The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-09 00:00:00

MONEY MARKET and CIT Y NEWS.
CITY, THURSDAY EVENING.
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TlMES.—Connected with the savings'-bank sys-
tem, the fact is a remarkable one, that although the
Savings'-bank Annuity Act was passed in 1833, the
number of annuities payable under it on the sth of
January last, as appea s by the Parliamentary return,
was only 1,355, and the amount 22,8911., while the
number of individual depositors, exclusive of chari-
table and friendly societies, was 824,162, and the
amount of deposits 22,915,9401. on the 29th of No-
vember, 1841. Of the 555 savings'-banks in the
United Kingdom, only 61 undertake the negotiation
of these annuities, \ iz., 56 in England, 3 in Ireland,
and 2in Scotland. The fees payable by each con-
tractor for purchase of such annuities are limited by
the Act to 2s. 6d. admission fee, and Is. annually af-
terwards. Hence it would seem that the fees are too
small to hold out any inducement to the extension of
the annuity department of the savings'-banks. Yet
the conversion of a portion of the claims of the say-
ings'-banks' depostors, which are increasing at the
rate of about a million annually, into terminable an-
nuities, is a subject well deserving the attention of the
Government.
In reference to the high price of bread, the follow

ing calculations may be interesting, as showing the
position of the London and Paris markets, when in a
more natural state than at present :
In November, 1841, the price of flour of the finest
quality in Paris was 63f. per 159 kilogrammes, which
is equal to 395. 7d. per sack of 2801 b. English. The
highest price of flour in London at the same period
was 655. the sack ; it therefore follows that flour was
644, per cent. higher in London than in Paris.
In November, 1841, the price of bread of the first
quality in Paris was 35c. per kilogramme, which is
equal to 6d. for the 41b. loaf; English weight. The
price charged by the high priced bakers in London
at the same time was 10d. per 41b. loaf; it therefore
follows that bread was 6615- per cent. dearer in London
than in Paris.
From this statement it appears that the bakers in
London could at that time manage to make bread at
nearly the same scale of charges and profit as in
Paris ; nearly the whole of the great difference in
price being plainly attributable to the high price of
flour here, which was occasioned by the operation of
our Corn-laws_
Taking another period ;—ln May, 1842, the price
of flour of the finest quality in Paris was 58f. per 159
kilogrammes, which is equal to 365. sd. per sack of
280 lb. English. The highest price of flour at the
Same period in London was 575, the sack; it there-
fore follows that flour was 56A per cent. dearer in
London than in Paris.
At the same time, May, 1842, the price of bread of
the first quality in Paris was 33c. per kilogramme,
which is equal to sid. for the 41b. loaf English
weight. The sum charged at that period by the high
priced bakers in London was 9-id. per 41b. loaf'; it
therefore follows that bread was 69 per cent. dearer
in London than in Paris.

The great difference in the price of bread here and
at Paris must, as in the former case, be ascribed to
the difference in -value of the raw material in the two

markets, arising from the effect of our Corn-laws ;
but it is also evident that although flour had fallen
more in proportion in London than in Paris from
November, 1841, to May, 1842, yet that the price of
bread had not declined here in so great a ratio, it
being in fact proportionably higher here than it was
before.

In the same manner, on comparing May, 1842,
with the present time, although the price of flour here
has fallen so much as to be very little dearer than in
Paris, yet the price of bread has not lowered in the
same proportion.
On the whole, it is evident that the assize of bread
in Paris causes the consumer to obtain the whole be-
nefit of a reduction in the price of flour immediately
on the occurrence of a fall ; whereas here the reduc-
tion is always tardy, and seldom, if ever, equal to the
amount required by the decline in the raw material.
S UN.—The same indisposition for business continued
until the end of the day. Consols left off at 92i 93
for Money, and 93 93i- for the Account, with rather
more firmness. Bank Stock, 249 251 ; Exchequer
Bills, Old, 51 53 ; New, 49 51 premium.
The prices of Foreign Securities were Belgian,
101-i 1024-; Dutch Two-and-a-Half per Cents., 521
52;; the }live per Cents., 1024 1023- ; Danish, 831 ;
and Brazilian, 66 67.
The quotation of Mexican continued at 35:1 for the
Account.

