The Sun. — London, England, 1852-05-13 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT ROUSE OF CO 'MONS, May 12. ,Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.) ABOLITION OF TUE PAPER DUTY. ADJOURNED DEBATE. On the order of the thy being read for resuming the asiourned debate on this subject, Lord DUNCAN presented three petitions from R-ehester and other places in favour of the repeal of the taxes on knowledge. Mr. COWAN said he had been engaged for about thirty years in the manufacture of paper, and for the het twenty years he had done all in his power to induce various Administrations to consider the propriety of re moving the restrictions imposed upon that manufacture. He found, however, that though on all occasions a very civil reception was given in Downing•street to the depu tations, no progress whatever was made towards the abolition of those restrictions. Of late years a very considerable reduction had been made in the number of exciseable articles, and paper was, he believed, the only article which could properly be termed a manufacture still subjected to an excise duty. A very large num ber of individuals was employed in the manufacture of paper, which seemed to have been specially selected as the subject of harassing and vexatious restrictions. Not only were manufacturers cf lever compelled to submit to a protracted survey, but it was required that every parcel of paper should bear upon it a label describing the weight, the name of the supervisor, the place of manufacture, and a variety of other de tails ; and this process of labelling consumed a great deal of valuable time. He complained also of the delay which teoli pisco before paper could be removed after the ietspectioa of the Exei.,e effiaer. Formerly paper was allowed to be removed in twenty-four hours after the time at which the Excise officer commenced his survey, but an order was issued some twenty years ago providing that twenty-four hours should elapse after the officer had completed his survey before paper was allowed to be removed from the place of manufacture. Ihe effect of this regulation was that a delay of two days took place before paper could be removed. He was bound to Bay, however, that within the last year the Board of Excise had considerably diminished the ' period of delay. To show the vexatious nature of the restrictions on the manufacture of paper, he might men tion that some five or six years ago a very extensive mill was established in Gloucestershire for the purpose of Manufacturing paper or pasteboard from straw. The proprietors accepted a contract to supply a large quan tity of pasteboard, but objections were made by the Board of Excise to their obtaining a supply of a finer description of paper necessary for the completion of their manufacture from other mills. [So we understood the Honourable Gentleman, who throughout the greater portion of his speech turned his back to the reporters' gallery.] A delay of eleven months took place be fore the difficulties raised by the Board of Excise were adjusted, and the consequence was that the proprietors of the mill were unable to fulfil their contract, and were subjected to a lose of some thousands of pounds. The tendency of the present law was to prevent all improve ment. Before the year 1836 every pacemaker was obliged to make up his manufactured goods in parcels containing certain quantities. He might mention, as an instance of the inconvenience of this regulation, that he was applied to some years ago to send a quantity of paper to South America, made up in a particular manner to suit that market, but three weeks elapsed be fore he could obtain permission from the Board of Ex cise to make up the parcels in that parcilar form, and then the permission was limited to the particular case. To show the effect of the existing restrictions he might mentina that straw had been very successfully applied to the manufacture of cards for loom-weavers. Now, for every pattern worked at the Jacquard loom he believed shout 100,000 cards were requisite, and the amount of duty upon that number of cards was nearly 23/. He I &,,ew there was an establishment at Paisley at w hi c h it was found necessary to keep 1,000,000 cards in stock, and the proprietors were obliged upon that number to pay a duty of about 2301. A very large qaantity of sewing thread was exported from this country to the United States, packed in small paper boxes, each containing a certain number of balls. The paper required for each box weighed 11 oz. There was an establishment in Glasgow which used weekly three tons of paper for the manufacture of theca boxes. Now upon that paper a duty of 14 guineas a ton was imposed, so that this one firm raid upwards of 40 guineas a week as duty upon paper alone. The duty also pressed with great hardship upon the manufacturers of hardware, cu lery, and other articles which were wrapped in paper for exportation; and he knew that some manufacturers paid as much as 300/. or 400/. a year merely in duty upon paper used for such purposes. The expense of collecting this excise duty upon paper was not less than 6 per cent.; he believed it to be much larger; and the labour of writing sad labelling each parcel of goods threw at least the same expense upon the manufacturer. The effect of these restrictions was to confine the trade within the narrowest possible limits, and to render it es. spatially a home trade. He held in his hand a book con taining some most valuable and interesting statistics on the subject of the manufacture of paper, which was printed so long ago as the year 1300, upon paper manu factured solely from straw; and, but for the crushing effect of the excise duty, that manufacture would by this time have extended probably throughout the whole country, because paper manufactured from straw might be applied to many most useful purposes. Straw could be brought generally at 2/. a ton, and he was told it could be obtained by the proprietors of the establish. went to which he had before referred in Gloucestershire at 30s. a ton. But, before a paper-maker could make an experiment in manufacturing straw into paper, he must pay a duty of 14 guineas a ton. The same was the case with regard to flex, which would also be most valuable is the manufacture of paper. The Right Hon. Member for Halifax (Sir C. Wood), when he occupied the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, ha I repealed the duty on bricks. He ( \lr. Cowan) might remind the House Oast a very interesting nation were once required to make bricks without straw; and he thought the bond age in which the paper manufacturers were placed by the existing law was of a somewhat similar character. He hoped the present Chancellor of the Exchequer would complete the work his predecessor had commenced, and that, as his predecessor had reduced the duty on bricks, be would reduce the duty on paper; and would thus abo lish a tax which was in effect a duty upon straw. He hoped the Chancellor of the Exchequer would take the, proposition of the Right Honourable Member for Man chester (Mr. M. Gibson) into his favourable considera tion. He (sir. Cowan) was very glad the debate on this subject had been adjourned, for ho certainly would not have wished to see any duties repealed this year, even although the surplus had been much larger than it really was, because he did not think there would have been time to do justice to the various claimants.—(Elear, hear.) The object of the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Gibson) was to convince the Elouie that those restric tions must be viewed both by the friends of native in dustry and by the supporters of free trade. as equally impolitic and mischievous. He found that when the Right Hon. Member for Manchester brought forward, two years ago, a motion similar to that now before the House, the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, re ferring to the existence of a surplus, expressed his opi nion in these words,—'` Could they, then, do better in the present state of the revenue, with the resourecs ` N ti , lllol they had at their command, than to assent to ai r ' e ar e St d prolrsition of the Right Han. Member for duty or ? That was a proposition to repeal the Di sra,, ,,, ( paper. The Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. .. "4i,idistinued— beneficial opinion it was a prudent, a politic, and a from assen ttion• Were they to be prevented, then, staaces, so beug toa resolution so justified by circum uineficial in its ch a ract e r an d it s re sults, by the ensan being con taetro he of fared u phantom of a revolutionary republic a eh P before them, or by the possible ca p Detphic sentenc e s Ministry dimly hinted at in surd that they w ere 'MTh% House might be safely as• kind." not near any misfortunes of the Ho hoped, therefore, that the Chancellor of the Exche querbeen told m ight give his v , hiabie au pport to this motion. lie (Mr. Cowan) had he Was do t i h n at in promoting the repeal of the paper duty if what was very prejudicial to his own interest, a e_c_a_usos g er:s the tax should be repealed, a great number of would enter into ght n b o u t t, t e .o v a e l n lo i w f that his the trade, and increase the competition; P o r u were the ease, he held that he private interest to sway him 11 , 04 own his duty to upon a subject of this was likely o conduce to the welfare kind, bat that it was lie would submi t t consider whether the proposed measure and advantage of the people at large. that a case had been made out. subject Mr. GLADSTONE said--I will not detain the House for many minutes, but there is tekepoartfieownroefmthareks. upon which lam anxious tom . As in ti say I west say 1 regards the duty upon paper - ' shall be heartily glad when the tim e ' comes that it can be repealed.—(Hear, hear.) No doubt it is very impru dent for Members of Parliament, when they are under a strong impression as to the disadvantages of a particu lar tax, to pledge themselves beforehand in favour of its repeal—(Hear) —we ought to have the whole case---the state of the revenue before U3—(Hear, hear)—and, for the present, I hops it is clearly understood and in tended by the House that we shall rally round the Chancellor of the Exchequer upon this occasion, and for this year, at any rate, steadily s e t our faces against any of these propo sa l s f or the remission of tax ation.