The Press. — London, England, 1855-02-24 00:00:00

Fl63lltlAllY 24, 1855. CONDUCT OF THE WAR. A Puma Immo of the inhabitants of Marylebone was held on Wednesday, at the Edward-street Literary Institution, " to consider the attempt of the Government to suspend the nomination of the com mittee of the House of Commons, ordered to be ap pointed to inquire into the state of our army before Sebastopol, and to urge on the Government and the house the absolute necessity of an immediate and vigorous prosecution of that inquiry." The chair was taken by Mr. Clement George. Several speeches were made in the course of an animated dis cussion, and the following resolution among others was agreed to on the motion of Mr. Lewis : That, in the opinion of this meeting, the great sufferings and disasters to which the English army in the Crimea has beau ex posed imperativelyeall for a searching investigation into the causes and the defects of the system under which such misfortune, hays occurred; that the House of Commons having, in answer to tho unanimous call of the nation, voted by a large mikilrity In favour of a committee of inquiry of that house, this meeting earnestly deprecates the reversal of such vote by any means, direct or in direct, and calls upon the Government ana the House of Com mons, as an act of Justice to those who have suffered such un paralleled privations and distresses, to institute, by means of a fair and impartial committee, an immediate, honest, and vigorous inquiry. An important meeting was held at Birmingham on Thursday night. It was called by the mayor, on a requisition signed by nearly four hundred of the principal firms and inhabitants of the town, " for the purpose of memorialising the Legislature on the ne cessity, of prosecuting the inquiry into the causes of the disasters in the Crimea, and on the system of appointments in the army and navy." There was a great attendance, the vast hall being completely tilled, many of the leading men of the locality being of the number. John Palmer, Esq., the mayor, oc cupied the chair. In the course of the proceedings several resolutions in accordance with the terms of the requisition, together with a memorial to Parliament in which they were embcdied, were adopted. A requisition for a meeting on the subject of the war has also been presented to the Mayor of Liver pool, on behalf of a large body of. bankers, ship owners, and merchants of that town. THE FROST. THE frost still continues with great intensity, accom panied by a piercing wind. All navigation in the river is now entirely stopped. The various docks are frozen up, and the shipping fast. Persons have been skating and sliding in the West India Import and South Docks. It is upwards of seventeen years since the docks were frozen up. The last shipping hauled in was into the East India Docks on Sunday last, when a passage had to be cut through the ice in the basin to admit them. The river is full of ice, and the banks at low water are strewed with huge blocks, four and five feet thick, left by the tide. The canals have been frozen up now nearly a week. The number of labourers thrown out of employment in consequence is enormous. Sheerness harbour is in a terrible state in consequence of immense floating masses of ice, which render all communication between some of the ships and the shore an impossibility. The navigation of the Medway has become impracti cable. The ships are scarcely safe from being driven from their moorings by the floating masses. On more than one night lately a singular performance has taken place on the Serpentine. A great number of noblemen and gentlemen, not wishing to mingle with the crowd, proceed in a body to the Serpentine, after the regular skating hours had finished, and each with a lighted torch in hand and a policeman's lamp buckled in front amused