The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 20, 1853.

AMERICA.

ARRIVAL OF THE BALTIC.
LIVERPOOL, JULY 19.

By the arrival of the steamer Baltic, Comstock
commander, we have advices from New York to
the 9th instant.

The steam-ship Hermann, from Southampton,
arrived on the 7th, and the steam-ship America,
from Liverpool, at Boston on the same day.
The news by this arrival is almost entirely devoid
of interest. _ _ _

Mr. Crampton, the British Minister, had left
Washington for Halifax for the purpose of having
a personal interview with Admiral Seymour rela-
tive to the fishery question.

A good business has been transacted in dividend
—paying securities in the New York stock-market
at former prices. The money-market was very
easy and well supplied ; exchange on London, 109
to 1094 ; Paris, sf. 12ic. to sf. 132 c. ; Amsterdam,
41 to 414 ; Hamburg, 36.4 to 36i ; Bremen, 79i to
Cotton was in good demand at an advance of
one-eighth per pound. Sales for the week, 5,500
bales.

The flour-market was languid in consequence of
large supplies, and closed heavily at a slight de-
cline.

There was no alteration in the price of wheat.
Indian corn was in moderate demand, at a slight
decline in price.
Mess pork in good demand, at $l5l to $l5l per
tierce.

Beef quiet, at $l2 to $l3, for city mess.
Butter and cheese without change, and in good
demand, at slightly enhanced prices.

AUSTRALIA.

- The dates from Australia by the Woolloomooloo are
to the 21st of April, and 18 days later from Sydney than
those previously received. She brings 45,000 oz. of gold,
valued at 180,0001., and has made the passage home in
88 days, her outward trip having been accomplished in
87 days. In addition to her large amount of gold, she
has also 1,614 bales of wool on board, and her general
news is highly satisfactory. All the New South Wales
mines were yielding steadily, but the principal success
appears to have been at Meroo and in the neighbour-
hood of the Peel, the Hanging Rock diggings having
again become popular. With regard to imported articles,
it appears that, owing to the scanty arrivals from Europe,
there had been a further inflation of prices ; and it is
stated that the disproportion between the demands of
the Sydney market and its supplies, in respect to almost
every description of goods, had never been so great or
so trying at any previous period. The Legislative
Council were to meet on the 11th of May.
From Melbourne (Victoria) the dates on this occasion
are to the 16th of April. No specific accounts are given
of the gold production during the preceding three weeks,
but it seems to have been satisfactory, and the price had
declined from 775. to 755. 3d. per ounce. Here, also, every
description of merchandise was in demand at extreme
prices. At Mount Alexander an attempt was being made
to form a company for the purchase of large blocks of land
to be divided into small farms. A new gold field had
been discovered at a place called Kilmore, about 60
miles from the city, and, in consequence of its having
been alleged that tin ore exists in great quantities and
in its most valuable form in the Ovens gold district, a
company was also projected for developing this new
source of wealth. Among the vessels that had lately
sailed for England were the Condor, on the sth of April,
with 21,882 ounces of gold, worth 87,0001., and the
Nelson, on the 15th of April, with 20,623 ounces, worth
82,0001. The former of these ships has since been heard
of as having taken fire off the coast of Brazil, where
her cargo was saved. The latter, in addition to her
gold, has 1,048 bales of wool on board.
The Adelaide (South Australia) advices received at
Sydney were to the 9th of April. A return of the trade
of the colony during the quarter ending the 25th of
March showed imports amounting to 440,3281., and
exports of the value of 954,7601., of which 663,4471.
was gold that had been brought overland from Mel-
bourne. The markets were very firm, and the last
quotation of Burra Burra shares was 134 k. The Shax-
amaxon bad sailed for Swansea on the 4th of April
with 14,108 ounces of gold, valued at 56,0001.
The Launceston (Van Diemen's Land) dates are to
the Bth of April. Gold had been found at Port Sorrell,
and it was also alleged to have been met with in large
quantities near Port Frederick, both these places being
on the northern coast of the island.

(Front the Sydney Morning Herald, April 20.)
On the eve of the Woolloomooloo's departure from
this port for England, we take the opportunity of offer-
ing to our readers in the mother country a few observa-
tions on the present aspect of affairs in New South
Wales.

