ACT OF NEW YORK RELATIVE TO DIVIDENDS OF INSURANCE COMPANIES. The following Act was passed by "the People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, March 19, 1855, and is now in force." (Chapter 75.)

AN ACT RELATIVE TO UNCLAIMED DIVIDENDS OF INSURANCE COMPANIES.

SECTION 1. Every insurance company or association for fire, marine, or life risks' conducted on the mutual principle or otherwise, now or hereafter incorporated or organized, or doing business under any general or special law of this State, on or before the first day of September next, and annually thereafter, shall cause to be published for six successive weeks in one public newspaper printed in the county in which such company or association may be located, and in the State paper, a true and accurate statement, verified by the oath of the treasurer or presiding officer, of all dividends and interest declared and payable upon any of the stock, bonds, or other evidence of indebtedness of said company or association, which, at the date of such statement shall have remained unclaimed by any person or persons authorized to receive the same, for two years then next preceding: and the word "dividend" shall include all scrip issued or declared due for unpaid earnings or profits. SECT. 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

OF PILOTS APPOINTED BY THE PILOT COMMISSIONERS IN NEW YORK.

NOTICE TO MERCHANTS AND SHIPMASTERs.

The Pilot Commissioners-(C. H. Marshall, Robert Taylor, E. E. Morgan, appointed by the Chamber of Commerce, and George W. Blunt, Russel Sturges, and F. Perkins, appointed by the Board of Underwriters,)—being frequently applied to in regard to off-shore pilotage, detention, &c., beg leave to refer to the law of the State of New York, passed June 28, 1853, and as amended April 11, 1854, copies of which can be had at the office, 69 South-street. They especially refer to part of section 13 and sections 17 and 29, as below. The Commissioners also beg to state that they do not consider themselves as having anything to do with the agreements made at sea between pilots and masters :-

SECTION 13. When any ship or vessel, bound to the port of New York, and boarded by any pilot appointed by this Board, at such distance to the southward or eastward of Sandy Hook Light-house, as that said light house could not be seen from the deck of such ship or vessel in the day time, and in fair weather, the addition of one-fourth to the rate of pilotage hereinbefore mentioned shall be allowed to such pilot.

SEC. 17. For every day of detention at the wharf or in the harbor beyond the time notined to the pilot for him to attend the vessel, or beyond the usual time of getting vessels from sea to the wharf, and from the wharf to sea, and for every day of detention of an inward bound vessel by ice longer than two days for the passage from sea to the wharf, three dollars shall be added to the pilotage; and if any pilot shall be detained at quarantine by the health officer, for having been on board a sickly vessel as pilot, the master, owner, agent, or consiguee of such vessel, shall pay to such pilot all necessary expenses of living, and three dollars per day for each and every day of such detention.

SEC. 29. Any person not holding a license as pilot under this act, or under the laws of the State of New Jersey, who shall pilot, or offer to pilot, any ship or vessel to or from the port of New York by the way of Sandy Hook, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be punished by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding sixty days; and all persons employing a person to act as pilot, not holding a license under this act, or under the laws of the State of New Jersey, shall forfeit and pay to the Board of Commissioners Pilots, the sum of one hundred dollars.

PRINCE'S CHANNEL-ENTRANCE TO THE THAMES.

TRINITY HOUSE, LONDON, August 9th, 1855.

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the intentions expressed in an advertisement from this house, dated 30th May, 1855, the following changes have taken place in the Prince's Channel, viz. :—

The Tongue Light Vessel has been moved about three-fourths of a mile to the north-westward, into ten fathoms, with the following marks and bearings:Minster East Mill, on with the center of the Coast Guard Station in

Westgate Bay......

Margate Old Church, the apparent width of its Tower, opened to the

eastward of the Pier Light-house...

Shingles Beacon

North-east Spit....

.S. by W. W.

.South.
.N. W. N.

..S. E. S.

Mariners are cautioned always to pass to the northward of this light vessel. The North-east Tongue Buoy has been moved about half a mile to the westward into 4 fathoms, with-

St. Peter's Church in line with Margate New Church...