himself on the ice until nearly midnight. TEE FRENCH COMPANY for the enrolment of a foreign legion for the English service is now in a position to guarantee the raising of 15,000 men of various countries in less than a month. The prin cipal persons engaged in the operation are well known in the department of the Marne, and some am now in Paris making preparations to commence on the first signal. Mr. Sidney Herbert made the consent of the French Government an indispensable condi tion, and the change of Ministry in England has pre vented the request being made in an official manner. It is stated that Lord Palmerston transmitted the propositions of the company to the English War De partment, and it was expected that they would be taken into consideration immediately. A considerable 'umber of Prussian emigrants are constantly arriving in France, and among them are said to be deserters. A French officer has arrived from the frontier to take the instructions of the War Department as to what is to be done with the latter. The company think they may avail themselves of this circumstance for its projected legion. Cone !! rade nub ditg FRIDAY EYENIs4. FRESH Ministerial complications have caused re newed dullness on the Stock Exchange during the week. Prices on Monday showed some signs of recovery from their recent depreciation, and the quotations ruled more firmly than for some while Past. Console were done at 01 to for account, and for money went to 911, buyers. A temporary fall took place through the influence of some con siderable sales, effected for speculation purposes, upon the receipt of intelligence of the Liverpool bread riots, but the market afterwards recovered. On Tuesday business was great and steady, and the prices at the opening were 91, buyers, both for money and time, and at the close 901 91 for imme diate transfer, and 91 to 1 for account. Wednesday's market was agitated by the reports of the secession among the Peelite members of the Cabinet. The visible effect upon prices was, however, compara tively limited, and the quotations never were lower than 901, and left off at 901 91. Yesterday the funds continued to show some sen sitiveness to the rumour of disorganisation in the Cabinet. At one moment the quotations gave way per cent, bat the market rallied afterwards, and at the close exhibited a slight advance on the prices of the previous day. To- day the market has been very inanimate, but prices were tolerably maintained. Consols have been operated in, for both money and account, at 91}; Reduced at 91e 911 ; and New Three per Cents., 971 Olt Exchequer Bills continued un altered at Os. to 9s. prem., and 4s. to 7s. for the March advertised bills. Bank Stock has been dealt in at 215 ; India Stock at 222. THE PRESS. RAILWAYS. The Share Market still evinces much weakness, and prices will not probably rally until some im provement in the weather shall have caused a revival of traffic on the lines. FOREIGN. To-day the Foreign Market has hardly exhibited a single transaction. The quotations are merely nomi nal, and prices rule somewhat lower. BRITISH 18. Closing Prices. QUOTATION. OFFIC: Mond.,Tuesd. Tired. Thur. . Frida2 91 9011901 1 901 1 9119 1901 11 94 1 1 1 1191 I 11 2 !21/ lai i 4 5-16 1 4 3.16 4 1-16 -21 b 21 be -- -- 120 1 8 JO 6 6 9 la 1 12 —. 3 per Cent. Consols Ditto for Account 8 per Cents Reduced 3 per Cents Long Annuities Hank Stock, 7er Cent India Stook, 10 per Cnt F.xob. Bills, 2} d. per diem India lionds, (1,0001.). • • • 91 911 91i 914 4 11-1 21 901 21 91i 91 411-11 914 229 6 9 BANK OF ENGLAND. An Account, pursuaut to the Aot 7th and Bth Victoria, cap. 3$ for the week endiug ou Saturday, the 17th day of Feb., 1885. Milli DIPARTIIIKNT. Notes issued .... 5 026 , 315,230 1 Government Debt 011,015,100 Other Securities .. 