The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-19 00:00:00

TlO -c EY MARKET

AND
COMMERCIAL INTRLLIGENCE.

TWELVE O'CLOCK.

At the weekly Court of the Directors of the Bank
of England this morning, no alteration was an-
nounced in the minimum rate of discount, which

still remains at 2 per cent.
In the general market there continues to be a fair
demand, and the rates current are in most instances
fully equal to the Bank minimum.

At a meeting of the Grand Trunk Railway Com-
pany of Canada the report of Captain Tyler, who
148 just returned from his mission to Canada, was
discused,
The biddings for bills on India took place yester-
day at the Bank of England, and 12,30,000 rs.
(£123,000) were allotted to Calcutta. The mini•

Ilium price was fixed, as before, at ls. 11d. on
Calcutta and Madras, and all tenders at above that
price will be allotted in full.
The return of traffic of the Ottoman Railway
for the week ending Dec. 1, 1867, amounted to
£1,009, against £787 of the corresponding week of
1866, showing an increase of £221.

The shares of the Auglo-Argentine Company
Were to-day quoted at Ito prem.
The directJrs of the Chontales Gold and Silver
Mines have received advices from the mines dated
9th November, 1867. Cholera has entirely disap-
peared from the mines. The health of the establish-
ment is satisfactory. Native labourers still scarce,
but expected soon to return. The general prospects
pinch more encouraging. The remittance of gold
Was 245 ounces.

At a general meeting of the shareholders of the
Great Wheal Vor United Mines Company, held
this day (George Noakes, Esq., in the chair), the
reports read were considered highly satisfactory,
and show that the mine has considerably improved
since the last meeting. There is every probability
of a lasting and profitable mine for some time yet
to come. The accounts made up to-day showed a
balance in hard of £5,010 after paying all liabilities.
A dividend of 7s. 6d. per share on 5,908 shares
(amounting to £2,215 10s.) was declared, and the
usual vote of thanks to the chairman and committee
terminated the proceedings.
The New Honduras Loan is firm, at 1 to 2
Prem.

Atlantic and Great Western Railway Debentures
remain firm at 221 23k, and the Consolidated Mort-
gage Bonds at 19 19f.
The last week's railway receipts, ascertained up
to this day, ars in round figures as under

1867. 1866.
Great Western . . . 71,827 71,379
North Western -.122,679 120,450
Beath Western 21,785 22,059
Brighton ... 20,495 19,820
Midland ***
•••
51027 47,072
South Eastern *:: ... 22,617 21,907
Great Northern 43,264 42,472
Lancashire and Yorkshire... ... 45,111 44,153
tristol and Exeter ... ... 7,150 6,891
North Eastern . ... 66,894 68,789
ianchester Sheffield and Lincoln ... 20,693 21,261
Great Eastern ... ... 33,736 34,458
London, Chatham, .a.n. d Doper ... 8,643 8,447
ketropolitan. ... 4,741 4,530
North British-
... 25,154 24,393
1114,4g0w and South.WesteTn 9,611 9,413
Midland and Great Western of Ireland 5,092 5,251
These returns, when compared with those of the
Corresponding period of last year, are generally
of a satisfactory character. On the Great
Western there is an increase of £448 ; on the
Xorth-Western, of £2,229 ; on the Brighton,
of £675 ; on the Midland, of £3,995 ; on the
South-Eastern, of £3,600 ; on the Great Northern,
of £792 ; on the Lancashire and Yorkshire, of
L 958 ; on the Bristol and Exeter, of £339 ; on the
On the London, Chatham, and Dover,, of £196 ;
On the Metropolitan, of £211; and on the North
British, of £761 ; while the South-Western shows a
decrease of £274 ; the North-Eastern, of £1,895;
the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln, of £568 ;
and the Great Eastern, of £722.
The Manchester markets during the last fort-
4ight are thus commented on by Messrs. Alexander
Collie and Co.:-" During the past fortnight the
total absence of speculation ia cotton and piece
goods, as well as the absence of general and steady
confidence to which the now very low scale
of prices seems to encourage a return, have
made themselves observable in the eagerness
of planters and holders of American cotton to quit
their stocks `e'ven at prices which, it is believed,
entail loss upon them. This exhibition of weakness
on their part 'has inilueittecl injuriously the course
of cotton at Liverpool, cotton goods here
and cotton goods in the East and induces
the most extreme caution ou the part of shippers.
The opinion is becoming pretty general that, not-
withstanding the scarcity of money in the south,
and:consequent necessity to effect sales of the crop,
the Americans will ere long become steadier holders,
because the chief outlets for manufacturers, although
giving way with every report of cheaper cotton,
"ill leave a handsome margin upon present
Manchester prices, and thus encourage te hope
that consumption of cotton will increase, and
lead
to firm, if not higher rates. The repeal of
their export tax, which is now so much urged,
would, it is inferred, only enable them to retrieve
past losses without fur. her yielding in price, for the
other qualities have only declined to present values
In order to maintain their relative positions in th
• Consumption, not that cheaper production or greater°
abundance enables them to do so.
Messrs. Stern Brothers have announced to the
public that his Majesty the King of Portugal, by a
decree under date of the 16th of December, has
authorised the creation of £5,500,000 nominal
capital 3 per cent. stock, and that they have
entered into a contract with the Portuguese Go-

