ENGLISH NEWS.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 182, 26 February 1848, Page 3

ENGLISH NEWS.

COMMERCIAL FAILURES; (Fri,m the Liverpool Mercury, October 5 ) The Banhers Magazine for October gives the following brief enumeration of the great failures during the lust month : — " The first failure after those announced in our last article, was that of Messrs. Caateliain, Sons, and Co., London. This was an old and highly respectable house. The senior partner has held for some time the appointment of Belgian Consul. The liabilities are stated at ,£200,000, and the principal cause of failure is said to be losses incurred by the stoppage of the old established house of Frazer and Co., of Antwerp, (Lloyd's agents at that port,) which occurred about ihe middle of August, 1847. The next instance was that of Alex. Dixon and Co., of Bekurbef, near Belfast, distillers, for an amount stated at £200.000. These were the evtiiti of the week ended 28th of August. In the week following, ended 4th September, there were the stoppages of Gray and Roxburgh's, at Greenock, in the American timber and provision trade, for a large amount ; J. and C- Kirkpatrick, of Liverpool, in the American provision trade, for £60,000; one or two other failures at Liverpool for small amounts ; Roux and Co., of Paris, in the South American trade, for .£200,000, a large portion of which it is reported will fall on London creditors ; and J. H. Barthlength, of St. Petersburgh, brought down by bills returned " not paid" from this country. In the following week, ended 11th September, the disasters were very serious. The failures were Thomas Booker, Sons, and Co., of London, corn merchants, for £50,000 ; Gemmel, Brothers, and Co , of Glasgow, a foreign house of most extensive connexions, but engaged principally in the trade to Valparaiso, Lima, Manila, and China. At each of these markets we believe the Glasgow firm bad an affiliated correspondent. The liabilities of the Scotch establishment are stated at £200,0(0, and the immediate cause of suspension is said to be the non arrival of the China letters with the last Overland Muil. D. and A. Denuy and Co., of Gasgow, engaged in the corn trade, for £400,01)0, Several New York houses are mentioned as heavy claimants upon this estate ; but the weight of the loss falls upon the local banks and the London discount houses. Sanders, Wetherell, and Co., of Stockton-on-Tees, for £30,000, com dealers. The house was held in high respect, and its misfortunes hnve excited general regret. Thomas Osborne and Son, of London, corn dealers, for £200,000. Hastie aud Hutchinson of London, corn dealers, for £100,000. These two firms have been brought down by the loss incurred upon failures already announced. Ovyle and Co. of Venice, for £30,000, and A. and A. Custo, of Genoa, for £80,000; and on the 11th of September, Gower. Nephews, and Co., of London, merchants, for £500,000. The lust failure was the most serious of any since that of Lesley, Alexander and Co. The senior partner, Mr. A. A. Gower, held a seat in the Bank direction, and several other important mercantile appointments. The operations of the firm were exceedingly extensive, and while there is reason to believe that circumstances of embarrassment hare been gradua ly accumulating for some time, the crisis appears to have hastened by losses arising out of the recent Scotch failures. The following week, ended 18th September, was signalised with further failures of great importance. On the 14th of September, a very general uneasiness was' occasioned by the suspension of the well known discount brokers, Saunderson and Co., King William-street. The first impression was, that the liabilities in this instance would be of most serious magnitude. But this does sot prove to be the cise. The business of the firm has been in a declining state for several yean, and some suspicions la'ely excited appear to have produced the liquidation of extensive claim* within the last four weeks. The result -is, that

£000,000 is said to be protected by securities lodged with the creditors. An investigation ims been mude by those concerned, and at present the statement is that no lois will be sustained by the claimants upon the estate, and that the house will resume its business upon a new and strengthened footing On the 17th of September, the failure of the eminent house of Reid, Irving and] Co.