The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-31 00:00:00

IRONMASTE.RS' MEETING.

BIRMINGHAM, DEC. 29.—The meeting of ironmasters,
preliminary to the January quarterly meetings, was held in
Birmingham to-day, and was influentially attended by prin-
cipals, or representatives, of the principal firms of the neigh-
bourhood. There was but one opinion as to the satisfactory
state of the trade, the only question being, whether an ad-
vance should be recommended, and, as far as that meeting
was concerned, determined upon ; or, whether present rates
should only be maintained. It will be recollected that within
these few weeks there has been an advance of 20s. per ton
upon manufactured iron, and this having been accepted or
acceded to, without any re-action as re•Pa rds demand, it has
been thought by many that a further advance, owing to in-
creased rather than decreased requirements, might be justified.
There were, however, two opinions upon this matter, and,
after some discussion, it was resolved to let well alone,
and for the present to be content with existing prices. It is
probable, however, that before long another rise will take
place. A local authority upon the subject says :
"In every branch of the trade full activity prevails; or-
ders continue abundant for rods, bars, sheets, plates, and
rails ; for castings, also, there is a large demand, while pig
iron has been in such request that good qualities are mostly
bought up for next quarter, and prices have lately been ob-
tained at rates considerably beyond the proportion generally
observed between raw and manufactured iron. The manu-
facturers who plead for a return to £ll for bars, £l2 for
hoops, and £l3 for sheets, have therefore a reasonable claim
to lay before their customers."
The more prudent course has, however, been adopted—
that of declaring the legitimacy of the late advance, leaving
' any attempt to recover the higher position for more private
efforts during the ensuing smarter, should the nature of
events justify such an effort. 'the same authority says :
" The 40s. movements introduced into the resolutions of
these meetings, under the go-a-head policy and march of the
last few years, have been followed by results mainly demon-
strating that the highest points of elevation in the iron
trade, as elsewhere, are most securely attained by a gradual
ascent."

A Sailors' Home is about to be erected at Leith.

The receiving office in the Queen's bench prison, London,
will be closed from the 6th of January next.

THE DIPLOMATIC DUEL RUMOURED DEATH OF
MR. SOULE. - There is a very general rumour
to-day that there has been a third duel in Madrid,
between the Duke de Alba and M. Soule, the
American ambassador, and that Soule was killed.
These ambassadors have a singular notion of
honour : they forgot that they have great public
interests to represent, and that it is a dereliction
of duty to expose those interests to injury, by
exposing themselves in private quarrels. As
well might a general-in-chief, in presence of an
enemy, accept a challenge from some bourgeois
at the risk of his being killed, and exposing the
army entrusted to him to defeat, from the death of
its chief.