2,964,900 Gold Coin & Bullion 12,313,110 Sliver Bullion .... --- £26,313,230 £26,313,230 BANKING DKPLBTXKNT. Proprietors'Capital £14,553,000 Government Seen. Rest Public Deposita* 4,898,602 Dead WeightAn.i Other Deposits 4even Day I other Note■ 7,067,075 Bills 133,857,198 • Including F.xchsrfuer. Savings Banks, C , *timid Debt, and Dividend Accounts. The toregoing return, when compared with that of the preceding week, ending Feb. 10, exhibits the following changes: In the Public Deposits lncaLuta of Other Deposits Notes Issued Do. Reserved INCREASE of Seven-day Bills DECREASE of 69,f406 Coin and Bullion Government Semi/4440 ... Diu:BEAMS Of • 20,425 Other Securities • INCREASE of The Rest INCREASE Of ......... • .... 3,290 The amount of active circulation in Notes £19,946,111 Do. in fieven•day and other Bills 8194,2911 03,857,198 logioners of Coin and Bullion in both Departments FOREIGN FUNDS. Per Cent. Mond. Tuesd. I b lOl 1 101 i Brazilian Danish . Dtch. (Ex 12 Gull)! French Wed. 1001 Do. Do. Bank Stock 14t Otel 2970(.1 Maxie= Peruvian st Portuguese 4 Russian 5 Spanish Turkish Scrip(Acc.)J I . 6V L. 94f 90( 2970 f. 17t,i - 4 1 17 20,141,040 14,900,706 Mum Friday. 103 88f 1300 05f 5" 2000 f. - -21 i 1 71 100 22j 38 — 751 71 Antw. & Rttrdm. Belgian East. J. Dutch Rhenish East Indian Gt. Indian Pen G.W.of Can.,Sh Lyons & Geneva Madras Na. & Lge.(w. In) Nrthrn.of Frnce. Norw. Trnk. Prf. Paris et Lyons Paris • Orleans Parts t Rouen.. FOREIGN RAILWAYS. Mond. 61 li t it I 7 .1 Tuetclay.' t I 2i d I 7" 2 1 1 id ip 61 7 1 20i 46 7 Wednes. ei 2 1 EP d 1311; • Yd f c ase 9a 2 p 7 1 1} 6i 331 di 9i I ° 3 l 39 4121 39 414 ' s9 41i4 1 $9 Friday 61 I 2 id Pr p 17 1 p d 6i 331 Al 9i 20i IP 40 39 41 Thurs. 84 t 4 It id tp Par t P 17 • 1 £ p 1k d 7l i 8* 94 20t 1 p 44 8 RAILWAYS— Aberdne u Bina. W els. it Stour V, Bristol and Exeter .. C eletlau ian Chester aud Holyhead Cork and llaudou Dublin et Belfast Juno East Anglian Eastern (Inlet East Eastern Counties .. Great Northern ..., Gt. Sth. and \Vat of he Great Western Lancashire A Yorkshire Lon., Tilbury, d Stheud Lou., Brightou, de Loudon and Blackwell I .oudun and N rth•W est Midland Newmarket Newry and Enniskillen Norfolk Nrthru. Counties Uniou North British North Staffordshire , Nortb•W eaten& Wrostr., and Wolv. l Scottish Central Sootush Midland 1 South Devon South-Eatituru and Do v. South- Western South Wides Waterford A Limerick Miscstarswous— Australian Agricultural Canada Crystal Palace Crystal Palace of Franca North British Ans. Laud Yeel River Laud do Min. Scottish Aust. invest. South Australian Land Van Diemen's Laud .. nlttropolUan gtarkets. (Reported exclusively for "TER Pat se.") CORN-EXCIIANG E--The severity of the weather having impeded the navigation of the Thames, scarcely any fresh supply of English wheat has been on sale in our market this week. The demand, however, from all craft-work being sue. pended, and from most of the watermUle having stopped work ing, has been in a most depreseedstate; indeed, au few trausee lions have taken place that the quotations have ruled uoznival. Scarcely any import* of wheat have taken place from abroad' nevertheless, there has been no desire shown to make sales, and prices have been without change. Floating eargoes off Falmouth have been held at full tturreneles. For barley and malt there bar been little or no inquiry, at lato rater. The oat trails may be considered steady, at full prices. In the value of beans, peas, and dour, no change can be uotlee. Emotion—Wheat, Essex and Kent white, 664 to 82e; red, 62s to 72e; Norfolk and Lincoln red,64s to 78s. Malting barley 33a to lee ; grinding ditto, 39. to 31s ; distilling, IN to Ills . Malt, 66a to 725. Feed oats, Ills to las ; potato, 26e to 3 00. Rye, 42s to 445. Tick beans, 40. to 425; pigeon, 43e to 4 6e. Grey pees, 311. to 37s ; maple, 40s to 42s ; white boilers, ills to 44s per quarter. Town-made f10ur,6114 to 73a; country marks, 110 a to Stle per 2801ba. - - . ARRIVALS TRIO WEEK. Wheat. Barley. Malt. Oats. Flour. N:nulish 550 .. 