CONDITION OF THE BANKS OF CONNECTICUT FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS. From the last annual report of the Bank Commissioners to the General Assembly of Connecticut, made May 18th, 1854, furnished to our hands by Capt. LARRABEE, We derive the following abstract of the condition of the banks in that State in each year from 1837 to 1854: ABSTRACT FROM THE BANK COMMISSIONERS' REPORTS FOR THE LAST EIGHTEEN YEARS. Year. Capital. 1837... $8,744,697 1838... 1839. Total Circulation. liabilities. Loans and Total resources. Specie. $415,386 $13,246,945 $15,169,285 535,447 9,769,286 12,293,372 502,180 12,286,946 14,942,779 499,032 10,428,630 12,950,512 454,298 10,944,673 13,866,273 471,238 10,683,413 13,465,052 438,752 9,798,392 12,914,124 455,430 10,842,955 14,472,681 453,658 12,447,196 15,243,285 481,367 13,032,600 15,892,685 462,165 12,781,857 15,784,772 517,700 13,424,653 16,808,829 575,676 13,740,591 16,947,002 640,622 15,607,314 19,122,209 774,861 18,190,512 21,999,949 825,379 20,552,493 25,226,502 1,259,872 25,833,850 32,098,899 $3,998,325 $15,715,964 8,754,467 1,920,552 12,302,631 8,832,223 3,987,815 14,942,779 1840... 8,878,245 2,325,589 12,950,572 1841... 8,873,927 2,784,721 13,866,373 1842... 8.876,317 2,555,638 13,465,052 1843... 8,580,393 2,379,947 12,914,124 1844... 8,292,238 3,490,963 14,472,681 1845... 8,359,748 4,102,444 15,243,235 1846... 8,475,630 4,565,947 15,892,685 1847... 8,605,742 4,437,631 15,784,772 1848... 8,726,381 4,891,265 16,808,829 1849... 8,985,916 4,511,571 16,947,002 1850... 9,907,503 5,253,884 19,122,209 1851... 10,575,657 6,639,834 21,999,949 7,118,625 25,226,502 11,217,630 32,098,899 11,207,996 34,716,899 1,206,940 27,397,796 34,716,899 1852 12,509,807 1853... 13,950,944 1854... 15,641,397 NEW YORK CHARTERED BANKS. The charters of the following New York banks have expired this year : The following table shows the names of those banks whose charters will expire in the year 1855, and the present amount of their capital : All the charters will expire before the year 1867, except those of the Manhattan Company and N. Y. Dry Dock Company, which are unlimited. DEBT AND FINANCES OF PHILADELPHIA. The total indebtedness of the consolidated city of Philadelphia is something like $16,000,000, but of this large sum, $8,000,000, or one-half, consists of subscriptions to the stock railroad companies, such as the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Sunbury and Erie, the North Western, &c. The annual revenue of the city, under the existing rates of taxation, is estimated at $3,700,000, and the total expenditures, including the interest on the entire indebtedness, at about $3,000,000. EXPORTS AND IMPORTS OF SPECIE. The following table will show the shipments of gold from California; the exports of specie and the imports of the same into the United States from Europe for seven years to 1853 inclusive, and first seven months of 1854. It will be seen that we export large quantities of specie, but not one-half of that which is annually produced by our mines: Imports from Excess of Imports and Production over Exports. $22,123,550 $24,121,289 6,360,224 The $34,000,000 given as the export of the present year (1854) include $5,000,000 paid on account of the purchase of the Mesilla Valley-a political and not a commercial transaction. Seven sixteenths is not an enormous proportion for a producing country to export. GOLD COIN COUNTING AND CARRYING CALCULATIONS. A correspondent of the Boston Journal has made some curious calculations in regard to counting the enormous sum of $204,000,000 in gold, the amount received at the mint of the United States in Philadelphia, from California, from the first discovery of the precious metals to December 1st, 1853. The correspondent of the Journal says: "In order to give some idea to the general reader of the immense amount, two hundred and four million dollars, I will merely state that, allowing each silver dollar to weigh one ounce avoirdupois, sixteen to the pound, the weight would be 12,750,000 lbs., or 6,375 tons, allowing 2,000 lbs. to the ton. To carry this weight, it would require 6,375 wagons, containing a ton each, or $32,000. Now suppose each vehicle, drawn by one horse, to occupy a space of 25 feet, they would extend in a continuous line, a fraction short of thirty miles. In order to count such a vast sum of money as this, very few persons have any idea of the time it would require, without making calculations to that effect. Having myself asked several individuals familiar with figures, how long it would take to count the sum above mentioned, they have so widely differed in time, that one could scarcely repress a smile at the result. Now, to ascertain the fact, which may be made as plain as A B C, we will suppose a person to count 60 of these silver dollars in a minute, 3,600 an hour, 43,200 a day of 12 hours each, or (Sundays included) 15,768,000 a year. I say, to count this stupendous