ENGLISH COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE. (From the Home News.) London, Friday, July 25.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 234, 19 September 1862, Page 4

ENGLISH COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE. (From the Home News.) London, Friday, July 25.

The Money Market haa undergone a complete change since our report of the 23th June. At that dnte the market was fi m at the Bank minimum rate of 3 per cent, with some expectation of an advance to 34 per cent., while now there ia an<sasy demand at the reduced quotation of 2 per cent. The first step was taken on the 10th July when the rate was reduced from 3 per cent, to-2.$ per cent., and to day the directors have further-lessened it to 2 per cent! This unusually low rate of interest is caused by the! influx of specie from Nevy York, combined with the depression in trade .restricting commercial enterprise on all sides. The only satisfactory feature in our position appears to be that the low price of money is not as yet leading to any wild speculation, in shares or joint-stock companies, : The fresh reduction at the Bank of England not having been fully anticipated, has, combined, with with the more favourable weather, given an impulse to the funds, which have to-day experienced a rise of i per cent. There is also an improvement in several* of the principal English railways, particularly Great ; Western and London and South Western. The tendency of the stock markets generally ia favourable. The report of the directors of the Scottish AusI tralian Investment Company to the meeting to ba held on the Ist August states that the profit realised by the company's operation's in the colony during i the half-year ending December 31 last is larger than ! that of the previous half-year, although trade Ins continued dull and there has been no demand for real property, and but a comparatively limited degree of activity prevailing in any branch of business. The gross profit realised in tiie colony during the above period w £11,964 7a.Cd., to which mast bo added the sum of £861 13ar Id. received in London for interest, transfer fees, &c, making agroas profit for the six months of £12,823 Os. 7d. A comparison of the accounts with those issued in the last report shows that the increase in the colonial profits ot the half-year ending December 31, 1861, over those of the preceding six months amount1' to 1,1031 11s, The whole of such profit has been derived from the ordinary sources of the company's revenue viz, rents, interest, and commissions, and nothing from the disposal of property. s The directors proper a dividend, i payable on Thursday, the 14th day of August next, on the ordinary stock of the Company, L 200,000, at the rate oMO per cent per annum, les3 income-tax, ■' .which require XI 0.000, and leave at the credit of the reserved fund X82Q316s 4d. The directors have been enabled to issue a considerable further amount of debentures. They bave placed up to the present time L 10.286 of preference stock, and £88,520 of de-! bentures for periods .'. ranging from three to seven years (of which L 87,670,! had been received tip to 30th June last, and appeared in the.accounts), making together L98,816,pt. supplementary: capital to be employ od by the company in tho colony, irrespective of the reserved; fund,' ;■ A portion of these subsidiary >fund 3 recently raised has been temporarily invested in colonial government debentqres to wait the maturity of the manager's drafts drawn against-it, and these securities command a-higher^ price than they cost the company. : .--'•-■ •- The directors of the TXnion Bank of "Australia have resolved to declare ? a dividend oi JJI 15s ger share (equal to 14 per cent, per annum) at the annual meeting on July 21. ' A i, ;-i; s. The Board of Trade returns for the month of May have ibeen issued, and .exhibit results much more favourable than had* been oriUcipaibd. Compared with the corresponding month of-last year there has ;been an increase of L 92,517, or nearly 1 per cent, in the,declared value of our ; exportatipnsj, while in contrast with May, 1860,"the: figures are still better, the increase; being L 349,399, or more than 3 per cent* This ia to ok', attributed to the increased $ energy thro wit into other branches of trade during the stagjnation of business in Lancashire, since under the head of cot^tf there has been a falling off of L 770.849, i wWfiisUk,linenj, woollen, and leather manufactures, ail show, a" large augmentation,l' ln nearly all the various minor articles there hns likewise been an iniprovement,anc[ among; these the most prominent are arms and gunpofwder^owing to the readiness of the United States, while they shot out by a prohibitory j tariff nearly every artide of beneficent intercourse, to [ give us their custonisfor thevmeiMis of mutual destruction, -,v ■ [' r.:- ■■■/,■■•• ■ v.':: '•*/■" ■'■

ThVtotal exports'in ifie" first'fiTO month's of the year have been L47,545,^8, against L49.7d0.532 ia the corresponding months of 1801, showing a decrease of 2,235,294, or exactly U per ceat. The changes have occurred as follows;~ * '; Increase. Decrease, * £ £ • January ... 94.3 M ~ —» February .. — ... 53,659 \ March ~ — .. 1,233,181 April ... — ... 1,082,325 May .. 92,517 .. — Compared with the fi ret iive months of 1860 a decrease is shown of L 5,233,297, or about 10 per cent. ; With legard to imported commodities, the quantities of wheat have been large. Sug-ur ha*} again arrived in considerable amounts,-and tea, spirite, and wines likewise figure for large totals. In the general rate of consumption theio baa been no very material alteration.

The .following: nfe" the comparative imports of raw material, showing a Jarj?a ipcreaseia ctvety instance, except myap and cotton, -Of tliietsmau total of 837,013 bales!of cotton only"B,6t2^ame from the United States j-Indift sent 241,610 bales: Eeypt, 63,666| Brazil; 16,608; and othercoaatriea 17,017:

Flnx, cwt. - , - Hemp, &.c, cwt. - Raw siik, cwt. - Oofcfon, cwt. Wool, 1b. - Woollen rngs, lb. U'ailJw, cwt. - - -I Ma; 1801. 1802. 37,576 152,504 6M Sid 1,200,402 11,293,851 1 3 458,U3'3 27,301 110,268 128,837 965,109 337,913 10,723,180 t - 1,900,640, 59,&$