The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-14 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1853.

the fortunate purchaser of the princely and
truly enviable domain, and the modest application
for employment of the man able and willing to
work—to whom the duty may involve the neces-
sity of honouring the Duke HVINIPH.REY with his
company for three successive days—or, in other
words, of abstaining altogether during that period,
or contenting himself merely with a dry crust.
A Joint-Stock Company in course of forma-
tion requiring a column or two of a public
journal may think nothing of the addition of is.
6d. to the charge, but it will act as a practical
prohibition to the over-toiled sempstress, who is
compelled to work some eighteen or twenty hours
a-day for an exigeante mistress, simply, be-
cause, by this most impolitic tax she is prevented
from bringing her qualifications under the con-
sideration of those who are, in consequence, com-
pelled to pay exorbitant prices to exacting task-
mistresses.

On Monday evening the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER will bring forward his financial scheme.
It is by no means improbable that the Ministry
will stand or fall by the propositions then sub-
mitted for legislative consideration. The-ChOppini
and changing abott of Sir CHAityks Woon---the
introduction of a second, a third, or, haply, a
fourth Budget during the same. session, must have
thoroughly disgusted the colleagues of that unfor-,
tunate financier, and induced them to consider a,
strict 'adhesion to the original fiscal project as a!
virtue of no ordinary magnitude, so that the new
Minister of Finance will be encouraged .and sus-
tained in making .a firm and uncompromising
stand on at least the leading principles of his
Budget.

most wretched and illogical, as well as one-sided
and class-interest, speech we ever had the misfor-
tune to read. We transferred at the time the

able and triumphant critique upon it of a weekly
contemporary to our columns, and need not re-
enter into details just now ; but the upshot is
that Mr. GLADSTONE refused, by a set of argu-
ments little better than transparent falsifications
or fallacies, to impose the same Legacy and Pro-

bate Duties on the property of the aristocracy as

are imposed on the property of the middle classes,
- -

and that, notwithstanding, this simple equity would
enable him to do away with the Income Tax
altogether ! He openly refused to accept five or
six millions a-year -which the landlords escape en-
tirely, and indirectly more than justified charging
precarious incomes, we should say, full two mil-
lions too much to the Income Tax ; that is, as we
remarked at the outset, he upheld financial pro-
tection for the aristocracy to the amount of at
least six or seven millions yearly.

It is not merely, then, on the gross inequality
of these duties that we found our chief objections.
They are bad enough, and would afford unanswer-
able grounds for the modification of the tax ; but
there is a radical objection to the impost that
can never be removed. We are proud to say
that we are "a nation of shopkeepers." That which
was intended as a sneer we accept as a high
honour. It is to the commercial character of the
country that Great Britain is indebted for the
high position which she has long occupied and now
holds in the scale of nations. Anything, then, that
cripples or impedes trade, that interposes an ob-
stacle between vendor and purchaser, is wholly
indefensible. It strikes at the very root of " the
unrestricted competition," the advantages whereof
have been written, said, aye, and sung, in every
form and in every tone. For a paltry 160,0001. per
annum, we inflict injuries on dealers amounting
to far more than ten times that amount ; and not
merely to dealers or tradesmen, but to the revenue
itself. It is indeed the " penny wise and pound
foolish " policy which wise men deplore, but
Financial Ministers are partial to—the sys-
tem of getting money in any way, no matter
how objectionable in other respects. The Adver-
tisement Duties have been long marked—the
brand has been placed upon them ; they must no
longer be permitted " to cumber the earth."
The other resolutions relating to the Stamp and
Paper Duties, are as follows
"2. That the policy of restraining the cheap periodi-
cal press from narrating current events, by rendering it
liable to stamp duties, and other restrictions, if " any
public news, intelligence, or occurrences, or any remarks
or observations thereon," be contained therein, is inex-
pedient, and at variance with the desire now generally
expressed in favour of the diffusion of knowledge amongst
all classes. And it appears also to this house, that the
law relative to taxes on newspapers, and other regula-
, tions affecting public prints, is in an unsatisfactory state,
and demands the attention of Parliament.

