COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7271, 9 March 1885, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

NEW. Zealand Hbkald Office. Saturday afternoon. The duties collected at the Customs during the week amounted to — Duties - _ £7,111 18 4 Beer duty 'Jl< 14 » Forma and fee* 6 14 6 Light duel 4) 8 0 Pilotage (Auckland Harbour).. .0 12 9 Gold duty—Thames Boroajb.. HI 13 8 Thame* County .. 134 13 6 Piako .. .. 57 13 2 Co.'oraandcl .. 25 4 I Other receipt* is 16 0 £7,806 18 8 • »le. U. kt.in\;t!z Wkkkx.7 Kipout .— Owinj to {.r»,-,5 of luMeii, .i report could not be prepared, ljuring the put fortnight, a jar/e general business has barn done la all department*, Potatoes ar- 11l very dull of tale. On-'ons hare all cleared off. Cheese continue! quiet, all on hand clcaied it. but prices are loir, except for tint class. Bacon of good quality it wantad; all to hand cleared off yesterday, fruit has com? in hand In reify Urge quantity. Price* for all good pears and plums have ruled high ; apples are still at low figures. Tuesday : Sale of fruit at mart, a good'attendance of buyer*, fair compstitijn, and prices at follows:—Apptti, Id to 2Jd per lb.; pears, Id to 3d ; plums, id to «id; grapes. 5J to 10Jd ; peaches, 'Id per lb.; tomatoes, £u to lja ; lemons, 8d doren. Wednesday : »*le of furniture at mart; a fair attendance : lidding rather dull. Sati.-tactoty prices were obtained. Thund»y : Sale of household furniture, piano, ac , at a private hou«« in Heafield View. The attendenee was good, and upon the whole prices were very satisfactory. Friday : Market day sale of poultry, produce, fruit. * A'larg-e attendance, smart competition. A large amount, of stuff changed haeds at. good prices. Poultry wire not entered in such largo quantities as usna . Prices averaged about the same as those 'of three or four former weeks. Fowls, lOd to 2s 5d ; ducks. Is lOd to 2s; geete. 3s 0d to 4s 4d : pig a, 3s to 6s 3d; potatoes, 2s to 3i 6d : onions, Ji to Id ; peas. Is (Id per pec* ; wheat, 2» Od to 3s ; oats. i's to 3«; bran, 5s «d; chaff, 2s 6d; flour, £5 to £11: bacon, 2d to 8d ; cheese, Ijd to 6d ; butter» 6d to 7Jd; fresh butter, Bjd'; sugar, 3Jd ; tea (box) 245; coffee. Is 2d ; at*rch. 4d ; lemonpeel. lid ; biscuits, 5d to lid ; apples, Jd to 3Jd ; peare, Id to 6id ; blunt'', 4d to «i ; grapes, 3jd to lid ; peaches, ljjd per ib, 3d per dczen ; bnllaces, 2d to 3d.; honey in lib auction*, fes per dozen ; eggs, Id to Is ljd ; melons, 21 2d'per dozen ; tomatoes Jd told; damsons, 3jd to 4|ri. LONDON,, "": ~'• ■ Our dates from London are to. the ,29th January. Prom the N.Z.L. ana. JI.A.' Co.'■' circular of that date we take the following':— '*■ ;'" " """: •.,,:„. Wool.—The first aeries of sales for the current (ear opened on 20th Instant, the available fre>h arrivals aggregating 240,735 hales. Of this quality some 30,00'J bales have been forwarded to the manufacturing districts direct, whilst abont 10,000 bales old stock were brought forward from last year, thus making a net available total of about 221,000 bales. Though there was 'a good attendance of buyers, the result of th» first evening's sales'^atf-unsat'ifactory from a seller's point of view., blgna.'of ..weakness were from the first apparent, and .though, the competition was about *quaUy shared between.home and foreign operators, it soon became apparent .that both sections were unwilling to pay last sales' rates, Java (or good sound merino staple, whether scoured or in the grease, and tor the few parcels of cross-bred brought forward. Though trie biddings are s/.11l marked by some irregularity, the general position established on the opening night has not b*ea materially altered, and for cirtaln descriptions prices mint be Quoted' lower than at the close of the November sale*. . With .the exceptions' named above, merino wools rules distinctly in buyers' favour. Fleece washed descriptions are easier, whilst short, tender or heavy wools in the grease as well as medium and inferior scoureds arc Jd and occasionally Id per lb. lower. Among scoured parce a, skin wools are particularly diiticult of sale, and, in sympathy with these, " siipea," which are in vory restricted domand, have likewise suffered a decline of fully J- i per lb. Middle elars and inferior Capes must be written on an average Id par lb. lower. Cross-bred* maintain their position fairly well, though the finer grades occasionally suffer from the absence of American competition. Lambs' wool sells somewhat irregularly, the lower descriptions being in seme instances^rather easier. . Tallow.—For tho two public auctions hold since the date of our last circular the quantity catalogued amounted to 3205 casks Australian and New Zealand, 1048 of which were sold under the hammer. At the earlier of these sales a fair demand prevailed, a considerable proportion of the total offerings being disposed of at prices which ' showed no marked departure from the currency of- preceding auctions. At the later sales there was.less competition, and only a moderate business was transacted ; but, as holders were firm, values were fairly well 'sustained. The tendency of prices for medium and common qualities was, nevertheless, in favour of buyers, and lower rates must have been accepted in order to effect larger clearances. Kxporsers purchased but sparingly in anticipation of a further retrograde movement in valuer, wh ch, however, was prevented by the conservative policy adept by importers. Vine mutton realized full rates', while fine Deaf was practically unchanged. We quote :*.' P.'Y.C. New, 41s Od per cwt.', Australian tuutton (line). 34s 61, to 35s per cwt.; Australian mutton (medium), 335, to 34s per cwt.; Australian beef ■ (Sue), 34s to 31s Cd per cwt.; Australian' beef (tiedlum), 32« 6d to 33s Cd per cwt. The estimated stock in warchou se is 15.73U casks, of which 350 are Russian.,'—- '< '" ". .'•' '■' ' '

