COMMERCIAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2607, 13 May 1869, Page 2

COMMERCIAL.

Lyttelton Timet Office, Wednesday Evening. The Customs revenue collected at Christchurch and Lyttelton to-day amounted to £146 5s 2d. The following were the items : —Wine, 66| gallons, £l3 16s 2d; spirits, 182 J gallons, £lO9 12s lod; porter (bottled), 176 gallons, £4 15s ; tobacco, 254 lbs, £3l 15s ; light dues, £3 5s Id ; arms fees, ss. Hokitika.— The West Coast Timet of May 10 reports —Business during the week has been extremely quiet, very few of the country buyers having paid the market a visit. The wretched state of the roads and tracks in the interior has also tended to keep business back. Now that there is an appearance of Hue weather setting in for some time, we may hope to find an improvement. i'he value of flour remains unchanged at prices qu ted last week ; stocks are not large. The cargo of the Storm Bird, from Adelaide, now in the roadstead is not expected to influence the market. Oats are also unchanged, 4s 6d per bushel being the market value. Chaff is in demand at £l7 to £lB ; a parcel, ex Sea Bird was disposed of by auction at £l4 10s. Bran still finds buyers at 2s 6d. Potatoes of good quality are not plentiful; they would now fetch £6 10s and £7 per ton : inferior have been quoted at £4 10s and £5. Onions are scarce, and worth 3d per lb, and are likely to go much higher. Butter is still very scarce, and nearly the whole stock is of inferior quality ; for really good, Is 3d and 1 s 4d is being paid. There is no change to notice in oilman’s stores with the exception of kerosene, which is firmer, 3s 9d being the price at present demanded by holders of these articles. Provisions and groceries remain unchanged. No transactions in spirits are reported during the week. Sales at auction having been very slight. Mr G. W. Binney reports chaff, ex Sea Bird. £l4 10s; palings, 12s ; oats, 4s 6d, bags Is 3d ; Melbourne £l6 ; and at rooms a quantity of sundries which brought fair prices. Otago.—The Daily Times of May 11, reports :—The markets have opened this week with some degree of liveliness, and though it is not possible to record any very extensive operations in the import market, there seems a probability of a steady trade for the present, both far local and outside requirements. Breadstuffs and grain are at maintained values, the latest advices occasioning no change in rates or prospects ; in the meantime there is a moderate demand for shipment going on, and the quantities coming forward from growers are all required. Spirits have had but little attention. Hennessy’s brandy, in bulk, moves at 8s 3d ; but no other brands appear to have been selling. In tobacco, some moderate sales have been made of quarters and tens; of the latter, starlight brand, quitting at 11 id, and some other brands at from 8d to lOd. Kerosene has been quitted at 3s 6d, duty paid ; Brandon’s Nevas at Is ; also a large lot of American turpentine, at a price withheld. There has been but little enquiry for malt or hops. Sales of the latter have been made in small parcels at Is sd. A fair enquiry is going on for teas of good descriptions ; there have been quittances to-day of some fair-sized parcels of boxes and halves. Sugars are in request at advancing rates, parcels placed to-day witnessing £2B in bond for a low brown ; £39 for brownish crystals ; and £52, duty paid, for a good first counter. A day or two since the cargo of the Celeste Clarke, consisting of about 490,000 feet of North American deals and battens, was placed in one line, the price at which the importers quitted not being disclosed, though reported as satisfactory. By auction nothing has taken place of any moment. Advices from Mauritius are to 23rd March, at which date the Dunloe, 275 tons, is reported as loading for Dunedin, the arrival of this vessel here may therefore be looked for daily. She will bring a timely supply of sugars, of which stocks are completely exhausted. Messrs Wright, Stephenson and Co. report, for the week ending the Bth inst. as follows :—Fat Cattle.—We yarded 30 headmiddlingquality;theybroughtanaverag© of £9 ss, equal to 27s 6d per 100 lb. Prime beef is worth 30s per 100 lb. Fat Sheep.