The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-24 00:00:00

The Price of Gold.

The quotation of gold at Paris is about 1 per mine pm., and
the short exchange on London is 25.30 per 41 sterling. On
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3
ids. 100. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold la
about 4-10 the per cent. dealer in London than in Paris.
By advices from Hamburg the price of gold is 425 per mark
and the short exchange on London is 13.61 per £1 sterling.
tandard gold at the English dirt price is, therefore, about
7-10ths per cent. dearer in London than in Hamburg
The course of exchange at New York on London for bills at
60 days' sight is 141 to 1411 per cent., and the premium on
gold is about 28} per cent. At these prices there is scarcely
any profit on the importation of gold from the United
States.

A QUASI-CONFEDERATE AGENT.—During eight
or ten days past there has sojourned at Queens-
town a rather young man, of seafaring aspect, giving his
name as "Captain Fisher," who has succeeded in gulling
the knowing ones of the town to an extent that no person
possessing any knowledge of them would have given them
credit for. From the time of his arrival till the moment of
his departure he has played the part of confidential agent
of the Confederate Government of South America, and
such has been the tact and ability with whieh he has worn
the mask, that scarce one of those who held most familiar
converse with him had, up to the last moment, the slightest
suspicion of its reality. Th 3 local authorities appear
to have fallen victims to the hoax played by " Captain
Fisher" as completely as the least informed of those who
made his acquaintance. He was lionized by a large section
of the respectable townspeople, and hotel proprietors felt
themselves honoured by being permitted to hold him their
debtor. " Captain Fisher" also appears to have had a sort
of prescriptive right to the use of everybody else's property,
be the same an overcoat, an opera glass, a Malacca cane, or
a £lO note, it mattered not. Suddenly, however, "Captain
Fisher," confidential agent to the Confederate Government
withdrew his presence in a manner most unceremonious
from amongst his large circle of Queenstown acquaint-
ances and admirers—fortunately for himself, just in time
to escape the consequences of the denoument which was
impending. On Saturday morning he left his hotel with
one gentleman's coat on his back and another gentle•
man's valuable glass in his hand—merely to speak fur a
moment with a captain on business, and leaving in-
structions, should any one inquire for him, that he
would be back at nine o'clock sharp. The terminus of
the Direct Railway, however, chanced to fall in his way
within the hour stipulated, and " Captain Fisher" found it
more convenient to proceed to Cork than to return to meet
the numerous friends who would, doubtless, be anxious to
say good morning to him at the hotel. The transit thence
to the terminus of the Great Southern and Western Rail-
way was easy and natural, and so the quasi Confederate
agent departs—whither no one knows—leaving, as a small
souvenir of his distinguished patronage, sundry little bills
(the least amounting to £l2) due at the several hotels and
other establishments which he had frequented during his
stay. The cat now escapes from the bag, and some little
inquiry results in the discovery that he has played a similar
game at Liverpool (where he was known as Captain Gor-
don), Belfast, and other places with scarcely inferior success.
Cork Herald.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.—The geological survey
made considerable progress during the last year ; 2,430
square miles were surveyed in Great Britain ; the publica-
tion of the maps proceeded, and memoirs were issued illus-
trating the geology of the Isle of Wight and the country
round Bolton-le-Moors. In Ireland the new ground exa-
mined amounted to about 1,028 square miles ; four new
numbers explanatory of the maps were issued. The sur-
veyors were also engaged on the re-examination of the
districts of igneous rocks running from Wicklow into
Waterford. Of the Royal school of mines, formerly called
the Government school of mines, Sir Roderick Murchison
reports satisfactorily. Statistical records of all our lead
mines, carefully prepared, now extend back to 1768.
Since 1845 every sale has been recorded. The production
of copper and tin mines is regularly registered, and
the statistics of capper mining are now complete
from 1815, and those of tin since 1852. The estimated
value (at the place of production) of the coal and metals
produced in the United Kingdom in 1861 was £34,602,853.
The results elicited by the Exhibition were very encourag-
ing to all who take an interest in the Royal School of
Mines. The pupils were foremost a-uong the champians of
the great industrial contest. The new industry of coal-tar
colours is generally admitted to have been the most str.king
feature in the department chymistry, and this industry ema-
nated directly from the laberatory of the Royal School of
Mines; Mr. Perkin, Dr. Medloek, Messrs. Nicholson, Maule
and Simpson, to whose exertions the colossal development of
these branches of chymical manufacture is chiefly due, re-
ceived their chymical education from Dr. Hoffman in this in..
stitution. The foreign jurors bore testimony to the accuracy
of delineation in the maps and sections of the department,
and the order and arrangement of the museum; and it was
from this that to many valuable donations were offered to
the museum of Signor Sella, recently Minister of Finance
of the Kingdom of Italy, himself a distinguished mailema.
tician and crystallographer, and employed by his-Govern.
ment to visit the raining and geological schools and esta-
blishments of Europe, with a view to the formation of a
geological survey of Italy, writes iu an official report,
" England is, without doubt, the country where geological
maps are prepared with much greater accuracy than
.in tuly
other land. The.singular importance of her mining indus
tries' the spread of the elementary principles of geology,
the zeal applied by the geologists charged with these
labours, and the precision .of their works have been so ac-
complished that few undertakings of the British. Govan-
'Dent have so much contributed to the benefit of the EathliO
0.8 the Geological Survey of the Malted hangdora,"