Now, we do think the country would do wisely
to let such a CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER know
that it will not be trifled with. The most honest
thinkers freely speak out, that precarious incomes,
earned by the sweat of the head or the hands, are
no fit subject for taxation at all ; but all men, of
any pretensions to humanity, equity, and common
sense, demand at least that they shall be assessed
at a much lower rate. Mr. GLADSTONE, we take
it, if some of his colleagues have not a little more
sympathy with flesh and blood than he has, and
require him to deal with his fellow-mortals as men

and not as mathematical abstractions, will face out
the whole country, that 1501. from land, and 1501.
dependent on life and health, and a hundred'
things beside, ought to be taxed alike. It is the,
fault of the country if he be allowed to do this.
Let him not, however, presume, because the nation
may wait quietly till it hears what he has to say.
Traitorship to justice on the Income Tax will con;
jure up a storm whioh will certainly scatter far
and wide the feebly coherent materials of the pre-'
sent Cabinet.

Not less stir ought to be made on the Legacy

and Probate Duties. Equalisation of these we
indeed conceive to be the key of fiscal ameliora-
tion. With five or six millions at the very least

secured, either the hateful and inquisitorial Income
Tax might be clean swept away, or all of those
baneful Excise duties, and taxes on knowledge
which so cramp manufacture, and hinder popular
education might be abolished—leaving, besides, a
handsome margin towards banishing the last rem-
nants of protection from our Tariff. We confess to
have but little patience with the Minister who can
shamelessly defend such a monster abuse as the
exemption of real property from the duties in
question. The execrated Corn Laws were only!
worse in their amount ; in point of favouritism,
they could not be worse. Take a sample of these
landlord arrangements. These "fanners' friends"
have arranged that the value of a farmer's lease,
including outlay on improvements, his stock, crops,
implements of husbandry, furniture, and even
wearing apparel, must pay both duties, while the
owner, of the land pays nothing. Houses built
on building leases pay both duties on their full
value, but the ground landlords pay nothing.
Houses, while they remain in the leaseholder's
hands, pay both duties ; as soon as the lease is out,
the immensely enriched landlord pays neither duty.
Land sold on lease at a pepper-corn rent, although
as good as freehold, pays both duties—it not
being an aristocratic tenure. Houses built by a
landlord on his own estate pay neither. Even
real property which is bequeathed to be sold;
though it pays Legacy Duty on the proceeds, pays
no Probate Duty, which averages nearly
as much as the Legacy Duty. This is
but a sample of the inexcusable one:
sidedness of these taxes—of the broad palpable
injustice, the rectification of which would immor-
talise the Coalition Budget, or any other, and re-
lieve the country so prodigiously, with hardly
the shadow of inconvenience to any one. For,
be it carefully borne in mind that, as we have
always maintained, a better tax than a tax on
successions to property cannot be. There is al-
ways money to pay it. It is money, too, for
which the recipients have neither toiled nor spun,
and they can well spare it. It is merely sacrificing
a part, as it were, of a lucky windfall. How differ-
ent to the demand of the Income-tax gatherer on the
exhausted, mortal, and precarious energies of the
professional man and tradesman ! An equitable,

"3. That the excise duty on paper, whilst impeding
the developement of an important manufacture, also
materially obstructs the production of good cheap litera-
ture ; and the maintenance of this tax as a permanent
source of revenue would be impolitic and inconsistent
with the efforts which Parliament is now making to pro-
mote education amongst the great body of the people."
In their propriety and policy we fully and
entirely concur. The doubtful state of the
law on the subject of the Stamp Duties—
the serious differences of opinion between the