—A draft of middling wethers brought at auction 7s 6d each. We quote prime mutton 2d per lb, at which price we placed a draft of 500. Store Cattle.—On the 3rd inst., we sold at Waikouaitia mob of 530 -from Canterbury. They were a very good lot. Bullocks realised £6 12s 6d; cows (with calves given in), £6 15s ; and yearlings, £4 7s6d ; dairy cows, good, quiet, may be quoted from £l2 to £l6. Store sheep.—There are no sales to report; business in this description of stock is almost at a stand-still from the absence of buyers, although many holders are willing to accept low prices. Country sales.—We sold at Trotter’s Creek, on the 4th, the stock, crops, and implements of Mr Tutchen; 27 cows brought from £6 5s to £l2 ; draught horses, £25 10s to £4O 10s, and as the attendance of buyers was numerous, everything brought full value. Horses.—No fresh stock has been offered. At our sale on Saturday, prices showed but little alteration from previous week’s rates. Quotations are—Heavy draught, from £4O to £SO ; useful do, from £25 to £3O ; good hacks, £l7 to £24 ; inferior, £6 10s and upwards. The Daily Times of May 10 reported as follows on the breadstuffs market; —In the produce market a good inquiry has been apparent, but the quantity of grain coming to hand has been small ; current quotations are wheat, 4a 6d to 4s 7d ; good samples of barley, 4s 9d to ss; oats, 2s 6d; potatoes, 65s to 70s. At the mills flour still stands at £l2s to £l2s 10s ; bran, Is ; oatmeal, £ls 10s. Hobabton. A telegram in the Argus, dated May 3, reports: —The markets are dull. Flour is quoted at £l2; wheat, 6s, firm; potatoes, £4, bags in. There are but few this season for export. Adelaide. —A telegram in the Argus, dated May 3, reports :—The corn market is without touch change. For the present the lowest point seems to have been reached, and the tone of the market is firmer. Wheat is firm at 5s Id; sales reported at 5s OJd, f.o.b. Melbourne.— The Argus of May 4 reports;—ln the import markets we note an improved inquiry for goods. In breadstuffs therp is little of any interest to refer to. Holders are very firm, though transactions are hot extensive. Sales of flour have been made at from £l3 to £l3 10s, in moderate parcels. Wheat also maintains a firm aspect; we continue to quote 5s 9d to 6s lOd for fine samples of Victorian. Feeding grains meet with favour; holders of oats can with difficulty be got to accept anything under 4s. Maite has been moved off freely; the whole of the steamer’s shipment to hand this morning has been cleared at from 4s 7d to 4* Bd. Sugars are in good demand. We understand that' a considerable parcel of: Natal descriptions has been taken at prices ranging, according to quality, at from 30s for rations to 40s for fine counters., A v.ery brisk trade inquiry has set in for kerosene oil, and numerous parcels have been placed at prices Which show a better market. A line of 500 cases of Devoe’s, to arrive per Zouave, was quitted at 2a 3 Jd. 1 A line of 1000 cases and one of 1700 cases Downer’s, on the spot, are stated to have been disposed of at 2s s|d ; 1000 cases, half Cozzena’ and half Comet, were placed at 2s 3d. We likewise hear of 2s 3Jd having been offeted for 500 cases of Comet. Salt commands a good deal of notice ; a parcel of a hundred tons, coarse and fine, has been purchased at £5 17s 6d. Quicksilver is in more tradp request, a ready sale being obtained for trade purposes of parcels rising from twenty to fifty bottles, at 2s. A shipment of fifty pockets Kent hops has been cleared out on terms withheld. Rather a low figure was accepted. An invoice of Wolverhampton Company’s corrugated iron, 24, 26, and 28 gauge, realised £27 all round. For liquids we learn of little general inquiry. Jules Robin and Co.’s bulk brandy has for some time past , been making rapid progress in public favour, and we understand that today some sixty hhds and ISO quarter-casks, dark and pale, have been purchased at very full rates. Intelligence mis been received that Mr John Barber, Westbnry, Tasmania, has been compelled to call a meeting of his creditors. His total liabilities an not stated, but we are informed that £6OOO, at least, will fall on Melbourne creditors.

