The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-29 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL AND MONETARY NEWS,

MONDAY NIGHT.
THE apprehensions of a general embroilment of
the great powers of Europe having been set at rest,
the Funds have recovered from the slight depres-
sion under which they suffered, and have since
steadily maintained their value. There is, however,
but little doing, owing to the holiday time of the
year, nor will there be any disposition to embark
in new transactions until the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER has made his long-expected financial
statement. We hinted last week at the probability
of some reduction being made in the interest of
Consols, and the opinion is gaining ground, that,
with the present favourable rate of the public
securities, and the large and increasing balances in
the Exchequer, the opportunity will not be allowed
to pass over without interfering with this important
part of the National Debt. The rate of discount
on first-class paper is below the minimum fixed by
the Directors of the Bank of England; commercial
credit was, perhaps, never in a more favourable
position, owing to the general absence of undue
speculation, and the confident expectations of still
larger arrivals of gold from Australia will tend to
render the money market easier for all legitimate
purposes. These are circumstances which cannot
fail to have their weight with a Finance Minister
who has any pretensions to ability. Mr. GLAD-
STONE has shown that he has an eye to the saving
of the national expenditure by his reduction of the
interest on Exchequer Bills, and this circumstance
should not be left out of view in estimating the
probabilities of future operations.
Among the new schemes which owe their origin
to the abundance of capital in this country is that
of a railway of 110 miles from Cologne, along the
banks of the Rhine to Wiesbaden, to be constructed
at a cost of two millions sterling. We perceive that
some Liverpool merchants are on the Board of
Directors. Another scheme is a Water Company
for Berlin, with a capital of £350,000, and the
Directors consisting of London merchants.
We reported last week the formation of an im-
portant association of the Corn Trade of Liverpool
for their mutual protection and advantage. This is
a step in the right direction, and it were well if it
led to the establishment, by legal enactment, of
Local Boards of apurely commercial character, with
authority to decide upon all questions of dispute in
mercantile transactions, arising either out of the
general law or the custom of merchants. In dis-
putes affecting the shipping interest, such as
salvage, collisions, &c., the case is referred to a
special court, in which the judge has the assistance
of the Elder Brethren of the Trinity House, who are
usually experienced mariners, and the judgment
has, therefore, the chance of being founded on
justice. In cases, however, affecting important
mercantile transactions, where much may depend
on long recognised customs of any particular
port or branch of trade, the cause is argued at
great expense before a judge who is incapable of
understanding its merits and bearings, by counsel who
are equally ignorant; and though the intention of the
fiat may he " let right be done," the probability is
quite as much the other way. By the establishment
of Local Boards, which should combine legal skill
and mercantile experience, the commerce of this
country would be materially aided, the law affecting
it would be placed on a more satifactory footing,
disputes would be decided. with infinitely less both of
delay and expense,
and dishonourable dealing would
be more seldom perpetrated or attempted, because
the remedy would be more readily accessible. In
the endeavour to obtain such an object, Liverpool
should decidedly take the lead, because, as the
greatest commercial town in the world, she has the
greatest interest at stake; and now that the LORD
CHANCELLOR is busily employed in a praiseworthy
attempt to effect a codification of the statute law, a
good opportunity is afforded for demanding a con-
cession to which the Commerce of England has an
indubitable right.
The accounts from Manchester state that the im-
provement of the previous week bas not been main-