COMMERCIAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1892, 8 May 1890, Page 20

COMMERCIAL.

Cornsaeks are in fair request, and more off at 5s 9d to 6s per dozen (44's) according to quantity In metal and hardware lines there is a fair amount of business passing, and values of several are steadily advanoing. Standards maintain the advance of 10s per ton ; report to last week being firmly held for ±11 to £11 10s per ton, according to quantity. Fencing wire is firm at £14 per ton, usual extras. Galvanised iron commands £23 10b to £24 10s per ton, usual extras, according to size of parcel. Millers' lines have ruled during the week as follows : Flour, £7 15i to £8 10s per ton ; oatmeal, £8 10s to £9 per ton ; chaff, £2 7s 6d to £2 12s 6d per ton ; bran, £3 per ton; pollard, £4 per ton; pearl barley, £16 10s per ton. Meßars Wright, Stepheneon, and Co on Thursday sold several quantities of milling and feed oats, milling wheat, barley, butter, cheese, and walnuts. Oats realised from Is 2d to Is 4d per bushel, wheat from 3s to 3a 3£d, and barley brought a satisfactory figure. Salt butter brought 7d per lb, while cheese and walnuts were also purchased at good prices. Messrs Henry W. Peabody and Co , in their olrcular dated Boston, March 31, report:— "Kerosene .has been slowly falling off throughout the month, the total decline being 25 points. We now quote llOdeg test 9 40-100 c per gallon in oargo lots. Canned goods : Lobsters are selling freely at the advanced prices for summer delivery, and there seems not the smallest prospect of auy decline this season. Oysters are strong, with tendency upward They are sure to be higher in the next three months. For New Zealand ports there ia but little movement in freight, obliging charterers to place vessels in berth of small tonnnge. These are difficult to Becure at a price which will allow a lower freight rate. We hope, however, to s^e reduced rates by vessels to come in berth next month. We quote the following rates of freight to colonial ports for April loading: Melbourne, 14c; Sydney, 14c; Adelaide, 21c; Brisbane, 25c ; New Zea'and ports, 28c. The barque Carrie L. Tyler sailed for Wellington and Lyttelton on March I ; the barque Wil iam Phillips is loading at New York for Uunedin and Auckland, and is announced to tail about March 31." .

An average of 93 bushels is reported bb the result of threshing tho crop from a 30 aare paddock of oats on Mr James KuthTford's farm, luch-Ulutha.

Measra Nelson Brothera have received the following cablegram from their London office:"The mutton market has declined, best quality 4£d. Beef : Hindquarters, 4|d ; forequartcrs, 4d." Messrs Buxtoti, Jtonald, and Co , of London, have recently issued a circu'ar dealing with the subject of selling wool in the colonies. They contend that direct Australian buying is mere speculation, and that wh'le it can permanently benefit no one but the comparatively few whoae interest it iB to promote it., thy reeult.s must, more often thfin not, be adverse to the best interests of the general trade. As illustrating the speculative nature of the transactions, th>'\ 'oft-r to the iiregiilur results obtained for some 10,000 b.dea pissed tlirou,,li the catalogues duiine the lii't two series of salea in London. T!i<-se results arc thus stated : "In November, 1889, 30 ba es a.ilil in 1 onJon at od over cost; sat 4£d ; 4 at 4|d ; '-I! Ht, 4d ; <)t5 rft 3ji ; 47 ab 3J ; 96 nt 3d ; 80 !.t ; 10- a<i 2j<i ; oat *3<l : 3TI at i'j.i ; 2i afc 2d ; 8 ivr. Iji. In l-\;bru*rv 1890 13 bilea sold at 4d D\f- c<K-t; i:t at Hjd; 3 at 3Jd ; 81 at 3d; 75 at S-]il; 107 it^-d; 2> at 2Jd. 131 at. 2J.1 j 91 at; 2gd ; HI i <tl 2^l ;Mlall jI ; 493 Jit. I ,' J ;9 3 at 1£ 1 ; I<*s4 at I£l, 4 Sat' Bd; l3Jsatl£i; 175 an l£l, 886 at Id; Sn at Jd ; 69i at Ji ; (56 at f d . 1203 at |d ; 23 at I'd ; 641 at 5 i and 39 at £ i ovi r ci6t."

