COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9398, 3 January 1894, Page 4

COMMERCIAL.

I MASTERTON. Messrs. Lowes and lorns' Stock Sale Report. — Our last sale was well attended. There was a fair entry of sheep and cattle: also 77 horses of all classes. An evident disinclination to operate freely in sheep was apparent on the part of buyers, the low price of fats being the chief cause, and vendors, owing no doubt to the wonderfully good season, are not eager to accept buyers' values; consequently a number of lines passed, but every pen was subsequently sold at fair values. There was a better demand for horses than we anticipated, 40 being sold under the hammer at all prices from 30s for a crock to £2o for good hacks and draughts. For sheep we Quote : — 2 and 4-tooth store wethers, 8s 6d; 2-tooth ditto, 7s to 7s 6d; small ditto, 6a to 6s 8d; lambs, 6»; fat ewes, 7s 6d; fat lambs. 7a. Dairy cows, 80s to 120s; dairy heifers, 75s t6 90s; young steers, 77s 6d; 2-year-old Angus bull, £12; yearling Shorthorn, £8. Unbroken hacks, 60s to £8: good hacks, from £10 to £25—the latter for a young " Piscatorious" gelding in the hands of the breaker; draughts so Id from £10 to £25; an aged Gladstoa mare with a MoGregorfoal at foot realised £27; and a pair of ponies from Pahiatua, £24. Pigs as usual sold well at late rates. STRATFORD AND HAWERA. The Egmont Farmers' Union (Limited), Hawera, report on December 25 :—At Stratford on Friday, the 21st December, there was again a fair muster of stock, though we had not such a large entry as at the previous sale. Bidding was .pretty tair, especially for young stock, so that the bulk of what was entered ohanged hands. We quote : Eighteenmonth* to two-year steers, £216 a 6dl to £3 19s ; weaners andyearlmga, £1 12s to £2 13s i snrinirers and cows in call, £3 5s to £4 sa: emoty cows, £3 5« to £3 17s; twelve to S£n months heifers,' £2 x 8s to £3. As was anticipated our horse fair, which was held on Saturday, the 23rd December, was not so great a success as usual, but this can be partly accounted for by the near approach to the holidays, and also horses being slow of sale along the coast. Our entry was not a large one, and even some or what we had in left the yards unsold. We quote: Trap horses, £6 12» 6d; hacks, up to £12. At Hawera. on Wednesday, the 27th December, a fair number of stock were yarded, most of them being large cattle. There was a very small attendance, and bidding was exceedingly slack, so that but little business was done. Prices were, however, about on a par with our last Hawera sale. We quote: Fat cows, £4 12s 6d; cows in calf, £3 7s 6d to £3 13« { 18 months heifers, £2 17«. Sheep; Woolly hoggets, 9s 9d.. .. *.;■ ■■ _~