amount of money in silver dollars, it would require a fraction short of 13 years." FINANCES OF THE CITY OF BOSTON IN 1854. The forty-second annual report of the Auditor of the City of Boston, for the financial year ending April 30, 1854, has been published. The total payments on the city account for the year were $4,393,808 08; on county account, $134,045. The city debt, as compared with that of last year, shows an increase of $484,134 66. This is, however, mostly a nominal increase, as the authorities have on band, in cash, to meet this debt, the sum of $383,959 27, which will be applied thereto. The real increase is thus shown to be only $97,175 39, of which $73,000 was obtained to pay for the new site for the City Library on Boylston-street. The amount of city debt which will be payable in the present financial year (1854-55) is $653,900-all of which will be met without resorting to additional loans. The total amount of the city debt, exclusive of the water debt, is $2,367,594 21; to meet which there is a balance in the treasury, exclusively applicable to this purpose, of $383,959 27. The total debt of the city, including the water debt, is $8.415,896 05. The auditor, in his Annual Report, speaks of the public improvements in Boston, consummated under the superintendence of the Joint Special Committee on Public Lands. From the year 1836 to 1852, about 1,500,000 square feet of land, exclusive of streets, have been reclaimed from a very unhealthy and worse than useless condition, and rendered eligible and desirable for private dwellings and business purposes. Nearly five miles of streets have been filled and graded; common sewers laid therein, sidewalks made and edge-stones put down in a large portion of them. Five public squares have been laid out and inclosed with iron fences; and in other respects rendered pleasant and attractive places of resort. Seven stone fountains have been completed; and about one thousand trees set out, and three thousand feet of sea wall constructed. These extensive and important improvements were made at an expenditure of $504,290. CURRENCY OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY. The Secretary of the United States Treasury has addressed the following Circular to the collectors and other officers of the customs, (general instructions, No. 36) which we publish in the Merchants' Magazine, for the information of merchants having commercial intercourse with those countries : TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Sept. 26, 1854. The value of the specie dollar of Sweden and Norway having been fixed by act of Congress of 22d May, 1846, at 106 cents, United States currency, and it being satisfactorily shown that the rix dollar banco of Sweden and Norway is a component part. of their specie dollar in the invariable valuation of 23 to 1, and consequently equal to 394 cents American currency, it follows that no consular certificate to invoices of goods from those countries, as regards the equivalent of Swedish and Norwegian to the United States currency, is required by law; any portion of existing instructions to this Department, therefore, requiring such certificate, is necessarily hereby rescinded. JAMES GUTHRIE, Secretary of the Treasury. JOURNAL OF INSURANCE. THE MERCHANTS UNDERWRITERS OF NEW YORK WITH REFERENCE TO MARINE INSURANCE. The following suggestions to masters of ships have been approved by the merchants underwriters of the port of New York, and are published in the Merchants' Magazine for the information and guidance of navigators generally : SUGGESTIONS TO MASTERS OF SHIPS, APPROVED BY THE MERCHANTS UNDERWRITERS OF NEW YORK. 1. In case of disasters to vessels and damage to their cargoes, occasioning their putting into ports of necessity, so much difficulty has from time to time occurred in relation to their averages and insurance, that the following suggestions have been drawn up for the guidance of shipmasters and supercargoes, and have met the approbation of the merchants underwriters of the principal cities. By conforming to these suggestions, and by resorting to the agents for vessels, many, if not most difficulties, will be obviated. 2. In every case of disaster, the vessel must be repaired if practicable without a gross expenditure exceeding three-fourths of value of the vessel,* as valued in her insurance, or estimated at the place of beginning her voyage from the United States. 3. If full repairs cannot be made at all, or without extraordinary expense, temporary This is one-half after deducting one-third for new. repairs must be put on the vessel, in order to complete the voyage: at its end, these repairs will be allowed in full, and the full repairs may be made after getting into a suitable port for repairing, at the expense of the underwriters, as in other cases. In places where there are not opportunities of purchasing, or conveniences for putting on copper without great expense, as at Key West, Havana, and most of the Southern ports of the United States, it is recommended to omit this expense until arrival at some of the considerable ports of Europe or the United States, when the same can be done more cheaply and better. 