second, that the people of London do not know each
other sufficiently well to induce them to join in bonds
involving liabilities which might extend over many
years. The chairman remarked, that the experiment
was now under trial by the Royal British Bank; and
that, if it proved successful, there was nothing to prevent
the London and Westminster from following the example.
A dividend of 6 per cent, was declared; and, as showing
the greater certainty which prevails in bill transactions,
it was mentioned that the £70,000 of loss incurred in the
disastrous year of 1847 had now been entirely wiped
off.

A further important step has just been taken at the
Post Office, towards the Reduction of Sunday Duties,
and this time in the London district. Hitherto, in the
suburbs of London, there has always been a delivery
on the Sunday morning of letters and newspapers
despatched from St. Martin's-le-Grand on the Saturday
night; but under the new arrangement these will be
delivered at a late hour on Saturday night at all places
within six miles of St. Martin's-le-Grand, and the
Sunday morning's delivery at such places will be
abolished. This plan, which came into operation on the
29th ult., combined with another for abolishing certain
cross-posts, has released from Sunday duties 191 men in
the London district.

A public meeting of persons connected with the Tailoring
Trade in the metropolis, was held on the 17th, in the
large room at Exeter Hall. The object of the meeting,
which consisted of upwards of 2,000 persons, was to
consider the propriety of petitioning Parliament in reference
to the present slop and "middle" system, which, it was
stated, injured the fair trader as well as the working-
people. Several working tailors addressed the meeting,
one of whom stated that he had been employed by Moses
and Son for several years past as a confidential man at the
rate of 1d. per hour, and expressed his regret that with
£400,000 per annum, the Marquis of Westminster dealt
with that establishment. Another speaker observed,
that it was very well known that the working-men
engaged in making clothing for the Government
establishments, the Post-office, the Custom-house, and for
the soldiers and police, did not get more than 1s., or at
most 1s. 6d. a day; and a third speaker declared, that
for making a coat for a first-rate master tailor, patronised
by the Duke of Wellington and other aristocratic
customers, he had only received 5s., out of which sum he
had to pay for candlelight and trimmings. Resolutions
and a petition to Parliament were agreed to, denouncing
the slop and middle-men systems, and praying for the
enactment of a law compulsory on employers to have
their work done on their own premises.

A meeting was held at the Mansion House on the
25th, to raise funds for the next year's Exhibition of
1851. The Lord Mayor presided, and it was attended
by a number of leading men in the City; also by Lord
John Russell, Mr. Labouchere, and Earl Granville.
Mr. W. Cotton expressed a hope that not the opulent
only, but the whole people, would come forward according
to their means, and make the Exposition what
Mr. Jones Loyd designated the great Olympian festival
of modem times. Lord John Russell advocated the
movement. It was resolved to make arrangements for
raising the funds on a scale commensurate with the
importance of the occasion. The subscriptions announced
amounted to upwards of £10,000; and include £1000
from the Queen, £500 from Prince Albert, £100 each
from the Premier and six colleagues, and several sums
of £500 from leading members of the great banking and
commercial firms.

From the Returns of the Specie and Bullion imported
during the last year from the gold countries of South
and North America, and the Atlantic and Mediterranean
ports of Southern Europe and Northern Africa, it appears
that the West Indian packets have brought £4,648,270,
the produce of the mines of California, Mexico, Central
America, and the Pacific States of South America. Of
this amount, it is estimated that about £400,000 in gold
has come from California, direct or viâ Lima and Valparaiso,
where much California dust is melted into ingots
for England. The Peninsular and Oriental steam-
packets have brought—from Alexandria, £728,857 "gold
and silver coin;" from Constantinople, £933,510 "gold
and silver;" from Spain and Portugal, £310,000.  Total
of the year, £6,788,655.

The Returns of the Board of Trade for the month
ending the 5th December, show an increase in the
exports of £374,993 over the corresponding month of 1848;
a result the more satisfactory, since the exports of
December 1848 were not less than £132,346 more valuable
than those of December 1847. The chief items of
increase have been manufactures of cotton, flax, wool,
and silk, hardware goods, metals, and leather. The
instances of marked decrease are cotton-yarn, machinery,
and soap. The entire increase in exports during the
first eleven months of the year 1849, as compared with
the corresponding months of 1848, is now £9,681,897;
the totals respectively being £44,407,912 and £54,089,809.
The import returns show a large increase under the
head of grain, provision-meats, cocoa, eggs, (from
£4,471,718 to £5,475,673) and tea; also an increasing
consumption of sugar, though the imports somewhat
declined. Both the import and the consumption of
flour and of coffee had declined. Tobacco imports had
largely increased.

The plan of a Submarine Electric Telegraph between
England and France is about to be proceeded with.
The concession signed by Louis Napoleon and the
Minister of the Interior, M. Dufaure, granting to Messrs.
J. Brett, Toché, and Co., the right to establish an electric
telegraph line between France and England by a
submarine communication across the channel, arrived in
town on the 31st ult. The company propose to establish,
by means of the electric telegraph, an instant communication
between the two countries. The patentee guarantees
that this telegraph shall, by the aid of a single
wire, and of two persons only (the one stationed in
France, and the other in England), be capable of printing,
in clear Roman type (on paper) 100 messages, of
fifteen words each, including addresses and signatures,
all ready for delivery in 100 consecutive minutes.

The Summaries of The State of Trade and Industry
in the United Kingdom during the past year, given in
the leading provincial journals, exhibit satisfactory and
promising results. The Manchester Examiner states,
that "the activity of the manufactures in the West
Riding of Yorkshire, is perhaps without parallel in the
history of that thriving district." The Manchester
Guardian affirms that, in Lancashire, the transactions
have been of great magnitude, and that "the average
rise of prices by the end of the year was not less than
10 per cent, on goods, or than 8 per cent. on yarns."
The large profits on coarse yarns and goods in 1844,
1845, and 1846, induced an excessive production, which
has made that branch the single exception to the
prosperity of the past year. The evil is correcting itself;
coarse stocks are exhausted, and many makers have
turned their spindles and looms to the making of finer
yarns and fabrics. A drawback from the prosperity of
1850 was anticipated from the scarcity of raw cotton;
but the discovery of an error of nearly 100,000 bales in
the estimated stock, one-sixth of the whole, has
considerably lightened the weight of this anticipation. In
Scotland, says the Dundee Mercantile Gazette, "the
linen trade has been as satisfactory, in almost all its
branches, as could be desired:"—"every hand-loom
weaver willing to work has been busily employed;"—
"our linens can be laid down in Germany as cheap as
in Liverpool;"—"foreign merchants in Hamburgh find
it for their advantage to buy Dundee linens from the
Hamburgh dealers, instead of those of German
manufacturers." In the North of Ireland, the Northern
Whig of Belfast says—"All the manufacturing classes
are better off than for many a year;"—"there is full
employment to hand-loom weavers" at "wages increased
from 10 to 15 per cent.," and to "an immense number
of women and girls" in the sewed-muslin business, at
"wages advanced 40 or 50 per cent." In the iron trade,
upon view of the whole operations both in the raw and
manufactured material, there has been a great business
at improved prices. In the ship-building trade, a
depression visible at the beginning of the year is passing
away: Messrs. Tonge, Curry, and Co., of Liverpool, say,
in their trade circular—"During the last two months,
more contracts have been made, and more keels laid
down, than we were prepared to expect;" the number