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forty-eight hours after such article has been purchased or received." He must give immediate notice to the police of the receipt or possession of any stolen property, of which a description may have been left with him. Finally, at any time when he may be required, he must produce to the police the books containing entries of all his transactions. In certain cases, an appeal is allowed to the Quarter Sessions; and it is provided that the act shall extend to England only. The measure would, undoubtedly, have been more effectual, had it provided for the preliminary registration of all old metal dealers, and had it authorized the police to make searches without special warrant; but the latter difficulty will no doubt be got rid of by the police assuming the responsibility of taking action in cases of strong suspicion.

This new act will do a great deal, it is thought, towards preventing the enormous frauds hitherto carried on by the assistance of marine-store dealers. A marine-store dealer is "a person who is willing to buy whatever a pawnbroker would decline, from its suspicious appearance, or its want of value to advance money upon." Of the latter class of articles, rags, bones, bottles, worm-eaten furniture and worn-out apparel may be taken as examples. Of the former class, old metal, scrap metal and metallic goods of all kinds in process of manufacture, whole, broken or defaced, form a large item in the dealer's business. The marine-store shop is always open for transactions, which the parties to them find it desirable to conceal from the knowledge of the police. Men, women and children bring, in the early morning and in the dusk of evening, scraps and pieces of valuable metal for sale, the vendors being often of an age, and the time being an hour at which all dealings with pawnbrokers are absolutely prohibited by law. No questions are asked by the dealer, who finds his account in buying the metal at a price far below its real value, though high enough to tempt the seller to a repetition of the theft; and inconvenient investigations are avoided by dropping the more valuable metals into a "hot pot," or crucible, always kept close at hand upon the fire. The marine-store dealer, as a rule, knows perfectly well that the metal thus disposed of has been stolen. He knows that silver, brass, copper, German silver and other metals of certain forms or stages of manufacture, cannot be honestly come by, because in the ordinary course of business they would not be permitted to leave the workshop or the rough warehouse. But the dishonest dealer is emboldened by impunity, and by the difficulty of identifying half-finished articles, which are commonly produced in countless profusion by hundreds of different manufacturers. In many instances the maker of the goods does not even know that he has been robbed, until the annual "stocktaking" discloses the discrepancy between the metal purchased during the year and the quantity remaining in stock or accounted for by use. The discovery of the theft, however, by no means implies the detection of the thief. Where many hands are employed, and especially where there are many children, the manufacturer is obliged to rest contented with knowing that he has been robbed, and that the thieves are among his own people. Increased vigilance prevents or lessens the depredations for a little time, but after a while this supervision slackens, from the impossibility of thoroughly applying it, and the thefts go on as merrily as ever.

It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to add, that this evil exists in this

country as well as in Great Britain; and would it not be well if some of the provisions of the act above referred to were incorporated into our statute books?

ANTHRACITE COAL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES.

In the Miner's Journal we find an official statement of the quantity of anthracite coal sent to market in 1861, together with the semi-anthracite and bituminous that is moved towards tide-water. The anthracite trade shows a decrease of 584,109 tons, and the semi-anthracite and bituminous trade a decrease of 419,340 tons, making the aggregate decrease in 1861, 1,003,449 tons.

Tons.

The aggregate supply of anthracite reaches.... 7,474,908
Semi-anthracite and bituminous,..

Imported, (estimated,).

Total,.....

826,177

240,000

8,541,085

All of which was destined for the seaboard, except about 400,000 tons of anthracite from Shamokin, Scranton and Pittston, which was sent into the interior of Pennsylvania and New-York.

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*The actual quantity of coal which had its outlet at Pinegrove in 1861, was 167,950 tons, but the balance is reported in the Reading Rail-Road and canal tonmage.

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Up to 1857, Schuylkill Region furnished more than one-half the quantity of anthracite coal sent to market, but she is rapidly falling behind in this respect, as the following figures will show:

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The Wyoming basin, which sent but 1,952,603 tons to market in 1857, sends this year 2,908,694 tons, and exceeds the tonnage sent from Schuylkill Region in 1861 by 211,235 tons.

