RETAIL PRICES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1033, 16 September 1871, Page 12

RETAIL PRICES.

Meat. — Beef, roasting, 5d to 7d per lb. ; steaks 3d to 7d per lb. ; boiling, 2Ad to 5d ; mutton, 2d to 4d ; pork and veal, 4d to 7d. To hotels, 4Ad to ud all round. Poultry. — Fowls, 4s to Gs per couple ; ducks, (5s to 8s per pair ; geese, 12s to 16s do ; turkeys, 10a to 20s each ; pigeons, 2s (5d to 3s do ; rabbits, 3a 6d to 4s, per pair. Dajry Produce.— Bacon, 10a to Is Id per

lb ; butter, fresh, lOd to Is ; salt, 9d to lOd ; cheese, Colonial, 7d to 8d; do, English, Is Gd; eggs, Is Gd per dozen ; ham Is 3d to Is 9d per lb ; milk, 3d to 4d per quart. Vkuetables. — Cabbages, Id to 2d each ; carrots, 2d per bunch ; celery, 3d to Gd per bunch ; leeks, 3d per bunch ; lettuce, Id to 2d each ; onions, Gibs toSlbs Is ; parsley, 3d per bunch ; radishes, 2d per bunch ; turnips, 2d to 3d per bunch ; potatoes, 4s to 5s per cwt.

Messrs Wiucht, Stki'iikn'son, am>Co. rcjjort: — Fat Cattle. — About GO head were yarded, mainly of medium quality. Our sales consisted of 40 head bullocks and cows at from £3 15s to £7 ss. We quote prime quality, 25s per lOOlbs. ; middling ditto, 18s. Eat Sheep. — About 850 were penned, and were cleared 'at the following prices :—3OO: — 300 merino wethers, fair quality, 8s Gd ; 70 do, 7s ; SO half-breds,' 15s ; 400 crawlers, 2s 3d to 2s 9d each. We (mote prime half-breds, 3]d to 3 per lb ; ditto merinos, 3d, with very little demand. Store Cattle and Store Sheep. —No transactions. Country Sales.— On Wednesday, 6th inst., we held our monthly sale of stock at Mosgiel. There was only a poor attendance of buyers, due to the wetness of the day. Fat cattle brought 20s per lOOlbs ; 2-year old steers and heifers, mixed, 40s each ; yearlings, 25s to 28s each. Horses. — Good young draught stock are still the only sort in demand. On Saturday next, the 16th inst., we will offer at our yards, 50 heavy draught mares and geldings, and 4 very superior draught entires, just landed, ex Tararua, from Melbourne. We quote first : class draughts, £45 to £55 ; middling do, £30 to £35 ; good hacks ami, light harness horses, £15 to £20 ; middling do, £10 to £12 ; light and inferior, £3 to £6. Wool. — By the arrival of the Suez mail we are in possession of our London advices, under date of 14th July, informing us of a material improvement on the advance in 2>rices established at the opening of the JuneJuly sales. Of the 213,400 bales arrived at commencement, 145,500 had already passed through the catalogues. ' That in face of such heavy sales, averaging 7700 bales a day, the market should have strengthened, and prices improved, is a most satisfactory sign, and is owing to a combination of circumstances, chiefly the revival of a healthy trade on the Continent and the maintenance of a good steady trade in all the home woollen districts, coupled with the active competition of American buyers for some descriptions. The diminished supply of South American wool this year has also tended towards the same result, The advanced rates current, as compared with prices ruling at close of previous sales, were, on scoured wools, 2d to :3d per lb ; on greasy do, 3d. The rise on middling conditioned fleece wool was 2d to 2id, while on superior and extra flocks there. was not so .marked an advance. The next two series of sales this year were fixed to commence on the 14th September and 23rd November respectively. Grain. — The market is rather depressed at present, in consequence of the unsatisfactory accounts received from Australia. Wheat, — Few good samples areoffering. We quote 5s 3d to 5s Gd per bushel for really good lots. Oats. — Thq demand is confined to ■ local wants. Milling are worth 2s 4d to 2s sd ; feed; 2s to 2s 3d, according'to quality. , Barley. — Good samples of malting are saleable at 3s 9d to 4s per bushel; inferior. may be quoted at Is 10dto2s. ... ' Messrs Driver, Stewart, and Co., report :— , ' Fat Stock.— The weekly market ,was' supplied 'with 50 head cattle and 800 sheep. None of the former were of prime quality, and about 18 head were withdrawn. The balance were sold at from L 4 10s to L 7 10s. We quote prime cattle from turnips or other good winter, feed, "at;, 25b per lOQlbs; and ordinary good beef, from natural grass, at about 3s less. Of the sheep yarded, 73 half breds brought 15b each, and 400 merino wethers, 8s Gd ; 100 do, Gs Gd ; and 300 crawlers, 3s each. ,We quote prime half breds at 3.j:d to 3.Jd ; do, merinos, at 3d per 11). Store Sheep. — We have no alteration to note in the state of the market. The demand for all descriptions continues brisk, but the few lots offering are held for prices beyond buyers' limits. Store Cattle, — No transactions. Wool. — Our London advices up to 14th July report very favourably of the Wool market. The June- July series of sales; which opened on 22nd June, had gone off firmly, the attendance of both home and foreign buyers having been' large. All descriptions of wool, but moro especially Port. Phillip neece < and good long-stapled greasy -flocks,' were in good demand, both for foreign and American account, and prices were likely to be maintained to the close of the series. Tallpw and Hides. — The market for Russian tallow was without alteration, but Australian was in greater demand, and prices had slightly advanced ; good to fine mutton being quoted at 43s 3d to 44s 3d, and fair to fine beef at 42s 3d to 43s 3d per cwt. No change in the market for Australian hides. New Zealand Flax. — About 500 bales had changed hands, privately, at- prices -withheld, but imdcrstood ■to be equal to late quotations. ■ Good qualities were scarce. Messrs' Dalgety, Dv Croz, and Co.'s Wool Circular, dated London, 14th July, reports :— ' On 22nd June, the third series of colonial