The following reports of the lire and dead stock market are from the Atom of May 4: —Messrs A. Strettle and Co., report:— “Dairy Stock.—Our market on Thursday was moderately supplied with cows, but the description of the animals offered was better thau usual. We sold several good to first class dairy cows at from £9 to 12; medium do, from £6 to £8 6s. Dry cows, if anything like fat, sold well. Young stock in fair demand. Eat Calves—The demand was good, and last week’s quotations were fully sustained. Figs.—A moderate supply, consisting mostly of prime pigs. The demand was briskj find &n ndvitncG on lust* wgglc 9 quotations was established. Prime dairy-fed porkers brought from 6d to 6Jd per lb; prime bacon pigs, s*d to s}d. There is every probability of these quotations being maintained. Meat Carcases. —Quotations for beef same as last week, viz.:—Prime 255. to 295. per 1001 b ; medium, 19s to 225. Mutton (rising) —prime, 3jd to 4Jd; picked carcases, 4|d per lb; medium, 2fd to 3J. Prime pork, s‘d to 6d; medium, 4Jd to 5d.” Mr William Mullett reports:—“ Horses.—Throughout the week there has been a good supply of horses, and of a better stamp than usual: the prices realised must have been higher than the vendors expected, and my last week’s quotations were fully maintained. Dairy Cattle. —Good milkers still scarce, and an advance upon last week’s rates of about 20s per head. No change in medium, and but few stores to hand Pigs.—A very large number arrived, nevertheless good quality sold readily, and 5d to 5Jd per lb. may be depended upon. Stores are still unsaleable except at low prices.” The following stock report is from the Pastoral Times of May 1 : Buyers were searching the Macquarie for fat cattle, which were very scarce. The dealers (northern districts) are “ continually up and down, and buying everything before them of any fair quality.” At Sydney, owing to the depression in the price of wool, the sales of sheep stations are in abeyance: there were inquiries for good cattle stations, but purchasers were standing out for lower terms. Quotations:— Best bullocks, £6 10s to £8 10s ; middling, £3 10s to £5 10s ; best cows, £5 10s to £7 ; middling, £3 to £4 15s. The supply of fat sheep was below the average, and really prime lots were scarce ; 48lbs to 50lb wethers, fetched 7s 6d to 9s. Quotar tions—Prime heavy wethers, 8s 6d to 10s 6d; middling, 6s to 7s 6d. Store cattle were advancing in price. Quotations—Good bullocks (south), £3 10s to £4 ; good mixed sexes (south), £2 15s to £3 5s ; bullocks (north), £2 10s to £3 ; mixed sexes (north), £2 5s to £2 15s. In store sheep sales were li-mited-wethers were asked for. Quotations —Wethers, 4s 6d to 5s 6d ; maiden ewes, 5s to 6s 6d ; breeding ewes, 4s to ss. A private letter from Walgett, 6th April, says :—“ The squatters have suffered some frightful losses out here and upon the borders this year. One firm has lost two-thirds of their sheep and out of 50,000 another firm has barely saved 9000 ; of course, such losses are absolute ruination. There has been some nice rain here and up the Barwon lately, but not enough to make sufficient grass ; the river is half-bank high and still rising.” In all the markets of the central districts of New South Wales prime fat sheep are rising. In Northern Queensland the heavy rain-fall retarded stock operations, and prevented large transactions from being completed; such weather bad not been seen for five or six years. Stock quotations in cattle and sheep had not Changed at Rockhampton : “ Horses are again dull of sale; except for those of very good quality. Quotations —Heavy draught, £25 to £35 ; medium, £l6 to £2O; saddle horses for journeys, up to weight, £l4 to £2O; medium, £9 to £l2 j inferior, £7 to £9 ; hacks, £3 to £5. Working bullocks in fair demand. Quotations :—£9o to £lls for teams ; pairs, £16.” From Ipswich we hear—“ Pastoral pursuits are flourishing, owing to tHe abundance of grass and water everywhere.” In Victoria the stock markets for really prime stock were steady at good prices, save in Melbourne, where cattle fell 20s per head, the supply being in excess; prime pens brought from £l Ito £l2 12s 6d. Fat Sheep. Prime quality wethers, 491 b, to 521 b, fetched 16s to 17s; crossbreds, 571 b, up to 225; and prime Leicestefs, 40s each; second quality wethers, 401 bto 451 b, sold from 11s to 13s. At Ballarat the demand was good for fat cattle, where some bullocks sold at £l3 each; prime and good pens, £lO to £l3 2s fid. At Deniliquin, stock, fat cattle and sheep, are coming down to market in large quantities. The cry through the country is for more rain, although grass is pretty abundant.