ENGLISH COMMERCIAL.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 37, 1 February 1864, Page 4

ENGLISH COMMERCIAL.

London, JDec. 3, 1563. The Bank of England has raised the rainiiiium j rate of discount to eight per cent. Large foreign ■ drafts are being n;ade on the bank for sovereigns. The Bank of England return tor the week ending the 2(Jth of November shows the following i changes, as compared with preceding returns : — ,' Increase — Reserve notes, £oio 565 ; Treasury | balance. £588,65 i. Decrease— Bullion. £5 1,270*; j current account, £601,031; bills discounted, ; £477^029. ! The uncertainty jn the discount market inter- j feres materially with the free circulation, of j money. * The Board of Trade returns for October indicate an extraordinary increase in t.he foreign trade, ■which goes far to explain the rise in ■ the value of money. Consols for money, 90^ to Jex div. ; ditto, account. 90A- ex div. I Colonial Government Securities — New South | "Wales Five per Cents., 1566, 101 to 102 ; Victoria j Sis per Cents., January and July, 107 to 109 ; j April and October, HO to 110^: South Australian j Six p<r Cents.. IS7S, 112 to" 114: New Zealand Six per Cents-, IS7S, 110 to 112. The proprietors of the Union Bank passed a j resolution, on the 30th of November, for an | increase of the capital to £5,000,000 The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company's dividend for the year is seven per cent. ! Gibbs, Bright and Co.. and Baines and Co., j have joined as partners in the JN'ational Steam ! Navigation Company of Liverpool. j The Board of trade relurns for September, and j the gTowing trade of October and November, i aceoufit in some measure for the extraordinary ; drain of money and the activity felt in the dis- j count market. The declared value of the exporta- j tions of British produce and manufaciures during September, was i' 14.542.862, showing an excess of £3,140r535» or twenty-eight per cent, over the corresponding month of last year, a-d of twenty-nine j per cent, over that of the preceding year. Should the returns of the; remaining months of the year be of a ' sisailar character — and there is every j symptom that such is likely to be the ease — ISS3 ' ■will then figure as the year of tbe greatest com- j mercial prosperity England has yet attained. The I first three quarters present an increase of between I eleven and twelve per cent, over the* correspond- I ing nine months of each of the two preceding years. The augmented value of cotton must be taken into account; but* it may be questioned j •whether the margin of profit on textile shipments { of all kinds : has not 'been more satisfactory than on any former occosum, owing to the command of the markets whtcbi has been given to manufacturers by the American war, and the steady reduction of accumulated stocks. In the return for September, the. increase , under the head of cotton shipments is fifty-eight per cent, in i value and twenty-nine per cent, in quantity, j Tbe evidences of the extent of trade in the woollen ! districts are especially noticeable, and will rally account for ibe eagerness, with which the snrpltu labor of Lancashire has been ia- j Tited to Leeds, and .HaddsrafieldY ; The total j shipments of woollen staffs, and of woollen stuffs j sued with, otnermaterialshave been nearly double J tfcs ralue of those of Sept., 2862. lit the exports ; of linen t sill£, hardware, railway iron, £tc, as well as in those of nearly 'ail tniaor articles, a large 1 iraprorenjeDt is also exhibited. At the same ; time, tis itsporif oi triiaat and Boas have beea i ttnte ab-./ut hnif the asiopctof those of September j 18w, altbougb still considerably larger than thoee j of Septenberi ''1861.- Jn tbose of cocoa, sagar ! anA tea there has likewise been a diminution, j while of coflee ths arrivals have been Tery large, | "The importations of graiji otaia! than wheat,. [ BBpedally of Indian corn, bare been opoa a f uH I 9Ok. v .■■■■■• -.--.; ; )j_. . ■■/■■ .; ;■ .-'. •■••■' A