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The proprietors of the Bank of England Stock held a Meeting on Thursday, at the Bank ; when a dividend of four per cent. for six months was declared ; and the Chairman stated that the general profits of the Bank and of the Branch Banks were on the increase.
There was a numerous attendance of the shipping and mercantile interests at Lloyd's Coffee-house, on Wednesday; the attention of parties especially engaged in the East India and China trade having been drawn to the sale of the finest ship belonging to the East India Company, the Earl of Balcarras, built of teak at Bombay in 1811, and bought by the Company for their own service in 1815. The vessel has since undergone many extensive repairs. Her stores and armament were most complete, having 26 guns mounted, but capable of carrying 464 : she is therefore well calculated for a ship of war or a trader to India and China. The vessel had always been considered the finest merchantman in the world. The auctioneer stated that he expected at least 12,0001. for it. The biddings were commenced at 8,0001., and and gradually advanced till they reached 10,7001.: at which price the Earl of Balcarras was, with all her stores, &c. disposed of.
The interior of Westminster Hall will soon appear greatly im- vroved. Instead of the rough walls which lately annoyed the eye, the aides will be lined with smooth freestone. The cornice, bearing por- tions of the shield of Richard the Second, by whom the Hall was re- paired in 1397, being in the last state of decay, has been taken down. An entire new stone cornice, with exact copies of the old sculpture, is ..to be put up. The pilasters which stood under the shields and quarter- ing of arms are to be taken away, as useless. The door on the right of the gates, which opened upon the depot for Exchequer records, has been faced up, and a new door opened in the passage of the King's Bench Court, leading to the stairs of the tower. Most of the records slave been moved higher up the tower, where they will remain until the lower apartment is ready.
In consequence of the great increase of criminal business expected at the Old Bailey when the new Act comes into operation on the 1st of November, it is in contemplation to erect a third court. The cases -will then be tried indiscriminately, and not the capital felonies in one Court, as under the present arrangement.
There are three candidates for the office of City Solicitor, the profits of which are estimated variously, from 2,0001. to 5,0001. per annum. The candidates are Mr. Payne, the Coroner, Mr. Finch Newman, the Controller of the Bridge douse Estates (not a relative of the deceased Solicitor), and Mr. Deputy Wood, a member of the Corn- anon Council, who will have to vacate his seat therein, in order to
• become eligible. There is a strong party in the Common Council, who are disposed to regulate the office by attaching a fixed salary to it, in lieu of the present mode of charging for the business actually done. The Committee appointed to examine the duties and emoluments of the office are expected to report within a month.
On Monday next, the 22d instant (in consequence of St. Matthew's Day falling on Sunday), the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Governors of the several Royal Hospitals, will attend Divine service at Christ Church, Newgate Street. After a sermon by the Reverend Francis Richard Begbie, B.A., Fellow of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, they will ad- journ to the Great Hall, Christ's Hospital ; where two orations will be delivered—that in Latin by James Cohen, and that in English by William Henry Guillemard, the two senior scholars of the Grammar School.
On Saturday last, a trial was made, from Blackwell to the Nore and back, of a powerful. steam vessel called the Nile, built for the service of the Pasha of Egypt. This vessel hi the largest that has hitherto been construe:A in Egiland, or pet** in any country ; being by ad, marmurement 908 tonal, and propelled by hvo of Bolton and Watt's engines of the nomin power of 110 horses each, but which work up to a power of full 260 horses together. The extreme length of the ship from the forepart of the stem under the-bowsprit to the after-part of the stern-post aloft, is 183 feet 2 inches ; the breadth extreme at the paddles, 32 feet 8 inches ; depth in the engine-room, 21 feet 9 inches; she draws about 14 feet water. The trial was successful in every respect ; her speed, as ascertained at the measured mile below North. fleet, having exceeded from I-10th to 1-9th that of our own Govern. ment steam-ships of equal power, than which the Nile is so constructed as to be capable of stowing from three to four days' more coals. The primary object of this vessel is said to be to tow the ships of the line belonging to the Pasha in and out of the harbour of Alexandria, but she is capable of being converted to purposes of war in case of oiler. gency. She will take her departure for Alexandria in the course of a few days from Blackwell.
The long-projected street leading from the end of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, through the heart of the worst part of St. Giles's, in its line to meet the new street which will come from Water- loo Bridge to Broad Street, St. Giles's, is now likely to take place. A survey and estimate of the old houses to be pulled down for that purpose is now going on. This improvement will remove the whole of that densely and miserably peopled neighbourhood known as " the Rookery of St. Giles."
The workmen have commenced operations on the beautiful town re- sidence of Earl Grey, in Berkeley Square (so remarkable for its splendour in the. time of Mrs. Henry Baring), preparatory to its trans. fer to a new owner.
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