COMMERCIAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 May 1936, Page 8

COMMERCIAL

GRAIN AND PRODUCE [PEP. press association.] CHRISTCHURCH, May 8. Interest in grain and produce markets, this week, has in the main been confined to potatoes and onions. Potatoes remain with slight appreciation and onions continue firm appreciably. Within the last week or so, onions have very materially advanced in price being quoted to-day £5 on trucks. This is due to shortage of supplies across the Tasman. One or two orders have been booked up at £5 f.o.b. for Sydney, and since then the price has risen to £5 on trucks locally. The quality of onions is very poor, the season having proved very bad for onion harvesting. There has been no actual shortage here yet, but it is expected that in about a month, good quality onions will be very hard to procure. The market at the end of this week undoubtedly has a firming tendency.

There is a good deal of perturbation as to how the potato crop will turn out, the unseasonable autumn having left its effect. Spot deliveries are to-day offering at £6/5/- a ton, which is an appreciation of approximately 5/- on the closing rates of last week, although one or two sales were reported then at that figure. Throughout the week, there has been a good enquiry from the North, but the weather conditions have held up supplies. They are. however, now commencing to offer more freely and if the present weather continues well into next week, it is' anticipated in most quarters that supplies will equal the demand. If, however, Auckland orders continue to pour in at the. same rate as the last two days, they will take filling. At present, orders are somewhat difficult to fill, because of the rejections caused through bliaht and the effects of excessive moisture. A fair amount of second growth is also reported this season. It is reported that good table Suttons are saleable at £5 to £5/5/- on

trucks. Milling wheat is still being offered and any of reasonable quality is being taken by millers as milling quality. Fowl wheat is inclined to ease as there is so much inferior grade about. Good whole fowl wheat is being quoted 4/4, 4/4i and 4/5 a. bushel, and inferior quality according to sample. Undergrade fowl wheat is being quoted up to 4/2 f.o.b. with some lines selling as low as 3/11 f.o.b. Not a great quantity of oats is offering and there is no alteration in prices. There is a good demand for all classes of oats at present, although no big quantities are changing hands. There are still small lots of undergrade barley changing hands. It is reported that a shipment of 5000 sacks of malting barley arrived from Australia. this week. 1 his is beginning to take the place of some of the barley grown on contract, but not now acceptable to breweries owing to weather conditions having affected

There is a good enquiry for chaff E r both shipping and local use. It is offering at £2/15/- ton on trucks, but sales as low as £2/10/- and £l/12/6 arc reported. Peas continue to be very quiet with very little business done, English importers not being inclined to buy just now. They are quoted at 5/3 a bushel. The market for small seeds continues to be dull and lifeless.

■’ GOLD AND EXCHANGE i , LONDON, May 8. { Gold 140/5. 1 ., dollar 497 7-8, franc 75 1 r ” s - PUTTER AND CHEESE. WELLINGTON, May 9. Butter and cheese prices have been fixed on the- basis of lid and s?'d. equivalent to 89/1 and 49/7 c.i.f.e. ' STOCKS AND SHARES. I WELLINGTON. May 9. Reported: Woolworth’s (N.Z.) £6. AUCKLAND, May 9. Sales: Guarantee 5/4, Northern Steam 6/10, Golden Crown 8/3, contributing 8/-, Mt. Morgan 16/-, Bank of New Zealand 45/-, Breweries 52/9, Broken Hill 60/10, 60/9, Coles 73/9, Wool worth’s Sydney £B, Union Bank £9/15/-, Commercial Pref. £9/7/-. GOLDEN SANDS RETURN The return was 16 ozs. 12 dwts for 30 shifts of S hours. Interruptions to the water supply caused by the recent storms, and the holiday on Anzac Day, accounted for the shortage of six shifts. MAORI GULLY. A return of 42ozs. for a broken fortnight of 146 hours. The dredge has now worked 57 chains of the gorge, and. negotiated all the difficult bendsJ and narrow parts. The remainder of the gorge is more open, and no trouble is anticipated' in the working of it. WAIMEA GOLD. Active sluicing operations commenced on the Waimea Gold property at Kuinara on May 7. and all the plant is working efficiently. Sluicing operations are being carried out with twenty heads of water at a pressure of ISO feet; and it is estimated that an output of approximately 100 cubic yards per hour will be maintained. MOLYNEUX DREDGE. DUNEDIN, May 8. Nearly 40 hours after the launching was commenced on Wednesday evening the huge gold dredge at Alexandra was finally moved into the Molyneux River at noon to-day. The work, however, is not yet over, for the machine has grounded on the bottom of the river, and efforts are still being made to get her out into the current. It is hoped that this task will be completed to-day. There is no immediate hope of launching the Clyde dredge.

