COMMERCIAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 214, 9 September 1891, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

KAURI GUM MARKET.

Auckland, September 9th, 1891. We stated in our last week's report th e habit which has grown and increased during the past three years of picking the good gum out of ordinary for separate sale, at higher prices, has had so aerious an effect on tho quality of ordinary, under which name the residue is offered, that unless checked it may result in a crisis and in grave injury to the whole gum trade. So much has fcha evil grown that several buyen are desirous of establiahinga regular current quotation for what they term "selected ordinary." Other buyers state that they look on so-called "selected" parcels ac just so much good gum robbed out of what is sent or offered to them aa " good ordinary," and they assert that if this evil grows any stronger, or if the innovation of an established quotation for " selected ordinary" eventuates, they will be forced in self-defence to absolutely atop buying any parcels from which good gum has been picked out. Thi3 would inevitably result in & deadlock, as the bulk of the gum sent into market would then find few if any buyers. We balieve that our former system, to which we reverted last week, offers the best chance of avoiding this calamity, and we therefore continue to quote best, fair and poor, ordinary, and in order to avoid any risk of misinterpretation we again repeat that by best or ordinary we mean the best ordinary which can be obtained , iv quantity, and the quotations as being the average price at which such " best ordinary" can be procured. With regard to Easb Coast we hear of a large parcel for which an offer of 70s was I refused. This is the highest price East Coast has ever reached, and yeb in the face of these very high prices, buyers bitterly complain that storekeepers are now beginning to " pick " their East This cannot be long continued without serious consequences to the kauri gum trade. Supplies for nine days of September are about ISO tons. We quote : Best ordinary (unpicked) ... £40 to £42 Fair ordinary £37 Poor ordinary £30 to £35 East Coast £69