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LONDON 615 in progress. The custom house, in Lower Thames street, dates from 1817, but the origi- nal centre subsequently gave way, and a new front facing the river was erected. It con- tains an appropriately named long room, being nearly 200 ft. long and 66 wide, in which about 2,500 persons are employed. The an- nual amount of duties received varies from 10,000,000 to 12,000,000, generally exceed- ing half of the average customs revenues in all the other ports of the country. The royal mint, on Tower hill, soon to be removed to another locality, in 1872 struck 52,841,048 coins, and 672 tons of metal passed through the melting department during that year. The amount of money coined fluctuates consider- ably, the lowest since 1855 having been 723,- 540 in 1867, and the highest 16,426,663 in 1872. The amount paid for gas was 2,544,- 132 in 1873. It is a monopoly of nine great Royal Exchange. companies, and it is suggested to place in fu- ture the gas supply of the metropolis under the direction of the board of works. Up- ward of 4,000,000 tons of coal reached London in the first seven months of 1874, and the duty of 9d. per ton produced in 1873 224,891, and the City's duty of 4<Z. 99,951, both amounts being appropriated to local improvements. The bank of England, Threadneedle street, is the most important of the banks (see BANK) ; and among the other establishments are the Union bank of London, the London and West- minster, the London and Southwestern bank, the London and County banking company, and many others of great importance. The bank- ers' clearing-house return for the week end- ing March 6, 1873, was the highest on record, amounting to 161,770,000. The overflowing abundance of capital makes London the regu- lator of the world's money markets, and draws thither consignments from all parts of the globe, upon which money is advanced, as well as upon floating cargoes. Except at the stock exchange (enlarged in 1873, and then consist- ing of 1,787 members besides 1,146 clerks), where gambling in stocks and shares produces recklessness of manner, business of immense amount is transacted everywhere with little or no excitement, and with most decorum at the royal exchange (see EXCHANGE), though bills for fabulous sums, crops of great conti- nents, and charter parties for whole fleets of merchant vessels pass here from hand to hand within barely one hour in the afternoon. In- tensely national and homogeneous everywhere, London is cosmopolitan only in the City, where all nationalities are represented: the Greeks in the Levant, Mediterranean, and transoceanic trade ; the Germans in the Baltic and other foreign trade ; and there are French, Italian, Dutch, Swiss, Russian, Scandinavian, Belgian, Spanish, American, and other foreign merchants. The im- portant East and West Indian, Australian, American, and domes- tic trade, however, is chiefly in the hands of the indigenous houses. The most influential JewsofLondonarethe Eothschilds, Sir Mo- ses Montefiore, the ba- ronet Goldsmid, and several German finan- ciers. The principal insurance, telegraph, gas, mining, and other companies, and many banks, are authorized to issue shares, which increase the specula- tive business and that for permanent invest- ment. Many colonial and foreign securities, bonds, and shares are negotiated here, and there are few underta- kings in any part of the world which do not look to London capital for support. The finan- cial and commercial operations vary according to the ebbs and tides in agricultural and other productive and manufacturing resources, and in the general condition of the empire and the world. There has been great prosperity with- in the last few years, the absorption of Amer- ican shipping during and since the civil war in the United States, and the progress of Aus- tralian and other colonies, vastly increasing the activity of the London markets. The regis- tered merchant shipping of the port, Jan. 1, 1874, comprised 1,993 sailing vessels of 694,- 218 tons, and 846 steamers of 447,839 tons. The total number of vessels that entered du- ring the year ending Dec. 31, 1873, was 38,- 810, of 7,843,041 tons, including 11,017 ves- sels, of 4,547,934 tons, from foreign countries