* of London, merchants, was made public. This event produced a very profound impresision. The firm have occupied a most distinguished position for some time. The sanior partner, Sir J. llae Reid, was a Bank Director and Governor within (lit last ten years ; and both in the East and West Indies the connexion! of the house were very extensive. Here, however, there have been several circumstances which, within a certain circle, have interfered with the credit of the firm'b signature for some time. Large advances upon sugnr estates : and other investments of veiy difficult realisation, would seem to have at length rendered the partners unable to cope with the sudden and large demands arising out of exigencies like the present. Various sums have been reported as to the extent of the liabilities. Probably about a million may be near the truth. The only failure up to this time announced since Reid, Irving and Co., has been that of Watson, Biothers, and Co., of Liverpool, for £200,000. •' It appeais that the Barfk of England have a rule of presenting for immediate payment, to those for whom they have been discounted, any bills drawn or accepted by parties declared bankrupt. Some inconvenience has been understood to arue in several quarters from the influence of this rule during the past month. If the persons resorting to the Bank for accommodatiou fully understand that they render themselves subject to this contingency, there does not appear to be any thing arbitrary in the practice of the Bank, however it may be at variance with the ordinary course of business. It does, however, seem to be desirable that the commercial usage of the country on so important a matter should be uniform. " Commencing from about the 7th of August to the time at which we write (25th September), the gross amount of failures appears to range between seven and eight millions. The distribution of this very serious amount has been "omcthing in the following pioportions :— London, £5, 000,000; Liverpool, £480,000; Glasgow, £900,000; Stockton-on-'lees, £130,000 Ireland, £Glo,ooo. "P. b. In addition to the failures already announced, we regret to have to add the eminent firm of Cockerell, Larpent, and Co , of Austin Friars, very largely interested in the trade to the East. Considering the magnitude of the concern, it is satisfactory to find that the liabilities have been reduced to little more than £600,000 ; and on thii sum it is said that the estate will leave a surplus, or at least afford a very respectable dividend. Sir George Larpent, the recent candidate for the city, was one of the leading partners. The present calamity would appear to be the crisis of several causes which have been some time in operation. The failure was announced on the 25th Sept. The stoppage of Messrs. Cockburn and Co., the army agents and bankers of Whitehall, wai also announced on the same day ; but we have not been able to ascer - tain the particulars of their liabilities at the time of going to press. The Times, of Friday, announces the following failures: — Messrs. Sliewell and Co., of the Stock Exchange ; Messrs. Lyall, Brothers, and Co., merchants and I'Xst India agents, with acceptances to the amount of £400,000; Samuel Phillips and Co, meichants and East India agents, with liabilities to the extent of £150,000; Birley, Corrie, and Co., of Manchester, with liabilities between £200,000 and £250,000 ; W. Steel and Co , of Liveroool, liabilities not considerable, and at Glasgow a firm in connection with Watson, Brothers, and Co., of Liverpool, whose sloppige occurred on the 20tb instant. The Manchester Guardian of Saturday says, " on Wednesday morning, the failure of Mr. Edward Potter, yarn dealer, was announced. We underitund that the amount of his liabilities is said to be about £15,oOu ; and the immediate cause of his failure is understood to be a bad debt of £3600 with Guest and Co. On Thursday, Messrs. Birley, Corrir, and Co., East India merchants, stopped payment, in consequence of being the holders of bills to a considerable amount upon the suspended firms of Reid, Irving, and Co., and Perkius, Schlusser, and Co. ; but principally upon the latter. Their liabilities are said to be about £1 50,000 ; but it is not believed that any loss will re&ult to the creditors ; and in case arrangements should be made — according to the very general expectation — for the lesumption of pyment by Messrs. Perkins and Co., it it probable that Messrs. Birley and Co. may also resume. On the same day, the failure of Messrs. Render and Milner, who were previously known to have sustained considerable loss by the itoppage of Guest and Co., was publicly announced- Their engagements are generally stated at something less than £40,000 ;■ and it is hoped that the loss to the creditors will not be very large." The Times of Saturday says— " Notwithstanding an almost unexampled stire of excitement, and the in cessant circulation of rumours, the day passed off without a single failure of any importance, the only suspension being that of a firm in the West India trade whose engagements are too small to call for any special notice. A report which was very generally and very recklessly circulated, that the Company of the Copper Miners in England had stopped payment, proved to be without foundation. From Maucheo-er we have accounts of