legal advisers of the Crown and the majority
of the learned Barons of the Court of Exche-
quer on the interprepation of these Statutes,
would alone show not merely the propriety, but
the necessity, of some speedy legislation on the
subject. There can be litte doubt that any
change either in the Newspaper Stamp Duties or
in the Paper Tax must end not merely in an al-
teration, but in a total remission. All these imposts
are decidedly bad—the Advertisement Duties un-
questionably the worst. If we must accept jus-
tice to " the Fourth Estate " by instalments, let
that be the first concession. Although we cannot
relinquish our claim to the others—al-
though we believe that the most ob-
noxious taxes now in operation are not
worse than the Paper Duties or Newspaper
Stamps, we would willingly accept the evidence
afforded by a total abolition of the Advertisement
Duties as a convincing proof of the Financial
Minister's intention to deal equitably with the
entire grievance as soon as circumstances may
admit. He may be well assured that he cannot,
possibly apply 160,0001. of his anticipated sur-
plus to a better purpose than the total repeal of
the Advertisement, Duties, which would form a

redeeming feature in an otherwise objectionable
Budget.

There is not an individual in the Cabinet who
more needs the discipline of pressure from with-
out than the CHANCELLOR of the Exon-Bouza.
He, moreover, of all men can with least grace
ask for an indulgent consideration of his fortxll4
coming Budget, since, no speaker last December,
was more ,bitterly, , and even haughtily, severe
upon that of his predecessor. If he either blun-
der in his calculations, -or sustain to the extent of.
his power the. two monster cases of class taxation,,
he ought to be unceremoniously discarded by those
who profess,
.at least, to be the representatives of
The People. Chancellors of the Exchequer have
been long indulged both -by Hon. Members in' the
House, and by deputations to Downing-street, in
'replying to applications for remission of particnlar
taxes with, polite evasions and official reserve.
They Are allowed, like a coy maiden, to give an!
ear without an answer to every suitor,' till they t
have declared their love in the Budget ; but then,
alas ! their declaration has to be accepted for
final ; they cannot change their choice with
honour, unless, perhaps, such perverse ones as Sir
C. WOOD, who having given not only his " nay,"
but something worse, to Income-tax and Stamp-
act suitors, found that those determined
wooers of the Guardian Genius of the Ex-
chequer would take no denial. He pre-
seated them indeed with offers, which they thought
reversing propriety, and therefore gave him no
peace till he accepted theirs. It ought to be im-
pressed on the House and the country, that unless
its two great financial demands be loudly made
before the Budget is brought forward, we shall
get nothing worth having from Mr. GLADSTONE.
We have watched him carefully since he took office,
and with no unkindly feelings, but we have been ,
unable to detect the slightest symptom of inten-
tion to concede the Financial Rights of the people.
We, of course, as decidedly as Mr. GLADSTONE him-
self, regard a fair balance in the national Exchequer
as one of those rights. We know, as well as he
can tell us, the consequences to all of us when the
Funds decline. There is, and can be, no dispute
between him and the people on that score. No.
What we more than suspect Mr. GLADSTONE of, is
a determination to uphold the present form of two
great taxes, by which the landlords principally are
saved some six or seven minions per annum, and
other classes pillaged, of course, to the same
amount.

not to be evaded, and adequate tax on what is
annually left by those who "rest from their
bours," might relieve, from some of their most
harassing imposts, those who yet " bear the heat
and toil of the day." Let the country remember,
and let the House of Commons be aware the coun-
try will remember, that Mr. BENJAMIN DISRAELI
has proposed a measure of Income-tax justice, Mid
as good as promised' :gfea9r boon
,pt tegacy
Niel: Probate ,t_iuty4 justice, and:lMr. WILLIAM
EWART GLADSTONE may have. to pay deaf for it
if he superciliously ignore the really good part
of his predecessor's proposals.