And in the first place we must remark that no subject
occupies more general attention just now in our com-
mercial circles than the extremely unsatisfactory state
of our steam communication with England. The Aus-
tralian Royal Mail Steam Company's ship Adelaide is
more than two months overdue, and even her successor,

the Victoria, is a week behind her time. With regard
to the former, disappointment at the non-arrival of her
snails has in some degree given way to a deep anxiety
for the safety of the ship and all on board of her. No
tidings whatever having been received of her movements
since the end of December, when she was to resume her
voyage in a day or two, fears are entertained that she
must have met with some fatal disaster. The conse-
quences of these delays in our postal communications
have, of course, been exceedingly irksome to the whole
community. With some exceptions there are no private
letters in Sydney of later date than October, being those
brought out by the Melbourne. In many instances our
merchonts find themselves iu the strange position of
having received goods without the invoices, the latter
having been transmitted by the steamer's mails under the
full expectation that they would come to hand long be-
fore the cargoes, a process just the reverse of what has
happened. But the merchandise being in urgent de-
mand, sales are effected at conjectural prices, good care
being taken, however, to leave an ample margin for pro-
fit, whatever the invoice prices may turn out to be.
Indeed, the disproportion between the demands of our
market and its supplies, in almost every description of
goods, was never so great and so trying, as it is at this
moment. Hard goods and soft goods, luxuries and ne-
cessaries, articles for eating and drinking, articles for
wearing and using, are at the minimum of stock and
maximum of price. Advances on cost price in England,
taken not partially but generally, not as the exceptions
of trade, but as its rule, were never so enormous as now.
Our commercial report of yesterday quotes rates of ad-
vance as high as 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, and even
2,400 per cent. What will British tradesmen, accus-
tomed to " small profits and quick returns," think of
this—especially when they are told that these gigantic
profits are coupled with the favourite quickness of re-
turn, the transactions resulting, not from any mania of
speculation, but from a sober estimate of the actual
wants of the market for daily consumption ? The im-
porter asks high prices because he knows the retail
vendor can well afford to pay them, the latter knowing,
in turn, that the majority of his customers must and
will have the goods cost what they may.
The fact is, in gold countries the ordinary rules for
calculating the relations between supply and demand do
not hold goo'd. The usual basis of such calculations is
the number of individuals to be provided for. The mer-
cantile experience of the world affords a sufficient clue
to the average consumption of a given description of
merchandise by a given amount of population. But,
with regard to countries teeming with auriferous wealth,
such experience has yet to be acquired. The United
States may, indeed, have begun to acquire it
from their transactions with California, but the mer-
chants of Great Britain have the lesson to learn.
The extraordinary change which has taken place in the
Australian markets within the last 12 or 15 months is
not clearly understood in British counting-houses.
We speak within the truth when we say that any cal-
culations as to the present and future capacity of the
Australian markets, based on an average of years ante-
rior to our great discovery, would he a fault, if guided
only by the relative numbers of population, and did not
allow at least 100 per cent. for the increased ratio of
consumption. The opulence which the gold has diffused
through these communities has, we are sure, doubled
the former desire to possess and the former ability to
purchase whatever contributes to the enjoyment of life ;
but, while our numbers have been multiplying at so
rapid a rate, and our means of expenditure advancing
with a still greater velocity, our supplies have not ex-
ceeded what they were when our numbers were small
and our circumstances comparatively poor.
The gold produce of New South Wales continues
steady, averaging, when compared with the whole
number of persons engaged in digging, about au ounce
per week per man. Large nuggets, weighed by the
ounce or the pound, are the prizes of the lucky few.
The average success is just now at the medium point,
which best consorts with the general walfare of the
colony—neither so great as seriously to disturb the
ordinary pursuits of industry, nor so small as to dis-
courage the diggers as a body. The colonists are still
strongly of opinion that the auriferous developments of
New South Wales are only in their infancy, and that as
our population increases, though the average prcduce
per man may not much exceed what it is at present, the
aggregate produce of the colony will infinitely surpass
anything heretofore realised.
We rejoice to add, that our agricultural prospects are
most encouraging. Notwithstanding the severe trials
from the scarcity of labour our farmers have been more
than usually assiduous in attending to their farms. It
is thought that in the principal grain-growing districts
there is a greater breadth of land under cultivation and
a richer promise for the next harvest than in any former
year.
Our farmers are not the only class pinched by a want
of labour. It is felt throughout all the ramifications of
society. But if there be one description of labour more
called for than another, it is that of mechanics especially
carpenters, masons, bricklayers, plasterers, blacksmiths,
cabinetmakers—in short, all persons employed in rearing
and furnishing human habitations. Increasing popula-
tion and increasing wealth create a corresponding
demand for dwelling-houses, more in number and
superior in kind. These are rising up a 3 fast as the
stinted labour market will allow. But in comparison
with our wants they are rising slowly. It is scarcely
an exaggeration to say that any number of artisans,
of the kinds just mentioned, that England can send out,
would find ready employment at high rates of wages.
There is no royal road even to Australian gold. Like
knowledge, it can be reached only by earnest and perse-