The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-20 00:00:00

per Bibs. S,.;ekrrg C,,lves, 18.4 to 255; Quarter °.
Store Pis, 16,, to 20s; Any
Cast, 16/. to iBI, ca4l.AnyMilvh Cows with their small
LEwEs, SEPT. 18.—Our m:.rket was steady, on th'3
r,flow,rig tertus:-I.3ert, twill 3, 6,1 to 4s 4d ; Aluttou,
3s 6:1 to 4s 4d; Lamb, 4s to 4s 8d; Pork, 3s 4d to 4'
per 81b::.

CORN AVERAGES.
GENERAL AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CORN'
7, or the Week ended Sept. 13. 1849, made up trout tn. Returns
Inspectors in the different Cities and Towns in England and W"
per Imperial Quarter.
WHEAT. BARLEY.' 1
OATS. RYE. BEANS. PEA''
PRICE .. I 4.11 Od 276 Id 18s 6d 26s 7dl 30s 8d J3os ld
DUTIES ON FOREIGN CORN.
WHEAT. I BARLEY. OATS. RYE. BEANS. I
l'211:i
is Od Is Od Is Od Is Od Is Od le 0

BANK OF ENGLAND-( THIS DAY•)

A half-yearly general court of the proprietors was
held this day, at twelve o'clock, for the purpose of.
considering a dividend. This also formed a qu,,''L-
terly general court appointed under the charter. .-L''',
attendance of proprietors was large. Mr. Prescni"
the Governor, took the chair.
The minutes of the preceding meeting having been
confirmed,
The GOVERNOR said—l have now to inform tll-
court that this is one of the quarterly meetings °
the proprietors appointed to he held by the charter;
also a half-yearly general court appointed by the bY'
laws to consider of a dividend. I have further t°
inform the court that the profits of the hell-Year
have exceeded the usual dividend of 3j- per cent. bY
14 5221. ; that the amount of rest, out of which tbe
dividend is to be declared, is 3,567,324/. 7s. 1,°1;
and that the court of' directors propose that a euv;"
(lend of 31e per cent, be made (if this court think fit,'
out of interest and profits for the half-year ending
the 10th of October next, without any
payment deduction °
fleet rlltit of income-tax. After the ,-,t of
11
*
dividend of 3-i- per cent., the amount of the rest w'
be reduced to 3,057,9731. Upon the preceding state'
merit I beg to move that this court do order a °II"
(lend to be made of 3i per cent. interest and profit.%
for the half-year ending the 10th of October next,
without any deduction on account of income-tax. i
Mr. DE WINTON rose to move an amendment, Oh'
in doin so said he would state some facts whied
could neither be disputed nor controverted. liTh"o-f1iTh"0-f
he wished to prove was this—that three millions a-a
rest, in the present altered position of the Bolt' ".. wnst
neither required as capital nor as a protection stilbaiat,
any loss which might have to be sustained. I' re„
in the first place, was the position of the BaelYbi
vious to the passing of the 7th and Bth Vic., in Juice
1844. The capital was 14,553,0001., out of wi"
was to be deducted the loan of 11,000,000/. to ter
country, upon which they received interest at 3 dal
cent. There was then left a working eeP Test
only of 3,553,000/, which, added to the ~rO/.
of 3,000,000/., gave a result of 6,553 °__vAag
That was not, however, their position Iler,ad
the Act of 1844, which he might Sa bad
been passed by the first of statesmen, ae" bear
enabled them, under a liberal Government, to „.
up gloriously through an ordeal of unparalleled des
culty, whilst the whole continent of Europe ,0
er tv
convulsed. What, then, was their position und
_t e, , s, :
Act? They could issue 11,000,000/. bank-no
which was in fact so much capital, and,
rtnf.
i.sue 2,000,000/. more upon security 00 the!..nraf
flat, with the rest, made a working cer,
refit
17.000,000/. Now, was so large an amount or '
required? Be should show that during the
.obeen
months it was not required, and had t
i°
other
employed. The average Government and,hs were
securities for the last six months e
of
15,000,0001. Now, as an old banker, andb mf
was sure that all bankers would eb.re.
least one d
i a
the same opinion, that at
of the liabilities ought to be kept in the till, and :ee
they had convertible securities which weredrs"i
d no
disposed of in the market, he thought they . .n,,t
want any more for this purpose than 500,0001.url'o's
what was the amount of capital unemployed 6 in
the last six months ? No less a sum, in notes and
submitted
cash, than 10,000,000/., which, he sulicient
was 5,000,0001, too much. The highly e ,
any
board of directors was the best guarantee against de
loss being sustained in the working department.
this
thought, therefore, the two great points, that ror
surplus sum was neither required for capital non'to,
loss, had been proved. Under these
al cir,.vida
stances, why could not they agree to _rk
that which belonged to them ? and he would rem
that they were nut only acting for themselves, v_ud
that they had to protect the interests of widows !ill,,
orphans, whose existence depended upontheirreeeTe
from the Bank. Having then alluded to I'LL
operations of free trade, the Honouran;
Gentleman observed that corn was chellbe
in our markets than in any part of . b
continent or in America, the consequence of whl°,,,
would be that no importations would be made ill,"
this country, and no diminution of bullion woo
take place in the coffers of the Bank. Exchaori
were in favour of this country at New York and on
