The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-13 00:00:00

THE CORN TRADE.

The most serious evil which has hitherto resulted
from the unusually warm and damp weather has been
the injurious effect it has had on the condition of the
corn of last year's growth. The accounts from all
parts of the kingdom complain of the bad order in
which the grain has hitherto come to market; and there
can be no doubt that this has had a material influence
on the tone of the trade. Merchants and millers are
naturally unwilling to buy largely of an article scarcely
available for immediate use, for in many cases the
wheat has been rendered so rough as not to be in a
fit state to grind without a large mixture of old.
Buyers have, consequently, contracted their opera-
tions; and the anticipations of higher prices gene-
rally indulged in by holders at the close of last
month do not alone remain unfulfilled, but the
tendency has lately been decidedly downwards. ,
Mean while farmers do not bring forward supplies
freely, and, as the quantity held by other par-
ties is (excepting in the port of London) small, it
is not likely that the value of bread-stuffs will,
for some time as least, give way to any
great extent. To enter into predictions as to the
probable range of prices in spring would be wholly
absurd, as that will depend on matters of which
nothing can be now known, viz., the then appearance
of the crops, the probehle extent of the shipments from
abroad, &c. Hitherto ti.e actual fall in prices has not
been important, indeed, we doubt whether, if due allow-
ance be made for the deterioration which the quality
has undergone, the article can be quoted at all cheaper.
At Liverpool, on Tuesday, really fine parcels of
wheat, whether old or new, were held at the advance
of the preceding market-day, or 2d. per 701bs. above
the currency of that day se nnight ; and though the
ordinary kinds were offered at lower terms, the in-
trinsic value was quite as much less as the difference
in price. On Friday business was excessively dull ;
wheat was quoted from id. to 3d. per 701b5., and flour
I a. per barrel lower.
The reports from other large consuming markets
in the north are on the whole dull ; an effort appears
to have been made to obtain former terms, which
had had the effect of checking business, and the
transactions at Hull and Leeds were, on Tuesday,
on quite a retail scale. From Wakefield we learn
that goad supplies had been received ; and, on Fri-
day, wheat was offered at a reduction of ls. per qr.
without exciting much attention.
The advices from the western and north-western
parts of the kingdom are generally of a very dull tone.
At Birmingham, on Thursday, there was but little
wheat on sale; notwithstanding which, an abatement
of Is. to 2s. per quarter had to be submitted to on all
but picked samples. This was also the case at Bristol
and neighbouring markets. The accounts from
nearly all the places above referred to ascribe the fall
mainly to the want of condition in which the wheat
has come to hand.
The adv ices from Ireland in regard to potatoes are
unfavourable, but prices of other articles of food do
not appear to have been much influenced thereby ;
indeed, Indian corn, the great substitute fur potatoes
with the poorer classes, had receded in value, owing
to the belief that larger supplies would be received
from America than had been previously reckoned on.
The arrivals of wheat coastwise into London have
been on the same moderate scale this week as for some
time past ; indeed, there was hardly anything exhi-
bited either on Wednesday or Friday from Essex or
Suffolk, and the few runs displayed on the Kent
stands consisted mostly of parcels left over from the
previous receipts. With so scanty a supply the ope-
rations have necessarily been on a restricted scale ;
but though the millers have acted with the utmost
caution, factors have remained firm, and the little
business done has been at previous prices. Further
supplies of wheat have arrived from abroad—this was
hardly expected ; still very little effect has been pro-
duced by the late receipts, as importers have refrained
from pressing sales from on board ship. The country
demand for foreign wheat has not been by any
means active since our last, and the local inquiry has
also been slow. Fine qualities (particularly Dantzic)
have, nevertheless, been held for fully as much, and
needy buyers have been obliged to pay Monday's
currency for what they required for immediate use.
In secondary and inferior sorts scarcely anything has
been done, and quotations hare, therefore, remained
nominally unaltered.
The value of home manufactured flour has under-
gone no change requiring notice, though the turn
may, perhaps, in some cases, have been rather in
favour of the purchaser. Of American very little
has come to hand ; but as the latest advices from
the United States intimated that the stocks of
the ports on the seaboard had increased, it is
deemed probable that some small lots may drop in
from time to time. Choice brands, being very scarce,
have been held firmly at former terms ; and, though
the inquiry for secondary sorts has been languid,
prices have not suffered any abatement.
The arrivals of home grown barley have been
small since Monday, nor has much been brought
forward by land-carriage samples from the neigh-
bouring counties. This grain has, nevertheless, been
very difficult of disposal, the malsters and distillers
having manifested a decided objection to buy more
than absolutely necessary for their immediate wants.
In this position of affairs prices have continued to tend
downwards, and secondary sorts might in some
instances have been bought a trifle lower on Friday
than at the beginning of the week. Foreign barley
has not excited any particular attention ; still prices
of good heavy grinding sorts have been about main-
tained.
Malt has hung on hand very heavily, but no quo-
table change has occurred in its value.
The supplies of oats from our own coast have
amounted to 3,360 quarters, and from Scotland 820
quarters have come to hand. In the Irish arrivals there
is a slight increase, 5,820 quarters having been re-
ported. On the other hand, the foreign supply has
fallen off, and, taking the total, the arrival is
small. The leading dealers have, throughout the
week, acted on the reserve ; nor have consumers been
inclined to take more than is required for present use.
The trade has, therefore, been dull; but factors have
insisted on previous rates, and the business done on
Wednesday and Friday, though trifling in extent,
was at full terms.
Beans have been rather more inquired for, and
neither English nor foreign have been sold at all
cheaper than on Monday.
The transactions in peas have not been very exten-
sive, and quotations have remained much the same as
previously.
Indian corn has been neglected, in consequence of
dull advices from some of the principal Irish markets.
Owing to the non-arrival of Tuesday's Hamburgh
mail our news from the Baltic is not so complete as
usual. We have Dantzic advices of the Ist instant,
and accounts of corresponding dates from some of the
other principal ports. The navigation having become
closed, and the inquiry fur spring shipment having been
comparative] v trifling, but little business seems to have
been done either in wheat or spring corn. Our Dantzic
letters state that prices of wheat were nominally 455.
to 495. per quarter. Stocks were very short,
and holders had remained exceedingly firm. During
the year 1847 there had been exported from Dantzic
38,706 lasts of wheat, and the quantity remaining in
warehouse on the Ist instant amounted to only 3,338
lasts, about two-thirds of which consisted of old, and
the other third of new. The weight of the new
wheat which had come forward had varied from albs.
to 601bs. per bushel.
The news from the south of Europe is not of much
interest. From Marseilles we have advices of very
recent dates— viz., 4th instant ; prices of wheat
had tended
upwards there, in consequence of a
demand for Languedoc ; for really fine Polish as
much as 44s
per quarter had been paid, and
other sorts had re
England was 7s. 4ed corresponding rates. Frieght to
per uarter, and 10 per cent. In
Indian corn and beans thererel has not been much pass-
ing; both articles were
G aiatlively higher there than in
our markets, sa
quarterldian corn 285., and
Egyptian beans 295, per
From Leghorn we learn, free on board.
,fiudpeorrthe date of 30th of
December, that a cargo of
price
wheat had been
bought there, for Ireland, at a
ivrarequ.al to 475. 6d,
per quarter, including freight.—
k-lane Express.