• Lkatjiep., Hidjs, &c— Leather : The opening public Vales of'the year were held on 10th instant, when 0417 sides were offered and 6036 sold. A fair enquiry- • was experienced from a full attendance of buyer*, the prices current at the closing auctions of 1884 beiui; will supported, and, in a few instances, slightly exceeded. 'We quote: Fair to good sides (heavy), lSjlbs toieilfcs average, IOJd. at' lid pet lb ; fair to good

tide* (light), 9flba to lilbs average. lOd to Jid per lb ; fair to good rid«s (extra heavy), lijlbs, to S3 jibs average, 10d to 10J J per lb; fair to food sides (seconds), 12Jibs, to 16±lbi average. 9M to lOd per lb. K.sils.—At public auctions held on the 16th tant, 114,617 skins were brought forward, but only 17,410 of those found purchasers. The demand was again restricted, and such moderate. enquiry as prevailed was directed almost exclusively to the best tannages of light average weight. These realised about last sales' rates, but all other descriptions were almost unsaleable even as a reduction of jd per lb. Tho present stock is exceptionally heavy, and the market doses weak, with a downward tendency. We quote :—Be it st rained skins, averaging P j lbs. to 20jlhj., per dozes, 10} d to 35d per lb.; seconds, Slbs. to ltflb>., Tidto lOgd ; unstrained, Silos, to 21ilbs., 6d to 9J<L Preserved Meats —The slight improvement in demand recently reported was of ahoit duration, and during the past fortnight but little attention has been directed towards tinned meat of any description. Heavy irrivals from Australia have had a somewhat depressing effect upon an a'ready dull market, and consumers do not purchase freely even at the reduced rates now current. Holders, however, are in the meantime moderately firm. We quote — Boiled mutton. 21b. tirs. 5d to 5Jd per lb.; 4b. tins, 4jd to 5d ; Sib. tine, 4jd to 5<L Boiled beef, 21b. tins, sjd to 5Jd; 41b. tins, 5d to sjd : 61b. tins, 5d to sJj.l CoTTOJf.—Transactions have not been numerous, j but the market closes l-16d to id per lb. higher for : American description:!. On 22nd instant 124 bales Fiji were offered in public auction, 05 of these being disposed of at, say. Sri per lb. for stained, and 15} d to lad per lb. for rather mixed, stained, to good, long stapled. Copra.—Of 3072 baa cfl'ered in public auction on 16th instant some 12(!0 wore sold at and after the sale without material change in values, but the market has since remained dnll and prices generally are rather lower on the fortnight. We quote:—Sydney sundrled, £15 5s to £15 10s per top ; Sydney kiln-dried, £14 15s ; Singapore, £16 to £16 10s. Cocoa-Nut Oil. -The market has been very dull and the business transacted limited in character. Cochin is qnoted at £32 10s per ton, and ceylon at £23 i 5s to £29 per ton on the spot New Zvalasd Hemp.—During the past fortnight a decidedly better tone has prevailed taau has been experienced for several months past, and considerable sales have bean effected at advanced rate*. At public auctions held on the 21st instant 759 bales were offered, of which about one-half sold under the hammer, while by private treaty a fair amount of business has recently been reported. The demand has, however, been confined mainly to the better qualities of Auckland produce, which, when of bright colour and well cleaned, sell readily at full rates. Inferior dtj)criptioß3 have also participated in the rise, though to a less marked extent. We quota : fine soft, clean and bright, ' £26 to £27 per ton : good, clean, and bright £22 to £25 : fair to good, medium, £18 to £21; common, coarse and strawy, £16 10s to £17 Kauri Gcm.— There has been a moderate private enquiry during the fortnight, and about 400 cases are reported to have changed hands at about the prices formerly current Export orders are, however, still comparatively. few and unimportant, and rending the result of this day's auctions quotations are somewhat Homina!.--iTh«y are as follow-.—Fine pale, selected, £7 to £12 per cwt: cltan, hard, good to fine, chiefly amber,-. 105s to 132s 6d; good to fine, clean, hard, scaped. Ms to ICOj ; hard, half to three pares scraped, '65s to 82a ; rough sorts, ordinary to good, 42s 6d to 60s ; black and brown bard, scraped. No. 1, fine to superior, 60s to 70s; black and brown hard, chiefly scraped, No. 1, 46s to 56s ; pickings, ordinary to fine 2Ss 6d to 40s; chips, low and ordinary to fine and superior, losto 70s ; dust, low to fins, pale, chippy, .esioßOrj-:'! ';.7 3