The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-08-08 00:00:00

BANKING AND COMMERCIAL NEWS.

The Bank of Messrs. Dixon and Dalton, of Dudley,
one of the oldest and wealthiest establishments in that part
of the country, has suspended payment.
At the half-yearly general meeting of the proprietors of
the London and County Bank, held on Thursday, a divi-
dend was declared at the rate of 5 per cent., free of income
tax.

At the meeting of the Australian Trust Company held
on Monday a dividend of three per cent. for the half-
year was declared, leaving £1,685 to be carried to the re-
serve fund, which it appears now amounts to upwards of
£5,000, and is invested in Government securities.
The accounts received to-day from India and China, by
the overland mail, are satisfactory ; goods of British ma-
nufacture are selling freely, and large shipments of pro-
duce were making for this country.—London New Price
Current.

IMPORT DUTY ON IRON IN GERMANY.—A London
house has received the following intelligence from Ger-
many :—ln consequence of a request of the Rhenish
" Lanntag," which has been held in Dusseldorf, the
Zollcongress of the United States of Germany, assembled
in Berlin, has concluded to charge the importation of
all bar-iron and iron rails with £6 per ton, which will be
put in force on the Ist of November.
SCOTTISH INSURANCE COMPANIES.—The loss of the
Columbia Steamer, and other vessels, has had the effect
of furt:.,n• depressing the shares of our Marine Insurance
Companies ; but a few buyers of Scottish Marine Shares
having appeared, the Stock of that Company has rather
rallied. The holders of Glasgow Marine Stock, previous
to the meeting of to-day, were offering from £1 to £2 per
share of bonus to be relieved of their obligations by re-
sponsible parties. The result of the meeting is, that the
whole paid up capital, which amounted to £36,000, has
been lost, and a further sum of £30,000 is required to
liquidate their losses. £2 10s. per share is to be called
up. The directors were instructed to take the steps pre-
scribed by the contract, for the purpose of determining
whether the company shall be dissolved or carried on.—
Brokers' Circular.

BIRMINGHAM CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.-A meet-
ing of the Chamber of Commerce was held last night, for
the purpose of taking into consideration the present com-
mercial depression of the country. Mr. R. Spooner oc-
cupied the chair. The meeting at first was thinly attended,
but afterwards increased till the room was full. Con-
siderable discussion arose, but rather in the manner of
conversation than debate. The general feeling seemed to
be, that neither her Majesty's government nor the oppo-
sition were likely to do anything to relieve the accumu-
lated and still accumulating distress of the country;
indeed, that nothing could give effectual relief except an
expansion of the currency. Various resolutions were
proposed, and, after discussion, withdrawn; and the fol-
lowing was at length unanimously passed, moved bp Mr.
P. H. Muntz, and seconded by E. Barker :—" That her
Majesty's ministers have repeatedly declared that the
present distressed state of the country arises: from over-
production, and that there are no measures within their
power to relieve the present commercial difficulties,—Re.
solved, that a meeting of the bankers, merchants, manu-
facturers, and traders of this town and neighbourhood be
called by circular, to take into consideration the long-
continued difficulties of trade, and to adopt such measures
as the present alarming crisis may require, on Wednesday,
the 16th of August, at the Waterloo-rooms."—Bir-
',gingham Advertiser.
COMPARATIVE EXPORTS OF MANUFACTURED GOODS
IN 1842 AND 1842.—(From Sir Robert Peel's speech on
Friday night.)—l hold in my hand a return of the
exports of British produce from the united kingdom for
the six months ending the 6th of July, 1842, and on com-
paring the declared value of the exports of the present
with the declared value of the exports of the preceding
year, though there has not been that improvement which
I could wish, still there has been a manifest advance. In
short, there has been a manifest improvement in the ex-
port of some of the great branches of our manufactures.
In the year 1842 the declared value of the exports of our
manufactured cotton goods was £7,087,000. The decla-
red value of our exported manufactures of the same des-
cription up to the sth of June, 1843, was 7,983,000. In
the linen manufacture there has been a slight increase
also. In 1842 the declared value was £1,294,000, while
for the present year up to the sth of June last it amoun-
ted to £1,361,000. In the woollen manufactures, which in
the course of the last year had been materially depressed!
the declared value of exports in the first year was
£2,226,000, and in the last £3,035,000. Not speaking
with respect to the woollen manufactures, and their export
to the United States and the Brazils, but to all countries,
there has been a considerable increase in the amount of
exports. (Hear, hear.) The improvement is still more
marked, if I compare the exports in the last month with
those of the month terminating on the sth of July, 1842.
The declared amount of the value of cotton exported in
July last year was £1,084,000; for the month of July in
the present year it was .Z 1,445,000. The export of linen
last year was £201,000 ; in the present year it was
£271,000. As to the woollen manufactures, there had
been a remarkable increase, for in June last year the de-
clared value of woollen manufactures exported was
£408,000„ while in the present year it amounted to
£790,000. Therefore, comparing the six months of last
year with the six months of the present year, there has
been an indication of a considerable improvement in the
amount of the exports of the manufactures of this coun-
try. But now with respect to the cotton manufactures.
It was stated last year that the cotton trade was so bad
that we might make up our minds to a still greater de-
pression. Has that prediction been verified? (Hear.)
The extent of consumption of cotton has been exceedingly
great. I have in my hands a return showing the number
of bags of cotton imported into England and Scotland,
and taken for consumption for the first six months from
the year 1835 to 1843, both included. From this return
I find that in 1835 there were 451,984 bags of cotton taken
for consumption; in 1836, 474,902 ; in 1847., 497,302; and
in the present year, 1843, the number was 688,584 bags.
(Hear, hear.) Look, then, at the declared value of our
exports; in the first six months of the year 1842 our ex-
ports of cotton yarn amounted to 58,000,0001 b, and in
the same period of the present year to 62,000,0001 b ; our
exports of cotton thread in the first six months of last
year amounted to 935,0001 b. and in this year to 1,324,0001 b.
The exports of printed calicoes in the year 1842 was
123,781,000 yards, and in 1843, 145,295,000 yards. As
to the exportations of plain calicoes, the increase had been
enourinous, for in the first six months in the last year
there had been exported from this country 152,827,000
yards, and in the same time of the present year there had
been exported 253,318,000 yards. (Hear, hear.) Can
it then with justice be said, that the measures taken last
session, either with respect to the corn laws or the tariff,
have been as fatal to the interests of the great and im-
portant branches of the manufactures of the country as
was confidently predicted ?