*Not official, but will not vary much from the actual quantity.

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We append the following, which will show the extent of the different coal fields in acres, (which, however, gives no adequate idea of the quantity of coal deposited in each district, because that depends on the number of veins in the district, their thickness and depth below water level,) together with the production of each district in 1861, compared with

1860:

THE ANTHRACITE COAL FIELDS.

The first, or Southern coal district, embracing the Schuyl

kill, Pinegrove and Lykens Valley regions, contain... 75,950 acres. The second, or middle coal field, comprising the Lehigh, Shamokin and Trevorton regions, contain.... The third, or northern coal field, comprising the Wyoming Basin, contain.

Total,..

85,525

76,805

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238,280 acres.

From these districts there were sent to market in 1860 and 1861 the following quantity of coals, showing the increase in each district:

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LAKE SUPERIOR COPPER MINES.

We have received the annual review for 1861, of Messrs. DUPEE, BECK & SAYLES, Boston, of the Lake Superior copper mines, from which we make the following extracts:

In relation to the mining interests of Lake Superior, the year just now closed, will be long remembered as having witnessed the most extraordinary fluctuations in the prices of ingot copper, producing thereby the extremes of adversity and prosperity. This metal was sold, in July, at 17 cents per pound, cash-the lowest price in the market since 1850. To-day, holders refuse 27 cents, cash. Before the present stock has passed into the hands of manufacturers, and, consequently, before the profits of mining in 1861 can be accurately ascertained, the prices may have advanced to figures exceeding the maximum of 1857, or 30 cents

per pound, four months. These fluctuations in prices have not been the result of speculation, but have been caused by the disturbances of trade all over the world. The ordinary consumption of copper in the United States has usually been estimated at twelve thousand tons per annum. Lake Superior produced, in 1860, six thousand tons. The remainder was obtained principally from Tennessee, Canada and Chili. The opening of the lake navigation, in May last, brought upon the market, already, in consequence of the civil war, overstocked with foreign copper, the accumulated product of the previous six months. The necessities of several companies required immediate sales, reducing the price, in one instance, to the low rate named above. But the disastrous prices were, after all, followed by positively beneficial results to the mining interests. A most rigid system of economical management has been inaugurated, so that every manager can give an estimate, closely approximating to the truth, of the cost per pound of ingot copper produced by his mine. A new impulse has been given to the study of the machinery for profitably reducing the lower grades of stamp-work, and to the substitution of railways, in the mines, for handbarrows and heavy chain work. On the other hand, the low prices of copper in the American markets induced enormous shipments to the markets of Europe, especially to those of the continent, where its peculiar qualities of ductility and toughness procured for it the preference in the finer manufactures. In Rotterdam, Antwerp, Havre and Paris, the brands of the several American smelting works are as well known as in Boston and New-York. The exportation of copper continued until the price rose to 21 or 22 cents, (November.) Large purchases by the Federal government caused a rapid advance to 25 cents, (December,) and American copper was actually reshipped from Havre to

New-York.

Since the tariff of August last, importations from Chili, the main source of the supply of copper from abroad, have gradually declined, and such is the derangement of foreign commerce, that the supplies from that country must be comparatively small for many months hence. From all these premises, there will be a short supply, unless considerable lots can be returned from abroad, free of duty, till the opening of navigation, in May, 1862.

Looking back upon the past year as the most disastrous, financially, since 1837, those interested in the mines of Lake Superior may congratulate themselves that but few of the adventures have been suspended, that but few calls have been made upon the shareholders, and that nearly all the mines now in progress are earning dividends, or, at least, are selfsustaining. A careful inspection of the published reports of the principal companies shows, that the cost of production, including every item down to the charges of the commission merchant, need not exceed, hereafter, 13 cents per pound, at the richer mines, nor more than 18, or, possibly, 19 cents, at the poorer mines.

Yet the business of mining, at Lake Superior, is but in its infancy. The same energy which has developed successfully the lead, iron, coal, silver and gold of the United States, will yet solve, with a similar measure of success, the problem of mining for copper in the richest and most extensive deposits of that metal yet discovered in the world.

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