The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-02-02 00:00:00

Erabe anb COMlrittte.

The Bank of England on Thursday redueed their rata
of dlsoount from 5 per ant., at whloh It woo drad on
the 14th ult., to 4 per cent.

The interest on deposita allowed by the discount
houses, including the National and London Disoount
Companies, has been reduced to 26 per sent. ; the Bank
of London and City allow the samo rate, and the London
and Westminster, and London Joint.Btook 2 per sent.
The London and County have made no alteration ; the
Commercial continue to pay 8 per cent, to their present
depositors, but will allow only 2 per cent. for any fresh
sums. At the Vision Bank the question WU to be con•
sidered on Friday.
• - -

COAll,—About two years since the Steam
Collieries' Association, Newcastle-on-Tyne, offered
a prize of £5OO for the best method of effecting the
prevention of smoke during the combustion of the coals
of tire district in the boilers of marine steamengines.
The gentlemen selected as judge. were Mr. J. A. Long-
ridge, civil engineer, of 18, Abingdon-street, West-
flaunter ; Mr. W. G. Armstrong, civil engineer, New.
; and Mr. T. Richardson, of the mune
town. Three elaborate reports were delivered on the
subject (the last hiving appeared a few days since) ; and
an examination was made of the 103 plans sent in, al-
though only four—those of Messrs. Hobson and Hop-
kinion, Huddersfield ; Mr. C. W. Williams, Liverpool ;
Mr. B. Stoney, Dublin ; and Air. Robson of South
Shields—were saluted for trial at the expense of the
association. The premium has heen awarded to Mr.
Williams, whose system consists in the admission of air
at the furnace door, or at the bridge, or atboth, by numer-
ous mall apertures, with the intention of diffusing it in
streams and jets among the gases. In the plan adopted
in the present instance Mr. Williams introduces the air
only at the front of the furnace by means of east.iron
casings furnished on the outside with apertures pro-
vided with shutters, so as to vary at will the area and
perforated on the inside with a great number of half'
inch holes. The mode of firing which Mr. Williams
adopta merely consists in applying the fresh fuel alter-
nately at opposite sides of the furnace, so as to leave one
side bright while the other is black. The reports of the
judges also state that the coal of the district, commonly
, called the " Hartley's," may be consumed in ordinary
I multitubular marine boilers without making any smoke;
and that the combustion of the coal is perfect and its
evaporative power far beyond what has usually been
ascribed to it. While the evaporative power of the
best Welsh coal which the judges were able to obtain
was 12'351b. of water evaporated from 212° Fahrenheit
by 11b. of coal, the Hartley coal gave 12•901 b. Dr. Play-
fair and Sir H. de la Beche formerly returned the calori-
fic value of Welsh coal at 1075 and that of the Hartley
at 787; the present judges return it 1460 in the case
of Welsh coal, hand picked, and 1411 in the case of the
Hartley, large and small together.

RAILWAY TRAFFIC/ RECEIPTS—The traffic returns of
railways in the United Kingdom published for the week
ending January 23, amounted to £393,362, and for the
corresponding week of 1857 to £400,090, showing a
dcrease of £6,728. The gross receipts of the eight rail-
ways having their termini in the metropolis amounted
for the week ending as above to £164,611, and for the
corresponding week of last year to £163,795, showing an
increase of 1:816. The increase on the Great
Northern Railway amounted to £2,200; on the Lon-
don and Blackwell, to £25; on the London,
Brighton, and South-Coast, to £93; on the London
and South-Western, to £817; on the Great
Western, to £2,181; and on the South-Eastern, to
£615; total, £5,931. But from this most be
deducted £634, the decrease on the &astern
Counties, and £4,481 on the London and North-
Western; together, £5,115, leaving the increase
as above, £Bl6.