WEDNESDAY'S STOCK MARKET.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9321, 23 January 1896, Page 4

WEDNESDAY'S STOCK MARKET.

. «. (BY OTO COMMKRCIAIj EDITOR.) It cannot be expected that at this particular season of the year the attendance of farmers at the yards should be large. We do not, therefore, maivel that the gatheriug of country visitors was somewhat below the average, neither can we be surprised that those present did not manifest any particular interest in the business of the day.

A good many store sheep were yarded, but; the quality of the entry was decidedly below the average. From the outset o* the sale biddings were weak compared with with recent sales, and we think it may safely be said that only good forward sheep and lambs in rea! good order sold anything like freely. The few buysrs present turned quite a deaf ear to the persuasive eloquence of the salesmen, who were offering indifferent linos. It is perhaps a little difficult to gauge the tendency of the market, and we think the most reliable information we can give our readers is to say that for all good forward sheep the competition was fairly firm at lato rates. But for mixed lines there was certainly an easier enquiry. Any good lines of store lambs sold well, and the demand in this connection should certainly encourage sellers to try their fortune iv the store pens instead of yarding their lambs up as " fat," and selling them in small pens at about Is a head less than is going in the store pens. Regarded numerically the fat sheep entry was large. A very casual examination of the pens was, however, quite sufficient to disclose the fact that the proportion of prime sheep was extremely meagre. We feel that we are only repeating an old tale in assuring our readers that all export sheep sold well. Up to a certain point trade mutton, too, sold well, but supplies being much in excess of the demand the butchers' competition quickly eased off. As a matter of fact, we consider the last hour's sale of fat sheep at Addington (save where export sheep were concerned) a most miserable farce. Our readers can easily imagine that we are not exaggerating the position when we assure them that in the last hours of the auction we saw the following sales made, viz:—Crossbred wethers and maiden ewes 9e 3d, 8s 10J, 83 6d and 83 5d ; very prime four-tooth maiden ewes 10a lid; fat crossbred wethers and maiden ewes 9a 3d ; fat crossbred ewes 5s 4d, 6s 7d and 7s 3d; fat four and sixtooth crossbred ewes 7s to 7s lid ; and fat four-tooth halfbred wethers at 103 9J. These are some of the sales we saw made towards the end of the day, and we think that, considering the sheep were sold as fat and had passed the claseer of the yards as fat, our friends will be able to form some idea of the state of things at the conclusion of the fac sheep sale. Again we criticise the concluding portion of the sale as a ridiculous exhibition, which neither salesmen or the "nibblers" can be proud of. Amongst the sales of the day *ere :— Messrs R. W. Chapman, crossbred wethers and maiden ewes 12s lid to 14s 6d ; F. J. Milton, four and six-tooth ewes 9a Id to lls 3d; Milton Bros., four-tooth wethers Us 6d, two-tooth wethers lls Id ; Executors late Hon. & Gray, halfbred ewes 8s 10d ; Sir John Hall, merino wethers 6s 21 to 7s, do ewes ss; Messrs L. White, crossbred •we* 6» lQd to 8» Id ; J. Qrigg, croubred

wethers 10a; 6. B. Starky, maiden ewea 8s sd; D. Sutherland, St. Andrews, maiden ewes 8s lid to 10a lid; VV\ H. Turner, Waikaia, crossbred ewes 7s 33, do wethers 12s 3d; J. C. Wason, crossbred ewes 9s 3d ; T. U. Howson, ewea 9a ; W. F. M. Buckley croubred ewea 10a 9J; R. H. Rhodes, halfbred ewes 7s 6d; C. W. Voyce, crossbred ewea 7a 9d; F. Jackson, crossbred ewea 9a 3d; W. H. Barton, Hurunui, crossbred wethers at Kb 9d, crossbred maiden ewes at 8s Id to 10i lid; R. Moor, Brookside, maiden ewes and wethers at lls ; J. W. Maidens, Rakaia, wethers and maiden ewes at 9e; G. Gardner, Rakaia, crossbred ewes at 7a to 8a 2d; R. Bristow, crossbred wethera at 13s 6d, ewea at 8s 7d. The fat lamb supply was again very large, bat want of quality and finish was greatly conspicuoae. Generally values dropped— slightly on good animals, and greatly on the half finished sorts. About lls was a very full average for freezers, and many good lota were sold at 103 and 10a 6d. Exporters were very backward in their competition, and the general result—another fall in last week's rates. For full quotations and particulars in connection with other departments of the market we refer readers to our market report.