COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9254, 7 January 1889, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Heuald (Mice. Monday evening. The Customs duties to-day amounted to £102 ss, The following are the Customs receipts for the week ending January 5, ISS9 — Duties £3,049 17 0 Beer duty 291 18 f> Light dues—Auckland .. 22 2 6 „ Onehungft „ 0 17 10 „ Whangarei „ 0 7 8 „ Whangaroa .. 0 0 S ~ Thames .. .. 0 4 9 Forms and fees (S. and S. Act) 2 6 0 Port charges—Onehunga .. 10 13 6 „ Thames .. 2 11 4 Other receipts „ „ ... 205 7 0 £4,150 9 4 LONDON COMMERCIAL. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] London, December 1. The fifth series of wool sales commenced on the 27th of last month. The available arrivals were 107,078 bales, made up as follows Now Zealand, 5543 ; New South Wales, 33,593; Queensland, 24,200; Victoria, 45,245 ; South Australia, 28,01S ; Western Australia, 277 ; Tasmania, 483 ; and Cape of Good Hope, 20,705. With a view of arriving at a settlement of the question of farthing bids tho committee of the Colonial Wool Merchants Association held a meeting on the 13th, at which they rescinded their resolution of October 9th, and decided that farthing bids should be accepted up to liKl per lb, and that above that price the advance was to be a halfpenny. A meeting of buyers was held on the afternoon of the opening day, at which it was resolved to maintain their opposition to farthing bids. The committee refused to give way, and the sales began. But when the first farthing bid was made the buyers rose in a body, got out of their seats, stood by hundreds round the room shouting, shrieking, yelling, hissing, stamping, caterwauling, and making every conceivable kind of uproar for about half-an-hour, at the end of which time the sales ceased, as it was onto* the question to go on with them. Further negotiations took place between the buyers and tho brokers, and ultimately a compromise" was agreed upon by virtue of which farthing bids were to be accepted up to 8d per It). After this the sales proceeded peacefully enough. The buying was very brisk, and greasy merinos ruled from id to Id per lb dearer, whilst the advance on scoureds, though rather irregular, was on an average quite Id per lb higher as compared with tho closing rates of tho fourth series. Very few crossbreds were brought forward, but those sold marked ail advance of about Jd per lb. Up to date 10,217 bales have been catalogued as follows:— New Zealand, 1002; New South Wales, 2398; Queensland, 1573; Victoria, 6647 ; South Australia, 1430; Cape of Good Hope. 3071. The recently published agricultural returns show that the total number of sheep and lambs in the United Kingdom on June 4th, ISSS, was nearly half a million less than at the corresponding period of Last year, though about the same as in ISSO. The exact figures are:—ln ISSO : Sheep, 18,291,345 • lambs, 10,603,895: total, 28,955,240. In ISS7 : Sheep, 18,513,412; lambs, 11,188,338 : total, 29,401,750. In ISSS: Sheep, 17,015,852: lambs 11,022,804 : total, 28,935,71 G. There has been a weakening in the corn market during the last month. English wheat has declined about 2s per quarter, whilst the fall on imported sorts has been from Od to Is per quarter. Commercial men desire colonial shippers of flour to note that, under the new Merchandise Marks Act, the j Customs authorities have recently placed a slop I upon parcels of imported flour which did not bear ( upon the sacks the name of the country in which it was manufactured. Care should be taken by colonial shippers to the English market that on each sack the point of origin is given, as, for example, "New Zealand Flour," or "Australian Flour." The new regulations aro to be strictly enforced after the close of the current year. To-day's quotations are—South Australian wheat, 43? Od to 445; Victorian, 43s Od; New Zealand, long-berried, tine, 43s to 445, medium, 42s Od to 43s ; ] short-berried, tine, 42s to 43s ; medium, 41s to 425. At the public sales, held on November 8, 1850 cases of kauri gum were offered, and 1590 cases were sold at a general advance of from 2s to 5s per cwt, with the exception of brown and dark sorts, which sold steadily at unchanged rates. On the 22nd there was again a steady demand, and out of 2322 cases 1707 were sold at prices which exhibited little change, save that medium descriptions, ranging between 50s and 70s, which declined about 2s per cwt. The frozen meat trade has been dull in consequence of the market bsing well supplied for Christinas. It is thought that there will be no substantia! increase in tho price of mutton before the eud of the year. cargo of the Bayley, from Lyttelton, consisthas been disposed" of"at S?cT to 4J~I forUe , i'H\^,, beiif '. to s]d for the lambs, and 2}d to 4d for the beet! The Tainui's cargo of 20,915 sheep and 1073 pieces of beef has sold at 3jd to 4sd for the sheep and 2Jd to 4d for the beef. The cargoes of the Kaikoura, the Doric, and the Balmoral Castle aro bein • placed on the market. We extract as follows from the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co.'s circular of December Ist :— Tallow.For the four public sales held during the past month, the moderate total of 3073 casks of Australasian was offered, and 3133 sold under tho hammer. The demand throughout this period was again strong, and prices, from the first sales up to the Inst, steadily advanced, leaving off 4s per cwt better on mutton and 3s on beef tallow. The speculative demand recently noticed has been firmly maintained, and consumers have been compelled to follow the increasing values. Sheepskins.— public auctions referred to in our last issue closed firmly at fully opening rates. Since then the market has been strong, and about 250 baies have been disposed of by private treaty at last sale's prices. Leather.— downward tendency referred to in our last has by 110 means been arrested during this month, and when 4855 sides were offered only 880 sold under the hammer at prices which wore decidedly in buyers' favour, while the biddings for the bought in portion were.fully id per lb below last sale's rates. Basils.—There was again a strong demand at auctions on 9th inst., and of 115,830 skins offered 103,770 were disposed of under excellent competition at full to advanced prices. The market closes firm, with an upward tendency. New Zealand Hemp.The advance in the price of Now Zealand descriptions, recorded in our last issue, has been further increased during the month, and 1200 bales have been disposed of at and ex sale at full rates, Medium to good Wellington, from £29 10s to £31 10s per ton, and extra clean of good colour, £32 10s per ton, while 180 bales tow have been disposed of at from £10 10s to £10 15s per ton