COMMERCIAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19260, 26 August 1924, Page 6

COMMERCIAL.

GRAIN AND PRODUCE. Messrs Dalgety and Co. report as follow©: Oats.—Offering© are very short, and the demand for seed oats continues good. Very little business is passing, however., and the following quotations are nominal. We quote: A Cartons, 6s; B Cartons, 5s 9d per bushel, sacks extra. Wheat.—Wheat is in very short supply, and the value of good whole fowl wheat is 6s 9d per bushel, sacks extra. Potatoes. —Consignments have eased off considerably, but merchants are holding fair stocks, and values ore on a par with late rates. Choice lines of southern grown are realising up to £6 10s per ton, sacks extra. Chaff.—Stocks are steadily diminishing, and as supplies from the country have fallen off, values have firmed and prime quality is saleable at from £8 5s to £8 10s per ton, sacks extra. Medium and inferior quality is slow of sale at from £7 to £7 10s per ton. Messrs Donald Reid and Co. report as under: Oats. —The market is inclined fo ease slightly, due, no doubt, to, the Canadian oats now being available for feeders. One shipment has already arrived, and another is due hero this week. Good bright local lines, suitable for seed, are, however, stilt in strong demand for seed purposes. We quota: A Gartons, 6s; B. Gar,tons, 5s 9d, sacks extra. Wheat. —Offerings from the country have now completely ceased. A little business has been done between merchants at advanced rates, and it is anticipated that once the seed demand is finished, very little will remain to be eold. We quote 6s 9d per bushel, sacks extra. Chaff.—Very little is available for prompt delivery. The continued good weather keeps the farmer busy on sowing operations. The market is still firm. A few trucks are still coming from South Canterbury, and being of good quality, are soon disposed of. We quote £8 5s to £8 10s for prime, ex truck, sacks extra. Potatoes. —One or two lines were offered during the week, but did not meet with much inquiry. The market, despite the move iu Canterbury remains the same as last week. We quote £6 to £6 10s per ton, sacks in. PROPERTY SALES. Messrs Park, Reynolds (Limited) report having submitted to auction yesterday, on behalf of Messrs W. G. and Orlando Grave, allotments 13 and 15, block I, Cavcrsham Extension, area 28.8 poles, with a six-roomed wooden dwelling (No. 13 Morrison street). Bidding commenced at £SOO, and reached £B4O, at which price Mr J. Scddon was declared the purchaser. Acting under instructions from the Perpetual Trustees, Estate and Agency Company (Ltd.), Messrs John Reid and Sons sold at auction yesterday part of sections 16 and 17, block 34, Dunedin, containing 32 J) poles, with a terrace thereon containing five houses, situated in George street between Duke street and the George street bridge. There was a large attendance, and tho property was knocked down at £2BOO after keen competition. TRANSPORTING PAT STOCK FROM THE BACK-BLOCKS. A NEW SOLUTION OF AN OLD PROBLEM. The problem of transporting fat stock from the back-blocks to market expeditiously and with as little depreciation of their market value as possible, has always been a serious and difficult one. The proprietor of Blackmount Station, Southland, Mr J. A. Maclean, has, by the adoption of of a new method, pointed tho way towards a real solution, and his example is likely to bo largely followed as his experiment ha« turned out a complete success. Blackmount Station is' com© 30 miles from the nearest railway station at Tautapere. Mn Maclean last week had a draft of prime fat wethers ready for market. To drive them to Tuatapere would take two days or more, and the sheep when trucked would be footsore and hungry. In this case, however, Mr Maclean engaged Mr Myles Ford, carting contractor, of Tuartapere, to carry the sheep by his motor lorry, the carriage of which measures some 12ft by 6ft. Mr Ford arrived at Blackmount on Monday morning and a framing of light hurdles, already urepared, was speedily fixed on the lorry. Then about 39 of the sheep were run aboard, and the lorry eet off, arriving at Tuatapere safely and discharging the lot there. A return was made to Blackmount and a second lot taken aboard. This lot was also landed at the railway station without the slightest hitch, and the whole draft was Bracked early on Tuesday morning, being consigned to Burnside, where they arrived that right in fine condition. They were sold next morning and realised high prices. The record is certainly a good one. These sheep were taken off the turnips in the hinterland of Southland on Monday, and were safely landed and sold at Burnside on Wednesday morning.

