The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-12 00:00:00

IRONMASTERS' QUARTERLY
MEETINGS.

BIRMINGHAM, THURSDAY.—The attendance at the
Birmingham meeting is always greater than those at
Walsall and Wolverhampton, which precede it. This
is accounted for by the circumstance that in Birming-
ham the various trades dependent upon the iron ma-
nufacture accumulate, and the state of the home trade
is by the transactions there accomplished more clearly
discernible.

In Birmingham all descriptions of trade come into
" the great account." Iron, limestone, coal, and every
other raw material or " appliance" required for the
staple manufacture of the district, or for the domestic
use of the immense population of the neighbourhood,
come into full force. The wonder is that the mineral
products of the neighbourhood are not rendered more
available than they are at present for the supply of
the metropolis. It is probable that so soon as the
Stour Valley line of railway is opened the trans-
mission of Staffordshire coal to London will become
a great trade.
The meeting of the iron and coal, and all other
masters, at the Town-hall to-day was an average as-
semblage. Amongst other gentlemen largely inte-
rested in the trade we observed the Messrs. Williams,
Messrs. Thorneycroft, Messrs. Fosters, Messrs.
Barrow and Hall, and the great majority of the
leading firms of the district.
The tone of the market to-day was gloomy, al-
though to use a familiar phrase, accounts were gene-
rally well "settled." The explanation is easy. Ac-
counts for iron and coal are usually paid in bills or
acceptances, and almost as a matter of course no
trader will show his face upon a quarter-day unless
the stamped obligation has been duly met.
The great furore which existed some five or six
years ago has subsided, and that excitement, the re-
sult of railway speculation, which intoxicated the
proprietors of iron works, has led to a fearful col-
lapse. There is little doing. Speculative men who
engaged in railways—some of the most influential
ironmasters of the distract—have been seriously in-
jured by embarking in local undertakings, more es-
pecially
in the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhamp-
ton lines, and, as may be easily conceived, few people
possess spirit, much less money, to embark in any
trade except that in which the return is not only
certain, but immediately profitable.
The iron trade of South Staffordshire is unques-
tionably at the present moment, like that of South
Wales, entirely speculative. Prices, although de-
clared by quarterly meetings, are altogether arbitrary,
and must be considered as regulated by circumstances.
They were quoted to-day as follows :—Bars. 6/. ;
rods, 6/. to 61. l 0:.; hoops, 61. 103 ; sheets, 71. 10s. ;
pig 4, 31. to 31. SA.
These are the nominal prices of the present
quarterly meetings so far as they have been held, but
little certainly can be declared until the concluding
meeting at Dudley, on Saturday sight.

SPINAL HOSPITAL.—His Grace the Duke of Nor-
folk has been plea9ed to give a donation of 100 guineas, and
her Grace the Duchess twenty guineas, in aid of the funds of
the Spinal Hospital-for the treatment of distortions, Port-
land-road, Regent's-park.