COMMERCIAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1950, 4 April 1889, Page 18

COMMERCIAL.

The customs revenue for the month, on goods cleared for consumption, amounted to £34,066 17s Id, including primage duty to the amount of £1543 17.? lOd. The beer duty came to £1139 11b 4d. The revenue for the quarter ending March 31, was as lollows :— On goods cleared for consumption, £100,361 5a Od; primage, £4345 16s lid. For the corresponding quarter of last year the Customs revenue on goods amounted to £79,217 19s 9d.

Millers' lines have ruled daring the week as follows :— Flour, £10 to £ll per ton; oatmeal, £12 10s to £13 per ton ; pollard, £5 per ton ; bran, £4 5s per ton; chaff, £3 to £3 15s per ton; pearl barley, £17 per ton. Messrs Dalgety, and Co. inform us that their Sydney branch advise by cable that the wheat market continues to decline, and 6000 sacks of New Zealand wheat were sold at auction at from 4s 6d to 4s lOd, according to description and quality. Our Gore correspondent telegraphed on Saturday :~ ° Eighteen trucks of oats passed today from Biversdale to the Bluff, consigned to Messrs Samuel Orr and Co., for shipment to Melbourne. It is stated that this parcel and many others were sold at prices most satisfactory to farmers." [ From the Customs returns we find the quantity and value of grain, &c. exported from the port of Dunedin for the quarter ended March 31 of this year were as follow :— Bushels. Value. Oats ... ... 109,717* £15,551 Wheat ... ... 13,785 2,463 Barley ... ... 1,584 324 Pearl barley ... 440 201 Linseed ... ... 250 63 Hay (tons) ... 6J 29 Total value ... ... £18,731 The directors of the Kaitangata Railway and Goal Company announce an interim dividend at the rate of 10 per cent, per annum, payable after Ist April. Messrs K. C. Reynolds and Co. offered for sale, by auction, on the 28th the Shag Point coal mine, &c. There was a large attendance at the sale. The bidding started at £50, and advanced to £500, at which price the property was knoaked down to Mr John Davie (as agent). The property was sold as a going concern. From Messrs James M'Ewan and Co.'s monthly circular, we find that the total value of exports of all classes of goods from British ports to the various Australasian colonies for the four weeks ending 18th January 1889, was as follows -.—Victoria, £861,000 ; New South Wales, £758,900 ; Queensland, £262,300 ; South Australia, £116,500; New Zealand, £228,800. Mr T. Burton reports having sold part section 50, block 11, Dunedin, containing 5.2 poles, for £100 ; also other part of same section fronting Arthur street, and containing 7.5 poles, for £250 cash ; also part allotment 44, township of Darley, 30ft x 102 ft, for £UO. . Messrs Dalgety and Company have received cable advice from their head office, London, that the directors have declared an interim dividend of 4s per share, being at the rate of 8 per cent, per annum, payable on the 15th April. Mrß. B. Martin reports having offered for sale on Friday, at the Central Auction Booms, High street, a fourteen years' lease of run 16U, JSiokoreta, the upset price of whioli was £31 per annum. The lease was purchased by the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, as agents for Messrs K. and J M'Lennau, at the price of £41. The auctioneer also offered at the same time the leases of the Lakeside and Bank End stations (in the estate of the late Adam Landels). These were passed in, and are now being negotiated for privately. Messrs Dalgety and Company have furnished us with the following report :~Our Sydney branch advises us by cable that the prospects of large supplies of wheat, partly from California, have depressed the market, and the tendency is toward lower prices. New Zealand wheat is worth in store from 4s 9d to Ss ; according to quality and description. The Oamaru Mail Btates that a sale of 20,000 bushels of wheat, principally velvet, has just taken place at Oamaru at 4s 3d at the siding. A Greymouth telegram states that the cattle market is dull. Wanganul beef averaged 16s, and local 178 per cwt. Sheep : Best Wanganui, 13s to 13s 6d ; Canterbury, 10s 6d. Fat pigs : The market is well supplied, but prices are high. Beet porkers, 395; stores, 275. The Melbourne Argus of the 26th nit. reports i— The wheat market has been steady at 5s 7d, at which some business has been done. Millers are not, however, free buyers of spot parcels, but are more inclined to purchase for forward delivery, with which condition attached holders are not disposed to deal. Seed wheat has had sales at 6s 3d for unnamed, and 6s 6d for white Tuscan. Feed grains are quiet, and in prospect of the usual weekly auction sales, quotations can hardly be considered as firm. New Zealand feed oats have been sold at 4s and at 3s IOJd, the market closing at about 3s lid. Stout Victorians have been quitted at 3b 9d. Barley Is quiet. New Zealand malting of this season is offering at 6s 3d for a good sample. Victorian is hard to sell at 5s 6d for prime. Cape barley is unaltered, but dull. Maize is still quoted at 4a 6d, and peas at 4s 9d. Bran is quiet at Is 4d. Messrs Barry and Co., of Calcutta, in their report for the fortnight ending 25th February, state with regard to jute fabrics : — The market continues dull for heavy goods, quotations recorded being those of sellers. Inquiries are being made for woolpacks, and some 1400 bales are reported at last prices. Light goods are scarce for early delivery, bran bags still commanding Bs 24, although for June-July shipment Bs 23 would *>c accepted. Potato sind. flourbags are quiet, but prices are steady. Closing quotations are at follows (the New Zealand equivalent* to Calcutta f.o.b. being freight 55b per ton of 50 cubic feet; exchange Is 5d per rupee):—Australian corneacks, 44in by 26$ in, 2|lb, 6s Id ncr dozen ; New Zealand oornsacke, 48in by 26jin, 2slb, 6s s£d per dozen; woolpacks, 54in by 27in by 27in, 11 Jib. is Hid each; do, 641n by 271n by 27in, lOJlb, Is lid each ; do, 42in by 271n by 27ia, Bflb, If 7K each ; bran bags, SOlnby 291n, 20oz, 4* 7|d per dozen ; ore bags, 27in by I9in. 20oz, 2s llfd per dozen ; flour *■ bags, iffiu by Win, 1202, 30 9fd per dozes,; do, 36ia