— ( Hear, hear.) Bat it seems to me that there are such a number of interesting circumstances connected with the op ?ration of the paper duty, and with the consump tion of paper in the carious branches of the demand Ihr it, that this is a question which may usefully occupy the attention of the House at this moment.—(Hear, hear.) There is one branch of the paper manufacture, no doubt, of the utmost importance—where it is employed iu the packing of manufactured commodities; and, so far es that is concerned, the question comes before us simply in the same category with the legislative reforms relat ing to commerce which the House has latterly enter tained with so much favour. There is another branch which concerns the consumption of paper, in the pro duction of periodicals, whether newspapers or not; and this must he interesting and nu st isaportant also. B u t . t re is a t hi r d b runc h t o w hi c h I w i s h to draw atter,- LI ,, n. end to which I think less attention has been given — I moan th e consumption of paper is the printing of literary work , _("ear hear.) I hold it of the utmost importance that we shoul be always on cur guar d against th row peming it fort g aw" the public revenue, aeainst dis ntvelest d c3mhinations, and I trust th et, r toroffico, p, 0 p i ,,,,,,,,,,........._, oat moment, but at more l i trut*,"7 , SU -I 'may be in the power of the Chanstepoteof •th(; ht '63 - I the a 111 . 01)03040r the leflacti 3 O sapear seriously to entertain ~dr,Arh e moval of the paper titny, he will take PIK- hi k ,.. yti n connected with the :4- 4 " nmst _ . ,wv-A tt f e state of the trades _paper in that branch of its consuMpa4,o s . ~ ..h1 01; t4144x, —(Hear, hear)—and that, so far as :AMA s +Ph4Q, e6,t t., _., . . ', operations ratio n ' e of the Go vernment can ctiOg.ci, o44rasit 'deliberations of this °a public opinion, and \Louse can eurci#4liiiinigeir4 •‘. , .i...:,:....,;...-- upon the proceedings of trades through the medium of public opinion, care will be taken that the public revenue shall not be given away for the profit of teese particu ler parties.—(Hear, hear.) It is probably within the knowledge of many whom I am address ng that a most interesting, and, I think, a most i i pertant struggle, is now in progress in the book trade—(Hear, hear)—that, as I think most unfortunately, a large number of the booksellers of London and of the country —some say using the publishers of books as their in struments, others say led on and authorised by the pub lishers—are attempting by restrictions, as it seems to me, of a most imprudent and unwarrantable character, to prevent the price of hooka, which is so enormously high, from being mitigated even to the extent of a few shil lings per cent. by the enterprise and energy of those among the retail traders who are disposed to give the public the advantage of that enterprise and energy.— (Hear, hear.) I think it would be very unjust at the present moment to bear hard upon this body of publishers and booksellers, because, in a spirit which I think does them honour, they have consented to refer the question to the judgment of some distinguished persons—(Hear, hear)—and at this moment Lord Campbell, with Mr. Grote and the Doan of St. Paul's, is engaged in the consideration of this question; and they have, I believe, kindly undertaken to give their judgment upon it.— (Hear, hoar.) To that judgment, I believe, the London traders in books are prepared to submit.—(Hear, hear.) I must confess I cannot much doubt what it will be.— (Hear.) Tho House should be aware what is the exact nature of the question. The publishers of books are in the habit of supplying the retail traders at a fixed price, that price being usually (with the excep tion of the case of wholesale purchases) at a dis count of 25 per cent. upon the publishing price. The custom of the retail trade is, not to grant the public who purchase a greater discount than 10 per cent., leaving 15 for the retail trade. Some retail dealers say they can give a greater discount than 10 per cent.; but then this combination stops in and says, " You shall give no greater discount than 10 per cent. to the public, and if you do not come under an engagement to that effect, we, by combining among our selves, will exclude you from the trade in books;" that is, deprive you of the means of livelihood in the vocation to which you have devoted yourself. This restriction is in my view a great evil.—(Hear, hear.) I do not pre• tend to compare the price of new publications with that of articles of bodily subsistence in regard to the urgency of the questions they raise; but I do say, that it is a very great evil that the price of books should be raised above what may be called the natural and legitimate amount.—(Hear, hear.) And further, I venture to say that the state of the book market, except so far as it is partially mitigated by what are celled cheap publica tions, is a disgrace to the present state of civilization.— ' Hear, hear.) The controversy now going on with cer . tsin retail traders, who in my opinion deserve great credit for the energy with which they have struggled against the power they have endeavoured to cope with, is bat a part of a system.—(Hear.) I wish the House were aware of the fact; in regard to the pro duction and the sale of books in this country. The truth ,is, that monopoly and combination have been so long applied to the whole subject, that they really have gone near—l do not say to the extinction of the trade, — but to reducing it to its minimum. —(Hear.) We have a country that has by far the largest educated class in the world. (A Member—" There is America.") I was thinking of Europe, but, even taking America into ac count, we have a country in which the class that ought to be purchasers of new books is th e l arges t i n t h e world; I mean the educated class in that sense—the men in possession of each fortune as ought to make them the natural purchasers of new publications. That class in this country is counted by twenties, and by fifties, I might almost say by hundreds of thousands. But what is the fact with regard to the state of the book-market? It is, that with 'the exception of certain very highly esteemed and distinguished authors—with the exception of such cases as Mr. Macaulay's " History of England," what are called new publications, not only in a majority of cases, but in an enormous majority, scarcely ever pass a sale of 500 copies. An immense proportion of those that are published do not pay their expenses at all; and I believe the proportion of them passing the sale of 500 copies in this country, with its enormous means for the cheap production of books, and for supplying an extensive demand for them, is not more than something like 5 per cent.; or, at any rate, not more than 1 20th to 1-10th of the whole number produced.—(Hear, hear.) Now what is the consequence ? It is a matter within our personal experience. The purchase of new publications Is scarcely attempted by anybody individually.—(Hear, hoar.) You go into the houses of your friends, and un less in the case of books for which they have a profes sional want that must be satisfied, or unless they happen to be persons of extraordinary wealth, you do not find copies of new publications upon their tables, purchased for themselves; but you find something from the circu lating library, or something from the book club.—(Hear, hear.) But what are these book clubs and book societies, which are engaged, with such an enormous loss of time and waste of machinery, in the distribution of books throughout the country? They are the ingenious ex pedients which, under the pressure of necessity, men have adopted to mitigate the monstrous evils they experience from the enormously high price of hooks, and satisfy in some degree their own demand for that description of mental food —(Hear, hear.) Let the House observe too how, in cases of this kind, one system of combination generates and maintains another. It has been the practice of the book trade to combine (I do not use the term offensively) against the public; and what is the consequence? The printers combine against the book trade—(Bear, hear)—and very naturally.— (Hear.) Ask a publisher why the price of books is so high; he will tell you one reason is, "the printers have entered into a combination against us"—(flear)—and is it not perfectly natural, that if the journeymen printer sees the publishers and booksellers combine against the public, ho will say, "I will step in and get a share of the fruits?" and so it is. —(lear.) I hold in my hand a paper which has reached me, and other Members I suppose, signed by two persons on behalf of the London Society of Compositor;, and they say, " We draw your attention to Mr. T. M. Gibson's motion for the repeal of the taxes on knowledge; we believe that those taxes present unne cessary obstacles to the spread of useful knowledge among the public generally." But I should like to know whether it is not also the case, that the London compo sitors, who have so genial a sympathy with the Right Honourable Gentleman, and so anxious a desire for the spread of useful information, are and have been for some time in strict combination together, and that the terms and effect of the combinations are to raise the price of printing per sheet in London, and Oxford, and Cam bridge, and I believe some other places, at least 25 or 30 per cent. above the price at which it can be executed anywhere else.— (Hear, hear.) Now I hope, whenever the Chancellor of the Exchequer may be in a condition to propose to the House a remission of the paper duty, these matters will be well looked into—(Hear, hear)--- and that we shall take care that the public revenue is not given away for the purpose of facilitating or promot ing the extension of these combinations.—(Hear.) The Government, no doubt, can do a great deal for the relief of this immense evil; individuals cannot do it. If a particular person who has a work to publish chooses to say, " I will fix the price at one•half the ordinary amount," he merely makes a victim of himself, without acting in the least upon the state of the market or acting sensibly upon the demand for his own book, because the consequence of a bad system has been to generate a machinery adapted to it, and book clubs and societies are not sensibly affected by the price of a book being more or less—(Hear, hear)--and the 3 o era tion of the natural and h ea l t h y play of the demand principle that ought to regulate the p r i ce , and of the pl that a book ought to sell for what i t will tetchn in ei ci the r more nor less, is totally intercepted by t h e system which has been so long in action.