The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-16 00:00:00

AMUSEMENTS.

Mr.. Brooke, after a round of,farewell perform-
ances, which were very well attended, has bid a
final adieu to 'Melbourne, having made his last ap-
pearance as Matthew Elmore, in " Love's Sacri-
flee." Mr. Brooke is now plAying in Tagil inia. -
The Royal is now devoted to the comic muse—
the litest nove'ty be:ng the productiou of Broughts
burlesque of " Lana Itookh, ' which, put upon the
stage with great spiiit and atteutijn to detail,
threatens to become as great a favourite hero as at
the Lyceum.

At the P iucess's, Mis 3 Plovost, an American
actrcsi of sumo eminence, is phying with moderate
success.

Thki Gougenheims are about to appear at the
Montezuma, Ballarat ; and Mr. and Mrs. Heir
Lave opened the Haymarket, Sandhurst,
,with a
good company.

The following is the annual statement of the
President of the Melbourne Chamber of Com-
merce :

At an early period of the past year, I succeeded to the
position of president of your chamber, and now i roceed to
perform one of the duties of the office, by a review of facts
and conclutdons whiCh impress me (as interesting 'to our-
selves, or possible value to those who rimy succeed us in
thus marking the progress of commerce in this colony.
We all must regret, that notwithstanding the excessive
imposts of 1856-7, the evil not only continues, but has been
largely increased during the period of our present observa-
tion of 1857-8, as shown in the following statements :
Imports for the year 1856 " £12.908,937
Imp..rts for the year 1857
Being an Lennie° of 4,347,272

Expoe ts for the year 1856 :
Wool an,i other exports .C3,221,707
Cola

£15,029,944
Exports for the year 1357 :
Wool and ether exports £1,093,911
Gold
£15,079;12

Being an increase of 49,5 '8
Or a general difference in balance against the colony of
4,297,7 91. for 1857.
There has been, of course, an assimilating fluctuation in
tonnage, as by the following statement :
Vessels entered iuwaids, 1836 :

Vevals, Tons.
From colonies
From Great Britain and foreign ports 3;B 263,815

Total
Vess,ls entered inwards, 1857 :--

Vessels. Tons.
From colouies
From Great Britain and foreign. ports 432 363,970

Toial, ..
2190 694,564
Showing as increase of 155,955 tons.
The clearances outwratls were respectively :-
1856
1857.. • 2207 „ 684,326
The too first mouths of 1853, 1 am fearful, preurise, an
equally unsAisfactory result for the current ye..r. Thus,
import, for Melbourne only—
Jatiusry
February 1,028,099 924,208 1,194,9,9

----
2,213,708 2,307,217 2,381,294
Increase, 1353 over 1.35,i £167,58
Increase, 1853 over 1857
Exports for Melbourne only :
January 1856. 1857. 1858.
Gold
Wool, &c .. . . 192,418 341,153 406,0.8
Felnuary
_ _ .

Gold -4,382 701,053 891,640
Wool, &e. 293,644 253,595 314,497

-----
Totals £2,3,2,762 £2,112,002 £2,208,524
These last returns aro of necessity imperfect, being
limited to Melbourne, but so far as they go they show--
1856—(For first two nionths)—Excess of exports
over imports
1857 (For first two months)—Excess of imports £99,054
Over exports
1858 --(For first two mouths) —Excess of imports
over exports
"The enormous balance of 4,297,704/. fur 1857, leads
to the conclusion that shipments have been made to
this place, quite apart from calcu'ation, or by parties
entirely ignorant of the limited extent of our poputa•
tion, or others who have needed the facilities of ad-
canoes unfortunate:y too easily obtained through banks,
or from other quarters ; and many very large importa-
tions, the re,ults of orders from here, have recoiled and
caused not oily the explosion of some who hazarded the
mans ut others much more largely than their own, but
specula
risk their means or credit on such
t‘i the serious damage r f such as were we grounds. rash enough t,o,

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
Export et,ttien were passed at the Customs for 9,450
ovnces of gold for shipineihito,oti
aiisgfolslotawrs,:-foiViLctiovreirap,ofoolr,
28.'!z. 10
ez,9:lw42t°.; Tod,
z9I:,L 7 s
for Liverpool, 270 z.; and 10dwt.
in the City of Sydney, for Sydney.
CUSTOMS REVENUE -Thu Return of Customs reve•
nuo for 13th April, 1858, gives the following items :-
Brandy, 2,764 gallons, 1,382/. lls. 4d.; gin, 1,945 do,
272/ 16e.; ruin, 915 do., 457/. 19s. ; whi-ky, 273 do.,
136/. 17s. 2d. ; perfumed, 14 do., 71. 81. ; other
spirits, 81 do.. 411. Is. 5d.; wine, 1,196 do., 119/ 125.;
beer, 28,2191 Co., 705 9e. 6d. j • tobacco, 2,9081 b.
290/. 16.4. ; cigars, 7681 b , 115/. 40. ; tea, 11,3611 b.
2841. Os. 61. ; coffee, 2,1711 b., 18s. le, 10d. ; sugar,
891 cwt. 2671. 7s. 5.1. ; treacle, 355 do., 53/. 5,,. 93. •
gold, 15dwt., 3231. 64. 11d. Duties, 5,1751.
14'4. 64. Tonnage, 231. 5.. Passenger rate, 241. 24. 61.
other moneys, 2Q. 7d. Revenue, 5225/. 4s. 7d. Pilot-
age, 121/ 6.. 9J.
GOLD.-Thefolmloeawtilng:_qcuoatsatimteionyne Sandhurst,epresentthealaundes
of the precious
Plua'ant Creek, Si. 15 61.; Koroug, Jones Creek, and
Sandy Creek, 31. 154. 9d.; Maryborougll,vAenvso,c3al,. Al7l
horst, Dunolly, and Ararat, 3/. 15s. 91
31. to 31. 17s. 2d.; Billaarat, Si, 18+, to
0
o 31.181. 6d.
STUCK AND SHARE MARKET.-A. good business has
been done in this tuarket from the commencement of the
present wetk, and all deacripticns of shares are in fair
request.po
IMPORT
IIAIIKETS.-The certainty which has existed
to-day, that
the mail per Victoria would be punctually
dispatched at the time notified by the Post-office autho-
ritieF, has induced our merchants and traders to prepare
some portion of their correspondence for transmission
to Engrand, and it is accordingly
impossible to announce
any change in quotations. The non-arrival of the mail
steamer Columbian continues to occasion the greatest
annoyance in mercantile circles, and seriously interferes
with the regular progress of business, inasmuch as in-
tending buyers are anxiously awaiting the arrival of
later intelligence from England, in order to decide as
to the extent of their purchases.
EXCEIANGE.-The banks issue tirafts on England At