The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-28 00:00:00

BILLINGSGATE.

Eels, 10d to Is per lb. ; soles, 18 to 58 Od per pair ; cod -
4s Gd to 258 ; brill, 2s Od to lOs Od ; mullets, is to 38 6d ;
doreys, 2s to lOs ; turbot, 5s Od to 30s ; lobsters, is to 4s
Od ; crabs, is to 36 Gd each ; whitings, 4s to 15s ; had-
docks, 5s to 20s ; smelts, 2s Gd per dozen ; common oysters,
163 to 40s ; natives, 105 s to 126 s per bushel ; herrings, gs
to lOs ; mackerel, 60s per 120.

NEWPORT.
Beef, from 2s 10c1 to 4s 8d ; mutton,' 3s &I to 58 8d ;
veal, 4s 21 to 5s 2d; and pork, 4s 4d to 5s 10d per Blbs by
the carcase.
WHITECHAPEL.

Beef, from 2s 10d to 43 8d ; mutton, 3s 6d to 5s 8d ;
veal, 4s 2d to 53 2d; and pork, 4s 4d to Ss 10d per 81bs,
by the carcase.
BREAD.

Tho prices of wheaten bread in the metropolis are from
7d. to ?id. ; of household ditto, 51d. to 64d. per 4lbs. loaf.

HIDES AND SKINS.

-
Market hides 56 to 64 lbs, 3d to 31d. ; 64 to 72 lbs' 8141
to 3ad ; 72 to 801bs, 31,-d to 4d ; 80 to 881bs., 4d to 40; 88
to 961b5., 4-Isl. to W. ; 96 to 1041b5., 41d. to sd. Horse
hides, 9s to 10s Od ; calf skins (light), 2s to 4s ; full, 6s 6d ;
polled sheep, 7s 6d to 9s Od; half-breds, 6s 3d to 7s 3d ;
downs, 5s Od to Gs Od.
HAY.

SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, £4 4s. to £5 10s; clover,
£5 5s to £6 12s 6d ; and straw, £1 Gs, to £1 13s per load.
Trade steady. •
CUMBERLAND.—Meadow hay, £4 4s to £5 15s; clover,
£5 5s to £6 15s; and straw, £1 8s to £1 18s per -load.
A fair demand.

WHITECTIAPEL.—Meadow hay £4 4s to £5 108; clover,
£5 58 to £6 12s 6dl; and straw, -c1 ro fn
Trade nrms

THE MONEY OF THE ST. ALBANS BANKS.—An
item now going the rounds of the paper is calculated
to give the erroneous impression that the St. Albans
banks have received from the Canadian Government the
full amount of the money stolen from them by the raiders.
The fact is the banks lost $210,000 by the raiders. Of
this $90,000 was recaptured, placed in the hands of the
Canadian authorities, and afterwards by Coursol and La-
mothe was handed back to the raiders. This the Canadian
Government was legally bound and agreed to restore.
The amount appropriated by the Canadian Government
for this purpose was $50,000 in coin. At the time of its
appropriation, in January last, gold was worth 230 ; but
payment was delayed till the Bth day of April following;
when gold had declined so that the banks were not able to
realise over 150 from their sales. The consequence was
that the St. Albans Bank received only about $31,090 in
currency; the First National Bank received $27,000 in
currency, and the Franklin County Bank received $30,000
of its own stolen bills, purchased and returned to that
bank by an agent of the Canadian Government, appointed
for that purpose. It is currently reported that those bills
were purchased from the agent of the raiders, at Montreal,
at fifteen cents on the dollar.

AN ENGLISH FIREBRAND IN A3IERICA. —A young
Englishman of highly respectable connections in this
country, Mr. G. St. George Grenfell, has just been sen-
tenced by a military commission in America to be hanged.
President Johnson has, however, in consideration of re-
commendations by the commission, and the subsidence of
the rebellion, commuted the sentence to imprisonment for
life in the Dry Tortugas. The charges against Mr. Gren-
fell were of an attempt to release Confederate prisoners
from Camp Douglas, near Chicago, and to lay that city in
flames.=Pcd/ Mall Gazette.

