LIVE STOCK MARKETS REPORT.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7172, 6 October 1888, Page 4

LIVE STOCK MARKETS REPORT.

Messes Miles asd Co. (per J. T. Ford) j report on the live stock market for the •week ending Friday, October sth, as follows:—The total number of stock j yarded at the Canterbury Saleyards, Addington, on Wednesday, 3rd October, comprised 615 cattle, 6321 sheep, and 67 pigs. The sale opened with the fat cattle, and as there were but few buyers the trade was dull throughout the sale. Several of the lots offered were of inferior quality, consequently there was a decline in values of at least 10s per head as compared with former sales. Of store cattle there was a large entry, with fair demand for all good sorts. Three-year-old steers in forward condition sold up to £4 10s each, store cows and heifers from £2 10s to £3 10s, yearlings up to 25s each. The dairy cows and springing heifers brought forward for sale were not very prime, the result being very low prices, with but little business done. The fat pens were filled with sheep, many of them would have been better placed in the store pens. For all sheep of good quality there was fair demand. Business cannot be said to have been brisk, but most of the good sheep were sold at a slight reduction from former rates. For the inferior lots theie was a marked decline in values, and several lines were withdrawn. For all such it would pay owners to hold and shear, and afterwards give their sheep the beneflt of the spring grass, which is now abundant. As it is they are keeping down the values of good sheep, and are not getting fair values ' for the stores, which they are endeavouring to palm off in the fat market. Sheep are not too plentiful through the country, and the class of sheep to which these remarks refer will pay well to hold for the shears and to be brought forward when finished. The lots we had the pleasure of selling, and which deserve special mention, were a line of maiden ewes, first shear sheep, sent for- j ward by Mr S. A. Bristol, from Kingsdown, Timaru. These, if not the best, were certainly equal to the best finished sheep we have seen yarded at Addington this season, and for quality, weight, according to age and wealth of wool, could not be beaten. The merino wethers sent forward by the executors of the late Mr John Cordy were also very prime, and the same may be said of Sir John Hall's consignment of merinos. These three lots, we believe, brought the highest price of the day, according to class. Of pigs the entry was very small, and business dull. The following is a list of our sales:—For the Executors of the late John Cordy, 246 merino wethers from 13s 3d to 14s; on account Mr S. A. Bristol, 112 prime fat half-bred maiden ewes from 38s 3d to 18s 9d ; on account Mr F. Denton, 91 merino wethers from 8s 6d to 8s lld, and 27 mixed crossbreds at 13s: for Sir John Hall, 120 merino wethers from 12s 6d to 13s; on account a client, 144 longwool wethers at 15s, and 40 merino ditto at 13s ; on account Mr J. F. Rudd, 37 head of cattle at, for steers, to £4155; heifers to £417s 6d; fat cows to £5155; and a small line of steers in forward condition, £4 10s each; for Mr Chas. Withell, 27 porkers from 19s to 44s each. Kirwee —We held our monthly sales at the Courtenay Farmers* Club yards, on Monday, the Ist inst. The stock penned comprised 1000 sheep, 16 head of cattle, a few pigs, and the usual entry of farm produce, also rough timber from the Oxford bush. There was a large attendance of the surrounding settlers, and the demand for sheep was very good indeed. Those We had to offer, mostly stores, were sold at the following prices:—Good forward mixed crossbreds 12s 9d to 13s 9d each, first cross four-tooth wethers, small sheep, lis 3d, crossbred hoggets 6s, 9s od, up to 12s 3d each, crossbred ewes, aged, with lambs at foot 12s, yearlings, mixed sexes, 20s and 21s each, six months old calves at 10s each. Potatoes sole? up to £3 per ton, timber at the usual low rates ranging from 5s to 6s 6d per 100 ft. Asnburton, Tuesday, October 2nd.