COMMERCIAL.

Mataura Ensign, 26 January 1911, Page 8

COMMERCIAL.

GORE COMMERCIAL REVIEW. ' Ensign' Office, January 26. Oats. —A fair quantity of oats has been disposed of lately on the basis of 2s ex store. Stocks are now brought down to very small compass and it is likely that the new season's crop will open at a fair price. Canterbury merchants state that very few oats are offering considering that harvest is so , far advanced. Crops in the Oamaru district are also said to be light, and it is questionable if they will have sufficient for their own requirements. Locally there are some very good crops, but farmers are not very sanguine about good harvests. It will be some time before new oats are on the market, and when the new season's grain is offered stocks will be very light indeed. Chaff. —Owing to farmers rushing in supplies before commencing harvesting operations prices have declined, but this is considered to be only temporary, and before the end of the month the mar- • ket is expected to recover. Ryegrass. —The market has not yet opened, and in one or two districts threshing has just commenced. A few samples have been exhibited, and the seed has been highly spoken of by merchants as regards quality. So far merchants have not indicated an opening price, but it is probable that this will be somewhere between 2s 6d and 2s 9d for good farmers' undressed seed. BURNSIDE STOCK MARKET. DUNEDIN, Jan. 25. At the Burnside stock market to-day 135 head of cattle were yarded, the quality being fair. There was a good demand, but prices, although good, were a shade easier than the high rates ruling last week. Best bullocks brought £ll to £l2; extra, to £l4 15s; medium, £9 10s to £lO 10s; inferior, £7 15s to £8 ss; best cows and heifers, £7 10s to £8 10s; extra, to £lO ss; medium, £6 5s to £6 15s; inferior, £4 10s to £5 5sFat Sheep.—2ll9 were penned. This number was in excess of requirements and prices were easier. The decline was most noticeable in aged ewes. -Best wethers made 17s 6d to 19s; extra, to 22s 6d; good, 15s to 17s; medium, 13s to 14s 6d; best ewes, 14s 6d to 16s; extra, to 20s; medium, lis 6d to 13s; inferior, 7s 6d to 9s. Fat Lambs.—39B were penned. The quality was fair to medium. Competi- ! tion was good, and the past week's prices were maintained. Best realised 15s to 16s 6d; extra, to 17s 6d; good, 13s 6d to 14s 6d; medium, 12s to 13s. Pigs.—l 93 were penned. Prices were much on a par with those ruling last week. Suckers made 3s to 8s; slips, 9s to 13s; stores, 18s to 225; porkers, 28s to 355; light baconers, 38s to 425; heavy do, 45s to 525. ADDINCTON STOCK MARKET. ; PEE UNITED PEESS ASSOCIATION. CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 25. At the Addington stock market today the entry of store sheep was not quite equal to that of last week, and consisted chiefly of lambs with a few pens of ewes and wethers. There was 4n improved demand for all classes, especially for young sheep. There was a good proportion of forward sorts among the rape lambs, and for these there was an exceptionally good demand and a ready sale was effected at an advance of 6d to 9d per head. Medium lambs also sola better than last week. Forward wethers were well competed for. A pen of two-tooth ewes made 14s 6d; forward rape lambs made lis to lis 6d; extra forward, lis 9d to 12s Id; medium sorts, 9s -3d to 10s 6d; small and low-conditioned, 8s to 8s 9d; culls, 5s to 6s 6d; forward wethers, up to lis 6d; medium, 12s 9d to 13s 6d; mixed sexes, 10s Id to 10s lid; twotooth ewes, 14s to 14s 6d; aged ewes, 7s to 8s 6d. Fat Lambs.—744B were penned, and though there was a fair proportion of prime freezing lambs there was a number of inferior lots offered. There was good competition and heavy lambs were firmer, but medium and inferior sorts sold at about last week's rates. Badlydrafted lots were 2 if anything, easier, and many of the low-conditioned lots would probably have sold better in the store pens. There were 5561 taken for freezing at prices ranging from 18s to 17s lid for best and lis lOd to 12s 9d; 477 by butchers at lis 9d to 16s lOd; 219 by graziers at lis 9d to 12s Id; and 1190 were passed in at 10s 3d to 14s. Fat Sheep.—There was a larger entry than of late, of which ewes formed the principal portion. There was an active demand for wethers for export, and prices were firmer than last week by 6d to Is per head. Ewes opened at lower rates, and as the sale proceeded prices eased off still further. The range . ' of prices was: Prime wethers, 17s to 18s 7d; lighter, 14s to 16s 6d; prime ewes, 14s to 15s 7d; others, 8s lOd to 13s 6d; hoggets, 13s to 15s lid; merino wethers, 9s 2d. Fat Cattle.—3l6 head were entered, mostly useful sorts. In spite of the good quality, however, there was a very poor demand and a large proportion of the yarding was passed in, sales being effected at a decline of Is to Is 6d per lOOlbs. on last week's rates. Steers made £6 17s 6d to £11; heifers, £5 12s 6d to £8; cows, £5 2s 6d to £8 15s—equal to 24s 6d to' 28s 6d for prime, 22s 6d to 24s for medium and 19s 6d to 22s for cow and inferior per lOOlbs. Veal calves made 4s 6d to £2 15s. Dairy Cows.—There was a small entry and for the better sorts only there was a good demand, prices ranging from £3 10s to £9 ss. •Store Cattle. —There were but few offered and there was little inquiry. Yearlings made 255; 15 to 18 months 45s to £3 lis; two-year steers, £3 16s; three-year steers passed at £5 7s 6cl,' and dry cows, 35s to £4 ss. Pigs-—'There was a medium entry and all classes met with an improved demand, which resulted in a satisfactory clearance. Choppers made ud to 655; heavy baconers, 50s to 56s ; smaller sorts, 40s to 47s 6d—equal to per ... lb.; large porkers, 31s to 365; lighter, 25s to 30s—equal to 4Jd to 4ijd per lb.; large stores, 30s to 355; medium, 20s to 28s; small, 14s to 18s; suckers, 5s to Bs. CHRISTCHURCH PRODUCE. CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 25. There has been a fairly large amount of new wheat changing hands during

