COMMERCIAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2339, 22 June 1868, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

Lytielton Tines Office, Saturday Evening, The Customs revenue collected at Christchurch to-day amounted to £264 6s 7d, The following were the items:-Wine, a2f gallons, 10/ lis 2d; spirits, 47 gallons, 28/ 6s 3d; sugar, 122021b5, 50/ lCs lOdj tobacco, 1751b5, 21/ 17s 6d ; carraway seeds, 4 cases, I/43 2d; sauces, 14 cases, 3/ 16s id; confectionery, 10 cases, 8/ 6s Ed; lice (ground), 6 barrels, 2/ 2s 6d; liquorice. 5 cases, 2/ Its 3d; rice, 40 cwt, 4/; almonds (shelled), 536 lbs, 6/ 14s; ginger, sColbs, 7/; figs, 5041b5, 2/ 2s; sultanas, 7851b5, 3/ 5s 5d ; hops, 1701 lbs, 11 Is 9d ; currants, 31601b5, 13/ 3s 4d; leather (other kinds), 3 c.ses, 3/ 17s 7d; bootc, 5 cases, 10/ 7s Id ; galvanized iron, 173 cwt, 8/ 13s; cornsaeks, 40 bales, 68/ ss. The Cusioms duties collected at Lyttelton this day, amounted to £4O 15s Id.

We have no alteration to note in the grain rtport which appeared in Saturday's issue. Very few semples were ofoed on Saturday, farmers evidently holding back on account of the encouraging news from Melbourne. We have heard of one firm purchasing good samples, at 7 8 , and large holders have even refused 7s ljd.

Mews Wilson and Alport had full yards of rattle on Saturday. Springing cows and heifers were in demand, and brought full rates :-l choice cow sold at £ls; do°heifers, at £8 15s and £lO 10s; good store steers, 2 and 3-year old, £7 15s and £8; do 18-nionths, £6 17s Cd ; superior cows, £5 5s and £7 ss. An assortment of fruit and forest trees and shrubs brought improved prices.

T. Preece's sale yards were well attended on Saturday, and although Westland buyers are not numerous at this season, yet other purchasers are in the market for pigs, hams, bacon, butter, and otlur farm and dairy produce for exportation, causing a good competition for really saleable lots, and we quota the following prices realised:—Pigs— fat sows, 403 to 63s each; porkers, Itjs to 24s each; stores, 8s to Ins; suckers, 3s to 6s, Poultry-geese, 6s to 9s each; turkeys, 3s to 7s each; fowls 2s 6d to 3s 9d per pair. Produce-flour (medium), 16s per 100 lbs '; sharps, Is Id per bushel; bran, 9d; oats, 2s 3d to 2s 6d; onions, Id to I'd per lb; potatoes (Derwents), 3s 6d to 4s 6d per cwt; do (white), 2s 6d to 3s 9d do; carrots, Is 9d per cwt; hams (colonial), 7Jd per lb; bacon, do, 7d per lb; colonial cheese, 5d to 6£d per lb. Spring carts, farm implements, saddles, harness, furniture, sold at satisfactory prices.

Sydney.—A telegram in the Argus, dated June ll,repor;s:—The wool soles to-day have been more active, and over two hundred bales have been sold at slightly higher rates. The excitement in the kerosine market still continues. Holders ask 2s 3d; sales have been effected at from 2s to 2s Id. Mai;:e is dull at 2s 6d, Little doing in breadstuffs.

Adelaide.—A telegram in the Argus, dated June 11, reports:—ln the import markets business generally is very dull. Brandies are firm. Holders of copper, after the arrival of the mail, asked an advance of id, but are now submitting to the old quotations, viz., 7s Bd. The corn market is without change.

