The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-07-25 00:00:00

.ction in

a depressing effec.
which

_ upon
have slowly

securiti

recovered tg

Mono): has not

r, been

greatly in demand for commercial purposes,
although no reduction has yet taken place in the
rate of discount. It is said that there has been a
renewed demand for gold for exportation to the con-
tinent, but it is believed that the arrivals from
Australia will be sufficient to satisfy this demand
without drawing upon the stores in the Bank of
England. The bank returns on Friday show a
decrease in the stock of bullion to the extent of
£197,335, but this may be considered a very small
reduction when taken into account with the pay-

about a million and three-quarters in
deposits. It will be seen that several alterations
have taken place in the several items of the bank
returns, but as they have been obviously caused by
the transactions consequent upon the settlement of

he publii

the dividend, they afford but little information as
to the state of the money market. It may, how-

ever, be rema

portance ha

occurred to d

isturb the

>thing of
general feeling of e(,

wising aspect of the approaching hl
favourable effect upon the home trade

cts there has

In the cotton manufacturing distr
been an improved demand both for home consump-
tion and export, and prices have shown a tendency
to advance, though not as yet to any great extent.
There has also been a slight show of improvement
in the woollen trade, and it is believed that the
lowest point has been passed, as stocks are very
short, and the demand for the autumn trade has
this year been unusually late.
The effects of the recent
t liarly favourable for the

fine weather, so pecu-

st, have
been sensibly felt in all the corn markets, and the
fall in prices has been augmented by the recent
large arrivals of breadstuffs. The trade is as yet
in a very unsettled state, as no purchases are made
beyond demands for immediate consumption, and
holders are unwilling to make heavy sacrifices in
order to realise. The reports from almost all the
agricultural districts describe the wheat crops as
promising great abundance, and the breadth of
land in wheat being larger than ever before known.
In our market to-day between six and seven
thousand barrels of flour were sold. Western
was about 305., and Baltimore and finer quali-
ties 30s. 6d. to 31s. per barrel, a reduction on
Friday's prices, but not so great as was anticipated.
Potatoes have also been very extensively cultivated,
and, with very few exceptions, the crops are looking
very healthy, so that there is a reasonable prospect
of an abundant supply of this important article

of food.
The advocates of decimal coinage had an inter-
view the other day with Mr. CAEDWELL, in order
to enforce upon the Ministry their various argu-
ments for its adoption. They were met by the
rejoinder that the change rested with the people
rather than with the government, and that while
there were many difficulties which had yet to be
surmounted, a change in the coinage was always
received with suspicion. We repeat, notwith-
stand:-.•the m 9- iames of 1 —or] men adduce

a ~any, .earne.earner.auUu.
m support of the project, that its advantages
would be infinitesimal when compared with the
many and serious disadvantages upon the whole
community. For all practical purposes, the
present system is far more beneficial, inasmuch as
the coinage is divisible into the ordinary fractions
of every-day business, which the decimal system
would not be, while the adoption of the latter
would entail endless confusion in all country mar-
kets and small shop-keepers' concerns, and at the
same time destroy all ideas in the public mind of
value derived from old associations. If the pdund
be retained as the unit of value, the penny would
be practically destroyed, while the adoption of any
new unit would only increase the mischief. The
recent coinage of the florin has proved an injury
rather than a benefit, for it has repeatedly been
taken for a half-crown, and it serves no useful
purpose whatever. The most that can be said in
favour of a decimal coinage is that it might in a
very slight degree facilitate the labours of mer-
chants' clerks, and. 'srnioit as- much might be
gained by instructing them to di3tOntinue dotting
their i's and crossing their t's, a gain so trifling
that it is hardly worth while disturbing the coin-
age and unsettling the monetary transactions of
the country for its accomplishment.
A statement of the exports of bullion fron}
London during the half-year ending the 30th ult.
shows the tota to have been £15,331,960, of which
£11,869,000 was gold, and the remainder silver.
Of this aggregate of gold and silver the propor-
tions were to India, China, and Mauritius
22,073,130 (the amount of silver to China being
£1,669,470) ; to Australia and New Zealand,
£29,400 ; to the continent, £12,187,820 ; to the
Mediterranean, £778,660 ; to the West Indies,
£197,250 ; to Brazil, £18,700 ; and to Africa,
£47,000.

The arrivals of specie last week reached a total
of about £850,000, the whole of which, with the
exception of about £150,000, was in gold. The
exports are estimated to have amounted to about
£500,000, of which £250,000 consisted of silver
to the East.

The return from the Bank of England for the
week ending the 15th of July gives the following
results, when compared with the previous week :
Public deposits £3,207,955; Deerease£l,74o,B67

11,655,973; Decrease
3,309,129; Increase

Other deposits
Rest... ..
On the other side of the account--

115,356
43,309

Government securities £12.470,237, Decrease £507,000
Other securities ... 14,234,926; Decrease 1,685,272
Notes unemployed ... 6,402,980; Decrease 374,440

The amount of notes in circulation is 220,682,965,
being an increase of 2161,725 ; and the stock of
bullion in both departments is £13,823,872, show-
ing a decrease of £197,335,when compared with the
preceding return.