MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

WHARVES AND WHARFAGE AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK.

The corporation of the city of New York, according to the statement of Controller Flagg, has an interest in bulkheads, wharves, and piers estimated to be worth $3,250,000. Of this amount, the total valuation on the East River is estimated at $1,829,000, and on the North River $1,429,000, showing a total valuation of $3,258,000. Now, the gross receipts for rents of wharves and piers, Mr, Flagg thinks, should be, at the rate of 8 per cent, equal, on the capital invested, to $260,000. The actual receipts for 1853 were only $127,000; from which deduct $37,000 expended for repairs, and we have $90,000 as the net proceeds-less than 3 per cent on the estimated value of the piers and slips belonging to the city.

The controller suggests such an increase of the rates of wharfage as will secure a fair remuneration for this description of property, under the belief that the character of New York, as a desirable shipping port, will be benefited instead of injured. "We have," says Mr. Flagg, "adhered to low rates of wharfage to keep up the name of the cheapest port on the continent, until we have literally run the shipping into the mud."

The following statement of the rates of wharfage in several ports of the Union, as compared with the port of New York, is given by Mr. Flagg, the controller, in the ap pendix to his report. It illustrates his position in regard to the low rate of wharfage in New York, and contains facts that will be new to many :

RATES OF WHARFAGE IN THE PRINCIPAL PORTS OF THE UNION.

The rates of wharfage on employed vessels in the city of New York is but a small fraction on the average of what is charged in nearly every other port in the Union, and also in foreign ports, either on the vessels or cargo, or on both. A few cases out of a multitude will serve to illustrate this subject and set it in a clear light, and also tend to show the inadequate compensation owners of piers in the city of New York now receive.

The sloop Tecumseh, of Rhode Island, 70 tons register, and carries 700 barrels, discharged her cargo on pier No. 11 North River, and paid 624 cents for one day's wharfage, the legal rate. For the privilege of discharging a similar cargo on one of the piers in Rhode Island, she paid the regular wharf tax of two cents per barrel, or $14 for the cargo.

The ship Vicksburgh, of New York, 468 tons register, and carries 1,700 bales cotton, discharged her whole cargo on pier No. 4 North River in 2 days, using horse-power for the purpose. To remove this cotton, a horse and cart were required to come on the pier four hundred times, four large or five small bales constituting a load. For this entire use of the pier she paid three days' wharfage, at $1 62 per day, or $4 874 in all, being the legal rate. In Baltimore she would be required to pay about fifty dollars, in Boston sixty-eight, in Charleston, Mobile, or New Orleans, about the same as in Boston.

The coal-barge Anthracite, of Philadelphia, 49 tons register, discharged her whole cargo of 70 tons of coal on pier No. 4, North River, in ten hours, by horse-power, using blocks, one of which was screwed into the pier, and also tackle for the purpose. To discharge this cargo, the horse used was required to traverse a distance of seventy feet each time an iron tub with coal was raised from the barge to the cart; and as nine tubs of coal make a ton and fill the cart, the horse therefore traversed on the surface of the pier, which was covered with pine plank, in drawing and returning, eighteen times to each ton, over a space of seventy feet, or 630 times drawing and 630 times returning, to discharge her cargo of seventy tons of coal. In addition to this, a horse and cart were required to come on the pier seventy times to remove the coal. For this whole use of the pier she paid one day's wharfage, fifty cents, being the legal rate.

In Boston she would have to pay twenty-five cents per ton, or $17 25 in all, for the privilege of discharging a similar cargo. The harbor master received from the captain of this barge, for his own use and benefit, the legal fee of two dollars, for simply directing him to take his barge into her berth.

The owners of steamboat lines and tow-boats now rent a large number of piers in the city of New York, for their exclusive use, for which they pay nearly twice as much as these piers would produce if thrown open to all vessels, and the legal rate of wharfage only exacted.

All vessels pay wharfage according to their registered tonnage at the custom house, which, from some erroneous system used in the measurement, does not give their true burden. Most vessels will carry from one-third to one-half more tons, of either measurement or heavy goods, than they register at the custom house. The law now in being designed that they should pay according to their actual burden, but it has been found impracticable to carry it out.

THE BRITISH ACT ON THE COASTING TRADE.

