The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-12 00:00:00

VICTORIA BANK.

It appears that the proposition, mentioned yes-
terday, of the local Government of Victoria to
establish a national bank of issue in that colony is
likely to meet with powerful opposition from the
body of persons interested in the existing joint-
stock banks. On the other hand, the scheme pre-
mises to bo popular with the people at large, the
majority of whom are easily led away by the fal-
lacy that by taking the circulation into its own
hands the Government would bring down the high
rates of interest at present chargei. The argu-
ments for tho principle of establishing a national
bank with functions strictly limited, by which en-
tire security wou'd be given to the paper issues
while the-country at large would obtain the profits
of them, may be generally admitted, but it would
be an unjustifiable measure if the Government,
after the existing institutions by their enter-
prise and good management Lave familiaris'd
the country with the advantages of a note cur-
rency, and established general confidence in its
negotiability and value; were suddenly and with-
out compensation of any kind to seek to seize
the business that has thus been created. Yet,
according to a description of the plan of the Colo-
nial Treasurer, given by Mr. Westgarth in an ad-
dress to the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce,
something of this kind is contemplated. A cur-
tain day is to be named on which the banks at
present issuing are to be obliged to confine their
issues to the extent of their then circulation.
Another day is to be named on which they aro to
cease re-issuing any notes that may be paid in, and
finally a day is to be notified when their notes shall
no longer be receivable at the Treasury. The in-
tervals at which these arrangeLnents aro contem-
plated do not seem yet to have been mentioned,
but it is to be assumed that they are short. Mr.
Westgarth, in the interest of the banks, denounces
the proposition as an attack upon vested rights,
and within certain limits his view is palpably cor-
rect. In England, when Sir Robert Peel re-
solved to interfere with the issuing powers of the
private banks, he confined himself to restricting
them to their then amount, and fixed 10 years as
the period before any steps could be taken for the
extinction of their privileges. A similar grace
should at least be accorded to eitablishments like
those in Victoria, which have contended creditably
with all the trials and riiks of the most anxious
epoch in the history in the colony. Should a less
considerate course be pursued it will probably
prove less profitable than its originators imagine.
The local Government announce that they are de-
sirous of carrying on the principal railway and other
works of the colony by debenture loans, and the
rate at which these may be negotiable will not be
unaffected by the tone that may be manifested by
the Legislature in dealing with existing rights, ac-
tual or implied.

It is understood with regard to the new Internationa
Bank about to be established in Paris, that the board o
directors is to consist of 25 members. Of these 15 are
to be French, 6 English, at d 4 German. The French
list is not yet completed, but the names thus far selected
are—MM. Vandal, Donna, Jayr, Montams, Arles-
Dufour, and Bischoffsheim.
Ma. THACIIERAY.—Some absurd rumours having been
circulated respecting this gentleman's future arrange-
ments, in regard to his popular lectures on the Four
Georges, we are requested to state that he is under an
engagement to Messrs. Cramer and Beale, and that he
will appear, under their auspices, on his return to Lon-
don from his present tour in the provinces.
CRYSTAL PALACE.—ONE SHILLING DAY, Wednesday,
March 11,—Adinission on payment, 821 ; ditto by sea•
son tickets, 327 ; total visitors, 1,148.
DEATH BY FALLING FROM SCAFFOLDING.—Yesterday,
as some men were employed in erecting a scaffolding for
some new buildings in Hyde-park-gardens West, one of
them named Leary, stepped on a plank which had been
insecurely fixed, and fell to the ground from a height of
about 60 feet. Both his thighs were fractured, and he
died in a few hems. The poor man has left a wife and
six children.
THREATENED CONTEST AT MANCHESTER. —We are
well aware that for several days past great anxiety
has been felt by a large proportion of the electors
of Manche-ter to know whether any and what
steps were being taken to select and bring forward
candidates for the representation of Manchester,
in opposition to Messrs. Gibson and flight. We
may state that the subject has occupied the earnest
and anxious attention of a number of gentlemen who
feel deeply interested in it ; and, though some diffi-
culties have arisen which have caused delay in namieg
candidates, we are now enat led to state that the Right
Hon. Robert Lowe, Vice• Pres dent of the Board of
Trade, and our highly respected fellow towns man, Sir
John Potter, will be put in nomination, and we trust
returned by decisive majorities. It was intended tLat a
meeting of electors friend;y to the return of these gen-
tleman should have been held to-day, but it was found
impossible to procure the use of a suitable room at so
short a notice as the time allowed ; and the meeting
is necessarily postponed to another time, of
which, no doubt, due notice will be given. 'We under-
stand that the members of the League are at present in
great confusion and tribulation on account of the little
amount of sympathy for them and the general absence of
enthusiasm among those ,classes of electors where their
principal strength has usually been found, and also on
account of the difficulties in which they are necessarily
involved by the present position of Mr. Bright, which
very naturally suggests questions as to the future not
easily susceptible of precise or satisfactory angwers,—
Muckiter GuoiVign of sterqq.