The following is a list of banks subject to the safety fund law that have become insolvent, and the amount contributed and paid out of that fund to the creditors of such insolvent banks: Names of Banks. Am't contributed $6,000 00 Am't paid out of the fund. $584,344 22 50,580 00 21, 1833 1, 1863 200,000 2, 1831 1, 1859 100,000 $30,491,460 Capital. to the fund. Bank of Buffalo,... $200,000 Bank of Lyons,.. 200,000 5,208 22 Commercial Bank of Buffalo,. Commercial Bank of N. York,. Commercial Bank of Oswego,. City Bank of Buffalo,...... Clinton County Bank,........... Oswego Bank,. Wayne County Bank,. Watervliet Bank,....................... Total,........ 250,000 5,466 66 134,107 00 CUSTOMS REVENUE OF LIVERPOOL. The customs revenue of Liverpool, for the quarter ending on the 5th of July, 1846, exceeds that of the corresponding quarter of last year by £127,217; the return for 1845 being £817,279, and that for 1846 £944,496. The receipts for the past month, however, include about £120,000 under the new corn duties. REDUCTION OF THE NATIONAL DEBT OF ENGLAND. The sum of £598,765, or the fourth of the surplus income of the United Kingdom, including interest on donations and bequests, is to be added to the reduction of the national debt. MICHIGAN STATE BANK. As the notes of this institution have a circulation in New York, we subjoin the semiannual statement of its condition on the 30th June, 1846, as made out and sworn to by its cashier, A. H. Adams, Esq., on the 13th ultimo:- Judgments, mortgages, state stocks, and other securities, $112,680 41; produce, $3,540; value,. Capital stock belonging to the bank,.. Bills discounted, chiefly on New York and Boston,.............................................. Banks and bankers,......... Coin, and notes of specie-paying banks,..... Total,......... Capital stock,............ Profit and loss account,.. Liabilities before 1st March, 1839,.... Old circulation, before 1st February, 1839,. Deposits,.. Circulation,..... Total,........... $63,322 01 4,504 00 REVENUES AND DISBURSEMENTS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. In a British Parliamentary document, recently published, the home accounts, and accounts of the territorial revenues and disbursements of the East India Company, are given. The receipts on account of the government of India, of the home treasury, from the 1st of May, 1845, to the 30th of April last, were £4,316,831 14s. 3d.; which, with a balance in favor on the 1st of May, 1845, of £1,290,787 18s. 11d., made £5,607,619 13s. 2d. Of the receipts mentioned, £50,000 were received from Her Majesty's government on account of the expenses of steam communication with India. The disbursements in the year were £1,259,135 6s. 4d., leaving a balance on the £5,607,619 13s. 2d. of £1,248,494 6s. 10d. Among the disbursements is one of £125,000, made “in consideration of the transfer made, under treaty, with the king of Denmark, of the Danish settlements on the continent of India, with all the public buildings and crown property thereunto belonging, to the East India Company." Another disbursement in the year is £97,891 11s. 11d. as "services chargeable to Her Majesty's government, (including £62,156 17s. 10d. for the payment of the China donation batta.") The Company agreed to pay a portion of Her Majesty's mission to the court of Persia, and £12,000 is put down as their portion. The salaries of the Court of Directors amount to £7,576 3s. 3d., and the contingent expenses of the Courts of Directors and Proprietors, &c., to £25,210 18s. An estimate of the receipts and disbursements for the year 1846-47, is given in the return. The receipts of the home treasury are estimated at £1,092,668; which, with a balance, on the 1st of May last, of £1,348,494, makes £5,441,162. The estimated disbursements are £4,360,840, leaving a balance at the end of the year (30th April next) of £1,080,322. It seems that the establishments of the East India Company in England give employment to 449 persons, whose salaries and allowance amount to £118,387 in the year. From the accounts of the territorial revenues in India, it seems that the total revenues and receipts in India, in the year 1844-45, (partly estimated,) were £17,161,119; which, with other sums realized in England, &c., made £17,743,318. The total charges in England, in the year, were £15,258,106; which, with £2,485,212 to be disbursed in England, made the sum mentioned on the credit side of the account as the total charges of India. The accounts rendered by the Company, under the act 3 and 4 William IV., cap. 85, sec. 116, extend to 31 folio pages. REVENUES OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, IN 1845–46. The following is an abstract of the nett produce of the revenue of Great Britain, in the years and quarters ended the 5th of July, 1845 and 1846, showing the increase or decrease thereof: Total ord. revenue, 49,682,140 48,394,420 988,792 2,271,512 12,411,518 13,013,187 Imprest and other Total income, 51,067,856 50,056,083 1,454,361 2,466,134 12,623,134 13,198,733 Deduct increase,... Decrease on the year,.......... 