The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-10 00:00:00

IiGNEY MARKET and CITY NEWS

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
CITY, WEDNESDAY EVENING
TIMES.—Much speculation is afloat in the Citv
on the expediency or practicability of a reduction of
the Three-and- a.-Half per Cent. Stocks to Three per
Cent. in the course of the next year, and some go so
far as to assume that Sir Robert Peel has determined
on bringing forward that very important measure
early in the session, in order to avail himself of the
great saving to be hereby effected' in the public ex-
penditure, which would exceed 1,000,0001. annually.
'This last, however, is probably only a plausible con-
jecture, for it may safely be assumed, without any
information at all, that such a subject must occupy
the attention of any finance Minister, whd is looking
around him for the means of a reduction of expendi-
ture, more particularly at the present time, when
the great abundance of unemployed capital
is pressing on the funds and producing a
great advance on them, which, under the in-
fluence of the new tax on property, few
persons had anticipated. With respect to the
practicability of the reduction, the majority of sound
opinions in the City is at this moment against it,
unless such a bonus were offered for the conversion as
would increase the capital, while it effected at most
but a small reduction in the interest on the debt.
This, it is generally contended, would not be good
policy, as it is held almost universally to be the only
safe principle to adopt in the reduction of debt, that
the lower denomination of stock shall have risen either
to par, or so near it, that the holders of the higher de-
nomination
.of stock shall be willing to accept it with-
out any bonus. Our Three per Cents. have a consi-..
derable rise to undergo before that point is attained,
and the' very large amount (above 200,000,0001.) to
which the reduction is to apply must make a prudent
Minister pause before he exposes himself and the
country to the consequences of a failure, and the diffi-
culty of providing for the numerous dissentients who
would reject the conversion and require payment in
full. This they would be encouraged to do by the
recollection of what happened at the last conversion,
when the dissentients, in consequence of a fall in the
funds, which took place afterwards, derived a con-
siderable advantage from holding out. We have
heard one suggestion made on this subject which is
worth mentioning, because, though it. removes the
final conversion to a distant time, it offers a very safe
mode of effecting it, and that is to give to each holder
of 1001. Three-and-a-Half per Cents., 100/. in the
Three per Cents. and 10s. Long Annuity. Whether
this is likely to meet the views of the Prime Minister
or not, it is impossible to say, but it is certain that the
greatest caution is requisite in the mode of bringing
forward any measure of conversion where the amount
of debt to be dealt with is so large, and when the pos-
sible consequences are considered of effecting the con-
version by the aid of new and large issues of money
upon such markets as those in prospect for some
years to come. The panic of 1825, which followed
the conversion of the preceding year, is distinctly
traceable to that cause, and has produced injuries
which, though removed from public notice, are still
felt among the trading part of the community.
POST.—Allusions continue to be made to a proba-
ble reduction of the New Three-and-a Half per Cent.
Annuities, and if the state of the markets be such as
to favour the project, it is to be hoped and believed
that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will not hesitate
to avail himself of so legitimate an opportunity of
lightening, the public burdens. The conversion of
the funds in question into a Three per Cent. Stock
may, if accomplished, be attended with a saving to the
country, allowing for the trifling bonus that will most
likely form an element in the Right Hon. Gentle-
man s arrangement, of perhaps some three-quarters of
a million sterling. Such a saving in the present cir-
cumstances of her Majesty's Treasury is most desir-
able, and it would be thought that no voice could be
reasonably raised against it; but least of all the voices
of those who affect to feel for the tprivations of the
people. The Government broker has lately been in
the market making investments in stock for account of
the savings banks. These investments have nothing
unusual or peculiar about them. They are transac-
tions naturally arising out of the system of savings
banks, and such as may be expected to take place at
intervals from half year to half year, but, as a contem-
plated reduction in the interest of a portion of the
public debt has become a subject of conversation in
the money circles, occasion is taken by the Liberal
press to censure the Chancellor of the Exchequer for
an assumed participation, on his part, in the operations
of Mr.. Mullins, which, after all, have been operations
Of moderate extent and of no extraordinary import-
ance. The abundance of money is- alone a sufficient
solution of the cause of the late rise in Consols, with-
out an indulgence of idle suspicions of attempts being
made to carry up prices by artificial and unworthy
expedients ; while the state of the markets themselves,
and the easy position of the Bank, must naturally have
presented to Mr. Goulburn's mind a condition of
things not to be overlooked. The Bank was never
more free from pressure, and the prospect of a reverse
was never more remote than at the present moment.
The corn speculation, which had been for years in-
creasing in its gigantic proportions, has at length been
reduced to a more manageable limit, and may, for the
time to come, be readily dealt with. The exchanges
are at an elevation highly adapted to our financial pur-
poses, and it may be years before the Bank Directors
have at their command a stock of bullion S 3 large as
that which they now hold, and with so little employ-
'. ment for it in the ordinary pursuits of commerce.
CHRONICLE.--The provincial journals perceive
the importance of the proceedings in the Canadian
Parliament, regarding the admission of American
wheat and flour into those colonies at a fixed duty of
three shillings per quarter, which we have of late s•
cially alluded to under this head; and we may add
exclusively so, in reference to the metropolitan press.
That singularity of position is, of itself not worth
mentioning, were it not that the silence of the London
Ministerial prints upon the subject shows that they
look upon it as very dangerous ground to touch upon.
It is a question of vast national importance, and in-
volves within itself essentially the principle of fixity
of duty. on the importation of foreign corn. The
Provincial Parliament passed a
duty of three shillings Bill to levy a fixed
pe
imported to Canada, on the
quarter ae r on
expressed
A me
conditionr American
wheataod
understanding that on their so doing, all wheat
transhipped from Canada to this country, whether
grown
priond
uCoaeniandtao or
Britishn ot,sphoorutlsd, be admitted as Cana-
dian;
accordingly.
or questionaa sd such
accordingly.
raised
;that fact theraendcapnanyotdubtey
so that when the act of the Pro-