Commercial News.

Colonist, Issue 24, 12 January 1858, Page 2

Commercial News.

ENGLISH COMMERCIAL. From the money article of the Times, of Oct. 7, we-quote the following respecting the American bank crisis I—r The ihonetary crisis had not as had been anticipated ceased, and the effects of the stringency hachsaused serious results in Boston and Philadelphia,* wljere failures were of daily_ occurrence,,--^ the latter-fiity there had been quite^-paßi^and a continuous ivn'.was^j^feroirsfHlie banks. The Bank of Penn^ytvahia stopped payment, and the Girard followed suit. , A private ; despatch stated that the. run Oh al! the hanks was general, the excitement widespread, and the impression was that by Saturday every bank in the city would be used up. In Boston and in Providence the specie bases of the banks was reduced to an uncomfortable low figure, and they were drawing to some extent upon the New York banks, they responding promptly to the call. In the New York market the current quotations for prime paper were 18 to 24 per cent., and for good endorsed notes 3 to 5 percent, a-month.: The comparative scarcity of funds was owing it was believed in a great degree to private hoarding. Messrs. W. Greeme and Co.'s circular contains the following notices of the commencement of the September wool sales in Liverpool:— The attention of the wool t^ade has been entirely occupied-this week with the large public wool sales which commenced on Wednesday, 30th September, when 1,003 bales Australian wool were offered and sold with great animation at an advance of fully Id. per lb. on the closing rates ofthe last sales in London, and had the quantity been jnuch.larger it would doubtless have met with equally favorable result. At this day's sales there were also offered 1700 bales of greasy Spanish and Portugal, fine Buenos Ayres, and Italian wools, but for these there was very little competition, and the greater part was withdrawn. At the subsequent sales 6189 bales East Indian have passed the hammer, and considering the large quantity, to be offered (say 15,000 bales) the result .so far is satisfactory. Prices with few exceptions remain firm, and on the whole about supporting previous quotations. . ' ■ (From the Times, Oct. 14th.) - A statement just circulated that the India House are in want of more money, and that the Bank have notified to the Gove^iment their inability to furnish it, is wholly erroneous. The India 'Company-at this moment would be willing to lend money, the greater part ofthe recent credit opened at the Bank being unemployed; For future wants they still hold a large reserve of stock and Exchequer bills, and there is ho reason to doubt the expectation held out of their financial position being such as to enable them to provide for all wants until the meeting of Parliament will be fully realised, . Of course, if the local Government were to announce the necessity of a large sum of specie being sent to Calcutta, an emergency would then be presented which would call for special action; but it is that no such intimation has yet been received, and that in the absence of exceptional circumstances of this kind there will be nothing to disturb the calculations originally made. * . The. Bank of France have to-day-raised their rate of discount to 6£ per cent. It had stood at b% per cent, since the 25th of June, and in the interval there had been a falling off of i.2,400,000 in their stock of bullion, although artificial purchases at a premium, have been continued upon an extensive scale. • The measure seems to have been anticipated in the Bourse. At Hamburg the rate of discount has risen to 8 per cent. » fthe failure was announced this morning of the respectable firm of Messrs. Ross, Mitchell, and Co. They were engaged in the Canadian trade, and have a house in Toronto. Their liabilities are estimated at about £250,000, while their assets were recently valued at about .£350,000. The liabilities of the firms whose suspension Was announced yesterday, at Glasgow are alleged, to amount to an aggregate of £1,500,000, but that is probably an exaggeration. In consequence of the name of M'Donald being common in the north, a request has been made that the specific title should be given of the house of that name which has stopped;—it is Messrs. D. and J. M'Donald, sewed muslin manufacturers* Among the other houses mentioned was Puttesdn and Co.; it appears there'is no suchfirm. There is one of God frey, Pattison,' and Co, but ih that case there has been no stoppage. The mistake, however, originated in Glasgow, the name of Patteson, or Pattison, having been telegraphed without reserve .by persons of great respectability in that city to their London correspondents. Such demand for gold as existed to-day was supplied by the arrival of about £80,000 from Russia. . The mail steamer which left Southampton yesterday for the Cape took out £105,000 in gold. A contract has been entered into between the Spanish Government and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company for the conveyance of mails twice a month between Hong Kong and Manilla. Under the terms of the contract the service is to commence within six months from the present time; but it is understood the company have made arrangements for carrying on a monthly line .between Hong Kong and Manilla n the meantime. ' i The latest quotations of Australian stocks are —Geelong and Melbourne guaranteed 5 per cent., 18 to 19 i Bank*of Australasia, 80 to 82 x. d.; E. ■ S. and Australian Chartered,, 171 to. 18J; London Chartered Bank, 17| to 18^; Oriental, 35 to • 36; Union Bank, 60| to 51|-; Ditto new, Bto 7.

The Melbourne Argus of the 30th ultimo re}>ublishes from -American papers the names of no ess than seventy-two United States banks, which have either broke or suspended by the crisis.