The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-09-18 00:00:00

COMMERCIAi and MONETARY NEWS.

MONDAY NIGHT.

Tit E Public Funds have been subject to fluctuations
during the week, but owing to the causes which have
operated being of a totally opposite character, the
actual change in value has not been very great. On
Tuesday the intelligence from the seat of war of the
fall of Sebastopol, by the evacuation of the Russian
army, led to an immediate rise, of which many availed
themselves the next day to realise ; and as there were
also large sales of Stock, said to have been by the Bank
of England, with the view of avoiding the necessity of
raising the rate of discount, the Funds declined, and
as on Thursday the Bank directors decided on an
advance from 4 to 41 per cent., the decline was per-
manent. On Friday the returns of the Bank of
England showed another decrease in the stock of
bullion to the extent £721,742, owing partly to de-
mands for export, accompanied also by small receipts.
We
have, however, made some observations on this
subject in a leading article. Money for commercial
purposes has been more in demand, and bankers have
raised the rate of interest for deposits on call from 31
to 31 per cent. The foreign exchanges have, however,
improved, and recent receipts of specie will no doubt
put a check to the decline.
With reference to the alteration in the Bank rate
of discount, the Times, in its money article, says :---

The Gazette returns of the last and present week will
doubtless exhibit diminutions in the amount of notes unem-
ployed and in the stock of bullion calculated to excite anxiety,
but for the knowledge now afforded previously to their appear-
ance that a vigorous check has been applied. Little question
seems to be entertained that the instalment of £1,000,000
sterling paid yesterday (Thursday) on the Turkish loan will
forthwith be sent in sovereigns to Constantinople, and that
during the next five months the remaining £3,000,000 will be
despatched in a similar manner. The Australian arrivals,
moreover, are still delayed, only £176,000 having been received
out of £BOO,OOO that may be considered due ; and, finally, the
extraordinary firmness of the corn market in the face of a
satisfactory harvest at home, and of an unusual surplus in the
United States and Canada, has disappointed all expectations,
and led to the transmission of large orders, accompanied by
specie, to the Danube and elsewhere. Under these circum-
stances the Bank had no alternative in deciding upon a fur-
ther and immediate rise, especially as there was not the
remotest prospect of its suddenness causing panic or even
inconvenience in any quarter. Although commerce has lately
assumed increased activity, there are no signs of undue specu-
lation either in the manufacturing towns or on the London
Stock Exchange, and the news of the fall of Sebastopol has
imparted a feeling of confidence, the effect of which will be
much more powerful in sustaining trade than that of the
present notification in depressing it. There is, consequently, no
reason to depart from the conviction that everything will go on
smoothly, and that,even if further measures should be requisite,
they will not produce any disturbance. Some persons aredisposed
to believe that a return to 5 per cent. will be adopted before the
close of the year, but the drain of specie just witnessed has
been so sudden, and has so evidently resulted from a combina-
tion of unusual causes, that it will be against all experience if
an early reaction is not witnessed. The Bank of England rate
for advances on Government securities during the shutting of
the transfer books has been raised simultaneously with the
rate of discount, and will now be 4 instead of 32 per cent.
The discount houses to-day were unprepared for the step
taken by the bank, and resolved to delay till to-morrow their
decision regarding their future rate of allowance for money at
call. The joint-stock banks advanced their rate for fixed de-
posits, and the London and Westminster, the London Joint-
stock, and the Union now allow 31- per cent."

The return from the Bank of England for the week
ending the Bth of September gives the following results,
when compared with the previous week :
Public Deposits ... £7,591,337 ; Increase ... £323,368
Other Deposits ... 10,979,353 ; Decrease... 127,665
Rest ... 3,637,340; Increase ... 8,617
On the other side of the account :
Government Securities £13,031,088;
Other Securities
Notes unemployed
The amount of notes in circulation is £20,142,150,
being a decrease of £37,475, and the stock of
bullion in both departments is £14,217,376, showing
a decrease of £721,742, when compared with the
preceding return.

Issrr. DEP ARTMEN T.

Notes issued £27,068,005 Governmt. Debt £11,015,100
Other Securities 2,984,900
Gold coin & bu11'n.13,668,005
Silver bullion

£27,668,005'
BANKING DEPARTMENT,

£27,668,005

Prop. Capital ... £14,553,000 Gov. Securities £13,031,088
Rest ... 3,637,340'0ther Securities 16,637,227
Public Deposits 7,591,3371N0tes 7,625,900
Other Deposits 10,970,353 Gold & Silver Coin 649,371
7-day & other bills 991,5561

£37,743,5861

£37,743,586

The SHAREMARKET has been extremely depressed
all week, and prices have continued declining each day,
closing this evening at the lowest point of the year.
London and North-Western is heavy at 92, Leeds
761, Midland 651. The pressure in the money market
has caused this great decline. We annex the prices
of this day :---Caledonians, 30-1 ; Eastern Counties,
91 ; Lancashire and Yorkshire, 76.1 g g ,
London Stock, 924 2 2 1;7,-; Sheffield Stock, 23* -1 2 ;
Midland Stock, 66 5-k 4 s 4 *; North British, 61 7-16 ;
South-Eastern, 171 7-16; Aberdeen 6p.c. in perp., ;
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln £lO pref. shares,
12i 13-16 : Dutch Rhenish, ip 1 16-3 ; Luxembourg
constituted, 9 7-16 d ; Royal Rock Ferry, 4.

COTTON.---There has been a moderate amount of
business done during the week, great animation hav-
ing been caused by the intelligence of the fall of Sebas-
topol; but this was afterwards checked, owing to the
rise in the rate of interest and the advance in the Corn
market, and prices slightly declined, the reduction in
some instances amounting to 1-16 d. per lb. The sales
for the week up to Friday reached 46,330 bales, of
which 5,930 were taken on speculation, and 5,880 for
export, leaving 34,520 for the trade.---To-DAY, the
advices by the Pacific were to hand with accounts of
lower prices on the other side, and the effect was a
decline to the extent of N. per lb. The sales were
6,000 bales, all to the trade, and the tone of the mar-
ket was moderately firm. The following is a compa-
rison of present rates with those of the corresponding
period last year :---

New Orleans, middling
, fair
Upland, middling . ......
fair.... ..........

1854 1855
as
6-1- 7

.. 514- 6
.. 6 61