Melbourne.—The Aigus of Juno 12 re-ports:-Business : n tin; import markets today has not been chaiacterised by much activity. Breai stufh :iuve commanded very little attention. The transactions reported in flour have been confined to bakers' parcels, which have been taken up at £22, and a trifle under. The larger buyers continue to offer £2l, terras, without, however, leading to business, £2l 10s, terms, being asked bv most holders, who show no disposition to quit stock at anything under. Wheat is very firm at 9s 6d for best samples. Of ordinary qualities, sale:have been made at9s 3d. Outs are still dull, notwithstanding sales to a moderate extent are mentioned; a parcel of 2000 bushels was placed at 3s 9d., and as much as 43 was realised for a superior sample of New Zealand. Make s freely disposed of at 3s 7d to 3s 7Jd for parcels. Amongst the sales mentioned is a shipment of 1100 bags, ex Stormbird and some 3!10 bags have also been quitted, all at about ou* quotations. The speculative feei'iig in kerosine still continues. Sales of Detoe's, to arrive, ex Hellespont, have been made as high as Is lOd. For best brands, on the spot, 28 is required, Private telegrams from Sydney mention large speculative purchases in that market likewise. For quicksilver, we quote up to 2s Id. Sales have been made without the price having been made public. A considerable parcel of Muntz metal has been disposed of at 9d. Malt finds buyers in trade lots at 9s: we also hear of a bin of about 2,000 bushels having changed hands at close up to the quotation named. Teas meet with ordinary attention from the trade. A few lots of half-chests have been quitted at Is 7d to Is 9d for good common to medium congous. In liquids, we note sales of stout, of brands in fair reputation, at 9s. A small snipment of Martell's dark brandy, to arrive, was sold at 8s 3d.

The Mark Lam E press of Air"' 20—the litest date to hand - l.s<. • ml Kent white wheat at 75s to S.'s per qmiiier for old, and 70s to 79s for new ; Ksswc and Kent red wheat, 72s to 77s for old. and 6ds to 75s for new. .Chilian wheat is quoted at 745; Cali."orniau at 775; and Australian at 7Ss to 81s. The same journal of the siime date has the following remarks:—The first half of the past week continued cold and ungenial; while the remainder of it was fine, but variable Tie corn is reported still as looking well, but little advanced of late in its growth. Although f.'ir foreign supplies have been received, it has been quite a holiday time, us wheat has fully mf'ntained its valuj,and in several p'accs Is I per quarter has been gained, but we cannot

report a general rise. Efforts have been lately made to lull the public into a false security as regards the food wants of the nation, and intricate theories, built partly on facts and partly on surmise, predict an ample surplus beyond consumptive requirements. We can only say, " Amen, be i* bo 1" but hemmed in as Ahab was by "peace prophets," Ramoth-Gilead cost him his life; and as we should not like a solitary case of starvation as the consequence of popular tactics, we deprecate the imprudence of ignoring dangerous possibilities. We hnd all better pay one shilling for a loaf than go without one for a single day. High p-ices are evils both to the public and farmers; but it will not do to follow the old Indian practiceof eating the green maize as a delicious vegetable, and then die off in the winter. The pressure for money at New York has rather lowered brcadstuffs, though accounts are more confirmatory as to the damage done to the corn-laden vessels in the canals. Canada, nevertheless, remained ve?y steady ; Danzig, with better supplies, has also somewhat cheapened; but Germany, generally, exhibits very little change; and though there has been a calm at Pesth in Hungary, millers have become so bare, that an advance was expected. Belgium and Holland have been firm, and so have Paris and Marseilles, while the whole of France keeps in much the same state as ourselves with millers as reluctant buyers, and holders, careless sellers, uitil empty mills bring on fresh business. The Times of April 24, adopting the quotations given above, says:—English wheat trade quiet, at Monday's advance; and foreign also maintains the same advanced quotations; trade steady. Flour trade firm. Barley and malting descriptions remain without alteration. Oats firm, and trade moderately active; quotations about 6d over the past week. F'oating cargoes—wheat continue in good (Hond at last advance.

