COMMERCIAL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 117, 12 July 1873, Page 10

COMMERCIAL.

Melbourne. —The " Argus" of the 28fch ult reports : —A telegram in the city supplies the information that the Alma, from Mauritius to Melbourne, had put into Western Australia leaky, after having thrown a portion of her cargo overboard. In breadstuff's there has been little done. Flour is very firm at £l4 7s 6d to £l4 10s for parcels. An improved trade enquiry has been experienced also, and sales have been making more freely at £ls. There is very little wheat offering. No transactions have consequently come under our notice ; for good to prime samples quotations stand at 6s 7d to 6s 9d. The Claud Hamilton, which arrived from New Zealand, has 1700 bags, but as they cost close on 6s to lay down here, the entire shipment will have to be stored for better prices than can now be got. Maize is selling at our quotation; a line of 300 bags was placed at 5s 2d. Hops are without animation, Home advices report a quiet market, with very short supplies of every description of 1872 growth. Sales of medium congou teas have been effected at Is 9d. A considerable shipment of galvanised iron, oak brand, has been placed at about late auction rates. We hear of fifty bales bran bags having changed hands on private terms. Advices regarding salt are beginning to affect the market. Of the shipments advised, of which there is a decrease, a great portion has already been sold to arrive ; and a further advance of nearly 20 per cent on the rates previously ruling has been made public; this, combined with the gradual buying up and centring of stocks in the hands of one or two holders, which has been going on of late, will, it is supposed, cause prices here to go much higher before long. A very brisk demand for actual requirements is experienced, the trade being very lightly stocked. In liquids we hear of sales of Byass's bottled stout at lis 6d. London advices .still continue to report much difficulty as being experienced in getting orders executed. Shipments ara expected, in consequence, to be on a limited scale for some time. The advices regarding brandy are of a most exciting character. The accounts of the damage done to the vine by the frost in April vary, but all combine in reporting it as very serious indeed. Writing from Bordeaux under dates 13th and 16th May, one correspondent states that if there is a quarter of an average vintage, they shall be very fortunate, and prices have advanced 25 per cent. London letters advise that the vintange will not turn out within 50 to 60 per cent of an average. Martell and Henessey had refused to quote, and were not expected to begin selling before September. An advance of Is per gallon had also been established. From the champagne districts, likewise, most deplorable accounts of the extent of the disaster have reached us. Messrs Deinhard and Co write : —"ln the best situation of the Rhinegau the vines have suffered incalculable injury. Only in the lower situations, near Oestriah, about , onethird seemed sound. In the Palatinate, the riesliog vines in the best situatione have suffered most, and the larger and better half of the vintage is lost. The reports from Alsace assert that the corn is totally lost, and the same applies to tho Saar and Upper Moselle. The Moselle downwards has been more mercifully treated. In some vineyards only one-third to one-half the crop has suffered." An advance of Is per bottle is advised on some brands of champagne.

ENGLISH COMMERCIAL. The M ay circular of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company reports : NEW ZEALAND HEMP. During the past month the market forgthis fibre, following tho course of Manila and

Sisal hemp, has still further given way, 8 decline varying from 30s to 60s per ton having been submitted to in order to effect salet. Three public auctions have been held, at which 1659 bales hemp and tow were offered. Of these about 300 bales were placed under the hammer, consisting chiefly of damaged lots. Quotations based on recent sales are as follow : —Ordinary to middling, partly cleaned, £22 15s to £27 5s per ton; fair to good dressed, £27 10a to £3O per ton; tow, £lO to £l4 per ton, according to quality. The present position and future prospects of the article are most unsatisfactory. There exists l an utter indisposition on the part of buyers to go into stock, and this feeling is confirmed by the decrease in the monthly deliveries in the present as contrasted with those of the past year, comparative statement of which is subjoined. While the deliveries are decreasing, stocks, by reason of more liberal supplies being directed to this market, are increasing. Upwards of 2800 bales have arrived during the past four weeks, and further shipments, representing about fifty per cent of those arrivals, are known to be on passage. We observe the receipt from New York of 101 bales, and, ia addition to the late arrivals named above, about 600 bales have been received per Queen Bee from Auckland, for transhipment, we understand, to that market.

PRESERVED MEAT 3. No public sales of these provisions have hgen held since the issue of our last report, and the demand by private contract has been quite of a retail character. The arrivals between 10th ultimo and Bth instant are stated to be in all 19,744) cases, a quantity in excess of trado requirements. The shipments advised by the March Australian and New Zealand mails are considerably larger than those of the preceding month, amounting in the aggregate to 21,590 cases. The following are our closing market quotations :—Mutton —6lb tins, 5d to 6£d per lb; 41b tins, s£d to s|d ; 21b tins, 6d to 6£d. Beef—6lb tins, 6d to 6id per lb ; 41b tins, 6id to 6£d ; 21b tins, 7d to 7±d.

The Monet Market.—The " Economist" thinks the future of our money market depends, as it has so long depended, on the forbearance of the G-erman G-overnment. If, n the present weakened state of the Bank reserve, they should make a heavy demand upon us, we should have at once to raise our rate. And it is impossible to be sure that they will not do this. We can only watch carefully, and be prepared for all reasonable contingencies. The " Money Market Review" says there is much doubt as to whether an advance in the rate may not be necessary at an early date. It appears to be now most probable that the G-erman Government will await the arrival of the Australian gold (£1,170,000), expected next week, before pressing its demands upon our market $ this would, of course, enable us to meet for a short time the most urgent requirements, but the remaining and miscellaneous demands may possibly prove considerable. Moreover, no further large consignments of gold are now kuown to be in course of transmission, except the sum of £687,000 to arrive at the beginning of next month from Melbourne, and about £620,000 only fust shipped from that port, which cannot be expected for about six or seven weeks.