—(Hear, hear.) The Govern ment has been endeavouring to do something for pr o _ muting the book trade in this country. For many years negotiations hare been going on with foreign countries for the prevention of piracy abroad. I had the satisfac tion when I was at the Board of Trade with my H on . Friend the Member for Glasgow (Mr. Macgregor) of conducting negotiations with Prussia, and handing them over to Lord Dalhousie, who was able to put his hand to the first treaty of international copyright. There has been a treaty since with France under the late Govern ment, and treaties have likewise been made with other parts of Germany. That is most important to the book trade of England, because, undoubtedly, the sale of piratical publications is very injurious, and, by nar rowing the market, tends to force the elevation of price in this country.—(Hear.) But as, by means of the in fluence of the State, we have opened foreign markets to the English book trade, we have some right to expect that efforts should be made by those who direct that trade to produce books upon reasonable and moderate terms with a view of supplying that demand.—(Hear, hear.) The case of the colonies is a most remarkable one. We attempted to vindicate the rights of English authors in the colonies; but, owing to the monstrous price of books published here, the grievance in the colo nies wa s f e l t to b e so oppressive, that I b el i eve i t was found necessary agai n t o re l ax t h e l aw, an d no t a ttempt to prevent the entrance of piratical P üblications —(ficar , h ear.) I believe there is hardly any article . on which hthigehpuablirc are called upon to p a y a price that bears so 1) ()portion to the actual cost of production as in the case of books.—(Hear hear.) But the actual cost of production itself is not a proper standard, because that cost ' books thanisoenormonsly nature enhanced, more perhaps on then "Y other commodity, by the restricted o f deman t d rad e and the narrowness of the that in this circle of —(Hear, hear.) I do conceive for the production country of we have the greatest facilities der the disadvanta es cheap books.--s Hear, hear.) Un is quite plain, fro gOB the efforts the paper duty imposes, it efforts which have been made by enterprising and successful publishers, th a t even now we can produce, quality considered t i ae , as cheaply as any a) I sin convinced, if the ( uld pe rm i t you to resign the finances count ry ont. theth e State world.—(H ear) . w --- o paper duty, ycu ought to be the cheapest producers of have the greatest advantages, books in the world.—(Hear.) But so s , us o p t r h o a d uce rs wh you you have the of the market and the demand tor books, scope other csuntry. nisterials for greater advantages than any ocks ought to be than in any oth r The state of facts ought to be this ;_b oo k s state (f facts chea p e r here and the sale larger. coun try whatever. On the. centre!. i 3, that so far as new publications are concerned, th demand for book s is narrower n od the price highsr then in any other coun tr y in the world . — (Eltar, h ear. ) I hope the (louse will forgive ma for drawi ng attention to this important and interesting subject.—([l, ar, hear.) I am happy to see that good sense and public feel ing have already acted so powerfully upon that intelligent and respectable body, the London publishers, as to induce them to refer this matter to arbitration (Hear, hear.) I trust when that combination breaks down, all other combinations affectin g the book trade will break down also.—(Hear, hear.) lam sure the judgment expressed hero will act materiall y u pon public opinion, and.ehrough that upon t he bock trade; an d I do trust, that before a great length o f time, the eireura- stances to which I have nivesteil, and which I say again 1 arc a scandal to the country, will diS3Dpear.—(Hear.) Sir W. CLAY did not w i s h t h e debate n to turn wholly upon the first of the three resolutions—that for the re peal of the paper duty; he thought the strength of the case, at least with reference to immediate legislative ec tion, Icy in the other two—for the repeal of the news paper stamp and the advertisement duty, and he would suggest that it would be well not to divide on the first resolution, the ddision upon which would not be a just indication of the feeling of the House, but would be influenced by reasons apart from the real merits of the case. There were, indeed, very strong reasons for taking off the duty on paper, but that might be said of many other, and especially of Excise of duties. When, too, the paper duty was classed in the resolu tions with the rest of the " taxes on knowledge," it must be recollected that a large proportion of the paper made was not used for the diffusion of knowledge, but in ma nufactures, or fitting manufactured articles for exporta tion. Then, again, the House should not express an opinion upon the paper duty, if (which he believed) the Government could not fairly be expected to proceed to act upon it in the present state of the revenue.— (Hear, hear.) The paper duty should be one of the first duties taken into consideration with a view to re duction; but it ought to be considered fairly with reference to other duties and upon a ge neral via,/ of finance. These reasons for doubt or hesitation did not exist with reference to the other two duties—on newspapers and on adver tisements; the resolution as to them might fairly be pressed, nor could ho see why they should not be repealed.— (Hear, hear.) If the newspaper duty were removed, a moderate postage duty would probably, in a very great degree, supply the loss to the revenue; and the extreme doubt as to the law with regard to the ques tion what was a newspaper?" would warrant the house in incurring a greater risk of loss. The repeal of the advertisement duty would extend the circulation of newspapers and the diffusion of knowledge among the people. One of the very ablest mea he ever knew said he only read the law reports and the advertisements, which he thought gave the most complete view of the times. No one could doubt the great ability manifest in the leading articles in the Times, or its admirable arrangements for the collection and prompt diffusion of news from all parts of the world ; but if you went into the shops and warehouses and counting houses of men of all shades of political opinion, and asked them why they took the Times, you would find them all concur in one reason. After paying a just compliment to its talent, they would tell you—Wnig, Tory, and Radical—that it was indispens able to them to take in a paper in which they found such a vast amount of information as was supplied in its ad vertisements.—(Neer, hear.) He would repeat that the repeal of the advertisement duty would increase the cir culation of newspapers and the spread of information; it had been said that he would be a very well informed man who should every day diligently read several of the daily papers.—(Hear, hear.) A friend of his, jest re turned from America, af:er a tour in some of its wildest portions, told him that in a log hut on the very borders of the prircmval forest he had found persons, in more than one instance, better informed with regard to the Great Exhibition, and the character of the articles ex hibited, and number of persons attending, than would in most provincial towns of England, or perhaps in many houses of the lower class in London. Mr. MO WATT believed that it took years, and con stant repetion, to .obtain from Parliament the removal of evils, however gross; and therefore ho was not sorry the debate had been adjourned. But it was for the Chancellor of the Exchequer or his colleague to explain the motives that induced him to suggest an adjustment, and to represent that, on the eve of the budget, it would not be advisable for tho House to express an opinion upon this subject. It was now clear that that sugges tion was not made with any bond fide intention of meet ing the grievances complained of.—(Hear, hear.) The matter before the House touched, perhaps, two of the most important questions of the age—the education and employment of the pe iple. We professed to be anxious for the education of the people, but we gave 250,000/. towards this object, and took from them 1,400,000/. Messrs. Chambers were obliged, mainly by the paper duty, to give up their Miscellany, when it was circulating 80,000 a week.—(Hear, hear.) The well-known pub hiller, Mr. Charles Knight in a work entitled Struggles of a Work against Excessive Taxation, showed that no less than 32,000/. was paid for paper-duty on account of the Penny Cyclopodia. In consequence, he obtained no return. The penny stamp made a larger amount of capital necessary for a journal than, would otherwise be required. With respect to the advertise ment-duty, what could be more cruel and unjust than to throw difficulties in the way of people who had to struggle for a livelihood announcing their wants, and so having recourse to one of the most available means of obtaining employment? Hon. Gentlemen opposite, who had been getting up protection associations, showed the inconsistency of their conduct in raising the cry that native products were not protected when they sanc tioned such a gross interference with native industry as the tax under discussion involved. France read this country a practical lesson in the employment it gave by the manufacture of articles of luxury from paper. he manufacture of paper itself was kept in a stationary condition, was yet in its in fancy, owing to these vexatious duties. France and America were outstripping this country daily in the paper trade; and America actually bought at the doors of our cotton manutactories the dross and refuse, which were conveyed across the Atlantic, made into paper, and sent to our colonies, where he had seen that Ame rican paper. It was said the revenue could not afford the reduction. So long as the particular impost under consideration could bo shown to press unfairly in a sense apart from its peculiar pressure, a case was made out for a reconsideration of the impost. The Government were bound, for the reasons stated, to remove the paper duty, even if a deficiency should arise. There