The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-23 00:00:00

Treskerby, 308 32s Od ; Prince of Wales, 480 50s ; West
Basset, 21- 2; South Caradon ; South Frances, 24s 26s ;
Tincroft, 13 14 ; West Caradon, 10 11; West Chiver-
ton, 66 68 ; West Seton, 190 195 ; Whoa'. Basset, —— ;
Wheal Grenville, 243 265; Wheal Mary Ann, —;
Wheal Seton, 80 85 ; Great South Tolgus, 19s 21s Od ; East
Gunnis Lake and South Bedford, --s Od —s Od ; East
Wheal Grenville, 11 2; Wheal Basset, —; West
Frances, —; Wheal Buller,

BRITISH FUNDS.--CLOSING PRICES.

tiCVERNMENT FUNDS.
3 per your. Consols
Do. Account,
t per Cut. Reducnd
.few 3 per Cent 92"A i i
New .2} per Cent.. Jan.. 1891 751
Do. o per Cont. can. 1873.
tunuities, 30 yrs, expire sth Jan., 1881' —
Do. for 30 yrs, expire sth April 1885 —
Do (Red Sea Telet,raph), An,,., 1908 —
E .chcquer Bills, £l,OOO, 2& 21 per Ct.
Do £5OO 25 9 pm
Do. £lOO & £2OO 25 9 pm
Bank of England Stock, •Ii- per Cent
Do. A.cconut

...40VE1tNbIENT SECURITIES.
India,' .7 Lock, 10k per Gout., Apri11874...

Do. Accou'ut - -
Do. 5 per Cent..f uly, 1.880
Do. 4 pec Cent., Oct. 1888
Do. Certificates —
Do. Enfaced Paper 4 per Cent.
Do. 5 per Cont., Jan. 1872
Do. 51 per Cent., May 1879 lOBl 1-
Do. 5 por Cent., Rup. Dab., 1872 lO2l
Do. do. 1877 —
Do. do. 1882 lO3l 4
Do Deb., 5 per Cent., Aug. 1873 —
Do. Bonds, 5 per Cent., £l,000
Do, under £I,OOO
FOREIGN FUNDS—CLOSING PRICES.
Argentine Republic, 6 per Cent —
Austrian Bonds, 5 per Cent. 1859
Brazilian 5 per Cent
Da. 44 per Cent., 1852-58-60
Do. 1863
Do. 5 per Cont., 1865 —
Uo Account 764 6
Do. £lOO Bonds —
Buenos Ayres 6 per Cent
DJ 2 per Cent. (Deferred 3 per Cent )
Cuba, 6 per Cent. —
Callan 6 per Cent 66
Do. 41 per Cent —
Uo. 6 per Cent-, B .
Do., 1867
Do., 7 per Cent., 1866 9l
Do., Scrip' £32 paid
C ,1 mbian, 6 per Cent.
Do,nistl, 3 p ;r Cent., 1825
D nubian Principalities, 7 per Cent 614
Do 8 per Cent., 1867 66 51 64
Eluador New Consolidated, 1 par Con; —
Igyptiar, 7 per Cent
. .

Seoud Issue
D .£590 Bonds
Do. XlOB Bonds
Do. 1861
Do. £s'lo Bonds
Do. £lOO Bonds B7 f 61
Government Railway Debentures ..... 92f 8f 2f 8}
Greek, 5 per Cent., 182115, ex Coups

Do. Account
Do. Coupons
Do. Account •.. 51,
Guatemala 5 per Cent ..
It9iian 5 per Cre t., 1865 —
Do. Account
Do. Maremmaua Itaiway —
M.9xicar. 3 per Cent —
Ditto for Account
Dn. 1864 —
Do 6 per Cont. Anglo-French —
itontevidoau 6 per Cent. ..
htoorish imperial 5 per Cent
Now Granada

Do 3 per Con —
Do. Deferred
Do Land Warrants (Hectares)
Peruvian 5 per Cent. 1865 —
Do Account 721 31
Do 4f per Cent. (Uribarren)
Do 4f per Cent., 1862
Do Account
Portuguese 3 per Ct., 1853, '6, '7, '9,'60,'2,'3 39} I
Russian 5 per Cent., 1822, X St
Do 4f per Cent. 1850
Do 4f per Cent., 1860
Do 3 per Cent., 1859
Do 5 per Cent., 1862
Do. Anglo-Dutch, 1864, £lOO Bonds B9
Do. do. £Bl 15s. do.
Do., 1866, £lOO Bonds B4 81 n.
Do. do. £8415a. do B4 f
Sardinian, 5 per Cent —
Spanish 3 per Oen —}
Do Account .... 37- I
Do New Deferred —
Do Account
Do Passive —
Do Account
Do Com. Cert. of Couv. not funded

