The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-04 00:00:00

PRICE OF SUGAR.

The Average Price of Brown or Muscovado Sugar, for the
week ending April 30, 1844, is 365. 9i-d. per cwt., exclusive
of the Duties of Customs paid or payable thereon on the im-
portation thereof into Great Britain.
(Dividends, 84c., in our next.)

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

CITY. THURSDAY EVENING.

TIMES.—The notice by the Chancellor of the Exchequer
given on Monday night of his intention to amend the Sav-
ings' Banks Acts, naturally brings that important subject
forward for public discussion. Materials for this purpose
have been bountifully supplied by various correspondents,
from which it is proposed to make such selections as are
likely to be useful to the Legislature and the community at
large on this occasion. The following Is a statement of sums
received and paid by the National Debt Commissioners on
account of banks for savings, including friendly societies, in
the United Kingdom, from the 6th of August, 1817, to the
20th of November, 1843, inclusive :
" Gross amount credited, including interest
up to and due on the 20th of November, £ s. d.
1843 ..

" Gross amount paid, including interest ....17,093,533 9 3

" Balance due by the Commissioners to the
trustees on the 20th of November, 1843 28,853,555 17 10
" Balance due by the Commissioners to the
trustees on the 20th of November, 1842, 26,855,886 17 10

"Increase in the amount of liabilities
within the year ended the 20th of No- -
vember, 1843 1,997,669 0 0
"Increase in the amount of liabilities
within the year ended the 20th of No-
vember, 1842 1,011,965 19 5

" Excess of increase in 1843 over increase
in 1842 985,703 0 7
. .

The securities held by the Commissioners to meet the above
balance of 28,853,555/. 17s. 10d. consisted of 12,874,516/. 7s.
6d. Three per Cents., 15,385,510/. Is. sd. Three-and-a-Half
Cents., and 432,400/. Exchequer-bills ; which, estimated at
the average prices on the 20th of November, 1843, of the
Three per Cents. and the Three-and-a-Half per Cents., would
with an uninvested cash balance of 296,609/., have then
nearly realised the amount of that balance ; but, estimated
at the present market prices, would now exceed it. The esti-
mated deficiency on the 20th of November, 1842, was
263,0291. 18s. 9d., and on the 20th of November, 1841, it was
as much as 1,315,419/. Os. 10d.
Annexed are some further results of this general account :
Gross amount of interest credited by the £ s. d.
Commissioners to the trustees 15,113,849 19 8
Gross amount of interest received by the

Commissioners on the Stocks and Ex-
chequer-bills held by them on account
of the trustees 12,942,657 7 2

Difference against the Commissioner 3 up to
the 20th of November, 1843 2,171,192 12 6
Difference against the Commissioners up to
the 20th of November, 1842

Difference against the Commissioners for
the year ended the 20th November, 1843 140,632 18 6
Less interest on Exchequer-bills due up to
the 20th of November, 1843

Actual loss sustained by the public in the
year ended the 20th of November, 1843 134,356 10 2
It appears that no sales of stock were effected during the
last year, ended November 20, 1843, by the National Debt
Commissioners on account of the trustees, to meet the pay-
ment of any sums demanded by the depositors, as has been
usual during former years, but considerable purchases were
made in stocks and Exchequer-bills, amounting in the aggre-
gate to 918,3471. 55. 4d. in the Three per Cents., and
680,2001. in the Three-and-a-Half per Cents., and to
127,8501. in Exchequer-bills; the sums paid for which pur-
chases amounted to 1,698,4071. lls. sd. The amount cre-
dited by the Commissioners for Exchequer-bills paid off was
23,1501.

Having thus exhibited the comparative state of the public
accounts for the savings' banks in the years ending Nov. 20,
1842, and Nov. 20, 1843, we may quote from a correspondent
the following deductions from, or illustrations of, that ac-
count :

" The average price of the Three per Cents. on the 20th of
November, 1843, was 95/. Bs. 9d., and of the Three-and-a-
Half per Cents. 102/. 6s. 3d., and hence—

" 12,874,5161. 7s. 6d. Three per Cents. at
951. Bs. 9d.= £12,287,116 11 3
" 15,452,237/. 9s. 9d. Three and-a Half per
Cents. at 1021. 6s. 3d.=
" Exchequer-bills
" Uninvested ualance

