The Express.
London, England, 1865-02-27 00:00:00

PREFERENCE El

:117;otaiu6OitlioiTzte;coioo No. 1, 107.
I—Original, b per mat. redeemable mete-

Great _
Groat Wi
moos, 103,
FOREIGN RAILWAYS.
BaLia asd Sas Fmnalmo (Lim.) gm. 7 par oat., 16.
Ottoman (Smyrna to Maio), 10}.
South Austrian sad Lombardo-Faustian, 21. f.

GREAT FIRE AT '3ln,cas. Harkins', HOUNDS-
DITCH. —The moat extensive oonfiagration that has ensured
at the east end of London for a ooesiderable time, oc-
curred last night in the extensive pile of premises be.
longing to Messrs. Defile' and Sons, gas illuminators sad
glass chandelier merchants, he., 136, Boundeditce. The
premier were six stories high, and contained property
valued at many thousand pounds sterling. After some time
the firedripped down theloopboles of thediffereetfioors, and
reached an immense gas meter fully charged with gas. Ose
of the principals of the firm called out that mikes the gas
was immediately turned off, the whole of the premises
would be blown into the air, when Coaductor Wood jumped
from the railings, in Gravel-lane, entered the base-
ment, and happily succeeded in turnieg off the ERR
Coder the direction of Captain Shaw, his Grace the Doke
of Sutherland, Lord Richard Grosvenor, the Hes. Slyest
Wortley, and the other officials of the brigade, sad In-
spector Oakley, of the London, Chatham, and Dover Rail-
way Compaay, with their angles, sad Mr. Matthews,
of the firm of Penn and Co., rendered great aseistasee,
The damage done is very serious, amounting, it is thought,.
to 30,0001. Amongst the goods destroyed were some just
completed for France. The whole of the Bohemian and
German crystals, of which the build!op contained a veal
quantity, are supposed to have been also consumed. From
the fact of the flames commencing in the top floor where
the paraffin and other oil' were kept it is premised that
some of the oily rags ignited. Fortunately the ism wee in-
sured io six of the principal Loudon fire offices.
Henoeforth the services in St, Patrick's Cathe-
dral, Dublin, will be on Sundays at 11 and 3 o'clock, sad
oo week days at 10 and 5. It is stated that Mr. Gunman
coetemplates clearing away all the old ruinous streets la
the poor district between St. Patrick's Cathedral and
Christ Church, which is near Dublin Castle, sad having the
ground pleated as a people's park, which would be ear
rounded by booms of a good style.

The Co-operative Society of Prestwich have set
an excellent example. At a special =Min fart year it
was resolved to put aside 2} per asst. of the set seethe of
the cocoon for the purpose of fosadieg a free library is
Preetyloh, and this reeolatios, respoeded to by friends is
the neighbourhood, resulted is the opening of a free Lliruy
as Saturday.

113 the Library Hall of theMaaoheeter Atheareuta,
as Saturday shersoos, a Largo number at ladies sad path-
mss pthered, to witome some private experiments after
the manlier of the Davenport& Everything was owsplerw
--guitar, calla*, hells, and ropes, to the inevitable Bider
--sad the experiment was completely maeonsofaL Kr.
Irving, alas Theatre Royal, undertook the ellesier's flow
tipsy, sad Yr. Maeuebe sad Mr. Day, of the Prison Tam-
tee, " did" the brothers.

MONEY MARKET -(THIS DAL)

Two o'Clocx.

In the stook markets to-day the dealers are
chiefly engaged in the settlement of the fortnightly
account, and prices in most instances are quoted
the same as on Saturday. Consols have declined I
per cent., but British railway stocks exhibit a
rather favourable tendency, with the exception of
Great Western, which has experienced a fresh fall
of I per cent. Confederate Bonds have been ad-
versely affected by the news just received from
America. Financial shares are still neglected.
The demand for money to-day is moderate, and
the supply large. The rate for the best bills is 41
to 43 per ceit. In the Stock Exchange the charge
for short loans on English Government securities is
24 to 3 per cent. _

At Paris, to-day, according to Mr. Renter's tele-
gram, the . Three per Cent. Renter opened at
67fr. 85c., showing a fresh advance of 1 per cent.
• Commit/ are now. quoted 89 to 1 for money,
and 891 to for' the account (March 9). The
official huainess report is as follows :—Three per
Cent. Oonaols„ 'kr money, 891, I, 89 ; ditto for
account, 891; Three per Cents. Reduced, 881, 1 ;
New Three per Cents., 89, 881 ; New Two-and-a-
Half per ,seents., 711, ; India Five per Cent
Stook, 164, 1031 ; ditto for account, 104 ; and Ex-
chequer Bills, sk, 4a prem.
Conf;derate Bonds are heavy, and have declined
11 per cent. Spanish Passive have also receded 1.
On the other hand Consolidis have improved 1,
and Greek 1. Some of the present quotations
are annexed, viz. :—Greek Bonds, 211 to 1 ;
Mexican, 264 to 1 ; Confederate, 54 to 56 ;
Spanish Passive, 321 to 1 ; the Certificates,
151 to ft ; Turkish, of 1858, 721 to 731 ; ditto
1862, 701 to 71 ; and the Conssolidds, 521 to 4.
Transactions are recorded as follews —Egyptian,
98 ; ditto 1864, 95 ; Greek, 211, 4; Mexi-
can, 264, 1 ; ditto for account, 261, 27 ;
Moorish, 941; Portuguese, 1856, dm., 471 ;
Russian, 1860, 861 ; ditto 1802, 891; Spanish
New Deferred, 411 ; ditto Passive, 321, i; ditto
Certificates, 151; ditto, for account, 151 ; Turkish,
1854, 921 ; ditto, 1862, for account, 711, 704 ;
ditto 1001. Bonds, 714 ; Venezuela, 1864, 421.
International Financial shares are now quoted
11 to 1 prem., ex div. ; General Credit, 2to prem.,
ex div. ; London Financial, 61 to prem., ex div. ;
Imperial Mercantile, 11 to 21 prem., ex div. ; Hud-
son's Bay, 151 to i; Ottoman &dad Gindrale,
2to prem., ex div.