DIRECT TRADE BETWEEN VIRGINIA AND FRANCE.
—A meeting of prominent citizens was held at Norfolk in
regard to the establishment of a line of steamers between
St. Nazaire, France, and Norfolk. Resolutions were passed
to the effect of carrying through the grand enterprise.
Some eight hundred thousand dollars are already sub-
scribed, the sum of three million dollars being needed to
carry out the views of the projectors. Louis Napoleon is
said to take an active interest in tho enterprise, and has
promised aid.

General Palmer, commanding in the State of
Kentucky, bad an interview with tho President a few days
ago relative to the military situation there. General
Palmer does not agree with Governor Bramlette that it is
necessary to remove the negro troops from that State, and
it is not probable that the troops will bo withdrawn from
the interior of the State, at least not for the present.

" The attention of the Director-General of Post-
offices is directed towards the acceleration of the
mails, particularly between Bombay and. Calcutta.
New arrangements are in progress to bring the
Bombay mails via Mirzapore to Calcutta, which, it is
expected, will be carried out -fry -November mext.
Much depends on the progress of the rail ways for
the full completion of the postal services via Nag-
pore and Mirzapore. At one time it was hoped
that the Nagpore branch of the railway would be
ready, as far as Wurda, the frontier of Nagpore, by
March, 1866 ; but now it seems that Nagpore will
not be reached until the beginning of 1867. How-
ever, in the meantime the roads are being hur-
ried on and expedited, and arrangements have been
made for a mail cart from Wurdah to Mirzapore,
from the beginning of November. The advisability
of changing the route for the overland mails between
Calcutta and Bombay will then be tested. The
adoption of the route via Mirzapore and Wurdah
will, it is expected, effect a saving of 13 hours in
the time of transit of the mails. Every gain in
point of despatch, however small, is to be de-
sired. The slight saving of time that will be thus
effected will not, however, do much towards
obviating the inconvenience at present result-
ing from the absurd arrangement through 'which
we are, during a portion of the year, reduced to a bi-
monthly communication with Europe. The simul-
taneous departure of the overland mail via Bombay,
and that from Calcutta, via Galle, renders the latter
mail perfectly useless for either general or commer-
cial purposes. Yet the public has still to pay
for a means of despatch from which it cannot
possibly derive any advantage. Now that Bom-
bay has been brought so near Calcutta,
the time has evidently arrived for establishing a
weekly mail between Bombay and England, in
lieu of the alternate fortnightly mail, via Bombay
and via Galle. The present arrangement is a mere
waste of the public money, and exposes the folly of
long contracts in such matters. The question has
long since been taken up by the Chamber of Com-
merce ; the Director-General of Post-offices has
urged the course we recommended in these columns
six months ago upon the Government of India ;
and the latter has addressed the Secretary of State
to the same effect. It appears, however, that in
some way or other the convenience of Australia and
China would be affected, and, while threatened with

an enhanced rate of postage, we are the last con-
sidered.

" An English company is, we understand, in the
course of formation, which proposes the embankment
of the whole river frontage of the Hooghly, from
Prinsep Ghat to Chitpore-bridge, with landing
wharves, steam and hydraulic cranes, and suitable
landing sheds andwarehouses. The cost of the under-
taking is estimated at £3,000,000, and it has, we
hear, the support of men of undoubted wealth and
position. The scheme is based upon certain conces-
sions on the part of the local Government, and has been
very favourably received by the home authorities. If
the undertaking being carried out—and there seems
very little doubt about it—the trade of Calcutta
will receive an immense impetus. The subject is
one of great importance to the mercantile com-
munity of this city, and well deserving of every
support which Government can legitimately give
to it."

THE CALCUTTA MARKETS.
The Bank of Bengal rates of discount remain without
change, and money is still very abundant.
In exchange there has been a little activity, and the rate
of Bank bills has advanced to '2 746, at which rate there
..1;;;;"‘l7a:°n7t-been much doing,
o upapernt o
and quotations have not altered much, and may be given
as follows :—Fours, 90r. 12a. to 91r.; Fives, 104 r. 4a. to
halsnbeGeonvaerfnamireanmt
104 r. Ba. ; Fives-and-a-Half, 110 r. 14a. to 111 r. 2a.
In the share-market there is very little change to notice
There has been' a slight decline in the price of tho Agra
and Masterman Banks, and an improvement in that of the
National Bank and Credit Mobilier shares. Bank of Ben-
gal maintain their former prices.