Monckton Beacon, twice its apparent length, on the east end of Lower

Hale Grove.

North Tongue Buoy

Shingles Beacon...

.S. by E. 1 E.

.S. by W. W.

W. by N. 4 W. .N. E. by N.

The North Tongue Buoy has been moved about a quarter of a mile to the westward into 6 fathoms, with

The west end of Cleve Wood, just open to the westward of Birchington
West Mill.....

Sarr Mill, twice its apparent length, open to the eastward of Margate
Hook Beacon....

The Girdler Light Vessel has been moved about an eighth of a mile to the southward into 3 fathoms, with

Ash Church spire, midway between George's Farm and Reculvers....S. E.
West end of Cleve Wood, open to the eastward of St. Nicholas Eastern
Coast Guard Station....

Redding street Beacon, its apparent length, open to the eastward of
Northdown Tower.

Shivering Sand Buoy..

West Pan Sand Buoy...

.S. by E. E.

.S. E. 1 S. ...N. N. W.

......S. by E. E.

The following new buoys have also been placed in this vicinity, viz :— A chequered black and white buoy, marked "East Tongue," has been placed in 4 fathoms, with the following marks and bearings, viz. :—

The first house, next east of St. Nicholas Church, in line with St. Nich

olas Western Coast Guard Station.....

Minster West Mill, in line with the west end of the east cliff of Westgate Bay.

N.

A red buoy, marked " West Girdler," in 24 fathoms, with

W. by N.
W. by S. S.

Ash Church spire, just open to westward of Reculvers Village... ...S. E.
West end of Cleve Wood, open to the westward of Margate Hook Bea-

con, the apparent length of the beacon

Shivering Sand Buoy...

Girdler Beacon and South Girdler Buoy in line

.S. by E. 4 E.

.N. N. W.
.E. S. E.

W.

The foregoing bearings are all magnetic, and the depths those of low water spring tides.

NORTH PAN SAND BUOY.

It is intended that on or about the 1st October next, the black and white chequered buoy at this station shall be taken away and replaced by a buoy painted black." J. HERBERT, Secretary.

COAST OF SPAIN.

STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR-ALTERATION OF TARIFA LIGHT.

The Spanish government has given notice that on and after the 1st of next September, the present Revolving Light on the south point of Tarifa Island will be changed to a Fixed Light of the natural color.

The position of the light remains unaltered, in 36° 0' 0" N., and long. 5° 36′ 37′′ west of Greenwich.

The new illuminating apparatus is catadioptric and of the first order, and the light, being 132 feet above the sea, is visible at the distance of 20 miles.

JOHN WASHINGTON, Hydrographer.

HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE, ADMIRALTY, LONDON, 21st August, 1855.

This notice affects the following Admiralty Charts and Directions: South Coast of Spain from Gibraltar to Alicante, No. 1,186; Gibraltar Strait, plan, No. 142; also the General Charts Atlantic and Mediterranean, with the plan in Tofino's Directions, and No. 2 in the Lighthouse List.

POSTAL DEPARTMENT.

STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES POST-OFFICE.

In the Merchants' Magazine for September, 1854, (volume xxxi., pages 305-320.) we published a statistical, historical, and descriptive account of the "General PostOffice of the United States," prepared by D. T. LEECH, Esq., of the Department, with additional statistics which we compiled from official sources.

We have received from PLINY MILES, Esq., some proof sheets of a work now in press, entitled "Postal Reform: its urgent necessity and practicability," which will shortly be published by Stringer & Townsend. We are permitted by the author to extract the most interesting statistics. Mr. Miles has given much time and attention to postal matters. He was attached to the Post Office Department in 1853 and 1854, and went to Europe last year for the purpose of obtaining information on the postal affairs of the various continental States. The statistics given below are more full and complete than any before published :—

It appears by the preceding table that the expense of transportation from 1790 to 1854, inclusive, amounted to $86,453,415; the total expenses, $135,090,314; the total revenue, $133,381,650; the whole number of letters transported, 1,393,930,814.

PROGRESS OF THE IRISH POST-OFFICE.