The quotations for the shares of some of
the new companies are subjoined :—City of
Milan Improvements, n to 4 prem. ; Metropoli-
tan District Railways, 31 to prem. ; China
Steamship and Labuan Coal, 1 to die., being
lower, on the allotment; Rio Janeiro Gas, to
prem. ; West London Docks and Warehouses, 21
to l prem. ; and Varna Railway, / to g prem.
The subjoined circular announces the failure of
Messrs. Rizo, Son and Co., merchants, of Gresham
House, Old Broad-street :
London, Feb. 24, 1f16.5.
We much regret to inform yon that, owing to insur-
mountable difficulties, which very recently have mina is
the course of our business, we have been under the none.
sity of suspending poymest. We have placed our books la
the hands of Mews. Coleman, Tarquand, Youngs, and Co.,
who will, at an early date, convene a meeting, and submit
a statement of our affairs. . .

IteaTneaTnicii;ll;emean time your kind forbearance, we
are, ko., Rrzo. Son, and Co.
-

. •
Mr. Thomas K Ersborne, of the Corn Exchange,
has joined the direction of the Metropolitan and
Provincial Bank (Limited).
It is notified that the directors of the Credit
Foncier of Mauritius (Limited) having determined
to issue a certain amount of the company's 6 per
cent. debentures at the rate of 97 per cent. for
bonds payable in three years, 95 per cent for
five years, and 93 per cent. for ten or fifteen years,
hold 20,000 i. of this issue at the option of share-
holders in this undertaking. Applications are to
lb. considered and apportioned on the 7th of March.
Subjoined is a statement (from Mr. Slaughter's
Weekly List) of the railway calls falling due in the
month of March :

Amount per Share.
Dui Already sumber
Dash Ilarelt,l96l. Date. Paid. Call. of 81mree. Amount.
Louden, Ertl/Man, and
South Coast New 61.
__ - - _

shares
Metropolitan Extension 13 dept, 2 0 0 190,000 360,000
Midland 91. shares . 31 dept. 2 0 0 118,926 237,260
BaUsbury and Dorset
Junction

Total In March

0963,355

Amount called t three months M 1465 .. £4,453,114t

At the half-yearly meeting of the Bristch and
South Wales Railway Waggon Company (Limited),
held at Bristol on the 22nd lust., the usual dividend
at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum, free of income
tax, was declared, and, in addition, 1,8001. wee
carried to the reserve fund, which now amounts to
13,600/.
An extraordinary general meeting of the China
and Japan (Coast and River) Steam Navigation
Company will be held on the 13th March, for the
purpose of confirming the special resolutions passed
at the extraordinary meeting on the 23rd instant.
A general meeting of the Brighton Hotel Corn-
' pony (Limited) is called for the Sth of March, when
a dividend is to be declared. The meeting will be
, made special, to empower the directors " to declare
an interim dividend, not exceeding 5 per cent., for
the current and each ensuing half-year.
The first ordinary meeting of the Umzinto Plan-
tation and Trading Company of Natal (Limited)
is called for the 9th of March, and will be made
special, to make an alteration in the articles of
association, by which it shall be unlawful for the
directors to invest the company's funds in its own
shares. Action in a similar sense has been taken by
many other companies during the last two or three
weeks, owing to the salutary pressure put upon them
by the Committee of the Stock Exchange.
A fourth call of 2/. is to be paid on the shares of
the Reading Iron Works Company (Limited) by the
Ist of April.
• ' "

The preparations for to-morrow's settlement in
the railway market show that the outstanding
transactions are of only moderate amount, in con-
sequent* of which, combined with the abundance of
money, the rates of " continuation" in most cases
were rather easier than at the last settlement.
Notwithstanding the great fall which has taken
place during the present account in Great Western,
however, the supply of stock on Saturday was fully
equal to the demand. Lancashire and Yorkshire
and Midland stocks were far from plentiful in the
market. For loans on foreign stocks till the middle
of March the terms were about 5 to a} per cent.
Confederate Bonds appear to have been largely
oversold, and consequently commanded a " back.
wardatiou" (or bonus for the loan of them) of about
2 per cent. The following shows the terms on
which the carrying over was generally conducted
on Saturday :
Great Waters
__ 3-16 to

5-16 oast.

Lascsabiro and Yorkrbire....
Loodoo oad North Worts= .
Midbuid
Colodosian
Groat Northam Al

Metropolitan
South Eastern _ .

i t°
0 toi
to
to

North Eutoro • Barwick
Ditto York
Groat Eastern _ _ _

Grand Trnak al Co d& .
Great Wrenn., at Canada.."
Cassia Credit

* to
3-14 to
i

to
5-16 to
1.16 to

dd. to
Gd. to
3d. to

1
179
1 I •

el

.r
7.16 "
3-16 "

la. ~
is. ~
9d. ~