These rates are under the usual specie shipping points, and as money is very cheap in London and Europe, there is less disposition to send specie, although some continues to go. The rate in London is 24 per cent, with prospects of a further reduction. The comparative shipments from the port of New York have been as follows: GOLD RECEIVED FROM CALIFORNIA AND EXPORTED FROM NEW YORK WEEKLY, WITH THE AMOUNT OF SPECIE IN SUB-TREASURY, AND THE TOTAL IN THE CITY. Specie in Total Received. Exported. Received. Exported. sub-treasury. in the city. Jan. 16...... $1,269,107 $250,000 $1,607,440 $1,045,490 $2,934,000 $33,145,266 23..... 781,295 1,244,368 3,073,900 33,903,151 30..... 1,565,779 57,075 1,177,812 2,928,271 348,216 1,348,507 279,667 3,288,500 34,561,500 3,168,787 33,821,735 48,850 3,884,800 33,611,075 641,688 8,360,000 34,776,076 128,114 3,420,900 35,079.294 297,898 2,996,700 35,736,431 225,274 2,964,000 35,925,076 116,114 6,853,852 87,681,656 Feb. 6.. 13.. 1,460,900 225,955 1,097,186 20.. 400,300 6,398,500 37,894,600 51,425 5,263,300 38,053,660 16,616 4,803,609 38,170,900 50,000 7,773,108 38,011,251 83,120 6,141,594 37.071,066 115,790 5,548,069 37,078,069 250,246 4,875.975 36,912,411 203,163 3,841,577 37,035,026 15,850 3,695,071 37,808,806 136,873 3,145,400 38,209,613 106,110 2,874,200 38,327,346 720,710 6,858,590 41,586,300 532,862 5,566,300 39,613,700 3,394,892 1,446,175 208,000 2,045,389 The California packet of the 20th of May brought $1,446,175 in gold. The corresponding packet of last year was the richest of the season, delivering $1,920,376 at New York. Since the 1st of January, however, the receipts are in advance of 1857, the winter packets delivering above 30 per cent more than the previous season. The total shipments of gold from San Francisco to the 15th of May, as registered there, amount to $17,134,540, against $16,850,150 to same date last year. The mining news from California differs very little from the previous satisfactory reports. The excitement about the new discoveries on Frazer's River, in the British Hudson's Bay Company's possessions, was on the increase, and a large mining force will soon be diverted to that quarter— about 2,000 were already on the way. Some of the gold had been received back, and was like the early California metal. · The exports of specie have much diminished during the month, in consequence of the circumstances pointed out. The nature and destination of the shipments have been as follows: American Bars. St. Thomas.. $8,404 ...... SHIPMENTS OF SPECIE FROM THE PORT OF NEW YORK, MAY 8TH TO JUNE 17TH. American French Spanish silver. Sovereigns. Doubloons. gold. silver. Total. 3,953 12,357 860,551 ... ... ...... ....... .... Hamburg.... 2,200 177,469 ...... ....... .... Total...... 217,712 1,086,346 20,496 218,050 89,793 25,135 650 1,638,566 The amount shipped from Boston for the month of May was $401,909, against $1,589,926 same month last year. The export from the two cities for the month of May, were $2,161,891, against $7,154,824 same month last year. The operations of the treasury and mint have been as follows: STATEMENT OF BUSINESS AT THE UNITED STATES ASSAY-OFFICE AT NEW YORK FOR THE MONTH ENDING MAY 31, 1858. Foreign coins..... United States bullion, (inc. Cal. Br. mint bars $25,000.) 1,625,000 21,000 Gold. Silver. $5,000 $89,000 Total. $94,000 1,646,000 20,000 65,000 85,000 1,650,000 175,000 1,825,000 Total deposits payable in bars....... Total deposits payable in coins.. Gold bars stamped...... $1,565,000 00 $1,825,000 00 1,773,355 34 Transmitted to the United States Mint, Philadelphia, for coinage. 320,012 37 The following is an official statement of the deposits and coinage at the United States Mint in Philadelphia during the month of May, 1858, showing a coinage for the month of only a little over half a million of dollars, though the total number of pieces coined is nearly four million. Over one-half the total value of the coinage was in $20 gold pieces. Including silver purchases..... 179,590 00 Spanish and Mexican fractions of a dollar received for ex change for new cents.. 27,000 00 STATEMENT OF THE DEPOSITS AND COINAGE AT THE BRANCH OF THE MINT OF THE UNITED STATES, AT NEW ORLEANS, DURING MAY, 1858. The quantity of" money," that is, American coin, shipped has been small, and a good portion of that has been for the West India trade. The bulk of the shipments are in "bars," which are a discount, forming the best remittance, and sovereigns continue to return. These were a portion of the amounts imported during the panic, and partly supplied by immigrants. The accumulation of specie in the foreign banks, as compared with that in the banks of four leading American cities, is as follows, for the day on which the Bank of France make its monthly returns:— London...... New York. New Orleans Philadelphia...... SPECIE IN BANKS. October. February 10. March 11. April 8. May 18. $35,850,110 $82,870,101 $88,532,091 $88,627,166 $86,940,942 35,585,613 53,035,138 63,323,865 71,780,888 82,993,386 7,843,230 30,226,275 32,961,076 32,036,436 34,730,728 3,230,370 11,187,398 10,978,759 10,808,605 10,615,535 2,563,112 7,079,600 8,505,312 9,210.111 2,071,434 4,823,989 5,448,514 6,183,289 7,019,204 7,589,968 Total.......... 