What the nature of that Budget may be as
yet appears to be an impenetrable mystery, or, at
least, a well-kept Cabinet secret, of which'
not the slightest inkling can be obtained until
the appointed time. Mr. GLADSTONE himself
has Ilefused to give any clue as to his inten-
tions. He will not let fall the most trifling
hint calculated to appease, or, perhaps, to excite
more strongly the public curiosity. Some persons
assert that there is a sound reason for this myste-
rious silence—that the Right Hon. Gentleman
has not as yet made up his mind between the
numerous conflicting claims—that he is still
tossed upon a sea of doubt and uncertainty, and
that all he could say (if disposed to say any-
thing) was, that, as yet, nothing has been de-
cided. It is, therefore, incumbent on all
Fiscal Reformers to bring forward the griev-
ances which have obtained their peculiar ad-
vocacy—to explain the chief objections to each
impost, and, above all, to elicit the opinions of
influential Members as to its impolicy. Lord
ROBERT GROSVENOR has obtained an additonal vic-
tory, has added another laurel to those he had
previously acquired, in behalf of the Attorney's
duties. Mr. HUME has exposed the serious evils
arising from the petty Customs Duties. Mr.
FREwEN has pointed out the injurious results of
the practical confiscation of the property of the
British hop-grower. Sir DE LACY EvArrs, the
strong claims of the coachbuilders. Many other
matters have been brought forward, and invari-
ably with benefit to the subject submitted for
general discussion. Indeed, a good cause
must always be promoted by the most ample
inquiry, the most stringent investigation. We
rejoice, then, to find that the Right Hon. Gentle-
man the Member for Manchester is about to fol-
low the excellent example set by so many Fiscal
of
more to bring the injustice
aßnedformimeprsol,icaynd
of taxes on knowledge under
the consideration
the
hereso• popular branch of the
la•
ti this evening, bring for-
ward three distinct
on each of which
the
ee
Advertisementseparately.
he will take the sense of the goose
the most
The first of these relates to
unquestionably inequitable
Duties, which are, perhaps,
and inexpedient, while they are
the least productive, of these obioxiou im.
posts. On these points the Right Honourable
Gentleman adopts the most summary and
decisive course. He offers the broadest issue to
his opponents.. The resolution of which he has
given notice is—" That the Advertisement Duty
ought to be repealed." There is no paltry com-
promise offered no halting between two
opinions. No hint that a reduction to one-half
the present scale would be acceptable. We do
not dwell on the gross and palpable injustice of
charging the same rate, on the pompous announce-
ment of the intended sale of a property worth
tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of
pounds sterling, where the efficient and eloquent
agent of the noble proprietor is desirous of setting
forth the advantages that must accrue to

The evil animus of Mr. GLADSTONE in regard
to the taxes in question was most distinctly brought
out in his (to himself) most damaging speech on
Mr. WILLIAMS'S motion of the Ist of March for
the equalization of Legacy and Probate Duties on
all kinds of property. In his speech he said as
plainly as he well could that he would continue
the iniquitous incidence of these taxes, and of
the Income Tax too. Although the country is
ringing with the injustice of assessing income from
permanent sources and precarious sources alike,
he coolly came forward and alleged the specially
hard bearing of the Income Tax on real property
as one reason why it should be exempt from
Legacy and Probate Duties I What can this
mean but that if he had his way he would reduce
the rate of the tax on schedule A rather than on
schedule D ; and certainly that he will never make
a proposition like that of Mr. DISRAELI'S, to COD-
ten ainevaegu
one-fourth to common sense and justice.
Mr. DISRAELI—both in his opening
speech on the Budget,
anwdithin that reply which
of one who saw that it had made all
fithe bitterness
Mr. GLADSTONE attacked
nane Lcialiengjuacys-
M
hardertaiscseerd
thatfor himself
th
esubject of th
r. DISRAELI distinctly
and Probate Duties could no longer be de-
fended and that it must be taken up by Go-
vernment. Mr. GLADSTONE, on the contrary,
when he might have excused himself with
the current evasion that his Budget was yet
in embryo, extemporised (as we candidly hope) the

