Market.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 657, 23 February 1859, Page 4

Market.

The unfavorable state of the weather on Saturdayprevented any of the out-of-door sales which were appointed from coming off. Mr. W. D. Barnard had a sale of draperies and sundries, at which there was moderate attendance and competition.

The approaching departure of the Jura for London direct, which will take place the latter end of this week or the beginning of next, will afford a good opportunity for the despatch of letters to Europe, and the visit of the Queen going southwards, to catch the Pirate steamer for Melbourne, will further give a certainty of meeting the March overland mail homewards from Melbourne, for which also an opportunity should be afforded on the return of the provincial steamers to Cook's Straits at the end of this month to meet the Boomerang and Lord Worsley. ~

The Jura will leave in a few days a full ship, but weare not yet able to give the particulars of her cargo. It will comprise, we understand, about 2150 bales of wool, besides tallow, hides, and sundries. The wool of this season, as we mentioned lately, averages low in quality as compared with last year, the weather of winter and spring having been unfavourable to the growth of the fleece. Purchases being now nearly complete for the season, we are able to state that prices for washed wools have rangadfrom Is. 4d. to Is. 7d.—the latter figure being rarely given, and in the few instances in which we have knowledge of transactions at that figure, being for parcels not only superior in; quality, in good condition and fine in quality, but also classed and sorted. Greasy wools have varied but little, fetching 9d. to lOd. l

tinder these circumstances it is about the mark to average the price per bale at £25, which figure, indeed, will be found to accord almost exactly with the estimated value derived from the weights and qualities of each separate shipment. In our next we shall have the full details of the Jura's cargo as shown by the Customs records, the value of which is already calculated tobe not short of £55,000. In the • Home News' of Nov. 16, we find quotations for sundry articles of New Zealand produce ex Acasta, from Wellington. They are as follows : Horns, 1700, at 295. per 122; a parcel of shank bones at £14 per ton; flax, 114 bundles, dressed £28, undressed £20, damaged £17 10s. to £19, per ton; oil, 121 tuns sperm, marked S, £85 to £86, inferior £83 10s. to £85, head matter £93 j whale bone, 44 cwt., at £412 per ton.

ENGLISH MAEKETS. WOOL CIRCULAR, In our second edition we (' M. Argus') published extracts from the wool circulars, giving an account of the close of November sales. We subjoin that of Mr. H. P. Hughes dated Ist December:—

" Our last seriesof sales for the year, consisting of—

13,911 bales Sydney, ; 9,111 " Port Phillip, 1,800 " Van Diemen's Dand, 2,207 ■■" Adelaide, 5,999 " New Zealand, 85 " Swan Biver, 20,711 " Cape Good Hope,

53,815 " Colonial,

1,144 " German, 3,708 " Sundries commenced 4th ult. and closed this day. " For some weeks previous an improved tone had manifested itself in the home trade generally, with an animated demand reducing stocks in the hands of staplers considerably, some beiug quite bare of colonial wool. Under these circumstances prices opened, about l£d. to 2d. per ft. higher for Australian, and Id. to'l£d. on Cape wool; a further advance soon took place in the former description for anything clean and of good quality, or suitable for combing purposes, which was maintained with spirit to the close at an advance of 2d. to 2£d. per lb. on July and August rates. " Cape wool sold without any perceptible change throughout, arid notwithstanding the unusually large quantity offered, was in scarce demand, and easily taken off in place of scarcer descriptions. " The bulk of the wool offered has gone into the hands of our home trade, and comparatively little purchased for foreign account until the last few days, when larger orders arrived for shipping. "Fine clean Sydney and Port-Philip wool was in good request, and sold at full prices. "Van Diemen's Land being scarce, was well competed for.

"Adelaide wool was in small quantity, and sold well. ,

"New Zealand wool, of which there was a fair supply, was in good demand, and some clean combing flocks realised such satisfactory prices as must prove an encouragement for growers to give their attention more to this description; many flock's are still much mixed with grease, and great attention to even packing is necessary to induce the trade to purchase with more confidence.

"Many flocks of Cape wool show a marked improvement in the growth, the staple being much longer; the extra price obtained must encourage settlers to more general attention in this respect.

" Our low wool sales commence 2nd December.

"New Zealand.—Scoured, fine, 2s. to 2s. 6d. (scoured and assorted in Sydney); ditto skin, Is. 9d. to Is. lid.; fine clean fleeces, Is. lOd. to 2s. 2d.; inferior, Is.-6d. to Is. 9d.; broken pieces and locks, lOd, to is. 2d.; lambs' wool^ Is. 6d. to Is. 10d.; unwashed fleeces, lid. to Is. 4d.

Messrs. Jacomb & Son, in their Report say:— It is gratifying to observe that the supplies from Australia and Victoria (taking into account the shipments to foreign ports, some-of which have been sent here, and, as the result proves, to the best market) have been far more considerable than we were led to expect at an early period of the year, and the progressive increase from New Zealand augurs well for good supplies of a very useful description of wool for combing purposes.