LONDON MARKETS. Tho National Mortgage and Agency Company are in receipt, of the following cablegram from Messrs A. J. Mills and Co., London; — Butler: The market is quiet at 2065. The supplies are small. Cheese; The market is quiet and easier. White, 945; coloured, 02s. (Peb United Press Association.) WELLINGTON. August 25. The New Zealand Producers Co-operative Marketing Association's weekly cabled market report, dated London, August 22, is as follows ; Tho butter market is very quiet after the recent rise. To-day’s quotations are: hew Zealand. 2CCs to 208 s; Australian, 20fls to 2345; Argentine unsalto.d, 196 sto 200 s; Danish, 211 s; Dutch, 208 s; French, 2125; Esthonian, 300 s; Siberian, 17-ts to 1785.^ The cheese market is very slow. New Zealand white, 945; coloured, 90s to 90s; Canadian white, 04s; coloured, 02a. LONDON WHEAT MARKET. Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, August 21. Wheat cargoes are quiet, and quotations are in sympathy with lower American advices, wtiich arc from 3d to 6d under last quotations. Parcels in small request at about 3d decline.—A. and N.Z. Cable. THE; OAMARC MARKETS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) OAMARC, August 23. A little more rain has fallen since my last week’s report was despatched, and though it did not amount to much, it added to the supply of moisture previously received. For the greater part of the week, however, the clays have been bright and warm, with a return of frosts at night. Yesterday afternoon brought a light drizzle, hut it did not amount to anything worthy of note. A good deal more rain is required before it will be possible to say that the ground has received a sufficiency of moisture to produce permanent results. But what rain has fallen has done a groat deal of good, a« is shown by tho revived appearance of the country. One result of the breaking of tho drought has been to stimulate agricultural activity, farmers having been busy this week with sowing operations. Orders for seed oats have been more numerous than for a long time, but this does net indicate that an extended area will be under this cereal this year. The orders have been almost entirely limited to sufficient seed to sow from 20 to 30 acres, the natural inference being that farmers are merely making provision for their own prospective requirements, and not looking forward to tho production of oats for market supplying. In this connection it may be noted that it is impossible to recall any year in which the country was depleted of cats as it is at the present. A good many farmers have been compelled to appear in the character of buyers in order to provide for their own needs, and these are being supplied with imported Canadians. In addition to seed oats there has been a rush to get in grass seeds of various descriptions, both for the creation of new pastures and tho fortifying of existing pasture fields, these measures being tho natural result of the change over from grain growing to sheep grazing find lamb fattening. The grain and produce market hae been saved from presenting a blank sheet by a sale of a modest line of oatensheaf chaff at a country station at £7 5s net. Every kind of farm produce available for sale has evidently been disposed of with tho exception of oowgrass seed, which continues to be held firmly by growers for better prices than those now offering. The stock market has passed through another quiet week, the recent rain not having produced such an effect upon the feed outlook as to encourage farmers who are lightly stocked to enter the field as buyers. At the regular sale, now made fortnightly, there was only a small yarding of sheep. A pen of fnt hoggets brought 40, full and failing-mouthed ewes 28s 6d, and aged ewes 17s 6d. At a clearing sale near Duntroon on Thursday failing-mouthed ewes were sold at 22s Bd. Sales by private treaty have been few, as follows:—Mixed four six, and eight-toothed ewes, in lamb, 37s 6d; failing-mouthed ewes, in lamb, 19s; medium-weight fat wethers, 40s to 40s 6d. A greater number of transactions in cattle are reported, but they have been in small lots, and in the aggregate do not present imposing figures. At tho saleyarda the offering was small. The occupants of tho fat pens consisted of cows, which eold at from £8 13s for weighty' and good animals down to £3 10s for others. Stores were fow and poor, and cows went at from 26s to 30s, and yearlings at from 7s 6d to 21s. The dairy cows were mostly in low condition. Good cows, coming to profit, realised from £5 10a to £7, medium sorts from £4 to £5, and others down to 30s. By private treaty, however, cows of good quality, at profit, have changed hands at from £8 to £lO, and good ordinary cows at profit have found buyers at from £6 to £7. “ Other sales of cattle by private treaty have boon at the following prices:—Medium-weight fat cows, £8 16s; light-weight fat cows, £4 to £3; four and five-year-old store bullocks, £3; three-year-old steers, £1; two-,year-old sleeps, £2; two-year-old heifers, 30s; mixed-sex yearlings, 20s; calves, 5s to 10s; thin cows, 10s to 20s. Scott Bros., produce merchants and commission agents, agents for the Egg and Poultry Growers’ Association. Dunedin, report:—We are now receiving eggs for shipment. Eggs: To-day’s price, Is 3d per dozen for stamped; fresh, la 2d per dozen Butter; Dairy pats, Is Gd per lb. Honey: Fair demand. Prime bulk, to 5Jd per lb; 10lb tins. Gs Gd each. Beeswax: Is 6d to Is 7d per lb. Pat: 22s to 24s per cwt. Poultry: Hons, 4a 6d per pair; cockerels, 3Jlb, 6s 6d to 7s Gd per pair; ducks, 6s to 7a per pair; geese, nominally 8s per pair; turkeys—hens Is per lb, gobblers Is 2d per lb. Pigs; Baconers. 7Jd to 7|d per lb; porkers, 7Jd per lb; overweights, 4d per lb. Potatoes: Best tables, £6 10s to £6 15a per ton. Onions: Melbournes, 20s per cwt. Chaff: Prime, oaten sheaf, £S 10s; wheaten straw chaff, £4; oaten straw chaff, £5 10s per ton (sacks extra). Carrots: £6 (bags extra). Clover hay: £7. Oats: 6s. Whole fowl wheat: 6s 6d. Maize; 7s 3d per bushel (sacks extra!. Straw: Prosed wheaten, £4; oaten, £5 per ton, ex store; Parcota meat meal. Oyster shell grit, leg rings, toe punches, Star brand chicken food, Champion egg crates. August 25.