COMMERCIAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2292, 28 April 1868, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

Lyttelton, Timet Office, Monday evening, The Customs revenue collected at Christehurch to-day amounted to £lB5 3s lid. The Mowing were the items : Spirits, 23i gallons, 13« 7s; tea, 1304 lbs, HI 12s j tobacco, 129 lbs, 181 2s 6d; cigars, 8* lbs, 2Z la 3d; fancy guods, part 1 case, Is 2d; aims fees, 'is. The Customs revenue collected at Lyttelton this day amounted to £lO 2s lOd. The following were the items:— Spirits, 74 gallons, 441 9s 2d; tobacco, 1225 lbs, Ibl 16s 3d j sugar, 3202 lbs, 13116s lOd; saddlery, 1 pkg, 21 2a; rice, 40 pkgs, 21 ; fencing wire, 1 coil, 1b 6d; drapery, 1 pkg, 2s 6d; light dura, 6i 2a 7d; merchant shipping fees, U4s; pilotage, 252 Bs. The following is the Customs revenue collected at ChrUtchurcb. and Lyttelton for Hie week ending April 21:— £ s. d. Duties 1590 7 0 Merchantehippiugfees., 0 17 0 Arms fees 212 0 Light dues 14 4 2 Other receipts 0 10 Total £I6OB 1 2 The following is an abstract of the quantity of lan! sold at the Waste Lands Uffice to-day :—'Jhmtchurch district, 25 acres j Lincoln, 61) ; Mandeville, 40; Elleimere, 28 ; Bankb Peninsula, 32; Upper Kakaia, 20; total, 205 acres, rtalining £4lO. The following Insurance Companies, doing business in Wellington, bare adopted a revised scale of charges for insurance -which came into opeiation on Ajril I:—Liverpool tad 1 ondon and Globe; Northern; New Zealand; London and Lancashire; North British and Mercantile; Royal; Victoria; Imperial; and Otago Fire and Marine. A week ago we published the revised scale of charges agreed on by the agents of the various companies in Christchurch. These come into operation on June I, and it may be instructive to compare them with the rates uow in force in Wellington : Cantebbuet. Wellington ci.aßs i. class i. (a) 7-, 1"8, 12s 6d (a) SB, 12s, 16s. 1/8 6d. (6) 9s 12s. 15s, 20s. (J) 10s 6d, 15s, 20«. tc) 11e,158,208,25s (c) 135,1756d,2286d. ((/) 18«, 17« 6d, 228 (d) 13» 6d, 15b, 255. 6d, 30s. CLASS 11. CLABS H " (a) 10», 12s 6d, 15s, (a) 10s, 15s, 20s. 20s. <5) 126. 15s, 17s 6d, (J) 12s, 17s, 225. 22s 6d. (c) 148, 178 6d, 225, (c) 148,228, 288. 3°" (d) 20s, 255, 80s, 40s. (<f) 255, 30s, 40s. CLASS 111. CLASS in. (a) 20s, 30»,355, 555. (a) 20b,30b,405, COS. jfi) 353 355, 508,805. (1) 258, 35b, 45f1, 80s.

In the case of Wellington, in Class 2, the rates are subject to an advance of 2s 6d per cent, on slated buildings, and of fia per cent, on shingled buildiugs, if constructed without perfect party walls and Bide parapets; and to a reduction of 2s 6d per cent, in cases where the roofs nf the wooden buildings referred to are covered with slate and metal. In Class 3, the Wellington rates are subject to the following reductions: 2s 6d per cent, where the roof is covered with slates or iron. 5s per cent, where the walls are covered with iron and the roof with iron or slates. 2s Gd per cent, further when the walls and ceilings »f the buildings to be insured are lathed andp'astered. This latter allowance only to be made on buildings fully detached. Wholesale stores in Wellington, the rates for which are not given in the above list, are charged m s?7s ! f BS tha ° "tail shops and trades. i no following is a description of each class. Ihey are substantially the same in Welling, ton and Canterbury : Class 1 :-(o) If constructed of brick or stone, and roofed with slate, tile, or melalDetached from buildings of 'similar construe tion, 10 feet—Do of brick and shingle, 15 feet —Do of wood and Bhingle, 25 feet. (i) Attached or usilhin above distances of building of stone or brick j roof, slates. (c) Do of stone or brick; roof, shingles. (d) Do of wood; roof, Bhingles. Clasß 2:—(a) If constructed of stone or brick, roofed with shingles-Detached from stone or *wk; roof, slates, 15 feet—Do j roof, shingle, 20 feet—Do wood; roof, shingles, 30 feet. (6) Attached or within above distances of buildings of stone or brick; roof,.slate. (c) Do of stone or brick j roof, shingles. (d) Do of wood j roof, shingles, Class3:-(o) If constructed of wood, roofed with shingles-Detached 80 feet from wooden buildings.

(i) Attached or detached less than 30 feet to wooden, stone, or other buildings of inferior construction.

The following wool market reports are from Messrs Miles, Brothers, and Co.; and are dated London, Feb. 26 and 29 respectively .--The first series of the year will open to-morrow. Arrivals of wool to date are about 104,000 bales, comprising 12,241 New South Wales and Queensland, 39,660 Victorian, 19,018 South Australian, 970 New Zealand, 513 Tasmanian, 788 Swan Uiver.and 30,174 Cape of Good Hope, to which must be added say 10,000 bales held over from last sales, making a total of about 114,000 bales. Our markets in the north still retain a sluggish appearance. Now and then a little more activity is reported from some districts, but there are no signs of permanent and general improvement. A large attendance of foreign buyers is expected at the coming sales. Stocks, in manufacturers' hands are light, but in those of many of our dealers unwilling to- quit them at the low rates ruling in December, they are still considerable. We belieTe that really good wool will he taken readily at these sales, at prices satisfactory to producers, but that inferior and faulty sorts will still be heavy of sale. A very large attendance, both of home and foreign buyers, marked the opening of our first series on the 27th Inst. Although no advance could be quoted in figures in the yalue of Australian wools, the tendency was in that direction, prices being very firm. 1 his improved tone of the market was more manifest in regard to Cape wools, which, for fleecy and greasy, shewed an advance from Jd t > Id per lb. A more cheerful feeling pervades the trade, and biddings are lively and spirited. 106,056 hales are declared for offer during the series, besides about 10,000 held over. The sales will continue until the lat April.