Do Account
2urkish 6 per Cent., 1851
Do Account
Do 6 per Cent. 1858
Do Account
Do £lOO Bonds 65 1
Do 6 per Cent., 1862 - •••
Do Account
Du £lOO Bonds 6ll 21- 11
Do. 1863
Do 5 per Cent., 1865
Do Account
Do 6 per Cent., 1865 52
DJ 4 per Cent., Guaranteed
Yenezuela, 3 per Cent.
Do Account
Do 6 per Cent., 1862
Do 6 per Cent. 1861 ..
Dividends on the above payable in London.
Austrian o par Cent. Ex 10 Florins
Belgian, 41 per cent., Ex. 25f.
Dutch i per °Ant. Ex. 12 Guil 54 51 41
Do. 4 per Cent. Certificates ..... B.s±
French Rentes, 3 per Cent.. Ex. 2M. —
Itelian 5 per (lent. 1831, Ex. 25f.
Do. Account 45
THREE O'CLOCK.
Consols, Money 921 1
Do. Account

...... 81i

LATEST CITY INTELLIGENCE.
CITY, 4.30 r.m.

Since two o'cloCk the market for the English
Funds has exhibited greater firmness, and Consols
have advanced to 92 9-16th 11-16th for money
and account.
There were no gold operations in the Bank of
England to-day.
The closing prices of Foreign Stocks are :
Italian, 451 I ; Greek, 12+ a ; Mexican, 15i 4 ;
Spanish Passive, 25ii 26* ; the New 3 per Cents.,
36k ; acid Turkish 5 per Cents., 33i ; Honda
ras Loan, 1Z 2 prem.

The latest prices of American Securities are—
United States 5-20 Bonds 721 # ; Erie Shares, 49
50 ; and Illinois, at 88 ,89 ; Atlantic and Great
Western Debentures, 21k 22f ; and Consolidated
Mortgage Bonds, 181 19f.
The following were the closing quotations of
some of the principal railway companies shares :
Caledonian, 72k to 73 ; Great Eastern, 311 to 314 ;
Great Northern, 107 to 108 ; Lancashire and
Yorkshire, 121 to 122 ; Brighton, 49k to 50}
Metropolitan, 115 k to 116; Midland, 101 f to 102
North Eastern (Berwick), 98k to 99k; and South
Eastern, 664 to 671.

The New Portuguese Loan Scrip is j. to
prem.

MR. D. A. WELLS ON 7HE COTTON TAX

The following are the conclusions arrived at and
embodied by Mr. David A. Wells iu his Special Re-
port on the Cotton Tax to Secretary M'Culloch,
the Chief of his Department :-
Ist. That cotton growing in the Southern States, if un-
taxed, can be conducted profitably and successfully, as
against all competition elsewhere.
2d. That if burdened by a tax sufficient to be worth to
the Treasury the cost of its collection, it cannot at present,
if ever, be successfully prosecuted.

3d. That, already familiar to our people, in all its details
it is the only industry immediately available aud practicable
to the great body of the labouring population of the South
for the profitable employment of surplus labour ; that is,
beyond the necessities of crops for subsistence, in the pro-
duction of something saleable and exchangeable, whereby
wealth can be regained; and

4th. That the importance of a large production of cotton
as the chief export of the country, in adjusting balances of
trade and exchanges, and especially in its bearing upon the
future position of the public debt, so largely held and to
be held abroad, cannot well be overstated; and so far
transcends the value of the present tax that to preserve
the latter at the cost of losing the former would be a
" ha'penny 'orth of wisdom to a pound of folly."
The whole amount of internal revenue derived from the
tax on raw cottoa for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1867,
was $23,769,078.80 ; and although this sum comprises
nearly all the revenue derived from the southern section
of the country, and constitutes an amount that can ill be
spared from the Treasury, yet, under all the circumstances,
the commissioner has no hesitation in recommending the
immediate passage by Congress of an act repealing the
entire tax upon raw cotton, and the corresponding exist-
ing duty on imported cotton—the same to take effect on
its passage.
As yet but a small quantity of the new crop of cotton
has been marketed, but if the repealing act be delayed to
a later "period it will evidently work injustice to those
producers who may be forced to send their crop forward
immediately, unless the removal of the tax should be de-
ferred to take effect at the close of the present cotton year,
Sept. 1, 1868.
if a repeal of the tax, to take effect immediately, should
be enacted by Congress, it is important that one con-
tingency should be effectually provided against it. Con-
tracts, it is understood, are proposed, and possibly already
made, for the purchase of cotton, tax unpaid, to be held in
store until the repealing legislation of Congress has taken
effect, thus insuring to the speculator or exporting buyer a
gain equivalent to the amount of the tax. It seems de-
sirable, therefore, that the act of repeal should be so
worded as to relieve from the payment of the tax only so
much cotton as, at the date named in the act, remained
unsold by the producer—all cotton having passed out of
the hands of the producer to pay the tax, if it has not
already done so. Only in this way can the relief go where
it is intended, viz., to the impoverished cultivator,