occasion to chronicle; in some cases sixty-day bills being sold at just one-half per cent off their face. Since then, however, the rate for sight has varied from par to onefourth premium, with a supply and demand about equal.

GOLD has been worth from one-half to three-fourths premium, during the greater part of the year.

Upon the whole we consider our monetary affairs as in a healthy condition, and if the State authorities do not succeed in driving our banks and bankers into other business, the prospect for the coming year is full of encouragement.

RATES OF EXCHANGE.

The following table shows the bank selling rates for sight exchange on New York and New Orleans, at the close of each week during the year ending August 31st, 1853

The operation of the debts contracted by the city of Savannah in aid of several railway improvements, has lately been alluded to by the Atlanta Intelligencer, and the following condensed statement from one of our exchanges, will show that the results are every way satisfactory. As one of the results of corporate subscriptions to one of the modern elements of progress, it commends itself to the attention of railway men and property holders:

The city of Savannah issued, in 1839, bonds to the amount of $500,000 at 7 per cent interest, payable in twenty years, for the Georgia Central Railroad. The city has redeemed, before due, $279,000. For the $221,000 outstanding, the city holds $285,000 of the company's stock, which is now selling in the Savannah market at $120 for $100 paid. The stock pays regularly 8 per cent.

The next issue of bonds was $150,000 for stocks in the South Western Railroad. The city holds stock for $150,000, now paying 8 per cent per annum and selling at 2 per cent premium.

The next issue of like bonds was $200,000 for stock in the Augusta and Waynesboro road. The company pays the city seven per cent interest on its subscription

until the road is finished.

VOL. XXIX.-NO. VI.

47

The city issued $100,000 of bonds for stock in the Columbus branch of the SouthWestern Company, now just finished and incorporated in the South-Western Company, a stock paying 8 per cent.

cent.

On the bonds issued for these investments the city now owes $671,000, the interest on which is paid entirely from the dividends coming to the city on the stock owned by her, and not one cent by taxation. In addition to this, there is a clear surplus over and above the interest paid which goes into the city treasury and lessens the rate of taxation to that amount. In 1846, the taxation of previous years was reduced 25 per The railroad stock held by the city and for which this indebtedness of $670,000 was incurred, could now be sold at the market rates for $200,800, leaving out the $200,000 in the Augusta and Waynesboro Road, which not being finished, cannot, of course, (consistently with the interests of the city,) be sold at the present time. This would leave the city in debt to the amount $74,000 on railroad account, and holding stock which, in the fall, would be worth at least $200,000 to pay off this debt. In addition then to the yearly revenue the city has derived from these roads-their increase, incidental advance to the city and citizens generally-the city can sell off its stock in the fall, pay its railroad debt, and pocket as clear profit the snug sum of $124,000. It is pretty clear that Savannah has made pretty good speculation in her railroad investments.

TENNESSEE BANKS IN CINCINNATI.

The Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce recently adopted the subjoined resolutions relative to the notes of banks in Tennessee:

Resolved, That it would be greatly to the advantage of the merchants, and others doing business in this city, to increase the amount of the notes of solvent banks passing at par; and that we believe that the notes of the Bank of Tennessee, the Planters' Bank of Tennessee, and the Union Bank of Tennessee, at Nashville, with their Branches, to be as good as those of any other Western banks.

Resolved, That we cordially recommend to the banks, bankers, merchants, manufacturers, and dealers generally in this city, to receive and pay out the notes of the above-mentioned banks, at par, in the same way as the notes of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, are now received.

The prominent items in the last report of the Tennessee Banks is given in round numbers :

TENNESSEE-THREE BANKS-THE UNION, PLANTERS', AND BANK OF TENNESSEE, AND

The London Morning Chronicle contains the following details in reference to Bank of England notes:

A discovery has recently been made at the Bank of England which will cause, it is understood, a great change to be speedily effected in the character and general appearance of the notes issued by that corporation. It has just been ascertained that by means of photography fac similes can be obtained, by a skillful operator, with the greatest facility; and that fraudulent copies of bank notes thus obtained would pass muster, even with some of the most experienced judges.

We are not aware by what means the suspicions of the authorities of the bank were originally excited on this important subject. It is stated, however, that they were

first caused by one of these fraudulent notes having been exchanged for gold "over the counter;" its spurious character having escaped the generally closely scrutinizing eyes of the cashiers in that department.