4. If spars are sprung, or sails or rigging injured and cannot be readily replaced, or without great expense, every expedient with which a practiced seaman is ready ought to be resorted to, in order to make the injured articles serve until arrival at some such considerable port where the repairs can be done completely. The repairs may then be made with advantage to all parties, without delay of the voyage or an extravagant extent of expenditure, which is always more or less to the discredit of the shipmaster. 5. In no case ought the cargo to be unladen without the clearest necessity. It is not only very expensive, but always creates a great delay, and is apt to end in serious injury to the cargo. The intelligent shipmaster will generally form a good opinion on this subject, and should consult such skillful persons as he may find, and who can gain nothing by his unloading. When unloading is concluded to be necessary, the shipmaster should be careful to stipulate against a charge of commission on the cargo for merely discharging, storing, and reloading, as no substantial responsibility is thereby incurred, and in most cases a charge of commissions for such transactions is considered unreasonable. When allowed, it should never exceed one and a quarter per cent. Should an unreasonable sum be required, or a high commission be demanded, the master can obviate the difficulty by hiring store-room and retaining the entire control of the cargo himself. A proper charge for storage, and a regular commission for the general business of the ship under repair, will afford, in most instances, a fair and adequate remuneration. It is always proper to have suitable men employed to watch and take care of the cargo, whose compensation will fall into an average, general or partial, and without any deduction; and so also any reasonable compensation to the merchant for his actual trouble, responsibility, and services, will be justly chargeable and freely allowed. The difference between such charges and a commission on the whole cargo, will be obvious to every shipmaster. 6. It is always to be borne in mind that nothing but absolute necessity, or a cost to repair of over three-fourths her value, can warrant a sale of the vessel; and not only will a sale, otherwise made, relieve the insurers, but the purchaser's title can be impeached, whenever the vessel can be found in the United States. Many very disas trous results to merchants, insured, and owners, have arisen from sales of ships not warranted by absolute necessity, and prompted by selfish or careless advice. 7. It too frequently occurs, that when vessels are stranded on our coast, the master abandons the property to the wreck commissioner, under the impression that he is bound so to do: in this he is mistaken. In all cases the master should keep the control of the property, employing the wreck commissioner when necessary for advice and information, and as one through whom he can procure all needful assistance; and it is his duty to furnish it, when required by a shipmaster in distress. The master's duty would be to communicate with the owners or underwriters, by sending a special messenger to the nearest post-office, or, should the vessel be stranded near New York, to send him with his communications directly to this city; at some of the smaller places on our coast the mails are sent off only once a week, and instances have occurred of letters being detained from unworthy motives, post-masters being sometimes interested directly themselves, or to serve a friend by the delay of intelligence. The master should in all cases ascertain that there will be no delay in the transmission of his advices, and if necessary to insure dispatch, he should send them by a messenger to the principal post-office on the nearest of the large mail routes; and in case of necessity or urgency resort should be made to the telegraph when practicable. 8. In case the vessel shall be subject to salvage, it is proper also to have the vessel and cargo appraised at their value as brought in: and then the alternative adopted either to bond the cargo and vessel, or to sell, as may be deemed necessary. The vessel, cargo, and freight, may always be pledged by bottomry, to relieve the vessel and cargo from her salvage charges; and this is generally expedient. But if this cannot be done, and the vessel and cargo are not perishing so rapidly as to allow of no communication with the home of the vessel, a postponement of the sale ought always to be applied for, until advice or relief can be had from the owners or insurers. 