The following table will show the reader at a glance what an immense increase has taken place in the number of letters carried by the post-office :

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT of letters DELIVERED IN IRELAND for the weeks ENDING,

STATISTICS OF THE BRITISH POST-OFFICE.

REVENUE, EXPENSES, NUMBER OF LETTERS, AND NUMBER AND AMOUNT OF MONEY ORDERS, FROM 1839 TO 1854, INCLUSIVE:-

Gross receipts.

Expenses. Net revenue. 1839..... $11,953,818 $3,784,997 $8,168,821

Number of Amount of mon'y ord'rs. mon'y ord's. 188,921 $1,565,623 587,797

4,804,878

Number of letters. 82,470,596 6,797,332 4,293,385 2,503,947 168,768,344 7,497,093 4,690,845 2,806,248 196,500,191 1,552,845 15,637,538 7,890,729 4,887,522 3,003,207 208,434,451 2,111,980 21,685,889 8,104,338 4,903,252 3,201,086 220,450,306 2,501,523 25,564,204 8,525,339 4,925,553 3,599,786 242,091,684 2,806,803 28,476,977 9,437,883 5,627,971 3,809,912 271,410,789 3,176,126 32,066,805 9,819,287 5,693,726 4,125,561 299,586,762 3,515,079 35,355,284 10,905,084 5,982,600 4,922,484 322,146,243 4,031,185 39,515,886 10,718,400 7,016,253 3,702,147 328,830,184 4,203,651 40,756,475 10,826,749 6.622,814 4,203,935 337,399,199 4,248,891 40,763,219 11,323,421 7,303,928 4,019,493 347,069,071 4,439,713 42,472,493 12,110,841 6,520,818 5,590,023 360,647,187 4,661,025 44,402,104 12,171,634 6719,536 5,452,098 379,501,499 4,947,825 47,191,389 12,872,039 7,003,399 5,868,640 410,817,489 5,215,290 49,580,976 13,524,313 7,532,781 5,976,532 443,649,301 5,466,244 52,312,059

164,478,300 93,509,380 70,953,920 4,619,773,296 53,654,898 522,151,799

POST-OFFICE MANAGEMENT.

A Canadian correspondent, residing at Port Hope, has called our attention to the following remarks of the Scientific American on "Post-Office Management." Coinciding in the main with the writer, we cheerfully transfer his statements to the pages of the Merchants' Magazine :

66

Although we are far in advance of all other nations in a free government by the people, and in the general economy of its administration, still we must confess that in some things we are behind some other countries. In post-office management, for example-respecting which we should stand, like Saul, above all other governmentswe are, on the contrary, behind Britain and even despotic Prussia. In England and Prussia, the safest and most convenient way of transmitting money is through the post-office. In the last named country, so safe and convenient is the postal system, that it is customary for persons going to distant cities, to deposit the money they intend to use at the end of their journey, in the post office, before they start, and get an order for the same, the government becoming responsible for it. This is also the case in England, and has been found to operate well. In Berlin, Prussia, a plan is in operation, which we should like to see introduced into all our cities. It consists in having light post office wagons, with letter deposit boxes, pass through the streets at regular intervals every day, to carry letters to the general post-office. The people have but to drop their letters at their own doors into the wagon, and away they go safe to different parts of the world. With our stamp system this would be easily carried out in our large cities, and would be a most convenient arrangement.

"By a recent law the Province of Canada has started out in advance of us in postoffice improvements. All Canadian newspapers are allowed to pass free in the Province, and no charge is made upon those from England. The expenses to carry out this system must be paid from the general fund, but such an appropriation is a wise one. It facilitates the circulation of useful information, and thus it tends to educate the people. To this system the aphorism of Lord Brougham-" the schoolmaster is abroad"-may well be applied. The spirit of democracy is to adopt every system which will benefit the people, let it originate where it may. We therefore hope that our people will give these remarks a careful consideration prior to the meeting of Congress, in order that our post-office system may be reformed to meet the wants of the age and the people. We must yet engraft the "money order," ocean penny postage, free newspapers and periodicals, and the cheap carriage of light packages, upon our postal system. Until we do this, we will be behind Britain and Prussia, and this we should not be in anything."