COMMERCIAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXI, Issue 7274, 23 June 1884, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

Lyttelton Times Office, Saturday Evening. CUSTOMS REVENUE. The following was the Customs revenue collected yesterday Spirits, £224 ss; wine, £lB 9s 4d; cigars, £44 18s 2d ; tobacco, £125 16s 6d; tea, £7 Is 4dsugar, £9 16s id; goods by weight, £1; ad valorem, £1 9,165; total, £451 2s Bd. LAND SALES. Messrs H. Matson asp Co. held an auction sale of property yesterday at their Land Boom. The catalogue comprised a varied assortment of country, suburban and city freeholds, which attracted a very large audience, fully 150 people assembling at the sale, some eager to become purchasers at a price, others evidently owners of property anxious to see how the wind blew, and of course the ordinary knowledge-seeking folk who are ever to be found at sales by auction. The sale opened with Mr John Parish's sections at Halswell, The first three blocks, of 10 acres each, were passed in at £45 per octe ; then followed several sections of an acre each and more, which found few buyers, five sections only going at the rate of £7O per acre, not a bad price as things go. The 34-acre farm was bid for up to £4O per acre cash, but the auctioneer informal his audience that the owner had more exalted ideas. The next property was a farm of 166 acres, situate at Greenpark, The highest hid under the hammer was £l4 an acre, but the owner, •’ a Pilgrim father," was ever hopeful, and instructed his agent to remember that it was not every swallow that made a cummer, aud he was prepared to live upon faith a while longer. The Bakaia block of 3478 acres, part fenced, failed to elicit a bid, although the auctioneer informed his audience that the vendor was prepared to meet his fate at their hands. The Courtenay aud Ellesmere blocks were returned to vendors’ keeping, so also were the various other lots. The closing remarks of • the auctioneer were as follows : Gentlemen, I have tried to impress upon my clients, holders of fee simple and land owners generally, the utter uselessness of trying to force property to auction in the present depressed condition of the country. Their persistence in so doing only tends to aggravate the position, and until such time as the wheels of commerce have been lubricated, my advice is. Don’t. ENGLISH. Messrs Miles Bbos. & Co. report under date April 25 Wool,— There have been several enquiries during the past month, and some 1500 bales have changed hands privately, at prices about on a par with those ruling at our last sales, but as the opening day for our May series (29th inst) is now near at hand, no business is for the moment passing. It has been proposed to extend the date for arrivals to a week after the day of opening, hut nothing will be definitely decided until May 29. Should this course be determined upon, there would, no doubt, tea considerable increase in the quantity for offer. The supplies this year, to the present time, show an excess of some 50,000 bales over those at the corresponding date in 1883, The second series of sales of South American wool commenced at Antwerp on April 16 with a moderate attendance; and of 1742 teles 1055 were sold. Average to good jiarcels showed no alteration, but inferior wools showed }d per lb decline from the previous auctions. No change has taken place in the market there since the commencement. The Eiver Plate wools being useful and cheaper than Colonial growths are looked upon very favourably by Continental consumers. Trade in our manufacturing district! is fairly brisk, but business in Franco remains very depressed. Prices at our next series are not expected to show any improvement. We think, however, that the unfortunate drought prevailing in Australia should to some extent tend to

Btrongthon our market. The fresh orrirala aro as roUow: ~ Bales New South Wales Bt.Ml ::: ::: & South Australia. Western Australia l O.WR Tasmania *V"’ Now Zealand "A B*** 8 *** 278,775 Capo of Good Hope 32,005 Total 310,780 of which some 38,000 Australian, and 12,.MW Capo, have been forwarded to Yorkshire and tho Continent direct. The old stock on band amounts to, sav, 25,000 bales. List of days of sale annexed, \Vuk*t, Flour, An.—-Dunns the past week a slightly improved feeling has been noticeable on our market, ami although prices have not improved. a hotter demaud has prevailed. Ibis is owinjr narily to the cold oivstowy winds aim night frosts wc arc now oxporifinciiiK. atm also to tho improved toiio iu America, where prices hiiio advanced rt cent* per bushel from tho low rates which ruled after tho last parcels recently held there had been thrown on tho market. Since Jan. 1, onr stocks have dooroasod by some A>O,otK) quarters, but supplies received in the interim have been only some 30,000 quarters less than that quantity.’while stocks of Hour have very largely increased. The total quantity of wheat and dour on passage from all parts to Europe is estimated at 2,212,000 quarters, against 2 350,000 quarters this time hist year. Australian wheat has declined Is iu consequence of large supplies, awl way now bo quoted at 43s to 43s (kl per 4961 bex granary. For cargoes buyers are willing to give about 40s by wooden vessels and 40s (id bv iron ships, c.i.f,, U.K. For Now Zealand descriptions tho demand has slightly improved, and prices for parcels iu good condition are about the same, viz., 41s to 435, and round horned, Sss to 40s, in r ii'tilb ox granary; inferior lots aro bringing from 25s to 355. In cargoes nothing is doing. Stocks of flour on hand aro very heavy. The prices aro no hotter. Australian superfine brings 28s to 28s, and New Zealand brands bring 23s to 28s per 3801 b. Oats are Is dearer, namely 27s to 31s per 3S4lb for heavy sorts, which aro scarce. In barley there is very little doing, our malting season being nearly over. Grinding qualities have Sold as low as iUs Gd pet* 4001 b. Now Zealand beaus ; are worth from 37s to 38a per 5401 b. Tai.i.ow and Hides.— The sales to-day passed oil with a moderate demand, and of 14,7 casks of Australasian tallow offered, 10C3 casks wore sold at a decline of 6d to Is por cwt, excepting hard dark sorts, which sold at about former rates. Wo quote good to line mutton, 37s to 395; very fine, 40s to 41s; and fair to fine beef, fflis to 37s Cd per cwt. Stock in first hands, deducting to-day’s sale, is 12,300 casks. Hides arc unaltered, viz., really prime, s|d to s)d; heavy ox, 5d to 5Jd; light, 4Jd to -lid; and cows, IJd to 4|d. Fhozem Meat.—Tho sheep, ox s.s. Bombay, hove now all beou sold. The meat averaged about CJd per lb, which was a good price, as some of the sheep were very fat, while others, though lean, were coarse on tho flesh. Tho shipments, per s.s. Victory and s.s. Doric, which arrived shortly before, were of better quality, and many of the best carcases brought 7d per lb. The s.s, British Queen has just arrived, with meat in very good order, but the quality is almost the same as that per s.s. Bombay. These carcases are bringing, on tho overage, about 61d per lb. The s.s. Fenstantou is due hero in four or five days* time. There are some River Plate sheep now on the market, of small sire, but much hotter in quality than tho last parcel, and are making 5Jd to 5Jd per lb. Onr market for mutton has been rather weaker during the past few days, the cold weather having caused a demand for beef. We hope, however, to see New Zealand carcases rather dearer when the weather changes. Bask Rate lowered on April 3, from 3 per cent to 2J per cent.