COMMERCIAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1970, 22 August 1889, Page 18

COMMERCIAL.

Millers' lines have ruled during the week as follows : —Flour, £8 10s to £9 10s per ton ; oatmeal, £13 to £13 10s per ton bran, £3 10s to £3 15s per ton; pollard, £5 per ton ; chaff, £3 10s to £4 per ton ; pearl barley, £18 per ton. The following shows the amount of grain and produce received at the Dunedin railway stations for the week ending 17bh August : — Bags. Bags. Oats ... ... 1689 Potatoes ... 607 Wheat ... ... 583 Other produce ... 189 Barley ... ... 1217 Total ... 4265 Messrs W. Weddell and Co. (agents for the Canterbury Farmers' Co-operative Association) report as follows of the frozen meat market under date London, June 28: — " Values for Home-fed mutton, beef, and lamb have receded, while values of New Zealand mutton and iamb have improved very considerably since the date of our last report. Supplies of Home and Continental fresh mutton and lamb, though moderate as a rule, have fully sufficed for the demand, while New Zealand mutton and lamb have been in abnormally limited supply and quite unequal to the regular demand. Prices have advanced so muoh that the great majority of retail buyers have been driven out of the trade, many of them having been obliged to close their businesses, at least temporarily. Some have taken up the sale of English mutton, while others have gone in for Plate sheep. 'Che bulk of the purchases at present are made by contractors, who have no option but to supply New Zealand mutton, and this they are doing at a smart loss. The present atook is not more than 2000 or 3000 carcases, the smallest for six years, but the arrival ot the Canterbury and Kimutaka (now both off coast;, and the Coptic (now due), will relieve the existing tension. We do not, however, look for any immediate serious fall in prices, unless these arrivals are widely distributed amongst consignee* or not firmly handled. Lambs have materially advanced in value. The shipment of 13,206 carctseß per Wellington' has been sold at very full rates as compared with earlier arrivals. As other holders cleared out, the consignees of this shipment were able to push up prices steadily, until to-day they have made B£d, B|d, and occasionally 9d per lb. Arrivals now off coast will serve to relieve the present scarcity, and may weaken values." We (Mataura Ensign) understand that a large slice of country— some 2000 acres— from the point of the ridge near the Waimea stream to the Riveradale Cemetery has changed hands, the sellers being the New Zealand Agricultural Company, and the buyer Mr Lee, from Dunedin. The price was £6 per acre. Some other properties on the plains are on the eve of changing hands, notably an improved farm near Kiveredale. The National Mortgage and Agenoy Company have cable advice from London, dated August 13, that "prospects English wheat market doubtful; foreign arrivals heavy ; no change in prices. Value New Zealand mutton in London is 3s 4d per 81b." Messrs Nelson Bros. (Limited) have received the following cablegram from their London office:— •"Mutton market firmer, best quality 5Jd. Beef: Hindquarters 4§d, forequarters 3|d."