The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-11 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE.

MANCHESTER, Feb. 10.—In yarns there has been
almost a total cessation of business. To tffect sales
sellers would liaise to accept Id. per lb. under the
rates of Friday, and even at that decline it is doubt-
ful whether the buying VI mild have been large.
There have been many low offers made for the pur-
pose of testing prices, and in order to see how tar
spinners wouid go in accepting a decline, but we
hear of very little business resulting from them.
The cloth market has also been very inactive since
Friday. There has, indeed, been an almost total
absence of business for all markets. Manufacturers
and holders of cloth on speculation show a certain
degree of firmness, but in cases where sales have
been made to day there has been more or ;ess of con-
cession in prices. The cause of depression appears
to be the same as that in the cotton market at Liver-
pool, and there can be no doubt that it arises in a
great measure from a growing apprehension that
the American struggle is approaching a close, and
that a settlement will be effected either through
mediation or the exhaustion of the belligerents.
What such an impression may be worth is another
question. There are telegrams from Bombay and
Calcutta. The latest from Calcutta (26th January)
reports shirtings 2 to 4 annas (3d. to 6d.)
higher, and yarns firm; and that from Bombay
(27th of January) shows some improvement there,
These advises, however, have led to no
increase of business in this market, but
though the operations have been few We do not
hear of many sellers who are pressing sales.
The advice to a recent date give the prices of cotton.

cloths in India and China at 6d. to 7d. per lb. below
the buying prices here, which is equal to 4s. to 4s.
Bd. per piece on an 81b. shirting; so that there does
not seem to be much probability of a resumption of
shipments of any magnitude for those markets at
present. Shippers appear to be of opinion that unfler
no circumstances, even if the largo stocks still in
India were cleared off, can we expect to have any
considerable revival of trade at the present high
rates. Messrs. Fender and Co. say :—" The whole
question of the consumption of cloth is one of price.
Will the same quantity be consumed, with cotton at
18d. per lb., that has been consumed when cotton
was 6d. ? We think not." The periods when we
have had the largest shiprents to all markets, and
when dealers could push the sales of calicoes to the
largest extent, have been those when the cost of
cotton cloths here has been as low as ls. (and under
that) per lb. The quotations here lest week were

2s. to 2s. id. per lb. (and these far from remunera-
tive to manufacturers at the current rates of cotton).
Assuming that the fund which consumers of cali-
coes have to expend is about the same as in 1860,
the measure of our trade at present prices will be
something less than half what it was, even if the
insufficiency of supply does not still further curtail
it. Messrs. Pender and Co. estimate the cotton sup-
ply for the present year at 20,000 to 21,000 bales,
against 48,000 bales per week in 1860, which, they
say, will apparently be sufficient for the demand
anticipated. Whether millowners can be induced.
to use up even the supply of cotton we now
have depends very much upon price and upon the
Weediness of the cotton market, which at present is
subject to great fluctuation and to sudden checks
through the spirit of speculation which manifests
itself from time to time. The prospects of our ope-
rati. es, therefore, whatever the returns as to a pre-
sent increase of employment may seem to indicate,
cannot be very cheering until we have a larger and
cheaper supply of cotton. To the present time the
distress does not appear to have told upon the com-
mercial equally with the operative classes. In Man-
chester, for instance, where the mill operatives are
in far less proportion to the total inhabitants than
in surrounding towns, we have not yet that evidence
of distress in closed houses and places of business
which marked long periods of depressed trade prior
to the repeal of the Corn Laws. In a return made
at one of the periods referred to it was stated that
upwards of '7,000 houses, shops, and places of busi-
ness were tenantless, and no one could walk through
our streets, and especially into the suburbs, without
evidences of ruin and decay meeting the eye. In
the present crisis we have not yet reached this state
of things, or at least the evidences of distress do not
challenge attention to trio same extent or in the
same way. If we have had only half the quantity
of cloth to sell, it hes changed hands many times
(owing to speculation), and it has been sold at
double prices; so that agents have been enabled to
reap double the amount in commission they would
otherwise have been entitled to. Perhaps it is a
misfortune, however, that under such circum-
stances business does not always flow in the
same channels as formerly, and that while some
business men, going in the olden and ap-
proved tracks, have not made rent and office ex-
penses, others, more alive to the exigencies and cir-
cumstances of the time and trade, have monopolised
more than a fair share of the profits to be had. In-
stances are known of men who have made immense
sums of money, apparently building up sudden for-
tunes amid the wreck and decay around them. Even
manufacturers, in some instances, stepping out of
their own line and entering the field of commerce,
have realised fabulous amounts ; but such cases are
rare, and millowners, as a rule, are, like their work-
psople, not only suffering severely from their in-
comes having bean suddenly cut off, but see their
capital gradually wasting and in danger of disap-
pearing altogether. Nor can it be expected, if the
present dearth of cotton long continues, that the
exceptions pointed out in favour of the commercial
classes will continue. A contracting business will
naturally contract into few hands, and poverty and
distress will spread till they they embrace men of
all classes alike within their grasp.

