COMMERCIAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1415, 20 June 1865, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

Lyttelton Times Office, June 19,

Business lias been very dull during the past week, and fewer goods have been sold than usual. This is partly to be accounted for by the season of the year. As the spring approaches trade may be expected to improve, and the railway and other works will circulate money, and cause a renewal of activity.

Among the articles that have been chiefly dealt in we notice bulk ale No. 3, Bass or Allsopp, which sells as fast as it arrives at, £9 15s to £10. Candles, both full and light weights, in demand. Salt, fine, very scarce ; coarse, in moderate supply ; demand good. Sheepwash tobacco in good demand, at fair rates. Stout and porter, in bottle, scarce, with an active demand. Bottled ale dull, quotations unchanged. Oilmen's stores very quiet, but a demand exists for a few lines that are scarce, as anchovies, castor oil, salad oil, bottled onions, walnuts. &c., and gelatine. Spices are scarce, and a demand exists for bleached and unbleached ginger, mace, and cloves. Crushed loaf sugar very scarce, and readily saleable at improved rates. Hennessy's pale brandy, in bulk, scarce. Rum, 10 per cent, 0.p., very scarce, and demand active. The stock of old torn, S. B. & Co.'s, is low, with good inquiry. Champion's vinegar, No. 18, inquired for. Paper bags, assorted, inquired for. Tobacco a shade better. In wines : sherries are dull, but port is rather more in demand. Cornsacks are lower and dull of sale.

The sales of waste lands are improving. On the 15th and 19th June, nearly 2000 acres were disposed of. The gold duty up to thistime has realised £6281 16s, collected on 50,2540z5, the produce of this province. The ship Canterbury, from London, brings about 73 passengers and a large cargo, consisting of about 24 00 tons of general merchandise. In the grain market, the tendency as regards flour and wheat is towards a fall. The price of oats is stationary. In barley there is nothing doing. Mr. W. D. Wood, Riccarton Mills, reports, June 19th:— Tlour market overstocked. Wheat, best samples, 6s 6d per bushel; oats, as per sample, from 28 9d to 3s 3d do ; barley, 4 do ; retail, 5s do; peas, 4s 6d do ; retail, 5s do ; beans, 4s 6d do ; retail, 5s do ; flour, Wood's superior fine, £22 per ton ; retail, 24s 6d per 100 lbs ; do, second quality, £20 per ton; retail, 22s 6d per lOOlbs ; sharps, about £8 15s per ton ; retail, 14s per sack of 7 bushels ; bran, £6 5s per ton ; retail, 6s per sack of 4 bushels ; sacks, 2s.

Christchurch retail prices :—Tea (black), 3s 6d; green <}o, 5s ; coffee, Is 8d to 2s ; sugar, 5d to 7d ; pepper, 2s to 2s 6d ; tobacco, 5s to 8s per lb; salt, 8s to 10g per cwt; pickles and sauces, Is 6d to 2s per bottle; fowls, 7s per couple ; geese, 9s to 10s ; turkeys, 12s to 18s ; eggs, 4s per dozen. The supply of poultry has b.en limited, and eggs are very scarce. Beef, 7d; mutton, 7d; pork, 7dto 8d; veal,Bd; bacon, colonial, Is ; English do, Is 3d ; ham, colonial, Is 3d; English, do, Is 6d ; butter, is 3d to Is sd; cheese, colonial, Is 4d ; do, English, Is 8d per lb ; milk, 2s per gallon; potatoes, 7s per cwt; apples, 8d; onions, 4<l ; carrots and parsnips, Id per lb ; oranges, scarce, the imported quantity being nearly exhausted, 4s per dozen. lietail prices of building materials :—Timber, Y.D.L., 3x2, 13s per 100 ft ; 4 x 2, 1 6s do ; scantling, 24s do; New Zealand boards and scantling. 18s to 20s ; tongued and grooved, 345; Baltic deals, 28s; lime, 3s 6d per bushel; slates, Duchesses, £23 per 1000 ; Countesses, £19 to £20 do; Yicountess, £15 to £16; Ladies, £12 to £13 ; bricks, £4 per 1000 ; fire bricks, £15 do. Oamaru.—The Times of the 15th instant reports :— Commercial matters here are still dull and languishing, but the same state of affairs is reported from all quarters, and the severity of the weather for the last two months accounts for a great deal. So severe has the weather been, and so many disasters have occurred at sea, that some hesitation will be felt in loading vessels for such coasting trade as there is ; and merchants will lie chary in exporting to the West Coast in particular, where the dangers seem four-fold. We quote the following prices Flour, Adelaide, £28 ; Chilian, £25; Oamaru silk-dressed, £21 per ton; wheat,6s to 6s 6d per bushel; oats, 2s lOd to 3s fid per bushel; bran, 2s per do; potatoes, £4 to £5 per ton; bay, £5 per do; chaff, £7 per do. There is very little doing in the grain market, with the exception of some inquiry for oats for export, but holders are not inclined to take the prices offered by buyers.