Mr Helmuth Schwartze reports as follows, under date London, April 23, on the wool market:-"Since the close of the March series some business has been done in Cape wools, at firm prices. The market remains steady, and as manufacturers are known to be but scantily supplied, good competition is expected for the May sales, which will probably commence on the 14th of next month. The arrivals up to to-day comprise New South Wales and Queensland, 19,954 bales. Victoria, 67,616 bales; Tasmania, 1,234 baits; South Australia, 16,370 bales; West Australia, 18 bales; New Zealand, 7,681 bales; Capo of Good Hope : 18,vi68 Eastern Province, 1,556 Western Province-20,224 bales. Total, 133,097 bales. Further 70,000 to 80,000 bales may be expected to arrive in time, making ilie 'probable total about 200,000 or 210,000 bales. There is no decided improvement in the state of trade, but the general feeling is better, and the future is viewed with more confidence. The approaching sales will be held simultaneously with tbe European wool fairs, so that large quantities of the article «ill engage the attention of tbe trade at the same time. Still it is hoped that the prices Oi the late series will be maintained. Mr Westgarth writes as follows from London, on April 24, on Australian and New Zealand securities:—" The inward mail, via Marseilles, was delivered punctually on the morning of the 20th, bringing colonial news to 4th ult. The harvest, although small, had proved rather larger than anticipated in Victoria and South Australia. The gold discoveries in Queensland assume increased importance. New loans.—On the 22nd inst., the Bank of New South Wales advertised a Tasmanian loan for sale by public tender on the 28th._ The amount is £400,000, due 1893-7, with interest at 6 per cent., payable Ist January and Ist July. 10 per cent, is payable on allotment, the balance on 30th June, when the bont'3 are deliverable, ex coupon due Ist July. The price is reserved. This loan is chiefly in aid of a proposed railway (£300,000), to be made by a private company, which hai given satisfactory guarantee to the colonial Government. This is the first issue of stock under the Consolidation Act of last year. A South Australian loan is expected shortly. The New South Wales loan of £1,000,000, lately authorised for the completion of the railway works now in hand, is not likely to be required until after this year. I! is expected that the New Zealand Cjiisolldation will take the form of a 5 per cent, stock, repayable annually by_ the application of a 1 per cent, sinking a period of about thirty-five years. The nominal amount is limited by the Colonial Act to £7,000,000, but of this amount only a very small portion will constitute a demand on the market for fresh capiti The bulk of it will be reserved for exchanging the outstanding obligations, colonial and provincial, with such holders as may be disposed to accept the terms to be offered. One important feature as regards this contemplated operation is the fact that a 5 per cent stock is in more favour in the market than a 6 per cent, and stands at relatively a considerably higher price. This exchange may, therefore, be nude to the advantage a'ike of the colony and the bondholders. Course of the market.—The dryness of last month, alluded to in the previous circular, has to some extent passed away within the last ton days, and the continued low rate of inte-est favourably affects the market for all Colonial Government Debentures, Prices generally are well maintained, and the New South Wales (due 1888-96), Queensland and New Zealand bonds, which have been largely dealt in, have made some further advance in value, The following is the summary of changes in the prices of the various Colonial Government and other Debentures, since the date of the last circular. In New South Wales 5 per cents the stock due 1888-96, has risen 1 per cent, and that due 1868—75 (by drawings), £ per cent. In Victoria 6 per cents, the Railway Loan is 1 per cent higher, and the Water Supply Loan lj per cent higher. In Queensland 6 per per cents, botli descriptions are as much as 2 per cent higher. The various South Australian stocks are each per cent higher. Tasmanian are nominally about \ lower, but without business in face of the impending new loan. New Zealand stock show a general advance. The 5 per cent is £ higher, and the three different 6 per cents are each 1J higher. The provincial bonds are also higher; Auckland by a per cent, and those of Otago and Canterbury by 1 per cent. In the Debentures stocks of the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway, the 6 per cents due 1880 are 1 per cent higher, those of 1881J per cent higher, and the 5 per cents J per cent higher."

LONDON WOOL MARKET. (From the Home Neios, April 2*) Since the close of the March series some business has been done in Cape wools, at firm prices. The market is steady, and. as manufacturers are known to be but scantily supplied, good competition is expected for the May sales, which will commence on either the 7th or Hthof next month. The arrivals up to to-day comprise:—Sydney, 10,915 biles; Port Phillip, 65,615 bales; Van Diemen'sLand, 1251 hales; Adelaide, l£,9flt bales; New Zealand, 7u'34 bales; Swan Hirer, 18bales; Cape, \9,34l bales; toti.l 124,035 bales.

A further 70,000 to 80,000 bales may be expected to arrive in time, making the probable total about 200,000 bales. There is no de.ided improvement in the state of trade, but the general feeling is bettnr and the future is viewed with more confidence. The approaching sales will be held simultaneously with the Kuropeau wool fairs, so that large quantities of the article will engage the a'tention of the trade at the same time. Still it is hoped that the prices of the late series will be maintained.