Under the impression, from certain indications which manifested themselves on the note, that it had been fabricated by photographic agency, experiments were made by one of the most eminent and experienced photographers in the metropolis, (whose aid was called into requisition by the bank authorities,) when it was clearly proved, by the results of those experiments, that the spurious note had been manufactured by the means suspected, viz., photography. So close was the resemblance between the spurious note thus experimentally obtained, and the genuine one, (whence the copy was taken by the photographer alluded to,) that not only were the signature and the private marks (the latter known only to the bank officials) imitated with the closest accuracy, but the very water-mark itself, in all its integrity, was as clearly and closely defined as the other more prominent characteristics of the genuine document.

The process adopted to produce these effects is well known to all photographers as "the wax-paper process." The photographic thin negative paper, after having been prepared with wax, and then rendered sensitive by the usual method, (which need not be described here,) is then in a fit state to receive the impression from the genuine note; the printing, the signature, and the water-mark (and in fact every mark, however minute, which appears on the face of the note) being clearly and distinctly traced and defined. This is termed the "negative," and from this negative, obtained by such an extremely simple method, when adopted by a skillful manipulator, "positives" (exact fac similes of the note itself) might be multiplied by means of sun printing to any extent.

CIRCULATION OF BILLS OF EXCHANGE IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

From testimony furnished by Mr. Lewis Loyd, of the firm of Jones, Loyd & Co., London, it appears that the circulation of Manchester (England) consists of nine parts bills of exchange, and the tenth part gold and Bank of England notes. Other bankers who were consulted on the subject thought the proportion was still larger, say twenty to one, or even fifty to one. Mr. Loyd stated that he had seen bills of £10 with one hundred and twenty endorsements upon them.

Mr. Leatham, an old banker near London, examined this subject critically, and by means of official returns, obtained by the aid of Lord Morpeth, published an estimate of the amount of bills of exchange in circulation in Great Britain and Ireland at one period. The stamps indicated the following amount for each year as follows:

It was also ascertained that the average time of circulation of the bills was three months. Divide the above sums by 4, it will show the actual circulation at any one period. Thus the aggregate for the year 1839 was £528,493,000, and one-fourth of that sum was the probable amount in actual circulation at any one time of the yearsay £132,123,250, or about six hundred and fifty millions of dollars.

According to official statements recently issued, it seems that the actual bank note circulation in Great Britain and Ireland (in which we include that of the Bank of England) is less than forty millions of pounds sterling, or less than one-third of the circulation of bills of exchange in that country fourteen years since.

Mr. Gladstone, M. P., in his evidence on the subject, observed:

"If I sell a thousand pounds' worth of goods to a wholesale grocer, or any other person who again distributes them to his customers in the country, when he comes to pay me the £1000 he will do so in bills, running from £10 upward; the whole being paid in some twenty or thirty bills of exchange drawn on London, generally at two and sometimes three months date."

SIXPENNY SAVINGS BANKS IN NEW YORK.

The establishment of Sixpenny Savings Banks in the city of New York, which have proved thus far quite successful, are thus alluded to by the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin:

The lads, whom the bank is intended to accommodate, appear as eager, we are told, to deposit their savings as formerly they used to be to spend them. We cannot well conceive of a more beneficial institution. The habit of economy is that in which poor lads, compelled to earn their own livelihood, are especially deficient. Indeed, one great cause of continued poverty is the want of such a habit, for in this country no person need be indigent long, unless they are thriftless spendthrifts. In this favored land there is work for all, so that he who has a willing pair of hands and who knows how to practice self-denial, may not only earn a respectable livelihood, but rise to competence itself in time. Our richest men have generally started in life poor boys. Astor, Girard, the Lawrences, and scores of others, are proofs of what habits of economy, united with perseverance and industry, can do, when brilliant abilities are wanting.

Everybody is familiar with the assertion of the richest of these men, that the making the first ten thousand is the great point in amassing a fortune. In saying this, he did not mean only that to obtain that much capital was the great object to be surmounted, but that the habits of business acquired during the getting together of that sum, would remain through life. It is for its beneficial influences on the character that the savings bank is so valuable to poor lads. By depositing their little earnings in such an institution, they obtain a practice of economy which not only enriches them at the time, but contributes to the formation of their future character. As it is their want of this self discipline which retains inen poor, their acquisition of it in boyhood will secure them from ever coming to want. The pauper population of all countries is thriftless. To remove this vice is better than even giving money to the poor; for the latter as often leads to improvidence as relieves actual want. If we had plenty of such savings banks, we should soon have fewer vagrants. Our street population would grow up to respectability. We should have less crime. Courts and jailors would lose half their employment. In short, society would have advanced with giant strides.

COUNTERFEIT GOLD COIN DETECTOR.