Accounts from Melbourne vary so, much that it
behoves all future iinthigrants to 'supply them-
selves, before starting fr'om England for Auptralia,
with really reliable, and authentic , information.
Long ago the movement across the ocean to the
new World ought to haVe been immediately directed
by, her MAJESTY'S Administration. The • conse-
'voice of the non-interference of our rulers
•
hitherto in this matter, we believe to have been,
in several instances, most disastrous. Exertions
should at length be adventured upon to prevent,
if possible, the repetition of these very avoidable
misfortunes. It would appear that perhaps the
most notable evil experienced by our fellow-coun-
trymen on their arrival on the shores of the new
colony, is that of finding an extraordinary diffi-
culty in obtaining anything like a decent place of
habitation. Melbourne, especially, has been so
overrun with intended diggers and their families,
that the dwellings there have proved insufficient
to afford them accommodation. Crowds have been
consequently compelled to seek shelter under the
brambles, and under cart-tilts, and under temporary
sheds, and in tents, which have sprung up in all di-
rections, transforming the suburbs of the town into
an enormous encampment. Hence, and from the
unexpected inclemency of the weather, and the
now undeniable insalubrity of the climate, the
mortality has turned out to be alarming contrary
to all anticipation. WILLIAM Hown-r has written
home, indeed, from a spot well known in those
quarters as the Ovens Diggings, informing his
friends, and through them the people of the
United Kingdom, that unfortunates there are
everywhere attacked by diseases too often fatal,
such as dysentery, cramp, influenza, and rheu-
matism. An assurance by no means surprising,
when we remember the discomfort to which these
poor wanderers are repeatedly subjected in a land
where the days are alternately remarkable for
broiling heat and for perfectly deluging thunder-
storms. Together with these sources of bodily
ailment must be borne in mind the severity of the
toil incurred by men wholly unaccustomed to
such continual and laborious exertions. As a
contributor to the _Household Words of CHARLES
DICKENS forcefully observed some time since, in a
rather discouraging paper descriptive of one of the
gold-fields, the work incumbent upon the diggers is
of a kind only to be gone through, without ill conse-
quences, by a navvy or a coalheaver. Yet, as-
suredly, we all of us know well enough that the
majority of those who have flocked across the
ocean to the southern El Dorado, has consisted by
no means of navvies and coalheavers. Rather
have they been respectable members of the middle-
class of society, habituated more to quill driving
than to the use of the spade and the mattock.
Gentlemen of education, who have striven vainly
to obtain at home any description of rational
employment, discouraged by frequent failure in
England they have hastened eagerly to break up
new ground (literally) in Australia. After scraping,
together enough money to purchase a moderate out-
fit, and to pay their passage in some sailing vessel
or steam-packet, they have disembarked at Mel-
bourne with scarcely sixpence left in their pockets,
with the humblest lodgings already occupied, with
provisions selling at an enormous price, and with
tobhfleethscletirvreetdnchesstoifnizacgintoiuonngt.aryarteetmawdueysentrabtlipetr7eocnoaelndledettaxhedee:
apt
hltaaectr:i

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 14, 185 a

about the most accessible of all the gold-fields to
persons setting out in search of the precious metal
from Melbourne. Nevertheless, what is the ac-
count furnished of the difficulties encountered in
going thither, and furnished, too, remember, by
WILLIAM HOWITT, one of the most credible and
intelligent of modern travellers ? Why, he tells
us plainly that no less than " two mcnths" were
consumed in making that " arduous and eventful
journey." Two months in going over ground
estimated by some people at 150 miles, by others
at 200, by others again at 250, but believed to
be 280 miles, according to his own ideas of ac-
curate measurement ! And, says he, with an
almost audible sigh, or rather groan, " such
ground !" Scarcely any roads—what roads there
are, are broken and dilapidated—running down
into gullies—straggling over hill, or, as we should
possibly term them in this country, mountain after
mountain—the earth parched, the foliage " bluer
and bluer," and barely anywhere the scantiest ves-
tige of the wholesome verdure of vegetation. Hav-
ing surmounted all the obstacles lying in their
path along this miserable route, the adventurers
discover themselves to have, at last, arrived at
the object of all their melancholy wanderings.
Here, however, many of them, it is true,
soon meet with ample compensation. If they
don't always light at once upon a nugget weighing
so many pounds of solid gold, they come upon
sand that yields them bowl after bowl of gold-
dust, after being loosely washed in a clumsy little
rocker, consisting, perhaps, of a small painted
cradle. But, then, they have to live among the
abominable stenches reeking from the garbage-pits
and
cwrheeaktthe
or
significantly,
rli)vuutclehte,rs'
as shops,n on t
describedo ,b,yl
longer
banks
ni
gre.rlltorsomecseonm
translucent."
"
Everything in the way of personal discomfort,
however, is quickly forgotten by the diggers
if they can only contrive to stumble upon a
bushel or two of that delectable gold-dust, or
upon a solitary specimen of those delicious
nuggets. Rewarded by this good fortune for all
their past sufferings, they soon learn to catch the
fleeting pleasures, loving anew those dear old
words of their schoolboy-days—carpe diem, quam
minimum credula postern. They exult in the
merry song of their tea-kettle, more delightedly
than the veriest winebibber at home could do over
the sparkling of a glass of toquay, or of a flask
of the rarest chateau-margeaux. Their hearts are
dancing if they can only crisp a few additional
rice biscuits. They are as happy as kings if they
can only buy a basket of dried apples to celebrate
with a pie or a pudding the festivities of Christ-
mas. Such are a few among the pains and plea-
sures encountered by the swarm of gold diggers
flocking inland from the port 'of Melbourne.
Would it not be well for all future emigrants
from England if they weighed rather more
cautiously than their predecessors the good and
the ill awaiting them on their arrival in what
might now be called truthfully, though antitheti-
cally, the populous solitudes of Australia.

