MARKET REPORTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVIII, Issue 11446, 8 December 1897, Page 6

MARKET REPORTS.

(TRAIN AND PRODUCE

Considerable anxiety is now being felt as to the result of the coming harvest in Canterbury. The want of ram during the winter season has caused the heavier lands, more especially where there is a preponderance of clay, to cake badly. In many places where very heavy crops are generally the rule, this season they have not come away at all, while in others they have, through the continued drought, come into ear before they were many inches’liigh, and are now showing signs of turning before the ears have half filled. On many of the lighter lands the dry weather has also told its tale, and the crops, more especially oats, are stunted and turning colour. Indeed, so bad are they in many cases that farmers have turned their stock into them to eat them off. On the down lands under the hills matters are slightly better, and in a few instances it is expected that the yields will come nearly up to those of last vear on the same farms, but these are few and far between. Barley seems to have suffered to almost the same extent as the oats, but the earlier sown wheat is slightly better. In Otago the reverse of dry weather has been experienced, and the wet and cold are said to have done a good deal of harm to the crops, which will be very late this season and very poor. In Marlborough, liowgvgi'j th© outlook seems to fo© u little more cheering, and if the weather remains favourable for harvest, the yields are expected to he up to the average. Information to hand from Victoria shows that no improvement in prospects has taken place there, but the news from New South Wales is more hopeful, and although ■the yield is not by any means a large one, there will be more than sufficient for local requirements. With such an outlook, it is not surprising to find that the wheat markets are hardening throughout the colonies, and that a firmer tone prevails here, although very little business has been done. Bocal millers, whilst professing to be heavily stocked, and asserting that they have plenty of wheat to carry them over until the new crorv cornea in,, ara.evidently beginning to realise that there is to* be a“-shortage after harvest, and, mostly through agents, are making inquiries for any parcels that are bn the market, with the result that a line of 2000 sacks, 1800 of which consisted of Tuscan, has been taken for local use at 4s 3d delivered at Christchurch. Any samples on offer are carefully looked after. This, of course, has had the effect of making holders more firm in their demands, although up to the present no actual advance in prices can be recorded. There is a better general demand for oats, but the lines sold have been mostly small ones for local consumption, at prices ranging from 2s to 2s 2d ex store Christchurch, for stout feed lines. There are a good many still on the market in Southland, but the A grade is now very scarce, and quotations there are from Is 9d to Is lid, f.0.b.. Bluff. The run reported on feed barley last week has practically exhausted stocks, and there is none offering. The heavy drain on oatsheaf chaff, consequent on the scarcity of feed stuffs, and the certainty of small supplies this year-, owing to the shortness of the straw, is already showing its effect upon the local market, and prices have hardened to 55s to 57s Gd at country stations; but holders now ask 60s, and do not seem anxious to effect sales even at that price. New cheese is now offering’

