COMMERCIAL.

Grey River Argus, 22 July 1922, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

ADDINGTON MARKET. CHRISTCHURCH, July 20. The attend; nee at the weekly metropolitan market yesterday was larger i than usual. Conditions underfoot were much less disagreeable than on the preceding Wednesday. Yardings, except in the store sheep section, were below the average, and in both fi t sheep and cattle there was a somewhat firmer s:.le, particularly for beef. Close on 100 head of the beef entry came from outside the province, and generally the. quality was of a good standard, there being an outstanding proportion of well finished beet. 1 here is still a strong request for breeding ewes, the yarding, which was bigger than last week, meeting with a keen demand. Dairy cattle sold well for good sorts about to calve, but indifferently for others. Store cattle were neglected, and fat pigs re covered some of the easing of last week. STORE SHEEP. The yarding of store sheep was larger than last week. It consisted mostly of ewes and hoggets ,only a few pens of wethers being forward. There were lines of ewes from the South and from the West Coast. The market was par tieularly strong for good-class ewes, which showed a further advance in price, and other classes also sold well, Although hoggets went off well there was hardly the same keenness about the demand as last v/'ek, but some of the vendors had an exaggerated idea of values. The few wethers forward met with a satisfactory demand. A fairly gQod clearance was made. Values were follows:— Halfbred t »;o hoggets, 22/-. Mixod-scxcd hoggets, 15/10 to 16/1. Wether hoggets, 15/2 to 15/3. Small half-bred wether hoggets, 13/3. Good, four, six, and eight-toothed erdossbred ewes in lamb, 26/- to 28/3. Backward four, six, and eight-tooth crossbred ewes in lamb, 26/- to 28/3. Ordinary two, four, six, and eighttooth ewes in lamb, 21/3 to 23/-. Good sound-mouthed halfbred ewes in lamb, to 27/1. Low-conditioned s.m. ewes in Jamb, 15/5. Sound and failing-mouthed ewes in lamb, 20/6 to 22/7. Five-vear-old halfbred ewes in lamb, 16/9. Failing-mouthed ewes in lamb, 15/8 to 19/-. Aged ewes in lamb, 10/8 to 15/9. Four and six-toot).half bred wethers, 18/9 to 19/6.

FAT LAMBS. A bigger y: riling than last week, comprising 682 head, compared with 330. There was a wide spread in the quality. Exceptionally good sorts were forward to a limited extent, but the bulk were of a medium to light class. The sale was Dec throughout, one or two, export buyers operating spiritedly, and securing the bulk of the penning. Values throughout were on a p: r with those ruling at the last two sales, covering a fairly wide per lb range, according to quality. A very good tine was forward from F. Gilpin (llighbank), 38 making from 22/- to 32/-, the latter price for leight. Values were as under: Extra prime 1: nibs, 26/- to 32/-. . I’rime lambs, 21/6 t o 25/6. I Medium lambs, Is/- to 21/3. Inferior lambs, 13/9 to 17/6. FAT SHEEP. A much smaller yarding than usual, comprising less than eight races compared with 11 last week. There was a good proportion of well-finished sheep, both wethers ami ewes. The market opened at about last week’s basis, but firmed up towards the middle of th-* sail 1 , for big sheep being from

]/- to 2/- per head butter. However, the demand slackened off near the final stages and practically all of this advance was lost. On an average big ewes ami wethers were from 1/- to 1/6 better than last week, but all medium and inferior sorts showed practically no difference. The market finished weakly. Values were: — Extra prime wethers, 27/6 to 34/6. Prime wethers, 23/9 to 27/-. Medium wethers, 21/- to 23/6. Light and inferior wethers, 18/6 to Extra prime ewes, 24/6 to 28/6. j Prime ewes, 19/- to 24/-. Medium ewes, 15/6 to 18/9. Light and inferior ewes, 12/9 to 15/-. FAT CATTLE. The yarding was slightly smaller than the preceding week, comprising 325 head, compared with 345. Quality, how ever, was better than last week, there being several well-finished station linos forward. Included in the entry wore I draffs from the North Island, West Coast, and Southland, and in the aggregate they represented 25 per cent, of the penning. The market opened a shade better than the average prices ruling last week, but the demand strengthened as the market progressed, the final half being a very free sale. All round the advance was equal to about 26/- to 25/- a head on the preceding week. Prime beef sold at up to 35/-, and good to prime from 30/- to 34/-. Good heifer beef made from 25/- to 30/-, : nd inferior cow and heifer beef from 20, - down. Values were as under: Extra prime steers, to £l5 12/6. Prime steers, £l2 to £l4 10/-. Medium steers, £<S 10/- to £ll. 10/-. I Light steers, £5 to £B. Extra prime heifers, £lO to £l2 2/6. Prime heifers, £7 to £9 10/-. Light and ordinary heifers, £4 17/6 to £6 10/-. " | Extra prime cows, to £lO 12/6. Prime cows, £6 to £8 15/-. Ordinary cows, £4 10/- to £5 17/6. Old cows, £2 12/6 to £4 7/6. VEALERS. The yarding of vealers was the smallest for years, and the quality generally was poor. Anything good sold fell rt a very strong advance on late rates. Values were: — Runners, to £4 18/-. Good vealers, £3 15/- to £4 15/-. Medium vealers, £2 15/- to £3 10/-. Small veal calves, 8/- upwards. j DAIRY CATTLE. I | There was a fair yarding of dairy crttlc, the bulk moderate sorts, with a few good cows at the drop. For the latter there was good competition, but all other classes met with a sticky market. A proportion of the entry was passed. Some of the best prices wore: — I Extra good third cal ver at drop, £l5 15/-. Good August third cal vers, £8 to £lO 10/-. Good August second cal vers, to £lO 10/-. Fourth calvers, to £6 10/-. Medium cows, to £5. Springing heifers, to £B. Medium heifers, to £5. STORE CATTLE. | A very poor yarding, with no good lines forward. There was little demand, and the bulk of the yarding was passed. Some springing cows made £3 7/6. There were no quotable lines sold. FAT PIGS. The yarding of fat pigs was a small

one. The demand- for porkers was good, and they showed an advance on late rates, but baconers were not in brisk demand. Values were: — Choppers, £3 15/- to £5 18/-. Light baconers, £4 .10/- to £3 15/-. Heavy baconers, £4 to £4 10/-. Extra heavy baconers, to £4 15/-. Average price per lb, 6d. Light porkers, 40/- to 48/-. I Heavy porkers, 50A to 57/6. Extra he:.vy porkers, to 66/-. Average price per lb, spi to K.\<l. STORE PIGS. The entry in this department was a very small one, and the demand was ■very slack, sales being difficult. to make. Willies were: — Medium stores, 22/- to 32/6. Small stores, 17/- to 21/6. Wenners, 7/- to 13/-.