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Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2595, 30 April 1869, Page 2

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Lyttelton Times Office, Thursday Evening. The Customs revenue collected at Christchurch and Lyttelton to-day amounted to £228 Us 3d. The following were the items : Wine, 171 i gals, £44 18s Id; spirits, 113| gals, £6B 6s 9d ; tea, 6581b5, £69 9s ; sugar, 98961b5, £4l 4s 8d; tobacco, 3641b5, £45 10s; cigars, 1 sample, 5s ; maizena, 6 cases, 7s ; leather, 408 lbs, 17s ; kip leather, 118 lbs, 9s lOd; boots, 5 cases, £8 2s lid ; nails, 86 lbs, lOd ; light dues, £1 17s 2d ; arms fees, 6s. The land sales to-day amounted to 110 acres, as follows :—Hanks Peninsula, 70 acres ; Waitangi, 40 acres; realising £220. Subjoined is a review of the wheat trade in England by H. Kains-Jackson. It is dated Mark Lane, Jan. 30:—“ Viewed in its actual course the corn trade of the month just ended has not been interesting; the fluctuations have been trivial, and, as anticipated, first receding in London below the December level, and again recovering it. The Imperial averages of the last four weeks show how little the aggregate change has been:—sos lid, 51s sd, 52s Bd, 52s 4d pet qr for wheat. Nor have the publication of stocks held in granary at our principal ports affected the position any more than have the annual circulars issued by home and foreign merchants, of whom the views in respect to' the late harvests and of the resources of surplus countries agree sufficiently to make! com-, parison and criticism unnecessary; There is enough everywhere. But while the actual progress of business has been healthy and satisfactory in its immediate result there can be but little doubt that the bearings pf the grain q estion have been decidedly fettled for the future upon a lower basis, apd this remark includes especially, besides wheat, the several other sorts of grain which until lately were relatively dearer, and in a'better position than wheat, which now, probably, u the safest staple article in the corn; trade, la support of this view I must refer to my statement early in the month, that we were promised off coast a goodly number of grainladen vessels, in which fact (because they were not yet arrived) many persons d}d not believe, especially aa for nearly two months our imports had dwindled 1 to | about half the expected bulk, and next, because prices were said to lie low to,attract cirgoes. Indeed, the assertion was commonly believed, ‘that the usual autumn shipments h>d not taken place.’ The contrary appeared! to me mote lik ly, on the faith of a Lane axiom, that most wheat-growing countries ‘grow wheat for the English market*’ and such being the case whatever) iates aije current in London have to be accepted- they being as a rule the highest in the wctfld. The simple c imment on both views is thie fact that, quoting from the one recognised Floating List, by Mr Dornbrusch, the lactual arrivals for the last four weeks have been of grain-laden vessels—January 8j nine ships; 15th, 224 ships; 22nd, 127 ships) 29tfl, 27 ships, consisting chiefly of wheat, barley, maize, and beans, and exclusive o| oats coming to direct ports, thus demonstrating (as.some,<*f the bills of lading were'dated, early, in September) that shippers at Taganrog, Black Sea, and, Danuhiau ports, bs well •sin the Baltic, did make autumn shipments, and then (ore logically wilt (as their to do so is questioned again ship jin : the spring at prices sgid to. he toft low, iq buy their produce. T,hq sale oi the ahoTU flqetj, , with ,90, cargoes of wheat a’, ue on offer in one' dag, weqt off after a first . >nss briskly and at full rates, most of the layer) beindcogn,)iy agents, including Irish and pcfitcb Merchants. During t; week now en<Uhg value and demand he vc slightly Receded

for wheat, while maize and grinding beriqy, are almost unsaleable at Is to 2s per qr reduction, there being left on sale 20 cargoes of wheat, 28 of maize, and 30 of barley, with fresh arrivals reported. Oats in good granary stock and fair weekly supply, firm in price during January, are at its close 6d per qr. cheaper, more from the heavier general reduction in feeding corn than from other causes. At the same time the season is now advanced enough and mild enough to prevent oats and feeding stuffs rising to their recent top prices ; so, too, the malting season has satisfied its heaviest wants ; and best barley is 3s to 4s per qr. under its December figures. The public may well accept the p-ices current next Monday as very moderate ones, from which .there should not be any change of importance until April; a shilling either way, according to the weather, is always a good sign of sound trade. Those rates will probably be 2s to 3s lower for wheat, Is to 2s per sack for flour, 6d to 2s on barley, maize, oats, beans, and peas. As regards the season, the wheat plant I have seen looks well, and is not too forward, and although Mr Mechi_ quotes the moon against a fine summer, the inconstancy of our satellite is too constant, according to registers of the Royal Observatories of England and France, to be anything more than amusing.