The eleventh ordinary general meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Mortg'ge Company took place on March 17. Mr Arthur Flower presided, and iv moving tliß adoption oi the report— which recommended a dividend ai the rule of 5 per cent , mnliing with the interim ilividend paid in October a distribution of 7£ | er c-nt,. f.»r the year— said that the fluctuations in theirr.ccou'itsfromyenr to year were not cither many or remarkable, and that in the accounts now presontel there v era no particulars calling for special notice Under the bead of sundry creditors they would notice an moreise over the accounts previously presented of £13,000. That was au increase which had now in the ordinary course of their business disapi eired On the credit side the items indicated (he care and ciution with which they proceeded, dealing, as they did, bb liberally as possible with their constitu-nts. In conEequet cc of the tates for lo.ma in New Zealand having declined, the sum invested ia fcbat colony had been reduend during the past two years by .Ci? 3.000. Of course, \vhen cv nf a would triable them to do bo with advantage, they would b« happy to increase the amount ot their Hew Zealand investments The present season m Australia was unusually good, and London prices for the colonial produce were al.-.o «oou ; theretrre Ltiey looked without apprehension to the future Iv reference to the reserve fu :u, which they bad incr. ased to £45,000, he mi«bt. mention that £10,000 wen) in oo;isola. £10,000 weie iv Union Bink of Australia inscribed stock, fi'O 000 in New South Wale? 3£ per rent inscribed, andiiHOOO in Now York Central debouline bonds. -The report was adopted.

I'he National Mortgage and Ayencv Company of New Zealand lLii!iited)rcpoitinf>heirMarehcircular th it a fair demand has existed for line eoits of butter despite the milder weather which has, of coursa, depreciated prices, but the stock of inferior descriptions has been largely augmented, and it ia becoming daily more difficult to diipose of them Some line parcels, both from N<mv Zealand and Australia, bolil at quotations. American cheese had advanced 2$ jier owt, Recuit arrivals irom Now Zealand were

of poor quality, and sold from 34s to 44s per cwt., none being sufficiently good co come into competition with fine American.

The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company (Limited) have received the following cablegram from their London office:— "Tallow: There is a fair demand ; fine mutton iB worth 25s 6d ; good beef, 24s 3d per cwt. Frozen meats.— Mutton : Market dull ; quotations unchanged since last telegram. Prime New Zealand lamba are worth, per carcase, 6d per lb. Beef: Market quiet. New Zealand beef, forequarters, worth 4d ; and hindquarters, 4§d per lb." The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company (Limited) report in their March circular : — " In view of the reports of the Russian crop deficiency, the American markets opened more firmly. With improved weather, however, values slightly receded, but this decline has been paitially recovered again. An estimate which has been published of American wheat reserves gives a total of 200,000,000 bushels in all hands, including farmers, millers, warehousemen, and shippers, against 160,000,000 bushels this time laßt year. From India the prospects are unfavourable, and the crop is almost certain to be small. Australian shipments are likely to be less this season than was anticipated. Opinions vary as to the yield, but probably it will be between eight and nine bushels per acre, instead of 12 bushels, as estimated two mouths ago. Latest advices from California give an. improved account of the agricultural outlook, but it is expected that there will be a considerable reduction in the area sown."

In his New Zealand hemp market report, issued from London on Maroh 21, Mr C. Spurling emphasises the necessity that exists for shippers strongly to bear in mind— if New Zealand hemp is still to hold its own— that whilst other fibres (sisal particularly) are likely to be in better Bupply in the near future, New Zealand should and must be still yet better oleaned and prepared. Now that New Zealand has for months held its own so well, and its uses are better known and recognised, it would indeed be a pit»y, by flooding the market with poor coloured and badly cleaned fibre, that an industry so valuable to the colony should be jeopardised. In sisal hemp (as a substitute tor, or admixture with Manila)— New Zealand hemp finds its strongest competitor, the colour and cleanness of the former rendering it a great favourite amongst all rope makers.

Messrs James M'Rwan and' Co. (Limited) of London, issued a circular in the latter end of March dealing with the future of the iron market. They thus report briefly the opinion generally held on the subject :—": —" It is well known that pig iron warrants were torced up by speculation to an unreasonable point, whioh could only be sustained for a time. The maintenance of an abnormally high bank rate brought about the reaction sooner than expected, and sales being pressed by weak holders, prices declined from 65s (id on 7th January to 50s on the sth inst, But the Bank of England rate having meantime receded from 6 per cent, to 4 percent., further downward movement in pig iron warrants seams to have been arrested, and the quotation has slightly recovered during the past 14 days, being now 51b B§d. Pig iron for delivery, which advanced in sympathy with warrants until 7ls 3d was touched for good brands in January, has not declined in same ratio, but at this date commands 635. In the exceptional circumstances makers'iron was not influenced by the quotation for warrants alone, other considerations of cost of production and demand having been important factors. It is telieved, therefore, that as coal is not likely to cheapen, but the reverse, and the wages question remains very unsettled, pig iron for delivery cannot go lower for a time." The following table shows the total number of bags received of produce einoe the Ist March to date, with the figures for the corresponding period last year -.— 1890. 1889. Oata ... ... 95,919 92,484 Wheat ... ... 21,144 37,450 Barley ... ... 6,725 8,143 Potatoes ... ... 9,027 11.095 Flour, bran, &o. ... 11,960 6,781 ■