never was telt any difficulty in making good a deficiency from any other cause. The true reason for refusing the pro po,ed reduction was, that the pressure from without had not sufficient influence; the class who had most in flums were not sufficiently represented in that House. What was it the Chancellor of the Exchequer took credit for in the budget? Was it not that he admitted in substance the great truth that, by continually re ducing import duties and Excise duties, succes sive Governments bad been able to give an impetus to the public prosperity? The Right Hon. Gentleman ought to have said, " That was the course adopted in spite of my denunciations, and I will follow the same policy." But the budget of the Right Hon. Gentleman was a stand-still and do-nothing budget. The Right Hon. Gentleman had interposed on this very topic, holding out inducements to the belief that ho would con sider the imposts which were the subject of discussion; experienced and crafty, he said he did not mean this one or the other in particular; but, if he did not mean the House to understand that ho had a bona fide intention of dealing with those imposts, why should he indulge in mysterious and vague enunciations? Mr. REYNOLDS, in stating his intention to support the motion, wished to caution the Right Hon. Member for Manchester against taking the advice of the Hon. Member far the Tower Hamlets, not to divide on the first propo sition—namely, the repeal of the paper duties. That was the most valuable; it would emancipate labour, add to the employment of the people, and prove the means of re lieving the pressure of distress. They could not well educate the hungry. Tho paper duty was a war tax introduced in 1711 by Sir Robert Walpole. As an Irish representative, he (Mr. Reynolds) complained of the continuance of that duty. From 1711 to 1798 there was no such tax in Ireland. In 1793 a tax was imposed on the machinery employed on the manufacture. Ireland having been politically married, by a sort of forcible ab duction, a charge of 3d. per lb. was imposed on paper of all qualities, which in 1837 was confined to wrapping paper, 4d. being then charged on the finer qualities. A commission appointed in 1834 to inquire into the policy ortpst the reported c ie o Enrh u g ont Irish c i hwo n hi wuset distillers,i that qhg n aue g ul eoeprnt t ao h h et cl questions owrcyneyh d msoo u ua t giihenhaset to remained. d putb He be leather, ie mpaskede oa ffl e glass, ch as;eacrt hdhaeatnnhodear Chancellor al upon a p pr paper, ofw coulditchonatni continuing o ibn u eg t hatfnouslweorf chargee a t7iol ptheer moonshine, cb eun b d y t: cut valorem on the conversion of rags into paper could be justified, when the Right Hon. Gentleman permitted the Manchester manufacturer of cotton to convert cotton into every imaginable kind of fabric without a duty at all, and the woollen manufacturers of Yorkshire to convert wool into all kinds of woollen manufactures also without a duty? If there was one part of the united kingdom which would reap more benefit than another from the repeal of the paper duty it was Ireland. Hon. Members might think, but abstain from saying, that Ireland abounded in the raw . material for rags; but on the contrary, rags were imported from Germany. The fibrous portion of the bogs would be found the best fabric for brown paper; the beat foolscap could be ma nufactured from straw ; the fibrous material of fl tx, worthless for other purposes, could also be converted into paper; but these materials could not be manufac turgid into paper because of the Excise duty. The col lection of the paper duty cost 12 per cent. in England and 20 per cent. in Ireland, on the amount collected. In 1850, 30,0001. were collected in the district of Dublin' at a cost of 6,0001., or 20 per cent. on the amount collected. In 1837 the Irish paper manufacturers manufactured 3,700,0001 b. weight of paper; the duty was altered that }ear, .and the result in 1849 w as th a t th e quant i t y h a d increased to 6,500,000ib. In 1837 the quantity of paper that paid duty in Great Britain was 77,000,0001 b. ; in 1849, 127,000,0001 b. The eman cipation of trade had increased the quantity manufactured. The Thames and Mersey had :been opened for the reception of food from all countries, and Ireland had received no equivalent benefit on the repeal of the corn-laws, at which repeal he rejoiced. But the ityofFilrlrs idle; eenchgra and he asked the House to inandofFrenchmillinghad set the h ri e or lri,h millers grant this small pittance of justice. He asked them to his mill, on which in s l e o t m t e ls e i Irish ta ne e fi s oi s i o r o m o i o l r ha a d " b l e y en expended, to the con version of the peat of the bogs into paper. He asked re lief for interests which were paral) zsd. The total paper duty paid in Ireland in 1840, was 23,1601.; in 1843, 30 995/ ; in 1846, 38,559/.; in 1849, 41,163/. In 1846 the paper manufacturers of Ireland were forty; hsw many were convicted of breaches of the excise-laws?— thirry-two. The effect of the law was not only to man eel° labour, but to hold out a premium to manufseturers with elastic c eisciences. Ho had presented petitions for a repeal of the paper-duty, signed, not by owners of mills, but by the men and women there c mployed. The total signatures amounted to 1,219. Although he was favourable to a repeal of the duty on paper and upon ad vertisements, yet he had great doubt of the necessity, and a greater doubt of the wisdom, of repealing the stamp-duty on newspapers. So long as they charged id. for the transmission of a letter through the Post-office, they ought to continue the stamp as a charge for the transmission of newspapers. Mr. J. L. RICARDO hoped his Right Hon. Friend would not withdraw any part of his motion, for he did not consider that the budget of the Chancellor of the Exchequer showed that the repeal of these taxes could not be afforded. The Right Hon. Gentleman heel most ingeniously, to serve his own parpo3ea, mode the cur plus appear as small as possible; but ho (Mr. ltiearde) was of opinion that the surplus would be quite sufficient to meet the deficiency that would be occasioned by the repeal of these duties. But he rose principally for the purpose of pointing out to the Government the necessity of affording some relief to the Attorney-General, for it was quite impossible for any law officer of the Crown to be in a greater strait than the Hon. and Learned Gen tleman was in respect to the stamp duties upon news papers. The papers were upon a sort of sliding scale. There was a stamp on the daily papers, and, as the weekly papers interfered with the daily, it was but fair that the weekly should be stamped; then came the fortnightly, which interfered with the weekly; they, therefore, were stamped; bat Government had recently found that there were monthly papers which interfered with all the rest, and it therefore was held to be only fair that the monthly should be stamped also, and they had accordingly dug out a clause from an old Act of Parlicment—the 60th George In, for the purpose of carryinc , out this now discovery. But that Act was not !Pissed with any re ference to revenue at all. It had nothing to do with the stamp duties. It was one of the famous Six Acts, and had no other object than the repression of the liberty of the press. The Attorney-General, however, had found that even that Act would not answer his purpose; the consequence was, that the threatened prosecution against the proprietors of these monthly public Itions were sus pended. He wished to ask the Attorney-General whe ther h: really meant to prosecute those parties or not? If he did, there was no reason why he should not prose cute the publishers of quarterly publications. Nay, if he insisted on having in sothly publications stamped, there was no reason why a stamp should not be imposed on the publication of the " History of England." He would repeat the question—did the Hon. and Learned Gentleman intend to prosecute these monthly publica tions, or not? The AT rORNEY-GENERAL—I do. Mr. J. L. RICARDO proceeded to address the House for some time under the impression that the Attorney- General had said that he did not intend to prosecute, but having been informed by Hon. Gentlemen around him of the mistake he had fallen into, he discontinued his remarks on that point and made the following state ment to the House;—A gentleman of the name of Clark commenced the publication of a paper at Wisbeach, and issued it without a stamp. The solicitor of the Stamp office wrote to and informed him that it he continued to publish it without a stamp he would be prosecuted. Alarmed at a prosecution in which, even if suceessfuLhe would have had to pay his own costs—for the Crown re ceived costs although it did not pay them—Mr. Clark had his paper stamped. Finding afterwards that a pub Hellion called the Stoke-upon-Trent Monthly Narrative of Current Events was advertised to be published with out a stamp, he communicated that fact to the Govern ment, and asked whether he was himself really obliged to publish with a stamp. The solicitor of the Stamp office immediately wrote to the proprietor of the pro posed publication, informing him that if ho issued his paper without a stamp he would be prose cuted. His (Mr. Ricardo's) constituent (Mr. George Turner) was not, however, so nervous as the gentleman of Wisbeach, and he wrote to Mr. Timm, the solicitor of Stamps, referring him to his (Mr. Turner's) solicitor. The solicitor of Mr. Turner wrote to Mr. Timm, saying that he wrs instructed to receive any process which might be issued against his client. Mr. Timm, in reply, stated that he had received no instructions upon the matter. Now, could, there (he would ask) be an act of greater tyranny and oppression than this? Here was a man who, having his capital invested in a publication, was threatened by the law officer of the Crown with a prosecution unless he discontinued that publication, and when that man alleged that ho had not disobeyed the law, and was prepared to prove it, the law officer refrained from prosecuting, leaving him and hundreds of others in the unpleasant alternative of withdrawing their capital or of having it invested in a business which it was illegal to carry on. He hoped the Hon. and Learned Gentleman would take notice of the statement which he (Mr. Ricardo) had now made. There was another question which he would put distinctly to the Hon. and Learned Gentle man, and it was this—Did he intend to prosecute the proprietors of the Art-Journal, the Musical Times, Tait's Magazine, the Evangelical Magazine, and several others of a similar character—all monthly journals, and published exactly under the same circumstances as the Household Narrative? Then there were the weekly journals, such as the Friend of the People, Kidd's Ex positor, the Literary Gazette, the Lancet, the Legal Ob server, and last, but not least, our friend Punch, who also was very fond of alluding to current events.