The Share Market showed more activity—Lon-
don and Birmingham were 183 185; Birmingham
and Gloucester, 42 43 ; Great Western, 83 84 ; the
Half Shares, 60 601; South Western, 59 60; North
Midland, 56 58; the New Share,s, 271 281; South
Eastern and Dover, 22+ 22:41; Eastern Counties,
84 9 ; Northern and Eastern, 3Th 381; Black wall,
; and Brighton, 33* 33s per share.
The quotations of the Bonds were—Peruvian,
15 16 ; Colombian, 201 21; Portuguese Five per
Cents., 35 351; the Three per Cents., 21 211;
Spanish Five per Cents., 16 161; and the Three per
Cents., 21 211. _ _ _

Some statistics relative to the fisheries carried on
by the citizens of the United States, received by the
last arrival, have, to a certain extent, caused an alarm
among our merchants. These accounts show that
the produce of oil from American fishing is increas-
ing, while that carried on by our vessels in the North
Seas is falling off. Each of these filets is correct,' but
at the same time that this admission is made, the
larger import of Southern oil, and the Circumstances
under which the Greenland trade has declined, must be
taken into consideration.

For a number of years the Dutch were the first
who fished on the shores of Greenland, where large
settlements were formed for the purpose of carrying
it on, and they had for a long time the monopoly of
the trade. By degrees the whales migrated north-
ward, and our more enterprising countrymen took up
what was to them a new branch of commerce, and
which had been abandoned by the original dis-
coverers of it as not being sufficiently profitable.
The same cause which led the Dutch to give
the trade up, has obliged us to abandon it
in a great degree, and the fish, from the in-
terruption they have received, have now proceeded
to such a distance as to render it impossible to follow
them ; therefore, while the produce of our Northern
fisheries has dwindled to a mere nothing, it has been
pushed so far that no competitor can be found to take
it up. These circumstances, and the progressive
colonization of the British posseSSions in the Southern
Ocean, have led to the prevention of it in those seas,
for which the deficiency has been supplied. The
Americans have been fishing there also. The manner
in which it is now obtained has caused a complete
revolution in the trade. It was the custom to fit
ships out at an enormous expense for a voyage of
certainly three years, which was frequently protracted
to four, and with the prospect of an uncertain return,
made consequent loss to all concerned in the adven-
ture, inasmuch as each man on board had as much in-
terest in the cargo, pecuniarily, as the owner of the
vessel. The increasing commerce of New South
Wales caused the first step in an improved arrange-
ment; and the quantity of oil procured now is in
reality greater, although it would appear from figures
that our fisheries are greatly decreasing. The solu-
tion of this apparent contradiction is here :—The
British residents in Australia send out ships
at a small expense, and upon voyages of short
duration, and land their cargoes'at Sydney, 8.4., froth
whence it is brought to this country, as, an item ol
general cargo, instead of fishery, although more ton-
nage is employed in carrying and taking it; and by
this division of distance, much saving is effected to
the ship-owner, with an increased profit to him, and
a reduction to the consumer. • For instance, the
quantity of oil shipped from Van Diemen's Land in
1835 was 2,154 tuns ; in 1838 it had increased to
4,801 tuns ; in 1832, New South Wales employed
twenty-two vessels, which brought back 1,695 tuns
of oil; in 1838 fifty-three which had cargoes
amounting to 11,675 tuns. The value of the
oil of British fishing imported into Van Die-
men's Land in 1828 was 11,268/. ; 1837, 135,210/.
and from the official accounts published it will be seen
that all these figures will have materially increased
since those periods. It will thus be seen that the
trade has merely been transferred from one name to
another, but has not been diminished in favour of any
other country. The quantity of oil brought into the
United States, shows an increase in the last over
former years, but nothing in the proportion above
given, or in fact not equal to what might have been
expected from the rapid improvement which has
taken place in the commercial marine of that na-
tion ; and by the accounts Which for song
time past have arrived from the Southern colonies, it
would appear that the number of American ships
decrease as the British make greater progress u,
forming towns and sea-ports. The conclusion would
seem to be, that no great fear should exist that this
branch of commerce, so valuable to us, is in any
danger, if it be properly fostered ; and as New Zea-
land and its immediate neighbourhood have now
o-
become the principal fishing grounds, and an 3b t)
a
gressions in that quarter, which are increasing
by France and America, who are endeavouring tc
most jealously repelled.
gain a footing there, should be

PRICE OF •BREAD.—A correspondent at Exch r
writes to us, under. the date of Sept. 2, as follows Noticing in the Bath Chronicle of yesterday your re-
marks on the subject of the price of bread, I trouble you
with a letter to inform you, that in this city the 4111. loaf
(full weight) is from sd. to 6id ; and none higher that:
that. There cannot be better bread." We suppose that
what may be done in Exeter may,also be done in Bath.
—Bath Chronicle.

The arrivals at the St. 'Catherine's Wharf. rin%‘ er.
from Ostend and Antwerp, during the last two day:•
were the Bruges, Captain Alain, and the Antwerpen,
Captain Jackson. Air. Sergeant Talfourd and Son. Cap-
tain Biscoe, Count Posen, &e., came passengers by the
latter ship.