BANK OF AUSTRALASIA.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 35, 5 November 1842, Page 140

BANK OF AUSTRALASIA.

[From the Colonial Observer."] The following statement of the affairs of this establishment was submitted to the last annual meeting of the board of directors, which took place at the offices of the company, London, on the 6th of June last : — " The amount of the .reserve of undivided profit at 12th October, 1840, as shown at the last annual meeting, was £80,293 2s. 3d. ; to which are now to be added the profits realized both in the colonies and London, to 11th October, 1841, after deducting all expenses incurred, and an estimated provision for bad and doubtful debts, amounting t0£67,024 17s. 9d.; making a total of £147,318 : from which are to be taken the following sums paid to the proprietors, viz. : — April dividend, 1841, on 10,000 shares, £16,000; October dividend, 1841, on 15,000 shares, £24,000 ; and the bonus of £1 a share paid October, 1841, on 15,000 shares, £15,000; or a total of £55,000 : leaving as the amount of the reserved fund or rest on the 11th October last, £92,318. " Out of which sum the April dividend for 1842 has been paid, and the directors propose declaring the usual dividend of four per cent, upon the old or paid-up shares of the corporation for the following half year ending in October, being at the rate of eight per cent, per annum. Considering also the probable length- j ened period which will elapse between the pay- : ment of the first and following instalments on : the last series of new shares issued, it is the present intention of the directors to -pay a dividend in April next upon the first call of £10 already paid on those shares." The only new feature in the annual report is : a recommendation that a fund^should be provided for securing a retiring pension for the officers in the service of the company. For this purpose the annual sum of £1,000 is to be applied, to lie at colonial interest in Sydney. A wiser regulation could not have been adopted, or one better calculated to insure to the corporation the services of properly qualified and trustworthy officers.

The Emperor of Russia issued, on the 2d of April, an ukase to free the whole of the serf population of Russia. The measure, however, had met with so much opposition from the nobles, that he was obliged to maintain severe restrictions on the serfs, both as to compulsory labour and their civil rights ; and eventually he was compelled to issue an ordinance substantially annulling the privileges granted by the former ukase. The American line- of-packet-slupHendrik Hudton sailed from the St. Katherine Dock, for New York, on May 9th, with nearly two hundred emigrants, chiefly agricultural labourers, with their families, from the counties of Sussex, Kent, and ! Essex. i

Distress at Burnlst. — The Morning fJhronicle contains the following alarming letter «• J» the stute of the manufacturing town of BurntMu in Lancaster, and distant about 23 miles iron Manchester; the letter is from a respectable gentleman resident in that quarter, and dated Tuesday : — "At Burnley, yesterday, I had sad accounts of the state of the people. It seems that the guardians in that union have represented to the Secretary of State that the distress is far beyond the reach of their means of relief; they, have 12,000 persons on their books, and must leave the matter in the hands of the Government. Sir James Graham has sent down a special commissioner, Sir John Walsh, I heard, who has. written for £500, which has been distributed, pad more is forthcoming. A fearful struggle has taken place between sinews and machinery, and thft lafT* ter has been equally unsuccessful. The price of weaving has come down to sd. per piece for 66 inch reed. A man can only earn 7s& per day in full work, out of which he has to pay expenses. At this price machinery even as no chance ; but look at the condition of the miserable beings, 3s. 9d. per week at the best in full work ! Of course, they cannot support themselves at this rate, and go to the guardians. The relief under the new poor law is found to be totally inadequate, and great alarm is felt. The magistrates in the neighbourhood are conveniently not at home, and I look to an outbreak. The greatest apprehensions are entertained. On Sunday, it is said, twenty thousand people met at Enfield." The Pope has created Sydney an "Archbishopric, and appointed Count Polding to the see. His jurisdiction is to extend over Australia, Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, and Gambia Islands.