The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-08-07 00:00:00

SULPHUR MINES

Letters from Tripoli, of the 6th June, give some in-
teresting particulars of an attempt lately made by a
French company to work the sulphur mines in the
Gulf of Syrte. It seems that a French chemist, named
Subtil, residing at Tripoli, having accidentally seen
some specimens of sulphur of remarkable purity,
which he ascertained to have been brought from the
interior, determined to visit the place of its produc-
tion. After a search of forty days, traversing the de-
sert of Barca, and arriving quite at the bottom of the
Gulf of Syrte, he found mountains of sulphur mine-
ral, and a lake, whose bottom and sides were sulphure-
ous earth. The mineral of the rock sulphur is ex-
tremely abundant, quite on the surface, and many ca-
mels were speedily loaded with the samples. The dis-
trict was nominally within the pachalic of Tripoli, but
had, for some time, been absolutely ruled by Abdel, a
Moorish chieftain of illustrious birth, who maintained
an army of 40,000 or 50,000 men, and enjoyed a vir-
tual sway over a very extensive portion of this part of
the African continent. From this chieftain M. Subtil
obtained the exclusive right of working the mines in
question for a certain number of years; and, on the
strength of the contract, he returned to France, and
obtained the support of some of the first merchants at
Marseilles to the prosecution of his plan. In Nlay he
landed in Africa, with a number of workmen, and am-
ply provided with the means of turning the mines to
the best account. But in the interval the aspect of
affairs had changed. The Moorish chieftain had been
defeated by the troops of Tripoli, and the district had
returned to its allegiance. The British government
had protested against the contract with Abdel as a
monopoly, and therefore a breach of their treaty with
Turkey, and all the exertions of M. Subtil to obtain a
confirmation of his contract were fruitless. He was,
however, a man of too much spirit to abandon his en-
terprise without a struggle, and accordingly, having
abandoned his monopoly, he is negotiating with the
Turkish government for permission to work the mines,
in the hope of realising a handsome remuneration for
his outlay, before he could be disturbed by the compe-
tition of any other adventurers. The sulphur district
lies between the ports of Tripoli and Bengazi. The
rock ore has been found to give 35-40 per cent. of
pure sulphur, and also 2-15 of sulphate of soda, and
5-10 per cent. of salt. The sulphureous earth gave
45-50 per cent. of pure sulphur, but was of a more
difficult fusion. The expedition of M. Subtil promises
to be a satisfactory one to him after all his disappoint-
ments, and it is extraordinary that so rich a field of
commercial enterprise as Africa furnishes should have
been neglected by British capitalists. European pro-
duce in the interior of Africa bears a profit of 700 per
cent., and gold dust sells there for only one dollar the
metecal, or 373 Eng. gns., and indeed all the interior
produce is at a similarly low rate.-11orniny Chronicle.

