SUPPLEMENT TO THE EDITION OF MR. McCULLOCH'S COMMERCIAL DICTIONARY PUBLISHED IN 1847. BIBE LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. MDCCCXLIX. SUPPLEMENT. ADELAIDE, a city of S. Australia, cap. of the British colony of that name, about 7 m. S. E. from its port, an inlet on the E. side of St. Vincent's Gulph, lat. 34° 57' S., long. 138° 38′ E. Though founded so recently as 1834, this is a well-built, prosperous, and rapidly increasing town. Some of the houses, and most part of the principal buildings, are of brick and stone. Pop. in 1846, 7,143; and now (November 1848) probably more than 10,000. The river Torrens, on which Adelaide is built, loses itself in a marsh before reaching the sea, so that the city is about 7 m. distant from its port, an inlet of St. Vincent's Gulph. This inland situation is a serious drawback on the trade of the city; and it would seem that a mistake was committed in not building it on, or much nearer to, the coast. This, we are aware, has been denied, though, as we think, upon very unsatisfactory grounds. There appears, indeed, to be but little doubt that in no very lengthened period most part of the commerce of the town will be transferred to the port; and that it will be preferred as a residence by all commercial people. In the rainy season the Torrens is much flooded, though it seldom overflows its banks, which are steep and lofty; but in the dry season it has no current, its bed being then formed into a series of pools or tanks. Port Adelaide, 7 m. Ñ. W. from the city, in a low and marshy situation, consists of a number of dwelling houses and warehouses, some of which are of stone, with wharves, partly belonging to government, and partly to the South Australian Company. Pop. in 1848 about 1800. The inlet of the sea, forming the harbour, opposite the entrance to which a light vessel is moored, stretches from the gulph, from which it is separated by a narrow neck of land, for about 8 m. southward surrounding Torrens' island. At its mouth is a sandy bar with 8 ft. water at ebb and 16 ft. at flood tide; this depth being considerably increased during S. and S. W. winds. Ships of 400 or 500 tons may, consequently, pass the bar in safety, and once over, there is depth enough for the largest ships to the head of the harbour. (Dutton, S. Australia, p. 112.) Large vessels are, however, obliged to lie in mid channel; but projects were recently on foot, and are now, probably, being realised, for improving the harbour, either by carrying out piers into the deep water, or by establishing a new port about 2 m. nearer to the harbour's mouth, where the water in-shore is deeper, and the situation affords greater facilities for the accommodation of shipping. Port Adelaide has a custom-house; but vessels are exempted from all port charges in this and in the other ports of the colony. A railway planned to unite the city with the port, will, most likely, be completed at an early date. The trade of Adelaide is already extensive; and it will, no doubt, continue to increase with the increase of the population and trade of the colony, of which it is the grand emporium. The mines of copper, lead, &c., discovered in its vicinity, appear to be of the richest description, and the ores furnished by them form at present the principal article of export. Wool is, also, an important article ; and the shipments of it, which, in 1846, amounted to about 1,500,000 lbs., are increasing with the same extraordinary rapidity, in this as in other parts of Australia. We subjoin the following statements with respect to the trade, shipping, &c. of Port Adelaide in the following years. Account of Shipping and Passengers arrived Inwards and cleared Outwards at Port Adelaide. *The wool is mostly all sent to England: the imports of it into this country in 1846 were 1,472,769 lbs. Tariff of Customs Duties on the principal Articles imported into South Australia, (Act of Legislative Demand for Labour.- There is at present a great demand for labour in this, as in most other parts of Australia. In March 1848, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, wheelwrights, coopers, &c., were accustomed to obtain from 7s. to 8s. a-day; saddlers and millers from 5s. 6d. to 10s.; bullock-drivers and day labourers from 3s. 6d. to 4s.; domestic servants (besides board and lodging)-male, from 251. to 327., and females from 147. to 221. a-year. The retail prices of provisions in the colony at the same date were quoted as follows:- Bread, 1d. per lb.; butter from 10d. to 1s.; cheese, 9d.; candles, 7d.; flour, 1d.; beef and mutton, 2d. to 34d.; rice, 24d.; sugar, 61d.; tea, 2s. 6d. ; tobacco, 3s. 6d. per lb.; and lamp-oil, 3s. per gallon; wheat, 4s. to 5s. per bushel. Clothing may generally be had at but a small advance upon the home prices; but tools are often scarce and dear. ALIENS. An act passed in 1844, the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 66., has given every reasonable facility for the naturalisation of aliens. It authorises the Secretary of State for the Home Department to grant certificates of naturalisation, on his receiving such evidence, in regard to any application for a certificate, as he may think necessary. A certificate, when granted, conveys (unless some special reservation be made in it) all the rights and capacities of a natural-born British subject, except that of being a member of either House of Parliament, and of being a privy councillor. The following regulations have been issued by the Secretary of State in reference to this subject: "I. Upon an application to the Secretary of State for the grant of a certificate of naturalisation, it will he necessary that the applicant should present to one of H. M.'s principal secretaries of state a memorial praying for such grant, stating the age, profession, trade, or other occupation of the memorialist, the duration of his residence within the U. K., and of what friendly state he is a subject; whether he intends to continue to reside within this kingdom, and all other grounds on which he seeks to obtain any of the rights and capacities of a natural-born British subject. "II. That the memorialist should make an affidavit before a magistrate, or other person authorised by law to administer an oath, verifying all the statements in his memorial. "III. That a declaration should be made and signed by four householders at least, vouching for the respectability and loyalty of the memorialist, verifying also the several particulars stated in the memorial as grounds for obtaining such certificate; and that this declaration should be made in due form, before a magistrate, or other person authorised by law to receive such declaration, in pursuance of the act passed in the 5th & 6th years of His late Majesty King William IV."