COMMERCIAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18356, 23 March 1923, Page 7

COMMERCIAL

WHOLESALE RATHER QUIET.

BUSY WEEK _ FOR RETAIL.

THE PRODUCE MARKETS.

It is not often that the wholesale houses report booking for next month s account as dull and uninteresting as it has been this week. Travellers explain that an unusual number of their customers have now decided on the end of March for their annual stock-taking, and this probably accounts for their reluctance to engage in any heavy purchases till after the holidays. In the city there has also been a tendency to give first place to the 'Carnival, and postpone buying till next week. Retail has naturally had a busy week. Visitors from the country have not been so numerous as the promoters of the Carnival expected, and it has been explained that it would take a very strong attraction to break them from their preference for taking their trip to the city during the Easter holidays. From the suburbs, however, the city has been inundated with visitors, and retailers have reaped a very fair response to their special efforts to attract extra business by favourable prices. The drapery displays have been exceptionally fine, but other departments have depended more upon cut prices. Fruit, Tea and Eggs. Fruit. — Having regard to the splendid crop of fruit this year, there has been intense disappointment that sugar should again have been in short supply. It is a little over two months since the _ shortage first became pronounced, and the inconvenience in getting sugar, frequently amounting to an . impossibility, must have been responsible for, a great curtailment in the quantity of fruit preserved. With the price of sugar so much lower than last year, householders wore looking forward to making extra large quantities of jam and preserves, as evidenced by the large sales of jars early in the season, and it is a national ios3 that this intention has been thwarted by a shortage of sugar. • The loss _to the fruitgrowers must have been considerable, through sugar being so often unobtainable during the flush of the fruit season, for even a small increase in the local demand early in the season would have been acceptable as Borne consolation for the difficulty in getting an adequate export outlet for their apples later on. Dried Fruits.—There ought not to be the necessity for sending so many thousands of pounds out of the country every year for dried and canned fruits, an Australia has found out by developing the local article, but as long as the local trade remains in its present state of disorganisation it looks as if New Zealand will continue to import immense quantities. Australian quotations are therefore of interest to distributors, and during the week come very favourable terms for Mildura * sultanas have been named. The quality always makes this line attractive, but Californian quotations are even lower, and will no doubt secure a good share of the trade. Tea.—Reports this week are again in favour of high prices in Colombo, and there seems to be no indication of a fall in view. Local blenders have made only one small advance, and this is not commensurate with the steady rise in Colombo during the last few months. A further advance appears to be a certainty, unless the Government relieves the situation by taking off the duty. Acids.—Cable advices report a firm and advancing market in tartaric and citric acid. . Cream of tartar still displays the pronounced feature that came in with the new rate of duty at the beginning of _ the year, a tendency on the part of British manufacturers to take full advantage _of the preference given them by advancing the quotation to the higher level that the foreign article will now cost. Eggs.Prices are irregular this week, quite a common occurrence at the _ near approach of Easter, when buyers will not hesitate to pay a few extra pence to secure supplies before the holidays. The wholesale price is nominaly 2s 7d per dozen, whereas last Easter, which was a fortnight later than this year, the wholesale price fluctuated from about 8s to 8s 6d. Potatoes and Onions. Potatoes.—Not many Southorn have actually arrived so far, but most of the samples on offer are in very fine condition, and this causes a preference as against local, so that there is no difficulty in selling at 8s 6d, ox store. Growers in tho Waikato districts are naturally more inclined to sell, to anticipate tho arrival of full supplies of Southern, and the price is weaker. Onions.Demand is not yet very heavy, no doubt duo to the fact that thousands of householders. are still using the small quantities that they grow for their own consumption. Southern and local are both selling at about 8s 6d ex store. Oats.—The Southern market easily maintains its recent advance. Tho latest estimate of the present harvest puts the total yield at well below last year's, but if other centres show the same diminution as -has taken place in Auckland there will be no inconvenience occasioned by the reduced production. Motor transport is steadily reducing horse traffic, and each month seems to bring a reduction in fodder sales. Chaff.Southern is in good supply at lis ex store, and local is also offering freely. Wheat.—Tho weak position continues. Local trad? is not particularly interested in milling wheat, except in its effect on flour and bread, as there are only two buyers, but fowl wheat sells heavily in the open market at 6s 9d ex store. Flour.—Sales are still restricted by the uncertainty over wheat prices. Maize.—Arrivals, this week are a little smaller, but good quantities are now held in store. Quotation is 4s 9d to 5s on the wharf in wholesale lines. Fertilisers and Grass Seed. Fertilisers.—All kinds are selling well. Farmers are of opinion that after the extraordinary growth this summer their pastures will require something back again, if they are to food the usual number of stock next season. Consequently they are topdressing to an unusual extent, and the various grass manures are in heavy demand, while arrivals of basic slag are distributed in a keen market. Grass Seed.—-The orders' that have been coming in lately for mixtures for bush clearings indicate that farmers took advantage of the fine weather at the beginning of the month to burn their felled bush. Ryegrass maintains its advance, but other kinds show no important changes.

AUSTRALIAN PRODUCE. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 10.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, March 22. —Algerian, feed, 4s 6d to 4s 8d; white, 4s 8d to 4a lOd. Maize.— 6d. _ „ , Potatoes.—Tasmanian, £6 4s to £8. —Victorian. £4 10s to £4 15s. ADELAIDE, March 22. Oats. —Algerian, feed, 3s 6d to 8s 7d.

