COMMERCIAL.

Press, Volume XXI, Issue 2353, 18 February 1873, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

. -# "Press" Office, Monday. The Customs revenus collected yesterday was as follows:— .7 £ s. d. £ s. d. Spirits "... 60 15 € Tobacco... 66 17 6 Drapery... 22 2 6 Sundries 69 18 3 Total... ... ... ...£199 13 9 The land sold at the Waste Lands' Board to-day amounted to 1413 acres, realising .82826. It is situated in the following districts:— A. B. P. Upper Christchurch ;.. 980 0 0 Timaru ... ..... ; ~- .40 0 0 Mandeville ... ... 21 0 0 Banks' Peninsula ... 42 0 0 ;_* s A^hffirtO_F-cr--s;>;;-*ii-~-v-;r ±;,y J2 Waitangi ... ...258 0 0 TlilAßU—The <• Herald" of Monday reports :—The grain market is still quiet, and will remain so probably till stacking is comEleted. A few large parcels of wheat have een purchased at 4s, and that figure is offering for any quantity, of. first-class samples. A majority of buyers, however, decline to give more than 3s 9d or 3s lOd, and cannot see* their-way -to advance one penny above these prices. Oats are at ls 9d. but very few transactions have taken place in them aa yet, Several lots of barley have changed hands at 5s 3d. Ths A_____-ic___. Wool Market.—The "Argus" wrUeß:-It is a hopeful circamBtance for the Australian wool-grower that the filing-aJhosdlity to duty on foreign wools is daily gaining ground in the United States. It is found that the higher, the duty, the lower is the price realised for his staple by the flockmaster, for whose protection the impost is nominally levied. In a lucid interval, the American Congress, it was in the year 1857—adopted a tariff by ] which all wool costing 18 cents a pound or less was admitted duty free. During the ' four succeeding years, the price- of common y wool was actually higher than -daring the ■ four preceding years. From 1861 to 1869, i protective principles were once more in the , the ascendant, and what was the result ? Every grade of American wool decreased in x value; and protection, instead of stimulat- t ing borne production, actually caused a re- I duction of 40,000,0001b on the clip, and led i to the slaughter of no less than 4,000,000 sheep. To exhibit the fall in prices, we c quote from offiicial returns the following a figures:— t

An American writer of repute, Colonel Grosvenor, declares that the protective duty on wool "has taken money from the farmer's pocket, and has deprived both grower and manufacturer of that measure of solid prosperity which, under low duties and with free wool, both had attained." This was the experience of England from 1802 to 1828. In the latter year the mother country abandoned the impost, and the price of British wool haa been higher ever since that judicious f ep wi_B takeu'thah ftTiad been previously. " it ween t|ie iiijport duty oh wool and on woollen fabrics, the people of the United States payso per cent more for their clothing thaa the people of any other ckilised country in the world ; and every American empty trunks,

i Saxony !Full-blood! Superfine ; Fleece, j Merino. ! Palled. 18B0 1869 ... 54—58 ... ; 46—50 1 i 48—52 30—44 1 37—40 35—38