Miscellaneous.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 748, 7 January 1860, Page 5

Miscellaneous.

. U ter from .1 correspondent to the /Times, A •!„» himself "looker,on," explains the Me who sig»» <( „ ihe tallow-market by a gigantic atteinp w_ K goon a f ter the close of tho navigation operatiow : t(J began> as usua l, to be made for lasj rf> b dolivere d the following year on the tallow to of .. AugUß t delivery/ with hand custo or all money in advance. Prices, howovor, jnoiiey. ]iicr j iel . t j, an wer e justified by circumnppeani o o fore j sn expol .fc housos of the place ftlU' CCSnv to tho temptation of soiling uncovered, or hoping1 before the period of delivery to » ti!»m«el™>s ftfc move advantageous rates, and covel' « .jiowed themselves to be drawn into oue '^tex before their attention was directed to the voi ;-, niver of a j| t | lo i v * p. V p OV tallow,1 as tl>e Pnn r l t p Vm it—an unimportant personage, a we »ia> ft . ss j an by mime Rjenkow, a man worth, ccm! m • 0 000 or 40,000 s.rs. (about £6000). The H^liyired ridiculous. What! that follow iiotip" a H ich j^^ rateSj ] ie mus t be mad J 1)U-V" lg dw refused to sell to him, others did not Sow "L - t wng w hispered that thorc was somecal.c< .1 in tho background, and that Rjenkow thing m\,, u r i mm ense capitalists, who had the TfStion of buying up all they could get 1 1 i" i^ R"M°m' gradually merged into iW a l lo'"'^^",,.^ l )a d been formed in "Moscow cert:li" ir' h'-uppovted by considerable (some said !""r S capital, for the express purpose of mon- ""!" he market. Ejenkow was their tool and 01 fill our friends 1 the sellers in blank, of If '' hs the conventional appellation is), by ,Si Lied their eyes to see the'bull, whom ,' Lnised with all their contracts m his W.lSe a arm spread, nnd brought sleepless tSand^ornU But better make sure Vcertain loss at present than have an unlimited e t l "bears' acted, with tho exception of KnMpr sprits, who preferred awaiting ri »<!«*« ihe, ■?• •f f <T ßo?{ a tqi with an unshrinking front. It d^V know that many really steady id Pfin*-tate bouses have been playen in the Sme, but I will not mention names, bumce it, S the cash-box of each feels the wounds so vecentlr inflicted, and teaches its possessor a lesson which 'it may be hoped will never be forgotten. Let us pass on to August. Two grand problems | Ito be solved/Will the "bull" be able to pay for and receive the 55,000 casks he has bought ?' fl tfhen he has paid for them,' What will he do ' -ith them ?' To the superficial observer things We been sroiu? on much as usual till now. The same quantity of tallow, or even more, has been shipped off during June and July, notwithstanding the IIHI P"ces- ow t^l's came *° Pass s es^ tnoffn to the shippers themselves; probably they had sold beforehand in London, and were assisted by low freights and exchange. It has, however, ! kept the Londoners pretty quiet, by making them think that after all the tallow would come over as usual, any thus admirably answered. the purpose of the speculator, by enabling him to buy paper tallow there as well as here, and strengthen himself in this manner on both sides of the water. But it is August now, and the speculators are going to work in good earnest. Prices have gone too high to admit of exportation, the only buyers are needy 'hears,' and Ejenkow has coolly warehoused 15.000 to 20.000 casks of tallow, which he threatens to keep here for no other purpose than to maintain unnaturally high prices abroad and at home. At the same time by insuring them against fire and depositing the policies with the Commercial Bank he gets cash advances of about 60 per cent, of the value, which answers every purpose of an actual sale, while giving him the entire command of the tallow. These proceedings, however, it seems cannot be continued, the insurance companies having all refused to take any more of the same risk. Rjenkow has ' settled' about 10,000 casks —that is, by receiving payment ot the differences instead of the actual tallow. Still the greater part of his purchases remain to be disposed of.V At. this juncture a new and unexpected actor steps on the stage, beingno other than thehouseof Steiglitz & Co. (a firm whose commercial standing and character is so high that any comment of mine is unnecessary), and buys some 10,000 or 15,000 casks at a blow. Let us bear in mind that Steiglitz & Co. are not in the habit of doing regular business in tallow, and therefore have tio previous sales to cover, and look at the price he pays—viz., 58 silver roubles per berkz., which at the exchange of 35d., and taking charges very moderately, costs upwards of £62 per ton in London, while the price there rules at present from £56 to £57. Now this transaction does not appear very businesslike. Supposing things to remain as they are, Steiglitz & Co. incur a loss of £20,000 to £30,000 for the sake of lending a helping hand to what is at best a most 1111----gitimate # undertaking. "We might have ventured to hint it was a consignment, had not the brokers readily shown us their notes in proof of its beino- a bona fide purchase, and as such we must therefore receive it. _ No one fora moment will suppose that ■Baron Steiglitz intends io throw away £30,000 Ihe inference therefore to be drawn is, that he has presumption amounting to certainty that prices in iiondon are to go considerably beyond £60 • nor aoesthis appear to be at all unreasonable, for it requires no great stretch of imagination to suppose mat on making the purchase the buyer received the assurance that the 15,000 to 20,000 casks already hid up ln store here should, coute gui coute, be positively kept back and not shipped. The 3Vn U- PS eXp,ected this will hardly exceed 100,000 casks, S o that not more than 85,000 exportaS" shi PPed ~a decide<% inadequate throJT'?°! ÜB-"Had he to cut his neighbor's Larbk SbarpeQ Ws lmife on the chur"h *hSI fti ]?T 1S Telate the following inci<knt Craithienn^ f have °ccu"ed in the church of ~" On t! nday at the conctosion of the service; lectioS San",t n",? UnCe? lent frora the Pulpit °f a coln Sdf b6 fm + f c T by the ambled congregaProc<ided? nt} 6, Jewish Mission,.the elders butions fo tw U?- nian"er to uplift the contriwooden box? L J, e-Ct^ amed with the Sidles, or seven or Xfr ? ) lch are attached handles of course passed J 'J 011! The ladle was in *™ driving To r d e i° n.f * Jo. »oyal pew, ana, the official door, the sneck i, fl i"?" Mi^^S on the g^e way Z*^*? ll y^^S^Us,. weight, thelloya 7! party hl. mJiea^#nib S t: among heard by £"3 .{ hl3, mishap' and difficmty „ SSI °ftf h? ««?^fetion^fio had cumstance ami thl % their raerriment at the cirtlie luckSs l, p ht COnfusion of face manifested by Putins 1 f;t er' the feelin^bein^ evMent'y »e«d the occurrence »SUSt hersdf who wit" ftus'opSof Sar a r uiHneatl3reXUlfcing in the ProsPect by that mST S su Prcmil°y Central Asia, of India meansof nesting from us the tr«ln