The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-31 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL 4. MONETARY NEWS

MONDAY NIGHT.
TEE increasing apprehensions of a warlike ter-
mination to the Eastern question, have tended to
unsettle monetary operations, and the Funds have
been as low as 84 but have since rallied, and are
now only 901. The Bank Returns on Friday
showed an increase in Bullion of 227,134, but
another decrease in Public Deposits, which are only
£2,646,783. The imports of bullion into London
last week amount to about £950,000 entirely in
gold. The exports have been chiefly to the con-
tinent, and are estimated at not less than £450,000.
The Emigration Commissioners have advertised
for two vessels to carry emigrants to South Aus-
tralia and to Victoria. One is to be ready for
Adelaide on the 14th, the other for Geelong on
the 17th of March. Telegraphic accounts from
Odessa of the 22nd inst. mention a further extra-
ordinary rise in freights, the rate having advanced
to 120 s. This movement is supposed to have been
attributable to the eagerness of exporters to avail
themselves of ships that could get away before the
I weather rendered it wholly impracticable.
The uncertainty prevailing as to the probable
termination of the Eastern dispute, has operated
in a very considerable degree to cheek business in
the manufacturing districts, and this feeling of
distrust has been increased by the fall in the value
of railway shares and other investments. Trade
has, consequently, been very inactive, orders, except
for immediate consumption, being withheld until
some more decisive opinion can be formed as
to the future. The woollen districts have been
affected from the same causes, and the high price
at which the raw material is maintained, affords
little inducement for manufacturers to buy more
than they immediately require. The hosiery and
lace trades are also dull, and there seems a general
absence of all speculation.
The importance of a more rapid and regular
postal communication with our Australian colonies
has, at length, excited attention, and from the
steps which have already been taken, it is to be
hoped that it will soon be placed on a more satis-
factory footing. The Legislative Council of Mel-
bourne have made the liberal offer of 23,000 to any
and every company which shall engage to carry a
regular monthly mail from England to Melbourne,
during the whole performing the journey within
sixty-five days the first six months, and within
sixty days afteawards. The following is the reso-
lution which was agreed to in a committee of the
whole of the Legislative Council of Victoria, on the
12th of October last :

" That is the opinion of this committee that £3,000
per month be paid from the public revenue to auy and
every company which shall engage to carry during the
whole year, from the Ist of March, 1854, to the Ist of
March, 1856, a regular monthly mail from England to
Melbourne within sixty-five days for the first six months,
and within sixty days for the last six months, the time of
the voyage to be reckoned from the time of departure
from England to arriving in Hobson's Bay, and that such
sum of £3,000 be paid only for those months in which
the voyage may have been successfully performed within
the time specified."

In furtherance of this object, a public meeting of
merchants and others interested in the trade to
Australia, was held in London, on Thursday, when
resolutions were passed, affirming the necessity for
increased facilities for steam communication with
that country, and a petition to parliament on the
subject was adopted. There can be little doubt as
to the object being practicable. The Great Britain
has already performed the voyage in sixty-five days,
and, as every improvement tends to the increase
of speed, the proposed sixty days may reasonably
be anticipated.
The return from the Bank of England for the
week ending the 21st of Jan., gives the following
results, when compared with the previous week :
Public deposits ... Z 2,646,783; Decrease £567,210
Other deposits ... 13,894,599; Increase 245,893
Rest ... 3,333,780; Increase 37,967
On the other side of the account—
Government securities £13,537,638; Decrease £106,387
Other securities _ ... 14,297,849; Decrease 365,448

Notes unemployed ... 7,135,195; Decrease 307,820
The amount of notes in circulation is £22,271,495,
being an increase of £330,670 ; and the stock of
bullion in both departments is £16,069,266, showing
an increase of £27,134, when compared with the
preceding return.