by 22in, 18oz, 3s 10|dper dozen ; potato bags, 38inby 28in, 2jlbs,4ilojd per dozen; do, 38in by 28in, 2jlbs, 4a 7Jd per dozen. Of castor oil they report that the difficulty in obtaining supplies of seed continues, and quotations are nominal, crushing being practically at a standstill. No. 3 quality in cases, 2s 4fd per gal ; in half cases 2s sfd. Of Indian tea they state that 10,741 packages were disposed of by public auction on the 14th inst. at an Australian equivalent of about 7d per lb. For good liquoring teas values were well maintained ; lower rates were, however, established for inferior qualities. The market is now virtually olosed until May. Messrs Baxfoub, Guthrib, and Go. report under date San Francisco, March 7, 1889, as follows i— Since the date of our last letter, February 9, few wheat charters have been effected, but, nevertheless, the export movement has been fairly active, owing to free arrivals of pre-engaged tonnage, which with current prices of wheat for the most part show a loss as compared with the value of cargoes in European markets. There 1b again some inquiry for wheat for Sydney, and the American ship Beaper has been closed for that destination at a rate understood to be about 22s 6d per ton. She is to carry wheat and feed grains. Wheat, notwithstanding dull European wheat markets, has fully maintained its position, owing to the needs of charterers, the weak position of freights, and weather influences. We quote No. 1 shipping quality at Idol 45c and Idol 4750 per cental, f.o.b. The crop prospect continues very fair, but the spring so far has been comparatively dry and more copious late rains than usual will be necessary to insure a large yield. Freights as already indicated are weak, charterers' ideas meantime being about 32s 6d, iron vessels, for orders. At Portland. Or.. little 1» being done, and 37a 6d for orders is about the value of iron vessels. We (Oamaru Mail, 27th) were to-day shown a Sydney cable message, recently received by a firm in Oamaru, giving the price of prime Tuscan wheat in Sydney at 5s and of velvet wheat of prime quality at 4s Bd, aacks in in both cases. The report is from a leading Australian firm. No stronger proof that the better times so long looked for have come at last (says the Lyttelton Times) can be afforded than the keen competition that is shown whenever good properties are offered for lease or sale. At the opening of tenders of Tuesday last for the leasing of various properties belonging to the Canterbury College, the biddings were in every case in excess of the valuator's estimate, and the properties were all let at an improvement on the previous rentals. The Melbourne Argus of the 20th says, in reference to the prospects of the wheat market \— " New Zealand prices have now hardened sufficiently to make importations from that quarter unlikely, even if the grain was in favour. The Calif ornian market is, however, rather easier, but wheat thence could not be landed at less than 6s 3d duty paid, not to speak of the lower value it possessed as compared with Victorian wheat. The local market appears, therefore, to be quite under the control of local buyers." Cherry Farm, at Clarkesville, North Canterbury, of 248 acres, was offered at auction at Kaiapoi and passed in at £11.

There was a large : attendanoe at Messrs Fleming and Hedley's grain sale on Saturday (saya the North Otago Times) representatives of Sydney and Dunedin firms being present among the local merchants, agents, and farmers. Upwards of 50,000 bushels were submitted, and the samples comprised some of the finest wheat in the colony. A particularly fine line of some 1648 bags of last year's velvet wa.s passed in at 3s lid, and it may be said generally that the lots passed were good samples. The feeling throughout the sale was that the market was easier ; a number of lines were passed in, not realising owners' reserves, and all the wheat told was Bold bags extra, 6jd. The bidding was not brisk, and the first lot, comprising some 2200 bags, moved slowly when at 3s 7d up to 3a B|d in farthing bids, and was finally knocked down to the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. Sellers, however, taking quality and e\ erything into consideration, were quite satisfied with the prices obtained.