The Patriot notices the invention of a counterfeit gold coin detector, by Dr. G. B. SMITH, of Baltimore. The Patriot says:

It is constructed upon the well known scientific principle, the specific gravity of metals. A piece of money that will weigh 26 grains, if made of any other metal than gold must necessarily be one-third larger than a gold dollar; or, if made exactly the size of a gold dollar, it must of necessity be one-third lighter. Now this instrument will instantly detect either of these differences. Any piece of money that will pass of its own weight and size into it, must necessarily be gold. If it be too large, it cannot be forced into the instrument; if too light, it will remain suspended on the balance; if it be a genuine gold coin it will instantly pass through the guage over the balance and fall into the receptacle below. The detector is adapted to all the gold coin now issued by the United States mint, or that are in circulation, and to the English sovereign, and to all gold coins of other countries of like value. The coins can be passed through the instrument as fast as they can be counted singly. The instrument is simple in construction, not liable to get out of order, and will last a life-time.

CAUSES OF SCARCITY OF SILVER.

This is a subject which comes home to the feelings of every one who rides in an omnibus or buys his sugar by the pound. Mr. D'Israeli appears to have hit upon the causes of the scarcity, which he declares to be the following:·

First, while the annual production of gold has quadrupled, the yield of the silver mines has remained stationary; and as the influx of gold has given an immense expansion to business of all kinds, and increased the demand of every commodity, silver,

Sec

being no more plentiful now than formerly, has become proportionally scarce. ondly, in Holland, and some other European States, silver is the standard of value; and hence the excess of exportation to those countries over the importation from them has to be paid for in silver coin. Thirdly, and chiefly, in India gold coin is not known among the natives, from whom the commodities of Commerce are purchased, nor is gold in that country a legal tender; and as the excess of Indian exportation over importation is exceedingly great, there is an enormous drain of silver from Europe and America to pay for the excess. In the year 1852, England alone sent fifteen millions

of dollars in silver coin to India.

Mr. D'Israeli proposes as a remedy to the growing scarcity of silver, that gold be made the standard of value, and a legal tender, throughout the British possessions in the Oriental world. That done, perhaps it will not be necessary for store-keepers to Jadle out three-cent pieces when a small sum is to be subtracted from a five-dollar bill; and one may ride down town without being horror-stricken at the discovery that he has no sixpence. Both are consummations devoutly to be wished.

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.

COMMERCE OF danzig, stettiN, AND SWINEMUNDE, IN 1852.

The number of vessels which arrived at Danzig, in 1852, was 1,151. Of these 379 were English, 225 Prussians, 131 Dutch, 127 Norwegian or Swedish, 106 Danish, 36 Hanoverian, 35 Bremeners, 25 Hamburghers, 20 French, 26 Mecklenburgers, 11 Lubeckers, 9 Russian, 3 Italian, and 2 Spanish.

The number which cleared out was 1,185. Of these 614 were for England, 164 for Holland, 106 for Sweden and Norway, 78 for Prussia, 78 for France, 51 for Bremen, 38 for Denmark, 14 for Belgium, 14 for Hanover, 17 for Russia, 8 for Oldenburg, 1 for Italy, 1 for Mecklenburg, and 1 for South Africa.

The imports into Danzig were 142 cargoes of bale goods, 9 of wine, 136 of herrings, 33 of salt, 164 of coal, 54 of old and bar iron, 75 of building stone, 13 of wheat and seeds, 6 of timber, 1 of tea, 21 of chalk, lime, and cement, 16 of mixed goods, 81 of railway machinery, 5 of fruit, 3 of sulphur, 1 of sugar, 2 of artillery munitions, 2 of spirits, 1 of train oil, and 386 of ballast and limestone.

The exports were, 447 cargoes of wheat, 501 of timber, 39 of divers goods, 23 of seeds, and 72 of ballast.

The number of vessels that arrived at Stettin, in 1852, was 1,540; the number which sailed, 1,403; nationality not stated.

The number which arrived at Swinemunde, in 1852, was 1,664. Of these 726 were Prussian, 409 British, 128 Danish, 113 Dutch, 99 Norwegian, 48 Mecklenburgers, 38 Swedish, 12 Hanseatic, 28 Russian, 44 Hanoverian, 14 Oldenburgers, 7 French, 1 Spanish 2, Neapolitan, and 1 American.

LUMBER TRADE OF QUEBEC.

We are indebted to Messrs. FORSYTH & BELL, of Quebec, for the subjoined statement of the lumber trade of Quebec for the year ending December, 1852:—

STOCK OF LUMBER in the port of QUEBEC, (INCLUDING BOTH MERCHANTABLE AND CULLS,)