from 11,531 lasts to 4,042 lasts. Lastly, the imports of wood and timber (deals, battens, and boards), amounted to 1,266,941 loads, against 1,345,393 loads in 1853, and 1,118,350 in 1852. From Russia the imports fell from 255,855 loads to 25,749 loads, the deficiency having been mainly supplied from British North America.

INDIAN LOANS.-It appears that a notification has at length been issued by the Government of India, intimating their intention to discontinue the existing Government agencies for managing their loans, and that some of the joint-stock banking establishments connected with that country are preparing to assume those duties for the convenience of the general public.

CUSTOMS DRAUGHTS.-The new transfer draughts to obviate the risk long complained of by the importing houses of London, in being compelled to make all duty payments at the Customs in bank-notes, have been issued by the Bank of England to such of the various banking firms as may be disposed to accommodate their customers with them. Under this system, a firm having duties to pay will be able to send a crossed check for the amount to their bankers, who will give for it one of these new transfer draughts on the Bank of England, payable to the Customs only, and which will immediately be accepted by them as cash.

AMERICAN CANALS.-The keeping in repair the first section of the Erie Canal has been let out to contractors for five years, for the sum of 43,000 dollars a year. The persons who have undertaken the contract are Abram Vernam, of Livingston county, and Charles Sherrill, of Washington county. In connection with the Erie Canal proper, the contract compels them to excavate the Albany basin, an area of eighty acres, to the depth of seven feet below low water mark, and keep it in that position. This is the section of the canal which cost the State 120,000 dollars for keeping it in repair during the last year, and there is strong presumptive evidence that an additional 20,000 dollars, which should have been placed in the same column, was charged to enlargement.

BANK MOVEMENTS.

The directors of the Bank of London are about to make arrangements for raising capital without delay, in order to commence business, the deed of settlement having been approved by the Board of Trade.

The prospectus of the Unity Mutual Joint Stock Banking Company has been circulated both in the metropolis and the provinces, and its proposed principles have been keenly discussed in all quarters.

The directors of the City Bank state that the deposits upon the whole number of shares have been received and paid into the Bank of England. The deed of settlement is now before the Board of Trade, and, when it shall have been approved and signed, the charter of incorporation will be applied for.

At the election for Governor and Deputy-Governor of the Bank of England for the year ensuing, Mr. Thomas Matthias Weguelin was chosen Governor, and Mr. Sheffield Neave, Deputy-Governor. The only new name in the list of Directors is Mr. J. P. Currie. The others are as follows:-Mr. Thomas Baring, Mr. Henry Wollaston Blake, Mr. Henry Hulse Berens, Mr. Arthur Edward Campbell, Mr.

William Cotton, Mr. James Pattison Currie, Mr. Bonamy Dobree, Mr. Charles Pascoe Grenfell, Mr. Thomas Hankey, jun., Mr. John Benjamin Heath, Mr. John Gellibrand Hubbard, Mr. Charles Frederick Huth, Mr. Alfred Latham, Mr. George Lyall, Mr. James Malcolmson, Mr. Thomas Masterman, Mr. Alexander Matheson, Mr. James Morris, Mr. George Warde Norman, Mr. John Horsley Palmer, Mr. Henry James Prescott, Mr. Thomas Charles Smith, Mr. Thomas Tooke, jun., Mr. Francis Wilson. It is a noticeable fact, that the introduction of the new Governor to his duties was immediately followed by his attendance, with his colleague, at the Treasury, to take part in the negotiation of the loan.

Reviews.

On the Loans raised by Mr. Pitt during the First French War, 1793-1810; with some Statements in Defence of the methods of the Funding employed. By W. NEWMARCH. Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange.

A VERY timely production, affording much interesting information on the subject discussed; the statistical portion not being the least interesting. The writer has evidently gone carefully into the history of the period, and hence he has been able to bring together much valuable information. To all who desire to make a contrast of the financial operations of the present with those of the past century, we do not know a publication which, within so small a space, gives such a vast amount of well-arranged facts.

