Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-15 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES.-LIVE

experience will be of great service to the new bank. In
the selntion of a manager, by far the most important
appointment in the arrangements of a banking establish-
ment, the directors have been peculiarly fortunate—Mr.
Brown's qualifications for his important and responsible
office are admitted by all parties.
At the Llndon Court of Bankruptcy yesterday,
a petition was opened on behalf of the assignees of
the Royal British Bank against Mr. Loran de
Wolf Cochran, shipowner and merchant, of South
Sea House, and who was also one of the directors
of the Royal British Bank.

Letters from Paris says :
The dead season has set in for most of our manufactures,
and we cannot expect a revival of business before next
month. The large adv,oneas made by, the Bank of France
during the last fortnight cannot be attributed to the dea
mands of ordinary trade, but are owing to speculations in
silks and wools, and also to some extent, perhaps, to the
necessities of certain banking-houses, who have made
over all their disposable paper to the Bank of France,
to obtain fonds to pay for the new shares lately
brought into the market. The Paris and Lyons houses
have not yet felt much benefit from the new American
tariff, which came into operation on July 1. The high
price of taw materials continues to check sales, notwith-
standing the lowness of stocks generally. At Lyons and
St. Rienne much uncertainty is still felt as to the result
of the silk crop. In the south of France it has un-
doubtedly been • better than last year, but it does not
appear that the same thing can be said in other silk
producing countries, where the prices are now exorbi-
tant. No considerable fall in the silk is therefore to be
expected this year. Corn continues to fall. Flour has
declined from 2fr. 50c. to 21r. the sack since last week.
No very great fall, however, is to be looked for till after
harvest. The farmers feel the want of hands even more
than they have done of late years. Toe Belgian reapers
have not come over in such numbers as usual, and it is
very much to be desired that the governmEnt should,
without loss of time, authorise the military to lend a help-
ing hand to get in the crops. The news from the wine
districts continues to be very favourable.
The following are the latest quotations of the
Foreign Exchanges :—Amsterdam, short, 11 17
to 11 18 ; ditto, three months,l2 to 12t; R,)tterdam,
do., 121 to 121; Antwerp, do , 25 45 to 25 524 ;
Brussels, do., 25 45 to 25 521 ; Hamburg, do , 13
84 to 13 81; Paris, short, 25 224 to 25 274 ,
ditto, three months, 25 621 to 25 671; Marseilles,
do., 25 65 to 25 671 ; Frankfort, do., 1194 to 1194 ;
Vienna, do , 10 29 to 10 31 ; Trieste, ditto, 10 29 to
10 32 ; St. Petersburg, do., 86i to 364 ; Madrid
48,1- to 484
The ordinary general meeting of the City Bank
was held in London this forenoon. The report
congratulated the proprietors on the steady in-
crease of business, and, after transferring the sum
of 18,0001 to the. reserved fund, a dividend at the
rate of Si per cent. per annum was propoSed, and a
bonus of lOs per share, both free of income tax.
The report was- unanimously adopted.
At the annual meeting of the Peel River Land
and Mineral Company held this day a dividend
of is per share was recommended out of the
estimated profits on the year's transactions. The
amount of profit was 8,031/ The progress of the
company was more satisfactory, but there was a
)' falling off in the gold licences.
The half-yearly meeting of.the St. Katherine's
Dock Company has also been held to-day, at which
a report was presented showing the net profis in
the company's business for the half-year to be
47,8751. A dividend of 24 per cent. for the half-
year was declared, The report was adopted.
This afternoon the usual half-yearly meeting of
the proprietors of the London and Greenwich
Railway was held, Mr. Josiah Wilson, chairman of
the board of directors, in the chair. A dividend at
the rate of ss. 3d. per share (clear of income-tax)
was declared on the old or unprivileged shares,
payable by warrant on and after the 16th instant.
The line being leased to the South Eastern, the
meeting was merely formal.
Wharucliffe meeting (adjourned from June
2f) was held at the Euston-square railway station
to-day, to authorise the construction of a railway
from Castle Douglas, in the stewartry of Kirkcud-
bright, to Portpatrick, in the county of Wigtown.
Mr. Benson, who occupied the chair, explained
that the only clause in the bill affecting that com-
pany was one empowering the directors to con-
tribute towards the undertaking at any future time,
if authorised by the shareholders, and proposed
the resolution giving the necessary assent, which
was adopted nem. dis.
The half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New
South Wales was held at Sydney on the 22nd April
last. The report of the directors was of the usual
favourable character. The nett profits for the half-
year amounted to £62,813 Os. 10d., which, with
the amount left over from the profits of the pre
vious haif-year made the sum for distribution
£64,476 10s. 93. Of this sum £50,000 was applied
as dividend (at the rate of 20 per cent. per annum)
13.063/. 4s. Bd. to increase Reserve Fund, and
1:423/. Os ld. carried over to next account. The
Reserve Fund had, by the addition named, and
1,9401. 15s. 4 i. recovered from bad debts previously
written off, reached the sum of 140,0001 The
report was unanimously adopted. and the power
of opening fresh branches where deemed expedient
was left in the hands of the Directors.