ENGLISH COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Southland Times, Issue 673, 22 May 1867, Page 2

ENGLISH COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

; : '. : ■" THE' MONET SIABKET. . ' . . ;' London^ March 26. • The general features .of the money, market ; continue much the " same as at, the "close of February. There is' an almost 'unprecedented: accumnlktion of bullion in the Bank, and large, arrivals from Australia are pending. In the; banking.. department of; the national establish- . '■ ment the reserve of coin and notes is at a higher : point than has been reached.for .eight years. In : thtf open market 'money is ' siaulai'ljr plentiful. ; '-. Discount rates are falling on the Continent ; and • ■ the: French bank now holds upwards^bf thirty , millions "sterling in; specie and^bilUion. Such facts asthese,;iri .ordinary! Itimejs; -would consti- j ; tute the paradise of traders ; but, unhappily, un- j ' : der the present exceptional circumstances neither i ' the abundance nbr the cheapness' of money ayails,,.to ; . revive enterprise or restore" confidence.' A 1 month i ' ago, a lowermg of the -Bank rate^to two and a ! '! half .per.. .. cent,. ::was. ; regarded' as extremely; ! probable; but there has been a combination of; i causes' operating' against" fluchastepr. First, the j ■ Feiuan. outbreak, by -the -alarm-it createdj-and-the : j withdrawal of gold , to_ L mee.t-;an anticipated run: ] on the Irish Banks," : ga?e a ; : certain tightness to 'i 'ffie-marSet: Then^prepiaratioris "had jEo T)e made ' -foria large. Jamouhfr of > Australiaii -iSdian: I bills which fell due a fortnight ago. Then came , '> the announcement thafcthe > creditors of Overend, ' i Q-urney and Co. were to receive a further divi- • 'dend>bf 2s"iii the pound,-^wEicE Vill'dra^ir ■nearly . half a i million sterhhg from the* Bank- vtf.-Eng- , . h,nd. And, in addition tp 7 , these, special^claims, ' I there have been "the 'somewhat heayjr demands; i that invariably accompany the close Sif the ! i quarter, . ,and also pJi-theGoy.eirnment financial i year: " The influence of causes'' subhf as th^se has ', i) for a season arrested the downward course" of dis- j ! count .rates. . ... During the . past- week the demand . I for accommodation was considerable",' andj .': capitalists raised their terms till they* approxi- ■ ! mated- 'to, "the Bank' minimimir- 'But iftnothing" ■' now unforeseen happens, a further decline'in the j i value of money is inevitable. Large consign- 1 | ments ofgold. areapprqaching ;our shores, and/ ; in the present state of the foreign exchanges, ; I "these 'supplies 'will" go into the^Bank cellars. : | Everybodj'.is'puzzled toknow what is'ite^Jbe done I •i with our daily swelling monetary stores^ How; ■i are they to be profitably employed. Speculation; I .is^ead. . Foreign loans, are. shunned.;; Nptlongi i since colonial Xjtdvernment aecuritiesr weifefc^iite ■in favor, but this feeling .hasT so far gone ofi^.. that i I "the'lastissue offered (Natal) did npt m.^etjroith.ai ■ single application, while several others. have.par-; ' tially failed. „ ;