Summary Of News For August.

to the extent—as estimated—of 3 , 094 , 770 / . ; first , by a decrease of revenue amounting to 226 , 245 / ., and secondly , by an increase of expenditure to the amount of 2 , 868 , 535 / . In the course of his statement , he promised that means should be taken to prevent a recurrence to the system of torture adopted in the Madras Presidency for the exaction of tribute . On the 8 th , the Criminal Justice Bill was read a third time ancl passed , ancl the Crime and Outrage ( Ireland ) Bill went through committee . On the 9 th , new writs were ordered for Kidderminster ,

Hertford , and Kilmarnock , in the room of Mr . Lowe , Hon . Mr . Cowper , and Rt . Hon . Mr . Bouverie , who had respectively accepted the offices of Vice-President of the Board of Trade , President of the Board of Health , and President of the Poor Law Board . Captain Scohell "brought the system of naval promotion under the attention of the House , when the First Lord of the Admiralty stated that great difficulties would attend a departure from tho principle of seniority . The discussion on the subject was terminated ba count outthere being onl 34 members present

y , y . On the 18 th , the Solicitor-General , on the occasion of the third reading of the Despatch of Business ( Chancery ) Bill , severely criticised the constitution of the House of Lords as a court of appeal . On the llth , the Lords' amendments in the Limited Liability Bill were agreed to . The House did not assemble on the 13 th . On the 14 th , Sir De Lacy Evans called on the Government to pledge itself to a vigorous prosecution of the war during the recess , and as Lord Palmerston was repling to the gallant general ' s observationsthe Usher of the Black Rod made

y , his appearance , summoning the House to the bar of the House of Lords to hear the Royal assent given to several bills , and the speech of her Majesty proroguing parliament . On their return , the Speaker read Her Majesty's speech , and so terminated the session of 1854—55 . THE WAR .

THE most interesting events in connection with the war during the past month have been the bombardment of Sweaborg on the 9 th , by the Allied fleets , when they succeeded in completely destroying the town , arsenal , and stores almost with impunity , and the defeat of the Russians in the field with the loss of 4 , 000 on the banks of the Tchernaya , by the French ancl Sardinian troops , These victories completely restored the public confidence in the success of the war , ancl must have had a dispiriting effect on the Russians . On the night of the 23 rd , the French carried an ambuscade on the glacis of the Malakoff , and turned the Russian works upon Sebastopol . General Torrens , who had been wounded at Inkerman , died on the 24 th , at Paris .

COMMERCIAL . At the meeting of the Maricpiita and New Canada Company held on the 27 th of July a report was presented which stated that on the profit and loss account of the year there was in hand a balance of £ 18 , 849 , which would have been applicable to a dividend , were it not that the directors hacl not been able to issue the full number of debentures for the payment of the sum by which the fixed outlay

exceeded the capital of the company . At a meeting of the Anglo-Californian Gold Mining Company , held on the 30 th of July , it was stated that 320 tons of ore , realising £ 1 , 700 , had been crushed , and there was at surface £ 8 , 000 worth of quartz , but that the company would be unable to go on unless the directors succeeded in issuing the preference shares . The Berlin Waterworks Company held their halfyearly meeting on the same day , when their engineer reported that the works were fast approaching completion . At the meeting of the Australian Mining Company held also

on the 30 th , a report was presented which shewed that the income for the past year , £ 11 , 616 9 * . bd ., exceeded the outlay by £ 1 , 297 8 * . 5 d . On the 31 st , the South Australian Mining Company authorised the issue of 20 , 000 new shares of £ 1 each , of which 10 , 000 shares are to be preference shares of 10 per cent . On the same day , the Electric Telegraph Company reported that they now had 5 , 409 £ miles of telegraph in operation , and declared a dividend of 4 per cent , per annum . The Llanelly shareholders met the same day , and divided £ 3 10 s . per share for the half year . There had been