THE MARKETS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1675, 6 April 1904, Page 68

THE MARKETS.

George Thomas and Co. report the following prices ruling in their market: Flour, Golden Gem, 200's, <£9 10s per ton; McGill's oatmeal, £11; oats, prime short, 2s 3d, duns 2s 2d, Danish 2s; baled straw, £3; horse beans, 4s> 3d per bushel; partridge peas, 4s 3d per bushel; Cape barley seed, 3s 3d; split, peas, 15s; factory bacon, 7/d; dairy butter, 8d; potatoes l , Brown Rivers, £3 10s; tomatoes, 3s to 3s 6d; peaches, Nelson 5s to 6s, H.B. 6s to Bs>; green peas, Is 3d to 2s per peck; Messina lemong 10s per 160, 18s per 300; ducks, 4s 6d per pair; fungus, 4d to 4-kl per ib; cauliflowers, 7s to 12s per sack; prime whole fowl -wheat, 3 S 8d; pollard, £5 ss; maize, Auckland, 3s 3d; O.S. chaff, /5s to 80s; baled hay, £4 10s to £5 per ton; Prussian blue peas, 5s 3d; feed barley, 3s; pearl barley,* 15s per cwc.; Taratahi factory cheese. sfd; hams, B£d; fresh eggs, Is 6d to Is 7d; onions, £4 10s to £5 0s; cucumbers, 3s to 4s • per banana case; beans, 1/d per lb; fowls, 2s 9d to 3d per pair; walnuts, 4|d to sd; cabbages, 5s to 7s per sack; mushrooms, Id to 2d per lb; Cape gooseberries, 4d per lb; Rock melons, 2d to 4d each; pie melons, 3s id per cwt.; pumpkins, 2s 6d to 3s per sack; marrows, 2s 6d per sack. Messrs Freeman R. Jackson and Co. (in conjunction with Abraham and Williams, Ltd.) report on their Johnsonville sale as follows:—A good entry of bullocks—light weights and medium quality—were yarded. Bidding was slow. Beef made 22s per 1001 b; best bullocks £8 7s 6d, others £7 17s 6d to £8 2s 6d, light £7 12s d u bo £7 15s. Sheep were in goodnumbers and of good quality, and sold freely. Best wethers 16s lid, light 15s 5d to Ids, prime ewes 16s, others 14s to 15s, light 13s 9d. Laery and Go., Ltd., report the following wholesale selling prices on the Wellington market:—Wheat, fowls’ 3s 6d to 3s 7d; feed oats, 2s to 2s 2d; discoloured Is 7d to Is 9d; barley, 2s 6d to 2s 9d; p oil lard, £5 10s per ton; flour. £9 10s to £10; bran, £3 to £3 ids; oatmeal, £lO 10s to £lO 15s; rolled oats (5 s) 9s 6d; . sacks ditto, £l2; oatsheaf chaff, 75s to 80s per ton; Capo barley, 2s 9d to 3s per bushel; maize, 3s 3d to 3s 6d; fungus, 4|d per lb; potatoes, £2 15s to' £3 10s; onions, 4s 6d to 6s; swedes, 2s 6d to 3s; tomatoes, Is 6d to 3s 6d half-case; 'green peas, 9d to Is per peck; cabbages, 4s to 6sj cauliflowers, 6s to 8s; cheese, factory s|d to s|d, 'loaf size 6|d; butter. 7d! to 8d for pastry; inferior, 5d to 6d; bacon, bestfactory, 7d, rolls 7ld; liams, 8d per lb; walnuts, s£d; split peas, 15s; ' pearl barley, 15s; cooking apples, 2s to 4s a case, dessert 4s to 10s; pears. 2s 6d to 10s per case; pie melons, 3s per cwt; pumpkins, 2s 6d to 3s per cwt; marrows, 2s 9d to 3s 6d per sack; grapes, 6d to Is lid; peaches. 2s to 4s halfcase ; plums, 2s 6d to 4s; Messina lemons, 9s to 10s; Messina oranges, blood, 9s to 10s; bens, 3s; roosters, 3s to 3a 6d: 'diucks. 4s to ss; turkeys, hens 8s to 9s, gobblers 11s to 13s; mushrooms, 4d to 4RI per lb; ryegrass. 3s 9d to 4s 6'l per bushel; cocksfoot, machine-dress-ed, 5d per lb; undressed cocksfoot, 3id to 4d; swede and turnip seed, 50s to 55s per cwt; white clover. 92s 6d per cwt; red clover, 70s per cwt; co-wgrass,

