On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (5)
-
78* '.^i^_^AAJ^^_^^ PjgiJgit ATOirsT-7,....
-
BJlNK OF EGYPT. The Bank of Egypt has be...
-
NOTES ON INDIA.N PROGRESS. Colonel Arthu...
-
. . / 7Vf 4*1 \ i> *¦' itltmHtttlt MtU (IL/DttlfllBrrtlll ?•??v*vun, -—-?
-
TRADE: PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS The price ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Made^S Railway. Railways In India Begin ...
hitherto had small opportunity of effecting , forming new posts and improving the old posts . Thus the commerce ' of the country will be improved , not only by bette-, quicker , and cheaper means of conveyance being provided , but by new outlets being opened for produce , and consequently the expenses of transport being thereby reduced . It is by means of the railway system in England that Southampton , Milford , Seabam , Middlesborough , Fleetwood , Pyle of Foudrey , A-rdrossan , Britton Ferry , and many a port of the Northumbrian coast and of South ¦ Wales has been made the scene of vast commerce . Thirty years ago , the towns of Middlesborough , Fleetwood , and Barrow were represented each by one or two cottages or a rabbit-warren . By railways , traffic has
been brought to these places and natural harbours made useful , or artificial harbours created to supply the want , the harbour and dock dues repaying the advances for greater improvements . Hence there has been in England a vast increase of harbours , docks , piers , and hydraulic works , from which the Government has shrunk . In India , we remember with some compunction , how many plans for an out-harbour of Calcutta , at Sawgor , Diamond Harbour , & c , have been talked of and nothing done , and of the talk about Mangalore , Beypoor , Cochin , and Porto Novo , Kurrachee is the solitary case of progress . The remedy is the encouragement of railway companies by the Government in the prosecution of public works , and among these the proposed measures for the improvement by the Madras Railway Company of Beypoor and Cochin .
A moat interesting feature in the Madras Railway accounts is the increase of the mileage rates of passenger and goods traffic . Thus the average traffic of passengers in the last half of 1856 was 161 . per mile , and of 1857 181 per mile , and of goods 1856 , 9 L per mile , and 1857 , 13 t per mile .
78* '.^I^_^Aaj^^_^^ Pjgijgit Atoirst-7,....
78 * ' . ^ i ^_^ AAJ ^^_^^ PjgiJgit ATOirsT-7 ,. 1868 .
Bjlnk Of Egypt. The Bank Of Egypt Has Be...
BJlNK OF EGYPT . The Bank of Egypt has been established in consequence of our growing in tercourse with that country as the high road to India . The Alexandria Railway and the proposed Red Sea Telegraph will confirm the hold the Peninsular and Oriental steamers have given us on Egypt , The chief operations of the Bank of Egypt hitherto have been at Alexandria , but measures hare been taken to carry on the Cairo branch , which was opened in April . In time , we presume , there will be an
agency at Suez , and there are other openings for business in Egypt . One great advantage of Alexandria as a seat of banking operations is , that there is a large European mercantile community , and that there are large commercial transactions with Europe , so that Alexandria may be considered in this sense a European city , and the Government business may likewise be carried on with advantage , but there are places in the East where banking cannot be carried on with propriety or safety , as the individuals . concerned and the state of the law
would occasion heavy losses by the repudiation of engagements . . The full capital of 250 , 0007 . ia now paid up , the last call being appropriated to the Cairo branch . The moneys of the public in hand amount to 340 , 5102 ., and these will be increased , as with the growth cf confidence , the Turkish and other inhabitants find the benefit of such a place of deposit . With judicious management large funds will be received from classes to whom no large advances can with prudence be made . The cash kept in hand is 44 , 626 / ., and the amount advanced on the discount of bills and securities , & c , 558 , 894 ? .
The profits declared for the half-year are 16 , 40221 , from which 80002 . has most judiciously been written off the preliminary expenses—an item which it is always desirable to extinguish as early as possible—8750 / . paid in a dividend at the Tate of 7 per cent , per annum , and 60202 . is carried forward as a balance . The profits so declared exceed those of the foregoing half-years . In the next half-year the late and last call will be made productive , and the Cairo branch will be at work , bringing in further rands and thereby increasing the profits , though Alexandria will of course be the chief place for the employment of th « funds . There is , therefore , little doubt the dividend , even in the ensuing half-year , wi ll be considerably increased .
Notes On India.N Progress. Colonel Arthu...
