The Sun.
London, England, 1828-04-19 00:00:00

CHAMI3ER OP COMMERCE, NEWCASTLE-

UPON-TYNE.

[FROM OITR OWN CORRESPONDFNT.]

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, APRIL 17.—Yesterday,
at a very full meeting of the 'Chamber of Commerce,
it was unanimously determined upon to petition the
Legislature on the impolicy of the Act which re-
strains the issue of One Pound Notes by Country
Bankers, from the Gth day of April, 1829.
There cannot be a question that the enactment
should be disturbed, if Ministers (and who dare dis.
mite it ?) are desirous for the national welfare.
Without One Pound Notes, it is obvious that the
Provincial Banks must cease to do business, or do so on
Mucha limited scale as neither to benefit themselves nor
r.heir customers. From all the great manufacturing dis-
tricts
asof
to the
thec manifestountry,ther there is,ngeirn fact,aat absurdity of
i only one opi-
nion
contracting the circulating medium. Internal com-
merc,e will be palsied to a degree that may bring
about the most distressing evils, should the
Government persevere in the tinw6e measure.—
It is observed of him, by his friends, that Mr. Peel
is not ashamed at any time to avow that he
is wiser to-day than he -.vas yesterday. Let us
hope, then, that upon the present occasion the Right
Hon. Secretary will afford a gratifying example of
the justice of the compliment. With such an
immense debt, our social system is very complex;
all matters of theory, therefore, should be hazarded
with extreme care, lest the great machine of State.
received a vital injury in its working, and a mass of
evil overwhelm the land of the most appalling des-
cription. The following is the petition :
TO THE HON. THE COMMONS OF GREAT BRITAIN
AND IRELAND, IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED,

THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,

OF NFWCASTLE-UPON-TYNF,

SHENVETH,
That your Petitioners are deeply interested in all that
concerns the commerce and manufactures of Newcastle and
the surrounding district.
That by an Act of Parliament, some time ago passed,
the period for the circulation of any promissory notes to
bearer, under the value of Si. will expire on the sth April,
1629. _ _

That now, for many years, a great proportion of the
circulating medium of this district has consisted of a local
currency of 1/. notes, and that with great advantage to the
community at large.
That your Petitioners are fully aware that while
Country Bankers were not under the salutary check of
being obliged, on demand, to pay their notes in a metallic
currency, a great temptation was held out to an over-issue
of paper; that your Petitioners, however, in confining
themselves to the state of the Northern Counties, fee!
bound to declare, that at no time has the issue here of
Bank Notes been excessive, or beyond what the circum-
stances of trade fairly required. That, in this part of the
Kingdom, no inconvenience has been, or is likely to be,
experienced from the existing system of paper circulation ;
and that your Petitioners must, therefore, deprecate any
measure having for its object a change in the local currency.
That, in particular, your Petitioners must deprecate the
suppression of the 1/. notes,—a species of circulation,
without which it must be extremely difficult to effect the
payment of wages, and the smaller interchanges of trade.
Your Petitioners will not press upon the attention of your
Honourable House, the inconveniences which must be felt
in all the retail branches of business from a suppression of
the 1/. notes, as they are such as must be evident to every
person ; but they deem it necessary clearly to explain the
difficulties which must be experienced in the payment of
wages to the workmen 'connected with the collieries, and
the various manufacturing concerns of the district. It is usual
to pay such persons once a week, or once a fortnight, and the
' sum which each person has to receive may be from 1/. to
21. at a time. There are some concerns here, which, for
wages and trifling purchases, pay as. much, regularly, as
4,000/. in a fortnight; and your Petitioners can positively
state, that out of 4,000/. advanced for such purposes, nor
more than SOO/. or 1,000/. can in general be paid (with-
out subjecting the parties receiving to great inconvenience)
in notes of 5/. or upwards. The consequence necessarily
is, that a large proportion of the paper circulating in the
district consists of 1/. notes ; and that to make a forcible
substitution of gold for such notes, would be in a great
measure to deprive the public of the utility of Banking
Establishments. _ .