- Home Office, 15th October, 1844. An act passed in 1848, 11 Vict. c. 20., empowers the principal secretaries of state and the lord lieute nant of Ireland to order aliens out of the kingdom on a representation being made to them that such a step would conduce to the public tranquillity. But despite the obvious expediency of vesting a discretionary power of this sort in the functionaries referred to, the act is limited to a year's duration. Probably, however, it will be made perpetual. AUCTIONS. The duties on auctions, which had become partial from the numerous exemptions in favour of various articles, and oppressive from the severity with which they pressed on others, were repealed in 1845, by the 8 Vict. c. 15. This act directs that in future all persons acting as auctioneers shall take out an annual licence costing 102., which shall enable them to sell all sorts of articles by auction, whether special licences be required for dealing in the same or not: it is enacted by clause 5. that a licence shall not be necessary in the case of sales under distress, where the sum does not exceed 207., and a few others. Any person acting as an auctioneer, and not producing, on being requested to do so by any officer of customs or excise or of stamps and taxes, his licence, or paying forthwith 107. into the hands of the officer, may be committed to gaol for a month, besides being liable to the penalties incurred for acting without a licence. Auctioneers are farther directed, under a penalty of 201., to have their names and places of abode written in legible characters, and placed in some conspicuous part of the premises where auctions are held. BANKS. BANKING.. Since the article on Banking appeared in the edition of the Dictionary published in 1844, the subject has undergone sundry great, and, as we think, most desirable modifications. In so far as the Bank of England and the English country banks are concerned, these were introduced in 1844 by the act 7 & 8 Victoria, c. 32., whilst those respecting the Scotch and Irish banks were introduced in the course of the year 1845 by the acts 8 & 9 Victoria, caps. 38 and 37. The principal object of these statutes has been to obviate the chances of over-issue and of sudden fluctuations in the quantity and value of money, by limiting the power to issue notes payable on demand, and by making the amount of such notes in circulation vary more nearly than previously with the amount of bullion in the possession of the issuers. Sir Robert Peel, by whom these measures were framed and introduced, adopted, in dealing with the Bank of England, the proposal made by Mr. Loyd, in 1837, for effecting a complete separation between the issuing and banking departments of that establishment. And while the Directors are left at liberty to manage the latter at discretion, their management of the former, or issue department, is subjected to what seems to be a well-devised system of restraint, The Bank is allowed to issue 14,000,000l. of notes upon securities (of which the debt of 11,015,1007. lent by her to government is a part); and whatever paper the issue department may at any time issue over and above this maximum amount of securities, it must have an equal amount of coin and bullion in its coffers.* Hence it is impracticable for the issue department to increase its issues without, at the same time, proportionally increasing its stock of coin and bullion; or to diminish the latter without proportially diminishing the amount of paper supplied to the public and the banking department. And therefore if the latter issued the whole notes assigned to it, the total amount issued by the issue department and the amount in circulation would be identical; and it might under such circumstances be truly said that, in so far as the currency consists of Bank of England notes payable on demand, it varied in amount and value as it would do were it wholly metallic, and, consequently, by being so closely identified with the standard, realised the beau ideal of a paper currency. But, though the currency approaches to, it has not arrived at this degree of perfection. The public does not deal alone with the issue, but also, and to a far greater extent, with the banking department. And this latter department retained such a portion of the notes issued to it by the former, under the 2nd clause of the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 32., as was supposed at the time to be sufficient to carry on its business, their amount having since varied with the varying demands for bullion, the sales and purchases of securities, &c. But it is sufficient, in illustration of what is now stated, to observe that during the week ended the 4th of November, 1848, notes to the amount of 26,796,6601. had been issued to the public and the banking department, of which the latter had 8,242,575l. in its coffers, making the sum in the hands of the public 18,554,085. And as it is sometimes sup-. posed that the banking department might issue this sum of 8,242,575l., or the spare notes at any time in its coffers, in the discount of bills, or any other way, it is concluded that there is still room for some, though but little, derangement of the currency from A clause is inserted in the act allowing the Bank to increase her issue upon securities in the event of her notes being used instead of those of any or all of the existing banks of issue. |