NOTES ON INDIA . N PROGRESS . Colonel Arthuu Cotton having been reported at Madras , ia gazetted as Chief Engineer , and wo shall look forward to his active exortions for the promotion of public works , and we hope that none will be delayed tinder his administration . He has been to tho north , examining the junction of the" Kuddea rivers with the Ganges , and he reports that they can be improved , " and made available for navigation . The railway companies , among other incidental mea _ aureri of Improvement , Bro extending the electric tele "
graph , so that besides the Government lines , we shall have a large system of telegraphy by the railways . The Madras Railway has in this way laid out , up to the end of last year , 4574 / . The Government has directed that the bridge of boats over the Jumna at Delhi shall be made permanent , but we hope a better means of communication will in time be found . From Hopetown , Darjeeling , it is reported that seven more allotments have been disposed of , and that a hundred thousand seedling tea-trees have this season been put in at that settlement .
An interesting report has been published by Dr . Cleghome , on the important subject of planting the Neelgh « rries . This district , like many others , has suffered by the destruction of timber , and Captain Campbell , two or three years ago , called the attention of the Madras Government to it , and obtained the assistance of Dr . Cleghorne , and a grant for planting : Australian and Himalayan trees . Dr . Cleghorn has chosen a site of 600 acres , about three miles and a half from Jackatalla , and mads arrangements for acquiring the freehold as a Government plantation . As yet he has only planted about six or eight acres , but he has put in about a hundred thousand seedlings , which will , ia due course , be planted out in the adjoining ground . Captain Campbell himself has put in a large number of trees around the barrack .
Mr . E . B . Thomas , the collector , has planted eight thousand Australian trees at Ootakaraund . These worthy co-operators have taken effectual measures for increasing the new trees , and a further conservancy force is to be employed to check the destruction of old timber by the natives . The Government has liberally supported these operations , which have been effected at a very moderate expense . The intercourse between Madras and Rangoon has now become so important that Messrs . Gladstone , Wylie , and Co ., have put on a line of steamers , so as to open a regular communication twice a month . Two steamers are at present employed . This will , among other things , serve to open an outlet for Madras labour .
The Ceylon Railway managers have been rather embarrassed in their labour operations , but have made arrangements to obtain the requisite supply from the main . ; '• ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦¦ ¦¦• ¦ . ' . " ¦ " ¦ ' ¦ ' ¦ ' ¦ Matheran lias this season been the residence of Lord Elphinstone , the Governor of Bombay , but on the setting- in of the rains , he left . This hill district is , like many others in the south , and like Chirra Ponjee in the north , very disagreeable during the rains , from the excessive damp . : The applications for the Red Sea Telegraph shares this week flowed in so fast , that on Wednesday the list was closed . The shares were quoted £ to f premium . The deposit of 22 . per share was paid into the bankers by tlie applicants . At the Madras Railway meeting on Monday a very satisfactory report was presented .
It will be seen with some satisfaction that a municipal commission has been created by the Bombay Government for the city of Poona . The commissioners are—the executive engineer , the civil surgeon , and the superintendent of police , ex officio ; and five government nominees—the assistant collector , the assistant judge , the Mam commissioner , the assistant Mam commissioner , and the superintendent of the engineering school , so that the official element reigns supreme . We hope the next stage of progress will be the appointment of settlers as commissioners , and before long an English municipality . With the advance of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway from Bombay , Poona will now become of still greater importance as an up-country residence .