l'eriameut for the negotiation of the same. It ap-
Pears that £750,000 has already been disposed of ;
£1.,000,000 is reserved for Portugal, and the con-
tractors are now prepared to receive applications
for the remaining £3,750,000. Bonds, to bearer
are proposed in amounts of £lOO and £5OO, bear-
ing interest at 3 per cent. per annum, payable half
Yearly, on Jan. 1 and July 1, at the Portuguese Fi-
33naeial Commission in London in pounds sterling;
'll Paris, at the Exchange, of 25f. 25c. ; aad at
Amsterdam, at 11 guilders 80c. per pound. The
Price of issue is 38i for every £lOO stock, with inte-
rest from July 1, 1867, payable as follows :--£5 per
neut. on application, £5 OR allotment; £5 Jan. 30,
1868, deducting 11 per cent. dividend (less income
tax),
due Jan. 1, 1868 ; £5 March 30 ; £lO May
30, and £8 10s. per cent. June 30, total 38f. Sub-
aeriptions will be received in London by Messrs.
stern Brothers, and in Lisbon and Oporto by
41essrs. Fonsecas Santos and Viauna. With the
Price of issue at 38k, inclusive of the January
?11Pon of 1f per cent. and the discounts on pay-
`Lients in full equivalent to 9-16 per cent. the net
Price is less than 36k, and will yield the investor,
availing himself of all the advantages offered,
nearly 81 per cent. This loan is merely a substi-
tution of Interior Stock pledged for temporary
i ('nos raised by the Government, which stock
L
aas, in accordance with the loan of the Ist
1867, to be cancelled against the issue of the
;aew loan ; the latter, therefore, will not add to
:Isting charges on the revenue, but rather di-
inisll them by substituting funded debt for
p,stigfloat-
debts, bearing very high rates of interest and
071nission. When the Cortes last met £520,000
e new taxes were voted, the collection of which will
has in January, 1868. The Government
as decreed, and has commenced to carry out, the
sale
of the landed properties belonging to time
eatlnicipalities and hospitals, which at the lowest
v
141 ate are valued at £2,500,000, and this
ilrit4t by law be invested in Government Seca-
% 1"' In Portugal there is an institution for
e security
itl of stockholders which does not exist
cranY other country, called the Junta of Public
edit. It appears that 'every' year certain taxes
are
hands
by the Cortex to be paid direct into the
" of this institution, to be applied for the pay-
-ent
- nf
the interest on the external and internal
het' and it very often happens that the interest on
at,.iaternal stock is paid three months in advance.
43 ben Portugese Story is now largely dealt in
and at Amsterdam and London at 40k.
..,brte,Ording Two O'CLOCK.
to Reuter's telegram this morning the
t,_ u_Rentes were 68f. 75c. Firm.
L'uglifill Securities remain inactive, and the tone