MONEY MARKET AND COMMERCIAL
INTELLIGENCE-(THIS DAY.)

CITY, TWO O'CLOCK.
The sales of cotton at Liverpool yesterday were
estimated at from 8,000 to 9,000 bales, of which
2,000 American were taken for export and specula-
tion. The market closed firmly, with prices a shade
against the buyer. The sales comprised 6,000
American, 500 Pernam and Maranham at 6dto 6/d,
500 Bahia at 61d, 500 Egyptian at bid to bid, 400
Surat at 4d. to 4id, and 300 Sea Island at ls. 9d.

;o 2s. Bd. per lb. Railway Shares were steady.
The steamer Baltic has arrived from the United

States with later dates, and as much as 600,000
dollars in specie. This 'remittance with the ex-
change at 10i to 1, can only be explained upon the
assumption that payment of accounts, owing to the
high rate of interest, has been delayed as long as
possible, and that there being now an absence of
good bills, parties are obliged to send gold even
at an apparent loss. There is no choice, cotton
bills not always meeting with ready currency.
There is another reason, probably, why efforts are
making to remit at once, viz., that the imports of
European merchandise into America were very
large last month, and far outbalanced the exports.
Accounts from France state that the floods on the
26th, 27th, and 28th of last month, did consider-
able damage, and further retarded sowing opera-
tions.

A new railway from Lyons to Turin is sanc-
tioned, but although the policy of the Emperor of
the French is to have the capital for such under-
takings provided in England, in order that the
Bourse may not feel the incumbrance, it is the
growing opinion that further subscriptions to any
foreign project, however good, should be avoided,
at least for a time. It is impossible to believe that

the money market will bear such a continuous
strain, and the payment of calls will operate
even more severely than the preliminary deposits
have done, because many parties make it a point to
sell out at a small premium the moment a company
is formed, and the scrip is negotiable in the market.
In this way they proceed with a limited capital,
subscribing to every new concern of which they
can obtain shares, and the circle widening, smaller
capitalists, as well as large ones, are brought within
its circumference, leaving future holders to pay the
additional instalment. Such being the case, a
warning may usefully be given, even though it be
simply in reiteration of what has been often before
stated under this head, Home and colonial under-
takings at any rate should receive a decided pre-
ference.