— (Laughter.) He hoped the Hon. and Learned Gentle man would give him an explicit answer to this question, in order that all those who were interested in the publi cations he had named, and others, might know whether they were to undergo prosecutions from the Government or not. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL would endeavour to answer the question pat to him by the Hon. Gentleman, but he extremely regretted that he should have been so entirely misunderstood. In the first place, he did not think the Hon. Gentleman understood precisely what were the duties of the 14w officers of the Crown. When the Hon. Gentleman asked him whether ha purposed prosecuting the proprietors of certain newspaper publi cations, he appeared to suppose that the Attorney-Ge neral instituted proceedings whenever he found any paper unstamped, or considered that there were other grounds for prosecution; whereas the course pursued was :—lf the Stamp-office found that there was a publi cation issued without a stamp which they thought ought to be subjected to a duty, they instituted proceedings against the parties, and that, very frequently, without any communication with the law officers of the Crown, who would know nothing whatever of the proceedings until the briefs were placed in their hands for the purpose of conducting the prosecution before the court. Where any doubt existed as to the liability of parties, the opi nions of the law officers might be asked, but it rarely happened that their opinions were consulted before the matter was ripe for trial. With regard to the proceed ings in the case of the Household Narrative, in the first place ho had to observ e that those proceedings were instituted by his predecessor in (Aliso, and not by him; but in saying that he meant no reflection on his prede cessor, because he thought he should have done precisely what his Hon. and Learned Friend had done. If his opinion had been asked whether the question should be brought into a court of law, he should have been of opi nion that it was desirable to have the law on the question settled. Proceedings hating been instituted against the Household Narrative (which was co n sidered, pro bably, the representative of a class of publications), it was arranged that the facts necessary to raise the guns- General), of course k new not hi ng what tion of law should be turned i n t o a s p ec i a l case . H o (t s h ae of Attorney everterms which were arranged, but, i nasmuch a t h speciale case was fr ame d in .order to obtain the opinion of the court, it was impossible, whatever the might have been, to carry the judges were divided in opinion judgment m a tn e hy n e t fs u o u r f btih t e h ec r e t . The ; court might the majority were of opinion that the Household Narrative was not liable le) a stamp duty; but Mr. Baron Parke was of a different opinion. When he (the Attorney-General) came into office the opinions of his predecessors and of the present Mr. Justice Cromp ton were placed before him for his opinion as to what was proper to be clone under the circumstances, they being of opinion that the judgment of Mr. Baron Parke was one which was more satisfactory to their view of the case Now, h anthe if o h p e p ( o t s h opposite judgment of the majority of the court. Attorney-General) had not himself en tertained some doubt upon the subject, ho confessed ho t should have been considerably influenced by the opinion of his predecessors, and should have felt it his duty not to leave the law in so unsatisfactory a state as that of having the opinion of the law officers opposed to a judgment pronounced by a court'of law without the pos sibility of taking the opinion of a superior court upon it. In answer to a question put by the Right Hon. Gentle man the Member for Manchester, he (the Attorney-Ge neral) at an early period of his coming into office stated that it would be necessary to obtain, if we could, the opinion of a superior court upon the question; and that he did not wish the law to remain in so unsettled and un satisfactory a state. There had been a misunderstanding as to the coarse which it would be necessary to adopt. It was supposed that he would carry the case of Mr. Dickens to a court of appeal, whereas the nature of the proceedings rendered it impossible for him to do so. What he proposed to do was to institute another prosecution; and he distinctly stated that the Court of Exchequer would in that new case of course, and without argument, confirm the Judgment it had already pronounced, and then that that judgment would as speedily 53 pos sible be taken to a court of error, in order to have a final decision upon the subject. The Hon. Gentleman had put the question to him over and over again, as if he (the A ttoriaey-General) were afraid of answering it, as to what was the course he intended to pursue. He begged distinctly to say that the course which he had pointed out as the one which he should adopt had been already pursued; that another information had been filed; that that information would result in a special verdict, which was distinct from a special case, a special case terminating in the court where it was decided, while a special verdict admitted of an appeal. To show how extremely desirous they w ere to have the question fairly raised a n d di sposed of, there being same dispute as to the terms in which the ecial verdict should be draw n up, it h a d b een arranged between the junior counsel for the Crown and the counsel on the part of she defendants, that Mr. Baron Martin should settle the terms of the special verdict, he being one of the judges who decided in favour of the defendants. With respect to the case mentioned by the Hon. Member for Stoke upon-Trent, he (the Attorney-General) assured the Hon. Gentleman that he never heard one word about it until it was alluded to by the Hon. Member for Montrose. With regard to the question • o f costs, that he admitted was one of very great i mpor t anc e. The Hon. Gentle man was not perfectly correct in stating that the Crown received costs but never paid them. The Crown never received nor paid costs. But it was a subject which had not escaped his attention. He had been very anxious about it fur a considerable time, and was particularly desirous that in cases of this description the defendants should be protected in the matter of costs.—(llear, hear.) He was extremely desirous of introducing some measure which would give the deiendant costs where the verdict should be in his favour. With regard to the whole mat ter, he would conclude by saying that ho had in this case followed the course of his predecessors. He did not wish to shrink from any responsibility e hich attached to him. He had done that which he was sure his prede cessors, if they had been his successors, would have done, and had adopted the course which ho considered the best, with a view to obtain a satisfactory decision on the law bearing on this important question. Mr. MACGREGOR considered the paper duty to bo one of the very first cases to which the Chancellor of the Exchequer should turn his attention, with R view to its repeal. We wera the only people in the world who im posed a urea pper. Mr. HUME wiAled to remind the House that the questioa was not that they .;liould immediately repeal the paper duty, but that financial arrangements ought to he made which would enable Parliament hereafter to dispense with that duty. The next proposition was, that the newspaper duty ought to be abolished. The Chan- . cellor of the Exchequer had shown a balance in hand of 460,0001. What he (Mr. Hume) proposed to do with that balance was to repeal the advertisement duty, not the duty on paper, nor even the stamp duty on news papers, because he would transfer that latter duty by making it a postage charge. How did the Chancellor of the Exchequer, however, propose to appropriate the surplus? Why, by p a yi ng a b oun ty t o 80,000 militia men. That was an appropriation of which ho (Mr. Hume) did not approve. There were about 60 papers now published with or without stamps—that is, they were stumped ii intended for the country. They were not stamped if intended fur local circulation. Ho was pre pared to show that the increased amount derivable from the revenue if a stamp were put on all papers going by post would enable the duty to be reduced without any great loss to the revenue.—(Divide, divide!) They had but 2,000,000 of advertisements in our papers, as opposed to 10,000,000 or 12,000,000 advertisements iu the United States; but he was satisfied if there was an alteration in the duties the advertisements in our papers would be trebled or quadrupled. Considering newspapers as the best possible instructors., he would be sorry to see any restriction placed on their circulation. In the United States every log cabia had its paper full of various mat tars of news or instruction, and sold for one cent each. In the United States tht ro were 16} newspapers pub lish( d to every man, woman, and child; in England there was only one paper for every 12. If the Chancellor of the Exchequer would only risk 600,0001., he would find that in the end the revenue would not lose. He could toll them there were at this moment persons ready to embark 20,000/. in a daily newspaper to be circulated throughout the whole country, to pay the same rate as the best papers, and to have the same amount of talent to furnish political, historical, and general information for every class. The Right lion. Gentleman (Mr. Dis raeli) having had so much to do with literary matters, the country expected ho would be the first to patronize the spread of literature, and be (Mr. Hume) was satis fied, if he, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, agreed to the change, he would lose nothing by it.