The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-30 00:00:00

IRISH AND SCOTCH RANK RETURNS.

The returns of circulation of the Irish and Scotch
banks for the four weeks ending the 26th of November,
1853, when added together, give the following as the
average weekly circulation of these banks during the
past month, viz. :--

Average circulation of the Irish banks £6,379,220
Average circulation of the Scotch banks... 4,286,486

Average circulation during the past month £10,665,706
On comparing the above with the fixed issues of the
several banks, as given in the Banking Almanac, the
following appears to be the state of the circulation :
The Irish banks are above their fixed issue... £24,726
The Scotch banks are above their fixed issue 4199,277'

Total above fixed issue £1,224,003

The amount of gold and silver held at the head offices
of the several banks during the past month have been
as follows :

Gold and silver held by the Irish banks..... £1,961,223
Gold and silver held by the Scotch banks... 1,493,784

Total of gold and silver held £3,455,007
These returns, combined with the average circulation
of the Bank of Englund for the same period, show a
decrease of 1,366,5171. in the circulation of notes in Eng-
land, and a decrease of 955,5521. in the circulation of
the United Kingdom, when compared with the month
ending the 29th of October • and, as compared with the
month ending the 27th of dovember, 11852, the aboye
returns show a decrease of 716,1751. in the circulation
of notes in England, and an increase of 422,5001. in the
circulation of the United Kingdom.
The average stock of bullion held by the Bank of
England in both departments during the month ending
the 26th of November was 15,611,2751., being an increase
of 298,412/. as compared with the previous month, and
a decrease of 5,688,4381. when compared with the same
period last year.
The stock of specie held by the Scotch and Irish
banks during the month ending the 26th of November
was 3,455,0071., being an increase of 375,3731. as
compared with the previous return, and an increase of
939,837/. when compared with the corresponding period
of last year.

MONEY ORDER OFFICES.—A notice has been issued
from the General Post-office stating that on the Ist of
January next, the following minor money-order offices
will be raised to major money•order offices : Abergele,
Denbighshire ; Bingley, Yorkshire ; Crook, Durham ;
Hawkhurst, Kent ; Heywood, Lancashire ; Newcastle-
Emlyn, Carmarthenshire ; Northfleet, Kent; Patrington,
Yorkshire ; Ramsey, Isle of Man ; Rawtenstall, Lan-
cashire ; Sandgate, Kent ; Southend, Essex ; Sowerby-
bridge, Yorkshire; Walton-on-Thames, Surrey; and
York Town, Surrey. Minor money-order offices will
also be opened at the following places on the respective
dates named—Buckden, Huntingdonshire, on the 3d
January ; Holme-upon-Spalding-Moor, Yorkshire, on
the 10th January ; Newmills, Derbyshire, on the 13th
January ; and Schull, County Cork, on the Ist January.
ACCIDENT TO AN AUSTRALIAN MAIL VESSEL.—The
clipper ship Matilda Wattenbach, Captain Clare, which
sailed from the Mersey on the 4th instant, with themails
for the various Australian ports, was seen off Lisbon
on the Bth inst., in a crippled condition, having lost
her topmasts. This unfortunate accident will probably
necessitate her putting into that port to refit, and the
detention thus caused will throw her out of all chance
in the race with her steaming competitor, the Golden
Age, which sailed the day after her.—Liverpool Times.
HOUSE OF LORDS.—We are requested to state that
tickets for viewing the House of Lords will be issued to
the public every Saturday, from the Lord Great Cham-
berlain's office.

Tai GIRVAN MIIRDER.—The Ayr Observer furnishes
further particulars of this deliberate murder. On the
evening of Thursday last, Janet M'Culloch, or Cunning-
ham, wife of a man named Alexander Cunningham, a
labourer in Girvan, was sitting weaving in the house of
a man named Hamilton, in Piedmont-road of Girvan,
when, about seven o'clock, a rattling noise was heard,
as of gravel being thrown against the window near
where the woman was working. She naturally turned
round to see what it was, when a gun was fired
through the window at her, and shot her right through
the heart. She uttered one cry, and fell dead on
the spot. Some men were weaving in the shop with her,
and they immediately gave the alarm ; but as the night
was pitch dark, and the shot came from the back of the
house, the murderer was not then seized. Suspicion at
once attached to the woman's husband, from whom she
was separated, who was on bad terms with her for some
time, and had been heard to threaten her shortly before,
unless she came back to live with him. Cunningham
himself came into the house where the body of his
wife was lying, about an hour after the murder, and
demanded to see her body. He was apprehended on
the spot, and on his house being searched a gun was
found in it which he had borrowed that morning to
shoot a hare, as he said. He was seen in the neigh-
bourhood of the house in the evening, and from a num-
ber •f circumstances which have since come to light
the strongest suspicions attach to him. The deceased
was a quiet, well-behaved woman, and had to leave her
husband for continual bad usage, in consequence of
which he has been once or twice punished. It is thought
he was angry at her for not living with him and sup-
porting their children, and he is also said to have been
jealous of her. The sheriff and fiscal from Ayr were on
the spot next morning, and a searching investigation
was made into the affair, and Cunningham was trans-
mitted to Ayr gaol, where he now lies. The murderer
must have rested his gun on the ledge of the window and
taken a de-Aliy aim, a,_; the poor woman w%,,, tot above
two yards from him when he shot her. Altogether, it is
one of the most cold-blooded murders that has disgraced
our annals for many yearn.