The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-21 00:00:00

MONEY MARKET AND CITY NEWS.

•,•,. V.''''-

CITY. Two, o'CLocK.

The accounts from the manufacturing districts
notice a slight improvement during the past week
in one or two of the principal branches of trade.
At Leeds there has been a better tene in the woollen
sloth market; the purchases, however, have been
limited. The manufacturers, nevertheless, are fairly
employed. At Manchester the late unfavourable
advices from the East have given a very heavy tone
to the market, and business in India goods has been
almost suspended. For the home markets the tran-
sactions have also been limited. At Leicester there
has been more activity in the demand for home con-
sumption and for exportation ; but little alteration
can be reported in the lace trade at Nottingham.
The various hardware trades of Birmingham,
Sheffield, and Wolveilampton have shown symp-
toms of improvement.
In the Liverpool Cotton Market, on Saturday,
business was rather inactive, and prices were about
the same. The Railway Share Market closed with
more animation, and quotations exhibited a decided
improvement.

There is a'moderate demand for money in Lom-
bard-street, and the Bank of England authorities
are obtaining a fair share of business. This shows
that there is very little difference between the
official minimum, and the rates current elsewhere.
At the forthcoming meeting of the London
Chartered Bank of Australia, a dividend of 31 per
cent. for the last half-year will be proposed.
' Further additions are being made to the stock of
bullion in the Bank of England, about £105,000
having been received there on Saturday. The ex-
port demand being very quiet, the specie received
from Australia, America, &e., is chiefly sent into
that establishment ; and it is satisfactory to notice
increased consignments from New York, 'the ex-
change on ,London having attained a point that
enables the shippers to realise a profit from such
transactions. Further supplies are expected at an
early date from Australia, as several vessels must
have made considerable progress in their passage
home.

There has been very little animation in the
market for Public Securities to-day, and pre-
vious quotations were scarcely maintained,
Consols being 94 -St for money, and 94-a
for account. There is still, however, an
absence of buoyancy, the advices from the
Continent not being of a character to inspire con-
fidence. The dealings in money stock are very
moderate. The New Threes and the Reduced are
firm, at 93 1. India Loan Debentures have receded
to 961. Exchequer Bills are ss. to Bs. prem.

A moderate business has been recorded in
Foreign Securities, and prices are steady. Turkish
6 per Cents. are 741 to 741 ; ditto New, 57/ to
4571 ; Spanish Deferred are firmer at 37 ; Mexican
at 211; Portuguese at 441 ; Sardinian remain at
841 ; and Dutch 4 per Cents. at 1001 101 ; Bra-
zilian 41 per Cents. are flat at 9071 ; and the Scrip is

The Ocean Marine Insurance Shares are 2k
prem.; the Thames and Mersey ditto, 1 prem. ;
and the Universal ditto, I 1, prem.
- The dealings in the Railway Share Market
have been limited, but a slight advance has been
apparent in values. North-Western, Midland,
and North-Eastern (Berwick), have improved ss. ;
Great Northern and Brighton, 10s. ; and Lanca-
shire and Yorkshire, 15s. ; South-Eastern have
declined ss.

The Foreign and Colonial undertakings have
also shown • rather more buoyancy. South
Austrian and Lombardo-Venetian are steady at 11i,
and Buenos • Ayres and San Fernando realise 61 ;
Grand Trunk of Canada have improved to 331, and
East Indian to 1011, 102.
Joint Stock Bank and Miscellaneous Shares con-
tinue inactive ; Bank of Australasia have improved
about 55., and London Joint Stock, 53. ; Red Sea
Telegraph have declined ss.

BRITISH FUNDS—ONE O'CLOCK.
3 per Cent. Reduced Annuities 938.3
3 per Cent. Consols Annuities
i a
New 3 per Cent. Annuities
India Stock. .
Ditto Debentures, 1858 ..
Ditto 1859..
Ditto Bonds £l,OOO
Ditto under £l,OOO .. lO 5 d
Consols for Account (6th June)
Exchequer Bills, £l,OOO, lid

961

;it to £5OO 8
Ditto Small 5 8
FOREIGN FUNDS—ONE O'CLOCK.
Brasilian. 5 per Cent \
Ditto 41 per Cent. 1858 9oa d
Ditto Scrip, 1860
Mexican 3 per Cent
Ditto Account
Portuguese 3 per Cent., 1853, 441
Russian 5 per Cent. 1822, L•St - •
Ditto 41 per Cent.
Ditto 3 per Cent
Sardinian 5 per Cent
Spanish 3 per Cent
Ditto New Deferred
Ditto Account
Turkish 6 per Cent.
Ditto Account ..
Ditto New Loan
Ditto Account
Dividends on the above payable in London.
Dutch Exchange, 12 Guil. 2/ per Cent —
Ditto Certificates, 4 per Cent.
TWO O'CLOCK.
Consols, Money
Ditto June Account

