COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18324, 14 February 1923, Page 7

COMMERCIAL.

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL. THE PRODUCE MARKETS. NOT QUITE SO ACTIVE. Wholesale business has again opened rather quietly this week, -but the travellers are now out for business on March account, and good results are confidently expected. The many residents of Auckland who spent last week out of the city have returned with cheerful reports of the position in the Waikato and surrounding districts. The remarkable rainfall during ' the last few months, marring as it did a good deal of the pleasure of the holiday season, has put new heart into the farmers, and the record dairying output is the sensation of the hour. Probably never before has there been such a flush of grass in February, and this is prolonging an output that is usually fast diminishing long ere this date. Fortunately the price has been an equally plea sane surprise. On all sides tho forecast was in the direction of a fall after the turn of tho year, when London would be flooded "with the increased production of the Southern hemisphere, but a particularly dry season, in New oouth Wales apj oars to have completely altered the position, so that tho market is held up at a far better price than was expected. The spring make in the Northern hemisphere : will be making its appearance by the time the present produotion in New Zealand gets there, as the dairy farmers at Home are steadily increasing their indoor feeding of milking cows. Retailors are still very busy with their Bummer clearance sales. Bargains are offering in practically every department, so that prices this week hardly reflect the real market conditions.

Activity in Building Trade. , Building.—The continued activity in building its quite a feature of trade this summer, and it is naturally keeping quite a number of allied traucs busy. Costs are now down to a level that inspires confidence on the part of owners, and there is evidently an impression that there ia nothing to be gained by waiting any more. Consequently incidences are going up in all directions, but principally in the suburbs and the country districts. Business premises are m course of erection in the suburbs and the city, but the latter activity is now somewhat reduced by; the completion of -several substantial b.iildinga, which hove been in course of construction during the past year and which are now quite an ornament to the city. Enormous extensions to two of the largest retail drapery housed of the city promise to create a fresh record in the enterprise of Auckland business - men, and will undoubtedly prove an acquisition to the two principal business streets in the city. Produce.Business is hardly as active this week, so far as the merchants are concerned, but enormous quantities are coins through ' the auction marts, a clear evidence of the heavy production this season. Fruit is specially plentiful, and many householders are taking advantage of the low prices to preserve a larger quantity than usual. It is evident, however, that the greater part of the public have not cultivated this habit. bo that the consumptive demand is unable to absorb th'> lar?e supplies of fruit at prices paybio to th" prowess.; This means that a great part of the fruit crop is . not beins sent in at all, and some grower.* have gone so far as to say that thousands of tens will be allowed to rot under the trees this year rather trrn fWd an already slutted market. Potatoes.—Supplies are hardly as plentiful this week, and the quotation is about 7b ex etore. Oni ns.The price fluctuates a litt'e according to the prospects of export, but it now appears that very little will go away this season. Present price is about 7s Cd ex store, and weak at that. Oats.—The improvement in the weather In th<» South Island is naturally restoring confidence in a normal output, especially an Otaao and Southland have had such a good sea-on bo far. Local price is a little weaker at 4s Cd to 4s 9d ex storeChaff, Wheat and Fertilisers. Chaff.— is naturally affected in the same way as oats, although not to the lamo extent, as the recovery in the weather was too late to save the areas of onts in the more northern territory that were intended for chaff. Plenty of B'enneim and Canterbury chaff is now offering, but th«re is no great quantity of local eo far, and the market is opening rather firmer at £6 10s to £6 15s at country stations. ' Wheat.New ssiasofTs fowl wheat is offerins at lower rateii, but the price is not yet properly established. The improvement in the weather is responsible for the lower price, but growers are apparently not yet in a very safe position, for it was raining in the South Island on Monday. Maize.—Supplies are more- plentiful, and the market is weak at 4s 9d on the wharf in wholesale lines. , Fertilisers.— better demand is beginning to come in. and it is expected that next month will be a busy one. Basic slag; is meeting a heavy inquiry for top-dressing, and good orders are being booked for delivery from a shipment due to arrive on March 3. The trouble on the Ruhr has put up the price of slag about -7s 6d per ton d"rinf? the last few days, but this will affect only future shipments, and the consignment close at hand i° being offered at an attractive fkure. The various local grass mixtures are also in keener demand. One merchant explains the altered position by statin? that during the war the prices of all fertilisers were so hirrh that many farmers could not afford to buy: while the low price of butter last s°a-on. coupled with disastrous returns for wool for two years, confirmed th»m in ithe name, policy to a gre«t extent, even when Trices were lower. This year. h-\v>ver. erood prices are being obtained for their produce, and. in order to (ret the best o-t «f it. they Te(iii«-fl that they cannot afford not to buy fertilisers.

