AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume IV, Issue 7, 31 August 1857, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

From the 15th to the 31st August. The produce markets of Australia not only continue firm but exhibit an evident tendency to advance. There have been three arrivals from Sydney since our last, with intelligence to the llth instant. Flour was sliil from 23/. to 25/. per to::, but it was very firm at that price, and a rise was ioojted for. Wheat was arriving in

•small parcels, and is quoted at from Bs. to 10s. per busliel. Oals from iOs. to lis. per bushel. Barley Bs. to Bs. 6d. per busliel. Maize is quoted at from Is. 6d. to Bs. per v bushel, but the prices are uncertain, and there has been a good deal of fluctuation. The potato market is, at present, a very -diflicnlt one. Not long since, 451, per ton were obtained in Sydney, when several ar-; •rivals from Hobart Town, New Zealand, and ! the Australian coast beat them down again ! •to 11. and 8/. per ton. It was not easy to j state the price at the dale of the Gertrude's mailing, but a rise was anticipated. ! The prospects for a considei able demand - from the crops of our ensuing harvest continue to increase. Scarcely had the settlers of the Hunter River district (one of the most 'important in the Agriculture of Australia) began to recover from the effects of the late disastrous floods, than they have most unhappily been visited by another and even more terrible one. The river Hawkesbury, 100, which flows through another rich acd fertile grain district, has overleapl its bounds, and immense losses have been sustained at a season of the year, when it is too late to sow the scoured and saturated lands. Oilier rivers had also been greatly flooded and •very grievous injuries had resulted. The only arrivals from foreign ports have been the schooner Lucy Morris, 40 tons, Capt. Bonfrey, from Raro Tonga, with bananas, oranges, cucoa nuts, and arrowroot; and ihe two brigs Gertrude, and brig Sarah from Sydney, with general cargoes of merchandise, aud 5 passengers. There has been but one departure for foreign ports, the Moa, for Sydney, with a full cargo of colonial produce; but there is a considerable trade springing up between Auckland and Ahuriri, the settlers at Ahuriri sending up quantities of sheep for sale in the Auckland market, ~and drawing their necessary supplies from Auckland in return. Three fine schooners are about to be constantly employed in the trade, namely the Sea Serpent, 60 tons, Captain Blair, which has recently sailed with a full cargo; the Erin, 57 tons, Captain Sherrett; and a new schooner of 50 tons, built by Mr. Nicol of Mechanics Bay, and sailed by Captain Ellis, —both of which vessels are well adapted for the trade. The steamer YVonga-Wonga, Captain Bowden, having been sold to a company of -gentlemen at Wellington has sailed for that port.

It affords us much pleasure lo remark

lhat the beneficial trade with the coast, which j is llie parent of our produclive trade with Australia, still continues as active as ever. j The returns in our present report'are, it is 1 true, not quite equal to those in our two, previous papers, but that Is altogether owing! to the traders being on the coast in quest of | cargo : j There arrived, during the fortnight, o7 vessels of 958 tons, with 456 passengers,: 7280 bushels wheat, 1638 bushels maize, 70 tons potatoes, 57 cwt. hams and bacon, 247 cwt. salt pork, 2 cwt. butter, 20 cwt. flax, I 286 sheep, 111 tons kauri gum, 600 posjs and rails, 10,000 feet sawn timber, 10,000 shingles, 249 tons firewoocl. j The departures, coastwise, have been 50 vessels of 1556 tons, with 67 passengers and the customary amount of native supplies. j

The following arc the Market Prices current, corrected to date:— Bread Stuffs. Flour, fine, 20/. per ton. Flour, second quality, . . 171, per ton. Biscuit (prices unsteady) at from 2Ss.to2Bs.per c\vt. Bread per loaf of 21bs. . . sd. Bran is. 6d. per bl. Beef and Mutton from . . 3d. to 6d. per lb. Pork (fresh and salt) . . sd. to6d.ditto Farm Produce. Wheat, (scarce) ... 7s. to 7s. 6d. per bushel Maize ss. per bushel Oats . . . . 7s. to 7s. 6d. per bushel Potatoes . . . 41. dOs. 1001. pcrlon Onions .... 2d. to 2sd. per lb. Hay (plentiful) . . 41. per ton. Live Stock. Sheep from . . 475. to 255. a head. Dairy Cows . . 91. to 121, each. Calves from . • 255. to 40s. each. Groceries. Tea .... 61. to 61.105. per chest. Sugar .... s|d. to sd. per lb. Coffee . . . . dOd. per lb. Rice . .* . . 2d. to per lb. Soap • . . . 555. per cwt. Candles .... dOd. per lb. Tobacco . . . . 2s. 6d. to os. per lb. Dairy Produce, Butler . . . . ds. od. to ds. 6d. lb. Eggs . . , . ds. od. per doz. Poultry . . . . os. Od. per couple