FINANCE AND TRADE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4260, 21 January 1901, Page 6

FINANCE AND TRADE.

The Customs returns for Saturday amounted to £lO7 7s Od; for the past week, £BOIO os od, and for beer, £314 19s ‘ld.

Laeiy and Co., Limited, report the following wholesale selling prices on the Wellington produce market:Wheal, 2s Sd per bushel; oats, 2s, 2s 2d per bushel; barley, feed, Is l()d per bushel; maize, os per bushel; floor, £7 per_ ten; pollard, £1 os nor (on; oran, £o'K!s per ton; oatmeal, £lO per ton; chaff. £3 10,s per ton; hay, £4 per ton: field beans, 3s per bushel ; potatoes, £/ to £8 10s per tori; onions, £7 to £8 lit, per ton : rye-grass sped. 2s Ski to is per bushel; cocksfoot .seed. 2U! to II per lb; butter, "dairy 7d, separator In; cheese, bjd per lb; bacon, did; bams, 71 d ; fowls, 3s per pair; roosters, 3s od per pair; ducks, 4s per pair;_ turkeys, 8s to Ids per pair; geese, os per pair; fresh eggs, (Id to lOd per uozen. The Xc.v Zealand Loan and Vlercanttlc Agency Company, Limited, report;—At our Palmerston North sale (here was a fair attendance of buyers, but bidding was rather slow, buyers being cautions Giving to the prospect of a dry season. There was a goad yarding of sheep and cattle, two-toolh wethers fetching, 12s, ewe.; 10s, owe.; willi lambs 20s. Bullocks were in fair demand at £0 17s (id, caws with calves £5 ds. WTaiior pigs and stores averaged from 7s to 10s. The New Zealand Loan and Vlereaiitilo Agency Company, Limited, report— Wo cleared a catalogue of about 800 skins and a , quantity of bag wool at prices equal to those ruling at previous sale. Av’e quote —Sheepskins, good fnllwoolied crossbred. 4«1 to -1 pi : -t to ,'Ud for dead skins and hoggets: broken skins and half - woollod do, 3d to did. Wool in hags--Fleece, did in lid; dead. 3d to 3;jd: locks and pieces, Id to 3d per lb. THE LIVE STOCK MAIIKET. Vlcssrs Freeman 11. Jackson and Co. report that at St Mill street, uangamn. on the lothjnsl., cattle were in smaller number;; than of late. Young sorts kept their value. Eat cows were from m■ferior to moderate quality—demand rather easier. The sheep yarded contained some well-grown lambs in the wool. Those shorn were on the smaller side. The owes were chiefly, aged sorts, itn fat, good quality. The demand on tho whole was'somewhat easier than last week, hut of those passed in under ._c hammer all wore sold afterwards. Pork pigs suffered a further decline, consequently low rates ruled. Cattle—rat cows £4 Ills to £5 30s ; light bullocks, ,i./ Ids; yearling steers. £3" Us: 20-month heifers, £3 to £3 2s (Id. Sheep—Eat ewes, 11s (id to 12s 3d; store wether:', 13s 2d; aged store owes, 7s io 10s .'id; those in wool, 11s Gd to ‘ 12s; woolly lambs, 8s Gd ; culls, Is lid; small shorn lambs, Os 6d. Pig;—Baconcra and large pork, lok to IDs: small pigs, Gs to 10s; porkers, 21s 6d.

COMMERCIAL CABLES. PRESS ASSOCIATION. LONDON, January IS. BANK OF ENGLAND RETURN. ~ The Bank of'England return issued for the week ending Wednesday, 16tli January; is as under: Issuu Dj-jpartm iar. Soto issue ... SI’.JJB, 00 Qov. debt M £11,015,000 Ot.ior bocaricios .. «,7i 0 0 U Qo'l.. .. 00.88.0 D £17,008,010 £17,008,000 Bamkino Department, Proprietors' Gov. tecuricapital .. £11,553,000 tiea .. 15,0)7,0C0 Public do- Other Beposits .. 7,0i1,C00 carillos .. 31,063,0'0 o:her do- Notes .. 18,181),Do posits, 11,715,000 Coin.. .. 1,633,0.0 Rest, 7-day and other ; bills .. 3,683.000 £1)3,935,000 £68,985^000 Tlio leacii-.g items of the Bank of England return afford J ho following comparison : This bast bast Week. Week. Year. '£ £ £ Bullion .. .. 20,53J.001) 27,901,000 83,177,000 Reserve .. .. 1a.525-.000 J7.ntl.om) ISI.HB.IWO Note circulation .. 21, 119,000 29.5.£,000 28,223,030 Deposits .. .. £->,719,000 52,532.000 51,1)2,0.0 Proportion reserve to liabilities .. SB'9o ,73 91 , 12 53 GOVERNMENT SECURITIES. The following are the latest ijnotations for Gorornment securities, and a comparison with those last week;—

r. . ; .. ‘lnterest payable in May and November. 1 Interest payable in Janutry and July. t Interest payable in April ami October. THE MONEY MARKET. The market rate of din-count for three months’ bills is 1-16 -higher, at 4 8-16 per cent. Tho Bank of England rate is 5 per cent.. - as against 4 -per -cen't. on the 2nd January, and 3 per cent, on the 18 th July. COLONIAL AND OTHER PRODUCE. Wheat—The markets arc dull, with a downward tendency. New ~-outh Wales, January-Fobruary shipments, 80s 3d per quarter; Victorian,' 30s 6d ; bailer parcels, 2s.s 3d. Sugar is dull. German beet, 88dog., lid lower, at 9s 3d per-ewt. ; first mark' granulated, f.o.'oA Hamburg, mu-hanged, at 12s 3d per cwt. - Butter—Th'e market is ’ quiet and a shade weaker. Choicest, 110 sto • 112 s. There is -a good demand for secondary at 86s to lOlls. Danish, 1255. Bradford Tops.—The market is quiet. Common sixties, unchanged, at ISid per lb; super sixties, unchanged at 19-id per lb. THE PRICES OF METALS. Copper—Quotations arc nominal. Spot 2U,s lower, si £7l 7a 6d per ton; three months’, 17s 6d lower, at .-372 2s 6d per ton. Tin is steady. Spot, 30s higher, at £i2o 10s per ton ; -three months’, 19s higher, at £H9s 10s per ton. Pig iron—Glasgow warrants. 3s 8d lower, at 52s 9d per ton f.o.b. in Clyde. Lead, 5s - lower, at £l6 2s 6d p ; -r ton. Bar silver is quoted at 2s 5 l-16d per

- PriceVariation. £ fi. a. '} % Imperial Consols 1)7 0 li Ci- lower i % New Roath Wales, IK) 10 0 KV- Higher >l‘%Kow South WftlrH U3 0 0 Unchangud. l> % New South WuIob NU 0 1) U.n Inlnged i % Victorian .. 109 0 is Unchanged l h % Victorian .. 102 I'J 0 Uucba-god i % Victorian — 1J % South Australian sort 0 0 Unchanged i % South Australian Dii 0 0 Ur changed I % Queensland k»7 0 0 10/- low-, v *6% Queensland, 102 r, 0 li/- higher I % Now Zealand* • u» 0 c Unchanged 14 % Sew Zealand! U 0 13 fl Ifi/- higher 1 % How ZoalamJl 91 0 0 Unchanged 14 % West Australian UK) 15 0 t/h lower % Tasmanian 102 0 Unebang-d