COMMERCIAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1000, 11 June 1862, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

CHRISTCHURCH. Mr H E. Alport reports the following sales at auction:—On Wednesday and Thursday last; sale of boots and shoes, leather, wines, spirits, bottled stout, furniture, drapery, clothing, apples, groceries, oilmen's st« -res, &c. A large amount of goods placed. On both days the attendance good and fair prices realized. On Saturday, at market, 22 head cattle, ex Brisk, from Wellington, fetched £5 10s per head (calves counted); pigs, 23s each: fowls, 4s 6d to 5s 6d per couple; flour, 10s 6d to 12s 6d per cwt.; Onions, 3qM per lb.. A parcel of groceries and oilmen's stores fetched fair prices. Mr. W. D. Barnard reports the sale by public auction, on Saturday last, of 15 horses and mares, ex Omeo, from Dunedin, at prices varying from £34 to £88, averaging £52 10s. The above cargo was a very useful lot of young draught stock, for which there is a steady demand. 2 drays, £21 and £23 8s ; sets of cart harness, from £4 to £6 6s per set; 5 saddles and bridles, from £2 2s to £6 6s ; 1 horse, dray, and harness, £55; 1 working bullock, £13. In consequence of the inclement weather, the 90 head of cattle from Wellington were not offered for sale as advertised.! Nelson.—Mr. Jary, of the Waimea-south Mill, quotes fine flour at £18 per ton of 2000 lbs.; sharps, £8; bran, £5. "Wheat, 7s. per bushel.—Examiner. May 17. SALE OF RONS. Messrs. W. Dean and Co. sold to-day by auction, on behalf of the Government, leases for five years of the forfeited and vacated runs situated in the Clarence, Macleay, Bligh, Wellington, Albert, Warrego, • Murrumbidgee, and Maneroo districts. As this was the first time a sale of this kind has taken place in Sydney, it attracted a large number of the mercantile community and those connected ■with the pastoral interest. . There were also several influential buyers from Melbourne and Queensland, ■who appeared anxious to invest their money in this colony. Among those present we noticed Mr. G. Lord, M.L.A.; Mr. Bell, M.L.A.; Hon. W. C. Went■worth, Esq.; Hon. Minister for Works; Messrs. R. Towns, Edward Flood, J. E. Josephson, J. T. Smith, mayor of Melbourne, — Bell, mayor of Geelong, E. B. Cornish, Rundle, Dangar, Saul Samuel, M.L.A., and Buckland. At the commencement of the sale, notwithstanding the room was crowded, there was no desire to commence operations, and it was. evident that the runs on the Clarence and Macleay Districts had not attracted the large assemblage, but when the Bogan runs in the Wellington District were offered biddings commenced, and continued briskly with butfew exceptions throughout the sale. The choice runs, however, were those on the Darling River, for which the upset rent ranged from £42 to £63, and which •were quickly run up to £400 and £415, which was the highest price obtained to-day. The total amount realised was at the rate of £7138 per annunrfor five years. But the rent for the first year is only to be calculated from the first of April, and will therefore amount to £5353 10s. The total rent for the leases of five years of the runs amounts to £33,905 10s. The total of the upset rents per annum of the whole of the leases offered for sale, embracing an area of 2,109,920 acres, was £3276. The total acreage of the 46 runs sold may be set down as 1,497,820 acres; the upset rent aggregated £2164, and the sum realized by the sale £7138 per annum, thus showing a clear gain to the Government of £5000 per annum, or £25,000 for the term of the leases, viz., five years, being at the rate of 230 per cent, per annum. This plan of selling the runs by auction must, considering the prices realized, be regarded as very successful, and to some extent shows how very valuable some portions of our pastoral runs are. ' We must not forget to mention that the sale was conducted in the presence of the Hon. Minister for Lands. Since the sale we learn that , several applications have been made for the runs that were passed at the upset price, by persons who imagined they could take up, privately, the lots that remained unsold. This, however, is not the case; but as there appears to be.a desire to purchase the leases of these runs, they will shortly be again submitted to auction.