—(Cries for a division ) Mr. KER SEY MER objected to the paper.duties, in the first place, as being Excise duties, and in the second place, as interfering with the circulation of cheap publi cations; but considering that it had been agreed among the Honourable Gentlemen opposite that the whole question of taxation should be left to the conside ration of a new Parliament, ho should now oppose the present motion. Mr. WAKLEY taunted the Honourable Gentleman for having voted in favour of this proposition when Lord John Rueselt's Government was in power, and voting against it when his own friends sat upon the Treasury benches. The motion did not pledge the House to any immediate arrangement; it was simply an affirmative proposition. Out of doors great anxiety was expressed upon this subject. It was anticipated that a literary man holding so high a position as the Right Honourable Gentleman would have looked at this question with an earnest desire to remove every obstacle trom the educa tion of the people. Th© House and the country were left completely in the dark as to the intentions of the Government. Ile thought that the conduct of those in authority was extremely reprehensible in renewing the prosecution against the Household Narrative. Instead of expressing their gratitude to the man who amused and instructed the people of this country, he was se lected by the Government for punishment.—(Hear.) Instead of giving hm the benefit of the doubt, he was now to be driven into a court of error. There was no doubt upon the minds of the jury, there was no doubt upon the minds of the judges. And who was this man selected for persecution, he could not call it prosecution —Charles Dickens.—(Elear, hear.) He thought that the author of " Viviaa Grey" ought to blush at such a proceeding.—(hear.) The solicitor for the Stamp-office stated in his letter that the Queen's Speech was news, but that the Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech was not news; and also that a price current was not liable to penalty for being published without a stamp. Such were the absurdities of the present system. Mr. KNIGHT admitted that booksellers and paper manufacturers would be entitled to the abolition of the duty if the duty on the importation of foreign books and paper were repealed, and if they were placed in the same position as that of the farmers in regard to the importa tion of corn. Farmers were subject to free trade and had great burdens to bear, but the particular inte rests aff , cted by this question were not so, and yet it was proposed to relieve them from taxation. Mr. MILNER GIBSON said, in conformity with the wish of an Hon. Member, he would add these words to the original motion—" That such financial arrangement ought to be made as would enable Parliament to dispense with the duty on paper, as early as may be with refer ence to the safety of the revenue." The second division would be taken upon this question—that the newspaper stamp ought to be abolished, because there was an ade quate surplus. The third division would be taken on the abolition of the advertisement tax, which amounted to 160,0001. To meet the deficiency occasioned by such a loss, there was also mere than an adequate surplus. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER might perhaps be permitted to say a single word in answer to the Hon. Member for Finsbury, who had represented to the House that he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) had stated that these particular taxes were under the consideration of Government. What he stated was that they were being considered as parts of the general system of taxation; he guarded himself from saying they were being specifically considered.— (Hear, hear.) As he was on his legs, he might remark upon the charge made against him, that he had made a diversion from the decision of the House by stating that he would give his opinion on the subject when the budget was produced. The same charge was made by the Honourable Member for Dublin with respect to the spirit duties. The Honourable Member seemed also under the impression that he (the Chancellor of the Ex chequer) had engaged to give a specific answer on that question when he made the financial statement. What he wanted to convey to the House, and what he believed he did convey to a majority of the House, was that he could not state in detail the views of Government upon any particular tax until the financial statement was made—meaning that Honourable Gentlemen would re ceive an answer with the financial statement, because it would prove that, instead of a large surplus, which existed only in the imagination of those gentlemen who were urging the repeal of ,different items of taxation, there was a mere nominal surplus. With regard to the margin, for he could scarcely call it a surplus, in the statement he had made to the House, he thought the statement of the Ministers of the Crown ought to be received with some consideration. —([Tear, hear.) Any gentleman might get up and say, " The Chancellor of the Exchequer tells us there will only be a surplus of 300,0001. or 400,0001, but I can prove the surplus will be double or treble that amount." But he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) said the statement ho had made us the person responsible for the financial condition of the country ought to be received as a statement which had been maturely weighed.— (Cheers.) He might ask, in vindication of that state ment, how it was received by the person who would have been most apt to criticise, and who possessed the most knowledge on the subject—his predecessor in office? ([Tear.) The Hon. Member for Halifax had said the only fault in that statement was, that it placed the sur plus at much too high a figure.—(He ar , h ear.) That was the criticism of the late Chancellar of the Exchequer, and ho warned the House not to come to any preciptate conclusion in the manner proposed, under the impres sion that it pledged the House to nothing. It did pledge the House in a most important respect, and might exercise a most inconvenient effect upon the state of the finances of the country.—(Hear.) Three divisions then took place:— The first, upon the resolution as amended, with regard to the paper duty— Ay es ,„ ..• ••• ••• 107 Noes ..„ 195 Majority against the resolution ... ---83 The second, upon the resolution with regard to the stamp duty— Ayes ... ,„ „, •• ... 100 Noes ... ••• ... 199 Majority against the resolution --99 The third, upon the resolution with regard to the advertisement duty— Ayes ... „, ••• •• ... 116 Noes ... ,„ • ••• ... 181 Majority against tho resolution ... --65 TRUSTEES' ACT EXTENSION BILL. This Bill was read a second time. COUNTY COURTS FURTHER EXTENSION BILL. The House then wont into Committee on this Bill. Claus from 1 to 24 were agreed to. The House then resumed. Sir W. CLAY mentioned that he had voted in the wrong lobby on the second division, ho having intended to support Mr. Milner Gibson. It being Six o'clock the House adjourned. LONDON HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL. The annual distribution of prizes took place on Tuesday, William Cotton, E,q., D.C.L , vice-president of the hos pital, in the chair, in the presence of a large body of th e governors and friends of the hospital and school. The hospital gold medals were awarded by the governors to the following pupils, for zeal and intelligence in their at tendance on the patients in the wards:— Medical—Frederick Hall, Lincoln. Surgic 41—Alfred Adams Mantel!, Baton. Medicine—Senior class, gold m»dal: F. Hall; hono rary certificate: Hurry May, The Potteries. Junior elass, silver medal: Robert Walker Jenkins, London; honorary certificate: Joseph Porter, Rotherhithe. Surgery—Senior class, gold medal: R. W. Jenkins; honorory certificate: F. Hal. Junior class, tilver medal: Samuel Pratt Woodfnil , Footscray. Anatomy and Physiology—Senior class, gold medal : Horace Kersey Debenham ; honorary certificate : John Charles Robertson, Purbrook. Junior class, silv: r modal : James Hedger Edmund: , Burnham. Midwifery—G o ld medal : Ro b ert Brudenell Carte, Leytonstone ; hono rary certificate : J. C. Robertson. Chemistry—Silver medal : Alfred Nips, Dalaton ; honorary certificate : Alexander Robart Kilroy, Ply mouth. M:teria Modica —Silver medal, R. W. Jenkins; hono rary certific a t e , 11 . K . Debenham. Forensic Medicine—Silver mrdsl, R. W. Jenkins; honourary cer tifi cate, William Henry Carter, B i llericay. Botany —Silver medal, R. W. Jenkins; honorary e b certificate, H. K, Debenham. At the conclusion of the distribution, the c l asses were a bly addressed 3' Cotton. PRICES OF SHARES IN BANKS, ASSURANCE, AND OTHER COM- PANIES' STOCK. From the Official List. ÜBLISUED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY EVENING LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 11. SOINT-STOCE MIANMS. Name of Company. Australasia .• •• • • • • •• Britsh North American Commercial of London Colonial.. .... Gloncesterahire ...... lonian •• •. • • .... London and County Londn and Westrninstr Londoa Joint-Stock... Provincial of Ireland.. Ditto, New......... National of Ireland .. Nat„Provncial of Eng. New. .. Orlontal Bank Corpora. South Australia Union of Australia—. Dividend per Annum. 51. per cent. 51. per cent. 6/. per cent. 2/. per cent. 15 /per cent. 6/. pr cent. 61. per cent. 6/. per cent. 61. per cent. 81. per cent. 81. per cent. 41. per cent. 61. per cent.' 61. per cent. I 21. p ct, SG bs, '6/ p. ct. & be. 6/. per cent. 61. per cent. 71. per cont. Ditto Union of L0nd0n..... Union of Madrid ..... AMOUEI t of Share. s. d. 40 0 0 50 0 0 100 9 0 100 0 0 95 0 0 50 0 0 100 0 0 50 0 0 100 0 0 10 0 0 50 0 0 100 0 0 20 0 0 25 0 0 2 5 0 0 25 0 0 Paid. 150 0 0 40 0 0 X s. d. 40 0 0 50 0 0 20 0 0 25 0 0 25 0 0 20 0 0 20 0 0 10 0 0 25 0 0 10 0 0 22 10 0 35 0 0 10 0 0 25 0 0 25 0 0 25 0 0 2 10 0 10 0 0 40 0 0 Price. INSURANCE CorarAigraza. Dividend Amount Name of Company. per of Paid. Price Annum. Share. ------- - - X 5. d. £ 5. d. Aibm n .............. al. 101. 500 0 0 50 0 0 86 Alliance Brit. and For. 71.118.6d.b5. 100 0 0 11 0 0 22% Ditto Marine. ••• • • • 6/. p.c. & bs. 100 0 0 25 0 0 41% Atlas .. . Argus Life .... .. .. 41. per cent. 100 0 0 16 0 0 British Commercial .. 7s. 6d. 50 0 0 5 0 0 C% Cloriel,Med.lie Gen. Life spr ct.& be. 100 0 0 10 0 0 1954 County .............. 41. 100 0 0 10 0 0 100 145. 50 0 0 5 0 0 16% Eagle .. . Eqity and Law -.• •• 434 per cent. 100 0 0 50 0 5% European Life • • •.• 105. 