Intelligence has been received of the blowing up of the
Diana, South Sea Whaler, while on her homeward voyaye
and the death of Captain May, who commanded her.
The Diana has since been brought into St. Helena, where
a coroner's jury found a verdict of " Murder, against
some persons unknown."
THE TEA TRADE, July 31,—There has been a firm
market for teas since the last auctions, and the quota-
tions are rather tending upwards, as the consumption is
large. Last week the deliveries increased to 54-1,3601 b.
the letters by the overland mail are not yet delivered, con-
sequently the position of the tea market at Canton re-
mains to be ascertained.

IRON AND COAL TRADE.—We are sorry to learn that
the iron and coal trade in Scotland never was so bad as it
is at present, and no prospect of a change for the better.
The prices are reported as not only to be without profit,
but altogether ruinous to the masters. We learn to-day,
from a valued correspondent, that half of the furnaces in
Lanarkshire will very soon be thrown out of blast, and
that one of the firms making malleable iron have given
their men in that line their warning to quit, without even
proposing a reduction of wages. The same is taking
place in the collieries in different parts of the country.—
Glasgow Post.
THE CCSTOM-HOUSE FRAUDS,—The report of the
commissioners appointed to inquire into the recent frau-
dulent proceedings by Custom-house officers has been
published. It is very voluminous, consisting of about
fifty pages. and it is, therefore, impossible to advert to all
the branches of inquiry to which the commissioners di-
rected their attention ; but we subjoin an analysis of the
chief points of information elicited. A long statement
is given regarding the accusations that were made against
Messrs. Burnby, Hastings, Poole, Berners, Foote, and
Blake, landing-waiters, and also against Mr. LI omershaw,
who is since deceased. The result of the inquiry estab-
lishes the startling fact that a well-organised system of
fraud has been in operation for several years past at the
port of London, attended with great loss to the revenue
of Customs, by means of dishonest practices on the part
of various officers of that department—some of them car-
ried on by means of dishonest practices by the officers
in league together, but chiefly by their being in secret
connexion witn dishonest traders. It is also established
that this extensive and long-established system of fraud
has been carried on with impunity, and without the know-
ledge of the Board of Customs, mainly in consequence
of the disregard of their proper duties by the landing
waiters, and other officers in the surveyor's department.
The fraudulent transactions which have been investigated
are classed in the report under the eight following heads :
1. The granting of false certificates by the export
officers whose duty it is to ascertain what goods are ship-
ped. 2. By granting a false certificate of the quality,
or existence of goods for exportation, to obtain an amount
of drawback of duty far exceeding what is legally due,
or a drawback for an imaginary exportation of articles.
3. The dummy system, or the substitution of a package
of low duty goods for a package of high duty goods.
4. By the negligent or wilful undervaluation of goods
where they are subjected to ad valorem duties, and the
dishonest or careless and faulty enumeration of the goods
when their amount is to be stated. 5. By the improper
computation of the tares of packages. 6. An undervalua-
tion and under account of goods, so that an under duty
is paid by means of making a proper entry in the rough
books on examining the goods, and obliterating that entry
so soon as they were safe in the warehouse of the impor-
ter, substituting, in place of the proper entry, a false and
insufficient entry of the goods, denoting a low duty which
was paid, instead of the proper duty to the crown. 7. The
fraudulent entries of goods by the substitution of fresh
leaves for the original leaves in the landing waiter's' Blue
Books,' with imitations of the handwriting of the regis-
trar's clerks, with false entries, and with false seals.
8. The obliteration of the entry in the ' Blue Book,' by
a chemical process, and the substitution of a false for a
real account in it." Among the frauds may be noticed
the introduction of cigars as marble, and large amounts
had been obtained for drawbacks by means of a simulated
shipment.