The act of the British Parliament to admit foreign ships to the coasting trade, received the royal assent in April, 1854, and has been printed.

It repeals the 152d and 191st sections of the 16th and 17th of Victoria, c. 107, and enables the Queen to exercise retaliatory powers, as in the 324th and two following sections of the same act. This act destroys "the last rag of protection," as stated, providing by the second clause that every foreign ship which, after the passing of the act, is employed for carrying goods or passengers coastwise from one part of the United Kingdom to another, or from the Channel Islands to the United Kingdom, or from the United Kingdom to any of the said islands, or from any of them to any other of them, or from any part to any other part, "shall be subject, as to stores for the use of the crew, and in all other respects, to the same laws, rules and regulations, to which British ships when so employed are now subject." Further, by the 3d section it is enacted that foreign ships employed in the coasting trade shall not be subject to higher rates than British ships, and with respect to passengers it is stated to be expedient to provide for the safety of passenger steamers; and it is enacted by the concluding provision that every foreign steam vessel carrying passengers from one place to another on the coast of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Channel Islands, shall be subject to the provisions of the steam navigation act, 1851. The coasting trade is now thrown open to foreign vessels in the same manner as British ships.

THE SHIP-MASTERS OF MAINE.

The State of Maine says, the business of a ship-master has become a leading profession in Maine. This gallant class of men, always most respectable, has rapidly grown into distinction and importance within the last few years. In 1850, Maine had 928 clergymen, 659 physicians, and 560 lawyers-and these professions are all crowded. The average compensation of the clergy of Maine will not exceed $40 per month, and that of the physicians and lawyers will not exceed, on an average, $50 per month, or $600 a year.

Our ship-masters are now far better paid than any class of men in the State. In 1853, Maine put to sea 365 vessels of all descriptions-nearly one-half of them ships of the larger class. Each of these vessels has to be supplied with a master-calling, at least, 300 young men in a single year from Maine into active and profitable employment-requiring as high a degree of practical sagacity, physical energy, and business talent as is demanded in any other trade or profession among us. known young men, graduates of college and educated to the bar, leave that profession to take charge of vessels, and retire with a competency in early life, with far better health and more knowledge of the world than they could have obtained in their former pursuit.

We have

So great is the demand for ship-masters, and so rapid is promotion, that a much younger class of men reach the command than formerly. Our ship-masters very often own a share in the ship, and in addition to the ordinary compensation to the master, share a portion of the profits of the voyage. By such a union of capital and skill, our shipping is materially enhanced in value.

THE BUSINESS OF NEW YORK AND BOSTON.

Mr. HASKELL, the present editor of the Boston Transcript, has had some experience as a merchant. He writes thus of two of the leading commercial cities of the Union:

In view of the great superiority of New York, it may be asked, Is she not destined' to finally swallow up the trade of Boston? To which we answer, that if the trade of this city was mainly foreign Commerce, there might be some danger of this result. But such is not the fact. The foreign trade of Boston sinks into insignificance when compared with its domestic Commerce. It was estimated, a few years since, at two hundred million, and now must be much more, and probably in amount would approach two hundred and fifty to three hundred million. It is this vast trade in our domestic productions that makes Boston what she is, and this portion of our business is increasing at an unprecedented rate. And we cannot think that there is much danger of decline in a city that shows an increase of nearly $20,000,000 in taxable property in one year, a gain of ten per cent a year in tonnage, and a like increase in the amount of foreign imports. The increase of business at Boston is probably rapid enough to be healthy and sound; while the great inflation of the business at New York, the tremendous extravagance and speculation incident thereto, may result, at no very distant period, in a general crash, which will spread ruin all around. Then Boston, being under snug sail, will be all the better off for not being so inflated. We think that this consideration should comfort our citizens when they see the vast strides of New York in business, and warn them, while they are urgent for the advancement of their city, to avoid that recklessness and wildness of speculation which must prove disastrous in the end.

EXTRAVAGANT EXPENDITURES: A HINT TO MERCHANTS.

