New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-09-29
BRITISH COMMERCE..
now.

from uu Occasional Correspondent
LONDON, Sept 3, 1850.
THE TRBUNE was the fest paper which called
attention 10 the iOqs decline OF tbs British export
trade to the Est Indies decline most conspicuous
10 thu great staple articles viz; cotton goods aud
,ot.op varrs. The T. action heoce arising has
beoun 20 be felt in Lancashire ard rkshlre, at
tho very moment when The home ma'ket is con-
tract no in consequence of harvest which ia full
FIVE weeks later thsn hat OF last year, and despite
the improving prospects since rh1rsdy, the Both
Of August, WILL at all events, fall below an average
WELD The British Chambers of Commerce have,
cons. oufn'ly taken the alarm, aud asailef the
eptra government with protests against the New
Indian Customs Act by which the duty upon the
starle imports from Great Britain was increased
from to 10 per cent; that is to say, at rate OF
100 per cent. The Engllsb press, which, I'LL then,
had cautiously ah.ained ffom touching this point,
has thus at last been compelled 10 break through
its reserve The London EcOHOmid treats us IN the
"Trsde of India" and "Jbe Cause If it's Depr-s-
sion Apart from the Giro instance of The Economist
heir o cOnsiiered the Fl at English authority 10 nat
tfIs of this kind ts articles India derive Peculiar
interest from iheic cOnnexOn with the writing desk
of Mr. Wilson, the pre- ent India1 Chancellor of
the Exchcquer. The first part of the article an
attempt at diseDcaging the late Indian customs
l,ssa ion from all responsibility for the present
contra, ton of the Indian mari et is best answered
BY the nee, ssy to which the Governor General at
Calcutta has been put, of converting at Cal
cutta, committee, to consist of represen
tatlyes Of the Revenue Boards of Calcutta,
Bombay, and Madfss, and their respective
Chambers of Commerce, and to be charged with
the task ofIevisng and adjusting the tariff lately
4 ii .rba frat N
PRODUCING this subject to your readers, did not ere
ate the Indian commercial crisis, whose Outbreakit
however, accelerated by It's sudden introduction at
a time when the Indian commerce was already
boated to n size beyond its natural capacity. The
gnt Of British commodities in the Indian market
and of Indian commodities in the English market is
avowed by The Economist. 1--WE believe" he
says, lit will be admitted on all hands that the
enormous profits made in the Indian trade during
portion of last year, led to sudden and largein
crease of supplies TO the market more than was re-
"dured for Any consumption, far az this country
was concerned and to very extensive speculative
trade by the native capitalists for the supply oit1e
"Iarb cts in the interior from the seaports Forex-
"Smple the exports of cotton piece goods To British
Linda amounted in 1889 to the value Of - O43OOO
'apsinst 80 800 Geo in 1863 andes, 0O0n 1857;
"and of yarns the exports were in 1853 e. 900
"spainst G. ,969, coo 1855 and e. I47 600 in 1857.
" For q long time goods were taken off asr tpdly as
they arrived, and as long as prices continued to
"rie there WIS no lack of speculative NahsJ ans to
"mHke purchases and to cOnsign to the markets OF
:" the interior; and there is no doubt from tue best
Information we can obtain, that large stocks ot
"goods accumulated at all the markets IN The North.
"veSt. Upon this point the testimony OF Mlrzapore,
" AIahsbad Lucknow, Agra Delhi, Amrteer aud
Lahore is uniform
The Economist then proceeds to detail SOME cir
cumstsnces which contributed 10 consolidate in
certain sense the eut ia the Indian markets. The
main cause.-the continuance OF large supplies from
Erglond- he does not even allude 10. In the first
instance, then the Autumn crops Of 1853 through
out northern India, consequent upon the drOuth
generally prevailing fell much below an average,
aud ere affected both as to quality and quantity.
Hence high range of the prices OF provisions
through the Winter and Spring which, later on IN
the season. was It'll more enhanced by famine pros
pecte. Furthermore, with scarcity and high prices,
there was raging the disease. Throughout the
"whoe Of the Northwest, the cholera prevailed 10
$50 alarming sn extent among the densely peOped
"cities that the ordinary busioess of life WIS is
"may cases susI ended, ard the pOpu'at on fled as
" from an invading enemy" But, worst of ALL
Upper India was threatened, for month or SIX
weeks before the departure Of the last mail, with
" a misfortune most appalling. The rains, upon
(Which alone the Autumn crops depend, usually
"fall BY the middle or at latest the end Of June.
"This year, up to the middle of July, not drop
- Of rain had fallen. From the north west frontier
&" down to Lower Bengal, from the Ky Der pass TO
Benares including the great DOabs OF the Sutlrl,
'tte Jumna and the Gauges, all was one arid,
"hard, aud immovable surface of parched earth.
" 1t was only in the few exceptional places which
"were moistened by the rivers passing through
them or by the tributaries of the great irrigation
"wOrks, the Jumna and Ganges canals, that any
" cultivation was possible. The prospect
" of famine equal to that of 1881 aud lS35 ere
4" 8ted On all hands the greatest apprehensl ~
"Prices rose still more. Cattle were dying ia num-
{" bers or being drawn TO the hills in place of filling
- the SOIL and the people described az being on
" the borders of starvation" The worst eppre-
hepsOns however, have been set TO rest, according
10 the teegTaphic accounts received and published
at Calcutta during the eight days previous to the
departure Of the last mail, which left Oh the 9th
of July. Rains had at last fallen copiously, and in
proper time to avert a famine, if not TO secure q
good crop.
The details given by The Economist go far to
prove that for the DeXt future there exists not the
least prospect of a revival in the In'ilu trade,
which had already fallen of about e., 900, 900 for
the first half year of 1860 compared with the first
halfyear of 1859. The Australian markets exhibit
asO all the symptoms of contraction consequent up
On oyer.trade. The trade with France, which was
sl at once TO assume immense proportions by virtue
of the Commercial Treaty, has on the contrary de-
clined by more than { 600, OOO as will be seen
by the following statement:
siI mon hs ended June 90 1859. 1866.
Imports from France. 20 $685. ts55"3
Exports 10 tIaLce..........'.''' 2dS5,sl' E14 30
Recommendations 9b,8Be@
The heavy decline in the British Import trade
from France may be accounted for by tie high
prices of provisions in France duing this year.
while 10 1859 corn and meal had formed principal