The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-14 00:00:00

THE BANK RETURNS.

The Bank return of yesterday evening-presents
most singular features. The amount of notes in
circulation, which was already beyond all ordinary
precedent, shows a further increase of £1,600,000.
The average total required by the public is between
19 and 20 millions, and they hold at this moment
£23,467,000. Compared with the same period
of the memorable year 1857, when the trade of the
country had reached a degree of inflation never be-
fore
known, the excess of notes now in , use is
£3,715,000, or 19 per cent. No one, therefore, can
complain of want of accommodation, The total, in
fact, is such as was never attained except during
the extraordinary time shortly after the gold dis-
coveries, when the Bank bullion touched its highest
sum, and Consols were at 101 ex. dividend, and the
rate of money 2 per cent. The cause of the move-
ment is still unexplained, or if an explanation be
hinted, it is such as everyone must hope will prove
unfounded. Looking only for a natural solution,
the circumstances now witnessed can spring only
from a single cause,—namely, a sudden and won-
derful augmentation of the business of the country.
Supposing it to be a healthy augmentation such as
can be carried on at a profit, notwithstanding the
advance in discounts, there will be reason for uni-
versal satisfaction, no less at the prosperity of tha
mercantile body, but also at the fact that capitalists
share in it in fair proportion. Supposing it to be
speculative or fictitious, then every one must hail
the measures by which the evil is to be repressed.
We know, therefore, that the advance in the rate is a
great good, either as promoting a fair distribution
of legitimate profits among traders and money
dealers, or as a remedy for a dangerous condi-
tion. Here all reference to the matter might
end, the commercial and banking community
being left to exercise their own judgment as to
whether this astounding growth of trade is healthy
or unhealthy. But within these few hours a report
has become current, which, but for the otherwise
inexplicable character of what is going on, would
seem altogether incredible. The public are aware
that since the experience of 1857 the Bank have
resolved to lend no encouragement to the vicious
practice of rediscounting, and that, while opening
theirlloors to the commercial community, they have
for that reason excluded the discount brokers. Oa
the inherent soundness of this policy there can be
no dispute, and the leading members of the mercan-
tile world have regarded it with strong approval.
It is now asserted, however, that in their dissatis-
faction at its operation the discount firms have re-
solved to draw from the Bank as many notes as
possible, to lock these notes up, and thus to create
a sense of scarcity and an inconvenient advance in
the Bank terms that shall induce all business men
to believe that they are suffering through the in-
ability of the discount houses to help them, and that
this inability is caused by the exclusion of those
houses from the Bank. An operation of this kind
would be at once so ridiculous and so censurable
that every considerate person will refuse credence
to it, unless upon the authority of the discount
houses themselves. Indeed, but fbr the circum-
stances that the report this evening is in universal
circulation, that the alleged particulars are fully
stated in commercial circulars, and that some in-
dividuals even affirm that the parties in questioll
virtually admit its correctness, any notice ofit
would seem improper, and, even as matters stand,
the reference to it must merely be for the sake of
enabling an unequivocal contradiction to be obtained
without delay.—Times' (tty Article.

LITERARY NElP.—Among the publications an-
nounced as forthcoming by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett
are the following: works :—" Memoirs of the Courts and
Cabinets of William IV. and Viett.ria," completing the
Buckingham Papers, 2 vols.; "Narrative of a Residence at
the Court of Meer Ali Moorad, with Sporting Adventures
iu the Valley of the Indus," by Captain Langley, 2 vole ~
with plates ; " The -Upper and Lower Amoor, ' by T. W.
Atkinson, F.R.G.S., 1 vol., with 100 illustrations; "Domes-
tic Memoirs of the Royal Family, and of the Court of Eng-
land," by Folkstone Williams, F.G.S., 3 vols.; " Six Years
of a Traveller's Life in Western Africa," by Francisco
Valdez, 2 vols., with map and numerous plates ; "A Jour-
ney on a Plank from Kiev to Eaux-Bonnes," by Lady
Charlotte Pepys, 2 vols. ; " Six Months in Rtlunion; a
Clergyman's lioliday, and How he Spent it," by the Rev.
P. Beaton, M.A. 2 vole.; " A Book about Doctors,"• by
Mr. J. C. Jeaffres9n, 2 vols. ; " Half Routs wikt.. English 3.
Painters, front Hogarth to Turner," by
G ndinother's Money, by the
Thorn-
bury, vole. The
nao'vheelss:_am“e p.irt,bllisheyrsnael
Bertrand,"
to: laa announce ;Go; n.
by e.
Francis
Meredith of " Wildflower ; '
; " The Curate , , s, ,
to of Rridairvi-?irtsztal er in
01.,!,ecb0:.1e,,c
sticornust
ain.
the Life a Clergyman . ~
~
~
tor;" " Mainstone's housekeeper, by Silyorpen," &e.
THE GREAT EASTERN.—Capt. , Goodridge, who
commands the Channel Island packet Courier, was con-
sulted on Thursday by the directors of the Great Eastern
with respect to
Jersey. The eybeachincagptaoifntdheeelargreedatthat a better
place in
yn erot be found to enable the bottom of the ship
St.
ptAohu'bebeei Ile': examined
until a dock is built for her, and he offered,
to take her over with safety ; in fine weather there wsuld
'notrun rbiien
gt hteo sal
and
gdh ht d. dm ajnegr
seery. t
wC
iac
op t a
ai nwGe
coko dr
foidrgtehehal
as s been e
3e no
years. He is always employed as pilot when the Queen
visits the Channel Islands. Mr. Stebbing, the Pres'.delt
of the Southampton Chamber of Commerce, stated at the
last meeting of that body there was every probabi ity that
a Great Eastern graving dock would soon be built at
Southampton.
TEAIdSHIP-BUILDING ON TUE CLYDE.—Several
handsome new steamers have just been launched by baders
in the Clyde district. Messrs. T. Win,..rrate and Co. have
turned out a paddle steamer named the Comercio, and in-
tended for passenger traffic on the Berth coast of Spain.
The Comercio is 140 feet in length, and a pair of engines of
70 horsepower arc now being placed on board. Messrs
Wm. Denny and Brothers, of Dumbarton, have launched a
screw yacht named the Margaretta Stevenson for Mr. 11. C.
Stevenson, of Quebec. The yacht is intended to be employed.
as a tender to her Majesty's surveying ship in the Gulf of
St Lawrence, and she is being engined by Messrs. Tulloch
and Donny. A screw steamer of 500 tons has been launched.
from the building-yard of Mr. A. Denny, of Dumbarton.
She is intended for the Glasgow and Londonderry trade,
and will replace the Fable, lost last winter. She has, been
D. ivied the Falcon) and iskeinz Wed with 90-horse engines.