20 0 0 All paid. 12 General ............ - 5 0 0 1 PI 534 Globe ••••••• • • •• • • - 61. per cent. Stock. " 141 Guardian --.••• • • • • 51. per cont 100 0 0 45 0 0 56 Imperial Fire ..•• • • • • 121. per cent. 500 0 0 150 0 0 256 Imperial Life .• •• - - 125. 100 0 0 10 0 0 19% Indemnity Marine •• •• 11. eh. & bs. 100 0 0, 20 0 0 50 Law Fire •--.• •• •• 25.& 25. bs. 100 00 I 210 0 3% Law Life.. -- - .... - 100 0 0 110 0 0 46% Legal and General Life - 50 0 0 20 0 5% London Fire ...• -•• 105 & be. 25 0 0 12 10 0 - London Ship .....• • • 105. & bs. 25 0 0 12 10 0 - Marine - ..... ...... 155. per share 100 0 0 15 0 0 15 1 4 Med. Invlid&Gen.Life 4341. per ct. 50 0 0 20 0 2% Monarch ............ - 5 0 0 1 0 0 19s. t'd National Lean Fund•• Si. per cent. 20 0 0 210 0 234 Palladium Life" ...... 51. per cent. 50 0 0 20 0 234 Pacenix . - - - Professional Life ". 5/. per cent. 6 5 0 010 0 155.0 d Provident Life- -•• • • 11. 58. &bs . 100 0 0 10 0 0 40 Rock Life .. ...... .... 58. 60 0 010 0 7 % Loyal Exchange 6l. p.ct. & be. Stock. all 225 R, Sun Fire....... •• - /9 213 Ditto Life..... 11. 6s. - 55 United Kingdom •••• 41. p. ct.&bs. 20 0 0 40 0 4% Universal Life....... 10% ct.&bs. 100 0 0I 10 0 0 3934 Viotoria Life.. - ... 51. per cnt. - 1 412 6 53{ BRIDGES Dividend Amount Name of Company. per of Paid. Price. Annum. Share. -------- _ - - X. e. d. X. e. J. Hungerford• . •• • • - •• - - - - Bouthwrk .. . .... - 100 0 0 - - Ditto Nw of 73 9 p. c. 70s. per cent. 50 0 0 - 16 3 Waterloo ........ _ .. - - 100 0 0 Ditto Old Ann. ofBl . 21. 85. Od. - 60 0 0 24 14 Ditto Nw ditto 0f,71. 2/. 2s. Od. - 40 0 0 22 Vauxhall .... •• • Av. 21. 70 10 5 - - W B TER-I;7OE2ES. 1 Dividend Amount Name of Company. 1 per of Paid. Price. ' Annum. Share. -- - £ e. d. X e. d. East London. • • ••• •• .• 8/. per cnt. 100 0 0 - 156 Grand Junction •• -•• 41. per cnt. 50 0 0 - 6534 4/. per cut. 100 0 0 - 80 Lambeth .......• •• - 51. per cnt. 100 0 0 - 97 New Inver Company.. 2/. 105. - - 60 Southwark & Vauxhall 51. per cnt. 100 0 0 - - West Middlesex ...• •• '61.05. pr cnt. - - - DOCKS. Name of Company. Dividend Amount per of Paid. Price. Annum. Share. Commercial •••• .. •• . £ s. d. £ B. d. . 4/. pr cent. Stock. - 903.; East and West India-. 614/. pr cent Stock. - 15734 East Country - ••• •• . 205. per ale. 100 0 0 - - London .•• • . ..• •• • • 5/. pr cent. Stock. - - Ditto Bonds ••••• • -4/. per cent. - - - it. Katharine •• .• •• - 334 per cont. Stock. - 8334 Ditto Bonds.. -.. .• 4341. pr cent. - - - Southampton ...• - -1/. per cent. 50 0 0 50 0 0 26% -------- C.A.N.11.Z.8. .; i ‘.; Dividend Names of 0 Dividend Names of LI per ,-. Companies. 0 per Prise. Companies. A A nnum. Price, Al lc Annum. NO X Ashtn& Oldh 9 8 171 . p. ct. 140 Maccles fi eld. 100, 7 21.108. 50 Barnsley ...• 1601 Neat • • • • • • 100 161. arknk&Abrg 150' 51. as Oxford• • • • • • 100 13/. 135 Birmingham 40 1 41. 100% , Peak Forest. 78 31. 18s. 70 Coventry..•• 100 251. 200 Regent's • ... 33 11. 3s. 16 Derby • • • •• 100 i 6 1. 63 Rochdale.... 85 21. 42 EllsmresChs 69 2% p. ct. 33% Semrset Coal 150 i GrandJunctn 100 3/. pr. ct. 48% Do.LkFdSt Do., G pr. Ct. 10 GL pr. ct. i 1 % Stffrel &Wore 1 4 0 281. 405 Grand Surrey 100 21. Os. 3214 Shrewsbury.. 125 ~ .irand Union 100 , 11. 10s. 24 Stoarbrldgo.. 145 201. 290 Kennt & Avu 39 4s. Od. 5% Severn andl Lancaster . 100 Wye Rail. i 26 21.0 x. 24 Leeds&Livrp 100, 201. 455 Warwick& Leicester.... 1001 51. 66 lairming. J 100 41. 40 Leicstr&Nth 83, 41. 44% Warwick& Loughboroghl42 701. 510 Napton.. ) 1 0 0 31. 98 Nfonmouthsh,lloo Worcstr & 1 Nintgemrysta 100 j Birming. j 78 W. 33 3,leltnMwbry 100 Wilts $ Brks 118. 6d. 71,1 THE IRON TRADE. BIRMINGHAM, MONDAY.—The general aspect of the iron trade remains unchanged. A slight improvement in . the price of rails has been obtained, both in bLaf tordshire and other districts, to the extent of 5.5. per ton, with a considerably increasing demand; and we hear that several fresh contrac:s are now iu the marker, in con sequence of the makers holding. out for 19s. advance. But sheets, nail roads, rounds, and use iron meet with a rather more limited sale at home and without a shade of ter!' dency to better figures. In the pig trade very little la doing, and that without alteration. Both manufactured and pig iron still exhibit th e same ex t re me latitude of variation in prices, and consequently, it may reasonablY be supposed, in quality also; the former Extending froul 41. 15e. net to 6/. for bars, and other descriptions afte r the same proportion; and the latter from 423. 6d. to 70.. per ton. Notwithstanding the grievous complaints of the want of remuneration in that brsuch of the trade, We hea r that instead of a reduction of the number of furnaces ready in blast, more are about to he set to work. Tb e two at the late unfortunate Usk Farm Works arc melt' tioned as far progressed in the requisite preparati olrs Daily experience more thoroughly con fi rms the opisioa that nothing is to be expected or feared at Birmingham from the intro iuction of the Northamptonshire story' Whether as to cost, per centage of iron, or the poeulm f properties it contains detrimental to th e f u rnace, it soros alike undesirable. Indeed, it is generally supposed that the parties most interested in it will be found to have considerably burnt their fingers.—Aris's Birmisykani Gazette. PREPARATIONS FOR A IVEW PLAGUE. The pestilence has again broken out in the East pre:, cisely us it has done on previ ous occasions. It is fu" time, therefore, that the met?, politan public were ur and stirring. The gas of their graveyards, their sees; pools, their sewers, is doing its work in preparation in the scene of horrors. Every year it is intensifyiug more and mor e , as every year its fruits are multiplying; The general mortality of the metropolis of late Ye 3r has immensely increased, and we are fast retrogradivi to the state of things before the time of the grey plague, when th e population of the metropolis w°uid have actually beco me ext i nct i n a brief series o f yea , : had it not been for constant replenishment from t h e Pry vinces. Nay, the ti me h as already come, according .: statisticians, for " London, if not refreshed from 0 1 country, would be a d esert i n fi fty years. " Did we 13°. say with truth, some time ago, that if ever Macaulay civiliz d New Zealander stood on the ruins of Lond° ll ; bridge and beheld no ug ht b ut a so li tary, uninha bited waste—the poisonous filth from graveyards, cesspoo ls, and stagnant sewers, with w hi c h th e metropo li tan si te saturated, must alone have done it all? The deaths c :„ the London born alr e ady excee d th e i r bi rt h s . They blood is poisoned. Thei r s t am i na i s s i n ki ng. Th e y 91 ' e 0 even dwarfed in stature and di mens i ons . A n d not the healthier blood infused into London from the count/ can prevent its rapid decay unless the site be cleared ei those abominations which breed disease and death a n new abominations even in the mid s t of d ea th to intenslu the hideous fermentation of mortality.—Builder. THE COUNTR,Y MARKETS- , LIVERPOOL, MAY 11.—Large arrival s o f w h ea t and g° from America, and influe nce d b y dull accounts from cle rk ' lane, the trade opened flat, an d th e value of both these art icle, rather lower. Spring corn, owing to continued dry wea ti l l fully as dear. Indian corn in limited demand, at 6d to per qr. Iri ae LEEDS, MAY 11.—A go o d s h ow o f w h eat to-day. fa still depressed and de c li ne d, b u t fi ne sorts are w i t hd ra wn fr° a market rather than submit to the reduction demanded , 31 1, little business done. Barley steady. Oats and beans fullf dear. Other articles as be:ore. NEWCASTLE CORN M ARKET , M AY 11.—Th e arra-- of ce , wheat were small and sa l es f ree , a t a b out l ast Tuesday's Prl,, In foreign business li m it e d. G r i n di ng b ar l ey scarce ; IPe" very scarce ; oat s were s l ow o f sa l e , b ut pr i ces t h e sam e ; bea o in moderate demand, and prices unchanged. ; bto NEWCASTLE CATTLE M ARKET , M AY 11.-Nine c ' dred and thirty-f our h ea d o f catt l e of superior qual i ty ; was tolerably active a t f ormer rates, and all sold. Numb ers , sheep, 3,800; b us i ness b r i s k , at a slight advance in P r is ic ;,l Beef, 3s 8d to 5s 8d p er stone; mutton, 4d to 6d; lamb'' to 8d per lb. EDINBURGH MEAL MARKET, MAY 11.—There the meal market to-day 7 sacks oatmeal, each weig" 2801bs. imperial, whereof 6 sold at I/ 10s Od. and 4 at 11 lOs Od ; average price of the whole 11 101 4 a 0-12ths. 1 sack pot-barley, which sold at 29s Cd. EDINBURGH HAT AND STRAW MARKET, MAY •'. . Oat straw, from 7s Od to 8s 6d per kemple of 16 stones tl i : wheat ditto, Cs Od to 7s 6d ; barley ditto, Cs Od to 71 Hay, from 9d to lid per stone. AND COKE COMPILNI. Dividend Amount Name of Company. per of of Paid. Price. Annum. 1 Share. ------- --------, - British .. - •X. s .1. .e. 8 • 11 • d. Ditto Provincial.. •• 11. ,40 0 0 18 0 0 10% . . 81. 1 / '2O 0 0 20 0 0 18 Brighton ..........., 16' 2 City of London ....., 61. 100 0 0 150 0 0 125 Continental Consolidat. 50s. 75 0 0 31 5 0 45% Equitable.• ••• • .. ..., 50s, 50 0 0 50 0 0 27 Great Central,...... , 5l 0 0 0 10 0 0 13 Imperial ...... •••• • • 3/. 8; bonus. 50 0 0 50 0 0 70 Independent 6 l. 40 0040 0 0 46 London•... „ - Do., Pail. Prefer ence 50 0 0 50 0 0 -_ 6l. 25 0 0 710 0 - Phoenix ••••••••• •• •• 31/, per cent. 50 0 0 49 0 0 263% Ratcliff .... , United General 5l. 100 0 0 90 0 0 - 11. 50 0 0 50 0 0 2034 Westgainster Chat Si. per cent, 50 0 0 - % Ditto, New .• 7% SaST OP SOOTTISE COMPANIES' PRICES Name of Company. Dividend Amountper of Paid. Price. Annum. Share. - --- -- - £ e. d. £ s. d Bank of Scotland British Linen Company 8/. per cent. 100 0 0 100 0 0 202 Caledonian Bank City ofGlasgow Bank 61. per cent. 10 0 0 10 0 0 10% Clydesdale Bank -- •• 634 per cent. 20 0 0 10 0 0 12/ 3s Commercial Bank - - 71. per cent. 500 0 0 100 0 0 1803( Eastern Bank.. -•• • • 61. per cont. 25 0 0 10 0 0 10 Edinb.&Glasgow Bank 31. p er cen t . 50 0 5 0 0 3% EgehanTeßnk of Scot.. - 100 0038 0 0 1 4% National Bank 434 per cent. '5O 0 0 10 0 0 15% Northof Scotlandßank 5/.percent. 20 0 0 210 0 21% Royalßank of Scotland 51. per cent. 100 0 0 100 0 0 132% (Tnionßank of Scotland 81. per cent. 100 0 0 50 0 0 8934 Western Bank --. • •• 71. per cent. 50 0 0 50 0 0 698% Alliance Fire and Life 834/.pr cent. 10 0 0 10 0 0 21% British Guarantee Caledonian Fire Insur lol.per cent. 100 0 0 10 0 0 25 City of Glasgow Life- 61. per cent. 25 0 0 2 0 0 41. 