The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-09-21 00:00:00

Erabe anb Commerce.

LONDON SPIRIT MARKET.-Rum supports last week's
currency, with a fair demand. Proof Leewards, Is. 7d.
to is. Bd. and is. 91 ; proof Bast India, Is. 7d. to is. Bd.
per gallon. Brandy and grain spirits are dull, but not
cheaper.
Tge.—Our market is steady, and prices generally are
well supported. Common sound Congou, 10,1 d. per lb.
The stock in London is 81,000,0001b5., against
82,000,000165. in 1857. . _

SUGAR.--Bince our last report, prices of raw sugar
have given way 6d. to 18. per cwt., with a very inactive
demand. Refined goods sell slowly, at 525. 6d. to 53e.
for brown lumps. The stock is now 73,1300 tons, against
62,000 tons in 1857.

THE LIVERPOOL DOCKS AND THE TIMBER TRADE.—
At the meeting of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board
Tuesday it was stated that arrangements had been
formed for placing the new north dock, called the
Canada dock, almost exclusively at the service of the
importers of timber at the ..rt, with a total quay space
for storage ground of 134,111 square yards, apportioned
in allotments of from 25,000 to 26,000 yards each.

At a meeting of Central American bondholders on
Thursday afternoon, Mr. J. D. Powles, in the chair, it
was resolved to authorize the agents of the Government
of Guatemala to deduct 2i per cent, on all future divi-
dends aa a remuneration for the services of the Britieh
Consul there in adjusting the foreign debt of the Re-
public. A similar arrangement was also adopted with
regard to the States of Nicaragua, San Salvador, and
Honduras, to come into operation whenever a satisfalctory
settlement of the debts of those states shall have been
obtained.

The half-yearly Court of the Proprietors of the Bank
of England took place on Thursday, Mr. Sheeleld
Neave, the governor, presiding. The profits for the
six months ending August 31 were stated to be £628,770,
making the amount of the rest on that day £3,678,888.
A dividend at the rate of 4; per mit. for the half year
was declared, leaving the rest £3,021,983. Satisfaction
was expressed that, notwithstanding the low rate of
interest lately prevalent, a distribution at this rate could
be made.
_ _ . . . . .

In the course of last week the following duty was paid
on foreign grain imported into Hull :—£l6B 16s. on
3,376 qrs. of wheat; £195 6a. on 3,906 qrs. of barley :
£Bl 9s. on 1,629 qrs. of oats; £46 Is. on 921 qrs. of
beans; £lO 6e. on .W 6 qrs. of peas; £389 6a. on 7,785
qrs. of Indian corn; and £4l 13e. Bd. on 2,233 cwt. of
flour; total paid, £832 17s. &I.
The shares of the Atlantic Telegraph Company have
experienced a decline to between 420 and 460. It ap-
pears the recent experiments induce a belief that the
fracture or fractures—for it is thought there may be two
—will be found to exist at a distance of between 200 and
300 miles from the shore, For about 230 or 240 miles
the depth is only 410 fathoms, and within that range the
mischief oould easily be repaired, but a sudden descent
then °pours to 1,518 fathoms, where it is extremely
doubtful if anything could be done. The probability
seems that it is at this abrupt point the damage has been
sustained. . .

It is-s-ta—ted that for many years past the trade of Man-
chester as not been so good as at present. This is at-
tributed in a great measure to the pernicious habit of the
Liverpool Joint-Stock Banks in making advances to
speculators having been checked by the recent fate of
the Liverpool Borough Bank and the general revelations
consequent on the crisis of last autumn. Hitherto, when-
ever any advance has been realised by the Manchester
manufacturers, it has been followed almost invariably
by a still greater rise at Liverpool in the value of the
raw material, and hence their position, as regarded fu-
ture operations, was rendered worse than better. But,
the speculator* who, with the assistance of the Liver-
pool banks, used thus to get up an inflation upon the
slightest pretext, find themselves unable for the pre-
sent to command their accustomed resources. Hence
the price of cotton keeps pace only with the natural de-
mand. Of worm, under these circumstances there is
already & cry for now banking facilities at Liverpool.
If a fresh Borough Bank mild be established it would
be balled as giving a certainty of an advance in cotton of
a penny or three half plume per pound. For the pre-
sent, however, there i no danger of a renewal of such
operations. The recent decision establishing the liability
of directors to porrons who may have been led to pm,
°hue aliaree by false reporte will not only prevent the
concoction of any new concerns, but will operate 111 a
terrible warning to the managers of those which already
exist. . _