the continent, and the Bank of France had a deficit
of 300,0001. sterling. Then he would ask what
were likely to be the results of the discovery of gold
in California ? He took his information from the
Times, which contained the soundest information.,
conveyed in a style worthy the pen of Addison, steel
or Gibbon, and with reference to the other leading
papers, he might say they were contradicted in a w.al,
highly honourable to the country. From a letter
which appeared in the Times, he found that last year
the gold collected in California amounted in value t 0
50,000,000 of dollars, or 10,000,000/. steruto4
What effect would that have upon the
price of gold in London, which "suld
centre of the industrial world ? Why, he would
not be surprised if, instead of 15,000,0001, they
_tlid
have to issue 20,000,0001., which of course wyrbi,
make a great reduction in their capital. reducedTfet
trary price of gold here was 31. 17s. 9d., but i
to 3/ 10e, there would be a differeece of 10 per. cent.
He would not detain them longer, but ail:D ads for
that he thought he had shown sufficient grotuheos
other
reducing the re et to 2,000,0001., and leaving
or
a be
1,000,0001. to be added to the dividend,f
bonus'
given to the proprietors in the shape ot,
He concluded by moving an amendmen4
ef the rest of 3,574,8611, a dividend of.
tkorPs
__D the
on the bank capital be paid to the proprietors u
10th of October next. t.
the amendinen
Mr. DE WINT.oN, jun., seconded .
tussion took
The GOTERNOR said, before any ells
express ea
d to
place on the amendment he base
not theratc;tit.t
the last halt-yearly
amendment.—(Hear, hear.) Aileke from the rest, the
earnest hope that the Court d not agree to the
division, when 300.000/. was ta .
director* at the request of
not be safely reduced
their opinion that the rest could
below the amount to which
the general assent of
the proprietors, expressed
Th directors con-
the
That opinion seemed to rhecehive
the proprietors—(Hear, hear.)
tinned unanimously to be of tit was then brought;
had then expressed, believing that anyreduction of
duction of the rest would endanger the
circumstance which
the dividend below 3k per cent.'acircumsorrrY to see
the proprietors would be extremely s
he opinion
fwurhtihcehrthdeey.
brought about ; indeed it was one which coidulduhnsoetol):,
too much deprecated. The rest, hew the
was not only a guarantee fund to provide ted a 11'34
contingency of possible losses, but constituted
of the
important part of the working of the capitalteso Yeers
Bank.—(Hear, hear.) It had been so for 50
low as
past, and the rest had scarcely ever beoen
and
1843,
w(L for the
at the present moment. Between 183
other,
the rest appeared to be lower than at anYount 0.,
mthey bed
period, in consequence of the estimatedhut
ifa
lest notes not having been included ;
been added to the published rest, its amoutntrwe(64ll,.d.
have reached nearly the amount of the rest afof.oweL;
He felt that it would be unnecessary to
way wrong
"bin,
Hon. Friend through ell his details. flewa means
than stating that the Bank bad more available. rne
t thei)a nAbeetf:o rtehelßB4a4n,kfihiradtbleessi,sues availablebe being g
meansrestdrtarhcnateend
be
tore. The reserve arose from the redundancy
werey no'
doubt aware, from their experience.d
money in the money market ; andall oifnt
of time that
matters, in how short a penile commercial
H
place propose a higher
Most gladly would their directors
(Hear, hear)—but they
redundancy might give to scarcity.—(ear.)
dividend it they could
d
increase, but they . could not at the present
bmyomjeundtioiaosussentnataonsagney.
a future occasion, he could not say
meat, on
(Laughter)—to be enabled to propose A
higher dividend out of the profits of the Bank; but
to be constantly making up dividends out of capital
ren—
might lead to dangerous and disastrous consequences.
—(Hear, hear.) No one, he was sure, who had a due
regard to the welfare of the Bank would propose or
sanction such a proceeding. He hoped, therefore,
his Hon. Friend, whose good intentions towards the
Bank he did not wish in the least to question, would
upon mature deliberation see proper to withdraw 1)1s
amendment.—(blear, hear.)
Mr. Cooxa regretted that Mr. De Winton had not
given the proprietors notice of his intention to
haybange
on the motion he had to-C.ay, as they would e
been better qualified to discuss it in detail 1.1
believed, however, that the statement of the Governoreee
was the best answer that could bed the
of Mr. De Winton. When they bore M
Bank held in
high and honourable position thewhich
they had much
iven to thls:p n
the eyes of the world, he thought
reason to thank the directors for hinßi
their affairs to their present satisfactory aPv
osg bon roughHte
was decidedly opposed to the amen the directors
Mr. DE WINTON said be had givendment.

notice of hig intention.
A PROPRIETOR said they ou ht to be glad that they
g
were enabled to receive 3i per cent.
Mr. CLARK opposed the amendment, and said the
reference of Mr. De Winton to the state of the
continent during the past six months was peculiarly
unfortunate, since there was a stoppage of all com-
mercial intercourse in consequence of capitalist's Pre"