The Express.
London, England, 1866-03-19 00:00:00

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LONDON. MONDAY. MARCH 19.

THE collapse of the Joint Stock Discount Com-
pany, and the consequent weakening of public
confidence in all classes of joint-stock under-
takings—a distrust which has been indiscriminately
and in the majority of cases unjustly applied—
has thus far contributed to lower the price for
money rather than to raise it. It is curious to
observe the different results which the withdrawal
of credit at times produces. In great periods of
distress,with a commercial panic at its height, such
as occurred in 1847 or 1857, or during the leas con-
spicuous but more prolonged and therefore equally
severe occasions of general suffering which prevailed
in 1864 and 1865, the difficulty was to obtain
discount at all. It was only on the very highest
terms that capitalists could be induced to lend
their funds, and then but unwillingly. First clam
houses of undoubted solvency had to pay 8 and
9 per cent., or even more, for the most necessary
_ _ _ _

accommodation. What the second class firms had
to give may therefore be conjectured. The prac-
tical result was that credit was so reluctantly
and meagrely afforded, as to be nearly denied
altogether. This was the result of distrust in its
most extended sense. At present the same
feeling prevails, but more limited as to its
objects, and the consequence is precisely oppo-
site. Money is held back, except for investment
in the best bills, and as the latter are compare
tively scarce, the holders command the market,
and can discount on lower and lower terms. On
the other hand, any operations that are within the
fair bounds of enterprise, but extend beyond the
moat ordinary routine of business, are as much dis-
couraged as in the dsysof greatest pressure. Now,
although this may appear so far a satisfactory
feature, it is certain that if the commerce of the
nation had been continually carried on according to
the same principle, it would never have reached
its present magnitude. New markets would have
been neglected, new branches of trade left unde-
veloped, and a listless stagnation instead of an
active progress have become the rule. Hence dia-
trust in its minor effects is almost as hurtful in
the end as when it produces the wide-spread
calamities of a panic. For a time, however, it
renders money cheap, capital becomes abnormally
abundant, since the field in which it is employed
is more and more contracted. There seems no ques-
tion that the evidences of joint-stock mismanage-
ment have, by increasing the existing distrust,
directly tended to this result, and their action may
yet be looked for for some time to come.

- The announcement that the London Financial
Association have made a call of 51. a share, and the
certainty that the Joint Stook. Discount Company
will require at least as much, have thus far affected
the money market in no appreciable degree. Yet
these operations will involve the temporary absorp-
tion of a considerable amount of capital. In the
former case the total will be 200,0001. and in the
latter 400,0001., or perhaps 600,0001. In one
respect, however, it will probably amount to a mere
transference from one set of holders to another—the

calls being evidently made to meet immediate liabi-
litiee--leaving the aggregate supply of capital in
the market ultimately the same. Still, for the time,
the demand for discount would be propor-
tionably augmented, owing to the usual
equal although temporary displacement of money
caused by transactions of this description. The
fact that they are so little regarded proves that
the supply of unemployed capital is more abun-
dant than could have been supposed from the
maintenance of the recent high rates of discount.
Similarly no material effect has been produced by
the introduction of proposals for raising sum,—
not, however, very considerable—for colonial
loan; telegraph purposes, and foreign land and
building companies. It is clear that if the public
desire to take these investments, they have ample
means in hand for doing so. It remains to be
seen whether any further reduction in the rate of
discount will encourage foreign governments to
try once more to place a fresh batch of their securi-
ties in this market. Since there is no evil that
does not bring with it some good, so the present
state of distrust will effectually mar the success of
any schemes of this sort. Nevertheless, the
announcement of a foreign loan, even when its
failure is certain, invariably affects the terms for
discount. The introduction of some new companies,
especially in the present state of the publics temper,
would have a similar influence. For the moment,
however, any material extension of joint-stock en-
terprise appears very improbable. It is, therefore,
almost certain that any demands we may experience
for either of these classes of investments will prove
comparati►ely insignificant, and affect the money
market as little as the requirements that already
exist.

A Brix. to explain the act of the 20th and 21st
Victoria, chapter 85, and the Legitimacy Declara-
tion Act, 1858, stands fur the second reading this
evening. It is very short. The preamble recites
that doubts have been entertained whether on peti-
tions for dissolution of marriage under the act of
the 20th and 21st Victoria, chapter 85, or on
petitions under " The Legitimacy Declaration Aot,
1858," the parties, or any of them, may insist on
the truth of contested matters of fact being deter-
mined by the verdict of a jury, and it
is expedient to remove such doubts ; and
by a single subsequent clause it is declared