AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume V, Issue 22, 31 December 1858, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, AND MARITIME REPORT.

From the 15th to the 31st December. Our last advices are from Sydney to the 48th, and from Melbourne to the 14th inst The Flour and Grain Markets remained in an inactive stale, with a tendency towards a farther decline in prices. The harvest was at band, and though some districts are said to have suffered a good deal from drought, the prospects of the incoming crops, as a whole, are considered la be by no means unfavourable. The latest Adelaide prices are, flour, 16/. 10s. to 17/. 10s.; new wheat 6s. 9d. At Melbourne flour ranges from 48/. to 20/.; wheat Bs. 3d. to Bs. 6d. At Sydney, flour was 18/. to 20/.; wheat 7s. to 7s. 9d.; bran 2s. The arrivals during the pa«t fortnight have been numerous and important. And foremost among them, we may mention that of an Austrian frigate, the Novara of 44 guns, and 4200 tons. This is the first ship of the great nation to which she belongs that has ever been seen in the South Pacific Ocean. She is not, at present, a fighting ship, but engaged in a voyage of scientific discovery undertaken for the information and improvement of all mankind. Several of our Native readers have had the pleasure of being introduced to Commodore Wullerstoif-Urbaiiy

and his Officers, and have beard from their own lips Uvat their object in coming lo New Zealand has been to lend iheir aid in promo* ling the prosperity of tne land, add its Inhabitants. With that object in view, they have visited the Coal fields at Drury, made au excursion to ilie Waikalo; and still more effectually to prosecute Ureiv scientific research, Dr. llochsieitor, a man of great learning, has been led to remain behind in order tc aid in ihetfevelopmeiuof the mineral resources of Auckland. The oiber arrivals have been the ketch Pegasus, 45 tons, Captain Brier, with 80 sneep, 1 passenger; the schooner Acadian, 42 tons, Capl. Fores'er, with 2 passengers; ilie schooner Eliezcr, 56 tons, Captain Kean, with 3 passengers; the schooner Emily Aliison, 99 tons, Captain Wells, Aviih Military stores, and 5 passengers—all from Napier; the brig Gil Bias, 175 tons, Captain Wedgwood, from Lyltellon, with 500 bushels oats, 857 boshels barley, 426 bushels malt.and 2 passengers; the schooner Kale Kearney, 85 tons, Captain Dixon, at Manukau from New Plymouth, with 250 sheep, and 2 passengers; the Evening Star, ship, 811 tons, Captain Ewing, ftom London, with a general cargo, and 140 passengers; the barque Breadalbane, 234 tons, Captain Philip Jones, from Sydney, with goods, and 8 passengers; the bngnntine Spray, 106 tons. Captain Anderson, from Sydney, witii goods, and 4 passengers ; the steamship Lord Worsley, 422 tons. Captain Johnson, from Sydney by Nelson and New Plymouth, with 192 sheep, sundries, and 23 passengers; the brig Gertrude, 119 tons, Captain Dunning, from Sydney, with a general cargo of merchandize; the clipper ship Kingston, 843 tons, Capl. Weeks, from London, with a general cargo of merchandize, and 124 passengers; the brig Moa, 236 tons, Captain Bowden, from Sydney, with goods, and 15 passengers; and the barque Kate, 341 tons. Captain Grange, from Melbourne, with sundry merchandize, and 17 passengers. The Kate is a very fine ship, and has been purchased by Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane to carry timber and other produce from Auckland to China, bringing back lea, sugar, and other Eastern commodities. The departures have been the schooner Kate Kearney, 83 tons, Captain Dixon, from Manukau for New Plymouth, with 40 bags flour, 700 feet timber, sundry merchandize, 1 passenger; the cutter Surprise, 50 tons, Captain Braund, for Olago, with 35,600 feet timber; the schooner Effort, 32 tons, Capt.

Frost, for Lyllelton, with 28,500 feet limber, 6 bags flour, sundries; the schooner Gazelle, 312 tons Captain Cunningham, for Sydney, with 57 tons kaurigu m, 824 bshls. bran, 9 lons flax, 4060 lbs ctieese, 30 cwt. potatoes, 300 lbs. wool, 15 passengers; the schooner Eliezer, 56 tons, Captain Kean, for Napier, with 32,000 shingles, 3125 palings, sundry merchandize, and 2 passengers; the steamship Lord Worsley, 422 tons, Captain Johnson, for New Plymouth, Nelson, and Sydney, 10 passengers; the ketch Pegasus, 45 tons, Capi. Brier, for Napier, with 2000 bricks, 4700 palings, 40,000 shingles, 2000 feet timber, 6 passengers; the brig Gil Bias, 175 tons, Captain Wedgwood, for Lyttelton, with 122,000 feet timber, sundries, and 4 passengers; the barque Spirit of Trade, 528 tons, Captain MacCullocb, for Shanghai, in ballast. There have arrived, coastwise, 43 vessels of 1141 tons, with 120 passengers, 3076 bushels wheat. 243 bushels maize, 2 J tons potatoes, 6 cwt. cherries, 200 quarts gooseberries, 32 cwt. bacon and bams, 20 cwt sail pork, 21 pigs, 233 sheep, 56 head cattle, 3 calves, 4 horses, 6696 lbs. wool, 60 gal ons sperm, 3£ tuns black oil, 300 lbs. whale bone, 10 cwt. flax, 4 boat, 4 spars, 4830 posts and rails, 4000 palings, 83,000 shingles, 12,400 feet timber, 423 tons firewood, 34 tons kauri gum. The departures coastwise, were 43 vessels of 4000 tons, with 120 passengers, and the usual trading cargoes. The following are the Market Prices Current corrected to date. Bread Stuffs. flour, fine, • . *. 22f. per ton. Flour, second quality, . . 17 J. per ton. Flour, of native manufacture, from 15* to 18 Biscuit at from . . 245. to 28s. per cwt. Bread per loaf of 21bs 6d. Bran 4a. Sd. per bl. Groceries. Tea .... 9t. to 9 ,40s. per chest £•*» • • » - 7d. to Bd. per lb.