LATEST AMERICAN NEWS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 379, 24 May 1866, Page 1

LATEST AMERICAN NEWS.

3JEW YORK DATES, MARCH 13; ENGLISH DATES, MARCH 4. We (Southern Cross) have to thank Messrs Thornton, Smith, and Firth for copies of the San Francisco Mercantile Gazette, of March 17, from which we extract the following:— New York, March B.—The steamer Java, from Liverpool, with dates to February 25, three days later, has arrived. Consols closed on the 24th at 87| to 87|, with a steady demand; 5-20’s left off at 69| to 69| —the highest price touched for some time. The Paris Bourse was flat : rents, 69f. 3c. The weekly return of the Bank of England shows an increase of bullion of £702,821. The cattle plague was increasing. The last weekly returns quote thirteen thousand cases, and largely increasing. The Peruvian ironclad Heuscan remained at Brest, under surveillance. The banks of France, Prussia, and Italy have all reduced their rate of discount. The Peruvian Government has suddenly chased the Chambers’ proceedings, and the action of the Deputies in opposition to* the Government tends towards strife. The action is quite unexpected. Washington, March 7. —The special report of the Revenue Commissioner on the subject of distilled spirits is a very elaborate argument, showing that the present tax of 2 dels, per gallon kills the legitimate manufacture aud invites fraud. That it does not produce as much revenue as 1 doi. per gallon, is considered quite certain. Washington, March 8. —In the House, Mr Higby, on leave, introduced a bill granting the right of way to the ditch and canal owners in California over tiie public lands. On Air Wood bridge’s resolution in the House, on the stb, that the United States guarantee a fifty million loan to the Republic of Mexico, all the Pacific members voted aye, except Mcßuer. who was not present. Chicago, March 8. The New York Evening Post says Bishop Staley, of Honolulu, now en route to the Pacific, has been prevented from gaining the object of his mission in the Atlantic States beyond barren courtesies. There is abundant proof being placed before the public that he went to the Sandwich Islands as au English emissary to promote the interests of England, iu antagonism with the United States, iu hopes to alienate them from the United States, and secure their possession to Great Britain.

Washington, March 10.—The Senate Committee on the Pacific Railroad have reported a bill granting lands to the Leavenworth, Lawrence, Fort Gibson, and Galveston Railroad and Telegraph Company for two hundred feet on each side of the road and twenty alternate sections per mile, the mineral lands being reserved. The road must be commenced in two years. Washington, March 11.—Mr Garfield has been instructed by the Ways and Means Committee to report in part the changes in the revenue law already agreed on. The tax on incomes’ has been fixed at 5 per cent, on all over one thousand dollars. The tax on schedule A has been thrown off, except on billiard tables and carriages worth three hundred dollars. Cotton is taxed five cents per pound, payable not by the planter, but monthly by the manufacturers or exporters. The tax of one dollar per barrel on crude petroleum is removed, and the tax on Iransportion is also removed. The tax on whisky has not been changed. The House Judiciary Committee will be ready on Tuesday to again report the Civil Rights Bill. A proviso will be added which will make the bill explicit on the subject of suffrage and kindred matters. Chicago, March 13.—A Washington correspondent of the 10th says;—Mr Gonness has introduced a bill to abolish the Southern U. Si District of California, so that the State shall constitute one district, under the officers of the Northern District Court; the Act to take effect May Ist. Mr Conness has also introduced a bill to confirm locations and sales, under State laws, of land grants made by Congress, which is intended to cover Bidwell’s bill, and supposed to have the approval of the land department. The President approved on the Bth*the bill confirming Field’s Pueblo Decision, which passed Congress without amendment. The Senate has passed a bill granting lands to the Folsom and Piacerville Railroads., Boston, March 14.—Jared Sparks, the historian, ex-president of Harvard College, died at Cambridge, this morning, of pneumonia. New York, March 14.—Senor Mockenna, Chilian Agent, and Stephen Rogers, Chilian Consul, charged with attempted violation of neutrality laws, were admitted to five thousand dollars bail each, to-day, in the United States Circuit Court. Washington, March 14.—Freeman Clark, the Controller of the Currency, publishes a sharp letter, addressed to Secretary M'Culloch, saying that the published statement of the condition of the Treasury is inexcusably erroneous, and also that the Secretary has sold, during the last month, without authority of law, ten millions of bonds. He concludes as follows ;—“ I will add, I can show to the satisfaction of any one that neither of your monthly reports, for the last four months, has shown within fifty millions the amount of money in the Treasury, or on deposit to Government credit.” In the House, on motion of Mr Higby, the Pacific Railroad Senate Bills, granting aid for the construction of a railroad from Folsom to Piacerville, and from Piacerville to the most feasible point of intersection with the Pacific Railroad in Nevada, was referred to the Committee on the Pacific Railroad. St. Louis, March 15.—The upper river trade with Montana and Idaho opens brisk, and the cliief feature of the spring business, the advertisements of boats for Fort Benton, fill two columns of the daily papers, and immense quantities of goods are being purchased fur shipment. Several boats have already left, and not less than seventy-five are now receiving freight and passengers. The emigration thitherward resembles the California gold fever of ’49. All the boats loading draw but few feet, and hope to get through before low water. New York, March 15.—Havana advices of the 10th say that a Spanish war steamer had brought in a captured slave schooner, which was reported to have 1574 negroes on board. Washington, March 15.—The Post Office Department has closed the mail letting for the Pacific States. The competition was greater, and the prices are reduced from last

year. The following are the most prominent contracts :—San Francisco to Sacramento, eighteen thousand dollars; a reduction of two thousand dollars. San Francisco to Stockton, fifteen thousand dollars ; a reduction of five thousand dollars. San Juan to Los Angeles, eighteen thousand dollars; a reduction of six thousand dollars. The West Route from Lincoln to Portland, Oregon, 624 miles, was let to Henry W. Frisbet for seventeen thousand nine hundred dollars, the present pay being twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars. Halifax, March 15.—The steamer Africa, from Liverpool, the 30th, and Queenstown, the 4th, has arrived. Her dates are two days later, but the political news is unimportant. Consols for money have ruled at 86| to 87 ; 5-30’s at 70J to 73|. Chicago, March 15.—1 t has been known for some time that Secretary M'Culloch and Mr Freeman Clark, the Controller of the Currency, were at variance in respect to the loan bill and other questions of financial policy. In relation to the matter now in publication, the correspondence of Mr Clark, under date of February 24th, states his decided opposition to the loan bill, for the reason that ample authority exists, with the means in the Treasury not required for other uses, to fund that portion of the temporary loan deemed desirable.