741

ROYAL DRAMATIC COLLEGE.—The laying of the
foundation-stone, on Friday, the Ist of June, by his Royal
Highness the Prince Consort, is an event to which the
friends and patrons of the institution are looking with great
expectation. A grand fete and fancy fair, the stalls at
which are to be kept by ladies of the profession, is one of the
attractions. .The ladies who have already tendered their ser-
vices are Mrs. Stirling, Miss Amy Sedgwick, Miss Swan-
borough, Mrs. Fank Matthews, Miss Murray, Miss Wyd •
ham, Miss'Katharine Hickson, Mrs. Fitzwilliam, Mrs. C.
Young, Miss Oliver, Miss M. Wilton, Miss Bufton, Miss
C. Saunders, Mrs. Herbert, Mrs. Marston, Mrs..L. Mur-
ray, Miss Cotterell, Miss Neville; and the gentlemen who
have offered their assistance to superintend th evarious
games, include Mr. J. B. Buckstone, Mr. Compton, Mr. F.
Matthews, Mr. J. L. Toole, Mr. Paul Bedford, and Mr. H.
Widdicombe. It is well to remark that the issue of tickets
Must be limited to the number of seats contracted for, and
as it follows as a matter of course that no more seats can
be provided than the tent will hold, early application is
necessary to prevent disappointment.
FALL OF DOVER CLIFF.—For some time Mr.
Churchward has been carrying on extensive works on his
premises in Snargate-street, at the base of the cliff, which
he has been sloping down. Early on Sunday morning,
owing to the heavy fall of rain on the previous night, an
immense mass of about 1,000 tons gave way, and fell
with a terrific crash in the yard beneath. Happily no injury
either to individual or machinery occurred.—Dover
Chronicle.

- -
PARLIAMENTARY VICTSSITUDES.—Some surprise
may possibly be excited when it is stated that since the com-
mencement of the year 1854, 347 gentlemen then in the
House of Commons have ceased to have a share in the deli-
berations of that august assembly. The mutations which
have occurred from time to time during the six years in the
constitution of the house have been still more numerous ;
but several temporarily-ejected members have succeeded in
obtaining re-election in other quarters, and of these and of
Others who have sat in the house only a few months we I
have taken, pro hac vice, no account. Of the 347 gentlemen
310 longer M.P.'s, 247 represented English ; 11, Welsh ; 31,
Scottish ; and 58, Irish constituencies. Death, of course, has
been busy during the period under review, but at least two-
thirds of the changes noticed are due to hustings' influences
and the inability of members to sustain the wear and tear—
pecuniary and physical—of Parliamentary life. The desire
for change appears to prevail most strongly among borough
constituencies, 168 of the 247 English variations having
occurred among borough members ;;but as the ratio of Eng-
lish boroughs to English counties is as 119 to 144, the dis-
proportion is not, after all, so very great. Still county
members appear to enjoy a longer term of Parliamentary
existence, and changes in counties are not, as a rule, of so
sweeping a nature as in boroughs. Thus the following
English boroughs, each having two members, have now
wholly different representatives as compared with 1854 :
Aylesbury, Barnstaple; Bath, Beverley, Boston, Busking-
ham, Cambridge, Chippenham, Cockermouth, Colchester,
Devonport, Dover, Greenwich, Guildford, Harwich, Has-
tings, Leeds, Leicester, Leominster, Malden, Manchester,
Marylebone, Newark, Northampton, Nottingham, Penryn
and Falmouth, Preston Ripen, Rochester, Sandwich,
Southwark, Sunderland, Truro, and Windsor. Our ge-
neral conclusion which may be drawn from an analysis of
the last six years is, that the average dura ion of a Parlia-
mentary life is about 12 years.
FRENCH RIFLED CANNON.—The science of de-
struction in France, as elsewhere, has kept pace with the
regress of the gentler arts, and naval gunnery has advanced
as much amongst our neighbours as ourselves. They at-
tech no small importance to the adoption of their rifled
cannon, which is calculated, as they assert, to project a mis-
sile twice the weight of an ordinary ball thrice the distance,
With the • same charge of powder. Fur this reason, and
from a concurrence of similar causes, most of their writers
agree that, however sanguinary any future engagement
might prove, its issue must soon be decided, while no doubt
is entertained that it must necessarily involve a far greater
destruction of materiel than occurred in former sea-fights.
This they allow would be of more serious moment to them
than to England, with her almost boundless resources. It
was no doubt this reflection which induced the prosecution
of a long course of experiments at Vincennes and else-
Where, with a view to devise the most effectual means bf
protecting ships from injury, at the same time that mea-
• flares were taken for providing them with the most destruc-
•4lllaraent.—Th Araviee of the World. By Hans Bask.