wool' sales opened' with' the following quantities :— New South Wales and Queensland, 57,412 bales ; Victorian, 08,055, South Australian, 8932 ; Western Australia, 2014 ; Tasmania, lI.SGI j New Zealand, 45,912Cape, 2G.011 ; total, 220,797 bales. Of this large quantity 145,000 bales have been so.d already, at a material advance in prices, occasioned by a combination of favouring circumstances, viz. : increased foreign demand on the part of French, German, and Belgian buyers ; unprecedented purchases on American account; grc.it activity in our homo manufacturing districts ; and a diminished yield of domestic wool ; while a serious epidemic in South American ports has retarded the shipment of the River Plato clip. ' New South Wales and Queensland.— Both washed and greasy show a general advance of about 2d per lb. Victorian has fully participated in this ; a more limited enquiry has been experienced, however, for the Very fine fleeces of thoae colonies. Adelaide flocks were Shorn in much better order than in the previous year ; the advance is consequently more marked. Tasmanian. — Well-bred and fairly regular wools have met with good competition, and, considering their generally yolky condition, have realised excellent prices. Swan River, so far as yet shown, lack condition and careful sorting, but have sold proportionately well. New Zealand wools, especially greasy, have. enjoyed an exceptional demand, and been taken freely on American account ; for these, prices from Hd to 2Ad above the quotations of April have consequently ruled ; hence, for the moment, more than their relative value, as compared with other colo•nial wools, has in some instances been paid. Scoured fleece and skin wool have improved since the commencement of the series, and now stand fully 2d above the rates of May. The present series shows a marked contrast to the depressed tone which characterised the June and July sales of the two preceding years ; the quantity announced at the commencement, and the large catalogues that have daily passed the hammer, having been received with an animated demand" and , purchases made with every apparent confidence in the future. This is attributable not only to circumstances already mentioned, but also to the removal of the impression so long prevalent that the supply was beyond the legitimate demand ; and it thus affords evidence of the soundness of the existing system of large public sales at convenient periods of the year. Three-fourths of the Australian clip will have been realized at the close of July, and as but seven months will then have elapsed, there is a fair prospect that the present range will be well supported for the remainder of the year.. The fourth series of sales is fixed for 14th September, and the fifth for 23rd November*

_ ,A£ a Government sale of sections situate in Otakia, section 50, block 1., and containing 4a." lr. 25p.,' was, purchased at 31s per acre, by Mr Alexander Callendar, settler East Taieri. Section 43, block 1., and con- . taming 130 a. lr. 7p. realised 14s per acre, the purchaser being Mr James Roxburgh, settler, EastTaieri. Sections 42, block 1., and 2 of 30, same block, did not find a purchaser. At a sale of leases of Education Reserves, the lease for fourteen years of the Wyndham Education Reserves, consisting of block X., and comprising 7327 acres, was' sold at an annual rental ef s£cl per acre, the purchaser being Mr Alfred Douglas, Wyndham. The lease of Education Reserve, section 50, block XL', North Harbour and Blueskin district, containing ten acres, , and which is arable land, was. sold to Mr Benjamin Jeffs, at the upset price of 3s per acre per annum.