One of the most mischievous phrases in which a rotten morality, says a newspaper paragraph-a radically false and vicious public sentiment, disguise themselves, is that which characterizes certain indivividuals as destitute of financial capacity. "A kind, amiable, generous, good sort of man," so runs the varnish, "but utterly unqualitied for the management of his own finances, a mere child in everything relating to money," &c.,-meaning that, with an income of £300 a year, he persisted in spending £600; or, with an income of £500, he regularly spent £1,000, according to his ability to run in debt, or the credulity of others in trusting him. The world is full of people who can't imagine why they don't prosper like their neighbors, when the real obstacle is in their own extravagance and heedless ostentation. The young clerk marries and takes a house, which he proceeds to furnish quite as expensively as he can afford; and then his wife, instead of taking to helping him to earn a livelihood by doing her own work, must have a hired servant to help her to spend his limited earnings. Ten years afterward you will find him struggling on under a double load of debts and children, wondering why the luck was always against him, while his friends regret his "unhappy destitution of financial ability." Had they from the first been frank and honest, he need not have been so unlucky. Through every grade of society this vice of inordinate expenditure insinuates itself. Let a man have a genius for spending, and whether his income is a guinea a day or a guinea a minute, is equally certain to prove inadequate. If dining, wining, cigarring, and party-giving wont help him through it, building, gaming, and speculation will be sure to.

MERCANTILE HONOR.

We are pleased to learn that the Hon. Winslow S. Pierce, who went from Illinois to California several years since, and who, by industry and economy-notwithstanding losses by fires at two or three different times, which swept away nearly all his earnings having secured a small amount of the valuable dust of the country, has returned and honorably paid both principal and interest of debts contracted in this city eight or nine years ago, which, by reason of misfortunes in business, he has been before entirely unable to meet. We are happy to record this instance of mercantile integrity, and wish, for the honor of human nature, that such occurrences were not so rare. -Journal.

EXECUTION OF A BANKRUPT IN HAMBURGH.

The following account of an occurrence which took place in Hamburgh is copied from a recent number of the London Dispatch. How would such a course answer in any of our commercial cities? The account says:

At noon, just as the Exchange-crowded with merchants-presented its busiest aspect, two drummers in the civic uniform came up and rolled their drums for the space of ten minutes, causing a great commotion both within and out of the Bourse. While this was going on, workmen were seen over the principal gateway of the building elevating a black board, on which was painted in white letters the name of a merchant of the city who had lately suspended payment and absconded with all his assets. When the name had been fairly set up, a bell called the "shand glocke," or shame bell, only rung on such occasions, was sounded for two hours from a tower of the Bourse. This penalty of disgrace, called the "execution of a fraudulent bankrupt," is ordained by a law which can be traced to the 14th century, when the Hanseatic league was at the hight of its greatness. At that period, however, the bankrupt's patent of citizenship and his certificate as a merchant, were also burnt by the hangman.

COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE ONION.

The onion is worthy of notice as an extensive article of consumption in this country. It is largely cultivated at home, and is imported. to the extent of seven or eight hundred tons a year, from Spain and Portugal. But it rises in importance when we consider that in these latter countries it forms one of the common and universal supports of life. It is interesting, therefore, to know that, in addition to the peculiar flavor which first recommends it, the onion is remarkably nutritious. According to my analyses, the dried onion-root contains from twenty-five to thirty per cent of gluten. It ranks in this respect with the nutritious pea and the gram of the East. It is not merely as a relish, therefore, that the wayfaring Spaniard eats his onion with his humble crust of bread, as he sits by the refreshing spring; it is because experience has long proved that, like the cheese of the English laborer, it helps to sustain his strength also, and adds, beyond what its bulk would suggest, to the amount of nourishment which his simple meal supplies.-The Chemistry of Common Life.

THE ARTICLE OF COMMERCE, QUININE.

This famous medicine, says the Commercial Bulletin, with which the people of New Orleans have become so well acquainted, has been taken into consideration by the Secretary of the Treasury, in his proposed revision of the tariff. At one time it was classed in the list of free articles, but subsequently it was excluded, and the proposition is now to increase the duty upon it. Heretofore this drug, so universally used, was subject to a duty of 20 per cent-the proposed scheme would raise it to 25 per cent. It is computed that about 300,000 ounces are consumed annually in the United States; but if it is used elsewhere in anything like the ratio it was used in this city last summer, the consumption will greatly exceed that quantity. There are two manufactories of the article in this country, and they have grown rich at the business. The domestic article is far inferior to the imported drug.

