Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-16 00:00:00

CORK BUTTER MARKET. DEG. 15.

There were about 1,800 kegs and firkins at market to-day, which
were disposed of as follows:—Firsts, 106 s; Seconds, 935;
87s, and Fourths, 753 per cwt.

GLASGOW PIG IRON MARKET.-DEC. 15.

The market was dull and fiat to-day at the following prices —Ne.
51s 6d to 52s ; Mixed Nos., warrants, 50s 6d to 51s 3d; Ditto
maker's iron, 50s to 51s ; No. 3,47 s 6d to 4&s per ton.

THE IRON TRADE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.

Within the last five years, owing to the discovery of immense beds
of ironstone, in the Cleveland hills and the facility of procuring
ample supplies of fuel from our own well-known coal fields, the north
of England bids fair to become, at a very early period, a formidable
rival. as an iron-prod•acing district, to Scotland, Staffordshire, and
South Wales, localities which have been considered hitherto the
chief seats of ihe iron trade of the United Kingdom. How far this
assertion is justified, may be gathered from the fact that, in the three
districts ju•t named, and where the manufacture of pig, iron has re-
quired not less than from 30 to 50 years to mature it, the production,
as Riven in the government returns for last year, was Staffordshire,
907,731 tons; South Wale•, 877,150 tons; and Scotland, 880 500
tons ; whereas the furnaces now supplied with ironstone from the
Yorkshire hills yielded, during the sane period, 510,770 tons, or
near one sixth of the entire produce of pig iron in the United King-
dom. At present, with one or two exceptions, the mines in Cleveland
are held by only tour firm•, viz.—Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan,
Middlesbr t' ; Messrs. Pease, Darlington ; Messrs. Attwoods and
parings, Towlaw ; and Messrs. Bell Brothers, Newcastle. Of these
houses, the first three, in addition to supplying their own furnaces,
are large vendors of i onstone; whilst Bell Brothers, either at their
own works or at furnaces they are concerned inomeit the entire pro-
duce of their mines. From their early a..quaintan:e with the district,
these firms, it is understood, have securea under lease by far the best
portions of the mineral fields it contains ; but, in addition to these
mines, Messrs. Palmer, on the coast, near Staithes, and the Sa'ainby
Mining Company, and Messrs. Wren, on the North Yorkshire and
Cleveland Railway, are also In a position to work considerable
quantities of ironstone from their mines; but, in all these cases, the
ironstone is much less abundant than on the four royalties first
named. The great demand which has prevailed during recent years,
added to these mineral resources, has produced the results given
above ; and we regret to find that the prostration of commerce gener-
ally has extended its influence to the iron trade of the north to such
an extent, that at a meeting of the ironmaiters, held at Middlesbro'
a week ago, it was decided to extinguish above one; fourth of the
furnaces of our neighbourhood, the effect of which will be a weekly
decrease of something like .&8,000 in workmen's wages.—Newe.slle
Chronicle.

THE OVERSTONE PEERAGE.-Mr. Jones Loyd became
Baron Overst one in 1850, and consequently under the reign
of the Whig Ministry, but the crealion was understood at
the time to be one of the legacies of Sir Robert Peel to
his successors in office.

ECOINING AT THE ROYAL MINT.—In former times, when
the coinage was in the hands of the Company of M. neyers,
and the machinery of the Minr was worked by them, the
production of 1,000,000 sovereigns a month was considered
an extraordinary accomplishment. The late sudden demand
for sovereigns has put to the test the capabilities of the es-
tablishment, au?./ the efficiency of its machinery under the
existing er,tem, and the result has been creditable to the
officers and men employed in this department. 3,000,000
...gove':eigns have bean coined and forwarded to the Bank of
svngland within fire weeks; and in one week not less than
840,000 have been turned out—a feat altogether unexam.
Ipled in the history of coining.—Civil Service Gazette,