Notwithstanding the revolt , such is the progress of enterprise in India , that the new year was inaugurated by the publication in Bengal of an engineering periodical , brought out fortnightly at Calcutta , and styled the Engineers' Journal and Railway and Public Works Chronicle . The first copies have now reached this country . It -will be remembered that the engineering college at Roorkee issues some useful engineering publications . The great obstacle to our import trade for months past has been the difficulty of procuring carriage for merchandise to the interior . Colonel Cotton , who has gained such celebrity for hydraulic works in the Madras Presidency , has , at the request of Government , examined the subject of connecting Calcutta with the Ganges by a canal ; and having inspected the country , he a
fewr days ago submitted tho result of his observations to the Chamber of Commerce . Hia proposal is , to form a canal from Rajmehai , passing by Moorshednbad and Kishnaghur , to Calcutta tho facilities of construction , ho states , are greater than in similar works ; which have boen executed in tho deltas of the Cawvery , Godavory , and Kistna , while the advantages to be expected are much greater . Tho extraordinary success which has attended similar undertakings in the Madras Presidency gives those who have considered the question tho greatest confidence in tho undertaking , and tlto Chamber have resolved to petition tho Government to carry it out . Except a deep cutting near the head at Rajmehal , the canal would be carried between embankments above the lovel of tho country , no excavations being necessary
except just sufficient to form the emb ankment * tJT canal would be ^ navigable for large steamers at It speed , or boats of five hundred tons , and would , at tha same tune , supply water for irrigation to a million II acres . The cost of the work is estimated at 800 000 ? while the annual increase in the produce of a millin acres from irrigation would be 100 , 000 ? ., and the sJI ™ ^ ir ^ 'l ? ^! . *•«* ' € O 0 i > <>? ™ re than Z cent the cost ! When
per , on we mention that the coot of transit by the proposed canal would not exceed i rupee per ton hence to Rajmehal , the time occup ei being only two to three days , while the river steamers It this season charge 120 rupees per ton for light freight and take ai this season nine days to perform the same distance , the saving in time and expense of transit mav be imagined ; to which advantages must be added the avoidance of risk , which alone is equal to 6 to 8 jjer cent
. . / 7vf 4*1 \ I≫ *¦' Itltmhtttlt Mtu (Il/Dttlfllbrrtlll ?•??V*Vun, -—-?
JSxmvMt nni CnmmtrrfuJ . — - ?—
Trade: Progress And Prospects The Price ...
TRADE : PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS The price of Consols since the payment of the dividends at the commencement of last month lias been gradually rising , and with good harvests , quiet politics , capital flowing into the country , and not ranch required in trade , the price seems likely to continue to rise . Railway shares , though the traffic
returns are not very favourable , and other securities are affected like Consols , or even show in general a greater comparative rise in their value . The price of commodities , on the contrary , continues to tend , downwards , as if it -were the complement of tlie other price . Prices are both the means of distributing commodities and the guides to industry in . producing them ; and a knowledge of the conditions on which they depend may make us less impatient for the revival of trade , and enable us to
form correct opinions when this is likely to take place- We are about to refer briefly , therefore , to the course of trade in the last few years in connexion with prices , in order to explain its present , and give us a clue to its future condition . Not till 1849 did trade recover from the commercial convulsion of 1847 and the political convulsion of 1848 . The declared value of the exports then , for the first time , exceeded the Value in 1 S 45 , and was 63 , 596 , 0257 . The value of the exports
rose in the following year to 71 , 367 , 885 / ., in rose in the following year to 71 , 367 , 885 / ., in 1 S 51 to 74 , 448 , 722 / ., and in 1852 to 78 , 076 , 854 / . In 1853 , however , it jumped up nearly 21 , 000 , 000 / ., and was 98 , 933 , 781 / . These figures are quoted as an illustration of the rapid expansion of our trade , which was accompanied by an expansion of trade throughout Europe . The discoveries of gold on the shores of the Pacific , in conjunction with the removal of restrictions , gave a great impulse to enterprise . A great addition was suddenly made io the wealth to be exchanged for the produce of Eurouc . Increased consumption followed increase
of enterprise , and a rise took place in prices . The average price , for example , of a quarter of wheat in the beginning of 1852 was 38 s . 4 d . ; in November , 1853 , it was 72 s . 5 d ., the highest price of tlie year , a rise Of nearly 90 per cent . In the same period the price of cattle rose 8 per cent ., of silk 30 , of wool 14 , of coffee 24 , of iron 80 , and of tea 90 per cent . The crop of sugar was very abundant , and the price declined ; but before tho close of 1853 there was a general rise in prices , though not in all cases equal to the rise in tho price of wheat .
"Whatever might bo tho consequences of the war with Russia , as it did not begin till the cud of Maroh , 1854 , it was not the cause of the previous rise in prices . Before it began the monthly average price of wheat rose , in February , 1 S 54 , to 80 s . 10 d ., and continued high , again reaching 80 s lOd . in November , 1855 , till after the harvest of 1856 . Then it fell to 60 s ., and was below that figure all through 1857 , falling to 48 s . at the close of tho year , while tho average price of the year was 56 s . 4 a . At present tho average price is 43 s . 9 « . The prico of other commodities , particularly of those affected by tho war , rose in 1854 , and following , though at a distance , tho wheat-market , fell m
1857 , before the general discredit , ot whieti mo fall was tho precursor . Tho following table states , tho price of several articles in the first week of April , 1857 , and tho prices of the same articles in N-o vetnber of the same year : —
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 7, 1858, page 784, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_07081858/page/24/
-