between Cynthia and Rajmehal. It consists of nine iron girders, of sixty feet span, and seven brick arches, of thirty feet span each. The total length from abutment to abutment is 950

feet.

The height from the bottom of the foundation to rail level is about forty feet, and the height of rail level above the bed of the river is about thirty feet. This bridge was originally intended to consist of twenty-four semi-circular brick arches, the river piers to be founded on undersunk wells. The foundations of both abutments and piers were got in in accordance with this design; but the difficulty of procuring bricks within a reasonable time (owing to a scarcity of fuel, which had to be carted from Raneegunge, a distance of seventy miles) induced a modification of the original design. This was, therefore, altered to a substitution of iron girders for brick arches. The undersunk well foundations were also dispensed with, as it was found, during prosecution of the works, that, by the employment of APPOLD'S centrifugal pumps, worked by portable engines, the water could be kept under so as to admit of the sand being excavated, and the piers founded upon the clay. This turned out to be a more expeditious and satisfactory method than the slow and tedious process of well-sinking, in our opinion a rather questionable idea for general adoption in the construction of foundations in this country. The whole of the river piers were got in to above flood level in one season by the employment of four APPOLD's pumps, worked by four small portable agricultural engines, whereas it is doubtful whether otherwise the wells would have been completed in two seasons. The bridge is the highest on the line between Calcutta and Rajmehal. Its great height gives it a light and airy appearance, and altogether the structure forms one of the most attractive engineering features on the newly opened line. The work was carried on under the superintendence of Mr. PERRY, district engineer, ably assisted by Mr. POWELL, resident engineer, and who, we have been informed, has since joined the government service, and has been selected to construct the large bridge on the Grand Trunk Road over the Barrucker River. We have no doubt Mr. POWELL's energetic and vigorous supervision will soon become apparent on his new undertaking, and that this great work, which has long been almost standing still from some causes or other, will be rapidly completed, with credit to himself and to the complete satisfaction of the government of India.— Calcutta Engineer.

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