BARRYTOWN DREDGING Owing to delayed completion of plans and difficulty in obtaining satisfactory tenders for supply and delivery of various sections, states the first annual report of Barrytown Gold Dredging, Ltd.. Sydney, progress of the equipment has been delayed considerably. The directors anticipate that production will begin before the end of the year. Construction of the dredge was begun on March 20. A pilot treatment plant has been constructed in order that the»recoveryj practice will be well established, and I much of the usual adjustment delays*

in the initial stages avoided. Expenditure on the dredge to December 31 was £11,549, and liquid resources, including cash £15,700, were 4 £22,722, with which were credits £1943 and loan account £17,474.

ALEXANDER MINES.

Report for month of April: —No. 4 intermediate north: The position of this face is now 133 feet north of winze, forty-one feet being driven for the month. This face looks very well, the lode averaging 3ft 6in in width, and the quality good. The stone is going strong underfoot and contained between two good walls. The total length of stone driven on to date is now 173 feet. No. 5 north level: This face has been driven to 167 feet north of the main crosscut. The reef track driven on, although carrying a lot of stone, has not made into a solid body of ore, as expected, but it is probable that the orebody is floating overhead and following its usual strike north. The reef track in, the face is two feet wide, and carries boulders of stone. Stoping has been carried on in No. 4 intermediate backs, both north and south of the winze. On the north side, the leading stope is being taken off, the reef varying in width from 3 to 9 feet. The stoping carried out on the south of the winze shows lode averaging 3 feet in width and 40 feet in length. Gold can be seen freely in the ore broken.

SHAREBROKERS.

M. J. Fogarty and Co., Stock and Sharebrokers, Mackay St., ’Phone 296, report quotations on the Christchurch Stock Exchange, this morning. BUYERS. SELLERS. MINING: Alexander 15/- pd. 13 lb 1i; o Argo Gold .. 1 5>i i g Antonios 1 1 0 Big Hirer .. 2 ii a Blackwater 1 15 0 Brian Born . . Gillespie's 1 2! 1 li Goldfields •1 King Solomon Lawson's Flat • > */•> Maori Gully 11 11 */a Skippers .3 >/ 2 Walhi 11 9 Worksop 1 7' 2 1 S V-! White’s Electric 7’/_. Martha 1 (1 <1 BANKS: Australasia 12 0 0 Comm of Aust. . . 1 si 7 HI 9 E.S. & A. li 3 9 National of N.Z. 3 11 G N.S. Wales 32 HI 0 2 b N.Z. 2 5 0 Union of Aust. 9 15 G INSURANCE: National IS 9 19 J N.Z. 3 (I (1 South British ■1 S 1) •1 10 0 LOAN & AGENCY: Dalgety & Co. .. 9 0 0 9 7 0 Goldsborough Mort. 111 3 111 1 Mortgage Corp. 10 1 FROZEN MEAT: N.Z. Refrig.— t 1 paid HI 0 19 9 10/- paid .. 8 J1 9 1 North Canterbury 1 S 0 1 15 (I WOOLLENS: Kaiapoi 17/- paid 15 0 Hi 0 Kaiapoi 7/- paid 0 0 Kaiapoi pref IS 3 IS II BREWERIES: N.Z. . . . . 2 12 fl 2 13 3 Staples 1 13 9 1 11 li Tooths 2 12 0 2 12 S MISC.: Australian Glass 1 S 0 •1 9 G British Tobacco I 19 li 119 8 Broken Hill Pty. 3 . 0 0 3 0 9 Colonial Sugar . . 1 0 0 Dorn. Fertiliser 1 5 G Electro Zine 117 5 1 17 8 Electro Zinc pref 1 19 0 2 0 I) G. .1. Coles .. .. 3 13 S 3 1.3 11 Kauri Timber . . 1 3 III 1 .3 1 1 N.Z. Drug Co. . . 3 17 G N.Z. Newspapers 2 2 (1 2 1 0 N.Z. Paper .Mills 110 I) Wilson's Cement 2 G 9 2 8 G Woolworths N.Z. 5 17 0 Woolworth (Syd.) 8 0 0 8 1 6