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£1,609,350, or a total of £7,684,737. The South-Western shares may be classed as under:-25,840 £50 paid up shares; 60,000 new £50 shares, upon which £42 10s. have been paid; 46,500 £10 shares, upon which £34 have been paid; 9,266 £50 consolidated tenths, paid up; 12,000 £40 consolidated tenths, paid up; 120,560 £16 13s. 4d. thirds, upon which £13 6s. 8d. have been paid; 147,766 new 7 per cent scrip, upon which £1 13s. 4d. only have been called up. This company has, therefore, power to make calls to the amount of £2,815,798 6s. 8d.

The amalgamated companies will, by their present powers, be entitled to call up, within the time allowed by the act for doing so, the sum of £8,819,201 6s. 8d. The entire weekly receipt of the three companies, should they not exceed their present average, will be £70,000 per week, or £3,640,000 per annum. The number of miles of railway over which the companies will have control will be nearly 2,000, upwards of 1,000 of which they will have in their absolute possession. The great company will, by means of their own and other lines, in which they are beneficially interested, have the entire traffic from Plymouth to Perth.

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.

COMPARISON OF THE BUSINESS OF THE UPPER LAKE PORTS ABOVE BUFFALO. No benevolent mind can fail to take pleasure in contemplating the rapid increase in numbers, comforts, and intelligence of the American Union. No nation, among all the great communities of men that are pushing forward to a higher physical and moral condition, is advancing with such rapid strides as these States. Dividing these into nonslaveholding and slaveholding, the intelligent man will feel no difficulty in deciding that the former are decidedly more flourishing than the latter. If, again, we divide the free States into old and new, it will be equally apparent that the new are pushing ahead much faster than the old. Of the new free States, that portion lying on the great lakes west of Buffalo has been improving faster, for some dozen years past, than any other large section. The causes of this superiority are permanent, so that no one need expect a change for very many years to come.

This favored region, scarcely known to commerce fifteen years ago, has suddenly become one of the leading granaries of the world. As yet, it is almost purely agricultural. But so great are its natural resources, and such the intelligent industry of its inhabitants, that it will, ere long, become a favorite home of commerce and manufactures. The variety and extent of its commerce is every year attracting the admiring attention of those who witness it. Its commercial points every year increase the circle of their commercial power. Although at present chiefly engaged in the exchange of the products of a new country for manufactures and the products of other climates, there is more variety in their commercial transactions, and more to characterize the business of each of their leading marts, than is generally supposed.

It is proposed, in this article, to exhibit these characteristics, as shown by the statement accompanying the report of the Executive Committee of the Chicago Convention. These statements, as near official as they could be made, exhibit the business of the year 1847. We have examined and compared the business of the ten principal lake marts above Buffalo, and now give the results in tabular form:

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All the foregoing are set down according to the facts furnished by the report of the Chicago Committee, except Milwaukie, for which we have made an estimate from the list of articles exported, as reported by that Committee.

Most of the articles passing through the port of Huron are shipped at Milan.

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By the foregoing tables it will be seen that in value of exports Cleveland is far ahead of any other port, and that in wheat and flour exported, she occupies the first place. In the value of imports and the quantity of tallow, butter, and tobacco exported, Sandusky leads. In amount of corn, rye and oats, bacon, lard, hemp, sugar, and molasses, Toledo is number one.

Detroit leads in amount of wool, to which we might add lumber. Chicago exports more beef and pork than any of her sisters.

In variety of articles received in considerable quantities for export, Toledo is first, Cleveland second, and Detroit third.

Hereafter, the Upper Lakes will be supplied with sugar, molasses, and raw cotton almost exclusively through Toledo and Chicago. The present season has witnessed a great change in the movement of these important articles, as the returns of the business of Toledo and Chicago will show.

In flour Detroit was excelled in 1847 by Cleveland, but this will probably never happen again. Detroit is now, and will long continue to be, the leading primary flour market of the Upper Lakes. Chicago promises soon to be the leading exporter of wheat, as she is now of beef.

