THE TRADE OF CALIFORNIA.

Southland Times, Issue 1071, 11 December 1868, Page 3

THE TRADE OF CALIFORNIA.

(From the 'Sjdney Morning Herald.') In a recent number of the ' San Frar cisco Bulletin' we find a carefull prepared statistical summary of th State for the quarter, the half-year, an the year preceding. As special attentio has been lately called to the exportin power of this State in respect c breadstuffs, it may interest our reader to take a brief glance at the condition and prospects of this State. The harvest of the previous year wa comparatively a short one, yet it wa estimated at 11,500,000 bushels. 1 considerable portion of this was exported and what is specially worthy of ou notice is that a fair quantity was exporte< to England. It is a longer jourhey fron San Francisco to England by sailing vessels than from Sydney to England and if Californians can grow wheat, anc Bhip it to England at a profit, and tha too with very little return trade t< balance it, there does not seem to be ani reason in the nature of things whi Australia should not also find an outle for its surplus in the same great market England is less dependent on Americi than it used to be for its breadstuffs,- as ii draws its principal supplies from Eussij and Prussia; but of the quantity thai was sent last year from America, three fourths went from California. Thf season in California this year has beer unusually favorable. Bain has fallen ir eleven successive months, and the preseni crop is estimated at no less thai 20,000,000 bushels. There will, therefore, be a very large surplus to be sent away. This abundance is not perhaps favorable to the local farmer, but it necessarily adds to the general commerce of the State, and helps to make living feheap. The largest harvest ever reaped in any Australian colony was in 1866, when the wheat produced in South Australia amounted to 6,500,000 bushels, or- only about a third of this season's wheat crop in California. Apart from the precious metals, breadstuffs furnish the principal export from California, being, in fact, about 70 per cent of the total export of domestic produce. The State professes to send abroad something like fifty different articles of local production ; but some of these are of merely nominal importance. Ten articles furnish 95 per cent of the whole domestic export, and these ten are as follows: — Flour, wheat, wool, wine, quicksilver, hides, skins and furs, leather, ores and borax, and the export of these ten articles for the year amounted to nearly 16,000,000 dollars. The Talue of the breadstuff s exported last year is stated to be £2,000,000; the value of the wool about £350,000, and the value of the quicksilver more than £250,000. These are the three principal items of domestic export, and of the three the market for quicksilver is perhaps the most reliable, and that for breadstuffs the least. As to the gold, some of it is minted in the State itself, paid to the Government for Customs duties, and shipped on Government account to the Eastern States. The production of gold is not quite equal to what it was some years ago; but during the first half of the present year gold dust to the value of more than £4,000,000 has been brought from the interior. The extension of the Continental railway into mountainous districts said to be very rich in quartz reefs will probably increase the production. At the same time the values of mining stock have declined as compared •with what they were twelve months ago, although they show an improvement on the values of six months ago. There has been great depression, but there is now a partial recovery. The market value of the shares in sixteen leading companies had fallen by the end of last year fully fifty per cent. Of that decline nearly half has been since retrieved. How far this has been the result merely of stockjobbing operations, or how far it is due to a hona fide impoverishment of the claims, is not ascertainable from the mere statistics. But the interest of money in the States is lower than it was, which may be partly due to the general cheapness of money all over the world, and partly to a distrust of local investments. There are forty steamers regularly trading to the harbor of San Francisco, and at the time the summary was made up there were 128 vessels en route to the port. The increase of population is considerable, and in advance of that of previous year. During the first six months of the present year the increase of arrival over departures shows a gain of no less than 20,000 persons, and the estimate is that the result of the year will show a gain of fully 40,000. This is partly due to the immense efforts made to draw laborers for the construction of the great railroad, but the opening up of the country by that line is very likely to cause the permanent settlement of a great many of the new arrivals. The rails are now laid, and locomotives are running for a distance of 178 milea eastof Sacramento, aad the highest sum. Mit level of the line, which is 6800 feet above the level of the sea, h&s already been crossed. The ascent to that heighi has to be made in a hundred miles, and is achieved with a gradient not exceeding 1 in 45. Most of the new comers seem to hay« arrived by way of Panama, and are, there fore, from the Eastern States. The arrivals from Australia during the firsi half of the present year are entered ai 767. There seems to be scarcely anj direct emigration from Europe, or, indeec from the Eastern States. No passengei ships now make the journy by Cape Horn- All the passenger traffic crosses the Isthmus, and is carried by steam This is a point which seems worthy o notice in Australia in connection witl our emigration arrangements, an< especially as relating to the project fo; establishing a line of large screw steam ships to run direct.