COMMERCIAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10760, 6 May 1911, Page 1

COMMERCIAL.

HO.MM .MARKETS. £By Electric Telegp.apii—Copykigiit.] (Per Pit ess Association.) Received May 5, at 8.30 p.m. London, May 5. The rabbitskin sales closed with failgood quality at par to id dec-line, and young summer.i Id to l.\d lower. Butter is dull, with a downward tendency. Colonial arrivals for the week totalled !)3,(Hlocwt. • Jloinc and Continental supplies arc steadily growing: Danish fells aL Ills to 113s; choicest Australian, (salted) 08s to 100s; New Zepland IOSs, unsalted lids. Lower qualities'are neglected at 84;; to 04s. Cheese is quiet. New Zealand, 01s to 625. Tho Trust and Agency Company of Australasia's profit is .■£57,825. £2512 has been carried forward. The Financial Times attributes the general firmness in the tone of tiie shares in the land companies of Australasia in the past two days to the, result of tlfe referenda. Bank of England returns: Gold and coin £36,757,000, reserve £26.914,000, proportion of reserve to liabilities 47.86, in circulation £28,341,000, public deposits £14,140,000, other deposits £42.070,000, Government securities £14,071,000, other than Government securities £32,068,000. '

Tho bank rate-is 3 per cent. Short loans are quoted at 2 per cent. Three months' hills are discounted as Follows: London 2','pei- cent., Paris 2J [ier cent., Merlin 2; per cent. Consols. £Bl ss.

Colonial Government stocks: Victorian, 4's £lO3 15s; Tasmanian, 3's £B6: Westralian, 3Vs £96 12s fid, 3's £B6 7s 6d; otiier stocks unchanged. Copper.—On spot, £53 18s 9d: three mouths, £54 llsi 3d.

Tin —On spot, £192; three months. £!?!>.

Lead, £l2 17s 6d. Spelter. £24 ss. Iron, 46s Id. Sugar.—German. 10s 2d; first marks. 329' 3d.

At Bradford wool is firm hut prices aro unchanged. The Antwerp sales closed slightly weaker; 4145 bales were sold out of 6G82 bale?; offered.

T'ae wheat market?; arc firm. An Australia it cargo sold at 3os, and 14.(100 quart pi's of New South Wylos (per niiler*. March shipment, 'Drought 34s Od. I'arcels of South Australian and Victorian (April. May. and' June shipment) M>ld at 3!s to 34s 3d. March shipment making 3-js. Holders are asking 35s 3d to 33s 4d. For February March. and April .shipment cargoes 37s v.":is pi:id. For Australian on spot- there i 1; hc-t'tor emjiiiry. Flour'.—Australian patents. 255. ex --ton*: "i I•. Od ti> arrive. viats are firm. La Plata (May-June shipments). 1 is fid to 14;: Od. CmUSTCFTFRCH MARKETS. (Pet. Piikss Association'.) Cliristchurch. May 3. A good deal of business has been done in wheat during tlip week between merchants, but few purchases have been, made from farmers, who are holding firmly, so that the advantage to shippers gained by the reduction in freight to Home ports has been counterbalanced by a rise in the price of wheat locally, due to the firm way in which it is held. Buyers are now compelled to offer 3s 2d at near stations and 3s Id at distant stations, and even at these prices few sales have been. made. The London market has shown some improvement cf late, though shippers are not able to obtain any better price for Now Zealand wheat.

Oats :in<l chaff are firm, and supplies are difficult to obtain ;<t buyers' prices. The potato market is easier in consequence, of tile northern markets hn ving been so supplied during the past ten days. Xot less than GSOO bags have been'shipped northTrom Lyfctelton, and IGOO hags from the Bluff, and both Wellington and Auckland are fully stocked. Buyers are new offering 70s at stations, but farmers are holding out for 755, the price that has lately been ruling.

