The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-08 00:00:00

MONEY MARKET

AND
COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

CITY, TWO O'CLOCK.
The sales of cotton at Liverpool yesterday
were estimated at 4,000 bales, all to the trade.
The market was tame, with but little alteration in
prices. The sales comprised 3,000 American, 90
Pernam and Maranham at bid. to 6gd., 140 Bahia
at bid. to 7d., 250 Egyptian at 6d. to Bid., and
500 Surat at 3d. to 4d. per lb. Railway Shares
were very dull.
Accounts from New York state that the sudden
activity which had taken place in Stocks was sub-
siding at the latest date. Shipments of breadstuffs
continued active, and formed the greater part of
the total exports. The value of merchandise ex-
ported during the week to the 18th ult., including
specie, was 1,380,490 dols. Freights were firm.
The Canadian advices notice a gradual rise in
flour. The total amount of revenue collected in
New Brunswick last year was 184,7271., of which
141,3711. were collected at St. John's. There was
a general increase of business at all the ports in the
province.

- Our attention has been directed to the recent
report of the East Indian Railway Company, by
which it appears—

"That the deposit of 2/. per share has been paid upon
only 72,635 shareF, out of 400,000 shares of the New
Extension capital—thus leaving nearly s.6ths of the
extension capital repudiated.
"A project, with a subscribed capital of 8,000,000/.
or 10,000,0001., may be at once safe and profitable, but
very much the reverse with the capital diminished to
2,000,000/. or 3,000,0001. It may be asked whether
it is in the power of the directors to proceed to construct
a mutilated portion of the line, should five-sixths of the
shareholders decline to pay the call or sign the deed.
" Should the directors proceed with a portion of the
scheme, what will be the position of those shareholders
who may pay up in full ?
" The terms of the contract not having been complied
with, the payment of the interest will of necessity be at
the option of the authorities. The danger lies in attempt-
ing to construct a work requiring 8,000,000/. with
1,500,000/. The whole arrangement appears to require
revision. Without the requisite capital being either
paid or subscribed for, there will be no safety to the
shareholders or assurance given to the authorities that
the contract can be carried out. Calling upon the limited
number of bona fide investors to pay up in full is nothing
more or less than disheartening, and inconveniencing
the willing."

The official particulars of the new Australian
loan are now given, and correspond generally with
what we stated yesterday. The amount is
5,000,000/., upon the basis of a lottery scheme, and
the subscriptions will be open at Vienna from the
7th to the 17th inst. The funds will bear 4 per
cent. interest, redeemable by annuities at 14- per
cent. The entire calls will be made within a year,
in ten or twelve instalments.

The Foreign -Exchanges were quoted yesterday
afternoon at a slight decline on the principal cities.
Paris, 90 days, brought 25 25 to 271. ; Amster-
dam, 11 144 to 151 ; Hamburgh, 13 3f to 31 ; and
Trieste, 13 20 to 25.
The amount of bills drawn on the various pre-
sidencies by the Honourable East India Company
during the fortnight ending yesterday was 47,5561.
The English Funds opened rather heavily,
Consols being 91i to g, and they have since gone
worse, being 90 to 91. This is occasioned by a
rumour of the defeat of the Turks at Kalafat, but
there is doubt attached to it, otherwise the decline
would have been greater. The New 3f per Cents.
have realised 92i- to /. Bank Stock has been firm
at 220 to 221. Exchequer Bills realised 15s to 17s
premium. There is very little speculation, and
much anxiety prevails for the receipt of later
news.

Foreign Securities have been comparatively quiet.
Mexican Bonds have receded to 241. The Com-
mittee have received advices that the import duties
in Vera Cruz for December were estimated at
163,000 dollars, one-fourth being assigned to the
interest on the Foreign Debt. Grenada Deferred
Bonds have been quoted 61, and Equador 3. Aus-
trian 5 per Cents. are worth 76. Portuguese 3 per
Cents. have been done at 31. Spanish 3 per Cents.
have declined to 364 Sardinian Bonds are as
low as 78 to 791. Dutch 4 per Cents. have realised
851 to

The current prices for the Jamaica mines not
officially quoted are as follow :—Metcalfe, * dis-
count to * premium ; Sue River, 4- discount to
par ; Port Royal, to /. premium.
The English Railway market has been about I
per cent. lower all through, since the decline in
Consols, and with a very limited business doing.
French shares are much the same.
The Gold Mine shares have been inactive.

Joint Stock Banks are nominally firm, and the
Land Companies' also.

BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK,
(Prom the Official List.)