..Position Regarding Grass Seeds. Seeds.—The same factor is inducing more activity in grass eeeds. and merchants report that orders so, far are on a very satisi factory scale. Farmers are endeavouring ■ to overtake the arrears of former years, and . already good areas are ploughed ready for I autumn sowing. A fair quantity of bush i was felled during tho latter part of the winter after prices began to improve, and ! this will be fired as soon as the weather ' keen' fine for a fortnight. There is also , the b"sh that was M'ed the previous winter, I which it was impossible to burn last autumn on account of the continued wet weather, so that a (rood deal depends on dry w«fcther for the rest of the month. These areas art pHn-i-ally in the Kins: Country and toward HrkiftTifa. bWli firps. in the vicinity of the city being now a thing of the past. bead Prices.—Unfortunately the expectation of a good seed crop has been completely ruined by the highest January rainlali since I 1902. Ryegrass promised a particularly good return, many Canteibury farmers having followed wheat by planting this usually remunerative crop. Rain has made this out of the queuioh, and the price has risen quite ,j :2s per bushel eince the beginning of the year. Supplies will now have to be drawn from i Ota?o, which is never considered equal to I Canterbury in germination percentage. ! Poverty Bay and Hawke's Bay ryegrass fias also been damaged. The remarkable floods at Banks • Peninsular, the home of cocksfoot. have reduced the output, and the price has risen a little, but a substantial advance was prevented by early importations of Danish seed. It was too late to import any more after the failure of the Akaroa crop, and this has allowed a natural hardening totake place. Clovers are in short supply, but the recovery in I the weather may enable a fair crop to be 1 secured in Canterbury, although it will be too late for Auckland autumn sowing. There : is practically no crop of Danthonia this year I' in Auckland, and the price has firmed. What little is offering from Hawke's Bay ib last I season's. The Waipu farmers should have I no difficulty in petting: 2s 9d for their brown ton this year, This is ft popular lawn grass, which hps advanced on account of a heavy demand for America. I Kauri Gum.—The arrivals in Auckland dur- * ing January amounted to 590 tons, compared with 381 tons last January and 280 tons in January of 1921. This is laraely accounted for by the greater output of chip?, of which a large proportion had been previously hold up in the expectation of better prices. The same preponderance of chips .will account for the increased arrivals during the year 1922, which totalled 7008 tons, compared with 4331 in 1921. 6653 in 1920. 8186 in 1919, and only 2689 in 1918, the last year of the war. However, it is still below the pre-war pro- : duction of 8000 to 12,000 tons per anura, I but the nxices are practically still mainI tained at the peak level, a fact, whici is apparently not quite appreciated in New £ork, whence orders a*e continually arriving at a limit at which they cannot be filled. a AUSTRALIAN WHEAT. 1 The wheat yields have turned out some•what disappointing, and the actual results are generally below the estimates made before harvest, says the Australasian Banking Record. Reckoning Victoria at about 80 million bushels, New South Wales at 23 million bushels, South Australia at 24 million bushels, and Western Australia at 18 million bushels, tho total for the four States is about 90 million buehels, making, with Queensland and Tasmania, about 92 million bushels, against 128,971,806 bushels for 1921-22 and 145,873,850 bushe'.s for 1920-21. After allowing for food and seed and for, a carry-over of, say, 6 million bushels at the, end of 1923, the surplus available for export is expected to be about 40 million bushels. The value of the exportable, surplus for'the year may be estimated at, about 10 to 11 millions sterling, against 22 millions in 1932 raid about 40 millions la 1931. .