1,454,561 The foregoing table exhibits the revenue of the British government, from all sources, for the fiscal years ending July, 1845, and same time in 1846; showing also the increase or decrease in each item for the two years. The two last columns give the revenue for the two quarters of the same years, ending on the 5th of July. FINANCES OF THE CROTON AQUEDUCT. It appears from the report of the President of the Board of Commissioners, that the receipts in each year, from 1st May, 1843, to the 1st May, 1846, have been as follows: 1844. $91,790 1845. Showing an increase during the past year, of $44,949. 1846. The expenses have diminished during that time $14,928, so that the actual increase of revenue over 1845, is nearly $60,000. During the past year, four miles of pipe have been laid down, making the enormous total of one hundred and sixty-three miles of pipe now in use in this city. In 1844, the tax for the Croton debt was 21 cents on the hundred dollars, and last year it was only 16 cents, and it is expected that in a few years the income will pay the interest of the debt contracted for its construction, if the department is suffered to go on as at present. The president thinks it will be necessary, ere long, to construct another reservoir, and he recommends that measures be taken at once to effect that object, by selecting the grounds, &c. The number of permits now out is 12,247, equal to about thirteen thousand takers, and the receipts at the office from the 1st of May to the 8th of June, a period of thirty-seven days, were $108,758 53, against $88,363 79, for the same period in 1845; and there is every reason to believe that the receipts for the current year will exceed two hundred thousand dollars. JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES. SILVER MINES OF ALMADEN, IN SPAIN. THESE mines have now attained a depth of about 300 varas, (nearly 800 feet English,) in the seventh or deepest level of the works; and here the ore presents no apparent alteration in quality, or diminution in breadth of the immense veins in which it is contained. Notwithstanding all difficulties, political, pecuniary, sanitary, mechanical, chemical, and incendiary, (for the mines have been on fire for thirty months together,) their produce has been steadily increasing; and, although it only averaged 2,500 quintals in the years intervening between 1646 and 1700, it has now risen to 22,000. It was calculated, in 1839, when the produce had only attained to 20,500 quintals, that, during the 193 years these mines had been conducted on account of the Spanish government, there had been £55,000,000 sterling worth of silver, coined and uncoined, brought into circulation, and into the markets of Europe; counting not only that produced by the process of amalgamation in South America, but that also obtained in Germany by the instrumentality of the mercury supplied from Almaden to the emperor of Austria. The value of the mercury obtained in 1841, from Almaden, amounted nearly to 25,000,000 reals, delivered to the contractors at the price of $54 25 per quintal; but of this sum something more than one-fourth is returned to these mines to pay the costs of production; so that not much more than 18,000,000 reals, (about £180,000,) are available in the shape of revenue to the Spanish government. The cost is, certainly, much greater than it would be if improved machinery were employed. The labor of unwatering the mine is, in particular, severe and expensive. A grand reservoir has been formed in the rock in the fifth level, and into this the water of the lower levels is elevated by hand-pumps, at an expense of manual labor of 300,000 reals per annum, although the elevation of this general receptacle above the greatest depth is only 110 varas. It is then pumped to the surface by a single-stroke steam-engine, the annual cost of which performance is reckoned at 60,000 reals, (£600 sterling.) This engine is constructed in imitation of Watt's first engine, with various subsequent additions, which are the very reverse of improvements; and which, by some miracle, found its way to Almaden in the year 1799, having been, probably, rejected thirty years before in England. It is an immense, lumbering, counterpoise affair, with a long cooling-pipe between the boiler and the cylinder, and no valve between, so that the principle of expansion cannot be applied. The condenser sends forth the water nearly boiling hot, which is no wonder, seeing that its valve has no governor, and no connection with the moving machinery. In consequence, the boiler takes exactly double the fuel requisite to raise the quantity of water from the mine that it ought to do; and the engine, calculated to be forty-two horse power, only does the work of twenty and a half. Besides these motive powers, steam and manual, there is an establishment of from thirty-five to forty excellent mules, which are kept constantly at work, eight at once, in drawing up the ore by a very rude wheel capstan, the friction of which is so great, that the animals can only work three hours in the twenty-four. There is no water-power available to move machinery