6s Colonial Life Edinburgh Life Incur 6l. per cent. 100 0 0 15 0 0 22 Eng. & Scot, Law Life 51. per cent. 50 0 0 217 6 3% Life Assoc. of Scotland 61. per cent. 10 0 0 110 0 31. 15s National Fire and Life 5/. per cent. 10 0 0 1 0 0 '2Bs. 6d North British Insur..• 61. per cent. 208 0 0 20 0 0 1 32 ScottishUnionlnsriace. 7341. pr cent. 20 0 0 1 0 0 306.3 d Standard Life ...... - 51. per cent. 50 0 0 7 0 0 ! 12% United Dep.Assurance 51. per cent. 10 0 0 1 0 0 20s Od MISCELLANZOTIS. Dividend Amount Name of Company. per of Paid. Price. Annum. Share. ---- X. s. d. X. e. d. Assam Tea .......... - 20 0 0 20 0 0 934 - kuctien Mart •••• • • • • 2/. 58. 50 0 0 26 Australian Agriculturl 11. 100 0035 0 0 1634 Australian Trust •• .. 6/. per cent. - 85 0 0 21 Anglo-Mexican Mint.. 11. 101. 10 0 0 10 0 0 23% Ditto, Half Shares.. - - 2 10 0 British American Land - - - 38 10 0 - Canada ............. 61. percent. 100 0 0 32 10 0 to Do. 5 per cent Bonds _ - 113 1 4 II City Navigation Bonds 3} per cent. ._, _ Ditto, 6pr ct. Bonds 61. pe - r:cent. --- 1 9 334 Gen. & Invest. 5 p.c.& bs, 21 100 0 0 100 0 Equitable Reversienry 5/ pr. cent. 100 0 0 100 0 0 0 • 119 Ditto Wow ........ - 50 00! 7 10 - Gen.SteamNavigation 10 p.ct. 15 00 1 14 0 0 29 Hudson's 8ay........ ...... Stock. ' - Hungerford ...... .. „ 2/. ss. 206 - 100! 0 0 47 London Institution ... _ New Zealand Company 25 0 0 1 25 15 5 0 0 - Ditto, New - 25 0012 10 0 - it a 82011 Institution.... Peninslrk Orient.Stm. 81.p. - c.Pc bs. 50 - 0 0! 50 0 0 a - 2 Reversionary Mailion arsyterannlt..S.o.c. .p. share. . 4 4 1 1 .prc ar en e t : 1 1 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 160 0 0 7 100 0 0 10 6 4 % South leman'a Australian Land.. "... 1 , 51.perallare. 25 0 0 1 ' 25 0 0 243 y VanD - 10 0 29 Q 0 • - I ADULT r ORPHAN ASYLUM.—On Tuesday a special thgeneralyait meeting of the f r i en d s and su b scr i bers to this useful was held i n t h e b oard- Regent,s. park, for the purpose of om of electing into the H ouse, and upon other business board-room threeth e candidates • the Earl Manvers in the ch a i r. R ear-Admiral Bowles stated that since the last election at Ch r i stmas, when four candidates were elected, one of those then successful had, through serious illness, been unable to enter the institution, and as there was now no prospect of her being able to pursue the studies necessary if she did so enter, he would move that her election be declared void. The resolution having been seconded, was carried nenz. con., and thereby a fourth vacancy was created. The number of inmates, including the four elected yesterday, is now forty. The total income of the society for the past year, exclusive of a balance in hand of 890/. 13s. Id., was 2,841/. 4s. 81 • and after all the necessary expenses had been defrayed, the balance in the hands of the treasurer was reduced to :381. 14s. 3d. Some routine business having been transacted, the meeting separated. [ADVERTISEMENT.] Holloway's Ointment and Pills the most effectual Remedies ever kne.wmnyfnoortieGeouwtha.nhd Ilheumatism.—Extract of a letter from Merri.hla'thoomf aasp:yrbmoiracnn druggist, Eton, dated April 26, 1-•52.—" To Professor Hol: I low th a i y n . k s S h i o r n ,— ld A ne cas p e n h bl a i s ely la k te n ly ew c n o . me lutn is who suiliered so dreadfully from chronic rheumatism th a t h e in a eenndduerreddiffinerceerisstamntedinl pain,a atrnedatlomsetntht,eantidseatofwoHensetmter side. s He w aowdev Pillser th h i e s was has Hospi tal the faculty pronounced him incurabl e not the case, for by the use of your o ,, intm . ent n b een restored to health and strength. .-Sold by a ll D rugg i sts, London. Professor Hollow ay ' s Establishme n t, 2 44, Strand, and at IMPORTATION OF CORN FROM IRELAND. --Accord ing to a return just issued, there were imported of all sorts of grain into Great Britain, from Ireland, 3,206,484 quarters La 1843, and in 1851 1,324,685 queulera. CORK, MAT 10. Barrels. Currency. 04 O White wheat 00 s Od t o 00 s Od 00s Od- 20 i t° 0 Red wheat oos .01 to 00s 03 0 Ditto oos Od t o 00 s Otil 00s Od-20 do O Ditto oos Od to 00s Od 27 Barley 12, 4d to 13s Od O Ditto oos Od to 00s Od 00s od—O') Ll° O Ditto 0 Bere 00s Od to 00s Od Os Od 13 Oats. 10s 10d to 11$ 2d O Ditto ... oos Od to 00s Od 00s Od-0 d° 0 Ditto ... oos Od to 00s Od O Pigs. 00s Od to 00s Od 00s Od per e'd Quantity sold at the Highest Prices: 0 barrels white wheat; 0 re d ; 7 b ar l ey; 0 b ar e; 1 °ltj; 0 pigs. Quantity of Grain and Number of Pigs sold last wok"' Wheat, 49. Barley, 711. Oat s , 917. pi gs , 28 PRICES OF BUTTER. CANT. CURRICNCY. 751 First quality Second quality Third quality . .. 70s Third quality ................ 450 Fourth quality 024 Fifth quality •• 11 .............. •!) Sixth quality 3os Sixth quality ............. Return of Cattle sold for week ending May 1. Pigs, 400. Sheep, 567. Cows, 116. 6 3 ; Coax.—Flour —Fi rs t 12. 63 to 13 1 6d; extra 14 8 , 0 ge seconds, 10a Od to 12. Od ; h ouse h o ld s 9 s to lOs O d ; t hi r d s , per cwt. Oatmeal 10. 6d to 1 Is; Indian meal 7. 6d to 8s 0d; meal, 9. 6d to 10. 6d per cwt. Indian corn 715. to 7115. pe"" • Bran 87s 6d to 92. 6d per ton. H a y —F armers 15 0 to 22 5; WI, 20s; dealers 38. to 40, Od; average 34s per ton. Straw--Fartd 14. Od to 24. Od; average 20s; dealers 22s Od to 3 58 average 00. Od per ton. Bread—Wheaten loaf 6d W to household loaf 50 to Od per 41b. Fresh butter, 10d per lb. Eggs-3 s 4d t o 3. 6d p er hundred. '04„,,„2, Newport 15s Od ; Lyd ne y 15 1 ; L an d ore Os ; 12. 6d per ton. Tallow 371 Od to 38. per , fo i Whisky, 25 o. p., 5. 9d per i mper i a l gallon. to —Beef 40 to 7d; mutton 5d to 60; Teal riv a n ne 7d ; pork 44 Od ; bacon 6d to 7d ; sausages bd per lh 81 81 to 91 0. per cwt. Bangor slates 2/17s 6d to 3/ Os Pe' t ,;. . Bark, red 7 1 t o 8110, p er t on . Fl eece woo l 14 8 to 1 5 1 per ite",,j Hemp 29/ to 34/ per ton. Fi s h—S co t c h herrinl9s to 00s; r ed ditto, 248 to 009 per bar re l ; Newfoundland, 101 Os t o 111 P er ton. Timber—Me me l, 70 s per ton ; re d p i ne, 3 1 5 8 • F ellow ditto, 2/ 15s per ton; deals, 151 to 181 per 100. 11Ide k r o d o Market 18s t o 25 5; sa lt e d 20 s to 268 per owt ; , to Od per lb. P o t a t oes , white 8d to 9d ; 10d to 12d. Guano—Peruvian, 101 101 to Ill; Ichaboet to 910 s per ton. Tar—Archangel, 19, per barrel. COAL MARK ET. —YESTERDAY. Prices of Coal per ton at the close of the market: Od Davison'sWeatH art l ey 14s 6d Stewart ' s .. • 16 ' 3 Redheugh Main ...... Il s Od K e ll oe Townley... ....... ....—. 12s 3d South Hartlepool - a l West Wylam Wylam Wall's End, &c. Backhouse 145 33 Peareth (tins.) 1.41 v c W o o w o p d e li n ou H se ar C o l e o y se 139 6 4 21 1 A Harvey n ve bl y a W in Yla . m i. u . n .. s : ... 1 11 6 s: o °° cl dcr Nison's Merthyr and Ai Baton Lambton Russell's lletton Richmond Ships at market, 157 ...... Sold, 37. RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS. BRISTOL, May 11. STOCK EXCHANGE. —There was little or nothing done , i n the share market to-day. The only sale reported vra^ 3 Great Western, 929. LIVERPOOL, MAY 11. STOCK EXCHANGE. —The share market has been . el ; tremely firm to-day, but there was very little business dotrid The transactions reported were—Birkenhead, Lancashire, alts Cheshire, 114 1 dis.—Ditto (late Che s t er an d Bi r k e nbeacl) , , —Caledonia n , Preference, EN—Eastern Counties, 9 3- ! b, East Lancashire, 17 —Lancashire and Yo r k s hire, "%S o , y, Lancaster an d Carlisle, 80 , 4—London and North-Wes t `4, New Quarters, .s; t ' 3 p.—Ditto, Fifth s , 4% p.--Midlitd 709— Newcastle and Carlisle, 80N—South-Eastern an Dover, 21:N. MANCHESTER, MAI: . 11. tic° STOCK Excmulaz.—We have n o i m p rovemen t to n0., 99 to-day. Th e t ransact i ons h ave b een very limited, and P r i a s - t varied little from those w hi c h h ave b een quoted for t he few days. The sales reported were—Blackburn (No. 1)+ 6,i —Lancashire and Yorkshire, 73 1 / 4 —Ditto (West Kid Union), 4% dis.—Ditto, Preference, 6 per cent., 14 ;7,0 Midland, 70—North Staffordshire, 7 1 ,1 4 dis.—South-Eath" and Dover, 21 11-16. BIRMINGHAM, MAY 11. STOCK ExcirANGE.—The share market presented an ! Ea : proved appearance to-day, and pr i ces generally ha d s ten' ' dency upward. The shares o f some l i nes of railway' ci u cidedly improved, and Midland, Shrewsbury and Biro:11 3 ham, and South Staffordshire, among others, contintle,. favour. Shropshire Unions ad vanced, and were done a t 3 ~ , , A STEAMER ON F ina .— On Monday the B r itish Queen screw steam-ship, M r . Belt master bo u nd from verpool to Constantinopl e, was scuttled in Holyhead baLri: boar, after having a ve ry narrow escape from destruction h, tire. It appears that she left the Mersey in the c - uirse, Saturday, and, on nearing this point, it was discovered tnv,, she was on tire, the packing of the shaft, as it is stated, ht, ing ignited. All exertions failing in subduing it, the fl i r, er having communicated to the cargo or some part of the 31 ,` hold, she was run into the harbour, where she was scutt.R in shallow wat er . T he damage the steamer has sustained hs 3 not been correctly ascertained. BIRTHS. On the Bth inst., the lady OF A BON. of an heir. al how On the Bth inst., &t Northfieet, Kent, the lady of T Robert Tufnell, Esq. wife e t of 11. H. H. Hungerford, Es c l'' On the 9th inst., at the Cedars, Windleshani, the Robert H. Carew, Esq. of Jame s C. Brow E o sci p . A D ro AUMITEIi. On the 9th i ns t . n, ,in Lodge - ad, St. John's-wood, the lady MA. On the 10th inst., at St. John RRIED the Baptist's, Isle of Th ane !' John Ansel' Brown, E sq ., M.8.C.5., L.S.A., of Richt:lnn"' Surrey, to Margaret, eldest daughter of John Brown, -E sc ° of Marine -terrace, Margate, Kent. DIED On the 9th inst., at Ormesby-hall, Yorkshire, Sir Henry Peunyman, Bart., aged 88. t, On the 4th in s t., at Jersey, a ge d 59, Major James PiP t late of the 26th (Cameroni a ns), an d St. Helena Regimen t 6;, Oa the 10th inst., at Hastin gs , th e R ev. R o bert Heat l M A., rector of Saddington, L e i cestershire, an d c hapisia ° the London Orphan Asylum, Clapton. ---- London: Printed and Published by MURDO YOUI4IO. et No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, No. of Strand, in the Precinct o f t h e S Alas in the c°"— tv Aliddlosear, Thursday, May 13,102. THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 13 1852.