1 Business done.
Bank Stock .. . .
• per Cent. Reduced Annuities shut 91t1
3 per Cent Consols Annuities 9IA $ 90,-}
Now 31 per Cent. Annuities 923 i li i i
New 5 per Cent. Annuities ll4
Lung Annuities, Expire sth Jan., 1860 -16 3-16
Ditto 30 Years, Expire 10th Oct., 1859 5
Ditto 30 Years, Expire sth Jan., 1860 4 15-16
Consols for Account 16th March
Exchequer Bills, ld.
£IOOO
2500 l2 17 p
Small l7 p
PRICE OF FOREIGN FUNDS AT ONE O'CLOCK.
A.ustrian Bonds, 5 per Cent................... 76
Equador Bonds
Grenada Bonds, Deferred
Mexican 3 per Cent.
Portuguese Bonds, 3 per Cent 3l
Russian Bonds, 1822, 5 per Cent. £ St
Ditto 4A per Cent B3
Sardinian Bonds, 5 per Cent............
Spanish Bonds, 3 per Cent 361 i
Dividends on the above payable in London.
Dutch Exchange, 2i per Cent. 12 Guil
Ditto 4 per Cent. Certificates ....,

HALF•PAST TWO.
Consols 9O- 1
Ditto March Account 9Ol 1

ARRIVAL OF THE ORINOCO AT MALTA.—intelligence
was received yesterday from Marseilles of the arrival of
the Royal mail steamer Orinoco at Malta, on the 4th
inst., with the Ist battalion of the Coldstream Guards.
She quitted Southampton on the 23d of February, and
therefore had a fine run of nine days.
VIENNA.—The accounts from Vienna yesterday show
little alteration, but the tendency, after the slight rally re-
ported on Monday, is again towards increased distrust.
The following statement regarding the conditions of the
new lottery loan of 5,000,0001., the subscription-books
of which were opened yesterday, has just been re•
ceived

" Subscriptions for a new Austrian loan will be opened
in Vienna from the 7th to the 17th of March next.
" 1. The amount of the loan will be limited to 50,000,000
of guilders, Bank value.

zi 2. The bonds will be given out in amounts of 250 f.,
bearing 4 per cent. interest, payable yearly.
"3. The loan will be redeemed by annuities at per
cent.—viz., 750,008 f. in 50 years, and there will be every
year two drawings with the following payments :
During the first 5 years from 300 f. to 200,0°0f.
,„ second 5 ... 300 f. ... 170,40'.
▪ third 5 ... 300 f. ... 140,090 f.
▪ fourth 5 ... 300 f. ... 110,000 f.
fifth 5 300 f. ... 100,000 f.
and so on with proportional winning prizes.
"4. The subscription will be opened only at Tienna.
The price at which the loan will be effected is not yet fixed,
but it is expeeted not to be higher than 90 per cent.
" 5. The entire calls will be made within a year, in 10 or
12 instalments, and at the time of subscription 10 per cent.
cash must be paid down.
"No commission will be allowed.
" Vienna, March 1, 1854."

THE NEW FRENCH LOAN.—It appears that the new
French loan is to be for 10,000,000/. sterling, and that
the resort to it has at length been pronounced by the
Government to be indispensable. Whether the con-
tract will take place by public tender or by private nego-
tiation remains, however, undetermined. Some remark
has been excited by the singular fact, that while the
French Finance Minister was announcing this loan as a
consequence of the impending war, " the burden of
which properly belongs to the future," the English Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer was proposing an increased in-
come tax, on the ground that it was not right to throw
these liabilities on to a distant period. It is felt, however,
that the true course may lie between the two extremes, and
that every requirement would be satisfied in such cases
if by raising money in the shape of annuities for 20 or
30 years the extinction of the encumbrance were rendered
certain within the present generation. The disturbance
of war, it is urged, is sufficiently exceptional to be treated
financially, like any other convulsion, to which a liabi-
lity at all times exists, but which had best be provided
for by spreading its cost as an average over a definite
period. By this means, while a great relief is secured
for the moment, a far higher advantage is gained for the
succeeding years than that of saving them from the
pressure of an additional 20 or 30 millions of debt, since
it enables continued advances to be made in the task of
setting commerce free, so as to give it a buoyancy that
shall make such an item of no importance.
PENNY RECEIPT STAIIIPS.—Among the statements of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer last evening, none has
given greater satisfaction than that with regard to the
results of the introduction of penny receipt stamps. In-
stead of a gross loss, as estimated, at the rate of 74,000/.
per annum, there is an actual increase at the rate of
72,000/., and a salutary example is thus afforded of the
worthlessness of the routine answer given by previous
Chancellors of the Exchequer to the representations made
yearafteryearin favour of the change—viz., that it was not a
time for the country to sacrifice any portion of its revenue.
It may be hoped that the success of the measure in its
partial shape will ultimately lead to its being rendered
coherent by its extension to bankers' cheques. The num-
ber of banks and their branches in the united kingdom
is about 1,750, and, assuming their average of cheques to
be 100,000 (in some cases it is a million), an additional
total would be obtained (after making full allowance for
those cases in which receipts are already given for pay-
ments by cheque) of at least 650,000/.