the past few days, both merchants and millers making purchases. The prices paid were 3s Id to 3s 2d at country 'stations, and some fairly large lines were taken at these prices, the wheat being of splendid quality. The fine weather now being experienced for harvest operations is enabling farmers to secure their crops in good order, and the dryness of the wheat makes it suitable for stook threshing. There are still a few oats offering, and merchants say they do remember a season when the cli'tiv.igs were so small at this perio-j after harvest. Prices are unchanged. The highest figure is paid at stations for Algerians. Malting barlt-y is still selling at good prices when the quality is satisfactory. New oat sheaf chaff is now offering, and sales have been made at 70s at country stations. No business can be done for shipment north, however, in the face of lower quotations from Blenheim. Ryegrass is very scarce, and new seeds are quoted at 3s 9d to 4s at country stations. Some business has been done in cocksfoot, and Peninsula seed has changed hands at 6d to J CHILIAN LOAN. LONDON, Jan. 25. Chili is issuing a 5 per centum £4,905,000 loan at 98? in Germany and England. The English half of the loan was subscribed tenfold within an hour. TO ATTRACT INVESTORS. LONDON, Jan. 25. The 'Daily Chronicle' states that the British Government will shortly convert part of the National debt into bearer bonds as low as £5 for the purpose of attracting small investors. METAL MARKETS. BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—COPYRIGHT. PER UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION. Received January 26, 8.15 a.m. LONDON, Jan. 25. Copper.—Cash, £55 6s 3d . Tin.—On spot, £l9l 10s; at three months, £192. LONDON WOOL SALES. BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—COPYRIGHT. PER UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION. Received January 26, 8.15 a.m". LONDON, Jan. 25. At the wool sales the Piako clip was soldj the top price being lOd and the average 9jd. Received Januarv 26, 12.35 p.m. LONDON, Jan. 25. There was strong Yorkshire competition at the wool sales, all good combing merinos having a hardening tendency and faulties being rather irregular. THE TALLOW MARKET. BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—COX'YRICJIIT. PER UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION. Received January 26, 8.15 a.m. LONDON, Jan. 25. At the tallow sale 1088 casks were offered, and 690 were sold, prices Jieing unchanged. FROZEN MEAT MARKET. Messrs Gilbert Anderson and Co., colonial agents, writing from London on December 16, report:—There has been a dull, lifeless trade during the week with slight improvement at the close. Prices for home-grown are unchanged, South American beef being the dominating factor and prices being no higher than for frozen bod'. This is quoted at 2'd to 2;' d for foroquarters and 2jd to 3gd for hindquarters. Supplies of chilled beef for next week will be lighter, when an improved price is expected. Australian and River Plate mutton is plentiful, Australian selling at 3d to 3Jd and River Plate at 3id to 3gd. The entire absence of Now Zealand mutton is forcing the trade on to the River Plate, with the effect that New Zealand will have difficulty in getting the trade back except at correspondingly low prices. This absence of supplies is most unfortunate. No NewZealand lamb is on the market; Australian is selling freely at 4Jd to 5 _'-16d. Up to date shipments have gone into consumption as soon as landed.