70s per cwt; linseed, 12s; linseed cake, 6s 6d. THE LONDON MARKETS. The Department of Industries and Commerce has received the following cablegram from the Agent-General, dated London, the 26th ult.: — The mutton market is very dull on account of the absence of demand. Stocks on hand are very light, but any increase of supplies would lower prices. The average price to-day .for Canterbury mutton is 4id per lb, for Dunedin, Southland and W.M.E. Co.’s brands 4fd, for other .North Island brands 4-Jd, for River Plate mutton 3|d. The lamb market is very weak, the quantity going into consumption is disappointing and much less than the usual Easter demand. Shipments of lamb now arriving are very heavy, and there is an inclination on the part of consignees to forco sale of lamb. The average price to-day for New Zealand lamb, Canterbury brand, is s|d per lb, for brands other than Canterbury 4-1-d; Australian lamb, 4-£d; River Plate, 4/d. The beef market is depressed, supplies arc moderate, but sufficient to meet all requirements. Argentine chilled hindquarters are selling at 3-Rl per lb; average price to-day for hind-quarters New. Zealand beef is 3d, fores, 2|-d. Quotations for New Zealand beef are nominal. Some holders of New Zealand butter are forcing sales, which is very seriously affecting the market, and buyers, expecting the prices to go lower, are betiding back. There are very heavy supplies of butter on band, and the market generally is very depressed. Average price of choicest New Zealand butter to-day is 94s per cwt.; ' Australian, 925; Argentine, 925; Danish, 106 s. The cheese market is firm, and the market prospects are favourable. There is general confidence in the maintenance of present prices. The average price of finest New Zealand cheese is 50s per cwt.; Canadian, 51s. Offerings of hemp are very small!, and likely to remain so for some time to come. The price of New Zealand hemp, good, fair Wellington grade, on spot today, per ton is £3l 10s, April to June shipments, £3O 10s. The price of Manila hemp, fair current grade, on spot today, is £39 per ton, April to June shipments £35. The demand for oocksfoot seed is improving, but prices are unchanged. I am >of the opinion that the demand will further increase on the arrival of supplies. The average price for bright, clean New Zealand cocksfoot seed, weighing 171 b per bushel, on-spot to-day, is 52s per cwt,

The fruit pui’p market 13 very unsettled; large supplies are coming forward, little business doing and prices weak. Quotations are nominal. Raspberry pulp, £2B per ton. THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE, Messrs Gordon, Woodroffe and Co., reporting from London, under date February 19th, on the frozen meat trade, state that prices remain firm at Smithfield for mutton and lamb, although the trade continues quiet. If anything, there is a little more inquiry on the spot for New Zealand lambs, ex store or ex ship, when close at hand. The few new season’s lambs which have arrived have been sold at from 6d to G.kl. This quotation, however, is purely nominal, as only a very few thousands have been available. The Kumara is due shortly with 34,000 lambs, and we may expect to see prices ease down as soon as any quantity is available. Advices reoeived from the colony indicate that the arrivals of New Zealand lambs for March will be about 280,000 c/s against 194,000 c/s during the same period last season. The general feeling is that lambs which arrive before Easter will meet a fair trade, provided there is an improvement in the weather, and although supplies will he heavy, prices should not fall below on Southfield, at any rate, before April. This will depend, however, upon whether the cargoes are going into many hands, as the bulk of them must he consigned to this market, there having been so few sales made c.i.f. this season in comparison with previous years. A fair number of forward sales have been made recently for February, March, April shipments at satisfactory prices. The spot market for Canterbury is strong, owing to the exceedingly light supply. Sales have been made at 4|d to 4|d, ex store, and parcels afloat have realised as much as 4|d to 4fd per lb c.i.f. London. Crescents and W.M.E. Company's are in good request, owing to the shortage of Canterburies. Ordinary North Island ■sheep, however, are not so firm as they ought to he in comparison with River Plate sheep at 4d per lb in London.