£28,757,425 14 0
96,130 3 10

" Estimated deficiency

" Due to the trustees on the 2ilth of No-
vember, 1843 £28,853,555 17 10

" The Three per Cents. reduced and Consolidated having
risen since the 20th of November, 1843, between 3 and 4 per
cent., the deficiency mentioned above no longer exists; but,
on the contrary, a surplus. The general statement shows the
bond fide purchases made by the Commissioners, and the
sums paid for those purchases, and the amount so laid out
(1,698,4071. 1 Is. 5d.) being nearly equal to the increase in
1843—viz., 1,997,6691., shows that the loss, 134,3561. 10s. 2d.,
must have arisen chiefly from the difference in the rates of
interest received and paid by the Commissioners. With ra-
pidly increasing liabilities and loss as thus shown, it must be
evident that the existing system requires to be carefully
looked into. The returns sent in monthly and annually to
the National Debt-office contain no data whatever upon which
the Government can form an opinion how far an annual ex-
pense of 100,0001. or upwards is justified. The only persons
who have any means of forming such an opinion are the paid
officers, and so long as the payment of their salaries depends
on the amount invested in their banks respectively, they are
not likely to volunteer much information.'
Another subject which may be said to hare a connection
with the savings' banks is that of the loan societies, which
by the Act creating them require to have their powers re-
newed annually; and as these societies have led to very
west abuses to the great injury and oppression of the lower
classes, the question has been started by a correspondent,
whether the functions of loan societies may not beneficially
devolve upon the savings' banks, and be made the means
of employing their surplus deposits. With respect, how-
ever, to the abuses practised by loan societies, they will receive
a death-blow by the humane and judicious provisions of Lord
Cottenham's Bill for the abolition of Imprisonment for debt,
in the needy and disreputable attorneys who derive their
chief practice from them, will be deprived of that instru-
ment of terror, upon which they chiefly depended for their
system of extortion. Both that and the detestable tally
system are alike threatened with extinction by that Bill.
But whatever becomes of the loan societies, it by no
means follows that it would be right to transfer their func-
tions to the managers of savings' banks under the sanction
of the Legislature. It is right to state, however, that instances
exist at present of the union of the two systems in one esta-
blishment, and that they are found to act well together.
Thus the correspondent above quoted observes, that in the
" Liverpool Savings' Bank Loan Society" both operations
are conducted in the same building, and under the same
committee of management ; that th plan has realised the
expectations firmed of it, and that the directors, in order
to extend its benefits, have increased the funds by allowing
depositors whose accounts have arrived at the maximum
to draw sums not exceeding 1001., and place them in the
hands of the trustees of the loan society, for which they give
a debenture, allowing them five per cent.
But it is obvious, however the managers of such transac-
tions may see cause to congratulate themselves upon the
prosperous working of them, that the greatest abuses must
result from them, seeing the temptation they hold out, and
the difficulty or impossibility of subjecting them to a suffi-
cient control to prevent such consequences. There is one
section, it seems, of the Savings' Banks Act, 9th George IV.,
cap. 92, which gives them the power to do this, inasmuch as
it provides that the trustees of savings' banks shall not be
prevented from receiving money from the depositors to be
applied in any other' way than that pointed out in the
preTious sections payment to the National Debt Com-
missioners.
The principal points with which the Legislature will have
to deal are the prevention of that heavy annual charge in-
curred in sustaining the savings' bank system, and also the
devising some protection against their too great and rapid in-
crease, which may make them hereafter, in some period of
distress and national difficulty, the source of very great em- •
barrassment to the Government of the day. The large addi-
tion to the amount of deposits since the late rise in the funds,
which could not possibly have been produced to that extent
from larger means on the part of the industrious classes,
proves that some mode is found to evade the principle of the
Act by substituting one security for another. An individual
who could effect this, selling his Consols at par, would secure
his little capital, obtain a better rate of interest, and escape
from the property-tax.
The subject is somewhat of a "dry" one, but a Chancellor
of the Exchequer, who is by office a sort of trustee of the
whole system and for the public also, must do his duty and
not shrink from the details it may involve.
The fall in Bank stock since the payment of the last divi-
dend, viz., from 199 to 190, is ascribed, in certain quarters,

to th• belief that some impression has been made upon Sir /
Pcel by the exertions of the country bankers, so as to in-
duce him to stop short in the benefits he intende.i to bestow
on the Bank of England when the new measure relative to
banking is brought forward, Every one knows the influence
of bankers over their immediate coniloxions, a proportion of
them Members of Parliament, all over the country, and will
have no difficulty, therefore, in adopting this as a probable
case, though they may doubt whether it has ever really been
contemplated by the Minister at this time to add anything
to the privileges of the Bank of England. The mere suppo-
sition that he would do so, however, would be enough to ac-
count for the previous rise of Bank stock.
There is some reason to suppose that the sales of Consols
which have lately occurred are occasioned in part by capi-
talists; who see under the operation of the surmised reduction
o/` the French Five per Cents. a more eligible investment in
the French Three per Cents., which are quoted 84, ueing a
difference of 15 per c.a.
At the meeting of tile shareholders in the Imperial Bra-
zilian Mining Association held to day, a dividend of ss. per
sham was declared. It appeared from the report read that
the workings have improved, and altogether the prospects
of the undertaking are considered better than for some time
past. The Directors are gradually-endeavouring to diminish
slave labour by the employment of an increased force of
Cornish miners.

