The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-11-20 00:00:00

CO3LIIERCIAL and MONETARY NEWS.
4.

MONDAY NIGHT.

Iv the value of the Public Funds be taken as a
test of the state of public feeling on monetary affairs,
the week has been characterised by quietude, for the
fluctuations have been but slight, and prices have, on
the whole, been fairly maintained. This quietude
may be partly attributed to the uncertainty which
continues to prevail as to the turn which affairs are
likely to take, so that most persons are deterred from
speculating, either for a rise or for a fall in prices, and
something may also be attributed to the contradictory
influences which prevail. On the one hand, the speech
of the Premier at the Lord Mayor's banquet led to
the inference of a continuance of the war ; and the
present high prices of foreign and colonial produce
will, no doubt, stimulate increased importation, and
thereby lead to a demand for money. On the other
hand, advices have been received of more than a
million sterling in gold being daily expected from
Australia, which, in the absence of further , demands
from the continent, may tend to lighten the pressure
upon the Bank of England resources, and relieve the
Money-market. The accounts from Australia are also
favourable as to the further supplies of gold, and, as
in a short time we may anticipate a return through
the ordinary trade channels of the large quantities of
specie which have been lately sent abroad for the pur-
poses of the war, it is not surprising that considerable
doubt should exist as to the state of monetary
resources for a little time to come.
We have recently commented at some length on
the injurious influence upon mercantile interests of
the Bank Charter Act, which has been not inaptly
compared to a man being compelled to wear a suit of
clothes which were made for him when a boy. Were
it not for this, there would be nothing in the state of
commercial affairs, or even in the requirements for
the purposes of the war, to excite any feeling of appre-
hension ; but so long as the operations of the mercan-
tile community are fettered by restrictions which
were only meant to apply to a very different state of
affairs, there exists a grievance which demands the
serious attention of the legislature. On Wednesday
last, the Governors of the Bank of England had an
interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in
Downing-street, and it is rumoured that the object of
the conference was to authorise the Bank of England
to increase their issue on securities beyond the present
limit of fourteen millions. By the act of 1844, the
government is empowered to authorise the extension
of the issue to two-thirds of the amount of the issue of
other banks, which may have been withdrawn from
circulation either by failure or the substitution of Bank
ot England notes. This amounts to about £700,000,
so that the increase will come to something under
half-a-million, a sum far too little to have any sensible
effect.

The Bank returns, published on Friday last, present
but few changes of importance. There is a decrease
in the stock of bullion to the amount of £65,196, but
as there is also a decrease in the circulation to the
extent of £333,765, the reserve of notes unemployed
has increased £238,740, so that the total is £4,883,205;
a margin which, in the face of expected receipts of
gold, might be considered ample for purposes of ac-
commodation, without imposing such heavy rates of
discount. The Bank directors may, however, have
over-reached themselves, for the returns show a de-
crease in private deposits and private securities of
upwards of a million, from which the evident inference
may be drawn that discounts are found easier else-
where than at the Bank of England. In the considera-
tion of this subject it must always be rememberedthat
the stock of bullion in the Bank is by no means a safe
criterion of the position of monetary affairs. An excess
is sometimes caused by a dulness of trade, and a de-
ficiency by increased activity, as well as by demands
for exportation.; while the latter may be influenced by
a fluctuation in the state of exchanges, which may be
merely of a temporary character ; and, at the same
time, it must not be forgotten that steam navigation
offers facilities for the transmission of specie which
were not possessed during the last war, and which
must materially influence the fluctuations in bullion,
as far as our foreign trade is concerned, as the cost of
transmission constitutes an important element in the

question.
The arrivals of specie during the week are estimated
to amount to about £300,000, and it is computed that
the exports are fully equal to that amount.
Business at Manchester has been tolerably active
during the week, the demands for export being to a
fair extent ; and prices have experienced little altera-
tion, notwithstanding the commencement of a strike of
the operatives, which, it is hoped, may be averted by
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Hosiery and Lace trades, though no improvement can
be noticed, there is a fair extent of business done, at
previous rates.
The return from the Bank of England for the week
ending the 17th November gives the following results,
when compared with the previous week :
Public Deposits ... £3,605,358; Increase ... £235,374
Other Deposits ... 11,166,069; Decrease ... 628,131
Rest ... 3,208,587; Increase ... 30,414
On the other side of the account :
Government Securities.. £10,124,848; Decrease... £76,428
Other Securities ...... 17,879,564; Decrease... 475,984
Notes unemployed ~.... 4,883,205; Increase ... 238,740
,The amount of notes in circulation is £19,763,090,
being a decrease of £333,765, and the stock of bullion
in both departments is £11,234,438, showing a
decrease of £65,196 when compared with the preceding
return.