LEEDS, Feb. 10.—The cloth halls this morning
have been very thinly attended, and very few goods
were on offer of the kind which just now are most
inquired after. A large clearance of low meltons
and light spring fancies having taken place on Sa-
turday, the manufacturers have not had sufficient
opportunity to replenish their stocks. No doubt
any future supplies will be eagerly bought up, not-
withstanding the slight advance in price which took
place at the end of last week. The trade in good
plain cloths is almost at a stand, but some of
the oldest houses in the trade anticipate a strong
revival. This idea is encouraged by the fact that
the trade is now much quieter than it has been
known to be for a long time in the large districts
where cloths are manufactured by an admixture of
other materials with wool.
NOTTINGHAM, 10TH.—At this
l Exchange
to-
day there was a good attendance o.
merchants h al laudarand han
ut
faec tur ei.
s.
alteration
verywa
squslteigthbt. but firm,The
dull advices from
aLriverpßorool
whandnaettesnwdeernecyabtooucht check
sales in hosiery yn•
same as on Friday.
ROCHDALE, 9rll.—The flannel market has been
rather quiet to-day. Some kinds of goods have been
advanced in price by the manufacturers, which
caused buyers to put some restriction upon their
purchases and their orders. In Yorkshire goods there
is a steady business at late prices. "Wools are very
firmly held by the staplers, and a moderate business
is doing.

ACTS OF UNIFORMITY AMENDMENT BILL.—The
bill which Lord Ebury has laid before the House of
Lords proposes to repeal so much of the Acts of Uniformity
as requires ecclesiastical functionaries to " declare their un-
feigned assent and consent to all and everything contained
and prescribed in and by the Book of Common Prayer."
Bnt the bill is to leave untouched the clause which requires
such persons to declare " that they will conform to the
Liturgy." The bill proposes also to declare that the enact-
ment which requires that morning or evening prayer be read
before the preaching of a sermon or lecture, and that the
lecturer be present at the reading thereof, is to be deemed
to extend only to the case of a sermon or lecture preached
by a lecturer properly so called, and not to a sermon
preached by the incumbent or his curate.
CHESS IN PARIS.—M. Kolisch, who now writes
on chess in the Nord, has the following :—" A
chess-soir6e took place a few evenings back at the residence
of the Countess de Colbert. :Among the persons present
were Mr. Paul Morphy, M. de Riviere, one of the best
and M. Preti, the author of several well-
known works. rs
wrolrakyse.-N e cannot unfortunately offer to our readers
the games played on this and other occasions lately between
Mr. Morphy and M. de Riviere ; we can only announce the
result of five games played—three were won by U. de Ai"
viere, and two by Mr, Morphy."

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

MIDLAND.