in these mines, but there has been very little care bestowed to render any of the mechanical powers available for the abridgment of labor. Even the ore, which is brought up from the deep sinkings by mules, at the rate of 3,500 arrobas (25 lbs. each) per day of twelve hours, is all drawn to the furnaces by oxen, in rude carros, without the slightest aid from a railway. COAL MINES OF PRUSSIA. Prussia possesses 540 coal mines, giving employment to 12.000 workmen. The produce in 1844 amounted to 53,000,000 cwt., or a value of $4,500,000, (£675,000.) MANUFACTURE OF CABLES AND CORDAGE AT MANILLA. We find in the Friend of China and Hong Kong Gazette, the following account of the establishment of a manufactory of cables and cordage at Manilla, by an American. "We are truly glad," says the Gazette, "to observe and applaud any attempt to open up the abounding resources of the Philippine Islands." The article is translated from an intelligent correspondent residing at Manilla. European arts and industry have, hitherto, been almost unknown in the Philippine Islands. Of late, an attempt has been made to introduce them, and it is much to be wished that this first enterprise may be successful, as if so, there is little doubt that other individuals will be disposed to engage in undertakings which may develop the great, but very imperfectly known resources of these rich islands. An American, named Mr. O'Keating, has lately established in the environs of Manilla a manufactory of cables and cordage, from the native hemp, (Abaca,) upon the most improved system now in use in England and America. After having passed several years at Manilla, and collected all the information necessary for the execution of his project, Mr. O'Keating returned to the United States, in order to procure the necessary apparatus and machinery. He brought from Boston a high pressure steam-engine, of thirty horse power, with all the requisites for dressing the hemp and converting it into rope. The factory is situated on the banks of the Passig, near the village of Nactajan, about three miles from Manilla. The first floor is occupied with the dressing machines, three of which are cylinders of wood, covered with points of iron of about two inches in length, distant from each other about 1 inches; these first open the fibre of the hemp, which then passes to another machine, under a cylinder of much larger diameter, of which the points (cards) are much smaller, and placed close together. These separate the fibres of the hemp into a thread much finer, and divest them of the woody or useless particles. After this preparation, the hemp passes between two iron cylinders, which compresses it very strongly; from thence, it is conducted to a smaller machine, which gives the first twist, and winds it on a bobbin of about six inches diameter. The dimensions of the cord are increased or diminished by means of an iron screw which adjusts the diameter of the hole (through which the fibres pass) to the required size. The ropery is a building eight hundred feet in length, built entirely of American timber, with a shed at each extremity; in the one farthest from the house is the rack upon which the bobbins are ranged. Eight or ten bobbins of hemp suffice to make a cable of a large size. Twelve or fifteen may be made at a time. The strings of the bobbins pass through round holes, pierced in a plate of brass, having an octagonal form fixed on another rack (ratelier) perpendicular to the line of the ropery. The mass of strings or strands are united together by an iron hook, which is fixed on a carriage with a double catch, drawn by the steam-engine of a railway. The engine is high pressure, on a construction remarkably simple. This manufactory was begun in May, 1842. The article produced is very superior to that made by hand, and in strength and durability, there is no comparison between the two articles. It should be said that, by this machinery, the hemp is better cleaned of its woody and useless parts, which, whilst it improves the cordage, considerably increases the cost from the greater loss of material in this process. At present, the steam cordage sells at eight dollars per picul; the ordinary kind, at six and a half dollars. About sixteen piculs can be produced daily. The cost of the raw material is four dollars per picul. Nearly forty natives are employed, whose average daily pay is about thirty-eight cents. The engine fuel is wood, which costs $1.25 the talaxan-contents seventy-two cubic feet. WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES IN TURKEY. Information has been received in England from New Leeds, Iznimitz, on the shores of the Black Sea, in reference to the woollen manufactory which was commenced upwards of ten years ago by the Turkish government, under the management of a Leeds gentleman. Here the present Sultan has, at very great cost, built a woollen factory. The undertaking has proved successful, and the gentleman who went from Leeds to conduct it has received the unqualified approval of the Sublime Porte, as well as some valuable tokens of the estimation in which he is held. |