NEWS BY THE PANAMA MAIL.

West Coast Times, Issue 607, 4 September 1867, Page 3

NEWS BY THE PANAMA MAIL.

LATFST INTELLIGENCE,

HOME AFFAIBS.

We have in this country professed to be in a state of commercial dulness, amounting to something like absolute stagnation, ever since the panic overtook us, now thirteen months ago. In consequence of this feeling some of the colonial import trades have suffered, and we are finding our stocks of various articles, including raw materials, comparatively low. Merchants, in fact, have hesitated to send out orders for produce, and the same hesitation has induced them to import only specie from countries indebted to us instead of the articles which, they produce for our consumption. The effect of these anomalies has been an excessive accumulation of bullion in the bank of England, combined with unusual reserves of money and a low rate of discount, -which probably will be lower still in a few days after the departure of the present mail. Much of this disorganisation is to be traced to the failure of Overend, Gurney, and Co., and the stoppage of various banking establishments during the crisis, which created an enormous disturbance in the course of the discount market, while absolutely precluding many solvent houses from procuring discounts at all ; and it is the delay in re-establishing the normal condition that has created the sense of uncertainty that has so long prevailed against the evidence of reassuring {fcts- The tone is now changing for the .better, and it is changing on very solid grounds. In the first place, the pea* of Europe is secured from interruption, at all events in the present year, and, per- 1 " haps.for next year too, if the fear of each P%F • Wmamenft J»9 «ny influence upon

the policy of crowned heads. In the next place there is not, now that the Reform Bill is virtually passed with an unanimity that was thought to be impossible, the slightest element of political social, or commercial disturbance in this country. As to tho Sheffield atrocities, the accounts of them were read in tho first instance with something like incredulity, but now they are unveiled in nearly all their wickedness the condemnation of them is universal from one end of the land to the other. The prospects of the harvest are splendid. In the course of a month we shall have garnered a large quantity of wheat ; while the hay crop, which is almost of equal importance to that ©f corn, is almost without precedent for "quantity and quality .\ These constitute favorable elements "for the future. As to the past, it has been made evident thettrthe descriptions given of the dulness of > trftde have been exaggerated. This' is. proved by the 1 returns of revenue, and by those of the Board of Trade, both published a few days ago, .As to revenue, there is an increase in the ne.t receipts for the quarter ending June 30 ' of L 318,261, and in -the net receipts for the year, ending June 30 also, of no less than L 2,026,393. These rosults have been attained, notwithstanding the incidence of several , remissions of taxation, : - alike in the quarter as in the year ; and that commerce has contributed its full share to them ii shown by the returns of receipts from customs, from stamps, from property tax, and from the Post Office. If our trade had undergone the depreciation it was thought to have suffered from the jpaniq. and crisis of 1866, the effects would certainly have been shown in the receipts for the past quarter. That this view is correct is corroborated by the returns of the Board of Trade. The exports in January, February, March, and April were lower than in the corresponding months of last year ; but, the turn came with those of May. Those for. May, 1867, exceed those for May, 1866, by £ per cent, ;'. though the exports in May, 1867, were of unusual amount. At the same time, there is rather a large decrease in our imports of goods. As there is a large increase in the imports of gold, it is demonstrated that we have been paid for our exports in gold, and not in goods. Hence we find our stock of gold jnereasj ing, while our stocks of foreign and colonial commodities aro decreasing. Such is the situation at the departure of the present mail for New Zealand. The inferences from it are obvious. We must shortly replenish our stock of produce, and New Zealand witfc the rest of our colonies will participate in the benefits of the movement ; and while the strong financial position we hold will for a considerable time keep money comparatively cheap, reviving confidence will render it more available for manufacturers and merchants to expand their trade with our colonial and foreign customers. In this review of the immediate position we by no means desire to excite exaggerated expectations. We only point to unquestionable facts established by authentic and official records, and our colonial readers are as competent to draw conclusions from them as we are. They will judge for themselves. At present we see no reason whatever to doubt thac by the end of the financial year the Chancellor of the Exchequer will have a surplus receipt of L 1,500,000 to apply in reduction of the public burdens. This very quarter the surplus applicable to the redaction of debt through the Sinking Fund is L 551.043. In the preceding quarter the amount was only L 335,000. The probability is that these items will go on increasing, so that, while the public debt is being diminished, quarter after quarter, the estimated surplus the end of the current financial year will be increased. And at the same time indications are not wanting in the Board of Trade tables of the probability of the exports of 1867 proving quite as high as those of 1866, when they were pressed forward in order to obtain the means of meeting engagements which are now discharged. — "Home News," July 2.