9. In case of disaster to the vessel, if the cargo is saved, so that it can be sent on by any other vessel, a vessel hired or procured for that purpose, the extra freight will be reimbursed by the insurers. In case of being otherwise unable to obtain money for completing the voyage, in cases where repairs are proper, a sale of part of the cargo may be resorted to; but this should not be done except in the most urgent cases, and where the cargo will bring reasonable prices. For, what is sold must be accounted for at the price it would have brought on its arrival at its port of destination, which frequently will be with a heavy profit, and be ruinous to the voyage. This matter of selling must be carefully examined when proposed, and the latest prices at the place of destination of the cargo to be offered for sale, should be first ascertained before such a decision is taken—and the selection of such cargo as is likely to occasion the least loss. 10. In foreign, and even in some domestic ports, official persons, as port-wardens, surveyors, and the like, assume to order this or that to be done, the vessel to be hove down, cargo discharged, certain repairs made, or the like. It should always be borne in mind, that the master is and ought to be the master of his own vessel. He ought to exercise and rely on his own judgment, for which he is responsible, and on which his character and reputation rest. He may, if he is doubtful, take any intelligent advice he may think fit, and when measures are determined on by him, he may have his own judgment confirmed by official persons or others: but nothing will dispense with his exercising first his own honest and faithful judgment, getting any advice from others which he can, and being able to show, when required, the grounds of his judgment. Such officers as are named above, must not be referred to as having authority sufficient to justify by their orders or certificates what they may recommend. As men having experience, they may give good advice, but the master must never lose sight of his own duty to see that what he follows is the best course. these and all other cases of advice, certificates, and the like, the master must see carefully that those who advise him, are persons without a private interest to be served in what they recommend. In 11. In case the voyage should inevitably be broken up by disasters and misfortunes, the master must carefully procure the proper protests and accounts of what is saved, and of all his expenditures on account. He should cause any balance of money, whether he supposes the vessel and cargo to have been abandoned or not, to be remitted in the surest way to his owners or the consignors or consignees of vessel or cargo. Such remittance will not at all affect the insurance, and will reimburse to the owners of the property some part of their loss the soonest. 12. Should it be necessary to jettison a part of the cargo, care should be taken to throw overboard the least valuable and most weighty parts of it, if time and other circumstances will permit you to make the selection. 13. In every disaster the master should be careful to communicate it, with all details, both of the mode of the disaster and of the extent of damage or injury, or of its being relieved from its peril in whole or in part, to the owners, consignees, or insurers, as they be most near or easy to be sent to. Duplicates should be sent in case opportunities allow. Neither the owner can act nor the insurer without them, and delay from the want of communicating of intelligence is often ruinous. 14. It is as important that masters of vessels should take proper means for the prevention of disasters as that they should follow the right course after such disaster has occurred. The danger from fire has become of late years so great as to render necessary the utmost precaution against this destructive element, not only in the stowage of cargoes, but by keeping a full and competent watch on board vessels lying at anchor or at the wharf. If possible, the sails should be unbent in all cases when the vessel might receive damage while lying at her dock from fire occurring in adjacent buildings. In case of stress of weather at sea by which the vessel becomes so disabled as to render her unseaworthy, the master should deliberate well before determining upon an abandonment of his trust, but in case such course becomes imperative, the practice of scuttling or setting fire to the vessel before leaving, is not recommended; as a ship sinking so rapidly as to compel her desertion, will disappear soon enough without the use of such an expedient. The argument used in favor of burning, that unless this be done disaster may be caused to other vessels, is not well founded, as should it happen (as it frequently does) that the ship should not sink, she can be more easily distinguished with her hull above the water than if burned to the water's edge. 15 Merchants in the various considerable ports have been recommended by underwriters of this port, to whose advice it will be most useful to masters to resort. They |