The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-16 00:00:00

nET7ETV OF 7HE BRITISH CORN TRADE.

The groweri having thrashed out only limited quantities
of late, the supplies of wheat brought forward in nearly
all the leading markets have been very moderate, and in
but middling condition. Good and fine samples have
changed hands freely, and in some instances prices have
advanced ls. per quarter. In the value of inferior
kinds, very little change has taken place. Increased
quantities of barley have been on offer, yet, on the whole
a steady business has been doing in most descriptions, at
about stationary prices. In the value of other descrip-
tions of produce no cbango of importance has taken
place. From our import lists it will be perceived that
the importations of foreign and colonial produce
continue enormous, and they have had very little
influence upon prices. Our farmers seem determined
to meet the consumption with only moderate supplies
of grain, and most of the large importing houses
arc lan,ling their cargoes in warehouse and thus specu-
lating upon higher prices. We have now arrived at the
dullest period of the year, a-11 ye t the tendency of the
value of wheat is -against the buyer. Indeed, the pre-
sent state of the trade is in favour of a long continuance
of current market values. Much will; of course, depend
upon the extent of the outflow of wheat and flour from
America.

At Mark-lane, both on Wednesday and Friday, only a
limited quantity of English wheat was exhibited coastwise
and by land-carriage. Really fine qualities were taken
off at fully Monday's prices ; inferior parcels, however.
were a slow inquiry, at that day's decline.
The imports of foreign wheat have been again on a very
extensive scale, but as they have been mostly landed
in warehouse, the show of samples has not increased.
Sales have progressed slowly, but we have no decline to
notice in the quotations. Most of the foreign wheat con-
tinues to arrive in good condition.

The imports of flour have been extensive, but there has
been no pressure of supply in the market. The trade has
been in a very inactive state, and the quotations have been
with difficulty supported.

The supply. of both English and foreign barley has been
tolerably extensive. Fine malting parcels have changed
hands steadily, at full prices. In the value of grinding
and distilling sorts very little change has taken place.
The supply of malt has been fully equal to the demand.
In prices we have no alteration to report • -
Owing.to the large arrivals of oats from abroad the
demand has fallen off, and the quotations have ruled
slightly in favour of buyers.

The few samples of English beans brought forward have
been disposed of at previous currencies.

White peas have given way fully is. per quarter.
Grey and maple qualities, however, have maintained their
previous value.
Very few transactions of Indian corn have taken place
in this article ; holders, however, have been firm in their
demands.

THE JAPANESE PRINCE. --- On • Saturday his
Highness the Japanese Prince, accompanied by Captain
Edmonstone, Cominodore Superintendent of Woolwich
Dockyard, and by the members of his suite,' visited, at
the request of the Admiralty, the works of the Thames
Ironworks, Shipbuilding, Engineering, and Dry Docks
Company at Blackwall. His Highness was received by
Mr. Peter Rolt, chairman ; Captain Ford, the managing
director ; and by other officers, and was strewn over the
entire works. He paid particular attention to the large
ironclad frigate Wilhelm 1., of 6,000 tons, which is being
built for the Prussian navy. He also went on board the
Greek ironclad of 1,050 tons, with 7-inch armour plates,
and two 3001 b. guns. He noticed the other vessels and
works in progress, and examined the model of a broadside
vessel which was adjudged to be the best of the designs
sent in in the late competition invited by the Lords of the
Admiralty.

FATAL FIRE.—At West Bromwich, on Saturday
morning, a carter, aged 40 years, and his mother, aged
79, were burned to death. The carter, whose namo was
William Haines, was noted for his drunken habits, and it
appears that he went home intoxicated on Friday night.
He went to bed in the back room upstairs, and in his
stupor must have tumbled his candle upon the bed, or in
some other way.have set fire to some portion of the furni-
ture in the room, The fire spread, and was discovered by
people outside very early on Saturday morning. So soon
as the flames were extinguished a search was made for the
bodies. Haines was found lying in bed, his face down-
wards, and his body, which had been literally roasted, was
so drawn up as to shew that he had died in extreme
agony. His mother had also suffered terribly. Her legs
had been severed from her body by fire.

JUVENILE " FENIA.NS."—A schoolboy at New-
bury has narrowly escaped death by hanging, under rather
singular circumstances. A number of lads at the Na,tional
S ;hoc)]. were in their play-hour amusing themselves by a
game to which they attached the title of " Fenianism."
With boyish humour they were in their own way giving
something of a representation of the proceedings of the
Fenians at Manchester ; several arrests were made, and
the game went on until it was decided by the youngsters to
present the closing scene in the Manchester tragedy. For
this purpase the group of lads adjourned to a neighbouring
outhouse, where three of them volunteered to enact the
scene on the scaffold. The first boy who came forward
was Alfred Twitchen, around whose neck a scarf was
fastaned by a slip knot, and he was thereupon suspended
from a beam, where he hung for a few seconds, until his
face became blackened, and there was fear that strangula-
sion would ensue ; happily, however, the knot slipped,
and Twitchen, falling to the ground, escaped an untimely
end. He had suffered sufficiently from the thoughtless
freak as to become insensible, in which condition he was
reployea to his hcme, tAit he has now nearly recovered,

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