The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-04 00:00:00

THE PRICE OF GOLD

The quotation of gold at Paris is about 5 per mille prem.,
and the short exchange on London is 25.40 per £1 sterling.
On comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3
17s. 100. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that gold is
about 4-10ths per cent. dearer in London than in Paris.

By advices from Hamburg the price of gold is 4291 per mark,
and the short exchange on London is 13.81 pet £1 sterling.
Standard gold at the English Mint price is, therefore, about
6-10ths per cent. dearer in London than in Hamburg.
The course of exchange at New York on London for bills at
60 days' sight is 107} to 101 per cent., which, when compared
with the Mint par between the two countries, shows that the
exchange is against England. But, after making allowance
for loss of interest and charges of transport, the present
rate leaves no profit on sending gold to the United States.

A question of interest to occupiers of apartments
and to concierges was yesterday submitted to the Civil Tri-
bunal. An apartment in a house at La Villette being adver-
tised to let, a well-dressed young man went to visit it, and
appeared satisfied. Some hours later he returned, and as
the occupiers, a married couple, were absent, he requested
the concierge to allow him to inspect it anew. The woman
took him upstairs, and he examined the rooms with more
minuteness than before, and even measured distances here
and there. He said that he would certainly have the apart-
ment, but that he must first consult his father. He then
went away, and the occupiers, on their return, found that
a gold watch had been stolen from the chimney-piece. They
complained to the police, and after a while the young man
who was the thief was arrested, but he had sold the watch,
The couple, however, cited the concierge before the judge
de paix of the district, and claimed 180 f. as an indemnity
for the loss, on the ground that if she had exercised due
vigilance the robbery could not have been committed. The
judge de nail ordered her to pay the money. She appealed
to the Civil Tribunal, and her advocate argued that it was
not she, but the couple who had been guilty of negligence,
inasmuch as they ought not to have left an article of value
exposed on a chimney piece of an apartment which, being
to let, could, as they knew, in accordance with Parisian
custom, be visited by strangers in their absence. The Tri-
bunal taking that view dismissed the appeal with costs. As
to the thief he is to be brought to trial in due time.
A CHINESE LUNCHEON.—This lunch was com-
posed of fruits and tea. Apples, pears, peaches, Japanese
nuts, a kind of yellow tomata and grapes ; then dried fruits,
jububes, stewed apples and pears, oranges, and raisins,
formed the bill of fare. The dried fruits and the confections
were served on plates of fine porcelain. The fruits in sea-
son, cut into small pieces, appeared also on compotiers of
porcelain. The service for each guest consisted of a saucer
for a plate ; a little silver cup, about the size of a thimble,
for the samshoo; a teacup, with its silver saucer and por-
celain cover, and a knife and two-pronged fork, to transfix
and seize the fruit which was served in the compotiers.
Each dish, or compeller, was supported by a carved root
and four perfume-burners, in raised enamel, which threw
around the odour of pastilles. The servants, whose duty
it was to change each guest's cup of tea directly after he
had carried it to his lips, waited in vain for the moment
when we swallowed the villainous samshoo and they
could refil our miscroscopic goblets. Some pastry was
brought as a finish to the collation. They were made
with lard, which still flowed from their golden crusts. We
palates. and cakes
found among these indescribable cakes, which excited our
which
waswer were
crowned more
able
b y mistrust,t
o Iu Europeansome puddings
The feast
the unexpected arrival of a hamper of merated lemonade,
which the worthy intendant, anxious to serve Europeans
with liquor to their taste, had procured from some Euro •
pean merchant, who had persuaded him that that poor
beverage was the ambrosia of the barbarians.—iferouke's
Chinese .Expedition,