30 .. 3310 .. 1010 Irish Foreqp .. 1190 .. 3so .. WO alts. Ltd. LONDON AVERAGES DECLARED ON FRIDAY—Wheat, 2,984 quarters, 739 7d ; barley, 457 quarters, $9. ; oats, 3,02 d quarters, 28. 4d ; rya, 20 quarters, 401; beaus, 96 corr. tern, 40s 6d; peas, 87 quarters, 97s 10d. IMPERIAL WEEKLY AVERAGES—Wheat, 70s 3d; ley, 31a 9d; oats, 9k 7d ; rya, 45s 3d ; beaus, 43a ld; peas, 41s. - - - - THE SIX WEEKS' AVERAGES—Wheat, 71s 4d; Imlay, 311 s 9d; oats, 26s ed; rye, 445; beans, 44■ 7d; yeas. 42,4. ENGLISII GRAIN SOLD LAST WEEK—Wheat, 65,878; bar1ey,79,769; oats, 19,326; rye, 108; beaus, 6,401; peas, 1,739 quarters. TEA—Public sales of 26,000 packages have been held tide week. Only a small quantity changed hands, yet very little change took place in the quotations. Privately, the demand is heavy, as follows :—Congou, iid to 2s 6d; King Yong and Oolong, is to is 9d ; Seuohoug, Is to Is 84 ; Flowery l'ekoe, Is 4d to 85 8d ; Caper, Is to ls 4d; Scanted Caper, Is 2d to Is 6d: Orange Pekoe, le 2d to Is ed; Scented Orange Pekoe, le 8d to 2e Btl Twankay, Ild to Is 441 ; Hylton Sldn,Bd to Is 241 Dyson, is lid to 3s fid; Young Myron, 104 W Rs ; Imperial, Is to 25 ed ; Gunpowder, is to 8s ed ; Assam, is lid to 411 44 per lb. Up to Saturday last duty was paid on 6,168,4941b5, against 4,447,78131b5 in 1864. SUGAR—Our market has been heavy, yet we have no actual change to notice in piles'. Cuba has sold at Ills to 361; Porto, Rico 80e 8d to 88e and ilavannah, 32s to 40 5 6d per cwt. In crushed very little is doing. Refined goods are fiat, stalls 6d for brown lumps, and 43s to 4ss 6d per cwt for low to flue grocery. The following are private rates :—Bengal brown, 24s lid to 275; yellow, 286 to 31s; low to middling white, 885 to 37s ild; good to line white, 88 5 to 445; tit 'Ares brown, 26e to Vs ; yellow and white, 18s to 41s; Mauritius brown, 24s 6d to 30a ; 3tis 8d to 33. Cd; fine, 380 to 41s 6d; Penang brown and yellow, 24s 6d to 30s; grey and white, 38. 6d to 375; Siam brown and yellow, 26s 64 to ties & i; low to fine white, 35s ed to 395; Chins brown, 26e to 295; yellow and white, 30s to 37s : Manilla brown, 26a 8d to 27e 6d; yellow , 2105 6d to 30e Bd ; Java brown and yellow, 265 641 to 30. 6d; grey and white, 33e to 39s 64; Jimmies ordin to good brown, 28s to bos; 81. to 34s id good to ary fine, 865 to WM ; Barbadoes, 30e to 89s; Trinidad,; St Lucia, and iterbiee, ord to good brown, 18s to 30s : middling , 80s ed to 334 6d; good to tine, 355 to3es per owt. MOLASSES—Our market is fiat. Low to fine Wind India, 169 641 to 175 64: foreign, 17s to 17s Cd per eel. COFFEE—AII kinds have moved off slowly, at last week's quotations. Good ortl native Ceylon has realised 454 8d u, 4A 84 per cwt COCOA—Tbere is an improved feeling in the demand, and prices have WI upward tendency. united Trinidad, 44$ w 404 g Bahia, 825 to 34a per cwt. terniCkis.lCOFlioYre—ignTheroubuaiat„Molted,. on former to 91 lOs per ton. in bond, doinglOi ii to val l y 11; Eng lish, pi t I let f 97 0 7 100 " 69 i ;.11 16 3 1# 96 8 si 100 k 611 " 111 86 9 4 Id Of ti; 49 31 119 101 64 6 "7 1 46 1 30 7i 81 l i t 2 3 . 2 1 1 1 I I 0 1 si 14 3 :43 11 las a 193 19e 2u4 34 9 93 I It $ I sl ii N ll_ ii 4 - 11 It 96 b Tj ;1 10 Sul loof 9 " 3 31 1,1 98 9 44 bf ti t Au 31 99 101 _64 6 13, $j sb lotli 9 e ge 41 SO 18 6 19i 90 34 I 11V I ali i ii 84 pond. be 93 b 41 4 ti 1341 ti 6 3 $ 1 4 44 90 9 7$ 4 881 90 90 21 t at 4 Di 4j 71 4 11 I SI 190 2 711 I Oki 80 1 119 91 gizn9d 30 1 119 91 21 3 I 1 (21 5 34 I if 1 34i bi ,12i St Wel. ihave e 936 1121531 ISM $ ?II 4 lit 1181 90 101 04 Lie Si 681 Se 9 28 9i 23 6 30 1 119 it )1i i 1 3 1 4 2 t :I 77484 r. 14114 io 96 6 611 t lil Si S $4 Ile 41 SO p 4 12 $g 29 9 N' 64 29 30