86,743,890 189,292,491 208,834,273 218,003,696 231,509,906 The whole accumulation since October has been $144,800,000, or three years' produce of California. The bank in London holds now more than all the banks held in October. The increase in gold does not, however, enable the banks to increase their discount lines, since the business doing is not such as to create much new paper, and the maturity of old paper suffices to keep down "the line," in spite of investments in treasury notes. The London and Paris banks ran their discounts up to the highest points during the panic. If we compare their lines of commercial discounts in May with the highest point given in the fall, the results are as follows :— The movement aptly illustrates the bank action. There the banks lend all that is asked for, charging a higher rate of interest, until it reached even 10 per cent. Here the banks refused to lend at all, and called in a large amount. At this time, when there is no business doing, the foreign bank discounts stand very low, while the New York banks, by lending on stocks, treasury notes, etc., contrive to keep up the discount line. The clearings of the New York banks illustrate more accurately the decline in business. The manager of the New York Clearing-house, G. D. Lyman, Esq., has furnished some valuable returns in relation to the operation of the clearing-house during the past year. The aggregate result for the year ending June, is as follows: Exchanges for the year ending June 1st, 1857....... 66 Decrease...... 66 46 1858... $8,061,584,501 62 5,638,677,789 02 $2,422,906,712 60 This is a decline of one-third in the movement, and the decline commenced with the month of September last year, when the bank contraction commenced simultaneously with the withdrawal of the country balances. It is probable that the sudden withdrawal of the latter, under the influence of the panic which was created here, and which alarmed out-of-town holders of balances here, was a principal cause of the catastrophy which followed. The clearing-house commenced operations October, 1853, and its operations for four years were as follows: In the year 1855 there was some reaction in the business done. The exports of produce were less than they had been, and general business was less active. The panic commenced in the October month of the year 1857, embraced in the above aggregates, and the monthly operations since, as compared with the corresponding months of the previous year, were as follows :— Thus there was an upward movement of 25 per cent in the summer quarter of last year, which was marked by a large accumulation of "balances" due banks rather than by any increase of the regular commercial deposits of the city. The month of October, in which the banks curtailed their loans $10,000,000, and the net deposits fell $14,000,000, the clearings were only 40 per cent of what they were in the corresponding period of the previous year. The banks lost their specie by direct drafts upon them for the money, and not in favor of other banks; hence the checks so made did not come into the clearing-house, the operations of which embrace only the checks and drafts which cach bank holds against others. The subsequent movement of the clearing-house was the reverse of what it was the previous year. The movement then continued to diminish up to March, when it revived with the spring payments and the increased activity in the stock market. This year there has been a regular monthly increase. The total movement for the nine months, ending with May, shows a decrease of one-half in the amount of business. The amount is far less than at any period since the first operation of the clearing-house, although the bank loans range higher than ever before, as follows, for June 1st, in each year : In the returns for 1853 the bank balances are not included in the deposits. They were embraced afterwards in a manner to disguise the amount, which is uniformly so disastrous to the commercial interests of the city. It will be observed that the clearings bear but little relation to the deposits or loans; as thus, the clearings this year for the first week in June were nearly the same as for the corresponding week in 1855, yet the loans and deposits are nearly 30 per cent more than at that period. The loans and deposits this year are larger than last year, yet the clearings are $10,000,000 less daily per week. Hence it is evident that it is not the mere amount of bank loans which expresses the business done, since on the same amount last year the clearings indicate a vastly greater activity of business. The tables annexed to this article indicate that the same features which are apparent in the New York returns are common to all the banks of other cities, viz., that their means accumulate while they experience difficulty in getting the proper investments. |