ENGLISH MARKETS

Otago Witness, Issue 2503, 12 March 1902, Page 18

ENGLISH MARKETS

The Agent-general cables as follows under flate March 3: — "No alteration in the frozen mutton llbarket since last week. Lamb is quiet , the average price to-day is — Canter buiy lamb. Bl$; other brands, 5Jd. Beef ia firm. Stocks of •New Zealand on hand are light. Hinds, 4Jd; fores, 3d. Butter 19 firm at 112 a. Cheese is very firm at 50s. Hemp is steady, 'good fair "Wellington," spot, £39. There is no alteration In cocksfoot since last week." A Sydney wheat ca> - go sold at 20s 3d. and the Highfields cargo at about 29s 9d. THE TALLOW MARKET. LONDON, March 5. At the tallow sales 950 casks were offered and 125 sold. Prices were unchanged. MESSRS R. CAMPBELL AND SONS' (LTD.) 1 ANNUAL SALE OF SURPLUS SHEEP. Messrs Wright, Stephensonj and Co., Dunedin (in conjunction -with tlie- New Zealand Loan anif Mercantile Agyency Company, Limited Oatnum), held this- annual fixture on Friday, when they offered, on account of Mes3TS 3t. CanSphc-H and Sons (Limited), their annual drafts of surplus sheep from their Waitaki Btatiorv. The number of sheep announced for this year's sale lvas close upon 18,000, but, ihving to the unpropitious shearing weather In. 'the Mackenzie Country and the swollen £tate of the rivers alter the recent Tains, it wa=j lound impossible to have the Benmore draft of merinos forward 111 time for the sale. This created a good deal of disappointment, not only to the vendors, but also to several buyers for lull-mouthed merinos, who Uad come from a distance intending to compote for them. Some 22,000 crossbred, halfbred, and merino sheep were* offered from the Otekaike and Station JPeak estates. After the stock was penned up Ihe night before the sale heavy rains fell, and Ihis, coupled with the fact that the sheep, nwing to the wet season, were shorn later than Usual, made them look anything bu' well, and materially affected their value. The sale was really a test one for -Ihe season >s far as Otago sheep are conerrned, and the >esult of it was keenly looked forwaid to. As customary, Messrs R. Campbell and Sons' instructions were to sell the sheep to the highest biddeis, and this in itself gave somo tone to the sale. At the same time the bidding was extremely cautious, and prices, when compared with those- ruling at the 1901 sale, show a 'decline of from 4s to 5s per head all over. Buyers were present from all parts of Otago Jind Canterbury, and it was generally agreed Jhat the prices obtained were quite on a par Iritb. those current in the selling centres of Canterbury at the present time. The most difficult class to sell was agecj ewes, both crossbred and merino, with-doubtful mouths. -The principal— sales were as followa : — SB2 four-tooth croaabred ewes from Station Peak, at from 12a to 13s id ; 900 two-tooth halfbred and crossbred eweg from Station Peak, at 10s 6d ; 563 aged crossbred ewes from Station Peak, at 5s Id • 2508 «y»ed halfbred "ewes from Station Peak, at from 5s 3d to 7s 3d ; 1015 aged merino ewes from Station Peak, at 2s 4d; 170 six and eight-tooth halfbred ewes from Benmore, at 103 Id; 77 cull four-tooth halfbred ewe 3 from Otekaike, at 7s Sd ; BG9 cull crossbred lambs from Otekaike, at is 7d; 116 small half-

bred wethers from Bonmore, at 83 6d ; 2200 full-mouth halfbred wethers from Otekaike, at lls 4d ; 626 six-tooth crossbred wethers from Otekaike, at 10s Id; 133 full-mouth crossbred ewes from Otekaike, at 7s; 244 full-mouth merino ewes from Otekaike, 7s 9d ; 122 cull four-tooth halfbred ewes from Station Peak, at 5s 9d ; 500 aged merino wethers from Benmore, at 2s ; 32 six-tooth English Leicester rams at 2gs each, two-toolh halfbred rams at 3gs each, two-tooth merino rams at 3gs each, twoshear merino rams at 2gs each, full-mouth merino rams at lfcgs each. The sale anangenients were excellent, and, considering the state of the sheep market at the mesent time, the vendors were quite satisfied with the prices obtained.