The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-06-22 00:00:00

Crate anti Commerce.

LONDON SPIRIT XIARILET.-Rum is heavy, and
rather cheaper. Proof Leewards, is. 108. to Is. lid. ;
proof East India, is. 98. to ls. 108. per gallon. In
brandy, very few transactions are reported, on easier
terms.
TEA—The demand may be oonsidered steady, at pre-
vious quotations— common sound Comma having re-
alised 100. per lb.—but the business doing is by no
ineans extensive. The stock in the United Kingdom is
n,ooosaoub. against 59,000,0001b5., at the correspond-
ing period in 1857.
SUGAR—Good and useful raw sugars are in fair re-
puest, at full quotations; but inferior qualities are very
dull, at barely late rates. Refined sugars move off slowly,
at 54a. for brown lumps. Crushed qualities are held on
former terms.

Proceedings are to be taken on the part of sharehold-
ers, representing shares to a very large amount, against
at least one director of the Liverpool Borough Bank;
the case will, in all probability, be tried at the Liverpool
Assizes.
A dividend of lc in the pound has been declared on
the separate estate of Strachan of Strachan, Paul, and
Co. There are not funds in hand sufficient to declare •
dividend on the joint estate.
Alderman Kennedy and Mr. Owen, two of the British
Bank directors, have just received • Royal pardon.
• • • •

The Early Closing Association, continuing their in.
defatigable efforts towards effecting an abridgment of
the hours of labour, have just addressed to the directors
of the Bank of England a memorial, in which they
earnestly beg the sanction of the directors of the Satur-
day haltholiday movement. They suggest that, if the
Bank of England would close their doors at two o'clock
on Saturdays, the adoption of the practice by the other
London banks would be greatly facilitated, and • bene-
ficial and powerful impulse would be given to the cause
in other quarters. In support of the memorial, the
association append • list of upwards of eleven hundred
important firms, in various branches of business, who
express their "hearty ooncurrence" in the suggestion.
It is pointed out in the memorial, that "an indirect
result of considerable importance likely to arise from
the suspension of banking business at an earlier hour on
Saturday, would be the more general payment of wages
on Friday—a practice proved to be highly beneficial to
the workman and his family, in many ways, and directly
tending to remove the present alleged necessity for Sun-
day trading." A mass of testimony is at the same time
furnished from numerous firms who have adopted, with
highly satisfactory results, the practice of closing busi-
DOM at an earlier hour.

RAILWAY TRAFFIC Rkronars.—The traffic returns of
railways in the United Kingdom published for the week
ending June 12 amounted to £445,670, and for the
oorresponding week of last year to £471,540, showing
a decrease of £25,870. The gross reoeipta of the eight
railways having their termini in the metropolis amounted
for the week ending as above to £183,922, and for the
corresponding week of last year to £199,948, showing a
decrease of £18,026. The decrease on the Eastern
Counties Railway amounted to £607; on the Great
Northern to £1,501; on the Great Western to £1,510;
on the London and North-Western to £7,539; on the
London and Blackwell to £5l ; on the London, Brighton,
and South Coast, to £429; on the London and South-
Western, to £2,082; and on the South-Eastern to £307;
total, £16,026. The receipts on the other lines in the
United Kingdom amounted to £261,748, and for the cor-
responding pericd of 1857 to £271,592, showing a decrease
of £9,844, which, added to the decrease on the metropo-
litan lines, makes the total decrease £23,870, as yam.
pared with the corresponding week oi 1857.