Decimal Coinage familiarly explained in Theory and Practice. By C WALFORD, Jun. Pitman, Paternoster-row. Suggestions for a Single System of Decimal Notation and Currency, after the Portuguese Model. By J. ALEXANDER. Menzies, Edinburgh.

THE movement in favour of a decimal currency is making rapid progress, and the appearance of numberless pamphlets on the question shows the great interest taken in it. That a variety of proposals will be made-every writer being, of course, in favour of his own system-is to be expected; but, although this difference of opinion may temporarily occasion perplexity, the right one will doubtless be discovered at last, and adopted.

Tables to find the Standard or Fine Weights of Gold and Silver. By G. N. ADAM. Smith, Elder, and Co., Cornhill.

THIS is a useful publication; the tables of logarithms being accurate, and well arranged for reference.

Logic for the Young. By the Author of Logic for the Million. Longman and Co., Paternoster-row.

A VERY able and useful treatise, consisting of twenty-five lessons in the art of reasoning, selected from the logic of Dr. Watts. The initials of the writer are well known, and his works on banking hold a first-class position in our literature. In this, as in his other productions, he has been extremely successful in presenting what he proposes to illustrate, in a lucid and intelligent manner.

MONTHLY CHRONOLOGY.

April 3.-Intelligence was received by the American mail of the following failures in San Francisco:

Messrs. Page, Bacon, and Co., bankers.

Messrs. Adams and Co., bankers; their liabilities estimated at £350,000.

Messrs. Robinson and Co., bankers.

Messrs. Wells, Fargo, and Co., bankers; but they have since resumed business. The Miner's Bank, kept by Mr. A. S. Wright.

All the above-named firms suspended on the 23rd of February.

10.-Mr. T. M. Weguelin elected Governor, and Mr. S. Neave Deputy-Governor, of the Bank of England for the ensuing year.

15.-Notice issued by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that he would require a loan of £16,000,000.

16.-Arrival in England of the Emperor and Empress of the French, on a visit to Queen Victoria.

17.-News arrived of the commencement of the bombardment of Sebastopol on the 9th.

20. The loan of £16,000,000 taken by Messrs. Rothschild.

20.-The Chancellor of the Exchequer made his annual financial statement in the House of Commons.

23.-Intelligence received of the termination of the Vienna Conferences on the previous day, in consequence of the rejection by Russia of the terms proposed by the Allied Powers with reference to the future control of the Black Sea.

24.-Lord John Russell left Vienna on his return to England.

25.--Blockade of the Baltic ports by the Squadron of the Allied Powers pro

claimed at Memel.

BANKING OBITUARY.

April 24, Mr. Geo. de Bosco Attwood, Secretary of the Bank of North America, fell down dead whilst reading over to the Board of Directors some minutes connected with the affairs of the establishment. The deceased gentleman was in the 47th year of his age. The cause of death was disease of the heart.

Monetary Intelligence.

REVIEW OF THE MONEY MARKET FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL, 1855.

MOMENTOUS changes have lately occurred in connection with the progress of financial and mercantile affairs. The negotiation of a loan for £16,000,000, with the presentation of a Budget exhibiting a total deficiency of £23,000,000, are circumstances which could not fail to attract attention-the more so, since there seems no immediate prospect of terminating the difficulties which create this drain upon our resources. Favourable as the public are to the prosecution of the war, the scale of expenditure, considering the results, has increased far in proportion to the estimates made in the early stage of the contest. Disappointment has consequently been expressed at the delay of the Government in pursuing measures to supply the rapidly augmenting demands upon the Treasury. At this conjuncture, there has fortunately been a greater abundance of money than has been known for months past, and hence no alarming difficulty has intervened to arrest the efficiency of the proposed plans. A reduction of the rate of discount by the Bank