freely,- and- -holders- seem the prices offered rather than hold. Prices current are as follow: Wheat. — Pearl (prime milling) 4s 2d, Tuscan 4s 2d to 4s 3d, Hunter’s 3s 9d to ■ 3s lid, good seconds 3s 2d. Oats. —Milling Canadians 2s 2d, steat feed 2s, Duns and Danish 2s, B Ablet (nominal). —Malting 3s 9d to 4s, medium 3s 3d to 3s 6d, feed scarce 2s 2d to2s6d. Flour. —Millers quote roller .£l2, stone £lO 10s, sharps £3 ss, bran £3. Oatmeal. —£ll 10s. Oatsheaf Chaff. —oos to 57s 6d at country stations for bright dean quality.. Beans. —2s 9d to 2s lOd. Peas. —Blue Prussians 4s fid, Partridge 3s 3d. Grass Seed. —Ryegrass, farmers’ Wa, 2s 3d to 2s fid; machine-dressed 3s 9d,, heavy-weight 4s to 4s 3d. Cocksfoot, farmers’ lines, discoloured 2|d to 2-JcL, bright seed 2fd to 3d, town machiao-dresßßd 4d. , Dairy Produce.— Cheese 3sdto 4d, loaf 4d to sd. Butter—Fresh fartoiy‘9SU ditto in boxes 7d to Bd, dairy 6d'tp (in boxes) fidr - Bacon and hams- €§4. to 7 id. ' The above prices, except where «fcb«rwise stated, are those paid to farmersUab. Lyttelton. RANGIORA. Business in the Rangiora Market yestesv . day was again languid in the extreme, except in the pig department. Fifteen hundred sheep were yarded at the Central Market. Butchers’ fat ewes sold at 4s lid to 5s lOd, fat merino ewes 3s to 4s, fat lambs 9s to 10s, forward four and six-tooth wethers 7s fid to 8s Bd, two-tooths in low condition 4s to ss, do in forward condition 6s to 7s ; ewes and lambs, all counted, 2s to, 4s. Seventy head of cattle were yarded. Beef realised 17s to 18s per 1001 b, cowbeef 11s to 13s; yearlings 10s to I7s fid, springers £3 to £5, two-and-a-half-year-old steers £3 15s to £3 ss, three-year-ollds £3lss to £4, dry cows 30s to 355, veal calves 5s to 7s. The entry of pigs numbered 90, and all classes were in good demand. Baconers sold at 40s to 455, large porters 25s to 335, small do 20s to 22s fid, good stores 15s to 245, small do 14s to 16s, weaners 7s to 13s. In the produce yards heavy woolly skins sold at 3s fid to ss, pelts fid to'9d; wool, crossbred 51d to 6fd per lb, locks and pieces 2d to 3-id, merino o.jd to 6.}d; calfskins. Is to 2s fid; fat 6s to 8s per cwt; fowls Is fid to 3s per pair, ducks 3s fid to 4s, geese 4s to 5s ; chick wheat 3s 3s per bushel, milling do 3s 9d to 3s lid, feed barley 2s fid to 3s, oats Is lOd to 2s 3d, crashed do 2s 4d, beans 2s 9d, do crushed 2s lid, feed peas 3s, oat straw chaff 355, oat sheaf do 655, bran 70s, sharps 755, flour, stone 225, roller do 245, do farmers’ lines 15s to 20s, potatoes 15s to 25s per ton. ASHBURTON. There was a fair attendance at the Ashburton Yards yesterday, but in the absence of any rain there was no demand for store stock, and the sale was flail throughout. There was a better inquiry for fat lambs, and one or two lines of wethers sold fairly well. The following prices were obtained: —Fat cross-breds 7s 9d to 10s for good sorts, and 4s to 6s for light weights, fat lambs 10s, freezers 11s, merino ewes Is 8d to 3s, merino wethers (in wool) 9s, cross-bred ewes and lambs 4s (all counted), merino ewes and lambs 4s (all counted), merino ewes 5-i-d per head. Pigs—Stores 13s to 14s, light baconers 235. Cattle—Cows and steers £3 to £7 ss; stores unsaleable. TEMUKA. There was a moderate entry of sheep-at the yards on Tuesday, but there was little demand for them. The best lot of fat cattle seen in the yards for some time were well competed for, and the market was topped by threequarter-bred Devons from Mr F. Barker’s estate, Ohapi. These realised fully 20s a hundred. Pat cows sold fairly well. There was little demand.for ordinary store cattle. The following are prices actually realised: —Sheep—Fat ewes 5s to Bs, four-tooth wethers and maiden ewes 6s, threequarter-bred hoggets in wool 10s, aged ewes with lambs, all counted, 2s 4d. Pigs—Stores 9s to 10s, porkers 15s to 19s 6d. Fat cattle £7 7s 6d, fat cows £4 10s, £5 and £5 ss, forward steers £4 3L7s fid, springing cows £3 to £4 10s, stores nominal.