EFFECTS OF THE EARLY CLOSING MOVEMENT IN LONDON.

The early closing movement in London has given rise to a change in the customs of business in a different direction. The Bank of England has given notice that from the 1st of March the time of opening will be 10 o'clock, one hour later than formerly. The result of this measure, it is stated in London journals, will be twofold; it will enable the senior employees to live further out of town than they now do, or will take them from their families at a more convenient hour; and it will enable the juniors to partake of the advantages which hitherto have been only afforded to those above them. The junior clerk will now be able to live three or four miles out of London, and walk to his business in the morning-a change by which he will gain both air and exercise, and, as their consequences, health. In another point of view the benefit will be great; the public will have their business transacted within a smaller space of time.

THE BOOK TRADE.

1.-Merrimac, or Life at the Loom. A Tale by DAY KELLOGG LEE, author of "Summerfield, or Life on a Farm," and "The Master Builder, or Life at a Trade." 12mo., pp. 353. New York: Redfield.

This volume is in the form of an auto-biography. The principal character relates her own experience. She belonged to a family in Salem, whose home was early broken up, by the loss of property and death of her parents. The second one laid in Massachusetts. After relating the events of her childhood, and the efforts put forth to gain her own livelihood, she gives her history as one of the operatives in the Mills at Merrimac. Her life at the loom is very pleasantly set forth, presenting to the reader the advantages and disadvantages resulting from the circumstances which surround the factory girl. The book gives an insight into the life of this portion of the community, pointing out the temptations which allure the unwise and unsuspecting, and showing the success which attends those, however exposed, whose characters are based on high moral principle. The narrative is well told. Many incidents connected with her own family, and the history of others, add to the interest of the book, and make it acceptable to the reader.

2.-The Poetical Works of William H. C. Hosmer. 2 vols., 12mo., pp. 374 and 376. New York: Redfield.

It is not often that two volumes of poetry, by the same author, issue from the press at once. Most writers of verse are extremely modest in the extent of their publications, and come before the public quite daintily, as if it was a fearful personage to meet face to face. We like the bold, manly courage of Mr. Hosmer, in presenting to us in a compact form the various poetical effusions from his pen, some of which have been so long floating in the columns of the newspaper press. The volumes are such as to give an honorable reputation to any author, more especially in this instance will they increase the flattering reputation their author enjoys as a poet. The contents of the first volume consist of the more lengthy and severe poems of Mr. Hosmer, while the latter comprises occasional poems, historic scenes, martial lyrics, songs and ballads, funeral echoes, sonnets, &c. The versification is easy, flowing, and polished, rich in thought, and possessing many sparkling passages. These volumes must meet with extensive favor from the public.

3.-The Shores of the Black Sea in the Autumn of 1852: With a Voyage down the Volga, and a Tour through the Country of the Don Cossacks. By LAWRENCE OLIPHANT. From the Third London edition. 12mo., pp. 266. New York: Redfield. The reader will at once conceive the importance to be attached to this volume, by considering that those provinces of the Black Sea which Russia has appropriated to herself within the last sixty years, compose a territory as extensive as Turkey in Europe, to which they formerly belonged. The shores of the Volga also, through which the author passed, form the granary of the Russian Empire. The narrative conveys very full information relative to the character of the people, the resources of the country, and the power and efficiency, or inefficiency, of the Russian government in that portion of the continent. At this time, when a war which will test all the resources of Russia is so imminent, this volume cannot fail to be read with satisfaction by all who feel an interest in the most momentous affairs of the world.

4.-Classic and Historic Portraits. By JAMES BRUCE. 12mo., pp. 352. New York: J. S. Redfield.

We find in this book the characteristics of those personages of antiquity, classical and historical, and those of a later period, who in their age and country have made themselves either illustrious or infamous, according to their virtues or vices. The compiler differs in his sketches as far as possible from the oft-told history of their lives, having collected from every source available to him, a description of the personal appearance, manners, and private habits and tastes of those famed on the page of history. The ideas of beauty which have prevailed in different ages and countries are discussed, and references to painting, sculpture, and the kindred arts are introduced, which tend to make the book instructive and interesting.