DL'NEMN MARKETS. (Otago Daily Time.-: ) j Prices for wheat have increased lYoni Id to lAd all round, and in some cases a fraction more. In the Oamaru and Waiinatc districts millers' values ruie at from 3s to 3s 2d lor medium to prime lots of red sorts, and up to .Ms 3d for velvet .samples. In the south .'is 2d has been paid, on trucks, about the Tapanni district, and 3s id down south as far a:i Kiversdale. The New Zealand Flourmillers' Association yesterday advanced the price of bran 10s per ton, and tho local price is now £4 15s, and for export £4 10s. The shortness of stock and tho keen demand from Auckland are said to be the causes of the tirmness. Cabled advice from Sydney gives the price there for bran as £5 15s per ton. The tariff of tho Flourmillers' Association for flour and other lines is as follows: Flour—Sacks, £8 los; 1001b bags, £9 os; 501b bags, £f) 10s; L'-jib bags, £9 15s. Oatmeal, £l2 10s per ton. l'earl barley, £l3 IDs per ton. Bran, £4 15s per ton. Pollard. £6 per ton. Thero is practically no change in the oat market. A fair demand exists for shipment to the North Island, while good feed sorts are also sought after for local supply. Holders, however, are not too Keen to disuse of their stocky, and as a result business is somewhat restricted. Values are unchanged from last week, and are-as follows: —A Cartons, 2s 5d f.0.b., s.i. ; B Gartons, 2s 4id: A sparrows, 2s 4.', d: B" sparrows, 2s 4d. Consignments of chaff are still arriving" freely, and as stocks in store are very heavy prjees are expected to ease somewhat. Should, however, an outside demand crop up the easing in price would'not occur; there does not appear to be mtl'cli prospect of iuiy outside demand, aild as a matter of fact Australian chaff' is being imported at a very low figure. ' Heavy supplies of potatoes have been coming in, but with a fairly good"shipping demand there*"" lias' been 110 difficulty in quitting .all first-class lots. .Medium and gruß-infe'cted potatoes are unly saleable at low figures. Onions are'in gbdd'request". A large quantity has come, to hand front 'Canterbury during the'week/ ahd "is mecti ing whh a prompt sale. A" ? are in particularly lirislc" ru.iiid. and stamped are now bringing Id per dozen. . Supplies, of dairy" butter are Kgh'tj and consignments are readily placed'.*' '•

TTMARir MARKETS,

(Timarii f Herald.)

Business on ,tlie .local grain market has been fairly lively-during'the..past week, and wheat has firmed considerably. This is, attributed, to 'the 'fact

j that wheat has firmed at Home and to I the cheaper shipping freights now obtainable, the price having been reduced from 20s to 15s per ton as from May Ist. Good samples of milling wheat (mixed lines) are to-day worth 3s 3d j]ier bushel, delivered Timaru. The increase in the value of wheat at Home is from ; \d to id per bushel, but local buyers have raised the price in excess of this rise on account of the reduction ;in freights. Though the price of wheat has advanced., flour still remains at the old price, namely £8 per toil, and there is said to lie very little profit in the .milling business at the present time. The Tialcaia is to take 30,000 sacks of wheat from Timarn at the 15s rate, and shippers are sending grain from in store to the vessel. The Rotonia will follow the Rakaia in taking more wheat from Timaru, and her space is already fully booked. Fowl wheat is getting scarce and is now worth; 3s per bushel, delivered Timaru, as compared with 2s 9d three weeks ago. Practically no oats are offering locally. A Timaru firm bought A grade Gartons from a southern port this week at 2s 4.U1 f.0.b., s.i., which is equivalent to 2s 2d for South Canterbury oats, delivered at Timaru. South Canterbury is not getting any North Island orders, for oats, all this business being done via the Muff and Dunedin. The potato market has eased back slightly, to-day's quotations for prime table tubers being £3 15s per ton,, atcountry stations. A few orders are being filled here for the North Island. ST. ANDREWS SALE. The fortnightly sale was held at St. Andrews yesterday, when a fair entry was forward. For fat stock and young breeding ewes there was good competition : other classes sold moderately well. The following are a few of the sales: — Fat lambs, 13s, 12s Id, 12s, 10s lOd, 10s lid; fat ewes, 12s, lis 6d to 10s 3d ; store wethers, lis 8d ; 2-tooth ewes, 16s, 14s, ,13s Id to 13s; store lambs, 10s, 9s lOd, Bs. 7s 6d, 6s 4d, 4s Id, 10s Gd. 6s; full-mouth ewes, 6s 4d; old ewes, 3s 2d, 3s 4d, 2s lOd to 2s 6d; cattle, milch cows in profit, £6 to £8 ss; yearlings to £1 10s.