" I addressed a letter to you, through various newspapers,
early last spring, urging you to sow spring wheat in place of
barley. The two months from the middle of February to
the middle of May were the most favourable to vegetation,
and.to the sowing of spring grain, of any two months in the
memory of man; the previous eight months, from the 18th
of June, 1839, having been the most unpropitious to all agri-
cultural operations, particularly on poor clay soils ; and
though for the last two months there has been occasionally
heavy rains and a low temperature, yet the season is full two
weeks earlier at this season than in the two last years; and
from the fine dry healthy weather that has now set in, and
of which the continuance appears promising, there is every
probability of harvest being concluded two, if not three,
months earlier than last year in late situations ; and though
the wheats are, in the north of England, on poor clay soils,
thin of plant, yet the improvement of the appearance of the
wheat crop in the last three weeks has been greater than I
ever remember in the same time ; and though the wheat crop,
after so unfavourable an autumn and winter, cannot, on poor
clay soils in the north of England, be an average crop, yet
the quality promises to make amends, and I confidently an-
ticipate the quality, in late situations, will be 245. per quar-
ter better than last year's crop, and for the average of the
kingdom may readily be Bs. per quarter better. The last
year will have averaged near 68s. per quarter; and the next,
I anticipate, will not exceed 645. per quarter, and be Bs. per
quarter better in quality, making the price (quality consi-
dered) 20 per cent. lower than last year.
I can confidently state that the deficiency in the north
will be amply made up by the productive wheat crops in the
midland districts, and eastern part of the kingdom.
" I write from a personal inspection I made, to and from
the meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society at Cambridge ;
while the unanimous report of the best-informed persons at
the said meeting was, That the southern part of the king-
dom would be very productive of wheat this season.'
" Under these circumstances, I cannot refrain urging all
those who have English grain on hand to thrash out as
speedily as possible, and bring it to market, so as to prevent
the average prices realising 695. per quarter, and thus keep
the duty at or under 16s. Bd. per quarter.
" If this advice be universally followed, all the old grain
may be got sold before the new wheat glut the market, when
a fall of price on the inferior old wheat may be at least 12s.
per quarter after harvest to what it is at present ; and as the
crops in the north are later, in proportion to the south,
than usual, I would recommend the south country farmers
to thrash freely after harvest, and send a supply to the
north, to mix with the old inferior wheats of last year, now
on hand, and such supply cannot well, be overdone till the
northern crops are secured in stack ; and even then the
north country farmers will not overstock the market during
the autumn and winter, and by spring seed time it will be
found, if prices are kept on an average at 645. per quarter
during the autumn and winter, that there will be ample
supply to serve till next harvest, without an advance of
price beyond 645. per quarter.
" The present alarm, I am confident, is unfounded, and
has been got up to induce farmers to hold back their sup-
plies, that prices may advance, to let out the bonded wheat
at a low duty, and thus unnecessarily inundate the country
with foreign wheat when it is not needed. I write in perfect
confidence that my anticipations will prove correct, for my
attention to the subject has been unremitting for more than
fifty years, and for nearly fifty years I never once was disap-
pointed in the expectations I formed of the crops at this
season of the year. On yourselves, therefore, farmers, de-
pend your future prospects. You have it yet in your power
to prevent wheat reaching 695. per qr. for six weeks together.
And when the importers of wheat and that under lock, see
that you are alive to your own interest, they will then see
that it is their interest to pay the duty of 16s. Bd. per qr., as
the duty will rise, while the prices go down to 645. per qr.
And thus the country will be supplied through your instru-
mentality with bread at a reasonable price, and you will
prove yourselves to be, as you have ever been, the real
friends of the consumers of grain, and that high prices have
ever been owing to the combination of the importers, in not
bringing their grain upon the market when most needed.
" A check now given to importation is your best safeguard
for the future ; and when a kind Providence again sends
favourable seasons, your home supply, under improving cul-
tivation, will render a foreign supply unnecessary, even were
the population of the United Kingdom double what it now
is • for there are no bounds to the improvement of the soil
under a judicious protection by law from a foreign supply,
which is always precarious, and has been ruinous to every
importing country in the world.

" With my best wishes for the prosperity of agriculture,
" I am, Farmers of England, your true friend,
" THOMAS BATES.
" Kirkleavinglon, near Yarm, Yorkshire, July 28."

PORT OF CARDIFF-BUTS SHIP-CANAL DOCK

OR BASIN

(From a Correspondent of the Shipping and Mercantile

Gazette.)