PROPERTY SALES. Samuel Vaale and Sons. Ltd.. will hold an auction sale at their rooms. 83 Queen Street, at 2 p.m. to-day, when the unsold lots in Lakelands Estate, lakapuna, will be offered for sale; also a section on the New North Road, beyond Mount Albert terminus; 4a 3r lOp. with good residence, Claude Road, Manurewa, and, at the request of the mortgagee, under conduct of the Registrar, a farm of <b| acres at Warkworth, and a suburban property of 2a 12.2p and bungalow at Birdwood Avenue, Papatoetoe. William A. Home. Ltd., report having sold by auction at their auction room, High Street, yesterday, a building section with frontage of 60ft. to Richardson Road, Mount Albert, at £3 17s 6d per foot. The. same firm will offer by auction at their auction hall, High Street, to-day, at 1 p.m.. the following properties: The Wairau Estate, fakapuna, comprising 13 two-acre farmlets, sections having frontages to Wairau, Porana and Archer Roads; also bungalow. 5 rooms, situated Egremont Street, TakaPuna; semi-bungalow of five rooms, on section with frontages to Balmoral and Dunbar Roads, Dominion Road; a sevenroomed bungalow, situated two minutes to beach at Ostend, and five building sections adjoining. At 2 p.m. they will offer a farmlet of Hi acres and six-roomed bungalow, situated Sunny Brae Road, near Wairau Estate, Takapuna. To-morrow they will offer at 2.30 p.m.. on the ground, the Kelvin Estate, Papakura, comprising 36 building sections, areas from a-ciuarter to one acre, and at the same time and place a house of four rooms on i-acre section. A free motor service will run. from the post office, Papakura, to the sections on day of sale at 2 p.m. .• T. Mandeno Jackson will oner by auction by order of the Public Trustee, at their rooms, Customs Street East, at 11 a.m. to-day, section over quarter-acre, . having CGft. frontage and laid out as a tennis lawn, situated King Edward Avenue, Epsom, and 13 quarter-acre sections, nine of which have frontage of about 49ft. to Church Road and four a like frontage to Manukau Road, about five minutes from Avondale station. The New' Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Ltd., will offer for sale by public auction at their Albert Street land rooms to-day at 2.30 p.m., practically without reserve, a farm of 490 acres, near Waipu, mostly in grass and rough feed, with ronall cottage of two rooms and sheep yards thereon. Also, a house, five rooms, scullery, bathroom, and all conveniences, on section, with frontage of 84ft. to Panmure Road, within three minutes of Ellerslie railway station. W. H. Madill will offer by public auction at his rooms, 802 (Basement), hew Zealand Insurance Buildings, to-day at 11 a.m., 12 suburban building sections, situated at corner of Amy and Wilson Streets, ten minutes to iHlerslie station and 16 minutes to tram.

» WHEAT MARKET. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, March 21. Wheat cargoes aro firm, with an occasional advance of 3d. The demand for parcels is slacker.

LONDON TALLOW SALES. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association, (Reed. 10.30 p.m.) \ LONDON, March 21. At the tallow sales, 1942 casks were offered and 419 sold, mostly at 6d to 9d decline. The following prices were realised: —Mutton, tine 44a 9d, medium 39s 3d; beef, &ne 445, medium 39s 3d.

CANTERBURY RAM FAIR. [BX TELEGRAPH. PBESS ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHtJRCH. Thursday. The annual ram fair of the Canterbury A. and P. Association commenced to-day when flock rams were sold. The entries were much smaller than last year, comprising 8868, compared with 6914 in 1922. There was a spirited sale for Southdowns and Bhropßhires, both of which were in under-supplv, and English Leicesters met with a good sale until the final stage, there being an over-supply. Fine wools sold at satisfactory rates for the best, but inferior were not in request, there being an oversupply of Corriedales. There were small entries of Borders and Romneys, the former selling freely, and the latter much better than last year. There was a good clearance in all breeds in the earlier part of the sale, but English Leicesters, halfbreds, and, Corriedales eased after buyers' requirements had been met. Values were:—English Leicesters, 2gns to 14igns: Romneys, Signs to 9gns; Lincolns, 2gns to 2Jgns; Corriedales, Bgne to 13|gns- Border Leicesters, 4}gns to 9igns; Shropshires, 6gns to llgns: Southdowns, 7 ems to 14Jgns; halfbreds, 2t fna to 7ignsj Merinos, 7gns to 7sgns; Ryeands, to 6gns: Wensleydales, 6gns to 6gns. Stud sheep will be sold to-morrow.

HAMILTON STOCK SALES. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company; Ltd., Hamilton, report: At Prankton yards on Tuesday there was again a small entry of fat sheep. Wethers sold up to 325, shorn store lambs 15s 6d. Breeding ewes of good class were in slightly better demand, two-tooth to full-mouth ewes reaching 80s. A fair yarding of beef of secondary quality sold at improved values. We quote:—Fat cows, £4 5s to £4 17s 6d; unfinished cows, £3 12s to £4: fresh to forward cows, £2 15s to £3 2s; dairy cows, £5 5s to £7 A good yarding of both fat and store, pigs came forward. Both classes sold under good competition. Prices realised were:— baoonero, £3 15s to £4 2s; medium baconers, £3 5s to £3 12s; light baconers, £2 17s to £3 8s; good porkers, £2 7a to £2 12s; light porkers, £2 to £2 ss; stores, £1 10a to £1 16s: good slips, £1 3s to £1 7s: others, 18s to 20s; weaners, 9s to 16s.