The Express.
London, England, 1866-12-18 00:00:00

'HIS DAY.)

and Halifax are already constructed. At the same
time, a direct line from Chicago to the western
terminus of the Grand Trunk at Port Sarnia is in •
progress. This opening with Europe and with the
Far West can hardly fad to be of advantage to the
Grand Trunk Line, the mileage receipts of whicho
through its cc Inparative isolation, are as yet but
one-fourth of those of the great American through;
lines.
The devices adopted some months ago by the
speculative seller, of bank shares, in order to pro-,
duce a fall in prices, were justly regarded as a
great public sc.indal, but the reprobation with which.
they were visited has not prevented the "bears"
from attempting similar practices to ras:alucei
a fall in railway steel. To sift and contradict
false, and, too often, malevolent rumours,
has now become a portion of the regular business
of jounialists. A signal instance of the way in
which false reports are set afloat and circulated has
just transpired. During the last two or three days
a rumour has been propagated in London, Man-
chester, and elsewhere of the failure of Mr. Edward
W. Watkin, M.P. and though, besides being a
false, it is also a foolish report, inasmuch as Mr.
Watkin is not in busiuess in the ordinary sense of
the term, and therefore has no personal engage-
ments, its circulation is said to have contributed to
the fall lately observable in the stocks of
the South Eastern, Manchester and Sheffield,
and Great 'Western, the three chief English
railway companies with which that gentle-
man is prominently connected. When it if
stated that this fall, produced by various causes,
represen.ed within three days a total depreciation
of between three quarters of a million and one
million sterling, it will be seen that the matter is of
no trifling importance. Mr. Watkin, however,
has taken up the matter with commendable spirit,
and we shall be glad to hear the result of the in-
vestigation prennsed by the committee of the Lon-
don Stock Exchange.

MONDAY Eviunifii.
Console, which closed on Saturday at sot,
"buyers," ex uiv., for the 10th January, opened
this morning at 89 to 1, and closed at 891 to j.
For money the last price was 891 to /. The o-
cial business report is as follows :—Thres per
Cent. Consols, for money, 881, 9, ; ditto,
for account, 89, 1., 9 ; Three per Cents. Reduced,
88, 1 ; New Three per Cents., 881, 8, ; India
Stoelt, shut; ditto, for account, 212, ex div. ; ditto
Five per Cent. 1061, 7 ; ditto Four per Cent., 941 ;
ditto-Five-and-a-gall per Cent. " enfaced" rupee
paper, 105 ; ditto Bonds, 255. prem.
Exchequer Bills show a further improvement of
Is., closing at 4s. to Bs. prem.
The foreign b;r.ck market participated to some
extent in the improvement observable in most of
the other departments of the Stock Exchange.
Turkish Bonds of 1858 and 1865 (Six per Cents.),
as well as Peruvian of 1862, rose 1 per cent. ;
Russian of 1862, Egyptian Railway Debentures,
and Spanish Three per Cents., / ; Turkish of 1865
(Five per Cents.), < : Italian of 1861, 1; and Greek,
. Sardinian Bonds, however, declined 1 per cent.,
and Greek Coupons/.
The scrip of the new Russian Loan closed at 1 to
11 prem., being again 1 higher.