The above undertaking being now completed and open
for all purposes of trade and navigation, it may not be unin-
teresting to the mercantile and shipping interests to be fur-
nished with some information on the subject of these docks,
and the advantages thus. afforded to ships frequenting the
port, by the final perfecting of one of the most extensive
works—indeed 1 believe the most so, with the exception of
the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal—ever begun and brought
to a prosperous termination by any one individual; nor are
there many national works of greater extent. The present
has been constructed by the Marquis of Bute, at his sole
cost, at an outlay of £250,000. It was commenced in the
year 1834, the site having been chosen under the advice of
those men most eminent in their day, Telford and Green, and
the situation of the docks was adopted with a view to forming
the safest and most direct communication with th. sea; the
design and execution were entrusted to Mr. Cubitt, whose
high reputation must be still enhanced by this monument of
his skill. The work comprises a ship canal, 4,000 feet in
length, and 200 feet in breadth, with massive quay walls on
either side, coped with chiseled blocks of granite. There
are wooden fenders running the whole extent of the quay,
parallel with the water's edge, so that vessels cannot receive
injury by striking against the walls. The canal, to the extent
of 1,500 feet, is eighteen feet deep ; for 1,200 feet, is thirteen
feet deep ; and the remaining distance shallows to eight and
a half feet. The exit from this canal is through a lock 152
feet long by thirty-six feet wide (through which a vessel of
1200 tons burthen, laden with timber, was passed on the day
the docks were opened) into a tide basin, capaple of receiving
3,000 tons of shipping; for example, fifteen vessels of 200
tons each, where they are always afloat, shut in by a tide-
gate 45 feet wide, which is opened at three and a half hours'
flood, when the tide outside rises to the height of the water
within ; and vessels pass out into the sea through a channel
150 feet wide, and half a mile in length, lyir g from north to
south ; so that the prevailing winds admit of ships hoisting
their canvas in the basin, and sailing direct to the sea, and in
like manner coming in, they sail straight into the basin without
casting anchor or unfurling sails. The channel is marked by
buoys on either side, by which vessels can warp in or out,
and before high water and whilst navigable for vessels of any
burthen, it is protected by the banks formed by the excava-
tion, so that in boisterous weather vessels have only to enter
at half tide to be quite sheltered and sail up through still
water. If needed, there are steam-tugs always in attendance
for towing in or out at a moderate charge. The grand fea-
ture in these docks is, that they are always accessible, and to
vessels of any burthen, the tide always rising at the basin to
height of from eighteen to thirty-five feet, excepting six or
eight days in the year at the lowest neaps, when they mtly
not attain above sixteen teet. Another most important
feature is, that ships need never take the ground, for
the tide gate, at three-and-a-half hours' flood, is opened,
and continues so for five hours, during which vessels sail
right in or out of the tide basin direct to sea. At
two-and-a-half hours' ebb the gates are closed, the water
in the basin is raised to the level of the ship canal,
the dock gates are opened, and the whole fleet passed
in or out without locking; this might be done twice every
tide, thus enabling the transit of 12,000 tons of shipping
every twenty-four hours—an extent of traffic beyond any-
thing that can ever be contemplated. In the completion of
this magnificent work, the anxious desires of all classes con-
nected with the trade and port have been more than realised ;
and that some such improvements have been for a long
time required, to meet the growing exigencies of this most
flourishing and largely increasing port, will be evident from a
review of the increase in the trade within the last few years,
and the inefficiency of the Glamorgan Canal to afford the re-
quisite accommodation. We will recur to a period of four-
teen years, and subsequent intervals, up to the present time,
and show the increase.

No. of vessels en-
Reg. tonnage ITotal No
tering the port

Total tonnage

narrow that pilots cannot always avoid running on the banks,
which, occurring at high tides, vessels sometimes get be-
neaped high and dry for seven or eight days. On arrival at
the gates vessels have to wait for tide or for their turn to be
locked in, grounding every tide, jammed up betwixt a multi-
tude of vessels in a very confined spot, there is no security,
and always apprehension ; for it has occurred that vessels
have taken the bank in grounding, and fallen over on beam-
ends, straining the ship and damaging cargo, and occasion-
ally, it has been necessary to dischare all, and repair. These
accidents have caused vessels sharply built, or coppered ves-
sels not liking to take the ground, to remain in Penarth
roads, to load, as is necessary with vessels of large burthen,
and this at an expense of 2s. 6d. per ton for liBhterage on
ballast and cargo. This will now be avoided, as the largest
class ships can load in the Bute Docks with as much conve-
nience and facility as at any port in the kingdom, and at a
considerable saving of time and expense. Having shown the
facilities afforded to ships by the new harbour, I proceed to
show, by a comparative statement, the cost of receiving car-
goes from thence and from Glamorgan Canal, exemplifying
it in the several classes of vessels on which different rates
are chargeable at the former.

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