MODIFICATION OF THE AUSTRIAN TARIFF. Advices from Trieste furnish the particulars of an important alteration just promulgated in the Austrian tariff. It effects in several cases a reduction of be tween 30 and 40 per cent, and is regarded as an experimental step towards a more general abandonment of the prohibitive system. Annexed is a list of the articles comprised, showing the new and the old duties: On all the above the reduction is to take effect from the 1st of July next. A MEXICAN CUSTOM-HOUSE ORDINANCE. The following "Important Notice to Merchants" emanates from the Department of the Treasury and Public Credit :: Merchants trading with the Republic of Mexico are hereby informed that the General Ordinance of Maritime and Frontier Custom-houses having been published on the 31st of January last, they have to comply with the provisions of the same, all persons trading in the ports or in the interior of the said Republic: and orders have been issued to the respective Agents of the Government for the purpose, that if goods are found on the roads or places of the interior, or any imports smuggled through the frontiers, or if said imports have not paid the respective duties according to the said Ordinance, said goods or imports will be seized and confiscated, as well as the wagons or animals which may transport them; the persons interested being besides subject to pay a fine of double the amount of the goods if they should be prohibited. Merchants are also hereby notified that the General Government is not responsible for any contract, anticipations of duties, acquittances, deductions, or concessions granted by the subaltern authorities of the same Republic, when not specially authorized by the said Government, under the signature of the Secretary of the Corresponding Department. It is further added, that after the aforesaid advice no claim shall be admitted to foreign subjects, who shall embark in speculations of this nature, or by the existing treaties with friendly nations, the citizens of them are bound to conform with the laws and regulations of Mexico. Given by order of His Excellency the President of the Republic, in Mexico, the 15th of April, 1856. HAMILTON BOARD OF TRADE. PAYNO. The Annual Meeting of Hamilton (Canada) Board of Trade took place on the 29th of April, 1856. After the reading of the Annual Report and the transac tion of the usual business of the Board, the following gentlemen were elected officers of the Board for the ensuing year, viz. :-John Young, Esq., President; Adam Brown, Vice-President; and James Cummings, F. W. Gates, John Ferrie, G. H. Gillespie, W. G. Kerr, T. Bickle, Hugh C. Baker, James Osborne, D. McInnes, John Brown, Isaac Buchanan, J. F. McCuaig, John Osborne, Council. RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS. THE RAILROADS OF MAINE IN 1854 AND 1855. The following table, derived from the abstract published by the Legislature of the State of Maine, shows the operations of the railroads of that State in the years above mentioned :: The receipts from other sources, passengers and freight, are omitted in the above table, to accommodate the size of our pages. These receipts amounted, in 1854, to $41,388, and to some $55,000 in 1855; both amounts are, however, inIcluded in the total column. The Penobscot and Kennebec Railroad's returns are for four months only, the road not being opened till September 1855. The Somerset and Kennebec is run by the Kennebec and Portland Railroad since its opening, and its return does not show its running expenses or receipts. It will be seen by the above, that the 471 miles of railway in Maine, exclusive of the Buckfield Branch, from which no returns were received, amount to $14,517,323, to Dec. 31, 1855, equal to $30,821 per mile, RATES OF TOLL ON THE NEW YORK CANALS FOR 1856. The following are the rates of toll established by the Canal Board on persons and property transported on the New York State Canals, to take effect on the opening of navigation in 1856 PROVISIONS, &C. PER 1,000 LBS. PER MILE. On salted beef, butter, tallow, beer, cider, and vinegar. Salted fish and fish in brine .... Salted pork, bacon, lard, lard-oil, grease, and cheese Bran and ship-stuffs, and oil cake or oil-meal IRON, MINERALS, ORES, &C.-PER 1,000 LBS. PER MILE. On salt manufactured in this State.... Foreign salt and barytes.... Gypsum, the product of this State Foreign gypsum ... Bloom, scrap, and pig iron, broken castings, gas pipes, and water-pipes. O 0 manure 0 0 Pot and pearl ashes, window glass, barilla and bleaching powder, kelp, soda ash, and copperas, and manganese ... Mineral coal, charcoal, and iron ore 0 Stoves, iron car wheels and car axles, bed-plates for steam-engines, plow castings, except machines and the parts thereof. Bar and pig lead, going towards tide-water, and copper ore Stove-pipe and furniture for stoves, not cast-iron.... FURS, PELTRY, SKINS, &C.