— There was only a limited number of sheep brought forward. The attendance was about the average, many of them buyers with but few sheep to supply their wants* In spite of the apparent scarcity of sheep, the sales are anything but brisk, buyers being evidently afraid of paying too much. A fair yarding of cattle, mostly stores, but we have no -usiness transactions in this line worthy of note. Land Safes—We have much pleasure in reporting a very successful sale of the well known Paterson Estate, near Temuka, on Tuesday, the 2nd inst. There was a very large attendance of the surrounding settlers, with several from a distance, and great interest was evinced in the sale, which was held in the Volunteer Hall, Temuka. The farms, Springfield, near Temuka, and the Winchester Farm, close to the Winchester Railway Station, were both early selections by the late Mr Paterson, who for many years officiated as Sheep Inspector for South Canterbury, and was also-a runholder in the Mackenzie country. Mr Paterson was well known even in those early days as a careful, shrewd man of business, and his knowledge of land was turned to good account in the selection then made. Tne immediate vicinity of the railway stations, proximity to Temuka, the Dairy Factory, and other industries springing up were also powerful {incentives. Added to this we are on the threshold of better times, with improved prices. AU these advantages had evidently been considered by the buyers, and the auction was the most spirited we have conducted for many years, and may fairly be looked on as tbe herald of better things and more frequent sales. The Springfield farm, 555 acres, averaged £20 6s per acre ; the Winchester farm, 500 acres, at about £15 5s per acre; town sections at Arowhenua, a suburb of Timaru, also sold at considerably over the reserve placed on them, by the vendors: I Privately we have sold a quarter-acre ; section in Stoke street, Sumner, for £80. Skins, Fat, &c. —On Thursday, at our Colombo street Wool Stores, we held our weekly sale of the above. There was a large attendance of the trade, whd bid briskly for every lot, and prices in consequence were satisfactory. Our sales for the week, both privately and at auction, comprise 2453 skins, at the following prices :—Butchers' crossbreds, up to 6s; do merinos, to 5s 7d; country do to ss; do crossbreds, to 4s lld; butchers* Selts, to7d; do lambskins to lOd. Several nes of factory skins at equal to above quotations. Fat, lgd to l£d and l_d per lb. Messrs Wrtsbf* and Soxs' weekly market report, ending Saturday, September 29th—We leave the blow out and put in actual figures. Poultry — Entries, 154 A pairs, not a large entry. Prices, whicli were the hottest since last Christmas, were—ducks, 3s 9d, 4s 3d, 4s 6d and 4s 9d cover these sales. Geese, Bs, very few in; turkeys, 16s. cock birds, very few in; roosters, 3s 3d, 3s 6d, 3s 9d cover these sales; the demand was much in advance of the supply all round. Pigs—Quantity yarded 79, all sold but one; prices—l at 24s 6d, 5 at6s 9d, Bat 3s 3d, 3at 2s 6d, Bat 12s, 2 at 12s, 4 at 10s tid, 3 at lis, 5 at 13s, 2 at 14s, 3 at 13s Gd, 3 at lis, 1 at 18s, 3 at 8<«, 1 sow and pigs 100s, 7 at 14s 6d, 7 at 12s 6d, 3 at 13s, 3at 10s, 1 at 255, 6 at 12s 6d, 2at 20s. Horses, dogs, calves, guinea pigs, pigeons, all cleared at owners' reserves. Produce, not much doing. Derwent potatoes, a few tons atSOs; kidneys, inferior sorts, at 33 per sack. Ryegrass we sell slowly, at 2s to 2s 9d per bushel; clovers _p to 9d for white, red and cow grass at 7_d per lb. Traps, no sales last Saturday. Sundries as usual. Grain—Chickwheat, 2s 3d; oats for seed, 2s 5d ; beans, crushed and for seed, 2s 9d. Hay, small quantity, 2s 6d per cwt; straw chaff, 30s per ton. Inside sale—Bacon did fairly well; best at 3d, inferior 2id; hams, good, at 6d ; cheese much wanted, have had couple of tons in but sold it privately as soon as in the stores at 3*_: a little at 3fd. General goods—A number of lots were placed. The property sale—Good attendance, but leaseholds are not sought after, though many of them are better than freeholds. We did not succeed at the auction, but expect to do so, being in treaty for them: There is still a number of enquiries for small properties. .