The Spanish official agency have given notice
that the 17th auction takes place at Madrid, on the
29th inst., when 750,000 reals will be assigned by
the Government.
The English Funds, now the Account has been
adjusted, are looking up, and there is good support
given to prices by the purchasers for money. If
the Chancellor of the Exchequer were to modify his
plan to obviate an increase in the capital of the
debt, there would probably be a speedy rise. Con-
sols have been 1001 for Transfer, and 1001 if for
the Account. The New 3± per Cents. have
realised 104 to and the 3 per Cents. 99i to 100.
Exchequer Bills of June are 4s. to Bs. prem. East
India Bonds have been quoted 445. premium.
Bank Stock is worth 225 to 226, and India Stock
260 to 2621. South Sea Old Annuities are 99k.
Foreign Stock are very quiet. Peruvian Defer-
red have been firm at 67k. Mexican are worth
271. Grenada Active Bonds are at 23k. Portu-
guese 5 per Cents. are worth 43. Spanish New
Deferred are 24. The Certificate is at 6to -a, and
Railway Shares are generally firmer, and the
settlement of the Account is being got over to-
lerably well. The rates of " continuation" are
scarcely so high as they were, but speculators for a
rise having preponderated, are closing accounts,
and hence the market has not participated in the
improvement in Consols. Midland, Lancashire,
Caledonian, and South-Eastern have been most
dealt in. The Foreign lines are generally very
firm.

The Gold Mine Shares are heavy as regards the
Australian Companies, the Colonial being lower.
The Agua Fria, however, are very firm.
The Land Companies' Shares are all improving.
The " contango" has been high on South Austra-
lian and Van Diemen's. Land.
In the Australian Banks the bargains have been
limited, and prices are flat.
The last week's railway receipts ascertained up
to this day, are in round figures as under
1853. 1852.
Great Western £20,481 £17,498
North Western 45,753 42,320
South Western 11,099 11,634
Brighton
Midland
South Eastern 13,737 13,677
Caledonian
Great Northern
Lancashire and Yorkshire
The following concerning the fall in the price of
Copper is furnished by Messrs. Tredinnich and
Co. :
" We regret to have this day to record a fall in price
of copper of fully 10/, per ton. Last Thursday the
standard again fell, and during the last month a decline
of fully twelve per cent. took place. This must
materially affect the standard Dividend Mines of Corn-
wall and Devon. We, some weeks ago, drew attention
to the high price at which many of these were
selling in the market, and expressed our apprehensions
of a reaction shortly taking place. This, unfortunately,
is'nOw being-felt, in the disposition of holders to realise
and the 'scarcity of buyers in the market. We have
more especially at all times directed attention to mines
of a legitimate Character, having capital subscribed,
Situated in -good localities, with 'analogy in their favour,
and under good and practical management, as most de-
sirable for investment."

BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY.
( From the Official List.)
Business done
Bank Stock ' 226 5
3 per Cent. Reduced Annuities 99 100
3,per Ceut. Consols Annuities
New 34 per Cent. Annuities
Long Annuities, Expire sth Jan., 1860 -16 6
Ditto 30 Years, Expire sth Jan., 1860 6 5-16
India Stoek
India Bonds, £lOOO
Ditto, under £lOOO 45 38
South Sea Stock, Old Annuities.
Consols for Account
Exchequer Bills lid. June.
£lOOO.
£5OO
Small

March,
7
3
2

PRICE OF FOREIGN FUNDS THIS DAY.
Grenada Bonds,' Ex Dec., 1849, Coupon 23.4
Greek ex over-due Coupons
Mexican, 3 per Cent.
Ditto Account April 28 274
Peruvian Bonds, 4A per Cent. B6i
Peruvian for the Account
Portuguese Bonds, 5 per Cent.
Ditto 4 per Cent. -
Russian Bonds, 1822, 5 per Cent £St llBl i
Sardinian Bonds, 5 per Cent.
Spanish Bonds, New Deferred, 3 per Cent 24} 31 48
Spanish Committee Cert. of Coup. not fan 6ji6 .h
Dutch Exchange 2i per Cent 6si
Ditto 4 per Cent. Certificates.

Consols
Ditto May Account

THREE O'CLOCK.
100 U
1001 101

MARKET NEWS-(THIS DAY.)

GENERAL AVERAGE PRICES OF MIMI' CORN
For the Week ended April 14, 1853, male up from the Returns of the
Inspectors in the different Cities and Towns in England and ',Vale:
per imperial Quarter.

