The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-24 00:00:00

THE PENINSULAR MAILS•

.
SOUTHAMPTON, OCT. 23. of
The steamship Madrid, Captain Bradsinivilthia,
the Peninsular and Oriental Company, arrive"' ,0,i1;
afternoon at two o'clock with the Peninsular 'ot.
in charge of Lieut. Purver, R.N., Admiralty ageaii,
The dates of sailing were—ibraltar, Oct.ls;'°4
16; Lisbon, 19; Oporto and Vigo, 20. b• 04,
The Madrid brings 28 first-class, 6 second' au
and 11 deck passengers ; and on freight 12 P:44
ages of specie (value 3,3371.), 19 boxes of of
casks of wine, 75 boxes of lemons, 30 baskea.,
chestnuts, 51 boxes of pomegranates, and 42 Pa
ages of sundries. os
The Madrid reports the arrival at Gibraltarl ss -
the 15th, of her Majesty's steam frigate naunt'e of:
en route for Malta and Constantinople, havinga
board medals for the Turkish troops who served to
the Crimea. On the same day the Malacca left
join the Mediterranean squadron. whip
On the 20th the Madrid passed the steam .10
Euxine with the outward Peninsular mail, si][lll
north of Bayonna (Vigo) lighthouse.

THE BANK OF HAMBURG.

HAMBURG, OCT. 21:4
It would perhaps be hardly fair to ascribe tii,A
great scarcity of money to that respectable 0.1"
lady the Giro-Bank of Hamburg, but there can lie
no doubt that she is a consenting party, and tor,;
fore has to bear some portion of the blame. Vur
readers will hardly believe it that in these go-ahead
i
days, when you can communicate with the whoe
of Europe in an hour or two by the electric tele'
graph, and get letters from India and America in
an incredibly short space of time, the Bank of
Hamburg has taken no steps whatever to keep
pace with the spirit of the age, but goes on in the
same old jog-trot way that was no doubt equal to
the limited requirements of the day, when,
ea
bank was first establishel nearly two hunar
years ago, but are not adapted to give geuer
satisfaction in the present day.
The two new banks lately started (the Verein:
Bank and the North German Bank), and white,
are under the direction of some of the most Pr%
tical men and extensive merchants of this Exchalle
appear to be fully alive to the requiremSnts of t,
age, and vie with each other in honourable rival 128
which of them shall offer to their customers t°,
greatest facilities to induce the public to open fit
count with them. Thus they have just caused
to be published that parties paying in bills 71
either of the new banks, or on the old Giro-1013,,
of Hamburg, can receive the amount the same u,i ral
that they fall due and are paid. Your couninerc,:a
readers who are aware, from experience, how often
a dozen or more different people are interested ,0
the payment of one single bill, and know rte
money circulates in a few hours, will be able td
an
appreciate the importance of this measure,
consider it a great improvement on the old gYste-a;
'3
It might rationally have been expected that
old Giro-Bank, finding itself placed in competit°9o
with the two young and rival establishments, b°a,
of them qualifiel in point of capital, clever 1330,
nageinent, and experience in business, to nlig,"c,
the confidence and win the favour of the PliTic"o
would have taken a similar step, and offered 3 .1135,
facility, if only for self-defence, and I fear 13300
add self preservation. Clogged with the cuinbrot
machinery of former ages, the old bank eannr
however, feel induced to depart from usages one,
lowed by custom from time immemorial, but 130
cording to our modern ideas, more honoured in
breach than the observance. Thus it still takes a d
whole fortnight for them to do what their yoti„%,
competitors accomplish in a few hours :—for
the above case as a fact, and assuming that a doze
different people are directly interested in, and are
waiting for the payment of a single bill, the result
is that the money falls due and is paid to A on tf
Monday ; A cannot pay the amount to B on the
same clay,,0
but only on the Tuesday ; B pays it "
C on Wednesday; C to D on Thursday; and thin
the last has to wait till the very end of the follort;
ing week for the payment of a sum which, t
little energy on the part of the bank, he reigicii
have had a fortnight earlier; and, be it observe t
this mode of doing business would have the efft
of increasing the amount of the circulating medium
to a twelvefold degree, and had it been acted upon
in the present scarcity of money, we should pc?'
bably have never seen the rate of discount rise in
this market to ten and twelve per cent.
I do not wish to say anything harsh or cuttiog,
to the old-fashioned managers of the old-fashioned
bank, but I cannot help quoting for their benefit'
the memorable words of Mr. Canning— "Those
who resist indiscriminately a-11 improvements
because they are innovations, may find themselves
compelled at last to submit to innovations which
are not improVements."—Daily News.