In corn and pork, and all the articles made from the hog, such as bacon, lard, steirine, lard oil, &c., Toledo will be the leading market and exporting town for all time to come. Her receipts of wheat and flour will increase on those of Cleveland; and, together, promise in a few years to equal those of the foremost of her sisters. In sugar and raw cotton her exports will probably, for many years to come, more than equal those of the other nine ports.

The coal business of Cleveland is destined to be large, as will also be the business in pine lumber of Chicago, Toledo, and Detroit. The population of the ten marts is nearly

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These cities and villages, in the aggregate, will double their population as often as once in five years. Some will exceed, and others will fall short of that period at duplication. There can be no doubt that Sandusky, Toledo, Milan, and Michigan City will number twice their present population in about three years; while Milwaukie, Monroe, and possibly Detroit, may require a longer term than five years to double their numbers.

Much will depend on the pecuniary condition of the nation; but we deem it safe to calculate on an average duplication of our chief lake towns, taken together, in every period of five years,-taking a series of not less than twenty, nor more than thirty years.

ROCHESTER FLOUR TRADE.

The Rochester Democrat furnishes the statistical facts connected with the flour trade of Rochester, during the season of 1848, compared with former years:

QUANTITY OF FLOUR SHIPPED EAST FROM ROCHESTER ON THE ERIE CANAL FOR FOUR SEASONS.

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The peculiar state of the markets in 1846, induced many to retain their stocks of wheat until the next season, when they were thrown upon the markets, causing the unusual increase in 1847. The wheat for the supply of the mills is derived from three sourcesthe canals, the Tonawanda Railroad, and teams from the surrounding country. We present a statement of the quantity left at this point by the two canals:

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The receipts by the Tonawanda Railroad, which cannot be ascertained till the annual report is made up, December 31st, has generally averaged about 200,000 bushels, making the aggregate of wheat by canal and railroad, over 1,600,000 bushels., Lake Ontario has sometimes supplied a small quantity-never more than 20,000 bushels. The supplies by the two canals for a series of years are as follows:

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We have nearly one hundred run of stone in Rochester, about 90 of which are employed on flour. To obtain a correct idea of the flour movements at this point, we must add to the amount shipped east by the canal the quantity consumed annually by 30,000 or more inhabitants, and the quantity transported by the railroad during the interval of canal navigation. The latter varies according to circumstances, sometimes not exceeding 10,000 barrels, and sometimes double or treble that number.

The State derives a revenue of 180,000 per annum from the Rochester flour trade. This shows the value of the Genesee River. If we take into the account the 235,000 barrels of flour transported this year by the Genesee Valley Canal, most of which was manufactured on the same stream, and add to that the revenue derived from the various other articles manufactured by the Genesee water power at various points, we shall have something like a correct notion of the value of this river. Since 1826 it has poured into the State coffers more than sufficient to pay half the original cost of the Erie Canal; and yet, strange to say, it has ever encountered the determined hostility of the State authorities, who persist in diverting its waters at Mount Morris, to feed 36 miles of the Genesee Canal; while at Rochester another draft is made to supply 74 miles of the Erie Canal. The Canal Board has reported in favor of deepening the outlets of the little lakes south of us, to make good the deficiency in the Genesee, caused by the extensive diversion in favor of the canals; but the legislature has neglected to make the appropriation. We hope this winter the Canal Board will put an end to the exceedingly unwise policy of crippling the usefulness of by far the most profitable stream of water in the State.

SHIP-BUILDING IN THE UNITED STATES. •

A correspondent of the Boston Mercantile Journal, residing at Salem, (Massachusetts,) furnishes the following statement of the number of each class of vessels built in the United States in the last thirty-three and a half years:

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Average per year for 4 years, 223,520 tons.

RECAPITULATION.-Ships and barques, 2,775; brigs, 3,741; schooners, 15,314; sloops

and canal boats, 7,650; steamers, 2,138; total, 31,616; total tons, 3,909,149.

Average in 29 years about 105,000 tons per year.

In 1848, 110 more ships and barques were built than in any other year.

From 1801 to 1807, the tonnage built in the United States amounted to 774,922 tons, being an average per year of 110,703 tons.

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