— S. M. Herald, May 23. MELBOURNE. Messrs. R. Goldsbrough and Co. report—" WooL —The arrival of the Northam places us in possession of our home correspondence to March 26th, and files of catalogues of the February and March series of sales. In this market there is a brisk inquiry, our sale on Wednesday being well attended, and prices obtained fully equal to late quotations. About 300 bales were sold, at from 6|d to lljd for greasy; Is 2£d to Is 7d for fleece; Is 3d to Is 6Jd per lb. for scoured. With the exception of one lot of greasy, from New Zealand, which we withdrew, at Is 0?d per lb., none of the lots were of a choice description; consequently the range of prices cannot be considered a fair criterion of the value of superior sorts. Sheepskins.—We disposed of a large quantity at auction, chiefly medium quality, the price obtained being from 4d to 7?d per lb. Hides. —The hide market continues very dull, and there is scarcely any inquiry, the bulk of the lots offered at our sale on Wednesday being withdrawn. We have sold small lots privately, at from 8s to 10s 6d —the latter price being for a good parcel of wet salted. Tallow.—We have sold beef and mixed at from £33 to £36; and mutton at from £35 to £39 per ton." Messrs. J. H. Clough and Co. report as follows:— " Wool.—Since our last report, until yesterday, we could not have made any change on what we have the last few weeks presented to our constituents. •About the 14th instant, a little animation was evinced on the part of buyers, but in the absence of superior lots for sale, the inquiry was checked. We are now, however, enabled to assure our constituents that the demand for superior qualities of ■wool would be readily met. We. have further to report, under this heading, a parcel of New Zealand ■wool was bought in at 12£ d on account of the j owners. The report from England of the advance j in the price of woo), has, singularly enough, hot ! affected either the demand or price here as much, i probably, from the absence of superior wools, as from the desire to operate in them. Our own transactions have been comparatively limited, at the following prices:—Greasy wool, superior samples, j 13d; fleece, 19d; handwashed, 13d; scoured, 16d to i 21£ d. At public auction during the week about 300 1 bales were sold at fair rates. Tallow.—There have been buyers in the market for mixed tallow, at £32 i to £35. Our ('Argus') Tasmanian dates are to the 18th instant. The 'Examiner' reports of the Launceston markets:— " Flour is rather dull of sale at former rates, viz., £9 10s to £10. Wheat is steady at from 3s 9d to 4s, though inferior samples may be obtained for 3s. 6d. The Commissariat invite tenders for 10,000. bushels of clean colonial wheat, to be delivered by; the 30th June. Oats continue in steady demand at 3s 8d to 3s lOd for feed, and 4s to 4s 2d for prime seed. Loose hay is steady at £4 to £4 10s; pressed, dull at £5 to £6. English barley remains at 7s. Potatoes may be quoted at £4 to £4 ss, bags in. Bran, Is. Butter in good demand at Is 3d to Is 4d for prime samples." The ' Mercury ' reports of the Hobarton markets: " There have not been any transactions in wheat to-day, there being none in the market for sale, the millers being' the principal holders. - Prices are decidedly firmer than they have been for some •weeks past, and as the news per Royal Shepherd ■hows that produce in the other colonies is on the rise, it is not at all improbable that our quotations next week for this grain will improve; we still quote at 4s 6d to 4s 3d, and no sellers. "Flour continues in good demand, and prices are firm, at £13 wholesale, and £14 retail. " Potatoes* in steady local demand at £4103 to £5.' " Oats, 4s. English barley, 6s. Cape, 4s. "Bran, Is 2d to Is 6d. , . "Hay, loose in good demand, at £5 10s to £6. Pressed, £3 103 to £5.. Onions, slack, at £17. "This' being the season at which' farmers are generallyvpurcliasing seeds, ,&c; we subjoin the p^f^nt;wholesale prices of yarirfus farm seeds:— J&aQfli 6s per bushel; peas, 4s 6d; grass seed, 7& to 10s; lucerne, Is 9dper lb; mangold wurtzel, 9d to U3d." - - ; '