-PER 1,000 LBS. PER MILE. On furs and the skins of animals producing furs.... Sheep skins Green hides of domestic animals of the United States.. 40 306 10000 000 FURNITURE, &C. PER 1,000 LBS. PER MILE. On household furniture, accompanied by, and actually belonging to, On timber, squared and round, per 100 cubic feet per mile, if carried in boats.. The same, if carried in rafts, per 100 cubic feet per mile..... The same, if cleared after the 1st June, and arriving at tide water be 0 0 9006 4317 fore the 15th August, inclusive, per 100 cubic feet per mile........ 0 7 On lumber when carried in boats, when weighed, per 1,000 lbs. per mile, viz.: On white pine, white wood, cedar, staves and heading, dressed or partly dressed, boards, plank, scantling, and all siding lath and other sawed stuff, less than 1 inch thick, carried in boats, (except such as is enumerated hereafter)..... 0 1 5 Oak, hickory, beech, sycamore, black walnut, and butternut.......... Cherry ... Sawed timber reduced to inch measure, all kinds of red cedar, cedar Mahogany, (except veneering,) reduced to inch measure, per 1,000 feet Sawed lath of less than 10 feet in length, split lath, hoop poles, hand- Staves and heading, undressed, empty barrels and casks and ship knees, Shingles, carried in boats ... The same, if conveyed in rafts, per M. per mile. Split posts, not exceeding 10 feet in length, and rails for fences, not ex- Wood for fuel, (except such as may be used in the manufacture of salt, 1 4 0 6 0 Sawed stuff for window blinds, not exceeding of an inch in thickness, .... On domestic distilled spirits, going towards tide-water.. 0 Wood. Cotton 0 Live cattle, sheep, hogs, horns, hoofs, and bones. 0 Horses, except those used exclusively for towing boats or other floats. Horses used exclusively for towing boats or other floats, exempt from toll. 0 Rags and junk 0 Manilla... Potatoes, apples, onions, turnips, all other esculent roots, and ice. On veneering MERCHANDISE. PER 1,000 LBS. PER MILE. Sugar, molasses, coffee, iron in bars, bundles, and sheets, steel, nail-rods, boiler iron, nails and spikes, horseshoes, crockery and glassware, tin, rosin, tar, pitch, turpentine, oil, anchors, chain cables, oakum, mineral water, oysters and clams, dyewoods, and all other merchandise not enumerated... Railroad iron and railroad chairs. Thrashing, mowing, and reaping machines, fanning mills, plows, harrows, and drill barrows... 0 0 0 4 0 ARTICLES NOT ENUMERATED. Cts. M. Fr. On all articles not enumerated or excepted, per 1,000 lbs. per mile... 0 4 0 BOATS AND PASSENGERS. PER MILE. On boats used chiefly for the transportation of persons navigating the The same, if they elect to commute for tolls upon passengers. The same, if they elect to commute for tolls upon passengers. On all persons over ten years of age... PROGRESS OF TELEGRAPH LINES IN THE WORLD. Mr. LEFFERTS recently delivered a lecture before the American Geographical Society in New York, which contains some interesting facts on this subject. It will be seen by the following table of the telegraph lines in the world, that the United States is far in advance of every other nation : A company has been formed in England, which has engaged to finish the sub-. marine line between Newfoundland and Ireland, and have it in full operation by January, 1858. A new cable has been prepared to run between Cape Race and the main land, and will soon be laid, if no disaster prevents it. There are already lines extending from London to Sebastopol, soon, it is expected to be carried to Corsica, Sardinia, into Africa, thence through Asia, so that when the sub-marine line between this country and England is laid, direct communication can be had with the great cities of the Eastern Hemisphere. Another line of telegraph is proposed from San Francisco along the coast of North America to Behring's Straits, into Asia, thence to St. Petersburgh, in Russia. The number of messages sent annually over the telegraph lines of America is 14,736,000. Twenty thousand a month are sent between this city and Boston. The New York Press pays $30,000 annually for messages. Fifteen thousand words are sometimes sent for one edition. NAVIGATION OF IRON STEAMERS. A late voyage of the steamer Persia to this country has demonstrated one fact of profound scientific interest. Her hull is built of iron; and the great obstacle to the use of such steamers in ocean navigation, has always been to neutralize the influence of such a mass of iron upon the compass. But, during the Persia's voyage, the variation of her compasses did not exceed three degrees, which is at least one degree less than the average variation in wooden vessels. The aberrations to which the deck compasses are liable, are corrected by a combination of magnets, patented by a Mr. Gray, of Liverpool, and this invention the captain of the Persia has his vessel supplied with, and thinks it perfectly reliable and all-sufficient. |