The directors state in their report that the re-
ceipts, compared with those of the corresponding
half-year of 1861, under the several heads, are as
follow :—From coaching, £424,110, showing an
increase of £18,889 ; from minerals, £243,356, show-
ing a decrease of £7,355; from merchandize,
£155,195, showing an increase of £18,361 ; from
cattle, £18,360, showing an increase of £978; the
result of the whole being an increase of £30,873.
The balance available to dividend is £408,734, of
which £2,081 is brought from the account of the
previous half-year; and the directors are enabled
to recommend the declaration of the following divi-
dends (less income-tax), payable on the 2d of March
next :—£3 ss. upon each £lOO Consolidated Stock ;
£2 lls. 3d. upon each £lOO Consolidated Birming-
ham and Derby Stock ; £3 upon each £lOO Conso-
lidated Preferential Stock; £3 ss. upon each £lOO
Consolidated Erewash Valley Stock ; £2 ss. upon
each £lOO Consolidated 41 per cent. Preferential
Stock; £2 upon each £lOO Leicester and Hitchin
Preferential Stock; ss. upon each £lOO Cense-
Edited Irredeemable 41 per cent, Preferential.
Stock ; 2s. lid. upon each £6 4s. share, being half-
year on £2 145., and 75 days on £1 10s, per share,
at £6 lOs per cent. per annum, leaving a balance of
£4,186 for the current half-year. The remainder
of the £6 4s. shares left unallotted in the hands of
the company have been soli during the half-year,
and the premiums realised upon the sale, amount-
ing to £1,063, placed to the credit of the insurance
fund, which now amounts to £55,363. Mr. Kid-
ley reports—" That the rolling stock is in good
working order, and that, during the half-year end-
ing the 31st of December, 1862, the mileage per-
formed by trains has been as follows—With pas-
senger trains, 2,106,959 miles; with goods and
mineral trains, 2,279,534 miles; total, 5,086,493
miles ; which, compared with the corresponding
period of last year, show an increase with the
passenger trains of 274,485 miles, and with
goods and mineral trains of 236,005 ; total in-
crease, 510,690. The renewals of locomotive
stock for the half-year have been twelve engines,
13 carriages, 17 break-vans, 8 horse boxes, 4 car-
riage trucks, and 138 waggons, the entire cost of
which has been charged to revenue." The works of
the Rowsley and Buxton line have progressed to
the satisfaction of the engineer ; the tunnels and
other heavy portions are well advanced, and the
directors expect that the line will be ready for traffic
on the first of June next. The contract for the
Whitacre and Nuneaton line was let in November
last, and the works have been commenced; the
period for completion stipulated in the contract is
the Ist of July, 1864. A contract for the construc-
tion of the Ashchnrch & Evesham Railway has also
been let, and the directors expect the line will be
completed in the course of the present year. After
mature deliberation the directors have arrived at the
conclusion that it is now necessary to provide an
independent access for the great and rapidly inereas-
ing traffic to and from the metropolis. The occupa-
tion for this purpose of the district lying between
the Great Northern and London and North Western
Railways, by an extension of the Midland Railway,
will at the same time be attended with much local
as well as general public convenience. The neces-
sary steps have accordingly been taken for promot-
ing a bill in the present session of Parliament to
enable the company to construct a railway from
Bedford, by way of Ampthill, Luton, and St. Albans
to London. The length of railway and branches
to be made is 51i miles, and the estimates cost
£1,750,000. The directors have, with the assent of
th 3 directors of the Bristol and Exeter Railway
Company, introduced a bill to effect a junction be-
tween the Bristol and Birmingham line and that of
the Bristol and Exeter Railway in the city of
Bristol, and also to enter into agreements with that
company to lay down additional lines of railway on
the narrow gauge between the point of junction and
the passenger and goods stations of the Bristol and
Exeter Railway Company at Bristol, and for the
use of those stations by the Midland Company.
The estimated cost of the line and works is £15,000.
'lnB ulreu"'"" - t4acuaucea o LILA.. Alfa ..a.--
abiing the Midland Railway Company to construct
a branch to connect the town of Barnsley, and
the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway
at Barnsley, with the Midland Railway near the
Cudworth Station. It is about 41 miles in length,
and the estimated cost £78,278; also a branch to
connect the town of Wirksworth and the Cromford,
and High Peak Railway with the Midland Railway
at Duffield. Its length will be 91 miles, and the
estimated cost £59,636. A line from Staveley to
the Doe Lea Valley ; length about 5 miles ; esti-
mated cost £27,990. This branch will connect the
Midland Railway with a very large and valuable
coalfield for which the proprietors are desirous to find
an outlet. The directors believe it will bring a con-
siderable increase of traffic to the main line, and
prove in other respects advantageous to the company.
The directors are also the promoters of a bill, jointly
-with the Furness Railway Company, for the con-
struction of a railway to be called the " Furness and
Midland Railway," for the purpose of connecting
the coast railways of Cumberland and Westmore-
land and the Lake District, with the Midland Rail-

way, by a line commencing at Carnforth and termi-
nating at or near Wennington, on the Little North
Western Railway. The line is about 10 miles in
length, and the estimated cost £150,000, of which
the Midland Company is to contribute one-half. The
new railways and works authorised by Parliament
in the sessions of 1861 and 1862 having been com-
menced, it has now become necessary to raise capi-
tal under the provisions of the following Acts of Par-
liament, or some of them—namely, the Midland
Railway (New Lines) Act, 1861, £390,000 ; Addi-
tional Powers Act, 1861, £100,000; the Otley and
Ilkley Extension Act, 1861, 1150,000: the Rowsley
and Buxton Extension Act, 1862, £380,000 ; the Ad-
ditional Powers Acts, 1862, £120,000. The shares
to be created under the Acts of 1861 will be of £5
each, and those under the Acts of 1862 of £4 each,
and such shares are to be entitled to a preferential
dividend at the rate of £5 per centum per annum,
payable half-yearly, the firat payment to be for the
half-year ending the 31st of December, 1865, and
to be paid with the dividends of the ordinary stock
of the company.