painful duty to
T—lt 19 OUT
i'lirtillt; SoltOT,
DREADFUL ...A CCfIDmErN.
William Ainsworth, record the death 0
fatal
. It appears that, as
by an accident as
of Higher Bank.
in ocell"..i". 7
the
9 Mr. Ainsworth 11%1(14,1,ot
it was sudden
course of Wednesday ui''' Li"fs, . ~
it to one of his little boys. In the
or a quarter to five Wein*
a sparrow, and givers
playing with his children, when
afternoon, about half past four
he was in the kitchen
Id not, as they would all
his youngest little girl asked him to shoot a bird for her.
could He replied ho was afraid he c
be gone to roost, but he would try. Ile then took down
a gun, and having loaded it ho went
but a few into tho plantation
beside the house. Ile hail been absent
mi-
nutes, when a female servant heard a person moan as if
in pain; and on going out she saw her master,. who h
just come through a small gate leading to the plantation,
a
in the act of falling to the ground, his coat and waistcoat
on his left side being on fire. She ran to support him,
when he i•jaculatcl, " Oh, Ellen:" to the servant; and as-
sistance having been procured he was instantly taken into
the house, where he died in about ten minutes. It would
seem that, being unable to find a bird to shoot, the un-
fortunate gentleman was returning through the gate with
the undischarged g
some part.un in his left baud, when th
gate, and, th 'e tria.g er
must have caught of the
immediate', exploding, the contents were lod.-ed ien gheir:
left side. The gun was lying on the ground, by the side
of the gate, when the servant ran up to him; and he had
reached the back door, which 'he W a about to enter, a
distance of fifteen yards from the gate, when his situa-
tion was discovered. Mr. Ainsworth, who was about
36 years of age, has left a widow and four children to
lament his untimely fate, and a large circle of friends,
by whom he was greatly esteemed, to sympathise with
Shia most painful bereavement of his family.
The Berlin journals announce that Prince Albert
Of Prussia is about to imitate his cousin, Prince Waldo-
mar, by visiting the East Indies and other parts of Asia.