RAILWAY TRIATWENT Or PAIIINGERW.—" A fro.
quent traveller" writing from Poole, In the TOMS. says I
—I beg through the medium of your paper to lull the
attention of every person Interested in railways, either
as shareholders or travellers, to the obstacles thrown in
the way of travelling, and to the annoyanoos to whieh
every person is subjected who to 00111p011eit to travel
from one part of the south of England to another pert
not within the district of the seine line of railway. On
the lit hut. I had mouton to go from Poole to Taunton,
a distano• by rail of only 67 mile'. On consulting the
thne.tables I was much surprised to find that it was Im.
posible to go by any paasengith train in less than two
days, and that the only way to got to Taunton in one
day was to take the chants of then being room In a
luggage train to Dorchester, to which one carriage only
Is attached. I, therefore, tried that ruoures. 1 loft
Poole at 9.10 cm., and reached Dorchester at 10.30,
which plus I left at 19.45 p.m., arriving at Yeovil at
1.25 pan. I was detained there until 8,5, when I left
by • train for Dureton, at which place 1 was detained
one hour. At last I got to Taunton at ten minutes to
five o'clock, thus having accomplished the journey of 57
miles in seven hours and forty minutes, being at the
rate of less than nine miles an hour. On inquiry I find
that there is a regular conspiracy on the part of the
direetors of some or all of the various lines over which I
passed to defraud every person who travels between
Southampton and the various stations between Yeovil
and Exeter of nearly five hours of the day. To sum.
Uish this desirable objut every train Is arranged to
leave • station a few minutes before a train comes In.
Thus, at Dorchester, the South• Western train from
Southampton arrives at 1.10 p.m. The Great Western
start theirs at 19.45, and do not dupateh another train
until 5.25 p.m. which arrives at Yeovil at five minutes
after 6, the Bristol and Exeter having despatched their
last train for Duroton at 6 o'eloek, just five minutes
before the Great Western train arrives, The trains
from Exeter to Southampton ate all arranged in the
same amiable spirit. I trust, Sir, that you will
your powerful influence to expose and cornet as a.
graceful a conspiracy against the public) as it is posit la
for a body of men to he guilty of. Perham the share.
iildere will Altdsrstand how it is they *Ursa° ditri.
end, and will find a remedy, for they may depend on it
that such oondust on the pert of their &radon must

seriously injure the shareholders as well u the publics.;
With speb obsteelee in the way, no person will travel
who ear possibly avoid doing so. At the last meeting
of the South-Western shareholders the chairman re-
commended his indica°e to make " Juitioe to Railways"
their cry at the out general election. Ibe to recom-
mend that "Justice to Railway Direetors" be voted-
tuted. If Parliament did its duty railway directors
would not dam to rob travellers of five hours of their
valuable time. It would he as penal to oonspire to rob
a man of five hours as it lain conspire to rob him of five
shillings. I think, Sir, if the latter crime render
the guilty parties liable to six months' hard
labour, that the same punishment at least ought to ho
awarded in the other 111110.

RAILWAY TSAPPIO Anuses—The traffic returns on
railways in the United Kingdom published for the week
ending September 11 ~mounted to £510,910, and for
corresponding week of last year to £508,420, showing
an increase of £2,490. The gross receipts of the eight
railways having their termini in the metropolis amounted
for the week ending as above to £114,963, and for the
corresponding period of 1857 to A 211,328, showing an
decrease of £.3,365. The increase on the Eastern
Counties Railway amounted to £803; on the Great
Northern to 82,8619; on the Great Western to £919;
on the London and Blackwell to £148; on the London,
Brighton, and South Coast to £1,035; on the London
and South-Western to £7135 F and on the South-Eastern
to e 267; total, 82,146 But from this must be deducted
£4,781, the decrease on the London and North•Weatern,
leaving the i 11.2111110, IA above, £3,365. re-
ceipts on the other lines in the United Kingdom amounted
to £298,217, and for the corresponding period of last
year to £297,092, showing a decrease of £875 in the
receipts of those lines, which, deducted from the increase
on the metropolitan lines, leaves the inrease £2,490,
OW compered with the corresponding period of 1857.