the failure of Rendef and Milner, cowm Siion agents, but the liabilities arc not supposed to be large. At the same time we have, on the other hand, the satisfactory news that the report of the stoppage of Birley, Corrie, and Co., only ' arises from a temporary inconvenience,' and that no demands upon that firm • have been, or are likely to be, dishonoured.' We regret to s-ate that the bleaching firm of Messrs. Stocks and Tait, of Brinksway, stopped payment on Wednesday, its liabilities being reported at £28,000. — Stockport Mercury. The same paper contradicts the announcement previously made, of the stoppage of the highly respectable firm of Mesirs. J. and J. Gibbs, Manchester, warehousemen. EXTRAORDINARY INVESTIGATION IN THE DRAPERY Trade.— An important movement has recently been caused amongst several branches of trade, more particularly that of drapery, in the course of which facts of a startling nature would appear to have been elicited, affecting the honesty of our home trade, and tending in their consequences to operate injuriously upon our relations with loreign markets. The question first arose from a desire on tbe part of a few retail dealers to obtain the co-operation of the wholesale houses in the more equitable measurement of various goods, inasmuch ai under the existing system the public are conitantly defrauded to an immense extent. A meeting for the purpose of investigating into tome of the allegations made against the wholesale homes has taken place within the last few days, in the presence of several exporters, and others interested in the question. At this meeting sealed packets of goods from many of the wholesale houses were examined, and the result showed that there was much reason for complaint. Among other instances, reels of cotton thread, marked " warranted 100 yards," were towed to

tneaiure respectively 92, H9, and 80, and in some cases even 25 per cent less than the quantity indicated by the stamp, while in no single instance did the measurement reach the full standard. In tapes the deficiency was found to be still more considerable. f_t is usual to make white tapes up in lengths of nine yards, one dozen of these lengths being packed in a parcel, and then issued from the wholesale house with the vendor's name upon it as "warranted." On measuring these •» nine yard lengths," it was found that m every instance they fell short. In some descriptions the nine yard lengths were under seven yards, in others under six, whilst another sample, where the tape itself had been stamped at the end in indelible ink as nine yauls, there were found to be but bj. Other goods were submitted to the tame ordeal with like remits. It appeared from enquiries on the subject, that for some length of time the manufacturer have been improperly accused of being the guilty parties in these transactions ; but their account of the afl'air is, that they are compelled to follow the instructions of the wholesale houses in making up the parcels, or to run the risk of the transference of the custom to some lass scrupulous tradei. The wholesale houses, in their turn, extenuate their coaduct, by reference to the competition which exists, and which compels them to adopt this questionable system. But by this sy»tein, it is contended, they not only bring undeserved suspicion on the retail dealer, but ruin alio on the imall shop'ceeper, (frequently females), who, ignorant of the custom alluded to, measure out small portionb of the various articles, at which they calculate a lair aliquot price, and thus in the long run find themselves serious losers, without knowing how or why. In the foreign markets loud complaints hate for yeais been made against these practices, more especially at Leipzig. In reformation of this system, ineeiings are in course of organiza'ion throughout the country, and the pnncipali of some of the wholesale houses have intimated their desiie to lend their influence towards the cstabliihmeiit of a sounder system of trade. — Morning Chronicle, Sept. 22. Monster Engine.— A ballast-engine intended fcr the Gnmsby line ot railway, has just been made, weighing more than twenty-four tons. It required thirtysix horses to draw it along — and yet that simple and mighty agent steam, will whirl this ponderous body along as a boy would a stone from a sling. Memorial op llorokiwi. — A marble tablet has been lately placed in St. James's Church, Sydney, at the desire and expense of the officers of the 99th regt., to sanctify the memory of Ensign Blackburn, who fell at llorokiwi eighteen months ago. It bears the inscription following :— " In memory of Ensign Henry Middleton Blackburn, 99th regt., who was killed in action with the rebel natives, in the valley of Horokiwi. New Zealand, Auguit 6th, 184,6, aged 'L\ years. This monument is erected by his brother officers in testimony of their esteem and regard."