SYDNEY COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

New Zealander, Volume 11, Issue 986, 26 September 1855, Page 2

SYDNEY COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

[From the " Empire," sth September, lSiS.] By the Waratah we haw received Melbourne papers of Saturday. The Journal of Commerce thus reviews the flour and grain markets i In taking a retrospective view of the flour and grain market !or the past month, we have to remark on the very serious depreciation which has affected all cereals, and which, as we shall presently show, has reduced the value of some kinds fuily SO per cent, since the begining of the month, and 40 per ceut, within the last six weeks It is gratifying, however, to notice that so rapid and so serious a change from an extravagent high range of high prices to one comparatively low has been effected without causing any embarrasment or loss to the parties engaged in the trade here—as all along the l'.ouses in the grain trade have only bought for actuil wants, and the decline in price has found millers without a bushel of wheat, and the dealers in flour very low in stocks ; in fact, our chief mills are stopped for want of grain, and the importers are bearing the whole brunt of the fall in value, which they can well afford to do, as their former p:ofits were enormous, and even the present range of prices is still highly remunerative.

In giving a comprehensive glance at the progress of of the market during the month, we find that fine Hour was at £il per ton on the Ist ol August; wheat at 195., having declined to this n'gure from J_ t 25.; oats at Bs. ; barley nt "s. Gd. ; to-day we quote fine Hour from £35 to jL36 ; wheat 13s. 6*d. ; oats at ss. 9J. ; barley at ss. 6d. In the middle of Jul j flour was at £SO; wheat at £l 4s. ; oats at 9s. : barley at Bs. 61. It will thus be seen that nearly all grain has fallen forty per cent, in a very few weeks j and it is a great proof of the sound and healthy state of trade, and of the prudent and judicious manner in which it has been lately conducted, that so great a decline has been unattended by any commercial disaster. As regards the future course of our market, it is extremely hazardous to give any opinion. Everything depends upon the amount of imports we may receive, and as to what they may be we have no reliable information. From the United States we have but little, if anything, to expect in the way of flour for the present ; "this market only takes fancy brands, which at present, besides being scarce, are extremely high in the states, and not at all likely to be shipped at the prices which they command yonder.

To Valparaiso large orders went forward from here and Sydney, hut a good part of them have already been executed, a fact which pirties here seem to be aware of—several orders have been returned unexecuted, not having been accomplished by proper letters indents; and in other instances where the orders have been discretionary, the agents at Valparaiso have not acted on them, Having been dettered by the large quantities which had already gone forward for Sydney and here, and which, it was thought would swamp the market. On the other hand, soais rather larg# oidcrs vroul.

leave England m April and Mav for Valparaiso Tr flour to be shipped here on English account, andt img all things into consideration, we are inclined believe that we may look to considerable supplies l ° some 3000 tons, from yonder, nrriwng hereabout?' middle of September; hut before then we do notth" t that much will come either to Sydney or here ad far from apprehending any further fall, w e think th"° the present decline is in some measure owing to lative pressure, and that prices will somewhat recov One element, however, enters into play which greatly change present calculations, this is, what T** plies W2 are to expect from San Francisco. Vnt[\ we have scarcely hid an established corresponde* 0 * with that port, notwithstanding which the quartY* 6 of wheat, flour, oat j , and barley received at Sv I ' from thatquarter have been very large indeed, andh» » the chief and accelenting reason of the late It may be presumed if parties have shipped to Anst *~ lia from California without any knowledge of the traT and on the mere chance of finding a market, that th * will ship with redoubted energy on learning the Ter' successful issue of their ventures. There can ba Z doubt but that San Franeisco can send us very iari' supplies, and we are fearful that we may be sad! overdone from that quarter, until shippers there b heavy losses gain experience of the limited of our market.

Horse feed during last month has done nothing but decline, and in fact it cojld not hive been o!her*u» as couplad with an almost total cessation of demand from want ot drayage to the interior, we have a ianje influx of shipments, and no concession of priee has ai yet been able to bring purchasers into the market, g a a we apprehend a still lower rtmge of value. In Patm rice a fair business has latterly been doing, and tk» cargoes lately arrived have changed hands very quickly at from £lB to £l'J, a price which fairly " re . numerates the importer. The selling price to-d«» is £22, a figure quite low enough to induce a lajlg consumption. American Flour, —liaxall andGaUejjo per barrel, 4/. 10% ; Chili, per lOOlbs, If, 10s.; bran' 201 bs., per bu3bel, 2s. 6d. The correspondent of the Jrgus states that a latjre portion of the wheat crop in the neighbourhood, of Colac, and some field* in this district, have been always cut off by the ravages of a small worm or grab On examination of the seed, shortly after the blade has appeared above the surface, it has been found to contain a number of veiy minute white worms, or small grubs. These, it is presumed, as they advance in size and strength, reach the surface' and nip the Llade across,,elo:-.e to the ground, In the neighbourhood of Portland serious destruction of the S':rin >ing wheat has been caused by a kind of grub The Guardian says;—" The very scriom destruction of the s, ringing wheat by the grab now going on at the Grange is a phenomenon that should he inquired into. Whole acres of young wheat have been thus destroyed in the recently formed farms abatt Hamilton, and the en:erprising farmers who have lately commenced the good work of cultivating wheat int he rich soil of that district are likely to be leptsofferers from this plague of the grubs hi the very first year of their labours. A remarkable feature in this visitation is that the grabs appears only to attack th* wheat fields of the open country. Where the fields have standing timber the grub approaches not; and where a solitary tree may be standing in a wheat field the blade is untouched by the grub within several yards around the tree, although the rest of the young crop is entire!}'eaten oft*. The Grange Mill is now nearly complete, and will be in full working order by the time there is grain produced in the neighbourhood ready for grinding: although such arc the grab among the wheat now growing that there are serious apprehensionswhether there will be enough wheat escape th« destruction to produce grain for the milL The -Newcastle Collieries.—Things are remarkably dull in this district—notwithstanding that the coal has been reduced to so low a fig ire, it has not increased the demand in a eommer.suri.te ratio to make it profitable at present rates. The wages of the collier are being reduced to meet this state of things, audit is to be feared that a strike will be the consequence. The Coal and Copper Company have given notice of a reduction of 16s. on the " miner's yard" this reduction will take, it is calculated, neitily 3;tg. per week from a man's earnings, and appears a large reduction to be made at once ; but the Copper Company have hitherto been pn'ing more than the rest of the coal proprietors in the district. The men have expressed their willingness to submit to a reduction of Ms., and it is to be hoped that this proposition may be met in a liberal spirit by the proprietors. A strike would inevitably send up the price of coals, temporarily, but would be attended with no permanently good results to say party under all the circumstances. The effect of this change in the state of our staple article of export is manifest in all other relations of trade in the district, in the amount of money expended on luxnrics especially so, for while the money was to be earned easily the creature comf>rts of the collier were first attended to, and generally absorbed the greater portion of his earnings ; now, however, the withdra*! of these earnings from circulation renders all else " fiat, stale, and unprofitable."

Ekkatvm.—ln the address of Mr. Nevman to thi Electors of the Southern Division, which appears in our first page, the word " Northern" is inadvertently printed for " Southern."

Is the report of the debate on the Pensionar* petition ia our last publication, the motion of Dr. Bitot adopted by the Committee should have been reported thus:—'"that this House, was competent to enquire into Pensionets grievances except in c&sei where punishment had been inflicted for offencs when under arras.''