- .
That your Petitioners have most respectfully to observe
upon the anomaly of the law as affecting England and
Scotland. At a distance of not more than sixty miles
from Newcastle, the Scotch Bankers, or any other Bankers,
choosing to establish themselves on the borders of Scotland,
will have it in their power to issue 1/. notes ; and
which, in the nature of things, cannot be prevented cir-
culating in this populous neighbourhood. The law, there-
fore, in this part of the kingdom, as regards the suppression
of the 1/. notes, must be altogether ineffectual ; and while,
in that respect, ineffectual, it must subject both Bankers and
Traders here to the most serious restraint and embarrassment.
That so long as the paper currency is convertible into
gold on demand, your Petitioners see nothing to appre-
hend on the score of an over-issue of V. notes ; and being
fully convinced that a circulation of small notes affords
both facility and advantage to commerce,
Your Petitioners humbly pray, that your Honourable
House will be pleased to take into due consideration the
premises here set forth, with a view to a repeal of the Act
of Parliament which limits the circulation of I/. notes to
the sth of April, 1829.
And your Petitioners will ever pray.
Signed, on behalf of the Chamber,
ISAAC COOKSON, President.
Newcastle, April 16, 1828.

The Duchess of GLoucEsTER and Princess
SOPHIA visited the KING yesterday.
Prince LEOPOLD entertained the Duchess of
KENT and a select party to (limier yesterday, at his resi-
dence, Marlborough-house, Pall-mall.
The Princess AUGUSTA has been confined to
her residence, in the KING'S Palace, St. James's, by indis-
position, having taken cold.. The Princess was, however,
we are happy to state, better yesterday, and received visits
from the Duke of SUSSEX, the Duchess of GLOCESTER.
and .the Princess SOPnia. _

Prince ESTERIIAZY, the Austrian Ambassa-
dor, had an interview yesterday with - the Duke of Wm-
LINCTON, at the Treasury.
The Earl of ABERDEEN and Lord ELLEN-
BOROUGH transacted business yesterday at the Foreign-
office, Downing-street.
Mr. CHOKER transacted business yesterda).
with the Duke of IVELLINcToN.
Madame PASTA has prepared a very splendid
dress for her appearance, this evening, in the Opera 01
" Semiramis."

THE MILITIA NEW UNIFORM.—The new
uniform approved of by his MAJESTY for the different
Regiments of Militia throughout the kingdom is now in the
course of delivery to them. Long lapped coats, similar to
those worn by the Guards, supersede the present jacket.
At a meeting of the Governors of the Free
Grammar School in Bury, held on Tuesday, the Rev. JOIIN
EDWARDS, of St. John's College, Cambridge, was elected
Head Master, in the room of B. H. MALKI>r, Esq. L.L.D.
—Norwich Mercury.
ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY.—The 54th
Anniversary of this excellent Institution was held yesterday,
at the City of London Tavern, his Grace the Duke of
NORTPIUMBERLAND in the Chair. After the customer)
toasts had been drank, the Treasurer read the subscription
list, which was liberal. The company separated at a late
hour. Captains PARRY and FRANKLIN were of the party.
FASHIONABLE AIIRIVALS.—Viscount and
Viscountess Downe, at their house in Charles-street, Ber-
keley-square, from Cowick Hall, in Yorkshire ; Sir Mat-
hew 'I ierney, Bart. and family, in Dover-street, from
Brighton ; Mr. and Lady Elizabeth Inge, and family, a'
Hyde-park-place, Cumberland-gate; Mr. and Miss Mur-
ray, in Harley-street, from Ardeley Bury, Hats ; Mr.
and Mrs. Philip Bennet, at the York hotel, from Reugham
Hall, Bury St. Edmund's, for Dover, on their way to the
Continent ; the Rev. Mr. Mackie, in Pall-mall, from Chi-
chester ; Viscount Mandeville, at the Berners hotel, Ber-
I
ners-street, from the Grove, Beaconsfi,el, Bucks ; Mrs.
Sober and the Misses Sober, at ditto,
from Brighton ;
Mrs. Captain Warren, and Miss Warren, at ditto, from
Nottingham ; the Rev. Robert Biscoe and F. Biscoe, at
ditto, from Oxford ; the Duke of Rutland, in Saekelik_
street ; Lord Sinclair, from Hastings; Sir Henry Cooke,
Bart. in Charles-street, Berkeley-square ; the Earl of Ash-
hurnham, in Charles-street, Berkeley-square, from Sussex ;
the Earl of Thanet, at Fenton's hotel, St. James's-street,
from his seat in Kent; Colonel Austin, at ditto, frow
Kent ; Hon. B. Watson, at ditto, from Portugal ; Col
Sir James Hope, of the 3d Guards, at the Royal Hotel
St. .lames's-street, from Portugal ; Captain Norton, 3,
Guards, at ditto, from Portugal; Colonel Blagrave, a]
ditto, from his seat in Berks ; Archdeacon. Prosser, a'
his house in Bruton-street, Berkeley-square, from Here-
fordshire.