WHEAT. I BARLEY. I OATS. I BYE. I I
BEANS. PEAS.
• • 44s 9d 31s 4d 118 s 9d 3ls 10d 34s 5d 325 10d
THE SIX WEEK'S AVERAGE.
WHEAT. 1 BARI TY. OATS. I BYE. I BEANS. PEAS.
458 Id 318 8d 188 8d 318 35 34s 5d 32s 85
DUTIES ON FOREIGN CORN.
WHEAT. 1 BARLEY. OATS. I
E.
I BEANS. PEAS.
s°d is 05 Is Od ls Od Is 05 Is 04
QUANTITIES OF GRAINS OLD LAST WEEK'
Wheat, 88,343; Barley, 39,157; ts, 21,812; Rye, 7 ; Beals
3,525; Peas, 1,339 quarters.

HAY MARKETS.
SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, 3l 5s to 4/ 12s ; clover
ditto; 3/ 10,3 to Si 58 ; and straw, 1/ 8s to 1/ 15s per load.
Supply tolerably good, and trade firm.
CUMBERLAND.—Meadow hay, 3/ 8s to -41 15s ; clover
ditto, 3/ 8s to Si Os ; and straw, 118 s to 1/ 16s per load.
Trade steady, at full prices.
WHITECHAPEL.—Meadow hay, 3/ 5s to 4/ 13s ; clover
ditto, 3/ 10$ to 5/ 5s ; and straw, 1/ 8s to 1/ 16s per load.
A full average supply, and a sluggish demand.

•
MEAT MARKETS.
NEWGATE AND LEADENHAL.—The general demand
ruled steady, and prices were well supported. Beef,
from 2s 8d to 3s 6d ; Mutton, 3s 4d to 4s 4d ; Lamb,
4s 10d to 6s; Veal, 3s 6d. to 4s 4d ; Pork, 2s 10d to
4s 4d per 81bs, by the carcase.
SOUTHALL, APRIL 13.—The supply of stock being on the
decrease, the general demand ruled steady, at very full
prices. Beef, 2s 10d. to 4s Od ; Mutton, 38 8d to 5s ,
Lamb, 5s Od. to 5s 10d; Veal, 3s 6d to 4s 2d ; Pork,
3s to 3s 10d per 81bs, to sink the offal.
ROMFORD, APRIL 13.—Beasts and. sheep moved off
steadily, at an advance in tho quotations of 2d per Blbs.
Beef, from 2s 10d to 4s 2d ; Mutton, 4s Od to 58 2
Lamb, 5s Od to 6s Od; Veal, 3s 6d to 4s 2d ; Poi;
3s Od. to 3s 10d per 81bs. Quarter old Store Pigs,
22s each. l9B to

FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—On Saturday night last
at 7 o'clock, an accident occured near the goods station
on the Midland line, Nottingham. It appears that at
the time in question a man the name of Potts (one of
the company's servants) was shunting some carriages on
the line, when he stumbled and got underneath the car-
riages, the wheels of which passed over his body. He
was extricated as quickly as possible, and conveyed to
the General Hospital, where every means was resorted
to to restore animation, but without effect, as the unfor-
tunate man died in a few hours afterwards,

ELECTION COMMITTEES.-( THIS DAY.)

TAUNTON.

The committee sat again this morning to inquire into
the cross-petition against the return of Sir Thomas Cole-
brooke, Mr. Mills having yesterday been unseated by
the resolution of the committee.

Mr. Montague Smith stated that the petition was
founded upon allegations of bribery and treating —that
21., 31., and even 101. had been offered to voters to
vote for Sir Thomas E. Colebrooke, and that a large
breakfast had been given to voters at the house of a Mr.
Smith. The fair sex had also been induced to exercise an
undue influence over the minds of their husbands, by va-
rious presents of money, in some cases so much as
201. and 301. having been promised. One method of
distributing the bribes to voters had been accidentally to
drop sovereigns on -the floor. It was on these grounds
that the petition was based. The learned counsel then
proceeded to call witnesses.
Mrs. Peppins deposed that she had been promised 71.
for her husband's vote, but he bad said that he would
not sell his vote for 201.

The case was proceeding when our report left.

COCKERMOUTH.
The committee resumed at-11 o'clock this morning.
Sir Walter Riddle proceeded to sum up the case for
the petitioners.