Directors from 5 to 4 per cent., at the beginning of April, paved the way for the introduction of the principal operations contemplated by the Chancellor, the surplus of available capital being considerably in excess of the ordinary demand. With an allowance for deposits of only 3 per cent. by the Lombard-street houses, and the general expectation that a further decline in those terms was imminent, the opportunity was favourable; and, embraced as it has been, the transaction is regarded in many quarters to have been advantageously concluded. Even with this large amount hanging above the market, the demand for accommodation has not improved, and loans on English stock can be obtained at 2 per cent., while first-class paper is taken at 3 to 4 per cent. If this abundance of money continues undisturbed, and the foreign exchanges maintain their present favourable position, the Bank executive, it is thought, will have again, at no distant date, to make a reduction. The supplies of specie from Australia are not so extensive as they were, but the American remittances may still be regarded as large.

The extreme variation in Consols has been this month over 4 per cent., the highest quotation, taking the dates of our comparison, having been 931, and the lowest 883. It may be readily conceived that several causes have contributed to this unfavourable re-action, the principal among which have been the disposal of savings bank stock by the Government, the negotiation of a loan, and the character of the intelligence from Vienna. Previously, there had been much firmness in the market, and an advance had taken place, promoted by the increased abundance of money, and the alteration in the Bank's rate of discount. When the operations of the Chancellor commenced on account of the savings banks, followed by the proposal to raise £16,000,000, a continuous decline occurred, which was sensibly aggravated on the discovery that Russia had refused the concession required by the third point before the Conference, without even condescending to offer counter propositions. Steady purchases of stock by the public, since the great fall, have produced a slight recovery, but no permanent advance is yet likely to ensue. The nearest quotation at the latest moment is 89 to .

An active business has taken place in the Omnium of the new loan. The first transactions were at 13 premium; subsequently, a decline was noticeable, and it went to 1 premium. When the sudden depression occasioned by the break-up of the Vienna Congress was announced, there was a drop to premium. Since, purchases have been made at the reduction, and the quotation is again premium. The first payment of 10 per cent. deposit was made by the contractors on the 24th of April, the subscribers having paid at the period they sent in their subscriptions.

In foreign securities, the course of fluctuation has been less extensive. Although prices have been generally unfavourably affected by the fall in English stocks, the sympathy has not been to the full extent. Turkish has suffered the greatest depreciation, having gradually receded from 801 with dividend, to 73 ex-div., equal to a depression of nearly 4 per cent. Sales have been freely effected by the speculators, who entertain an impression that the remaining £2,000,000 will have before long to be forced on the market at any price. The average decline in other cases has been from 1 to 2 per cent.

Railway shares, until within the last week, have been well supported. In the face of the loan, there has been a disposition to make investments in the best descriptions; but quotations are at length giving way, and exhibit symptoms of increased weakness. The traffic has been interfered with, through the coldness of the season, but we may now look forward to some

augmentation. The fall in prices may be taken at from £1 to £2, though in some cases it is rather larger. A feature in business, is a steady demand for shares in the guaranteed Indian lines, the whole of which have reached a good premium.

Banking and land. shares have been affected by the general dulness in business, and quotations are rather lower. The decline, however, has not been serious, but some difficulty would be experienced in negotiating the high-priced securities.

The produce markets have not been influenced in an important degree. by the changes in the tariff.. A moderate amount of business has been done at rather higher quotations. In tallow, a further advance has taken place, the blockade of the Baltic, and the appearance of a prolongation of the war having increased purchases. Rice shows an improvement, operators acting on the movement in the grain trade.

The following are the fluctuations in the English and Foreign Stocks and Railway Shares during the month just concluded :

THERE has been no general revival in trade, and the manufacturing interests seem greatly inclined to restrict operations. Little variation is consequently expected in the aspect of business relations, especially while the export demand abroad remains in its present inactive position.