FOREIGN EXCHANGES. Australian and N.Z.i Cable Association. (Keod. 6.5 p.m.) * LONDON, Fob. 12. The following rates on foreign exchanges are current to-day, as compared with the cabled quotations on February 8 and par:—

PRICES OF METALS. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association (Reod. 8.45 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 12. Copper.—On spot, £65 16s 3d; forward, £86 lis 3d. Lead.—On spot, £28 15s; forward, £27 17s 6d. Spelter.On spot, £35 Is 6d; forward, £34 7b 6d. Tin.— spot, £186 3s 9d; forward, £188 Is 3d. Silver. 6 15-16 d per oz. standard. LONDON WOOL SALES. Dalgety and Company, Ltd., have received the following cablegram from their London office, under date February 9:—_ Wool.Sales opened with competition fairly active/ from all quarters, compared with last sale's closing rates. _ Greasy Jf«r ; no combing, shafting descriptions, are Id per lb higher; other descriptions par to 3d per lb higher; good to super halfbred wools Id to 2d higher; crossbred wools, fine quality. Id to 2d higher; low and medium, both Id to ljd higher: other descriptions of crossbred id to lid per lb higher; slipe wools, Id to 2d higher: lambs' wool, Id to lid per lb higher. The following is the range of —Merino, good to super 25d to 28d, low to medium 20d to 23d; crossbred, 66-58, good to super 22} dto 27d, low to medium 18d to 21d: 50-56, good to suner 20d to 23d, low to medium 17d to 19id; fine crossbred, 4G-4S, good to super 15d> to 17(1. low to medium 12d to 14} d: crossbred, 44-46, good to super 12Jd to 14d, low to medium 9|d to Hid; 40-44, good to super lOd.to Hid. low to medium BJd to 9Jd; coarse crossbred, 36-40. super IOJd, medium to good BJd to 9d; 48-50, good to super 18d to 20d. low to medium Mid to 17id. 82.000 bales of Australian, 33,000 New Zealand, 3500 Cape, 5500 South American were offered: Bawra offered ■ 25,500 Australian, 35,000 New Zealand: 160,000 bales colonial wool, 4500 other wool sold. The Continent took 67,000 bales, America 12,000; carried forward, 20,000

WHEAT CARGOES." Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 9.5 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 12. The wheat cargo market is quiet, but the tone is fully steady. On week-end advices prices advanced slightly. BRADFORD WOOL MARKET. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 10.5 p.m.) LONDON. Feb. 12. Bradford wool quotations are slightly easier, CANTERBURY MARKETS. [by telkobaph.—rp.KSs ASSOCIATION.] .. CHRISTCHURCH, Tuesday. Wheat continues to come in freely, and a considerable amount of business has been done at 4s 7d per bushel at country stations. Some growers are disinclined to accept this price, and are consequently holding. The barley coming forward is not of very high quality. A few lines of particularly good quality have sold at ss, but the general quotation' is 4s 6d to 4s 8d at country stations. There is no alteration in quotations for oats, which are worth 2s 6d to 2s 8d for Gartons, and 2s 9d to 8s for Algerians. The improvement in the chaff market for bright oaten-sheaf continues but f.a.q. shows little alteration. The season in Marlborough, according to reports from there, has damaged the oat crop to such an extent that best .quality chaff will be in short supply. This is reflected in an inquiry from Blenheim for Canterbury chaff for the North Island, and sales have been made at £6 15s per ton f.o-b. s.i. Quotations to farmers at average country stations are up to £4 10s per. ton. , The reports of blight in potato crops in the South, while not appreciably affecting prices, are causing growers.to hold more confidently. From £3 5s to £3 108 at country stations is quoted. Peas are in the same position as quoted in the week-end report, from 5s 6d to Us at country stations. Theuhome demand is weak. Ryegrass is very firm, and sales at in to 5s at country stations have been made.

Feb. 12. Feb. 8. Par. New Y<Jrk .. 4dol 68*c 4.67J 4.866 Montreal . . 4dol 73|c 4.73 4.866 Paris . . .. 75fr 75o 75.45 25.225 Home .. . . 97ilire 97 25.225 ~erlin . . .. 135,000m 152,000 20.43 Stockholm . . 17kr 33ore 17.60 18.169 Christiania . . 24kr 97ore 25.30 18.159 Copenhagen . . 24kr 85ore 25.07 18.159 Calcutta . . la 4Jd Is 4}d 2a Hongkong . . 2s 2Jd Cs 2Jd — Yokohama .. 2a 0 13-16d 2a OJd 2a Old