LA W TELLIGENCE.
HOUSE OF LORDS, May 3.
The House sat this day to hear writs of error. The Pens
present were Lord Cottenham, Lord Brougham, and Lord
Campbell.

TAYLOR V. CLEMSON.

The further arguments in this part-heard writ of error
were proceeded with, and occupied their Lordships the whole
morning.

COURT OF CHANCERY, May 3.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took lunatic petitions and ap-
peals to-day.

IN THE CASE OF PYCE SOMBRE, A LUNATIC.

This case came before the Court upon the petition of Mr.
Dyce Sombre, late M.P. for Sudbury, praying the super-
seding of the commission that had been issued against him.
Sir Thomas Wilde and Mr. Waketieid were specially re-
taired on behalf of Mr. Ds ce Sombre.

Mr. Bethel! and Mr. Calvert appeared for the committee
of the person, Mrs. Dyce Sombre, and Mr. Tinueyfor the com-
mittee of the estate.

Sir T. Wilde wa4 about to •pen the petition, when
Mr. BRTHELL, on behalfof the committee of the person,
took a preliminary objection to its being heard, on the ground
that Mr. Df•ce Sombre was in Paris, and could not be exa-
mined by the Chancellor as to his s, ate of mind. The Learned
Counsel submitted that no case had ever occurred in which
the Court had superseded the Commission without seeing the
object of it.
r. CALVERT followed on the same side.

Sir T. WILDE and Mr. WAKEFIELD contended that it was
not a necessary ingredient in superseding a Commission that
the Chancellor should see the object of it.
After some discussion, in which the Lord Chancellor re •
peatedly stated his strong opinion that he ought to see Mr.
Dyes Sombre before he could venture to supersede the Com-
mission, and it being intimated by Sir Thos. Wilde that Mr.
Dyce Sombre had an impression that if he came to this coun-
try he would be deprived of his liberty,
Mr. BETHELL, on the part of the committee of the person,
gave an undertaking that if Mr. Dyce Sombre came to this
country, nothing should be done to interfere with his liberty
exeept under the order and sanction of the Lord Chancellor.
The LORD CHANCELLOR thought, if what had now been
done was communicated properly to Mr. Dyes Sombre, he
would not hesitate to come to this country. If he did so, he
might feel assured that he (the Lord Chancellor) would do
nothing to interfere with his liberty, unless he committed
acts of violence, and from what he ( the Lord Chancellor) had
heard of the course of conduct pursued by Mr. Dyce Sombre
abroad, he believed that ho would commit no such acts. The
only object he (the Lord Chancellor) could have in view was
the interest of Mr. Dyce Sombre, and that alone.
The petition was then ordered to stand over.
TULLOCH V. HARTLEY.

The Court then proceeded with the further arguments in
this appeal, which occupied the Court the remainder of the
morning.

ROLLS' COURT, May 3.
(Before the MASTER of the Roma.)
Several causes put down in the paper were ordered to
stand over until Trinity Term. The Court went through
the list of petitions, and nee shortly before eleven.
VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT May 3.

The VICE-CHANCELLOR of ENGLAND was occupied the
whole morning with unopposed petitions, short causes, and
petitions, none of which possessed any points of interest.
(Before Vice-Chancellor Sir J. K. BRUCE.)
His Honour was engaged during the morning in disposing
of cause petitions, none of which involved any feature of pub-
lic interest.

(Before Vice-Chancellor Sir J. WIGICA3I.)
HUIVES HUIVES.

This case came Before the Court on further directions and
on petition. His Honour pronounced judgment only on one
point in the case; then proceeded with the part-heard case
of King v. Wilson, which came en for hearing upon further
directions and costs.

BAIL COURT, May 3.
(Before Mr. Justice COLERIDGE.)
THE QUEEN AND THE CORPORATION OF LONDON.

Mr. HILL applied to the Court for a rule to show cause why
a mandamus should not issue, calling upon the Lord Mayor
and Aldermen of the City of London, to admit Mr. W. H.
Ashurst, an attorney of this Court, an attorney of the Lord
Mayor's Court. The application was made under the statute
6 and 7 Victoria, which enacts, that an attorney of a higher
court may be admitted an attorney .)f an inferior court. Mr.
Ashurst had made his application according to the form pre-
scribed, and had also produced the documents required by
the Act, but the Recorder had so much doubt upon the sub-
ject that he advised an application to this Court for a man-
damus.—Rule granted.

COURT OF GOMMO.V PLEAS, May 3.
(Sittings in Banco.)
The Court took the special paper to-day ; but nothing of
the least importance occurred.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER, May 3.
(Sittings in Banco.)
The Court hoard motions to-day, but those that were dig•
posed of to a late hour of the day were totaLy devoid o:
interest.